A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite… but a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.  Luke 10:30-33 

The Good Samaritan. We all know the story. A man is mugged, assaulted, robbed and left for dead. Along comes two religious leaders- a priest and a Levite in their sanctimonious robes unwilling to aid this man in distress. They know the commands of God, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18), but refuse to live it. Instead, a Samaritan, part of a despised minority, a half-breed Jew lavishes the love of God on the needy stranger. 

Lesson: Don’t be a hypocrite; live God’s love; practice what you preach. End of story. 

Maybe there’s more. 

Back in the 1970’s two Princeton psychologists did an experiment that replicated this Bible story using unsuspecting seminary students. The students were told to prepare a brief sermon on Luke 10:30-37 (the parable of the Good Samaritan) and on a given day were scheduled to report for a vocational career interview and a recording session to preach their homily. After the interview they were given directions to a “recording studio” in an adjacent office building. In the alley between the two buildings the researchers had placed an actor playing the part of a man in distress. The “victim” was sitting slumped in a doorway, head down, eyes closed, not moving. As the seminary student passed by, the victim coughed twice and groaned, keeping his head down. 

Just before the seminarians left to give their sermon (and encounter the wounded man) a variable was introduced. 

Some of the students were told, “Oh, you’re late. They were expecting you a few minutes ago. You’d better get moving. The assistant should be waiting for you so you’d better hurry.” 

Other students were told, “It’ll be a few minutes before they’ll be ready for you, but you might as well head on over. If you have to wait over there, it shouldn’t be long.” 

Interested in the results? Only 10 percent of the seminary students who were in a hurry stopped to help, while 63 percent of those who weren’t in a hurry stopped to help. Several student literally stepped over the victim in their haste to get to the recording studio. 

The researchers concluded that being a caring individual or even preaching on the Good Samaritan didn’t make a difference in responding to someone in need. The only thing that mattered was whether they were in a hurry. The words, “You’re late” had the effect of making someone who was ordinarily compassionate into someone who was indifferent to suffering. 

This makes perfect sense to me. As a believer in Jesus I already have a compassionate heart and so do you. And we desire to express God’s love to others. The enemy can’t change our heart, so instead he creates an environment of hurry in an effort to suppress God’s people from expressing God’s love to a hurting world. Very clever, devious, almost demonic. 

So whether you are rushing to Jerusalem to serve in the temple or rushing to Safeway to pick up a few last minute items for your Easter dinner, SLOW DOWN and you will find that there are many opportunities to impact others with the love of God. Part of walking with God is surrendering even our schedule to Him.