A few days ago, I threw my bike in the back of my pickup truck and drove to the Monon Trail on the north side of Indianapolis. It was a Monday morning, so the trail wasn’t very busy, which meant I could pay more attention to my surroundings than on a weekend when I have to spend most of my time dodging pedestrians.
Not everybody does that, you know. Whether we want to admit it or not, sometimes we bicyclists (including me) can be a little careless, zipping around walkers and joggers because we just don’t want to slow down. Maybe that’s why my attention was so drawn this time to all the signs along the Monon reminding cyclists to yield to pedestrians (see photo).
The reason is simple, of course. It’s because people on foot are simply more vulnerable than those on faster moving bicycles. The same is true in other areas of life, too; some people are just more vulnerable than others. And the more I rode past those signs along the Monon, the more I found myself thinking about “signs” in the Bible reminding us that, as children of God, we have a special responsibility to care for the vulnerable ones.
For example, in Deuteronomy 10:18-19, Moses reminds the people of Israel that they serve a God “who ensures justice for the orphan and widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them with food and clothing. So, you shall also love the stranger, for you were once strangers in Egypt.” And in James 1:27 the author boldly states, “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God means caring for orphans and widows in their distress…”
Of course, our ultimate example is Jesus himself, who often went out of his way to reach out in love to those who were ignored and “run over” by others.
I love the story, found in Luke 13:10-17, of the bent-over woman who caught Jesus’ attention as he was teaching in a synagogue one Sabbath. It was important work, and no doubt the leaders of that synagogue were feeling quite proud that such a great man as Jesus was teaching there. But when Jesus sees this devout woman struggling to even look up at him, he interrupts his important work to not only acknowledge and heal her, but to affirm her as “this dear woman, a daughter of Abraham,” much to the chagrin of some of those same leaders.
And let’s not forget how in Matthew 25:40 Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, as much as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters (i.e., welcome them, feed them, clothe them), you did it to me.”
So, the next time you see one of those signs along a trail telling you to yield to pedestrians, instead of being annoyed, let it remind you that God greatly values the vulnerable, and so should we.
Prayer: God of the widow, the orphan, and the stranger, thank you for loving the least of us. Help us to remember that we’re all vulnerable at some time or another, and that you call us to use our strength not to run over others, but to lift them up, as you do for us. Amen