Friday November 11, 2005

Pharisee!

So you think you know a religious person when you see them?

I was driving to work on wednesday and I was running a bit late. I was passing some slow traffic cruising in the left lane on Washington Ave when I had to slow down… you know why I had to slow down? There was this one-legged lady, slowly wheeling herself with one leg down Washington Ave. I wouldn’t have minded so much, if she wasn’t taking up half the driving lane. When there was a wide sidewalk… and a biking lane… So I cut around her thinking… “what a pain in the neck…” and Someone whispers to me…

“What exactly did you mean by that?“

I slow down to look at this lady in my rearview mirror. Some more quiet words slip into my mind…

“Whatever you do to the least of these… you do for Me.“

“Do unto others as you would have done unto you…“

I wish I could tell you that I turned around. I wish I could tell you I asked that lady if she would like a ride to wherever she was going. But I can’t.

“PHARISEE…PHarisee. pharisee, wash out the inside of your cup.“

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   On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
    “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
    He answered: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'”
    “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
    But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
    In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
    “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
    The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
         Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

— Luke 10:25-37 —