The allegory of this bum and only 3 people who shared the gospel with him when they thought he was a bum --- to Jesus being a servant when he was here and being a friend to the loveless, etc, etc.,  is a beautiful story, but there is a BIG difference in this world we are in and the world that Jesus was in. It's fine for a man to walk up to someone like that all sprawled out in the ground in a gazebo, but for women it is different. You don't know if you are approaching someone who really is destitute and needs a handout or a demented psycho who will pull out a knife as soon as you get close enough for him to take advantage of you. We are told in the Bible to entertain strangers, because we could be entertaining angels unawares, but how many people in THIS day and age we live in (especially if you have small children in your home) would welcome just any stranger into your house? We heard several news stories in the past few years of people who have done so and had their daughters kidnapped from their own homes and assaulted. Jesus said that the last days would bring perilous times. He was certainly right about that. It sounds so warm and fuzzy to reach out a helping hand to just anyone that you see lying in a gutter, but you have to balance that impulse with enough common sense to trust your gut instinct (and trust GOD's leading with prayer first!) to make sure you don't do something you will end up regretting later!
 
Rene