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Luke Chapter 10

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Luke 10 Outline:
10:1-12      The mission and the message.
10:13-16    The doom of the Galilean cities that had rejected Jesus.
10:17-20    The return of the seventy.
10:21-24    Jesus is thrilled with joy.
10:25-37    The good samaritan.
10:38-42    Mary and Martha.

Fun Facts:
- The road from Jerusalem to Jericho is about 17 miles.
- Mary and Martha lived in Bethany, about 2 miles from Jerusalem.
- Capernaum was a large fishing village on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee with a population of about 1500. It was the base of Jesus’ ministry and was considered Jesus’ own town (Matt 9:1).

Study Notes:
Luke 10:1 Jesus sent out a large group of disciples this time to prepare the way for Him in the places that He planned to visit. He told them to carry no money bag, nor a second pair of sandals. They were to greet no one on the road. Eastern greetings can be elaborate and time consuming, and this was urgent business. There were too few of them as it was and there was no time to waste. They were to stay at the house of those who took them in, and if they were a kindred spirit, their peace would rest upon the house and a state of harmony would exist. They were instructed to eat and drink what they were given and to not feel guilty about it being provided for free because the laborer was worthy of his wages. Neither did they have time to go from house to house socializing and being entertained.

The disciples were being sent into pagan territory beyond the Jordan river and there were many gentiles there. The food would probably not always be “kosher”, but they were not to be sidetracked and be fussy about food and food laws. They were to eat and drink what was set before them. Their job was to heal and preach with the content of their message being: “The Kingdom of God has come near to you. This is the day of salvation.”

There would be cities that would reject them and they were to go into the streets of it and wipe the dust of the city off. An action that represented that the city had placed itself outside of the people of God. And nevertheless, rejecting them would not change reality. The kingdom of God had come near to them and on judgement day, they would be accountable for it. Woe is an expression of deep regret and not vengeance.

Luke 10:13 Jesus apparently ministered and did miracles extensively in a town called Chorazin and another called Bethsaida, and did enough mighty works there that Tyre and Sidon would have repented, which were two very evil cities (Isa 23, Ezek 26). This tells us that we know so little of the ministry of Jesus. Chorazin is only mentioned twice in the Bible (Matt 11:21 and Luke 10:13) and it did not cover Jesus ministering there at all. It would have been great to read about the miracles that Jesus performed at Chorazin. John wrote (John 21:25) that if all the things that Jesus had did were written down one by one, the world could not contain the books that would be written.

Jesus ministered so much in Capernaum that it was called “His own city” (Matt 9:1), but it was largely unchanged. He prophesied that it would be brought down from heaven, to hades. Today the once great city of Capernaum is deserted ruins.

Luke 10:16 The messengers that Jesus sent out had authority and their message was very important. When Jesus authorizes anyone to speak, that person speaks under His authority. Anyone who hears them, hear Jesus. And those that reject them, reject the Lord, and He who sent Him. It makes you think…

Luke 10:18 There are two main views of “satan falling like lightning from heaven.” 1) As the 70 disciples preached and healed through out the cities, what appeared on earth to be a few simple preachers ministering was in fact destroying the work of the devil as suddenly and unexpectedly as a flash of lightning. 2) Jesus was warning the disciples to not be lifted up in pride because He had seen satan fall from heaven because of pride, in saying “do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” It could quite possibly be that both are true.

Luke 10:21 Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit. The word rejoiced here means “Thrilled with joy.” Jesus was very happy and thanked God for the revelation. God had spoken to the lowly, and not the wise once again.

Luke 10:22 Jesus calls Himself “The Son” only here in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) but the expression is common in the gospel of John. Jesus said that no one knows who the Father is, except the Son and whomever the Son reveals Him to. That means that God is as Jesus revealed Him to be.

Luke 10:30 The parable of good samaritan. Lawyers then were not lawyers as we know but scribes which specialized in Jewish law, or the first five books of the Bible. They were often mentioned along with the pharisees and were usually opposed to the teachings of Jesus. The lawyer wanted a set of rules to keep in order to earn eternal life. Jesus is telling him that it is not keeping a set of rules, but living a life of love. We don’t live a certain way in order to earn God’s love, we are responding to God’s love and showing mercy to others as God has shown mercy to us.

A man traveled from Jerusalem to Jericho. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho is about 17 miles and a steep descent. It drops about 3,000 feet and winds through desolate wild country where robbers would be safe. Robbers attacked the man, beat him, stripped him, and left him half dead. In that light:

- A priest came by and saw the man laying half dead. Touching a dead body would make the priest ceremonially unclean. The only way to tell if the man was alive would have been to go to him. The priest chose to follow the law and crossed to the other side of the road to avoid any chance of contact with the man. There may have been other reasons that we do not know, but he left the man there.

- A levite came by and was also interested in ceremonial purity. He passed by on the other side of the road, leaving the man there.

- A samaritan came by and helped the man. Samaritans were despised by the Jews and this parable probably shocked the audience who would have been expecting a Jew to help the man. The samaritan was moved with compassion, came to him and bound up his wounds using wine as an antiseptic and oil to sooth the pain. He then placed the man on his own animal, walked to an inn, and continued to take care of him until the next day. Overnight room and board cost about 1/32 of a denarii then. When he left, he gave the inn keeper 2 denarii, which would have been two months board. Then he offered to pay the inn keeper whatever he spent beyond that when he returned. This man did far more than the minimum. When he saw a stranger in need, he did all that he could to help him.

- Then Jesus asked the man which of the three seemed to be a neighbor to the injured man. Of course the samaritan was the only real choice. Jesus told him to go and do likewise. Don’t let religious rules keep you from helping suffering people, not then, and not now.

Luke 10:38 The story or Mary and Martha is only found here in Luke. This happened at Martha’s house in Bethany (John 11:1) and was about 2 miles from Jerusalem. Martha was probably the older sister and wanted to do something special for Jesus that became too elaborate, because it became too much for her with “much serving.” She began to resent her sister quietly listening to Jesus and seemed to resent Jesus as well with “Lord, do you not care?” and Mary with “my sister has left me to serve alone.” Jesus made a point that waiting quietly on the Lord is more important than bustling busy-ness. The Lord never told her to prepare a feast. How many times do we dream up something extravagant and then get overwhelmed with it, then find that God is in the other room.

Map of area the Jesus where Jesus ministered. Bethany the town where Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived is highlighted red.

Study Questions: (if your answers are very long, you may want to type them first in something like Word or Notepad, which doesn't require an Internet connection, then copy and paste (Ctrl-A to select, Ctrl-C to copy, Ctrl-V to paste), to prevent mishaps. Also, there is a 3K character limit, so if they are super long, feel free to post more than once, and just answer a couple of questions at a time. Also, you are welcome to post any questions you may have. We look forward to your thoughts!)

1. Jesus sent his seventy-two disciples without any money, supplies or even shoes. He did send them in pairs though, instead of going alone. In what ways can we draw strength from having others in the body of Christ walk with us through life?

2. Why do you think it was the Father’s will to hide things from those who were wise, the prophets and the kings?

3. It was written that the greatest commandment is: “You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself”. What can we do to better align ourselves with God’s will in this commandment?

4. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, what characteristics did the Samaritan have that the priest and levite did not?

5. Jesus said that Mary had “chosen the good portion”, rather than Martha. What do you think Mary did right here and what can we do to cultivate more of Mary’s attitude in ourselves?