"So this lawyer walks up to Jesus..."

Sounds like a set up to a joke. Instead it's the opening to one of the most famous stories of all time.

The lawyer, a guy skilled at leveraging loopholes of the law for his gain, approaches the famed teacher to trap him in a theological quagmire.

"Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

Jesus reverses the question and puts the lawyer on the stand, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?"

The lawyer, unaccustomed to being tried, stumbles through with an answer any Jewish kid in first year synagogue would know, "You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself."

"You have answered correctly, do this, and you will live." Jesus responds. Trial over.

"May it please the court," the lawyer pipes up, "One more question." He doesn't want to let Jesus off the hook. Certainly it can't be that easy.

"And who is my neighbor?"

Jesus smiles and tells a story about a man left for dead by robbers, ignored by religious leaders, and rescued by a Samaritan man. Jesus asks the lawyer, "Who proved to be a good neighbor?"

The lawyer sheepishly responds, "The one who showed him mercy." He couldn't even say the word, "Samaritan," because in that day people like this lawyer saw others through lenses of race and belief. The Samaritans in Jesus' era were viewed much like whites regarded blacks in 1960s Birmingham.

"Go and do likewise."

Jesus painted the picture of UNCOMMEN compassion where we risk personal safety, reputation, time, and our own dime to help those in need. The common thought held by church goers in that day was to "love God and love those who love God." Jesus challenged this commonly held belief by saying real compassion is shown by people who love God by loving those far from God. UNCOMMEN cross streets of prejudice, comfort zones, and inconvenience to serve those least deserving.

Ask yourself - what roads are the hardest for me to cross to help those in needs: time, money, safety? What people do you feel least called to serve? How can you follow this model of compassion?