Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or destroy it?” – Luke 6:9
There once was a small-town mechanic named Sam who ran a little garage on the edge of town. Now some mechanics have less than stellar reputations. Perhaps you’ve been burned a time or two by a shady mechanic yourself… but Sam wasn’t one of those types. He knew his way around a car engine. Sam’s father was a mechanic and had him helping out in the garage not longer after he started first grade.
But being honest and knowing how to fix cars weren’t the only things Sam was known for.
One stormy evening on his way home from Sunday evening church service, Sam noticed a car that had pulled into his shop parking lot. The headlights were on and the hazard lights were blinking. Naturally, Sam quickly pulled into his shop to see what was going on. As he approached the car, he could hear the engine sputtering. Inside was a woman with three young children in the back. He motioned for her to roll down her window so they could talk. He noticed that her face was streaked with tears.
“Please,” she begged, “my car broke down and I need to get home. It’s still over two hours away from here, I don’t know anyone, my husband isn’t answering his phone… I just don’t know what to do.”
Sam looked at his watch, it was almost 9 pm. “Pop the hood for me, let me take a look. You’re lucky that I came to church this evening, lady.” As he opened the hood, he felt a drop of rain hit the back of his neck. This is just great… he mumbled to himself. Suddenly another car quickly pulled up beside them and a familiar voice shouted out, “You’re a fool Sam! It’s Sunday night, it’s late, and the storm is coming. If you had any sense you’d get yourself home!” Sam waved him off as he disappeared under the hood and the guy drove away.
Sam looked at his watch again. He knew the local towing company wouldn’t come out this late, especially in bad weather. The nearest hotel was an hour away. He sighed. “You’ve got a busted fuel pump,” he told her. “But I think I can fix it. It’ll take an hour or so. So let me get to work.” He grabbed his flashlight and toolbox from his truck.
An hour passed and Sam finally appeared out from under the hood. “Start it up and let’s see what happens,” he told her. She turned the key and the car engine roared to life again. “I think that did the trick,” he said.
The lady tearfully thanked him and handed him a crumpled twenty-dollar bill. “If I had more, I would give it to you.” He took it and said, “This is enough. Drive safely.” She waved goodbye and drove off with her kids safe and warm.
The guy who drove by thought Sam was a fool for working late on a Sunday evening in the pouring rain. But the town faithful knew better. They knew Sam to not only be an honest and reliable mechanic, but most of all – the kind of person that helps others when it matters most.
You know, I can sometimes be like those Pharisees Jesus was always rebuking. I can get caught up in my own rules, my own expectations, and miss those opportunities like was presented to Sam the mechanic. It’s not just about the Sabbath. Maybe it’s my schedule, my comfort zone, or an irrational fear of being taken advantage of.
But Jesus calls us to look beyond the surface – to see people, not problems, and to respond with love, no matter the time or place. Sam understood that love doesn’t punch a time clock, that there is no wrong time to do the right thing.
Former Blackout Artist 