I saw something today that really challenged me. I read that Martin Luther King Jr., said of the story of the Good Samaritan that the Samaritan reversed the question in the story. Instead of asking, “What will happen to me if I help this man?” he asked, “What will happen to this man if I don’t help him?”
Honestly, that stopped me in my tracks. I have taught and preached on that story lots of times before and somehow had missed that point of view, had never heard it put that way. And it makes the whole story make sense to me, especially when you consider the context of the parable. Jesus told the story in response to being asked who we are to consider our neighbors. The answer, in a bigger sense, is every other human who needs our help.
In the context of the ever-widening racial divide in our country, and the increasing acts of violence against people of color, we are challenged with the same questions. Who are our neighbors? And what will happen to them if we fail to get involved and help?
That is the first question we need to ask. And if we are honest, we have a pretty clear idea of the answer. And the answer is not good. If we choose to continue to sit by and wring our hands and post memes while not doing anything that might cost us or challenge the status quo, nothing will change, at least not for the better.
But I thought of something else as I read this today. It should not be the first question we ask, but it is worth our consideration: What will happen to us if we do not help? What will happen to us if we stay on the sidelines while senseless violence continues to be carried out against people whose only “offense” is having the “wrong” color of skin? How much of our humanity will we lose? How much of it are willing to give up in order to stay out of the fight? Because, to be honest, a bit of our humanity died recently on that street in Minneapolis with George Floyd and in that suburb outside of Brunswick, Georgia with Ahmud Arbery.
At some point, those who truly believe that what we are seeing is wrong, must step up and stand beside those being hurt and killed and link arms and declare that we are brothers and sisters and that what happens to one of us truly happens to us all.