On Sunday Night of our revival this week, our evangelist Dr. Bryant Barnes preached on the story of the Good Samaritan. In the course of the message, he told about the Good Samaritan carrying the wounded man to an inn and taking care of him. Then it is recorded: "The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have'" (Luke 10:35). Bryant said that it would have been easy for the innkeeper to say, "You don't expect me to believe that do you? I've heard all of that before. You will never be back."
I must confess to having felt a little uneasy at that point in the sermon because I have often had those feelings. Let me tell you why.
When I went to pastor First Baptist Church of Arcadia, Louisiana, I discovered that our location near Interstate 20 attracted a steady stream of travelers looking for a handout. One of their favorite ways of asking for help was to explain that they were on their way to a job in Texas if they were traveling west, and on their way to a job in Florida if they were traveling east. Moreover, they frequently promised to send the money back to you as soon as they got the job and got on their feet. I told them that would not be necessary, but many of them insisted.
Several people were headed to Florida to pick fruit. One of them asked if I liked oranges. When I told him that I did, he promised to send me a whole box of oranges from Florida. I said, "If you don't mind, could you also send me a box of grapefruit?" He said, "No problem." Then I wrote down the address to which he could send the fruit. When Danielle wanted to buy a sack of oranges, I told her that would not be necessary because soon we would be receiving a box of oranges as well as a box of grapefruit from Florida.
After several months of fruitless waiting for boxes of oranges and grapefruit to fill the hallway outside the door of my office, I must confess to a rising sense of disappointment and creeping cynicism. It finally got to the point that if anyone asked for our address to which they could send back money or fruit, I wouldn't take the time to write it out. I would say, "Just send it to Arcadia, Louisiana. They all know me here."
Author Madeleine L'Engle once said of the book business, "I'm all for realism in the book business, but I'm afraid of cynicism, and the two are often too close for comfort."
That is also the struggle in the Christian life. Jesus said that we are to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves. We cannot succumb to gullibility, and neither can we become hardened and cynical about life.
When you look at the story of the Good Samaritan, it was not just the Good Samaritan who stuck his neck out; it was also the innkeeper. Maybe we ought to call it the story of "The Good Samaritan and the Good Innkeeper."
