I thought I was watching a wheelchair Olympic event Monday, but unfortunately it was someone accidentally rolling their wheelchair down into a ditch!  He toppled off the side of the road end over end, like something out of a cheezy 80’s movie.  I couldn’t believe my eyes.  First of all,  why would a guy in a wheelchair be rolling along the side of a road with a 12 inch shoulder anyway?  Anybody could see that that wouldn’t end well!  And, why wasn’t the guy with him trying to help him back up?  That was the even bigger question.  He just stood there like there was nothing more boring in the world than his handicapped friend sliding into a ditch.

When I saw this happen two things went through my mind at the same time.  First, pull over and help this guy out of the ditch.  And second, hurry up and get out of here.  You are on the clock and what help could you possibly be anyway.  They were conflicting thoughts. Which impulse should I feed, the impulse to help or the impulse to run.   Ironically, that very  morning I had been studying the parable of the Good Samaritan.  A story about how the “religious” folk pass by the man because they had better things to do, while the enemy “Samaritan” stopped and helped in every way he could.  I thought to myself, “I better practice what I preach!”  I pulled over my car and jumped out and ran to the side of the ditch.   Two other “Good Samaritans” had also stopped and the three of us drug his purple roto-scooter out of the ditch.  When we went back down to get the handicapped man we found we didn’t have to.  He walked right out of the ditch himself!  I thought for a second that I had healed him with my very presence.  Then the truth hit me; this guy wasn’t even really handicapped at all!

That focused me on the great truth behind the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  Jesus is teaching us that we shouldn’t just help those that we think are worthy of the help.  We shouldn’t just love those who love us.  We shouldn’t just be neighborly to those we have already vetted.  We should help anyone in need.  Everyone is our neighbor, even the fake handicapped man rolling into the ditch.