Study 25. Luke 10:25 - 42

7. According to Jesus, what should be a person's two priorities in life (10:27-28)?

• Loving God (Dt 6:5)
  
• Loving our neighbour (Lev 19:18)
  

  What does it mean to 'love' God and 'love' your neighbour?

To love God is to desire Him above all else and to seek to please Him 

To love a neighbour is to place his needs equal to our own

The common element in love is the forgetting of ourselves.

 8. Jesus said, "Do this and you will live" (10:28). What is the problem with trying to inherit eternal life in this way?

The attitude of the lawyer is wrong: he is not truly interested in knowing the answer to his question, but he wants to establish his superiority over Jesus. Jesus turns the tables by referring him to the most basic of the teachings of the faith. And so the lawyer then seeks to rescue ('justify') himself by asking a more 'sophisticated' question.

Jesus takes the OT as the standard of faith and practice (cf. 19:18). we do this to 'earn' eternal life by goodness, we will fail. Yet true love of God = eternal life. This was sufficient to save the saints of the OT. "If we really love God in the way of which Jesus speaks, then we rely on him, not ourselves." (Morris)

 

9. The legal scholar asked, "Who is my neighbour?" - Whom must I love? What answer does the parable give?

What was wrong with the lawyer's notion of a neighbour? 

His definition of 'neighbour' was too narrow. Jesus's idea of neighbour transcends racial and religious lines. A neighbour is anyone whose life intersects with our own.

 

The road from Jerusalem to Jericho runs down a steep descent through desolate country. The distance is about 17 miles and the road descends more than 3,000 feet. The priest and Levite would have been concerned with ceremonial purity - their hesitation was understandable. They had good reason.

If their places were reversed, would the (Jew) have done the same for the Samaritan?

"Now [the lawyer] must think whether the priest and the Levite, who scrupulously retained the moral purity required by the Law, really kept the Law, which likewise enjoined love of the neighbour." (Morris)

10. What did Martha think it meant to serve Jesus? (10:40)

•  She was 'distracted by much serving' (v.40a). She may have wanted to do something special for Jesus. Increased demands had caused her to focus on her service. She was 'distracted' - her focus was in the wrong place. Her service should have been a joyful act of worship, but she served only to complete the task of hospitality.
  
• She was irritated at Jesus as much as with her sister (v.40b). She used Jesus to scold her sister indirectly. Her sense of misplaced focus led to wrong expectations and anger.
  
• She was 'anxious and trroubled about many things' (v.41). Her irritability in this matter may have been due to her general lack of peace.

"The one thing is not defined, but clearly it finds expression in Mary’s sitting at Jesus’ feet, learning from him. It is the attitude of dependence on Jesus that matters. Some commentators refer it to food: they think Jesus is saying that one dish is all that is needed, not Martha’s elaborate meal. But the language does not support this, especially that referring to Mary’s choice. She has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her. The right spiritual attitude is a possession we need never fear losing." (Morris)

 

Edmund Chan provides this insight: Mary might have been equally irritated with Martha and asked Jesus to tell Martha to sit next to her. The 'one thing' is that which sets the course of her life must be her devotion to her Lord.

 

11. What service was more important to Him? (10:41-42)

Communion with Him - learning and spending time in His presence.

Yet, how does this help us decide when to serve and when to work? And what should we do if we were in Martha's place?

12. How does this story further unfold Jesus' answer to how we can love God with our whole being?

This story (found only in Luke) emphasises communion, not deeds. It reinforces the point that salvation is not by works.  All we do must be out of devotion and love. Acts supposedly done for God but without love are pointless distractions.