Jeremy,
I don’t know if your guilt is justified or not. Gut feeling says no. I also don’t know what Jesus would do. There are several issues here that come to mind.
1. Should a woman feel guilty about not giving a man hitchhiker a ride? Or a man a woman? Propriety and safety are factors here.
2. In some places it is illegal to pick up hitchhikers. I don’t have specifics and could be wrong on this one.
3. I would pick up a hitchhiker if there were two of us in the car. I have helped hitchhikers in the past when I was alone but was extremely nervous doing it. I would answer all your questions affirmatively if safety is not an issue.
4. I don’t know that Jesus traveled alone, on dangerous roads.
5. A main point of the passage is to be a neighbor to anyone in need. The man was near losing his life by the sound of it. This sounds like a rescue operation. The comparison between a hitchhiker and a beat up man being rescued by a Samaritan while priests and Levites don’t lift a hand to help is not evident. Yet the obligation of being helpful when possible will not go away.

If I’m alone, I almost always pick up hitchhikers. If my wife is with me, I never do or would. My safety is an acceptable risk. Hers isn’t.
I don’t process the issues or questions. I just stop to help, perhaps meet someone interesting, and assault that wall which tries to insulate me from danger and contamination.

One of the qualifications of being an elder/pastor/overseer in the church is that of hospitality (See I Tim 3). This word literally means to be a “lover of strangers”. It is easy to be hospitable to those we know. But we, especially as pastors, are called to be hospitable to those who are the outcast.When we do not, we are not fulfilling our call to ministry.
The tension of the Good Samaritan story is which rules to follow. The priest and Levite had good reason not to touch the man because it would have made them unclean. They chose the letter of the law rather than the spirit of it. I would gladly be “persecuted” for picking up a hitchhiker, if it is truly against the law, so that I may fulfill the law of Christ and really live out the Jesus Creed.
Also, this guilt may be from the Holy Spirit. Beware of quenching it with excuses.

Again if my wife or grandchildren are with me no! If I travel in my Company truck I cant

I don’t pick up hitchhikers. I don’t even consider it. I don’t feel guilty for not doing so. There are lots of ways to show love to my neighbor aside from putting myself i danger.
When I lived in Switzerland (15 years ago) I learned it’s normal and safe to hitchhike and pick up hitchhikers. I don’t think it’s safe in the US, though. Maybe it’s perception? Or maybe a different cultural norm.
As a woman, I don’t even feel completely safe when being pulled over by a police officer unless it’s daylight and in a busy area. I don’t think I’m living in fright or paranoia. I just have an awareness of my vulnerability.

I have occasionally picked up hitchhikers and have a 90% record for getting the drunk guys. This is why I don’t do it very often. Once I picked up a guy who was drunk and took him to his home. Went back to check on him the next day and it wasn’t his home. Opps. Another time I picked up one only to find that I was helping him transport drugs. I could go on and on. I can only think of one time when they guy really needed help. I want to be a good Samaritan but think there are other ways to do this without putting yourself at danger.

Many of your posts challenge me. My reasoning has been (and is definitely true in some cases) that where I see hitchikers it would be dangerous to stop. I attribute this to our super-fast society and travel. I think more about that than the danger of picking up a stranger.
As for the fear that many of you address, I strongly suspect that it is a creation of the culture of fear in the US. Although I can think of many studies or sources that address this. The one that comes to mind right now is a Madeline L’Engle book of the Austin Family series; the book was written in the 1960s.
The Austin family, traveling in Canada, encounters a Candadian family at the campground. They ask something like “Are you constantly afraid of attack, or subversion or the world ending in nuclear blasts?” The Canadians’ response is “No. We are not afraid of such things.”
Given that this post is in the weak when the world-dwarfing US Defense Budget has been presented, does having a bigger military make us more frightened?
Peace,
Randy

I’ve picked them up many times, but always when I’m alone. I would not put my wife or son at risk, nor do I want her to pick them up. For women, it seems like a needless risk since most of the hitchhikers I’ve picked up have said they have no real trouble finding rides. Usually, someone gets them in the first 5 minutes.
Sometimes hitchhikers need help, sometimes they just need a ride somewhere. I’ve never felt in danger when I picked one up. In that regard, my track record is better than Rusty’s :=) For men who worry about picking them up, I would say there’s not much to be worried about. That’s just my experience, though. There is some risk, but the risk is outweighed (for me) by the opportunity to help.
I don’t always stop. Once, I picked up a local alcoholic and he wanted driven to a bar. I took him, but I never picked him up again (he was out hitchhiking to the bar every weekend in the town where I worked). I regret picking him up – but perhaps I shouldn’t.

