Event: ዸራቅሊጦስ (Paraclete Week) 2018
Theme: “Who Is My Neighbour?” — Mercy, Orphan Care, and the Call to Act ባልንጀራዬ ማን ነው? — ምሕረትና ለወላጅ አልባ ልጆች አገልግሎት
Day 4 opened with one of the most familiar and searching passages in all of Scripture — the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37). But it was not presented as a comfortable story. A lawyer stands to test Jesus with a question: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus turns it back to him, and the lawyer answers correctly — love God with everything you have, and love your neighbor. Then, looking for a loophole, he asks the question that has echoed through centuries of human self-justification: “And who is my neighbor?”
The sermon made clear from the outset that this question is not just ancient. It is asked every day in Addis Ababa, in every community where suffering is visible and avoidable — and people still choose to pass by on the other side.
A Different Eye or a Different Heart?
The sermon paused to highlight the contrast among the priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan: all three saw the same man. The difference was not in what they observed but in what moved inside them. The priest and Levite saw and calculated: “What if he gets up and robs me? What if the thieves are still nearby and attack me? What will happen to me if I stop?” The sermon named this honestly — it is not malice that causes most people to pass by. It is fear, self-preservation, and the quiet arithmetic of personal risk.
The Samaritan, by contrast, saw and his heart broke. From that broken heart flowed an extraordinary chain of action — he drew close, poured wine and oil on the wounds, bound them with cloth, lifted the man onto his own donkey, carried him to shelter, watched over him through the night, paid all the costs, and committed to cover whatever more was needed on his return. This was not a gesture. It was full, sacrificial, sustained compassion.
“A neighbor,” the sermon declared, “is any person made in the image of God who needs our help.”
The three questions the Samaritan implicitly asked were posed to the congregation: If I do not help him, what worse harm will come to him? If I do not help him, who will? If I do not help him now, when will I?
The Samaritan as a Type of Christ
The sermon then drew a profound theological line — the Good Samaritan is not only a moral example. He is a picture of what Jesus Christ has done for humanity.
Drawing from John 10:10 — “The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy; I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” — and Philippians 2:6–8, the speaker presented Christ as the ultimate Good Samaritan: One who, though equal with God, emptied Himself, took on the form of a servant, and became obedient unto death on a cross. He found humanity beaten, stripped, and left for dead — and He did not pass by.
Job 11:16–19 was offered as a picture of the restored life that follows such an encounter with God’s mercy: “You will forget your misery… your life will be brighter than the noonday sun… you will rest in safety… many will seek your favor.” This is what restoration looks like. This is what the church is called to participate in.
The Neighbor Among Us — Ethiopia’s Orphaned Children
The sermon’s most striking movement came when the parable was brought into direct, concrete focus: the beaten man on the road is, today, the orphaned and vulnerable child.
The speaker shared testimony from work among children at a government orphanage, presenting images and stories that made the statistics human. Over 300 children had been taken in through Gudifecha (adoption): a testament to what is possible when the church stops calculating risk and starts acting with Samaritan-like commitment. A video from KT ministry further illustrated the transformation possible in children’s lives when the community steps in.
What Shall We Do?
The sermon closed with three direct, personal calls — simple, actionable, and uncomfortably clear:
- Adopt (ጉዲፈቻ) — Open your home and legally bring a child into your family.
- Foster — Provide temporary care, stability, and love to a child who needs it.
- Invest — If you cannot adopt or foster, give — financially, prayerfully, practically — to those who are doing this work.
These were not presented as options for the exceptional few but as the natural response of anyone who has genuinely encountered the mercy of Christ. The sermon ended where it began: with Jesus’s final words to the lawyer, now addressed directly to the congregation: “Go and do likewise.” ሂድ አንተም እንዲሁ አድርግ።
