Connect with us:
CHRISTIAN LEGAL AID OF LOS ANGELES
  • Events
    • 2022 Prayer Breakfast
  • Home
    • Our Staff
  • About
    • What We Do >
      • Our Services >
        • Our Clients
        • Blog
  • Donate
    • Micah 6:8
  • Get Involved
    • Learn
    • Volunteer
    • Pray
    • Intern
  • Contact
  • Español

Reversing the Question

3/4/2015

1 Comment

 
We’ve been talking over the last month about what it means to see our neighbor - to really recognize them as individuals beyond the contexts and situations we meet them in. But we’ve known all along that merely seeing people isn’t enough. At some point, we must translate our seeing into doing. 
Picture
But what does that look like? How can we know how to act - and have the courage to do so? And why, in middle of the busyness that fills our lives, while we still honor our responsibilities to family and work and immediate community, would we bother? 

This is where the parable of the Good Samaritan instructs us, as followers of Christ, to be different. To understand that we can’t demonstrate and experience the love of Christ on our own or in our isolated enclaves. To reverse the question.  
It's possible that those men [who passed the wounded stranger by] were afraid….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 priest asked, 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?" 

-- Dr. Martin Luther King, 3 April 1968

When we reverse the question, we turn the corner toward authentic service. We are able to finally move beyond our comfortable isolation and into another person’s reality that we may not yet understand. We are placed in the uncomfortable place of asking a question to which we don’t know the answer. We move from merely seeing a problem, to knowing a person, to beginning to respond in love.

How can you reverse the question today? 
1 Comment
Lia link
5/21/2022 06:37:52 pm

Great read thank you.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    About Us

    This blog is written by staff, supporters, and friends of CLA-LA to encourage the pursuit of justice in every area of life.

    While legal information may be posted from time to time, it is for educational purposes only and does not create an attorney-client relationship.

    If you need legal advice, contact a lawyer. We may also be able to provide referrals in some situations.


    Newsletters


    Archives

    April 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    April 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    August 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015

    Categories

    All
    Doing Justice


​Donate Now
Get Involved
​
​Media

Copyright © 2019 Christian Legal Aid of Los Angeles
Legal Documents
Picture