What If the Good Samaritan Was Jesus Caring for You?

Introduction

Stéphane Guillet opens this sermon in the troubled context we're living through: wars, brutality, violence broadcast live into our homes. In the face of all this, an invitation that sounds gentle to the ear: "Let's take care of one another." Starting from Luke 10 and the parable of the good Samaritan, he unpacks what the Bible really means by those words, and offers you a striking reading: the Samaritan who comes near the wounded man is also Jesus himself.

Outline of the Message

1. "Taking care" in the Bible: far more than a soft word

• Remembering. Psalm 8:4: "What is man, that you think of him?" The Hebrew verb is to remember. God does not forget you, that's already where caring begins.
• Not forgetting. Jesus picks up the image in Luke 12:6-7: not one sparrow is forgotten before God, and even the hairs of your head are numbered.
• Watching. Psalm 33:18: "Behold, Yahweh's eye is on those who fear him." Caring begins with refusing to look away, refusing indifference.
• Not shutting your heart. 1 John 3:17: seeing your brother in need and shutting your heart against him is the very opposite of love.
• Knowing. Nahum 1:7: God cares for those who take refuge in him, literally, he knows them, the way he knew his people enslaved in Egypt.
• Being concerned. "He cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7): literally, he is concerned about you.
• Providing for your own. 1 Timothy 5:8: whoever does not provide for their own, that is, does not think of them, has denied the faith.
• Providing concretely. Psalm 55:22: "He will sustain you", an action verb, he will provide for your needs. Revelation 7: the Lamb will shepherd them like a shepherd.

2. Two ways to read the parable of the good Samaritan

• Imitate the Samaritan. "Go, and do likewise" (v. 37). This is the natural reading, and it's a true one. Caring for your neighbor is vast common ground with every person of good will, Christian or not.
• But watch the shortcut. Reduced to this alone, the Christian faith would collapse into plain humanism: "I just need to do good to inherit eternal life." But that's exactly the question raised in verse 25.
• The Samaritan is Jesus. The Church Fathers read it this way from the earliest days. The religion of the old covenant could not save mankind; Jesus drew near to us the way the Samaritan drew near to the wounded man.
• A telling clue. Verse 33 says the Samaritan "was moved with compassion", literally, he was moved in his gut. This verb appears several times in the synoptic gospels, and every single time, without exception, Jesus is the one it describes (or a character in a parable who represents God, like the father of the prodigal son).

3. Three consequences if Jesus is hidden behind the Samaritan

• I care because God cared for me. My motivation is no longer my own fragile good will, but the memory that God drew near to me even when I didn't deserve it. That's the heart of the gospel: God came to care for a humanity that needed him, without discrimination.
• My neighbor is whoever I draw near to. Jesus turns the question around. For the expert in the law, the neighbor was the fellow countryman. Jesus broadens the definition: it's whoever's situation you want to know, whoever you want to be concerned about, whoever you want to bring concrete help to. It might be that child on the other side of the world you'll never meet.
• The humility of the one who draws near. This isn't about placing yourself above the poor person you're helping. Jesus became man, he accepted being wounded, mistreated, so he could reach the wounded and the mistreated. He hides himself behind a Samaritan nobody thought much of. Caring for your neighbor, following his example, comes with that same humility.

Key Takeaways

• In the Bible, "taking care" covers eight verbs: remembering, not forgetting, watching, not shutting your heart, knowing, being concerned, providing for your own, providing concretely.
• The priest and the Levite see, but they look away. Religion can turn us so far inward that it keeps us from caring for others.
• Caring starts as a disposition of the heart, but it doesn't stay at the level of intentions: it shows up in concrete actions, over time.
• The verb "moved with compassion" used for the Samaritan never, in the synoptic gospels, has any subject other than Jesus or God. That's a strong signal.
• You become the neighbor of whoever you draw near to. There are always two neighbors in an encounter.

Personal Application

1. Faced with the images of brutality and violence that reach you every day, what's your dominant reaction: indifference, shock, a desire to act? What does the Lord want to awaken in you through this?
2. Who do you regularly remember in prayer? Is there someone who has slipped out of your memory that God might want to bring back today?
3. Can you name one person you're currently drawing near to, a neighbor, a coworker, a distant family member, a sponsored child? If not, who could you begin to become a neighbor to this week?
4. Does the way you help others sometimes seek admiring looks, or does it carry the humility of someone who remembers being the wounded one Jesus once reached?
5. What concrete action, not just an intention, can you take this week to "care" for someone, over time, not just in the moment?

Scripture References

• Luke 10:25-37 · The Parable of the Good Samaritan
• Psalm 8:4 · What is man, that you think of him?
• Luke 12:6-7 · Not one sparrow is forgotten before God
• Psalm 33:18 · Yahweh's eye
• 1 John 3:17 · Shutting your heart against a brother in need
• Nahum 1:7 · He knows those who take refuge in him
• 1 Peter 5:7 · He cares for you
• 1 Timothy 5:8 · Providing for your own
• Psalm 55:22 · Cast your burden on Yahweh
• Revelation 7:16-17 · The Lamb will shepherd them

Frequently Asked Questions

Why read the good Samaritan as a picture of Jesus himself?

This reading is an old one: the Church Fathers proposed it from the earliest days of Christianity. It rests on a serious clue: in verse 33, the Samaritan "was moved with compassion" at the sight of the wounded man. This precise verb, in the synoptic gospels, is never used with anyone as its subject except Jesus, or a character in a parable who represents God, like the father of the prodigal son. This Christ-centered reading doesn't replace the call to "do likewise"; it grounds it in the gospel so that the Christian faith doesn't collapse into plain humanism.

Is caring for your neighbor simply doing good around you?

Doing good, yes, that's real common ground with every person of good will, Christian or not, and a wonderful opportunity for collaboration. But for a disciple of Jesus, the motivation comes from somewhere else: he cares for others because he remembers that God cared for him, without his deserving it. And he stretches his notion of neighbor to include someone he may never meet, by drawing near to them.

Who is my neighbor, concretely?

Jesus turns the expert in the law's question around. The neighbor isn't first a category (fellow countryman, family member, believer from the same camp). It's whoever you draw near to: whoever's situation you want to know, whoever you want to be concerned about, whoever you want to bring concrete help to. The miracle of the neighbor is that the moment you draw near to someone, they become your neighbor and you become theirs.