A matter of perspective

In a movie watched long ago and whose name is long forgotten, a candidate for political office said, "What makes a living wage depends on whether you are the one paying it or the one receiving it."

Of course we know this to be true; it matters whose shoes you are wearing.  Or, in this case, whether you are the man in the ditch, or the traveler on the road.  It matters whether you consider yourself an important person, with an important job, with 'solid' moral standards and standing in the community, with a reputation to consider....or, if you are one of the anonymous ones, a person who would be painted in sepia tones, one of the folks whose name is never called out from the  podium for an honor.  It matters whether you consider yourself a person who gives to others, a source of charity, one of the generous ones.......or if you know yourself to be a receiver of the generosity of others.

It matters, although I don't think there is a definitive logarithm which can predict our behavior from bank balances or societal norms.  Sometimes the wealthy are generous and the poor stingy. But I think that what you think about yourself does matter when making decisions about strangers in a ditch.

So when Jesus spins the parable about the Good Samaritan*, we often feel hard pressed to explain the reaction of the priest and the Levite who chose to ignore the man in the ditch.  We might suspect that (quoting Dr. Seuss) that their hearts "were too sizes too small"**- although their lack of care and compassion might be chalked up to the bewildering need they met at every turn of the road (or standing at every street corner with a cardboard sign).  We are loathe to hold them too accountable for we have been them at one time or another, and for what we thought were good reasons.

Notice that Jesus doesn't condemn either because this isn't a story about judgment.

It is a story about mercy.
Not reason nor moral superiority, not use of wealth nor good 'up-bringing'.
It is a story about mercy.

Apparently mercy is the name of the road on which one discovers the 'kingdom of God'.

*the gospel of Luke, chapter 10
** How the Grinch Stole Christmas