Luke 10:27
…”You must love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all you mind. And you must love our neighbor just as much as you love yourself.”
My assignment was to conduct a Sunday service at Bethesda West Nursing Home. What thoughts would be meaningful to a group of very elderly people? I decided to use as my text a portion of the story of the good Samaritan, and tell them about my friend Bud, a victim of multiple sclerosis. I told of his tremendous spirit in his fight against a disease for which there is no cure and of this good cheer and good neighbor approach to all friends. I would occasionally see Bud struggling through the five o’clock Chicago Union Station crowd, navigating laboriously with crutches and braces and say “Hi Bud, how are you?” Invariably he would respond, “I feel great! How are you? Tell me about the kids. How is Jean?” The conversation would quickly swing to my family, our church, and the choir where we both sang.
As I talked about my admiration for Bud’s spirit, it was hard to gauge how many of my small congregation were hearing my words. Two elderly ladies in wheelchairs stared vacantly into space. Several people nodded when I suggested they could be good Samaritans. One lady, who was wheeled into the chapel on a bed, had her eyes closed during the service. As I walked down the aisle at the end of the service greeting people, I approached her bed. She opened her eyes and, with a twinkle in her eye and a smile, looked into my eyes and said cheerily, “I feel great!”
Matthew 5: “Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Lord,
Help us to be Samaritans in word and in deed, even when we don’t feel the calling. Let us learn by the example of Your love, as shown thru others.
Amen
Printed with permission of the author from St. Mark Presbyterian's 1998 Lenten Devotional
Jus M.
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