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DEUTERONOMY 30:9-14
COLOSSIANS 1:1-14
LUKE 10:25-37

SUNDAY REFLECTION.

The theme for our Sunday reflection is the Good Samaritan. A Samaritan is a person from Samaria; however, a good Samaritan figuratively means one who voluntarily renders aid to another in distress, although he or she is under no duty to do so. We shall deliberate on the following points about the theme:

1. To be good Samaritans, we must demonstrate unconditional love and mercy.

2. We receive God’s blessings and continue to be Good Samaritans through obedience to His Word or the Gospel.

Firstly, to be a good Samaritan, we must possess unconditional love and be merciful to our neighbour. To be a good Samaritan, you must be willing to be a good steward of the resources or blessings God has bestowed upon your life. The good Samaritan in our third Scripture reading (Luke 10:38-42) demonstrated unconditional love and mercy by using his time, resources and money to save the life of a person who was probably his enemy because he was a Jew. (Jews and Samaritans disagreed on some religious and historical facts; therefore, they were considered enemies.) After two Jewish religious leaders had bypassed their Jewish native, “… a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbour to the man who fell among the robbers?” (Luke 10:33-36). Dear friend, being a good Samaritan involves using our resources to help a person or group of people in dire need. It means making an impact in the lives of others as a true disciple of Christ when others refuse or give excuses for not doing what is expected of them as Christians. Many Christians give the excuse that they do not have enough time, money and resources to share. Economic hardship or challenges continue to be used as an excuse by some believers; therefore, we fail to extend a helping hand to others who find themselves in a more precarious situation than ours. We are been called upon to use whatever resources at our disposal to save lives or come to the aid of those who are in dire need.

Secondly, we cannot fully experience the blessings of God and be commended as good Samaritans if we fail to obey His word. God’s word guides us to do His will, thereby becoming recipients of His blessings and becoming good Samaritans to our neighbours. It is for this reason, Moses admonished the Israelites in the first Scripture reading, Deuteronomy 30:9-10 that “For the LORD will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, when you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” Dear friend in the Lord, many of us pray and desire to be rich and resourceful, but immediately God blesses us, our love and compassion for our neighbours dwindle. We become selfish and use our resources or blessings in the pursuit of fleshly desires, which are in contrast to God’s will. This was not the situation in the Colossian Church. Paul commended the faith and love of the Colossian Church for all God’s people and prayed for them. The faith and love of the Colossian Christians came from their spiritual transformation through the power Gospel. Paul commended them by saying “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people — the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel (Colossians 1:3-5) Beloved in the Lord, for our faith and love to be impactful in the lives of people thereby making us good samaritans to the glory of God, we must be faithful in obeying the Word of God or the Gospel. The church as a whole represents Christ as the good Samaritan to victims of wickedness, inequality, child labour, racial discrimination, and injustice. The mission of the church must extend to the less privileged, prisoners and all manner of people who are victims of injustice and abuse. Christians in every community must endeavour to be good Samaritans in helping and supporting those who are suffering as a result of the unjust and corrupt systems. We must brighten the corner where we are as missionaries and disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In summary, to be a good Samaritan, we must demonstrate our unconditional love and mercy to helpless strangers or the less privileged by being good stewards of our blessings (money, time and resources). Secondly, we receive God’s blessings and continue to be impactful good Samaritans through the obedience of His Word. In summary, to be a good Samaritan, we must demonstrate our unconditional love and mercy to helpless strangers or the less privileged by being good stewards of our blessings (money, time and resources). Secondly, we receive God’s blessings and continue to be impactful good Samaritans through the obedience of His Word. May the Holy Spirit enable us to continually demonstrate unconditional love and mercy to those who need our help, and may we continue to be faithful to the Word of God and remain blessed as individuals and as a church. Amen.