Arguably, it could be said that there are many parallels between the figure of Jesus and a social worker and the many people he is recorded as having interacted with show how he was not afraid to associate with the down-and-outs of society and the kind of people that social workers normally work with. One particular incident that may be particularly important is in John 4, when Jesus speaks with a Samaritan woman and talks about "living water" and spiritual thirst. What is important to realise about this encounter is that Jesus is dealing with difference in a massive way in his conversation with this woman. Not only is there the obvious gender difference, which was a massive issue in those days, but also there was an ethnic difference as well, which the woman herself raises when Jesus asks her for a drink of water:
The Samaritan woman said to...
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him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
In addition, the woman is clearly somebody who is shunned even by her own society because of her sexual relations and the number of husbands she has had. Jesus therefore shows an excellent ability to deal with difference and to interact with this woman from where she is coming from, ministering to her spiritual needs but doing so in a way that respects her and shows her that he cares for her and wants to try and help her.
In which book of the Bible does Jesus act as a social worker?
Jesus in his ministry could be compared in many ways to a modern day social worker, in the way that he interacted with those that society in his day shunned and scorned. Repeatedly throughout the gospels his opponents cannot believe that somebody who claims to be the Messiah spends his time with "tax collectors and sinners" who were two groups of society that were branded as outcasts and that no self-respecting Jew would spend any time with. Yet again and again throughout the gospels the significant interactions that Jesus has with people are precisely those kind of people that live on the fringes of respectable society: the sick, tax collectors, women who have an "interesting" reputation, and so on. One example comes in John 5, when Jesus talks to an invalid who is unable to get to the pool when it stirs (which was believed to heal). Jesus heals him from his sickness:
Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
What is notable about this occasion is that not only does Jesus speak to the man when he heals him and finds out what his problem is before working to help him overcome it, he also speaks to the man later on and gives him advice on how to make sure he stays well in the long-term, giving him some spiritual advice about how to live his life now he is better. Jesus shows an ability to interact with others who come from a very different group in society to himself and to treat them with respect and dignity, as a social worker should strive to deal with others.