Why is it that we forget someone’s name the moment they’re introduced to us?

In the wake of the racial unrest sweeping the country, many voices have called for the need to listen to each other. But what actually seems to be happening is that we yell at each other instead.

Why is that?

Luke 10 says that an expert in the law once came up to “test” Jesus. He wasn’t asking for a legal opinion or for legal advice; he was trying to catch Jesus in a mistake. He had no interest in learning from Jesus, only in making himself look good.

Luke 10:29 tells us the man wanted to “justify himself.” 

The parable Jesus told the man in response to this self-justification is called “The Good Samaritan.” 

In reading the story of the man who stopped to help someone who was helpless and dying by the side of the road, it’s easy to miss the reason why Jesus told it.

Self-justification is an ancient problem.

We all want to appear knowledgeable, appear smart, appear to be in control. When we’re introduced to someone, we’re more worried about what we look like, what we’ll say next, than in really being present for the other person.   

Forgetting their name is the least of our problems.