Issue 262
Based on Luke 10:25-37
Have you noticed that the workplace or marketplace is littered with an injury list of casualties? Some are easy to spot, like bankruptcies or redundancies. Others are common but can be hidden, like victims of bullying or dissatisfied employees. As anger erupts in a team the injuries surface, and long held grievances display their ugly faces. Some people have been treated badly; others have made choices that have left them trapped in an unsuitable job. Some carry disappointment to work with them every day and others are just plain tired.
Of course, there are many people who go to work with a spring in their step, love what they do, and find real pleasure in their achievements. This piece may not be directly for you, if that is you, except that someone next to you may be a casualty, as you also may be one day. So don’t delete just yet.
Back to the injury list: a closer look will reveal that some are casualties because others have attacked or abused them; some are there because of almost inexplicable combinations of circumstances, which in the workplace gets labelled ‘bad luck’. Others have not received adequate training, and still others are only there because they need the money.
Of all the people on the list it is those who seem to have brought it upon themselves who engender the least sympathy. Your heart goes out to the abused, downtrodden or unfortunate – but the error-strewn path of the incompetent, immoral or downright reckless can leave you cold.
Surprisingly this was the predicament of the traveller on the Jericho road . The story is, as you would expect, brilliantly crafted. A man going down (the road descends three thousand feet) from Jerusalem to Jericho, was entering one of the most notorious, dangerous and difficult roads that anyone hearing the story had encountered. Every listener knew that this road was infested with crime. It was tortuous, twisted, desolate, rock strewn, and unpredictable. If a criminal had been asked to custom-build a road for robbery he would have built it like this – and everyone knew it.
If you wanted to travel this “road of blood” or “red route” as it was later called, you generally took an armed guard or teamed up with other travellers for road safety in numbers.
So, for a man to travel alone down this route was at best reckless, and at worst, just plain foolish. We are not told what possessed him to take such a journey. Maybe there was a crisis in Jericho, maybe a relative was critically ill, or maybe it was just a bad decision. Either way he broke the highway code, no one was surprised at the outcome and there was no one to blame but himself.
We are not absolving the thieves of their responsibility here but the fact remains that the traveller was bleeding, beaten, battered and dying because he made some crazy choices.So here is another challenge from the Jericho road for you to take to work this week – people who make bad choices need a neighbour. The workplace has a habit of passing by, ignoring, discarding, or even kicking them again – but for you, this challenge means doing whatever is in your power personally, professionally, organizationally, or officially to get that traveller back on the road.
Of course there is an assumption here. Suppose you are the reckless casualty. Suppose it’s you who is beaten and battered as the result of your own crazy choices. The Storyteller himself has catered for such a possibility.
Lie still, there is a Samaritan coming shortly.
Luke 10:25-37
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered: ” ‘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, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” 29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ 36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” 37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
In preparation for the next GEOFFSHATTOCKweekly, do feel free to email us your thoughts to wtw@worktalk.gs or leave a comment on our Facebook or Twitter profile. You can also visit our YouTube channel - get inspired and share Worktalk's vision with others.
Work well
Geoff Shattock
© Copyright 2024 Geoff Shattock
All GEOFFSHATTOCKweekly archives are for personal use only. For permission to use for any other purposes please email using the address below thank you.
WORKTALK LEARNING
1 Washington Villas, Hythe Road, Marchwood, Southampton, Hampshire, SO40 4WT United Kingdom
T:+44 (0)23 8086 8543
http://www.geoffshattock.com
comms@worktalk.gs
