Here’s a modern scripture meditation on Jesus’s Good Samaritan parable. Scripture meditation is one way to explore the impact of Bible passages. We should never confuse our musings and scripture meditation as having the authority of the Bible–far from it! But scripture meditation, when used humbly, can be a valuable tool in applying the Bible to our everyday lives.
Modern Scripture Meditation on the Good Samaritan
1). Once there was a Good Samaritan traveling a country road who came across a man beaten and bruised. Using his cell phone the Samaritan immediately made an on-line donation to the Red Cross in honor of the man in the ditch.
Later, the Samaritan thought better of his actions, and immediately called Marriott to send a shuttle to the man in the ditch and set him up in a comfortable suite for three days, and to charge it to his Capital One card, so he could get airline miles in addition to his Marriott Reward points.
2). Once there was a Good Samaritan traveling a country road who came across a man beaten and bruised. Using Siri on his iPhone, the Samaritan immediately made a note to himself to develop a Samaritan App that would enable people to send help right away with one touch on their phone. The Samaritan App will ask permission to use your location.
3). Once there was a Good Samaritan traveling a country road who came across a man beaten and bruised. Later that day the Samaritan blogged about the importance of noticing people on the side of the road. Especially women and minorities. Then he tweeted a link to his blog. Later, the Samaritan kicked himself because he realized he should have shot some video of the man in the ditch. Video always enhances a blog post and those kinds of video are likely to go viral.
4). Once there was a Good Samaritan traveling a country road who came across a man beaten and bruised. The Samaritan stopped his car and ran to the man. He picked the man up and carried him to the car, which spoiled the interior of the car with bloodstains, as well as the Samaritan’s clothing. At the Emergency Room the Samaritan stayed with the man through the initial treatment. He offered to call his family and stay with the man until they came to his side. It turned out the man’s family couldn’t book a flight until the next day, so the Samaritan ended up at the man’s bedside for another 24 hours, during which time the police came and questioned the Samaritan about the incident—they told him he would have to testify at a trial if the thieves were ever captured.
The Samaritan lost two days of work and a thousand dollars of resale value on his car. His favorite suit was ruined. The Samaritan became frustrated because of the inconvenience, but he quickly saw how small-minded this was. He repented from his own personal lack of patience and realized more deeply than ever that loving his neighbor was costly.
When the man’s family arrived, the Samaritan learned the man was in reality the son of a Great King. The Great King bowed low to the Samaritan in gratitude and honored the Samaritan, declaring that because the Samaritan had stopped to care for the King’s son, the King would forever more watch over the Samaritan and his family.
This scripture meditation on the Good Samaritan originally appeared here, and is used by permission.
