“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 ...came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took
pity on him.”
Luke 10:30-33
Early one morning Carol and I were
walking along the beach. We were on an uninhabited stretch of
shoreline, and the tide had been ebbing for a couple of hours. After
about a half hour, I noticed something in the sand ahead of us. As we
got closer, I could tell it was a horseshoe crab, lying on its back.
At first I thought it was dead, but then when I tapped it with the
toe of my shoe it moved. Evidently the tide had turned the crab
upside down, and now it was stuck.
Like a turtle on its back, the
horseshoe crab is totally defenseless. The sun will quickly scorch
the crab's body, and it will die. Plus, the seagulls and other birds
would soon come and begin to peck at it mercilessly. It was a
gruesome thought.
This was the first time I had ever seen
a horseshoe crab, other than in places like a children's museum. In
those instances, the crab was always on its belly, and all saw saw
were the shell and the tail, which are harmless. But on its back, it
looks kinda scary.
Part of me wanted to help the poor,
defenseless thing; it would die without help. But part of me was
scared—I mean, there are a lot of pointed things under the shell.
Sharp-looking pointed things.
Finally, I realized that I could
probably turn it over where it was, and then pick it up on the
outside of the shell and position it where the water was coming up
onto the beach. So that's what I did. And lo and behold, the crab
started to move—ever so slowly—right into the oncoming surf. Soon
it had returned to the safety of the water.
I was feeling pretty satisfied with
myself, when a couple of hundred yards later I saw another horseshoe
crab. This one was much larger, and it was also farther up the beach,
to the highest point the tide had reached. It was going to take a lot
longer for this one to reach the water, so I ended up picking it up
and carrying it part of the way.
So that day I saved, not one, but TWO
lives. I did it. Yep, me. Go ahead and nod approvingly—I most
certainly deserve it.
But later I thought to myself, “What
if I had just walked past the crabs, and did nothing?” They almost
certainly would've died...
+ + + + + + + + + +
Jesus told the story of the man who was
robbed and beaten and left for dead on the side of the road. The
first two people who came upon the man – the official
representatives of God – passed by on the other side of the road.
They looked the other way. They did nothing.
Jesus doesn't say why they don't stop
to help the man. People have speculated that maybe they were afraid
it was a trap, and that robbers would come as soon as they stooped
over to help the man. Maybe they were in a hurry and couldn't afford
the time to stop and help. Maybe they were aware that contact with
blood and/or a dead body would make them ritually unclean and unable
to work for at least a week. Maybe they just afraid. We really don't
know why; we just know that they didn't stop to help the man.
Whenever I've read that story, I have
always shaken my head and whispered, “Tsssk, Tsssk” at the priest
and the Levite. “Shameful, they are,” I think to myself.
And yet, how far from them am I,
really? I know that there are times when I can offer my help, but I
don't. You know the excuses—too busy, not sure I'd know what to do,
what if I say or do something wrong?, I'm afraid of messing up...
It turns out that I cross to the other
side of the street more than I want to admit. Please don't “Tsssk,
Tsssk” me. I'm not proud of it. I don't want to be the one who
plays the part of the priest and the Levite. And I'm sure you don't
want to be that person, either.
Believe it or not, this actually has
something to do with my “heroic” rescue of the horseshoe crabs.
You see, when I came across the horseshoe crabs, I was afraid. They
scared me. But I took the time to confront my fears, and sought to do
the right thing. I didn't let my first impression prevent me from
helping one of God's creatures in need.
My encounter with the crabs reminded me
how important it is to struggle past the excuses, and offer a helping
hand. Compassion and care needs to overcome our fears and our
hesitancy. I know this is hard, especially when it means helping a
stranger. Strangers can be intimidating, simply because there is so
much that we don't know about them. But Jesus reminds us that
strangers are our neighbors, too. Or, to be more precise, we are to
be a neighbor even to strangers.
Recently a woman came into the office
at church. She is a “regular” who comes off the street just about
every month. We all know her by name. My first instinct, I'll admit,
was, “I'm going to send her on her way. I don't have time for her
today.” But then I felt a little nudge (probably God, or the Holy
Spirit, go figure): “Let her into the office; hear what she has to
say.”
So I spent a little time with her. She
has to live off of $735 in disability, and $30 in food stamps each
month. She has to pay her own rent and utilities with that money, and
feed herself and buy basic necessities like clothing and toilet paper
and laundry. She broke down into tears, “Steve, I actually begged
for money from a stranger in the parking lot at the store today. I
can't do that—the police will arrest me if I do that.”
I gave her a little bit of money. She
won't spend it on alcohol or tobacco; I think I know her well enough
for that. It's not enough even for her to get what she needs for the
rest of the month. But it was something. As she left, I gave her hand
a little squeeze, put my arm on my shoulder, and assured her that she
would be okay.
She was one for whom Jesus says I am to
be a neighbor. I hope that she left with something of a sense of
God's love for her. She is struggling to find God's love in her life,
so I hope that just to spend a few minutes with her was a way to let
her know that she is loved.
+ + + + + + + + + +
Here's an interesting tidbit about the
horseshoe crab: I learned later on that medical equipment is tested
for contamination with a product made from the blood of the horseshoe
crab. There are people who catch the crabs, gently extract a little
bit of their blood, and then return the crabs to the ocean. And then they
make a serum that is used to detect impurities and contaminants on
medical equipment.
It turns out that maybe I helped
someone else when I put those two crabs back into the ocean.
It just goes to show, you never know
how far down your good deed will go. So, be a good neighbor to those
in need. It's probably going to do a lot more good than you think.
