A friend of mine told me once of an experience she had in Paris. She was walking through the Paris Metro, and saw a woman on the ground. My friend immediately rushed toward the woman and reached out her hand to see if the woman was hurt and needed help to get up off the ground. My friend’s fellow travelers explained to her that the woman had not fallen on the ground, but was in fact a homeless person who was sitting in this particular space of the Metro station as a means of shelter and perhaps occasional financial assistance. This story remains with me for many reasons, but the one that affects me the most is that my friend did not realize that this woman on the floor of the Parish Metro was “homeless,” but “only” that she had “fallen.” And the beautiful and spontaneous response from my friend was to go see if the woman was hurt and to help the woman get back up!
In today’s Gospel from Luke (Luke 14: 1-5), we have the familiar situation of Jesus being watched by the Pharisees, who are trying to see if Jesus is going to break the Sabbath law and do some “work” on the Sabbath. Jesus, knowing what the “scholars of the law” are thinking, poses the question to them himself “Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath or not?” They did not answer, and of course Jesus goes on to heal the suffering man and we hear in the closing lines of the gospel story, “ ‘Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern, would not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?’ But they were unable to answer his question.”
So, we have Jesus confronted with someone who is obviously suffering and His immediate and fully Human response is to reach out and try to help this person, i.e., to heal him. But then there are the watching “guards” who look on in stunned and perhaps indignant shock to see that this man Jesus is going to “break a law” and actually perform a work on the Sabbath. He questions what they would do if there was an immediate situation in their own lives that needed attention on the “Sabbath.” But they are unable to answer his question. “Would you help someone out of a well that they had fallen into?”
There are times in my life, many times happening on a daily basis, where I am confronted with the opportunity to “help” or “assist” someone. It could be something as simple as holding a door open for someone, holding an elevator for a straggler, or just pausing and giving someone who is speaking with me my full attention. It could also be giving attention to someone who is begging for something, even a person holding a sign up for food or money at a stoplight at a busy intersection. I am “guarded” many times. Sometimes the “guarded” response (or sometimes non-response) involves the inconvenience that this may cause me. “I’m in a hurry,” “I have a lot on my mind,” “what will people think?” all the way to “that person has other means than me and my actions that can truly help!” These are really not that different than the “Laws of the Sabbath” that the Pharisees in the Gospel story are “guarding.” Many times it’s about a false sense of protection. “What am I trying to protect?” Sometimes it’s not that I’m unable to answer the question, but more so that I don’t like the answer!
I am convinced that there is a deep capacity that we all have for compassion. We just might not tap into it that often. But it’s there. It is what makes us human, and even “divine.” When we allow ourselves to respond spontaneously from the heart, our “guards” drop. We SEE someone suffering, in need, desiring companionship, or simply to be heard, and we respond from the TRUTH of who we really are. And the neat thing that can happen is that the bothersome questions of our minds that can get in the way of a compassionate response actually get BYPASSED. They don’t even occur sometimes. 
This also puts me in mind of the Resurrection stories. The image of the “empty tomb” is striking in that, despite the fact that “guards” were posted at the tomb, the Easter event still occurred. The experience of spontaneous love and compassion breaks through the “guards” and flows out with only One focus…to Give new Life, in all the different ways it needs to be given….and Received! May we be the Unguarded!
Peace,
Thomas