A Good Samaritan or a Hypocrite?

Grace Vagabond writes......

A Facebook acquaintance posed this question today and it challenged me to consider what i think about it. Just thought I’d share. He wrote…

Is God a “Good Samaritan” or a hypocrite?

I define hypocrisy as: Do as I say, not as I do! I would like to share something that has been bothering me on and off for a while.

Jesus told this story and I’ve condensed it to keep this post short: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. “…a priest saw him, and passed by on the other side. “Likewise a Levite saw him, passed by on the other side. “But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him.”

Jesus ended the story by saying: “Go and do the same.”

Here’s my problem—every day I see or hear far worse of someone beaten, robbed, or left for dead by individuals and governments alike, yet it appears as if God is passing by on the opposite side of the road, not wanting to get involved. I see Him doing little to nothing yet He expects us to always show mercy and help our fellow man. “Do as I say, not as I do.” I don’t see God being the good Samaritan as He wants us to be. So, sometimes I have to ask the question: Is God a “Good Samaritan” or a hypocrite?

-The Why Guy

This sounds a lot like the age old “why would a good God allow bad things to happen” question. To be honest, I have yet to hear a completely satisfactory answer from anyone on it, because it seems like anything short of God preventing bad things, or at least cleaning up after bad things, puts a big ol’ question mark on His goodness. However…

I want to be careful here, because pain and suffering cannot be taken lightly and I dont mean to minimize the significance of it. I wonder though, if it is actually better for the human race that God does not, with the wave of His wand, correct all pain and suffering. Hear me out. I think we would all agree that as members of the human race, developing hearts of love, empathy, compassion and mercy for our fellow man is of great value. But if we never experienced pain and suffering, how could we ever develop that heart of love, compassion and mercy for our brothers and sisters? If there was no pain and suffering in our lives, it seems that no one would give a rip about others and because of that, we would do no, and be no good to the world at large. For as much a we despise pain and suffering, I think it may actually be a gift to humanity. Without it, we would not know the HOW of love. We would never learn HOW to be the hands and feet of God. Love is best displayed in our response to pain and suffering. Sadly, our lack of love is displayed in the absence of response to pain and suffering.

As for the question of God doing little or nothing to respond to the pain and suffering that plagues our planet…

What if His response is US? What if WE ARE God’s response to pain and suffering and rather than seeing God as a deadbeat dad, perhaps when pain and suffering are allowed to go on untreated, it is we who fail, because it is we who are His instruments of mercy, compassion and healing. Perhaps this is why Jesus said “Go and do the same.”