|
"I remember when Mrs. King and I were first in Jerusalem. We rented a car and drove from Jerusalem down
to Jericho. And as soon as we got on that road, I said to my wife, "I can see why Jesus used this as a setting for his parable."
It's a winding, meandering road. It's really conducive for ambushing. You start out in Jerusalem, which is about 1200 miles,
or rather 1200 feet above sea level. And by the time you get down to Jericho, fifteen or twenty minutes later, you're about
2200 feet below sea level. That's a dangerous road. In the day of Jesus it came to be known as the "Bloody Pass." And you
know, it's possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still
around. Or it's possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking. And he was acting like he had been robbed
and hurt, in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure. And so the first question that the
Levite asked was, "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed
the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?".
That's the question before you tonight. Not, "If I stop to help the sanitation
workers, what will happen to all of the hours that I usually spend in my office every day and every week as a pastor?" The
question is not, "If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?" "If I do no stop to help the sanitation workers,
what will happen to them?" That's the question."
Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater
determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We
have an opportunity to make America a better nation.
-Martin Luther King
|
