Good Samaritan

LUKE — LESSON 10

Scriptures for this lesson are taken from Luke 10 and Matthew 22.

In Luke 9, Jesus sent the twelve apostles out to the towns in Galilee. He gave them the power to heal the sick, drive out demons and even raise the dead. They were not to take any money, extra clothing or food with them. They would depend on God to supply all their needs through the hospitality of people in the towns. If the people in a town refused them and refused to hear the message from God, they were to leave that town, shake the dust from their feet and move on. At the close of chapter-9, Jesus and His followers were moving south from Galilee through Samaria. Jesus chose 72 men, other than the twelve apostles, and sent them out two by two down the Jordan Valley to the towns in Samaria. They moved ahead of Jesus as He made His way to Jerusalem for Passover where He would be crucified. The time was December or early January.

[Luke 10:1-12] (1) After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. (2) He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. (3) Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. (4) Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. (5) “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ (6) If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. (7) Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. (8) “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. (9) Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ (10) But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, (11) ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ (12) I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.”

Here Jesus uses a parable about a man who owns a field of grain. The grain is ripe and ready to be harvested. The Lord of the harvest is God. There is much work to be done in the grain fields and very few workers. The grain field is the people in the towns and the disciples are the workers. Their work is to spread the message about the coming of the Kingdom of God. Jesus said He was sending them out like lambs among wolves. They were not to take any money, extra clothing or sandals, not even a staff for protection. They were not to great anyone on the road as they traveled but to go into the towns. If they were offered hospitality in a home, they were to offer God’s peace on the home. If they were peaceful kindly people, God’s blessing would stay with them, if not it would return to the disciples. These disciples were traveling in Samaria where the Samaritans didn’t like Jews and Jews didn’t like Samaritans so these men would be going forth depending on the Lord for sustenance, even survival and they would learn a great lesson in faith. If the people in the towns rejected the disciples and their message, in the kingdom of God their punishment would be worse that it was for the city of Sodom which was destroyed.

[Luke 10:13-16] (13) “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. (14) But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. (15) And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades (16) “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

Jesus spent a lot of time in this area of Galilee and the people who lived in these towns had the opportunity to hear Him speak, to witness the healing of the sick and lame and even see the dead come back to life. At the time of judgment, the people who lived in Tyre and Sidon will be better off than those who heard the Word of God over and over but refused to listen.

[Luke 10:17-24] (17) The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” (18) He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. (19) I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. (20) However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (21) At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. (22) “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (23) Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. (24) For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

The 72 disciples seemed to be excited as they shared with Jesus all the miracles that they were able to do through the power that Jesus gave them including driving out demons. They were excited that their mission had been very successful. Jesus’ reply was that He had seen Satan fall from heaven. Satan is the power behind the demons they were able to cast out. Satan is defeated by the power of God. Remember how Jesus was led into the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry and tempted by Satan. If he could have caused Jesus to sin, then Jesus’ ministry would have been over before it began. Satan’s work on earth continues to be defeated by the work of Jesus’ disciples. Jesus goes on to tell them that they have power over snakes and scorpions which seem to be symbols of evil and that Satan cannot harm them. They were protected, nothing could harm them. But then Jesus reminded them that they should not get too carried away with all this power they had but rather focus on the most important thing, and that was the fact that they had salvation, eternal life in heaven with God.

In verses 21-24, Jesus praised God the Father for not revealing “these things” from the wise and educated people, but for reveling to the children. What things? I think He is talking about the message that the Kingdom of God was near, it was coming, the Messiah was coming, and man’s redemption from sin was coming. The wise and learned referred to the Jewish religious leaders, the scribes and Pharisees, teachers of the law. They would not accept Jesus as the Messiah because He did not come as a warrior to overcome the Romans which is what they expected from their understanding of the Old Testament scriptures. They were not looking for the suffering servant Messiah. The unlearned accepted Jesus like a child, accepting Him in faith. Jesus then reminded His followers that many of the prophets and kings from Israel’s past longed to see the Messiah and that they were blessed to be able to hear and see the Messiah and the power of God working on earth.

[Luke 10:25-29] (25) On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (26) “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” (27) He answered, “‘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, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (28) “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” (29) But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Scribes and Pharisees, teachers of the Old Testament law were always following Jesus trying to find something to use against Him. On this day one of them, a Pharisee asked Jesus how to receive eternal life. It had to be a Pharisee because the Sadducees did not believe in life after death. Jesus asked him what the law said about it.He replied that you must love God first with then love you neighbor. So the Pharisee asked Jesus just who was his neighbor. Exactly who did he have to love. Jesus answered this question with the story about the good Samaritan. A Samaritan is someone from Samaria.

[Luke 10:30-37] (30) In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. (31) A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. (32) So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. (33) But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. (34) He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. (35) The next day he took out two denari and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ (36) “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” (37) The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

In order to understand the full meaning of this story, you need to know as I mentioned above, that the Jews and Samaritans did not associate with each other. Jews very seldom traveled through Samaria because they considered them to be unclean. The Samaritans were part Jewish mixed with other races. When Assyria took the northern kingdom, they took all the Jewish leaders and moved them into areas and moved people from these other areas into the Northern Israel where they intermarried. The kings in the northern kingdom encouraged their people to worship idols to keep them separated from the people in the south. So this division caused the people to not associate with each other.

In His story, Jesus told the Pharisee that a Jewish priest saw the hurt man but would not help him. Then a Levite which is the tribe of the priests came along and he would not help the hurt man either. The priest and the Levite represented the spiritual leaders of the Jews, supposedly the righteous ones. The Samaritan was to them an unclean, unacceptable person, yet he had compassion on the hurt man and did something to help him. Jesus asked the Pharisee to decide who was a neighbor. The lesson for the Pharisee was that we are to love and have compassion for all men, not just the one we consider worthy.

[Luke 10:38-42] (38) As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. (39) She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. (40) But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” (41) “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, (42) but few things are needed — or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Mary and Martha lived in Bethany which is about two miles from Jerusalem. They had a brother named Lazarus; the one Jesus would call forth from his tomb later in John 11. Martha was most likely the older sister and took responsibility for the household duties. Jesus and his disciples were there and Martha was trying to prepare food for them all. While she was working, Mary sat at Jesus’ feet listening to His every word. When Martha asked Jesus to tell Mary to come and help her, Jesus explained that Martha should not worry so much about preparations and follow Mary’s example because Mary had chosen to spend her time listening and worshiping Jesus while He was there with them.

[Matthew 22:36-40] (36) “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? (37) Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. (38) This is the first and greatest commandment. (39) And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. (40) All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

Lessons from Luke chapter 10:

1. Those who have the opportunity to hear the gospel over and over but continually harden their hearts and refuse to accept Jesus as their Savior will have great regret at the time of judgment.

2. Satan is still working in our world but he continues to be defeated by the work of Christians who are today’s disciples of Jesus.

3. We should not let the things in our daily lives distract us from what is most important — Jesus and the fact that He gives eternal life to those who believe.

4. Who is your neighbor?

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