Callous religiosity

Luke 10:30-36 NKJV

Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. [31] Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. [32] Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. [33] But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. [34] So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. [35] On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.' [36] So which of these three do you think was neighbour to him who fell among the thieves?"

Jesus told this Parable when someone asked about how to receive eternal life.

Jesus said: love the Lord first and then love your neighbour as yourself.

Pretty simple eh? DO this and you will live....

That person tried to wriggle out of this asking who IS my neighbour?

In this story Jesus portrayed the hated Samaritan as the hero and the piously religious ones as the villains.

Quite rightly Jesus deconstructed and exposed the callousness of religiosity.

The matter of the heart is the heart of the matter!

The priest and the Levite both saw the poor guy, half dead, laying in a pool of blood, but didn't want to transgress the letter of the law, becoming ritually unclean. So they passed by on the other side of the street.

It was religiously correct but cut across the greatest human instinct of compassion.

Callous religion has nothing to do with following Jesus - NOTHING, it is the complete opposite, in fact!

To bring things up to date, Wayne Broadhurst was willing to help anyone and was known for kindness and loyalty.

He was out walking his dog when he saw a man and his son being viciously attacked by an illegal migrant. So he intervened and ended up being stabbed to death by that migrant.

Wayne had the compassion that Jesus desires. He didn't pass by, he got involved and gave his life for people he didn't even know!

That's truly loving your neighbour as yourself!

It behoves each one of us to shake off the callousness of religious "so called Christianity" and follow the Master's great love. Get involved, let love rule our decisions and choices.