Donkey in the Ditch

This Poor Donkey Needs Help !

 

Prior to my husband going into business for himself, he enjoyed a full time job with a roofing contractor who specialized in leak repairs. 

Early one Sunday morning as we prepared for church, our telephone rang.  It was my husband’s boss with an emergency.  The heavy rain during the night had created a real problem for his Boss’s good customer. 

Even though our work week was Monday through Friday, this was a special request - - “HELP please, I need your assistance,” said his boss.

I understood and watched as my husband put on his work clothes and grabbed a rain coat and rain hat.

I prepared him a thermos with some coffee and off he went in his pick up for his Sunday work assignment.

The children and I continued getting ready for church.  We were very faithful to our church and never missed a service unless one of us was sick, so Robert’s absence left a hole in the congregation. 

After the service, one of our friends, asked me where Robert was today.

I looked at our friend, and decided to be clever so I said,  “His donkey fell in a ditch and Robert needed to go pull him out.”  This man was a Plummer and knew the hazards of an emergency call and he blinked but suddenly understood my answer. 

Was it wrong for my husband to work on a Sunday?  In this case it was important for him to do so. 

 

Honestly it would be best if no one had to work on Sunday, but to be practical, it can't always be so.

Some will find it necessary on their particular job to work on the Lord’s day.  Other’s will try to find a job that does not require Sunday labor. 

At one time, I worked in a hospital and we rotated Sundays and took our turns to work. 

There are some professions we would not want to give them their Sunday’s off, such as firemen, policemen, Hospitals and Emergency Room service to name a few.

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In the Bible, there were Religious leaders who were sticklers for the law, and criticized Jesus when He and His disciples picked some corn on the Sabbath and ate it.

Jesus found himself ridiculed and questioned by the spiritual leaders when He healed on the Sabbath day.  In fact they were extremely angry as he ministered on the Sabbath. 

Jesus told a story about taking care of your animals on the Lord’s day.  If your animal falls in a ditch on the Sabbath, will you not rescue him?  The leaders did not answer Him, but in their heart, they knew the answer and it was YES. 

In life there are times when we must go against convention in order to get the job done!

Have there been days when you were impressed to help your neighbor but were too busy to do so?  Was there an older woman at the store struggling to put her groceries in the car, and you walked by?   

How many times do we walk by a situation and never realize that these may be the very ones Jesus meant when he said, because you never did this to the least of these, you failed to do this unto me.  - - - Even on a Sunday?