Barbie Funeral

I never had the pleasure of knowing Mrs. Barbie myself so when I sat down with Aron and Mrs Sara to discuss this funeral I wanted to get a chance to know her. I wanted to learn something about Mrs. Barbie so I asked them to give me a couple of words maybe that they would use to describe her. This wound up being a difficult task for each of them to perform. Not because they could not think of any words to say about her but rather they struggled with the just a couple part of the task. Mrs. Sara said that she did not think that just a couple of words could describe her that you would need whole sentences to even start.

I did learn some things from them though about her. Her kindness, generosity, and love were brought up neumerous times through different stories. On top of her kindness though she was also known for her strength and stuborness. One second they would be telling me stories about her helping them at some point or another and the next they would be telling me about threats she had made to use a crowbar if necessary and we wont discuss for what purpose. In all seriousness though she was a lady known to have a strong will. She was kind to all but would not be taken advantage of or run over. She stood her ground when she needed to and spread love whenever she could.

So then, I asked Aron If there was maybe a verse or story in scripture that his mother loved or that reminded him of her and he told me that the parable of the good samaratin always reminded him of her. So, I would like to read through that story together and see what we can learn both from the parable and from the life of Mrs. Barbie.

Luke 10:25–32 “And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ” And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.” But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side.

Luke 10:33–37 “But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.””

First, I want to think of the way that we are introduced to this story. A lawyer is asking Jesus how can he get into heaven. Well the man already knew the answer and quotes from deuteronomy saying to love God and love your neighbor. As lawyers do though he tries to find some kind of loophole in the teaching. He wants to know who exactly counts as his neighbor. He is asking do I really have to love everyone or just the people that I like?

So, Jesus tells this parable to help him to understand who his neighbor is. We are introduced to a man who is traveling, and then to some thieves who come and rob the man after beating him severely. Notice how there are no descriptors attached to the man. He is not said to be a jew nor a gentile a priest nor a beggar. He could be anyone at all. That is the point. The man here represents any person in society as terrible things can happen to anyone on earth. The thieves here represent the calamities of life the hard times and the heartaches. They also don’t care who you are and come for everyone in time.

Now we are introduced to two new characters the priest and the levite. Just for clarification a levite would have been a member of the tribe of Levi and an assistant to the priests. These two men would have been considered pillars of faith in their time people with moral wisdom who know right from wrong and seek to be righteous. Yet here in both circumstances when they are presented the oportunity to do what is right where no one can see what do they do? They step to the side and keep walking. They both totally ignore this injured stranger and leave him abandoned on the road to die.

Many of us right now would obviously say that there is no way that we would be like them. Of course we would help we are good people. But, when it comes down to a situation where no one knows if you did the right thing or not, when it is just between you and God, do you always do what is right? Can we honestly say that if no one was looking we would go out of our way to help people expecting nothing in return? It wasn’t the case for these two men, but what about us.

Lastly we are introduced to one final character of importance in this story, the samaritan. Why is that significant? What is a samaritan? A long story short is that they were cousins of the Jewish people who had intermarried with surrounding nations and tainted the religion of Judaism. The Jewish people considered them to be lower than dogs. They were despised and hated across the board yet when there is a man in need and this samaritan walks by what does he do? Did it say that he weighed his options and tried to figure out what to do? No, he immediatly had compassion for the beaten man and goes to bandage his wounds not only though does he take care of his immediate needs in his wounds, but he sets him on his own animal to take him to an inn to take care of him then pays the inn keeper to take care of him saying that he will repay anything necessary to make the man well.

This is who we are called to be. Despite where we came from who we are or what our name is we are called to have compassion on all who are hurting. We are called to be a rescuer to the wounded and a care taker to the weak. Even though no one was on that road to see this man stop to offer aid he still was willing to inconvinence himself, offer up his own animal, and pay out of his pocket to see that this man was made well. This is what it means to love your neighbor as yourself. To be willing to set aside all differences go the extra mile to help whoever you can without prejiduce.

This is who Mrs. Barbie was. Aron told me that it did not matter if she only had a couple cans of corn in her pantry if you came and knocked on her door asking for help then shed give you a meal to eat and a spot to rest. She may not have had a lavish lifestyle of luxury, but from what she had she freely gave to anyone who needed it.

That is how we should lead our lives, filled with love and compassion for those who are hurting. Willing to give up to our last dollar to help a stranger and show them love, not just because of the samaritan, and not just because of Mrs. Barbie, but because that is what God did for us.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

All of us here on earth are born into this world just how this man was on the side of the road. We are enslaved to sin and sometimes we become numb to that language, but that means that we are captive we are beaten and we are broken unless we believe in Jesus. God loved us so much that He was willing to send His son to die for us. He set the example of sacrificial love and now it is our turn to honor that sacrifice He made for us by living a life of sacrificial love like Mrs. Barbie did willing to give all we have to help a single soul.