Day 53 | Who Is My Neighbor
May 21, 2015 - WEEK EIGHT
William Henry Margetson, The Good Samaritan, (Public domain) via The Athenaeum.
DAILY READING
CONSIDER AS YOU READ
- What special powers do the Lord’s representatives have?
- Are the approaches to service of Mary and Martha mutually exclusive, or complementary to one another? Why do we often transform Jesus’ words, “that good part” into “the better part”?
SUPPLEMENTAL READING
I suppose the priest who passed by that traveler who had been attacked and beaten and left half dead must have been a praying man. That was his business. Probably he was paid for it. But in spite of all his prayers, he was not enough interested in the way he lived, he was not enough interested in translating his prayers into action to be willing to do anything about this poor, half-dead man who was abandoned there after having been beaten by thieves.
I am sure, too, that the Levite was likewise a praying man. I suppose there was probably no more pious man in all Palestine, and I am sure that he could pray as well as any Pharisee who might say that he thanked God that he was better than other men. Even this Levite, forgetting all his prayers and forgetting the real meaning of true religion, was willing to stand there and look at this man, and pass by and leave him there without supplying the necessary succor for him….
I suppose there are no more frequent prayers offered than the appeals that go up to the Lord asking him to bless the poor and the needy, and yet our fast offerings are down, and we still have many people in the Church who do not live enough the way they pray so that they are unwilling to get in and work with the welfare program and make that welfare program work for those who are in need. How well do we live according to the manner of our prayers?
“What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?” (James 2:14–16) (Mark E. Petersen, Conference Report, April 1947).
ADDITIONAL MEDIA
FOR YOUNGER DISCIPLES
QUESTIONS FOR YOUNGER DISCIPLES
- Who is your neighbor?
- Have you ever acted like the good Samaritan? How did it make you feel?