Why Everyone We Meet Matters
A Lesson about Equality from Jesus and a Woman in Phuket
If you’re like me, you’ve lived most of your life subconsciously placing a value on every encounter — putting a premium on people that offer immediate benefits and discounting those who offer none. We treat people like products and interactions like transactions — exchanging time and energy for comfort, counsel, or common interest. But what happens when we’re the person with no perceived benefits. How do we feel when our life is given a low valuation?
Last year, my wife and I took a trip to one of Thailand’s most beautiful islands, Phuket. We wanted to see the whole island so we rented a motorbike and set out on a one-day excursion. In case you don’t know, driving a motorbike in Phuket is not easy. The roads are full of beginner bike tourists, like me, and everyone’s competing for pavement like amateur NASCAR. The bike lane, which is designated for any vehicle that can fit, receives two-way traffic — allowing for head-on collisions of all kinds. I remember one “biker boy” yelling at me in Russian-soaked English, “Why you stop? Move!” as he proceeded to squeeze between two moving cars. Needless to say, I was relieved to make it to sunset with only a few close calls. But as the sun disappeared, so did our luck.
Still miles away from our hostel, we sped down a dark side road to cut time, and within seconds, time cut us. A split-second decision to avoid an approaching speed bump — and by approaching I mean 0.5 seconds away — led us to the ground. Miraculously, my wife landed on her feet. (I always knew she was a cat.) I wasn’t so lucky. I slid across the pavement on head, arm, and leg, and remained there after two feeble attempts to stand up. As my wife retrieves two bandaids from her knapsack that could barely cover a paper cut, I lay helpless — knowing that any efforts to find a hospital would be in vain. But before I could become utterly hopeless, a family comes running towards us. Amidst the many voices, I hear a woman ask us if we wanted a ride to the hospital. We gratefully accept and end up receiving much more than a ride. She stays with us at the hospital, takes us out to eat afterward, and visits us at the hostel the next day to see how we’re doing.
During this whole event, I had nothing to offer her. Yet she gave all she had — time, money, and energy — to ensure that my needs were met.
For some, this story may sound familiar. It runs parallel to the Biblical tale, “The Good Samaritan.” After all this happened, I was immediately reminded of this story. The parable explains how a robbed and beaten man is rescued and cared for by a Samaritan stranger. A new, yet seemingly obvious, revelation came to me while saying the title in my head. The Good Samaritan.
Samaritans were looked down upon by Jewish people during the first half of the first century — hatred fueled by a long history of tension between the two groups. With Jewish leaders having a prominent place of influence — under the Roman Empire — Samaritans were said to be of a lower social class. Yet, during this same time period, Jesus — a Jewish man — meets a Samaritan woman at a well and asks her for some water. The fact that she was not only Samaritan but also a woman, placed her even lower on the social totem pole. Fully aware of her disenfranchisement, the woman felt she had little to offer and was shocked that Jesus was even asking. And truth is, she didn’t have much to offer him. What Jesus had was much greater. But that didn’t stop him from conversing with her. He gave her a message that would satisfy the thirst of her soul for the rest of her life and transform her entire community.
As I laid on that foreign, pebble-ridden pavement, I was that robbed and beaten man that the stranger saved. I was that Samaritan woman at the well who had nothing worthwhile to offer. And, if you’re honest with yourself, you’ve been them too. Everyone has had a moment of helplessness.
Why does everyone we meet matter? Because your life depends on it. You never know when you’ll need something and have nothing. In that moment, you’ll want someone to value your life not based on what you can give, but based on who you are. You are a person. And every person, no matter who you are, is invaluable.
“Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man [Jesus] died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own.” — Paul the Apostle
-Micah Josiah
