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 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.  Luke 10:31  

A man came in off the street just the other day, who wanted peanut butter and jelly.  It’s not unusual for people experiencing homelessness to come in and ask for things.  Usually they’re looking for a gas card, or some money, but this man truly just wanted some condiments for the bread he had been given.  Ruth Ann gets the credit on this one, because she was already heading out, and decided it wasn’t too far out of her way to pick up some PB&J.   

As the man waited patiently in the gathering space for Ruth Ann to return, a delivery came to our door.  It was our new trash cans, which came in eight separate, heavy and bulky packages. The man who had come in just looking for something to make sandwiches with, volunteered to help unload them.   

This time, the credit goes to Jody McKesson, because she facilitated the whole thing while I lamely sat in my office staring at my computer screen (though in fairness, I didn’t know about the delivery until after the cans had arrived).   

Then I read the Gospel this week, Luke 10:25-37 – The Parable of the Good Samaritan – and it occurred to me that sometimes helping others can be a two-way street.   

As a church, we like to think of ourselves as the Samaritan in this parable, but I think when we only see ourselves as the protagonist, we miss the larger point.  We are all the characters in this story.   

Who was the a “Samaritan” in our situation at church?  In one sense, it was the man from the street.  The unexpected help came from him, which means that Jody was the person in need that time.  But Ruth Ann also played the role of the Samaritan, going out of her way to get the man some peanut butter and Jelly.  And on that particular day, I’ll admit I was a bit more like the priest who passed by the other side. Though that’s tough for me to admit, most of us would be lying if we said that we never walked by a person in need before.   

We are all in this story, and at different times we have all been each character in it.  Though we like to imagine ourselves as always being the Samaritan hero, it’s important that we recognize our failures, and our needs and vulnerabilities as well.  It’s okay to need and accept help.  We were put on this earth to help and be helped, even when it comes from unlikely sources.  

That’s the power of a good parable.  It’s always a two-way street.