A season of brokenness has let me into a season of deep study and dependence on God and His word. As we walk out of this season of brokenness I have been influenced by many women who have poured their lives into the study of His word. Rebekah Lyons writes that meaning follows surrender. I have found that surrender happens when the brokenness is insurmountable. This is what has lead to this period of deep meaning in my life.
Through brokenness, we can become one of two things, bitter or better. We either look completely inward at how the things said and done are personal attacks on us creating a victim mentality that we can be easily led into believing is our identity or we can look outward to how we can take the things that have happened in our lives and use them to minister to others. How can our story help others continue to write their stories. We are not victims in Christ. We are overcomers 1 John 4:4.
When we consider the parable Jesus tells in Luke 10: 25 - 37, although it is extremely familiar to anyone who has grown up in the Christian faith, there is a truth here that is easy to overlook. The Samaritans at the time were a mixed breed of people between those the Assyrian king had brought into the land and Jews. The Samaritans were considered so dirty that if one touched a Jew that Jew was considered unclean. The Jews would walk miles and miles out of their way to avoid traveling through Samaria. Yet as Jesus is talking to this lawyer, undoubtedly a lawyer of the Mosaic law, he chooses the Samaritan to act with compassion. This parable is so rich and full of meaning for us today.
The Samaritan doesn't just have compassion, which in and of itself is sometimes a difficult thing to do. Having compassion for someone means seeing what it is they are going through. It means setting our own agendas, perceptions, and biases aside to discover what needs they have, to discover how they are hurting, to discover how their heart needs healing. It means stepping out of who we are and what we think is expected of us. It means not worrying about what others with think and say about us. Having compassion is not about us!
But the Samaritan in Jesus's story did not just end there. No, he took the compassion that filled him for the traveler and then took action. Without action, our hearts of compassion are just empty words. They are just feelings. There is no real meaning behind it. Jesus was a Savior of action. He healed, taught, moved, served, and ultimately He sacrificed. Jesus did not just come to Earth and have a heart of compassion for man. He sought out man in our lost state and saved us by his crucifixion and resurrection. He is a Savior of action. How can we justify ourselves when all we do is talk about how badly we feel for people? I am talking to myself here. Sometimes my hurt and compassion for others are so deep, I do not even know how to encourage them, to begin to help heal, how to take action. But that is no excuse. The smallest note of encouragement. A word of encouragement. A smile. Anything we can do to take action and help those who have "fallen among robbers". Robbers today can rob us of our joy, zeal, and our passion. We need to look at those among us who have fallen among such robbers.
When Jesus finishes explaining who the neighbor is to the lawyer and asks, "Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" It is interesting that the lawyer still cannot bring himself to even say the word Samaritan. He is not going to admit that this filthy person could possibly have chosen to do the right thing over the priest and the Levite, both of which held great significance at the time among the Jews. He could still not set his prejudices aside long enough to see the point Jesus was trying to make. Maybe it was because he was so self-righteous, to begin with, after all, he was asking this question to justify himself. Or maybe it was because of his background. You know, "He was just raised that way." Whatever the reason, if we are not broken enough to hear what Jesus is saying, and use the lessons to strive to live life abundantly, then we are seeking help for our brokenness in the wrong place and maybe we haven't been broken enough.
Being drawn to Jesus out of a spirit that needs the healing relationship God offers, will lead us to accept His truths without excuses. I have found that the brokenness I felt has led me to dependence upon Jesus which doesn't question his truths, but accepts them into my heart because my truths have failed.
