Being the Good Samaritan is not always easy – but coronavirus has shown importance of helping others
FOOD FOR THOUGHT by Rev Lyall Rennie
During the coronavirus we have witnessed the values of community. People eager and willing to help each other, not for any selfish motive but simply because they genuinely care and it’s a value they possess.
It may be shopping for a neighbour, collecting and delivering a prescription, delivering a meal to someone living on their own. Even just a phone call to someone made such a difference during lockdown.
Jesus tells the well-known parable of the Good Samaritan. A man on the road is robbed and beaten and left lying in the road. A priest and a Levite walk on by on the other side. It is the Samaritan who stops and helps the man.
Most of us have been one of the characters in this parable at some point in our life. We may have been treated unjustly or unfairly and no one seems to care. We may have walked on by on the other side when we have seen a drunk in the street or looked the other way when passing a homeless person begging.
It’s not always easy to be the Good Samaritan, the kind neighbour, but that is what we must try to be. When you see someone in need of help, remember the words of John Bradford: “There but for the grace of God go I.”
