Poverty December 3
We respond to evangelical poverty when we truly give preference to the other person in all the opportunities offered by our way of life, realizing that we are given to one another as brothers and sisters by the one Father of all (Const.12.1).
He left his house that morning, well supplied for the business of the day. A serious man, he took off toward his destination. Suddenly, he was confronted with an unfortunate person on the way. It was an unexpected interruption, an inconvenient call. But what unfortunate person? An enemy from the point of view of religion and social life, someone he ridiculed, isolated, condemned before God. And here was such a person now in the ditch, wounded, a situation this traveler would consider justified. One can imagine the feelings that welled up in his heart. One can imagine the conflict in his mind. What to do? He brought his donkey to a halt. His compassion overcame his resentment. Using time he had programmed for something else, he dug down into his saddlebags. There were the wine and the oil, intended for another purpose, now become medicine. He dug deeper. There was the money budgeted for another need, now become payment for medical aid. And this man, who had begun the day as a simple Samaritan, ended it by becoming the Good Samaritan for all time. Letting himself be bothered, stopping and digging down into his saddlebags made all the difference.
The eye cries and the nose runs. (Ethiopia)
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