What does it mean to show mercy? To love that generously?

Are we so invested in loving other people that their blood is on us?

When you bandage their wounds, is their mess getting on your life?

The story of the Good Samaritan is often given as an example of how to love well. And so we make stories of ‘good samaritans‘ go viral. We reduce this hard, challenging story to doing a good deed. A random act of kindness.  Paying it forward.

As I’ve thought about this, I’ve wondered.

Can you love someone anonymously?

Can you quantify two different expressions of love, or say that one is more loving or less so, because there is an added layer of anonymity? Do we devalue the hard work of up-close investment when we also use the same word for someone who does something quickly, anonymously?

Is giving boots the same as serving at a soup kitchen the same as giving a homeless man money the same as helping refugees the same as adoption the same as writing the same as shopping the same as babysitting the same as bandaging a stranger’s wounds?

This is a hard story because we have to ask ourselves, particularly in this season when giving is trendy, and corporations want us to invest in them and call it generosity and loyalty, are we bloody?

The wisdom in this parable is not just about being generous. It’s about investment. When we help, is it mere humanitarian charity or is it rooted in the redemptive hope of Jesus?

“Building community is what good neighbors do…people need good neighbors much more than they need good theology or good development theory.” – Walking With the Poor

It’s interesting to me that the story begins with eternal life and ends with mercy and loving our neighbor.

I desire mercy, not sacrifice.

It’s easy to ‘sacrifice’ a few dollars each week to donate. But mercy…well, mercy requires so much more.

What does it mean to love?
What does it mean to show mercy?
What does it mean to get blood on us?

What if the Good Samaritan was a doctor?

What if the priest and Levite failed, not because they didn’t bandage him up and take him to the inn, but simply because  they didn’t use their gifts and callings to help him?  What if the Good Samaritan’s only mode of mercy was physical healing?  He didn’t pray with the man, he didn’t track down the robbers, he didn’t paint a picture to reveal the deeper truth or tell him a story that inspired him to not give up.

He doctored him.

It’s tricky. There are no 10 steps to being loving, no 4 laws of generosity.  Perhaps the answers to all of these questions can only be found in more personalized questions.

What is your calling?
Where is your sphere of influence?
Are you coming away bloody?
And if you aren’t…..how can you?

The only thing we can do is look to Jesus, his model and his words, pressing each other inward and deeper, constantly asking ourselves if we are getting blood on our hands.

Some of this encouragement I get to press in deeper is through the example of people I’m getting to know in this world of blogging.

“To be true to our identity as Christians, we must be in Christ and be doing mission, loving God and loving our neighbor. We are not who we truly are unless we are doing both.” – Walking With the Poor

Jessica’s boldness and passion inspire and challenge me.

She’s opened her life to strangers, and in turn, walked the delicate balance of sharing that life with the rest of us. Because of her willingness to love her actual-global-neighbor, many more of us have gotten to know a glimpse of their stories, and for some of us, getting involved from the safety of our homes has been a way to bleed.

I want to think that Jessica’s work with Hill Country Hill Tribers is worth more, because she spends more time with them, helping, loving, and knowing them.

Whereas I just buy stuff.

And yet, our motivations are the same. We want to honor the image of God that is in them. We want to help bring restoration to their lives and blessings, safety, a full life.

But if the measure of our love is how much blood we’ve shed or received, then the outward appearance is not going to look similar for anyone. What is merely a flesh wound for you might be open-heart surgery for me.  Which is a lesson we’ve been learning since ancient days.

All of our differences are required to blend into a thing of beauty.
And it takes both of us, all of us.

When we buy from the women of Hilltribers, we are able to affirm their worth, able to say the talents they are blessed with are valuable.

We may not be able to write the laws that govern political asylum, or know why the Burmese people need the safety of our shores, or even understand why they call their country Burma instead of Myanmar, but we can still be a vital part of their protection story.

Some people decry the commercialism and all of the buying at Christmas, but I see it as an opportunity to be generous, to show love, to be sacrificial and to let drops of blood touch my bank account.

“To work for human transformation as a Christian means working for the redemption of people, their social systems, and the environment that sustains their life – a whole gospel for all of life. This is the kingdom of God.” – Walking With the Poor

Shopping may seem an odd form of investment and blood. But when you are a frugal person, always out for the best deal, the cheapest price; dropping $24 on a necklace feels like a sacrifice.

But when you read that these women, these refugees, are getting the biggest paychecks they’ve ever gotten, that last week they made more than they did in the entire month of December last year, and when the daughters of 2 of your new friends will have the same handmade doll as your daughter – it doesn’t feel like the aftermath of carnage. It feels like connection, investment, love.

Heart strings can be knit through the internet, and the kingdom that affirms life can be present with the click of the ‘checkout’ button.