God’s surprising look-alikes

‘But a Samaritan who was travelling that way came upon the man, and when he saw him, his heart was filled with pity. He went over to him, poured oil and wine on his wounds and bandaged them; then he put the man on his own animal and took him to an inn, where he took care of him.’
(verses 33,34)

Read Luke 10:25-37

We are told that some men these days, suspicious about the looks of their children, are insisting on DNA tests to prove whether or not the children were really fathered by them.

In the family of the kingdom of God, no paternity tests are needed. True children of God look like their Father, especially in their actions. Jesus told us that everyone would know that we were his disciples if we loved one another.

We are not told if the good Samaritan was a child of God, but he was certainly a divine look-alike—and a very surprising one at that. If God can raise up children even from stones, as Jesus once suggested, then he can certainly raise them from Samaritans, or any other despised, marginalised people anywhere. The Samaritan’s practical love and concern for someone who may well have been his enemy was Christlike. ‘You go and do the same’, Jesus urged.

Where will we get such generosity and compassion from? From our Father God, of course. He gives it freely through Jesus!

Dear God, I am your sinning but dearly loved child. Forgive me. Make me like Jesus, my brother. Turn me outward, towards others, to see their need and, in your name, to do what I can to help. Amen.

by Aub Podlich, in ‘God’s Peace for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 2005)

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