In his short story “The Hurt Man,” Wendell Berry recounts how Nancy Beechum welcomed a complete stranger into her home after he stumbled up the street, bloodied, with a crowd of fierce, angry men chasing him. Nancy opened her door and washed the clotted blood from his body. She pressed the white rags, now crimson, onto his cuts. The hurt man trembled as Nancy spoke gently to him: ”You’re going to be all right.”
I see in Berry’s tale a parallel to the parable of the Good Samaritan. Similarly to the wounded man in Berry’s story, Jesus told how bandits attacked a Jewish man making the trek from Jerusalem to Jericho. The ruffians “stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road” (Luke 10:30).
Soon enough, however, a priest began traveling this same way. Surely this man of faith would tend to his countryman’s need! But the priest merely “crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by” (Luke 10:31). Still another neighbor happened by. This temple assistant even walked over to investigate the crime, but he too simply “passed by on the other side” (Luke 10:32).
Finally, a “despised Samaritan” (the very last person anyone would ever expect to help a Jew) saw the beaten man, “felt compassion for him [and] soothed his wounds” (Luke 10:33-34). The Samaritan carried the man on his donkey to an inn where he received care, and even covered the costs.
The Samaritan, like Nancy Beechum, refused to ignore the man’s pain and simply did what he could. The Samaritan tended to the man’s wounds the best he was able. We may think we have little to offer, but our hands (our presence and attention) can mend wounds and participate in God’s ongoing work to heal the world one person at a time.
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Mark 6:1-13
More:
Read Luke 10:25-29 and consider what it means to truly love God and your neighbor.
Next:
When have you felt wounded and abandoned? What person or place in your world do you sense most needs your healing presence? What will you do today to help meet the need?
Gary Shultz on July 14, 2017 at 5:33 am
Hi Winn: I will try to answer this one with more exacting real life happenings. In the past I often felt wounded and possibly abandoned. Not so much, anymore, God has brought me through those times, although I don’t understand all the why’s, God held me through it all. Right now there is a recent widow who needs to have someone to talk to now and then. That one is not extremely difficult, a little visit once in a while is enjoyable for her and to me. People who are “in tune” with God will find it a part of life to help meet others needs. In a real life situation like the selfless acts of the Samaritan we will speak to the wounded more than any law, ritual, or church program. Helping speak massive volumes to others, as God’s hands do to us. There are many peoples in need we can not reach, but many good ministries can, so prayer and giving can also play an important part in our “Healing Hands” life style. Thanks Winn
Winn Collier on July 14, 2017 at 5:16 pm
I’m glad God has carried you through those spaces and you’re now offering yourselves to others in the same place. That’s grace.
Tom Felten on July 14, 2017 at 11:09 am
Winn, your post made me think of the many people who have extend “healing hands” to me over the years. What amazing caring acts—displaying the love of Jesus. There have been times when—by God’s grace—I’ve also extended healing hands. The times I haven’t, however, are all about two issues—fear and selfishness. Praying that today, as needs arise, I’ll yield to the Holy Spirit’s guidance and reach out!
Winn Collier on July 15, 2017 at 12:48 pm
I’m with you, Tom
hsnpoor on July 14, 2017 at 5:06 pm
“We may think we have little to offer, but our hands (our presence and attention) can mend wounds and participate in God’s ongoing work to heal the world one person at a time”. I understand exactly what Tom means when he attributes our failure to help to “fear and selfishness”, especially the latter for me. But I also believe Winn’s comment that I’ve quoted here is often quite a hindrance, as well, and a demonic one at that. It’s so like the devil to make us think our little is not enough, forgetting that our little “whatever” offered to and blessed by God will open the windows of heaven to pour out blessings without measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, to the glory of God, one person at a time.