Read or listen The Gospel of Luke, chapter 10 online (ESV, Bible Gateway)

Sending out the 72 disciples – Luke 10:1-20

Only Luke tells us of the sending out of a larger group of disciples. Old manuscripts mention both 70 and 72 as the number.

70 could refer to the Gentile mission: the Jews considered that there were 70 Gentile nations; the rabbis taught that Israel was a sheep among 70 wolves (Genesis 10). However, the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament, gives the number of nations as 72. The great Jewish council, the Sanhedrin, had 70 members and the high priest. The number 72 could refer to the completion of the missionary work among the Israelites: 6x12=72.

The prohibition against greetings in verse 4 refers to the long greeting ceremonies that were used in the East. Jesus' message was so urgent that they had to continue their journey without delay.

The disciples were harvesters, the harvest itself was and is God's. This is worth remembering today: our goal is not new converts for our own group or church, but new citizens of God's kingdom.

Chorazin is mentioned only here in the New Testament, and Bethsaida is mentioned only a few times. This shows how much was left unsaid (John 21:25). We do not know what happened in these cities, and what led to the rejection of Jesus.

What matters is not what our life is like, what we get to experience and do, but what happens after it: whether our name is written in the book of heaven. Heaven is our goal, everything earthly only either promotes or hinders the achievement of that goal.

The center of time – Luke 10:21-24

Luke divides salvation history into three parts, periods:
1. The time of promise from the fall to John the Baptist.
2. The time of fulfillment - Jesus' life on earth.
3. The time of the Holy Spirit, the church, or the end, from Pentecost to the second coming of Jesus.

Now the fulfillment was happening, that is why the disciples were blessed. They were seeing what had been long awaited. Jesus is the center of world history; the most important person who has ever lived on earth. He is the center of time.

The Good Samaritan, Martha and Mary, Our Father – Luke 10:25 - 11:13

The Good Samaritan – Luke 10:25-37

A teacher of the law began to test Jesus. Of course, as a teacher of the law, he should have known how a person is saved, that's why the question was asked to test Jesus (verse 25, compare Matt 15:14; the blind leading the blind and Matt 23:13-36; Jesus' cries of woe to the Pharisees and teachers of the law). So the man wanted to know if Jesus would answer correctly; he thought he knew the right answer, but did Jesus know it? Apparently, the lawyer expected Jesus to answer something that would contradict the law.

Jesus did not fall into the trap set for him, but asked a counter-question: "What does the law, the Old Testament, teach about this?" The lawyer combined two instructions from the Old Testament law: loving God (from the Israelite Creed, Deuteronomy 6:4-9) and loving one's neighbor (Leviticus 19:18).

Jesus accepted the answer, but the lawyer did not want to leave, but raised the controversial question of who exactly was meant by “neighbor.” The Old Testament passage in question specifically refers to the Israelites, “my people” (Leviticus 19:18). But in Jesus’ day, some interpreters of the law viewed neighbor as meaning only a pious Jew—only those who loved God’s law were to be loved. Whom did Jesus mean when he spoke of loving one’s neighbor (verse 29)? To answer this very question, Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan.

The journey from Jerusalem to Jericho is 27 kilometers. The road at that time was rocky and ran through uninhabited areas, in the Judean desert. On that journey, the road descends a little over a kilometer. The road was a favorite for robbers. A Jewish man was robbed on that road. The robbers left him stripped and beaten, lying on the road. The situation described was familiar from real life.

The priest who arrived on the scene avoided the man and hurried past. Perhaps he was afraid that the robbers were still nearby and that he would be in danger if he tried to help the robbed man.

Or maybe he defended himself in his mind by saying that according to the law of Moses (Leviticus 21:1-4) priests were not allowed to touch the bodies of anyone other than their dead close relatives, and the robbed man might have already died. It took a week to purify oneself from touching a dead person (Numbers 19:10-13).

Next came the Levite, a temple servant, who did the same as the priest. Each week, 300 priests and 400 Levites served at the temple in Jerusalem. Perhaps the priest and Levite were going on their weekly service or returning home from the temple. Each family was allowed to serve twice a year for a week at the temple.

