Let me recant the parable of Sadhu Sing, a Hindu convert to Christianity, who became a missionary to India. Late one afternoon, Sadhu and a monk were traveling on foot through the Himalayas.
It was bitter cold, and night was approaching. The monk warned Sadhu that they were in danger of freezing to death if they did not reach the monastery before darkness fell.
Just as they entered a narrow path above a steep precipice, they heard a cry for help. Down the cliff lay a man, who had fallen and hurt himself badly.
The monk looked at Sadhu and said, “Do not stop. God has brought this man to his fate. He must work it out for himself. Let us hurry on before we, too, perish.”
But Sadhu replied: “God has sent me here to help my brother. I cannot abandon him.”
The monk hurried on his way, while Sadhu make his way down the cliff to aid the fallen man. The man’s leg was broken and he could not walk.
Sadhu took his blanket, made a sling of it, and tied the man on his back. Then he began a body-torturing climb. By the time he reached the narrow path again, he was drenched with perspiration.
Doggedly, Sadhu made his way through the deep snow, laboring under the weight of his injured passenger. It was dark now and it was all he could do to follow the path.
But he persevered. Though faint with fatigue, and overheated with exertion, he finally saw ahead the lights of the monastery.
Then, for the first time, Sadhu stumbled and nearly fell. But not from weakness.
He had stumbled over something lying on the path. Slowly he bent down to one knee and brushed the snow off the object. It was body of the monk, frozen to death.
The body heat from Sadhu and his companion had served to keep both alive. Years later, a disciple of Sadhu asked him, “What is life’s most important task?” To which he replied: “To come to the aid of a fellow human in distress.”
We may rarely have an opportunity to “come to the aid of a fellow human in distress.” But when we do, are we up to the task?
