Thursday, February 3, 2011

What about the innkeeper....

Tonight we had Wyldlife.  It happens every two weeks and is always the highlight of my week.  Spending time with a bunch a crazy junior highers quickly reminds me of whats important and to never lose sight of that.  Anyway, tonight one of the leaders spoke on the parable of the Good Samaritan and she did an awesome job.  I, like most people, am familiar with the story but after coming home tonight I found myself drawn back to it, wanting to know and investigate more.  As I got to the end of it I realized that there is a 5th person to the story that often gets overlooked, the innkeeper.


The innkeeper is mentioned only once in a short verse where the samaritan instructs him to take care of the wounded man and upon his return the innkeeper will be paid in full.  Thats it, thats all we hear about him.  In actuality he plays a bigger role then I had ever noticed before.  By the samaritans' request the innkeeper is asked to ensure of the man's survival for little or no compensation.  The samaritan does say that he will return but how can the innkeeper be so sure.  And still he does.  The innkeeper relinquishes his own feeling and thoughts toward the situation and out of obedience, trust, and the goodness of his own heart, cares for the man.  What a selfless act.


When I think about the innkeeper's role in this story I cant help but wish that I could be like that.  That I could have enough trust and obedience to put my own emotions and side and act out of the goodness of my heart.  What a humbling reminder of what we all should strive for.

10 comments:

  1. Trust is such a hard issue for us. I wish that I could trust anyone like the innkeeper trusted the good Samaritan. It is so hard because I feel like I can't trust anyone because at some point or another, I get crushed.

    Thanks for sharing this story. You have opened my thoughts about this to try and trust people more.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What verse is that?

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is totally connected with what Bri wrote about Peter saying "I Will" when Jesus told him to cast his nets.

    Sometimes I simply need to say yes to Jesus without weighing all the pro and cons.

    Great thoughts, Kate.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Obedience even when we can't necessarily see the end results. Not an easy thing...but completely necessary. Lord help use to trust you completely!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Awesome insight!! Thank you so much for sharing. May I become more like the innkeeper as well :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am so glad you shared this with us... its amazing that the "fogotten" one in the story may just be the lifeline that God sent. I really do think God sends us angels in the rarest form and its usually the people we look past, the ones that appear to make a "subtle" difference. What amazes me is the humility that the inkeeper posseses. Its something we can all try to embody in our own lives. We need to remember how much Jesus humbled himself to love them unloved. We need to break our hearts everyday for God and this story is just another to edify that. AWESOME.

    ReplyDelete