Luke 10:25-42

We need to be sure we keep the context here.  Jesus is training the Twelve (and others who were with Him such as the seventy).  In Luke 9:27-62 the emphasis was on the call to the cross and what it meant in the lives and ministries of His followers.  This refining continued in the sending out of the seventy.  Here Jesus emphasized accountability for those who heard the message; and He emphasized the blessing of knowing Him, having their names written in heaven and having the Father reveal the Son in them.  

As Simeon had prophesied, Jesus was revealing the thoughts of many hearts (Luke 2:35).  Today’s passage continues to do this with two great stories, one a made up story (a parable) and the other an actual event.

·        10:25-37: The Parable of the Good Samaritan.

o   The issue here is, what shall I do to inherit eternal life.  Note a couple of things.  First that word do is three times in the passage (v25,28,37).  It is assumed that Jesus would say to the man, you can’t do anything; you must just receive it by faith.  And yet it doesn’t sound (at first) like Jesus said that.  It is Jesus who says, do this and you will live (v28).  The this He refers to is the man’s accurate understanding of the law of Moses.  Later Jesus would be asked, which is the great commandment in the law and He would give this very answer: love God and love your neighbor (Matt. 22:34-40).  

o   But, you may say, we cannot be saved by works (Eph. 2:8-9 and many other passages).  In fact no one can do good so as to be saved (Ecc. 7:20; Rom. 3:9-20, etc.).  But that is the very point of this story.  Jesus knew this man asking the question was representative of all Judaism; he was wanting to justify himself (v29).  This Jesus told a story that made loving your neighbor impossible for this man as well as the others listening.  Loving your neighbor ultimate must include loving those who hate you, as was the case of the Samaritan.  And it must include a righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees (Matt. 5:20).  

o   The law can only save if one keeps it fully.  This is the reason Paul, in Rom. 10:5 and Gal. 3:12 quotes Lev. 18:5: You shall therefore keep My statutes and keep My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them.  Paul, in both instances, accompanies these words with a discussion of faith.  Rom. 10:5-6 contrasts the righteousness of the law with the righteousness of faith.  Gal. 3:11 says the just shall live by faith.  Jesus used this same approach in the Sermon on the Mount.  After telling the people their righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees He goes on to show them the impossibility of living a righteous life that will result in salvation (Matt. 5:21-6:18).

·        10:38-42: The One Good Thing.  How powerful, in this context, is the exchange between Jesus and Martha.  Martha is clearly one who is wrapped up in her good works.  She is loving her neighbor, showing hospitality with excellence.  But Jesus rebukes her.  It feels good to us Martha-types that we are worried and troubled about many things.  We feel important and think others should be like us.  But Jesus is very clear: one thing is needed.  That one thing is the pursuit of knowing Jesus (cf. Phil. 3:8-11).  The Psalmist knew this well.  Read Psalm 73 with the concluding words: Whom have I in heaven but You?  And there is NONE upon earth that I desire besides You (v25).  Read Psalm 84, the call to pilgrimage of the saint who says: My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God (v2).  

Let us allow the Lord to reveal the thoughts of our hearts today.  Will we find that we are still trying to please God with our righteousness, the righteousness of the law?  Will we find that we are pursuing the one thing that is needed?