A Priest and Levite both passed by, Sent out perchance, to vainly try To do some good, in fashion high, Upon the road to Jericho. But praises of Jerusalem A wounded sinner would condemn. This fallen soul was not for them. Nor journeys down to Jericho.
Their words he would not understand, Their solemn priestly reprimand. He needed but a helping hand Upon the road to Jericho. So both passed by on the other side. But soon, a man who dare not chide Came by, then stopped to save and guide This traveller to Jericho. * Hugh Macmillan, Life- Work of Oeorge Frederic Watts, 163.
204 THE GOOD SAMARITAN
He helped him up; he cheered him on; He bound his bruises one by one; And ere the daylight quite was gone Their backs were turned to Jericho. And still the good Samaritan, With friendly words, as man to man, And deeds which mercy far outran, Stayed him who'd go to Jericho.
Oh, more than ritualistic power, To guard and help in danger's hour, When clouds of sin and trouble lower Upon the road to Jericho, Is th' good Samaritan's command. And may we all well understand The value of this friendly hand. Should we go down to Jericho.^
1. Religious ^profession and service have no necessary connexion with real goodness. — This lesson gleams through the whole narra- tive. Here, for example, we have two Jews, both of them occupying official positions in the Temple worship and service, and yet neither of them possessed of the common sympathies of humanity, but both of them capable of seeing a fellow-mortal in suffering, extreme and possibly fatal, without devising for him any succour. Where should pity have been found if not in a priest of the Most High God ? What did his very priesthood signify ? In what had it its birth ? Was he not a symbolic mediator between God and men? Had he not to deal with a service which culminated in a mercy-seat? A true priesthood implies a compassionate and forgiving God. A true priest was taken from among the people that he might have compassion on the ignorant and on them that were out of the way. As the representative of Him who pities the distressed, and whose tender mercies are over all His works, it was natural to expect that he would have succoured the pillaged and bleeding traveller. But it is clear that men may have much to do with religious service and have nothing to do with religion.
^ The deadening influence of mere officialism was so keenly felt and feared by the Apostle Paul that he roused into activity
' M. A. B. Evans, The Moonlig/U Sonata, 45.
ST. LUKE X. 37 205
every energy of his nature that he might vanquish it. He was an apostle, but he was fearful lest he should forget that he was a man. He had to blow the trumpet, and summon others to the battle with self and sin, but he was apprehensive lest he should neglect his own soul; and hence, with stirring earnestness and subduing pathos, he says, " I therefore so run, not as uncertainly ; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air : but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection : lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." ^
^ Professor D. B. Towner, who was associated with Mr. Moody for the last fourteen years of his life, says : " After his meetings in Oakland, Cal., in the spring of 1899, when I accompanied him as a singer, we took the train for Santa Cruz. We were hardly seated when in came a party of young men, one of whom was considerably under the influence of liquor and very badly bruised, with one eye completely closed and terribly discoloured. He at once recognized Mr. Moody, and began to sing hymns and talk very loudly for his benefit. Mr. Moody caught up his bag and said, ' Towner, let us get out of this.' When I reminded him that the other car was full, he settled down, protesting that the company should not allow a drunken man to insult the whole car in such a manner. Presently the conductor came, and Mr. Moody called his attention to the poor fellow in the rear of the car. The conductor attended to his duty, and when he reached the young man he said a few words to him in a low voice, and the fellow followed him into the baggage car, where he bathed his eye and bound it up with his handkerchief, after which the young man soon fell asleep. Mr. Moody sat musing for a time, and then said, * Towner, that is an awful rebuke to me. I preached against Pharisaism last night to a crowd, and exhorted them to imitate the Good Samaritan ; and now this morning God has given me an opportunity to practise what I preached, and I find I have both feet in the shoes of the priest and Levite.' He was reticent all the way to Santa Cruz, but he told the incident that night to the audience, confessing his humiliation." ^
2. Men may he neighbours thoicgh of different religious beliefs. — Our Lord does not say that to be neighbourly a man must be of the Jewish religion, or of the Samaritan religion, or of any other religion. The Priest and the Levite were very religious ; but, in spite of their religion, they were grossly unneighbourly. Not-