Meeting Us At Our Point of Need

Meeting Us At Our Point of Need

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.

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.

Luke 10: 30 & 34

As we continue to contemplate this parable which Christ gave to illustrate the fulfillment of the law, we see that He describes the man who ‘fell among thieves’ in this manner, ‘who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.’ He then goes on to describe the actions of the Samaritan, ‘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.’ Once again, if we see Christ as occupying the role of the Samaritan, this is what we see: we see Christ coming to a very broken and helpless individual. We see Him meeting that person at the point of his deepest need. Have we not found this to be so in our own experience? We are much like the man in the parable. Evil has ravaged us in the form of Satan’s minions, be they of spirit or of flesh. They have abused us and robbed us. We have found ourselves utterly helpless and ‘half-dead.’ The religious have passed us by on their way to perform their religious duties. They have kept their distance, and refused to countenance our condition, or lend any aid. Christ has found us alone and abandoned, utterly unable to do ourselves any good. Here is the utterly compassionate Christ. Here is the One Who does good to the helpless ones. With blackened eyes, bruised and swollen from the hardest blows, let us look today into the Face of the Overwhelmingly Compassionate One. Let us behold with thanksgiving the One Who has met us at our point of deepest need.

Our most Gracious and Compassionate Christ
we praise You that You meet us where we are;
that You address our deepest needs,
and that You do for us what we could never do for ourselves.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning