Christian Charity at Christmas

Christmas, being celebrated by 93% of Canadians, is a perfect time of the year to practice the 9 Christian virtues as described in Galations 5:22-23

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."

There are well worn platitudes about all of these.

Does Santa and commercial Christmas necessarily include or mandate that some or all of these Christian virtues will be achieved?

I want to go beyond these platitudes and knee-jerk responses in this Blog posting.

Consider the Parable of the Good Samaratin of Luke 10:25-37.  Unlike the Pharisee and the Levite who passed by a badly injured victim of crime without stopping, the Samaritin doesn't turn a blind eye to the inconvenient victim of robbery, left for dead at the side of the road.  The Samaratin finds, gives immediate First Aid.  Next, the Samaratin carries the Jewish victim to the nearest inn, nurses him through the night.  In the morning, the Samaratin pays the innkeeper a deposit worth 2 danari, asking the innkeeper to continue caring for the victim after the Samaratin goes, and if the innkeeper incurs even more expenses, the Samaratin will reimburse the innkeeper upon his return.

Wow!  The Samaratin treats the Jewish stranger as if he was the most loved member of his family.

Recently, archeologists found a wooden sign for a roadside inn from the time of Jesus, where the going inn rate was 1/32 of a danari for a one night stay.  On this basis, the Samaritin paid for the Jewish crime victim's room and lodging for 64 nights, more than 2 months, then offered even more if required.

For typical hotel today, we'd usually pay about $100.00 per night, plus another $100 for 3 meal per day at the hotel, for a total of $200 per day.  At 64 nights, the total equivalent bill would be $12,800.00 today.

I have never done anything close to this as charity for my fellow human beings.  The best I can offer as evidence of charity is buying lunch for a homeless person, and groceries for another person panhandling on the street (they had an apartment where they could cook).

Many of us have done "small acts of random kindness", perhaps paying for the coffee of the stranger in line behind us at the drive-through window.  I am all in favor of these opportunities of demonstrating humanity in a crazy, sinful world.

We may have felt smug at the time of this charitable act, but how does this small act of random kindness compare to the Good Samaratin?  If we repeated these small acts every waking hour  for the entire year (ie. 12 times per day X 365 days per year) it would be equivalent to the Good Samaratin's actions.  Who does that today?

No me, how about you?

I now see my charitable actions of the past were nothing compared to the Good Samaratin.  The Good Samaratin gave the equivalent of 320 times greater than my greatest charity.  Our annual tithe doesn't even cover what the Good Samaratin willingly paid for his culturally imposed enemy of that day (ie. the Jews).

I am nothing compared to the Good Samaratin.  The greatest charity I have ever done is nothing when compared to the Good Samaratin.

The Good Samaratin was under the Law, and did the required charity and brotherly love for neighbours towards a sworn enemy (ie. a Jew).

Even though I fancy myself a Born Again Christian, I don't meet the standard of the Law, let alone the heightened interpretation of the Law provided by Jesus during His Sermon on the Mount.

Do I ever see myself meeting this high standard?

I don't know.  If any of us were suddenly thrust into a similar situation today, would most of us shrink into the night after dialing 911?  Would we comfort and care for the victim while awaiting the ambulance, even if it meant getting a stranger's blood on our hands &/or clothes?  Would we push through the barriers of patient confidentiality in the formal medical system so as to ensure the system is taking good care of the crime victim we had discovered?  Would we intervene and advocate for the patient if we could identify some shortfall, or crack in the health care system into which the victim had fallen?  Would we fund some optional treatment that was withheld from the victim but that would enhance his recovery if someone authorized it and funded it?

I am afraid I would fail the full challenge.  How about you?

My only hope is to continue my voyage of learning from and following the Bible, and the real life examples modeled by Jesus Christ.

Thank God that I can earn salvation through believing in the blood of Jesus Christ, and removing iniquity from my life.

In the interim, I must rely on my confession, just like the publican did, that I am a sinner, that I fall short of God's standard as described in God's 26 Commandment for Christians, and fall short of the example provided by Jesus' parable of the Good Samaratin.