I agree with Shakespeare, who wrote:
The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
–Portia, Merchant of Venice, Act 4, Scene 1, 180-187
In other words, mercy is free and must be given freely. If it is given as an obligation, it is not mercy; it would would be duty. But it is not “strain’d” in the sense of being restricted or governed by rules that would restrain it or mandate it.
God desires mercy. We should give it when we can and all we can out of love for him–but mercy. Once you give it out of guilt, how can that satisfy the One who desires generosity and freely given compassion?
Not everyone who sticks out their thumb does so out of need. There is a difference between helping a downed motorist or person in distress, and assisting someone whose need and motives are unclear. Admittedly, even the downed motorist may be a ploy at deception. And there is always risk to ourselves when reach out a helping hand. Wisdom teaches us to weigh these risks. Mercy enourages us to take more risk than comes naturally or comfortably. Hope, faith, and love, embolden us or convict us.
I have a wayward daughter in her late 20s who hitchhikes often. It disturbs me and drives me to my knees in prayer for her and her lostness. I know there are unsafe people out there who pick up hitchhikers. I wish there were more safe people out who would pick her up instead. But on the other hand, I wish she would just get discouraged and cease this practice.
She has a home and people who love her. But she prefers the company of others to her family. She could call me at any moment in time and I would drive or fly to her anywhere in the world and bring her safely back to her own bed. But she would rather stick out her thumb and live without an address–or move from address to address–in her concept of what it means to be free.
What would it do for her or you if you picked her up? Would it just enable her in her behavior? Would you somehow win her back to Christ when family and friends have failed to do so? Would you keep her from getting picked up by someone with sinister motives? I do not know.
On occasions I’ve picked up hitchhikers myself because I am single man with an empty nest who tells himself no one would really miss me. But is that really true? If I had a wife and children who depended on me, I surely might not take the same risks.
I do not think God expects us to give what we cannot give. But each of us must decide what we can give and then give it without restraint, knowing that “the quality of mercy is not strain’d.”
Perhaps this is why God has placed on each of us the privilege and responsibility of being individually led by his Spirit. And perhaps this is why Paul defines a Christian thus: “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the children of God.” (Romans 8:14)

It’s illegal in TN. But I never see hitchhikers anyway.

I live near a county jail. The jail does not give inmates a ride back to their hometowns. It’s appalling, considering that sheriffs travel these roads every day. Many people have attempted to change this problem. I give rides as often as I can, but will not do it when my wife is in the car. Like someone said earlier, my health is an acceptable risk, hers is not (she is incredibly small and basically defenseless). Those people I have picked up have all been very friendly and thankful, usually because they are left out in the cold without a jacket.

Don’t see too many hitchhikers any more. Used to pick them up, but no longer. Too dangerous in our culture today.
There’s a pagan atmosphere, and we need to be as wise as snakes and harmless as doves.
I have met many, and tried to help many homeless people. They are of all types. Proud and manipulative for the most part, which nobody ever talks about. It seems if some one is homeless he is automatically a person who is righteously in need. This is hugely and utterly a political agenda kind of thing, and for many Christians just an ignorance of the homeless.
And there are homeless men and women who do need help, and who want help, and who appreciate it, and who will become Christians through the Church reaching out to the poor, which should be something we all long to do.
I gave two dollars to a beggar the other day for food. He said, “Hay, I should have asked for more money.” Then he laughed. I said to him, “I wish I never gave you the two dollars you asked for.” You don’t even say thank you, and you say I should have given you more. Man, you are arrogant.” he said, “Oh, Thanks.” I said, “Too late now. I’d encourage you to get right with the Lord, your heart is deceitful and wicked. May Christ have mercy on your soul.”

I believe that this is something that must ultimately be judged according to the local laws and culture — and responded to as directed by the Holy Spirit.
My Dad used to pick up hitch-hikers when I was growing up in Michigan, but it’s a very different day now….
My Husband’s great-grandfather picked up a hitch-hiker and was robbed (for just a few bucks, even) and murdered — leaving a wife with a handful of children. Not able to care for any but the two youngest, that grandfather was sent out to fend for himself at 9 years old.
I know this is extreme, but the post on James and orphans and widows is still resonating in my soul…. Times were hard back then, and they’re getting hard again right now. Desperate people sometimes do desperate things.
Discernment is challenging at all times and in all circumstances….

i used to pick up hitch-hikers all the time… then i saw the movie the hitcher and i got scared about picking them up… that was years ago…
not too long ago a pastor in the town where i live picked up a man he recognized from the homeless ministry at his church — he had spoken with this man on occasion (at least that’s how the news story read) so he decided to give him a ride. the man stabbed the pastor in the throat. he survived but it reminded me about the risks involved…
hate to say it but i’ve stopped because of the fictitious fear, and the real fear…

Would Jesus ask me to risk harm to myself to help someone else? I’m inclined to say yes.
But I have to say I wouldn’t pick up a hitchhiker, and I have to honestly say I don’t know if I should feel bad about it or not.
That’s some good ponderin’ there….

I kind of want to sometimes, but I never have. But I’m also a young woman and not very big, with no self-defense training. Me picking up a male hitchhiker would not be an equation for safety. I know ministry sometimes means doing the apparently unsafe and “not smart” thing, but, honestly, I don’t have the faith or sense of calling to let a strange man into a small, enclosed, and mobile space with me. Although, oddly, I do still feel a little guilty about that.
Now if I saw a female hitchhiker (which I haven’t ever seen) I might stop.

I have and will pick up “hitchhikers” – people I know from seeing at the local grocery story or enroute on my travels to work – when the weather’s bad and I know they walk a long way. I don’t know if I’d be brave enough to pick up a total stranger but I always enjoy my brief minutes from these folks who are so thankful for a lift.

Wayward daughter update (see #9)
The latest report is that my daughter hitched with the wrong trucker and had to flee for her life. Her luck was better with a second trucker who helped her escape. Two of her later rides were from Christians. She had good talks with them and now believes God’s grace got her to safety.
This stuff may be academic to most of us. But lately it has been a bit more of a practical concern for me.
Your prayers are appreciated.

For the most part, no. I have a wife and a young son and as a general rule of thumb I feel it is not a safe practice to encourage.
This is not iron-clad. I gave a young man a ride once late at night because his car was out of gas and the nearby gas station in our smaller town was closed. He said he had a wife and child waiting for him in his stalled car, a claim which turned out to be true. Winters in Indiana can be brutal. I am prepared to bend the rules to give someone a ride in a winter storm; their life safety is more important than my rules. (Isn’t that a general principle to follow when trying to avoid legalism: people are more important than rules?)