The Gospel of Luke
Chapter 10
In the last chapter, we came to realize and understand that Jesus really is God’s Son. That has huge implications for our lives and ministries! What should we do in response to His word? How should we hear His word? What will it do in us? What shall with do with that word? In this chapter, as Jesus moves resolutely toward Jerusalem, we encounter different attitudes toward the words that Jesus taught.
What has happened to us?—Luke 10:1-25
Some little while after sending out the apostles on their preaching tour, Jesus sent out 72 others to do something similar. There is a dispute about whether it was 70 or 72. The best we can say is that the evidence is pretty evenly split, but on balance it seems better to accept 72 as the correct number. That translates to six preachers commissioned for each apostle commissioned formerly. Perhaps Jesus intends the apostles to understand that it is not their responsibility to take the message of the kingdom to the world all by themselves. They are expected to be followed by others and the ministry should multiply. If the apostles were the “first generation” of gospel preachers, this group would be the “second generation.”
Their instructions were very much like the instructions given to the 12: You’re going out as workers in the field, but also like lambs among wolves. Don’t take any extra provisions. This matter is urgent, so don’t chit-chat with the people you meet on the road. When you are invited to stay in a house, invoke peace upon it and stay there while you’re in that town. Don’t be over-scrupulous about the food you are served, just eat it gratefully—even if you think it might be questionable in an area where Gentiles are very common. Don’t seek better accommodations in the town while you’re working there. The commission is simple: preach the kingdom and heal the sick.
[Side note: in this section, Jesus declared that “the worker deserves his wages.” Paul quoted this phrase in 1 Timothy 5:18 and equated it with Deuteronomy 25:4 as Scripture. The implication of this is that Paul had seen a copy of Luke, and accepted it as inspired, before he wrote 1 Timothy in about AD 65 or 66! So, the Gospel of Luke must have been written and circulated by AD 65. However, Luke obviously had access to the Gospel of Mark, so Mark must have been written even earlier! Clearly, the gospel accounts began to be circulated very early!]
We know nothing of Jesus’ ministry in Korazin and little of His contact with Bethsaida. He did great miracles in both places, and Gentiles would have been impelled to repent should they have been witnesses. But those who rejected His messengers rejected Him and His Father, who sent Him.
When the preachers returned, they were thrilled at their own success. Jesus rejoiced with them and declared that the spiritual victory had been won—the devil had been stripped of authority. The preachers had authority and were rightly joyous over that, but Jesus urged them to take greater comfort in having their names written in heaven. His joy impelled Him to prayer and thanksgiving to God for the fact that ordinary people could understand and appreciate the message of the kingdom of God, while the indoctrinated elites failed to grasp it. At that point, Jesus pronounced a blessing on the disciples and pointed out that they were privileged beyond some of the greatest people of the past, who wanted to see the days of the Messiah and to hear the message of redemption, yet did not see or hear either.
What should we do?—Luke 10:25-37
After this incident, Luke recorded an exchange between Jesus and an expert in the law. Apparently Jesus had been teaching, and this man stood to test Jesus with a “legal” question about inheriting eternal life. Jesus asked him what the law said, and the expert rattled off the dual requirements of loving God and loving your neighbor. These are precisely the requirements that Jesus stated in another situation! (Matthew 22:37-40). Jesus agreed with the man and urged him to “do this.”
However, the expert in the law was not satisfied. The practice of the law is all about definitions. No matter what the law says, the terms must be defined correctly in order for it to apply. Here, the man wanted a sterling definition of “neighbor.” It is important to understand his motivation in this. He had little interest in loving his neighbor; he wanted to learn the limits of the legal demand so that he could satisfy his own desires as much as possible and still be acceptable to God. He did not want to live as God wanted; he wanted God to accept his desires.
Jesus responded with a parable, preserved for us only in Luke’s Gospel. In the story, a man going from Jerusalem to Jericho was set upon by robbers who stripped and wounded him. A priest passed by, but he was concerned for the letter of the law—he didn’t want potentially to make himself unclean by handling a dead body. Then a Levite, also apparently concerned with ritual purity decided the letter of the law was more important than the man in the ditch. Finally a Samaritan, who had no concern for the law since he didn’t observe it anyway, came by and was only concerned to help the man. In fact, he troubled himself to administer direct aid, then took him to an inn and nursed him overnight and paid what might have been 7-10 days’ lodging to the innkeeper and obligated himself to pay any further charge for the man’s recuperation. Then Jesus posed the test question: which of the three was a neighbor? The humiliated expert could only choke out, “The one who had mercy on him.” And Jesus repeated His earlier demand, “Go and do likewise.”
The expert presumed that God cared about the rules more than He cared about the people who obeyed the rules. Twice now, in this chapter, Jesus has indicated that the people are more important than the rules—when the 72 were urged to eat what was placed in front of them without troubling over scruples of cleanliness, and here with the priest and Levite failing while a Samaritan, without the law, obviously did what God wanted. There is a warning here for us as well. We must be very careful to have a heart for people like God has a heart for people, never participating in sin, but caring for them just like Jesus would.
What is the best we can do for Jesus?—Luke 10:38-42
The chapter closes with another scene that is unique to Luke. Jesus has come to the hometown of Mary and Martha and Martha invited Him to her home. After entering, Jesus sat and taught, probably in normal conversation, and Mary took station at His feet to listen to the things He had to say. Meanwhile, Martha was bustling around, desperately trying to furnish the finest meal she could for her illustrious guests. Her frustration mounted until she asked Jesus (!) to command Mary to help her! To her surprise, Jesus upheld Mary’s response over hers! The meal was not important; the word of the Lord was what counted.
Our initial sympathies lie with Martha! Nobody likes to labor while goldbricks lounge. On reflection, though, we realize that Martha was putting forward so much effort in order to earn the praise of Jesus and His disciples. She wanted justice, not grace. Mary chose grace, the word of the Lord, no matter what the meal looked like. And Jesus praised that choice. In this light, the lesson to us is obvious: seek first the kingdom of God; everything else will take its rightful place after that.