by Deloris Pruitte
A thought came to me during a trip to Bob Evans with my brother-in-law. We were waiting for our dinner when I started to read the newspaper. I looked through it for an interesting topic when I saw a picture of an elderly woman being knocked down a very long and hard marble staircase by people trying to get to where they needed to be.
The article talked about how many people are not as nice as they used to be these days in many different places: New York came in first place, Miami came in second place and Washington, D.C. came in third place as cities with the meanest people. This really got my attention because as Christians we should show kindness even to people we don’t like. When I think of kindness and love, Jesus is the first to come to mind, not just because he died on the cross, but because of His way salvation and how His actions towards others changed people’s souls and lives. God and Jesus are not into favoritism or factions.
Other people that also came to mind are Zachheas, the Samaritan Woman, and the Good Samaritan. The story of Zacchaeus is found in Luke 19:1-10. Zacchaeus was a tax collector and many people didn’t like him because of that – because he charged more than what he was supposed to. When Jesus came into town everyone crowded around Him, but Jesus went to Zacchaeus and showed kindness to him when no one else did.
The story of the Samaritan Woman that can be found in John 4:1-30. No one liked the Samaritan Woman because of her past and present relationships. It was so bad she had to get water in the middle of the day because none of the women liked her. Jesus talked to her and He showed kindness to her.
Finally, the story of the Good Samaritan is in Luke 10:25-37. When a Jewish man got jumped and robbed, none of the church officials paid attention to him. Only a Samaritan showed kindness and wasn’t prejudiced about it. He did the best he could to help a man he wasn’t supposed to like.