Luke 10:25-37
25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “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.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
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Leviticus 21:1-2
And the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, No one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, 2 except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother
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Sermon Discussion: Luke 10: 25-37, Pt. 1
1) This parable begins with a man who was an expert in the law of Moses asking Jesus a question. Read Luke 10:25. What is the question? Look closely at what the man asks Jesus. What assumption(s) about salvation does the question presuppose?
2) Read Luke 10: 26-28. Jesus answers the lawyer’s question about eternal life with a question. How does the teacher of the law respond? Sometimes the first part of the Lawyer’s answer gets overlooked, but the first part of his answer is important. How is loving the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength connected to loving our neighbors? Read Matthew 25:35-40 to see how Jesus explains this connection.
3) The priest and the Levite in the story would have been ceremonially unclean and unable to perform their duties if they had engaged with the injured man on the road. What our modern audience views as unkindness, a 1st century audience would have viewed as pious adherence to religious law. What did strict adherence to the law alone do for the injured man? What point is Jesus making about the Law by specifically including a priest and Levite in the story? Read what Jesus says about himself in Matthew 5:17. Who in this parable models how Jesus fulfills the Law?
4) Pious Jews in 1st century Israel disliked no other group of people more than the Samaritans. Jews viewed Samaritans as immoral, corrupt, unworthy of redemption, and not worth speaking to or dealing with. Yet, Jesus forces his Jewish audience to see these people as the “neighbors” they are to “love as themselves.” Who is the “neighbor” you have the hardest time loving? Who is it hard for you to engage with? What does this parable teach you about those you would struggle to love?
5) Which character in the story represents Jesus? Review the women in Jesus’ ancestry in Matthew 1 and what you know about them. In what ways would was it appropriate for Jesus to represent Himself as the Samaritan? In what way would it have been shocking for those who believed Jesus was the Messiah?
6) Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection gave people who had no access to God because of the religious requirements of the law, access to the Kingdom and to worship. Jesus came to be an includer of those the pious deemed unworthy. How does Jesus’ intentional use of a Samaritan as the hero of the story model his desire for those on the outside to be granted access? Discuss other times during His ministry that Jesus engaged with outsiders to give them access to God.
7) This parable and its teaching come as the result of someone asking Jesus a question. If you had the chance to ask Jesus a question, what would you ask him? Is there something you would like for Him to clarify for you? How did the expert in the law receive Jesus’ unexpected answer to his question? Have you had the experience of scripture answering a question you had in an unexpected way? What is required of us in order to accept Jesus’ teaching?