The Samaritan was the third to arrive. He helped the man who had been robbed. He took the man to the next inn and promised to pay for him and his treatment. The two denarii paid by the Samaritan would have been enough for two months of accommodation, as the Roman historian Polybius says that at the same time, Italian inns charged half an asia per day (1 as = 1/16 denarii).

Finally, the lawyer was faced with a difficult question. He did not want to name the Samaritan, an example of neighborly love, but "the one who showed mercy to him" (verse 37).

So who is my neighbor? Based on this story, we could define it as: "A person whom God leads on my path." It is easy to improve distant things, but can I face difficult situations that are close to me? Love of neighbor may require my time and money, it is not just beautiful principles.

Description of Christ?

The Church Father Origen (c. 185-254) already presented an allegorical, metaphorical interpretation of the story. The Reformer Martin Luther criticized the details of Origen's interpretation, but accepted its main features. According to Origen, the story seeks to teach the way of salvation (compare the question in verse 25).

The interpretation is as follows:

robbed = man
Jerusalem = Heaven
Jericho = the world
robbers = Satan and hosts of evil priest = law
Leviticus = prophets
Good Samaritan = Jesus
Good Samaritan's mule or donkey = Church
inn = congregation
wine and oil = sacraments
promise to return = second coming of Jesus

Two levels can be seen in the the parable. There are two levels to the parable. The first level is about helping others, the second level is about salvation. The first is for the self-satisfied Pharisees, the second for those who truly wanted to hear Jesus' teaching.

For the Pharisees, Jesus' parable only answered the question: "Who is my neighbor?", but for those who believed in Jesus, the parable also answered the question: "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" However, the answer was something other than the piety of works, because every listener understood that he would not be able to love his neighbor like that. Salvation through works became impossible (cf. Luke 18:26). The only remaining possibility for salvation was grace - that Jesus - the true Good Samaritan - would come to us, lift us up, carry us, save us, take care of us, and pay for everything.

Faith in the midst of life!

Jesus wanted to teach that faith should be seen in everyday things, in how we act. Faith is not some "special island" in our lives, but should be seen in everything we do.

The Jewish Creed also spoke of this: God was to be loved "with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind" (verse 27). A relationship with God and faith therefore belong to the whole of life. If any part of life is left outside of faith, faith becomes distorted. For example:
- overemphasis on emotion leads to overspirituality
- overemphasis on will leads to legalism
- the overemphasis of reason creates a cold dogmatic faith - halfheartedness leads to hypocrisy and "Sunday Christianity"

Can we bring faith and God's will into our everyday lives? It is clear that no non-believer will understand us if our faith and our speech about faith are detached from ordinary life. If we talk about "washing our clothes in the blood of the Lamb", "being born again" or "returning to the grace of baptism", we will probably be misunderstood. We must know how to speak about Jesus and faith in such a way that even a listener who is unfamiliar with Christianity understands our speech.

This is not easy. The words used today must not water down or change the message itself. Parables are still good today, but finding a fitting and effective parable is not easy. It is therefore necessary to pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit for church workers, but also for every Christian, so that the message of Christ can reach today's people in an understandable way.

Martha and Mary – Luke 10:38-42

It is probably no coincidence that Luke wanted to tell the story of the events in Martha and Mary's home right after the Good Samaritan. Although good deeds and love for one's neighbor are valuable, they are meaningless if the most important thing is missing from our lives. American gospel musician Larry Norman said: "We need more of Jesus in our lives!" Too much hustle and bustle and overwork can hide the most important thing from us. The good can become the worst enemy of the best!

Martha and Mary lived with their brother Lazarus in Bethany, near Jerusalem (John 11:1,18). The visit described here shows us what the everyday of Jesus' public activity was like: during the day he traveled and taught, when the evening came he arrived at a place to stay, and there he still teaches and eats.

In Jewish society it was unusual for a woman to invite a man to be her guest (compare also Luke 8:1-3), but even stranger was that Jesus taught a woman, Mary. Jesus was not a prisoner of the rules and beliefs of his time, although that is sometimes claimed!

Martha was annoyed that Mary left all the practical work to her. But Jesus did not want to order Mary from the student's place to "the kitchen," because Mary's part was good, even the best, and it would not be taken away from her (in Greek the verb is in the future passive, so it refers to God's action at the last judgment). So the question is what is the purpose of our life, its goal. We were created for heaven and eternal life, and nothing should stand in the way of that.