This morning on my commute to work, I was listening to Dr. David Jeremiah on the radio and he was talking about the parable of the Good Samaritan (see Luke 10:25-37). Today, some of the things that I say are my own, sprinkled with some of Dr. Jeremiah's influence. So let's hop to it.
In the parable, Jesus tells of a man who was headed to Jericho from Jerusalem and was attacked by some robbers. There, the man laid on the ground from his injuries and person after person passed by him. They looked at the man, but they passed right by him. The did not see him. Antoine just what are you talking about? Here, I will tell you.
Let's look at the movie Avatar by James Cameron. In the movie, the natives, called Navi, would greet someone and say, "I see you". Those who first saw the movie probably thought, "of course you see the person". After all, they were standing right in front of them (at least I know I thought that). Later, we would know that "to see" someone is to understand them. This is what the Good Samaritan did for the man who was robbed and beat. He understood the mans situation and took the time too help. See, you can look at someone, but chose to focus your attention the other way. You do not understand their situation. You do not understand why they do what they do; act how they act; think how they think. Given this, we can look at someone, but not see them at all.
You looked at the homeless man on the corner, but you did not see him. You looked at alcoholic, but did not see them. You looked at the child needing a big brother/sister, but did not see them. It is easy to look the other way because that means we do not have to become involved. To become involved would mean a cost to you and/or require you to give up something. If we never can see past our own lives and what we have to do, how can we ever help our fellow brother and/or sister? You know, Love our neighbor as we love ourselves (see Luke 10:27).
I have given money to people and offered to buy them food. At the same time, I am guilty of choosing to look the other way. We are all guilty of it. The question is can you take a second to see someone? If we can ever stop focusing on ourselves so much, we may be able to see someone when we look at them.
Antoine E. Hall
Blog: http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall
"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." - James 1:22
