The Tramp Preacher talks about God’s view of bridges connecting the road and the heart.
Gas From The Tramp Preacher’s Tank.
“But a certain Samaritan . . . went to him”.
When he did that he built a bridge, a bridge that spanned one of
the oldest quarrels in the world. The Jews and the Samaritans had
no dealings all because of the intermarriage of the Samaritans with
formers. They were despised by the Jews. Imagine the electric shock
when Jesus said, “But a certain Samaritan”. They grimaced
but Jesus finished the story.
Life Always Progressed as Men Build Bridges
In fact we exist to
build bridges. Not to follow slavishly the parable but in the
spirit of the Samaritan.
A bridge is a device to carry us over a rough place in the road.
Think what our roads would be like if it were not for bridges. In
the horse and buggy days we had “thank you mam’s”, now
we put a tile under the road. It is a bridge and makes the road
smooth. On a trip the other day I counted sixty two bridges going
fourteen miles. One was over a large river.
Note what the Samaritan did when he went to the injured man
He Ended his Loneliness
Loneliness is when you cannot find a bridge to another
heart. You are shut in on the island of yourself. Jesus loved to
build bridges. He made so many they forgot he was a Jew.
He Healed Misunderstanding
More bridges will do it today. War
exists today for the lack of understanding. We don’t get near
enough to one another. Did you ever hear it said, “You
can’t get near him”. Well you can. So many are
misunderstood and misunderstand.
All That is Needed is a Bridge
God speaks of bridges connecting the road and the heart. Let someone build it. Let us
build it! Bridges means fellowship There can be no quarrel or
hatred where there is fellowship.
Norse mythologists taught that the rainbow was a bridge on which
mortals could pass over to the gods, if an unworthy foot tread it
would give way and the unworthy lost forever. All that is changed
now. The unworthy may now pass over it, “Whosoever will may
come”. The Bridge will not break. It has been strengthened in a
way the Norsemen never dreamed. It is supported underneath by two
great beams and their form is that of the cross.
