I helped two Chinese ladies change a flat last summer. I watched them hit a storm drain which popped their tire. Only one spoke a bit of English, and they gratefully accepted my help. In fact, they offered me a meal at the restaurant they run with their family, which I meant to collect until I lost their contact info. Hopefully my reward for the good deed (Chinese food) waits in heaven.

We all help folks out at times, just as we receive help from others. But the parable of the Good Samaritan drives home the need for a deeper examination of my life. You remember the story, how a man was beaten and left for dead, then passed over twice before the Samaritan took charge. At the end of the teaching Jesus asked:

Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers? The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

Showing mercy to those in need—the mark of a good neighbor.

Practice mercy. Not just talk it up, or like merciful stories on social media, or chronicle merciful actions on my blog (like I just did here). Go and perform mercy for those who need it. In the name of Jesus.

Holy Spirit, please empower me with a dose of your mercy today as I make my way in the world, so I might in turn be merciful to others.

Luke 10 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Denny Müller

I got a well-deserved switch a few times as a kid, as did all my friends, but I never heard of anyone facing the punishment prescribed to wayward sons by the Lord in the law given to Moses.

 If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.

A rebellious young man, disobedient, constantly drunk and grabbing everything for himself, might find himself dragged by his ear to the city elders to get stoned. Not the Colorado sense of stoned, as in one toke over the line sweet Jesus, but in the hit with rocks until you’re dead sense of stoned.

Harsh justice for the ungrateful child who lived only for himself and flaunted the sacrifices of his parents. Apparently, the punishment turned heads and straightened the spines of a few crappy kids.

I wonder how often this actually happened? What parent pulled one of their offspring through town to carry out this punishment? Hard to believe it ever took place.

But the threat surely shot out of the mouths of exasperated mothers when dealing with wild sons. Straighten up or I’ll drag you to the city gates! Then you’ll get what’s coming to you!

We can be grateful the Lord doesn’t treat us this way, despite our rebellious attitudes and penchant towards over-consuming whatever pleases us. God doesn’t even threaten us. He lets us wander and then guides us back, with only a few rocks underfoot along the way.

Deuteronomy 21 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Thomas Picauly

Jesus entered the village of Nain, walked straight into a funeral procession and jolted life into a dead man. The only son of a widow, the mother depended on the boy. Jesus’s act placed her back on solid footing in a society where childless widows faced desperate futures.

It doesn’t appear that Jesus knew this woman or her son before he strolled into town. However, it didn’t take much for Jesus to understand the woman’s predicament. Jesus acted with compassion and mercy in reanimating the son.

Also, neither the woman nor her son show any previous knowledge of the man who crashed their ceremony. Jesus played his trump card over death for a family who didn’t follow him or profess faith in him—at least not yet.

Along with mother and son, the entire burial entourage experienced an impossible miracle. Hope born again. Heaven invaded their village for a day.

Of course, funerals don’t end miraculously. We experience tragic deaths and broken families again and again. This side of heaven they won’t go away.

But when Jesus arrived, a new hope entered those around him. It’s good to ask him to show up unexpectedly and fill us with his presence, whether we see hoped-for miracles or not.

Luke 7 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by panyawat auitpol

When strolling through museums in Italy, one sees numerous statues missing various body parts. The one pictured above bears the description: Headless statue depicting an emperor.

The sculptor used a rare type of marble, the expense pointing to the wealth of the benefactor. A powerful man went to great lengths to preserve his image for all posterity to remember him by.

Until his head got knocked off. How did that happen? Earthquake? Barbarians? A tiny fault line in the stone? Dropped during a move? Regardless, the identity rolled off with the head. No one today knows which emperor this statue represents.

The psalmist wrote of idols, words also appropriate for headless statues of emperors: They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell. They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.

Those who commission statues of themselves eventually turn out just like them—unhearing, unseeing, unfeeling. They join a long list of celebrities who flash and fade.

Instead of creating statues, let us enjoy this blessing shared by the psalmist: May the Lord cause you to flourish, both you and your children. May you be blessed by the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

We grow hard and lose our heads when we honor ourselves. We flourish, along with our families, as we give attention to the Lord. Enjoy his blessings today as you keep the faith.

Psalm 115 in reading the Bible in 2023