Arthur Penrhyn Stanley(1815 – 1881), known as Dean Stanley, was an English churchman and academic who wrote extensively on church history. I came across this quote in my daily devotional, and decided to share it, because the parable of the Good Samaritan has been coming up over and over for my this year. It has made me realize how often and how badly I fall down in this respect.
“How many are the sufferers who have fallen amongst misfortunes along the wayside of life! ‘By chance” we come that way; chance, accident, Providence, has thrown them in our way; we see them from a distance, like the Priest, or we come upon them suddenly, like the Levite; our business, our pleasure, is interrupted by the sight, is troubled by the delay; what are our feelings, our actions towards them? ‘Who is thy neighbor?’ It is the sufferer, wherever, whoever, whatsoever he be. Wherever thou hearest the cry of distress, wherever thou seest any one brought across they path by the chances and changes of life (that is, by the Providence of God), whom it is in they power to help–he, stranger or enemy though he be,,–he is thy neighbor.”
For more posts on the parable of the good Samaritan see these posts:
Lutheran Ladies Connection 