Wisdom Wednesday: Wisdom of the Parables Part 2
Submitted by Debbie’s Dad
Helping the Disabled Man along the Road
Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’ Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.” Luke 10:30–37 NASB 95
Last week, we saw how Jesus used parables – illustrative stories – to teach spiritual principles. In this series over the next few weeks, we will look at a small sample of the parables of Jesus that can be related to a disability, and we will view them from the perspective of a disabled person. So, we will name the parable from the perspective of the disabled person. Today, we look at the parable of the “Disabled man along the road”.
The context of this parable is Jesus answering a question from a lawyer who was testing Jesus with questions, so he could show himself to be smart and perhaps trip up Jesus. It was not a genuine effort to learn. In the course of his exchange he asked Jesus, effectively, if we are to love our neighbor as ourselves, then who is our neighbor? (10:29) To answer this, Jesus answered with a parable.
Of course, our focus of the parable is the man disabled along the road – stripped of his clothes, beaten and left “half dead”. Jesus used the Greek word, hēmithanēs, which is literally, “one-half dead”. So what is half dead? Commentators agree that the beating was so brutal that he was likely unconscious, and perhaps without medical care, he would die along the road. He could not move; he could not help himself or make the trip home. He was disabled because of his injuries.
Three men came along the road and encountered the disabled man. The first two, a priest and a Levite – religious men – stepped to the other side of the road and walked by. Perhaps they were hurrying to get to a worship assignment, or perhaps they felt the man might be unclean. For whatever reason, they move on by. The third man was a Samaritan, an outcast from formal Jewish worship, who demonstrated the love of neighbor in three ways.
- He felt compassion. The sight of the man moved him to have empathy for the man. He entered into the pain and suffering of the man, felt pity, and had a deep emotional expression of love for the man.
- He came to him. His compassion led him to go across the road, perhaps down into a ditch to reach the man. Can you picture this? In my mental picture, he reached out to the naked and bleeding man, knelt down, and cradled his head. He asked his name and assured him that he would be cared for.
- He cared for him. Then he treated and bandaged the man’s wounds, took him to an inn, and paid to have him cared for. He used his time, transportation and financial resources to restore the man to health.
Jesus concluded by affirming the answer that, yes, the Samaritan man demonstrated love by his attitude (Compassion), his decision (Come to the one needing compassion) and his care (Taking action to demonstrate tangible love to restore the poor man).
Of course, the parable was extreme because this disabled man was “half dead” and needed immediate help. The well-known parable of the Good Samaritan illustrates to us who our neighbors are and how we show love to them. We can examine the actions of the Samaritan and then relate them to how to love a disabled person.
How do we love our disabled neighbor?
- Be compassionate toward the disabled person– we are called to holy, including expressing compassion toward others (Col. 3:12), to consider their situation and have empathy for the way in which they may suffer.
- Come to the disabled person – Smile, acknowledge and greet disabled people. Engage them in conversation, interact to demonstrate your acknowledgment that they are a person. Don’t be afraid of doing something wrong, just be gracious and gentle. Many times, people do not know how to greet Debbie, but they try and that is all that is needed. They often reach out to shake her hand before they realize she cannot move her hands, so they gently touch her arm – that’s great. Come and give small gestures of love to a disabled person – it goes a long way.
- Care for the disabled person – When appropriate, it is possible that you may offer to care for a disabled person. Just emailing them, sending a card, or calling on the phone is a simple way of caring for lonely disabled people. In other cases, visiting, shopping, watching a movie, or visiting on the porch with a disabled person can be a significant way of caring. I remember when Debbie was in the 8th grade, a girl told Debbie she would like to go to the movies with her. I took them both to the movies in our handicap van. I dropped them off in the theater lobby, waited for the movie to be over, and then took them home. Debbie beamed for over a month after that because of her wonderful time being a bit more normal and befriended by that girl. I have often thought that the young girl had no idea what a positive impact she had on Debbie. She showed love for her neighbor by just befriending Debbie.
Yes, Jesus was a storyteller. And in this story, He showed that true love for those in need begins with the attitude of compassion, the decision to do something, and then turning the actions into some tangible act to help the person in need.
