The Good Samaritan and Sustainable Pace and the Law of Dirty Hands (Law 9)

I read an interesting experiment report that I had to share here in this discussion about sustainable pace.


Inspired by the parable of the Good Samaritan, Princeton University psychologists did a study. They had some seminary students come and meet with them. They asked them why they wanted to go into ministry. The vast majority said they were doing so because they wanted to help people. They were then asked to prepare a sermon. Half were asked to prepare based on the Good Samaritan parable. The other half were told other topics. Afterwards, they were told to go over to a building on campus to present their sermon.

What they did then was place a 'victim' to play someone who was in need of assistance - a bit like the person beaten up in Jesus' parable. He was to moan and groan and make a bit of a scene in order to attract help.

Now, the psychologists prediction was that those who had said they wanted to help people and had prepared a sermon on the Good Samaritan would be the most likely to stop to help the moaning guy. But that is not what happened. And the psychologists put the reason for this down to the last variable:

To some they said, "They aren't expecting you for a few minutes. Take your time getting over there."

But to others they said, "You're late. They were expecting you a few minutes ago. Better hurry."

The results staggered those making the study. 63 percent of the students who were told "Take your time" stopped to help.

The percentage of those told "You better hurry" who stopped? Only 10%! And to make matters worse, in a few cases, the seminary student, studying for ministry because they wanted to help people and who had just prepared a sermon on the parable of the Good Samaritan actually stepped over the victim as they raced to present their sermon on time.

The study concluded that: "The words 'You're late' had the effect of making someone who was ordinarily compassionate into someone who was indifferent to suffering."

In relating this study in his book Wild Goose Chase, Mark Batterson says: "Hurry kills everything from compassion to creativity. And when you're in a hurry, you don't have time to get out of your routine, do you? No time for Spirit-led spontaneity... Here is the great irony: the priest and the Levite were probably on their way to the temple. They were so busy loving God that they didn't have time to love their neighbour. And that is when our routines become counter-productive. Let's be honest. We can get so busy doing "ministry" that we don't have time for ministry."

Read that last line again, and then ask yourself this question: WHAT DO I NEED TO DO TO GET A SUSTAINABLE PACE BACK INTO MY LIFE?

More on what that pace might look like in another post.

D.Re.A.M.S. PROJECT UPDATE: Met with Ross Harrold from CrossTrek in Normanton (Far North Remote Queensland). He is stoked that we are looking to develop a long term relationship with that predominately Indigenous community and we are hoping to get me up there for a week before the end of '09, and then 3 times per year from 2010. Should you want to financially assist in this ministry, please contact me via my website: http://www.markgladman.com/

Cheers and Peace,

Mark G