TAWG - January 1, 2025 - Luke 10:21-41
January 1, 2025

Luke 10:21-41

10:21-22 | This passage shows all three members of the Trinity in action: filled with the Spirit, Jesus rejoiced in the work and wisdom of His Father. God sovereignly chose babes to bring His message to the world, demonstrating that the great things accomplished through the Seventy could be traced to God Himself, not human strength or ingenuity (1 Cor. 1:18-23).

10:23-24 | Kings in the ancient Near East generally got what they wanted, when they wanted it. Prophets received visions, interceded for their people, and often performed great miracles of God. Yet all these things paled in comparison to being alive at the time of the Messiah, something that no OT king or prophet had experienced (1 Pet. 1:12).

10:25-27 | The man who approached Jesus was a lawyer – a student of the Mosaic Law, also called a scribe. He did not ask his question sincerely but intended to trap (test) Christ (Matt. 22:35). The religious scholars of the time loved to discuss the urgent social problems of the day without ever wanting to solve them. To this lawyer, love was merely a concept to study.

10:28-29 | This lawyer had sufficient knowledge of the Word of God to answer Jesus’ question, but he did not know how to apply its truth. The question – Who is my neighbor? – gave him away (Lev. 19:18). He demonstrated that his head knowledge had never penetrated his heart.

10:30-37 | This parable, perhaps more than any other that Jesus told, illustrates what it means to love others; a follower of Jesus cannot separate his or her relationship with God from relationships with other people (1 John 3:14-23).

10:30 | The narrow road from Jerusalem to Jericho, about 17 miles long, was notoriously dangerous for travelers. It descended some 3,600 feet, and its short curves provided excellent hiding places for bandits. The excess of thieves earned this thoroughfare a name that means “the pass of blood” or “the road of blood.”

10:31 | The Jews had so many priests in Jesus’ day that each “team” served in the temple for only two weeks out of the year. Perhaps the priest in Jesus’ story did not want to risk missing his term of service by aiding an injured traveler. Also, if the man was dead and the priest touched the body, he would be ceremonially unclean for seven days (Num. 19:11), rendering him unfit for temple duties.

10:32 | Levites led religious worship and maintained the temple grounds. Both men demonstrate that religious work does not make someone a true servant of God.

10:33-34 | The usual trio of characters expected in such a story would have been a priest, a Levite, and a Jew. But when Jesus substituted a Samaritan for a Jew, He forced a paradigm shift in the lawyer’s mind: the very thought of a kind Samaritan would have been intolerable (John 4:9).

10:33 | The priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan all noticed the man. But only one saw him with eyes of compassion (Matt. 14:14; 15:32). The word translated compassion means “a deep moving within the inward spirit.” The Gospel of Matthew uses it three times to describe Jesus’ loving and active relationship with people (Matt. 9:36; 14:14; 20:34).

10:34-36 | Besides being the example of love in Jesus’ parable, a Samaritan occupies another noted place in Luke’s Gospel. Of the 10 lepers whom Jesus healed (17:11-19), the only one who returned to thank Him was a Samaritan – a “foreigner.” The least religious people sometimes have the greatest capacity for love and gratitude.

10:37 | When individuals comprehend the depth of God’s love, they can learn how to love even the least loveable, becoming Good Samaritans to those around them (Prov. 14:21). Compassion does not originate in religion or responsibility but in a relationship with God.

10:38-42 | Like Martha, people can be so consumed with doing what they think they should that they miss what God wants (John 11:1). If there is anything more important than swerving Jesus, it is simply being in His presence (John 12:2-3).