21st Century Samaritans
In July 2018 a group of 12 boys and their football coach were trapped underground for 17 days.
A group of expert volunteer cave divers, 13 of them foreign, completed the rescue safely on the 17th day.
These divers were modern day Good Samaritans.
Out of 7.5 billion people in the world these divers were the people who came to rescue them.
Some flew across the world to rescue boys from a foreign country and I suspect this was at their own expense
They risked their lives diving in the caves and one diver died trying to deliver oxygen to the boys
They saw a need and responded with bravery, skill and compassion.
Their actions were full of generosity to people they had never met
Without these actions the boys and their coach would be dead now.
In the well-known parable that Jesus told, which we find recorded in Luke 10, it was the Samaritan who went to the aid of the bleeding stranger who had been beaten, stripped and robbed and left to die.
Jesus told the story in answer to a question ‘Who is my neighbour?’ The answer of course is anyone who is bleeding, trapped, hungry, lonely, sick etc. We don’t all have the skills to help boys trapped in a labyrinth of caves but we all have the skills to help most people in need.
This a great story of good news for a world that does not have the best reputation for those important qualities of caring, compassion, sacrifice and love.