The Sin of Indifference
Most of us worry about the sins we commit. Fewer of us stop to consider the good we never did. In this episode, discover why indifference is not neutral, and what Jesus said about the people who walked past someone bleeding on the road.
Most of us worry about the sins we commit. Fewer of us stop to consider the good we never did. In this episode, discover why indifference is not neutral, and what Jesus said about the people who walked past someone bleeding on the road.
It was 4 degrees in Buffalo on Christmas Eve when Sha'Kyra Aughtry heard screaming outside her window. She looked out and saw a man stumbling in the snow. His name was Joey White. He was 64, developmentally disabled, and had wandered away from his group home in the middle of one of the worst blizzards in the city's history. His hands were encased in ice.
She brought him inside. She called 911. Nobody came. She called the National Guard. They put her on a list.
Sha'Kyra later said she had to talk herself into opening the door that night. She wasn't sure it was safe. She didn't know the man. But she opened it anyway. And because she did, he's alive.
That decision, the choice to stop rather than pull the curtain and go back to bed, is exactly what Jesus was describing in Luke 10 when he told the story of the Good Samaritan. A man is beaten and left half dead on the road. A priest comes along, sees him, and crosses to the other side. A Temple assistant does the same. Then a Samaritan, someone the original audience would have written off entirely, stops, kneels down, and does what it takes to get the man to safety.
Jesus didn't hold up the priest and the Temple assistant as villains. They weren't cruel men. They were busy men with reasons to keep moving. And he held them accountable anyway.
That's the part most of us don't sit with long enough. Indifference is not neutral. Seeing a need and walking past it is a choice, and James 4:17 names that choice plainly: it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.
This episode takes an close look at the sin of omission, the good we never did, the person we never reached, the moment we let pass because it wasn't convenient. It's a more uncomfortable category of sin than most, because it doesn't feel like anything. It just feels like a normal day.
BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU'LL DISCOVER:
- Why Jesus treated the inaction of the priest and Temple assistant as a moral failure, not a neutral non-event
- What James 4:17 says about the sin of knowing what you should do and choosing not to do it
- One concrete step you can take this week to stop walking past the person you've been meaning to reach
Indifference is a choice. And so is stopping.
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Shakira Autry was asleep on her couch on Christmas Eve
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when she heard someone screaming outside. It was four degrees in
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Buffalo, New York. The city was buried in one of the worst
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blizzards in its history. She looked out the window and saw a
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man stumbling in the snow. His name was Joey White. He was 64
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years old, developmentally disabled, and had wandered away
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from his group home in the storm. His hands were encased in ice,
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and his pants were frozen to his legs. She and her boyfriend
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brought him inside and called 911, but nobody came. She called
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the National Guard, and they put her on a list. Joey's condition
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was getting worse, and Shakira was running out of options.
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We'll come back to what she did next in a moment, but
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first, welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm
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Bart Leger. Before I get into today's episode, I want to take
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a quick moment. Steve, thank you for leaving me a voicemail and
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trusting me with your prayer request. I want you to know I've
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been praying for you every day since I heard it. You're not
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forgotten. Today, I want to talk about something most of us don't
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think of as sin. We think about the things we've done wrong,
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like the lie we told, the temper we lost. Those things feel like
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sins because they're active. They're something that we do.
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Something happened. But Jesus was just as much concerned about
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what doesn't happen. The help that wasn't offered, and the
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need that was seen and walked past. Indifference isn't neutral.
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It's a choice that we make. And Jesus told a story to make sure
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we never forgot that. Here it is in Luke 10, 30-37. A Jewish man
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was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was
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attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes,
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beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. By chance,
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a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he
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crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A temple
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assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also
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passed by on the other side. Then a despised Samaritan came
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along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him.
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Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive
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oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own
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donkey and took him to an inn where he took care of him. The
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next day, he handed the innkeeper two silver coins,
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telling him, Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher
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than I'll pay you the next time I'm here. Now, which of these
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three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was
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attacked by bandits? Jesus asked. The man replied, The one who
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showed him mercy. Then Jesus said, Yes. Now, go and do the
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same. The priest and the temple assistant didn't attack the man.
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They didn't make his situation any worse. They just kept
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walking. And Jesus held them accountable for exactly that.
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And that convicts me. I can think of times when I've seen
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someone in need and didn't get involved. Oh, I told myself it
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wasn't my place. Or I didn't have the time, or someone else
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would handle it. And sometimes those things were true, but
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sometimes they were just excuses to keep on passing by. That's
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the priest and the temple assistant. I'm sure they weren't
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cruel men. They were busy men with reasons to keep moving. And
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Jesus named what they did as a failure to love. And here's what
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I don't want you to miss. The priest and the temple assistant
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both saw the man. The text makes that clear. Seeing is not the
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same as responding. Because we can be fully aware of a need and
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still choose to walk past it. And Jesus treated that as a
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serious moral failure. James 4, verse 17 says, Remember, it is
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sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. Oh, that's
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convicting. That's the sin of omission. It's not about doing
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something wrong. It's about failing to do what was right
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when you had the chance. The Samaritan didn't just feel
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something when he saw the injured man. He stopped. He got
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off his donkey and he used his own supplies to put the man on
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his own animal, which meant he had to walk. And he paid out of
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his own pocket and told the innkeeper he'd cover whatever
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else it cost. His compassion wasn't just a feeling. It was a
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series of costly decisions he chose to make. And Jesus held up
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that Samaritan of all people as the picture of what a neighbor
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looks like. Now, let's get back to Shakira. Shakira went on
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Facebook Live, pointed the camera at Joey's hands and said,
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This man is not about to die over here. I'm asking for help
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from whoever. Two men saw the video and then got in their
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truck, drove through the storm and got Joey to the hospital. He
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ultimately survived, but the frostbit had already taken most
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of his fingers. Shakira later said she had to talk herself
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into opening the door that night. She wasn't sure it was safe
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because she didn't know the man, but she opened it anyway. That
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hesitation, she felt, is probably something we've all
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experienced at some point. Opening the door was a risk and
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it cost her something. She had every reason to pull the curtain
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back and go to bed, but she didn't. And because she didn't,
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a man is alive. Most of us will probably never face a moment
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that dramatic, but we face smaller versions of it more
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often than we realize. The co-worker who's clearly
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struggling and you've been meaning to say something. Or the
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neighbor who just had surgery and you intended to cook a meal,
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but the moment passes or we tell ourselves it wasn't our place.
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Maybe, but maybe that was your moment and you kept walking.
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Here's today's challenge. Think of one person in your life right
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now who's struggling and who you've been meaning to reach out
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to. Don't wait till you have the right words. Go ahead, send the
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text, make the call. You don't have to fix anything. You just
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have to stop walking past. That's all the good Samaritan
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did. He stopped and the rest followed from that. Lord,
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forgive us for the moments we saw a need and kept moving.
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Forgive us for the excuses we dressed up as reasons. And give
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us eyes to see the people around us and the willingness to stop
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when we do. Make us the kind of people who open the door even
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when it costs something. In Jesus' name, amen. If you need
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prayer today, I'd love to hear from you. You can leave me a
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voicemail at dailydevotionsforbusylives.com
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slash voicemail. I listen to everyone and it would be an
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honor to pray for you by name. Thanks for joining me on Daily
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Devotions for Busy Lives. Remember, indifference is a
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choice and so is stopping. Come back next time for more
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encouragement to help you live grounded in God's truth. Until
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then, God bless and have a great day.
