The senseless murder of seventeen year old Trayvon Martin has made national headlines, and caused protests that are reminiscent of the Civil Rights Movement. Travyon Martin was walking from a convenience store to the home of his father's girlfriend in a gated community in Sandford, Florida, when neighborhood watchman, George Zimmerman, shot and killed the unarmed teen. Yesterday police released the 911 tape from the night of the shooting.
This morning I listened to all eight of the 911 calls twice. The thing that is most startling to me about the 911 tape is not when Zimmerman said, "These $#!% always get away." I'm not interested in debating the "Stand Your Ground" law or anyone's right to bare arms. The thing that struck me, that strikes me, and makes me shake my head in disbelief is that all eight callers said the same thing. They all said that they heard someone yelling for help. Well, my question is simple. Why didn't anybody help him?
I understand that we put our own safety first, and maybe everyone did do the right thing by calling 911. Maybe if I was there I would've not been willing to put myself in harm's way to help someone, but what if someone, just one of those people who had heard this child screaming for his life, had helped. Maybe he would be alive.
It reminds me of Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan. The Bible says in Luke 10:25-37 that a man was on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was robbed, beaten and left to die. Both a priest and a Levite passed the man lying, dying in the road, and did not stop to help him. Then along came a Samaritan, who stopped and helped the man by cleaning his wounds, taking him to an inn, and leaving him there with money for him to be taken care of.
When we think of this story we often think of doing a kind deed for someone like giving the homeless man on the corner some change out of our car, but the Samaritan did so much more than this for the dying man. Jesus told this story in response to a question from an expert in Jewish law. His question was "how do I get eternal life?" Jesus response was that he was the expert. What did the law say. The law expert quoted the the law - love your neighbor as yourself. Then he asked who was his neighbor. Jesus response was the story of the Good Samaritan.
Who was Trayvon's neighbor? Who demonstrated love like the Good Samaritan? Maybe they all did by calling 911, and maybe none of them did by not responding to his cry for help. I would like to think that if I were in the situation I would be like the Good Samaritan, and I would also like to think that if I was in a life or death situation and yelled for help that someone like the Good Samaritan would help me.
