Cross the Road: Seeing What Others Miss
For the Sake of Others | Luke 10:25–37
Speaker: Martin O’Brien
As we continued our series ‘For the Sake of Others’, Martin O’Brien explored what it looks like to be Christ's ambassadors in the everyday moments of life.
What does it really mean to live for the sake of others?
Sometimes it begins with something incredibly simple:
Seeing what others miss.
Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10 gives us a powerful picture of what this can look like.
Who Is My Neighbour?
An expert in religious law asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life.
Jesus turned the question back to him, and the answer was clear:
“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind. And, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’”
But the man wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus:
“And who is my neighbour?”
It is an interesting question.
He's looking for a definition.
He's looking for a boundary.
He's asking, “Who do I have to love?”
But Jesus responds by telling a story that completely changes the question.
The Problem Wasn't Sight
Jesus tells of a man travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho who is attacked, beaten and left half dead by the roadside.
A priest comes along.
He sees the man.
But he crosses to the other side of the road.
Then a Temple assistant comes along.
He also sees the man.
But he passes by.
The problem wasn't that they didn't see.
The problem was their response.
And perhaps this is a challenge for us too.
Most of us aren't necessarily lacking awareness. We see people who are struggling. We notice when someone is lonely. We know when a colleague isn't really okay.
The question is:
Do we keep walking, or do we respond?
The Enemy of Love
Perhaps the priest was busy.
Perhaps he had somewhere to be.
Perhaps there was something important on his schedule.
How often are we so focused on what is happening next that we miss what is happening now?
We can become so consumed by our schedules, commitments and plans that we miss the person right in front of us.
One of the greatest enemies of love may not be hatred.
It may be busyness.
Hurry makes us unavailable.
Unavailable to notice.
Unavailable to listen.
Unavailable to care.
Unavailable to be interrupted.
Yet when we look at the life of Jesus, so much of His ministry happened through what we might call interruptions.
People interrupted Jesus constantly.
But somehow, He always had time.
Perhaps that's because what we call an interruption, Jesus called ministry.
Compassion Moves
Then comes the person nobody expected to be the hero.
A Samaritan.
Jesus says:
“When he saw the man, he felt compassion for him.”
The Samaritan saw exactly what the priest and Temple assistant had seen.
But he had a different heart.
Compassion changed everything.
Compassion isn't simply pity.
Pity feels.
Compassion moves.
Compassion asks:
“What can I do?”
And the Samaritan did something.
He went to the man.
He treated his wounds.
He carried him.
He took him to an inn.
He paid for his care.
He gave his time, energy, resources and attention.
Love always costs something.
It costs time.
It costs convenience.
It costs comfort.
It costs energy.
It costs attention.
But that is exactly the kind of love Jesus has shown us.
Jesus didn't love us from a distance.
He stepped into our brokenness.
He carried our burdens.
He paid our debt.
The Good Samaritan doesn't just show us how to love others.
He points us towards Jesus.
Becoming a Neighbour
The expert in religious law asked:
“Who is my neighbour?”
But Jesus turns the question around.
The issue isn't simply identifying who deserves our love.
The question is whether we will become loving people.
At the end of the story Jesus asks which person was a neighbour to the man who had been attacked.
The answer:
“The one who showed him mercy.”
And Jesus responds:
“Yes, now go and do the same.”
One question is about limits.
Jesus' question is about character.
The issue isn't identifying our neighbours.
It's becoming one.
Crossing the Road
People who live for the sake of others move towards people.
They cross roads.
Not just physically, but emotionally, socially and spiritually.
They move towards the lonely person.
Towards the grieving person.
Towards the anxious person.
Towards the struggling family.
Towards the single parent.
Towards the elderly neighbour.
Towards the person carrying debt.
Towards the young person battling anxiety.
Towards the colleague who always says they're fine, even though you know they're not.
God is often asking us to see the one person.
The person He has placed directly in our path.
Who Has God Placed on Your Road?
The challenge for us isn't simply to become more aware of the needs around us.
It's to respond.
So perhaps there are three questions we can take away from this passage:
Who has God placed on your road?
What are you noticing?
What is your next step?
The church exists for people like those we encounter on the road.
We are here for the sake of others.
God has equipped us to live this transformed life, not simply for ourselves, but as Christ's ambassadors in the places He has put us.
We may not be able to solve every problem.
We won't always know exactly what to say.
But we can notice.
We can stop.
We can listen.
We can care.
We can show compassion.
We can take the next step.
Because living for the sake of others isn't simply about seeing the people God puts in our path.
It is loving them enough to cross the road towards them.
And Jesus' final instruction is as relevant to us today as it was then:
“Go and do the same.”