A Reflection on the Parable of the Good Samaritan

One of the things I value the most in this life is the Holy Scripture, the Bible. It wasn't that way in the beginning. I grew up where the Bible is only read in church every Sunday.

I wasn't able to own a complete Old and New Testament Bible until I was in college. I used to have a Gideons New Testament with Psalms and Proverbs when I was in high school. I was so happy for the Gideons International to give me that booklet for free.

Through it I was able to read my favorite verse early in life, John 3:16. It was written in many languages in that New Testament. One of my favorite Gospel stories to read (actually it's a parable) was the Parable of the Good Samaritan. I've heard it read once in church and it was taught in class by our catechist.

I was fascinated by the Samaritan's exemplary act of mercy on a stranger who was robbed and left half-dead by the bandits. I didn't understand why the two religious men would pass the dying man by and would not take care of him or help him.

I understand now. But back then, I was provoked to anger by the indifference of the priest and the Levite. I was in awe, however, of the Samaritan's good and tender heart. He was my hero, a good example to follow.

I wasn't a believer then when I first heard and read this story. I got converted later in life. But this story and the message it conveys became more meaningful to me as I grow in my knowledge of the Bible's overall message.

From the vantage point of redemptive history, I see more and more the resemblance of God's work of rescuing helpless and dying men through the work of Christ in this parable. I am seeing more and more Christ in the Good Samaritan who rescued not just a needy stranger but really an enemy.

The Samaritans had nothing to do with the Jews at that time (cf. John 4:9). And so for a Samaritan to have pity on, to rescue, and to take care of an enemy is mind-boggling. It was an extraordinary, out-of-this-world act.

Reflecting on this story, I realize that its message is no different from the storyline of the whole Bible. It's a story of rescuing someone from sure death. It's a story of saving an enemy from danger. It's a story of salvation and redemption.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan is a story within a larger story. It's the story of God rescuing and delivering fallen men, in fact enemies, from sin and death, through the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

A Testimony of My Conversion and Call to the Ministry

Shared at the Gideons International Mindanao Camp Gathering in Tagum City on September 23, 2016

Good evening, friends. At the outset, I'd like to thank the organizer for giving me this opportunity to share with you my experience with the ministry of the Gideons International. I'd like to begin by saying that I have believed in God and was taught about Jesus since I was a child. I owned a blue New Testament given by the Gideons International representatives when I was in high school. From that New Testament I learned about the life and ministry of Jesus. Through it also I was able to read the books of Psalms and Proverbs.

Early in my life, I have desired to serve God in full-time ministry as a priest in the Roman Catholic Church. Yet I grew up a disobedient child. The concept of the fear of the Lord was unknown to me. I may have looked nice outwardly but deep within I was miserable. My conscience would always bother me and condemn me and I was so uncertainty of my future.

It wasn't very obvious to others but I was very afraid to die. Although I knew that Jesus Christ saves, still I did not have the faith to trust Him fully. So I tried hard doing nice things, like being respectful to my parents, doing the dishes and other house chores, and many other kind deeds. I was made to believe that in doing good works I can sort of earn my way to heaven.

But it did not help me at all and I was quite frustrated. There was something that I was looking for that I haven't found and tasted during those years.

It was the French physicist and philosopher Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) who spoke of people's need for God when he said, "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man, which only God can fill through his Son Jesus Christ." About 1200 years before Pascal, Augustine (354-430) also wrote, “You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

Those quotes from Pascal and Augustine are true in my life. There was a vacuum in me that needs to be filled and there was some kind of restlessness that I didn't know how to put to rest. I thank God that in Christ he fills my emptiness and enables me to rest and to live in peace.

It was in February 1986 when I came to meet a Baptist minister from Bacolod City. He shared to me what I called "a strange teaching about God." We were roommates at a secondary school press conference in Iloilo province.

One night he saw me reading my blue Gideons New Testament. It has been my habit to read my New Testament before I sleep at night. He then asked me if I was a Christian. I was a Roman Catholic at that time. He then asked me if I could spare a few minutes to talk with me about some important things. I said "Yes" out of respect.

Using a Bible tract, he then started to explain to me the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man, and the death of Christ in a way that I did not see in my upbringing. Gradually I was beginning to understand the gospel, the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ.

At first I was so skeptical at what he was telling me. But later, I was moved to believe that Christ indeed saves, as the Bible says, and by believing in Him, I can be assured of my salvation.

Knowing this gracious saving act of God in Christ toward sinners like me, I was led to confess and repent from my sins. I then began to experience that sense of joy and peace deep within. The things that Augustine and Pascal were talking about became real to me. That peace within that wasn't there before started to overwhelm me.

My contact with this Baptist minister was short. When I returned home after the conference, I started reading some of the Bible tracts that he gave me. I also continued reading my blue Gideons New Testament. When I entered college in 1987, one of my older brothers, who was a new believer, was instrumental in my conversion and in my new found love for the Word of God.

Since then, God has used several people to help me grow in the Christian faith. And in the providence of God, I became a youth-worker serving the Lord among high school and college students. I would say that it was one of the most difficult yet faith-building experiences in life.

While I was serving as a youth-worker I was greatly influenced by the writings of John Stott and J. I. Packer. I especially like John Stott’s book Basic Christianity, which helped me in understanding the Ten Commandments. I was convicted of my sins while reading it.

However, I was also comforted knowing that Jesus paid for all my sins when He died at the cross. Stott also has emphasized in that book the atoning sacrifice of Christ at the cross and how that sacrifice satisfied the righteous requirement of God for our sin. I am so thankful that Christ did everything to secure my salvation.

The peace that I have been longing for has come as a result of the knowledge of God’s saving grace in Christ. My reading of the Bible became very meaningful. One time, I was reading Isaiah 53 where it says, "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds we are healed."

Isaiah was talking about the servant of the Lord who died and was condemned instead of God's people. Suddenly my eyes were opened to the truth that God will not take my sins against me anymore all because His servant has taken my place and paid for the penalty of my sins. That’s really amazing! That’s grace! It gripped me from the inside out.

God did many wonderful things to me since then. One of the amazing things that He did in my life was to call me to serve Him in the ministry of the gospel. He called me to become a preacher of His Word. I am now pastoring a church in Davao City.

I thank God for the privilege He has given me to serve Him as a pastor-preacher. Please pray for me that I might remain faithful in teaching and preaching the Word of God, which I first read in my blue Gideons New Testament. I don't have that Gideons New Testament anymore. I gave it to someone already. I now have the gold Gideons Bible. And I am willing to give this to anybody who needs guidance from the Lord and knowledge of the great salvation that He offers through our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you very much for the opportunity you have given me to share my story about how I came to know the Lord and how God used the ministry of the Gideons International to impress upon me His precious Word, the Bible.