Do As I Have Done: Dare to Draw Near

Luke’s parable begins with a lawyer testing Jesus with a question that sounds strange to evangelical ears: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus does not reject the question. Jesus answers like a good rabbi, firing back another question: “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” The lawyer gives the right answer: love God with everything, and love the neighbor as oneself. Jesus receives that answer and presses it into practice: “Do this, and you will live.”

The word “do” frames the whole story. The question begins with doing, Jesus answers with doing, and the parable ends with “go and do likewise.” The issue is not that right belief does not matter. The issue is that right answers, however right they are, are not enough when faith never becomes right action. Grace saves through faith, but grace also makes people brand new in Christ Jesus “to do good works.”

The John 13 picture of Jesus deepens the point. Jesus, the King of kings, holds no scepter and wears no golden crown in that image. Jesus holds a basin and towel, the tools of the lowest servant in the house. Jesus rises from the table, stoops to the dirty floor, and washes dirty feet. The five words under that picture, “as I have done,” stand beside “go and make disciples” as a real commission of the church.

The Samaritan shocks the story because Jesus makes the enemy the one who shows mercy. The word “Samaritan” did not sound good to the first hearers. It sounded unclean, unrighteous, wrong, and dangerous. The modern ear needs to hear the scandal, like hearing a story about “the good drug dealer” who stops while respectable religious people drive by.

The priest and Levite see the half-dead man, but they pass by on the other side. Their whole interaction takes only two verbs. The Samaritan’s mercy takes fourteen verbs: he comes near, sees, has compassion, goes, bandages, pours, puts, brings, cares, pays, speaks, promises, returns, and repays. The first verb matters most: he draws near. Without nearness, there is no real seeing, no compassion, and no costly action.

God in Jesus is the deepest truth of the parable. God did not see broken humanity and pass by on the other side. God drew near in flesh and blood, touched the dirt and wounds, paid the price, and carried the broken home. The gospel challenge is simple and hard: see the neighbor, draw near to one person, learn a name, hear a story, offer hospitality, and let God love that person through embodied mercy.

---

Key Takeaways

• 1. Right answers need holy action Jesus treats the lawyer’s “what must I do” as a valid question, not a bad one. Grace does not make obedience optional; grace makes a person brand new for good works. A right answer that never bends toward a wounded neighbor stays clean, correct, and useless. [52:19]
• 2. Compassion dares to draw near The Samaritan’s first saving act was not bandaging but coming near. Distance lets need stay abstract, while nearness gives the wounded person a face, a name, and a story. Genuine compassion does not float above pain; it crosses the road and lets mercy take on weight, cost, and time. [65:23]
• 3. Enemies may reveal God’s mercy Jesus made the hated Samaritan the one who acted like a neighbor, and that choice offended the respectable imagination. The parable refuses to let religious identity decide where mercy can appear. God can expose a hard heart by placing compassion in the hands of the person a community has already dismissed. [59:40]
• 4. Jesus refused the other side God in Jesus did not pass by human sin and shame as a mess to avoid. The Word became flesh, drew near, touched brokenness, paid the cost, and carried the wounded home. Christian mercy begins in being found by that nearness before it ever becomes something offered to another. [67:59]
• 5. One neighbor is the assignment The call does not begin with solving the whole world’s pain in one heroic gesture. The challenge begins with paying attention to the ordinary orbit of family, school, work, shops, and streets. One name, one story, one act of hospitality can become the place where God loves a neighbor through an available life. [73:31]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [39:13] - Greetings and Gathering
• [39:58] - The Lawyer Tests Jesus
• [43:24] - Jesus With Basin and Towel
• [48:08] - Believing and Doing
• [52:19] - Right Answers Are Not Enough
• [55:24] - The Word Do Frames the Story
• [57:18] - Hearing Samaritan as Scandal
• [60:15] - A Modern Good Drug Dealer Parable
• [62:41] - Count the Verbs
• [65:23] - Dare to Draw Near
• [67:59] - God Draws Near in Jesus
• [69:45] - Seeing Everyday Neighbors
• [73:06] - The Homework Assignment
• [74:29] - A Blessing of Discomfort

Bible Reading

Luke 10:25-37
And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” [39:58]

John 13:12-15
When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.” [48:00]

Ephesians 2:8-10
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Observation questions

1. In Luke 10, what question does the lawyer ask at the beginning, what answer does he give from the law, and what does Jesus tell him to do with that answer? [55:24]
2. What do the priest and Levite do when they see the wounded man, and what actions of the Samaritan stand out by comparison? [01:02:41]
3. In John 13, what is Jesus holding and doing, and what does he tell his disciples to do after that? [43:24]
4. In Ephesians 2:8-10, what two truths are held together about salvation and good works?

Interpretation questions

1. Jesus does not reject the lawyer’s question about what to do; he redirects it toward love of God and neighbor. What does that suggest about the relationship between right belief and right action? [52:19]
2. Jesus makes the Samaritan, not the religious leaders, the one who shows mercy. Why might that have been offensive to the original hearers, and what does that reveal about how easily people can misjudge where mercy will appear? [59:40]
3. The Samaritan’s first major act is that he draws near. Why does nearness matter so much in this story? How does distance keep compassion thin or abstract? [01:05:23]
4. The parable can also be read as a picture of what God has done in Jesus for broken humanity. In what ways does Jesus act like the true neighbor in this story? [01:07:59]

Application questions

1. It is possible to have correct words about faith while staying far away from wounded people. Where is there a gap right now between what is believed and what is actually being done? [52:19]
2. Compassion usually begins before any big act of help; it begins by noticing and moving toward someone. Who is one person in everyday life that is often seen but not really noticed? What might drawing near to that person look like this week? [01:09:45]
3. Nearness gives a neighbor a name and a story. Is there someone nearby whose story is largely unknown? What would be a simple, honest first step toward knowing that person better? [01:13:31]
4. The priest and Levite saw the need but chose the other side of the road. What are the usual reasons for crossing to the other side—busyness, fear, discomfort, prejudice, uncertainty, something else? Which one shows up most often? [01:04:05]
5. Jesus washed feet and said, “do as I have done.” What kind of low, ordinary, quietly costly service would best reflect the way of Jesus in this season of life? [45:20]
6. Mercy may sometimes come from people who are usually written off, and pride can keep the heart from learning that lesson. Is there any person or group that is too quickly dismissed as beyond God’s work? What might need to change in the heart? [01:00:15]
7. The call is not to fix everything at once, but to love one neighbor faithfully. What is one concrete act of hospitality, care, or generosity that could be offered in the next few days? [01:13:31]