25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
It's interesting how we end up "labeling" biblical accounts with titles: "The Good Samaritan" and descriptions like "Mary chooses the better thing." Nowhere is this Samaritan rescuer called "good", whereas the word "better" is better translated "good" in verse 42. But the labels do fit. Perhaps we would do better to take both passages together as proving a point, rather than isolating them into separate stories like we often do. Both demonstrate that we are faced with choices every day on how to spend our resources and our times. There are many "good" things we can do with them, but as stewards of both, we are called upon to choose the "better" or best ones. Two of the characteristics of these "better" choices are that 1) they pull us outside of our comfort zones to actually do something to show grace, love and mercy. We are called upon not just to look our sound like we follow Christ, but do things that reflect His likeness. 2) We also will be fine-tuned into listening to Him and responding to His will. It is only then that we will actually be aware of situations that fit the first characteristic above - when we see and hear the needs of others like He does, and are driven to do something to meet them or make things right. May He show us the "good" and the "better" today, and may we do them for Him.
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