DBG - October 30 - Luke 10-11

In this chapter contains the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

vs. 1-16 – Christ commissions 70 more disciples to go and preach.  This is different than the  sending of the 12 in Luke 9:1-6, though there are many similarities.   There is comparable language used in Matthew 9:35-38 about the great harvest and need for laborers, but that appears to be a different event.  Christ pronounces woes upon villages and cities that had rejected Him. These would face greater judgement than some of the most wicked cities of history because they had a greater opportunity to receive the light of Christ but refused it.

vs. 17-24 – The 70 disciples return and report the results of their campaigns.  They seem more excited about the miracles they performed than those that received the Gospel.  Their ministry should not have been about what they could do through Christ, but who Christ was. Nevertheless, their work causes Christ to rejoice in prayer.  He then comments to the Twelve about the wonder of what they were witnessing.  Countless believers before and since have longed to see first-hand the work of Christ. 

vs. 25-37 – The lawyer here is a scribe, an expert in the Mosaic Law.  The man is trying to justify himself by having Christ praise him for keeping the Law.  The answer he gives about the commands of the Law is essentially the same that Christ gave in Matthew 22:37-40.  The man could have stopped there but wanted to press the issue further to make him look better.  He asks clarification about who constitutes being our neighbors that we are to love.  Christ responds with the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  This story takes place on the well-travelled road between Jerusalem and Jericho.  This way was also notorious for bandits.   A Jewish man is travelling this way when he falls prey to these outlaws.  He is robbed and left dying from his wounds.  A priest and a Levite pass by but refuse to help the man.  These two would have been assumed to be the types of men that would do the right thing.  But the hero of the story is a Samaritan.  On an ordinary day the Jew and the Samaritan would have despised each other, but this Samaritan acts to aid the wounded traveler.    He places him in the care of an innkeeper, leaving 2 denarii (about $16) but also pledging to pay whatever is required above that.  Who acted like a neighbor in this story?  The Samaritan.  The man is forced to admit this, but cannot even be made to say the name, only identifying the Samaritan as the one who showed mercy.  Christ tells him to live like the Samaritan to show love to our neighbors.  This completely undermines the man’s self-righteousness, because it would have been based on him being kind to who he wanted to, which would not have included the hated Samaritans. 

vs. 38-42 – We meet Lazarus’s sisters Mary (“a tear”) and Martha (“a lady”).  While Christ is at their house, Mary sits at His feet listening to His teaching while Martha hurries about being a hostess.  Martha is vexed that her sister is not helping her, but Christ replies that Mary had made the better choice.

In this chapter battles with the Pharisees.

vs. 1-13 – The disciples ask Christ to teach them to pray.  Note that this is prompted because John the Baptist had taught this to his followers.  Christ begins with what is often called the Lord’s Prayer, which is also in Matthew 6:9-15.  It is better called the Model Prayer, as it is a basic structure for our prayers to follow and not a composition to be recited by rote memorization.  Christ then teaches further on the subject of prayer, showing that God desires to answer our petitions. 

vs. 14-26 – This parallels Matthew 12:22-45 and Mark 3:19-30.  Christ is accused of casting out demons by the power of the devil, here called Beelzebub (“lord of the flies”).  Christ reveals the absurdity of that charge, asking why Satan would stop his own minions from their evil work.  He was casting out demons by the greater power and authority of God.  If He truly working through evil powers, the people would not be healed but made worse.

vs. 27-28 – Seeing the prior miracle, a woman in the crowd is overcome and exclaims a very Jewish blessing on Christ’s mother.  Christ points out that the truly blessed are those that follow God.  Perhaps the Catholics should take note that Christ did not use the opportunity to exalt Mary.

vs. 29-36 – This parallels Matthew 12:38-42.  Even though they witnessed countless miracles, the people still demanded a sign.  They wanted the Messiah to perform their terms.  Christ says the only sign they need is the sign of Jonah.  As Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, so would Christ be in the tomb three days and three nights before He rose from the dead.  Their hearts were revealed in their request.  They did not trust God.

vs. 37-54 – Christ is invited to dine with a Pharisee.  Whether this was an honest invitation or a trap is not evident.  The Pharisees are incensed that Christ did not wash His hands in their manner, which was a man-made tradition and not part of the Law.  Christ takes this opportunity to speak on their fixation with the custom of washing themselves to show that their true defilement was within.  There are six woes pronounced upon their sins: focusing on the inconsequential and ignoring the vital (verse 42), loving the praise of men (verse 43), looking clean and safe but actually being polluted and deadly (verse 44), burdening others with commands they themselves would not obey (verse 46), honoring the very prophets their ancestors had maltreated (verse 47), and hindering others from understanding the truth.   This interaction only increases the hostility from the scribes and Pharisees.

Of the many things the disciples could have asked for instruction on, they chose the subject of prayer.  No doubt this was in part because they were moved by Christ’s own prayers.  They heard Him teach, but we have no record of them asking how to do so.  They saw Him win souls, but we have not record of them asking how to do so.  They did ask for other things at times, but in this quiet hour when they could have asked for anything, they asked to learn how to prayer.  Let that be lesson to us.  If we are to do anything for Christ, let it be founded on a bedrock of a powerful prayer life.

Today’s hymn is “Lord, Teach Us How To Pray Aright,” written by James Montgomery in 1818.

Lord, teach us how to pray aright,

With reverence and with fear;

Though dust and ashes in Thy sight,

We may, we must draw near.

We perish if we cease from prayer;

Oh! grant us power to pray;

And when to meet Thee we prepare,

Lord, meet us by the way.

Burden'd with guilt, convinced of sin,

In weakness, want, and woe,

Fightings without, and fears within,

Lord, whither shall we go?

God of all grace, we bring to Thee

A broken, contrite heart;

Give, what Thine eye delights to see,

Truth in the inward part.

Give deep humility; the sense

Of godly sorrow give;

A strong, desiring confidence

To hear Thy voice and live;--

Faith in the only Sacrifice

That can for sin atone;

To cast our loves, to fix our eyes

On Christ, on Christ alone;--

Patience to watch, and wait, and weep,

Though mercy long delay;

Courage, our fainting souls to keep,

And trust Thee though Thou slay.

Give these, and then Thy will be done;

Thus, strenghen'd with all might,

We, through Thy Spirit and Thy Son,

Shall pray, and pray aright.