A couple of weeks ago I was rereading the talk form the April 2021 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of latter Day Saints that is called Room at the Inn by Elder Gerrit W. Gong. I remember him giving the talk in April but it didn’t stick at the time. This time when I read it I can’t stop thinking about it.
Let me tell you the first part that I read several times before moving on. “At the Inn, the Good Samaritan says, “Take care of him; … when I come again, I will repay thee.”” (Luke 10:30-37)
Now, first of all, every time I have read this parable I have considered myself as the Good Samaritan. Well, that’s not exactly correct. I assumed that Jesus was telling us how we should treat each other. That I should behave as the Samaritan in the story and go to any length necessary to help someone in need. And that is one interpretation but Elder Gong says that the Good Samaritan is a symbol of our Savior. The wine and oil with which the wonds are bound is a symbol of the sacrament and the Inn represents His church!
Maybe I’m the only one who never saw that before but it opens the story up to be even deeper and more encouraging. Of course there is nothing wrong with seeing it as an example of how we should treat others. Jesus Himself tells us to foloow Him and to become like Him.
But it changes the feeling for me of the words that the Samaritan says to the Inn Keeper (us). “Take care of him; … when I come again, I will repay thee.”
Now just let me tell you why this is so maeningful to me at this time in my life. I mostly attend church alone. I have been doing it on my own since I was 18 years old (now I’m 56). I did take the kids along with me but they are all at an age now that they can make their own decisions and I continue alone either because they no longer go to church regularly or because they have their own families. Attending church alone is not easy but I have a strong testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the importance of taking the Sacrament each week and of the church community and the necessity of it. So I go. And pray that I won’t always have to go alone.
“Take care of him; … when I come again, I will repay thee.”
Jesus will come again and at that time everything will be worked out. Everything that I have prayed for, all of my effort and sacrifice and love and service to others will be worked out.
Sometimes we want the blessings now. Who am I kidding? We always want the blessings now. But that’s not how it works but if we follow Chirst and do all that we can to be obedient and love each other then there will be eternal rewards that are unimagineable to us as we are here on Earth.
I’m so happy I went back to this talk again. there are so many other beautiful gems in it and so I have a feeling I’ll be going back to it many more times.
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
Always Choose Charity 