Do not try to discriminate the worthy from the unworthy, but let all people be equal in your eyes for a good deed.
St Isaac of Syria, Directions on Spiritual Training, 172

It may seem rather strange to us, who live in a pluralistic, decidedly permissive society, that there should be any discrimination of people according to their worthiness, especially after they have done something good. Surely a good deed confers worthiness on the person who has done it, whatever his or her background may be! Nevertheless, there is a snob in most of us, not so much today perhaps on the social level, but more decidedly on the spiritual path.

Fundamentalist groups can hardly avoid believing that only those who follow a strict faith according to a written scripture and tradition can be saved. There is certainly enough in the New Testament to affirm this point of view. St Peter, for instance, in the course of his evangelistic address to his fellow Jews which was occasioned by the miraculous healing of a man crippled from birth, stated that, apart from Jesus, there is no salvation in anyone else at all, for there is no other name under heaven granted to us, by which we may receive salvation (Acts 4.12). A similar sort of dogmatic exclusiveness is apparently contained in John 14.6: "I am the way; I am the truth and I am the life; no one comes to the Father except by me." Claims of strident arrogance can also be found in the ranks of fervent Jewish and Muslim believers; except, of course, that the object of their emphatic faith is not Jesus but a particular tenet of their own tradition. This variation in the means of salvation can hardly escape the amused notice of the agnostic; when one considers the cruelty done in the name of sectarian religion, one can be excused for saying, in the slightly altered words of Shakespeare, "A plague on all your houses".

In the end, the matter is brought into rational perspective not so much by any belief system of people as by the innate nobility that lies deep, often dormant, in the human soul. So often it is overlaid by selfish, even violent, impulses, but then it is suddenly ignited by the Holy Spirit, and the awakened person sees clearly and does the right thing. The charitable concern of the Good Samaritan who went at once to help a fellow human in distress is an unforgettable example. When a committed Christian witnesses such a good deed, he or she should sound a long prayer of praise to God, from whom all good things come. The Lord has shown himself in the person, and a new way of life is being opened to both the benefactor and the observer (this includes the object of assistance and also the bystander who witnesses the noble action). Whether the benefactor subscribes to a particular religion or not, whatever the political affiliations or lifestyle, the inner Christ has been revealed in him or her. The name of the presence may not be known to the person who has done well, but his transforming power will never cease in its renewing work so long as he is welcomed within. The way and life of Jesus show the truth.

It is here that the Christian may help. St Isaac of Syria continues: "For in this way you can attract even the unworthy towards God, since the soul is easily led to the fear of God by means of bodily things." No matter how perverse the character of the one who has done a good deed (one thinks of the prostitutes and tax gatherers in the ministry of Jesus), once that person has been affirmed as a fellow human being on the road to God, the light will shine ever more brightly in the soul and the tendency towards indecency and selfishness will wane. The awe (a more helpful understanding than naked fear) of God in his or her own being will move the person ever onwards towards completion.

A last thought: our attitude to people moulds their personality to conform with our prejudices; thus do unfriendly national, racial and religious stereotypes arise. Let us think kindly of people, forgetting their origin and mode of life, and seeing them as unique creatures of God.

I thank you, Lord, for the tendency to kindness and compassion you have planted within me. May I so conduct my own life that I evoke similar considerate behaviour in my fellow human beings.