The harvest, the Samaritan and the one thing needed

Luke, traditionally the physician and companion of Paul (Colossians 4:14; Philemon 24), wrote this Gospel and Acts for Theophilus and other Greek-speaking readers, to give an orderly account and assurance about what they had been taught (Luke 1:1-4). Some critical scholars doubt that the author knew Paul. The date is debated, between the early 60s AD and about AD 80 to 90. Luke 10 belongs to the large middle section of the Gospel, 9:51 to 19:27, in which Jesus travels toward Jerusalem. Much of this section has no parallel in Mark. The mission of the seventy-two and the thanksgiving of 10:21-24 have close parallels in Matthew 9:37-38, 10:7-16 and 11:21-27, usually explained by a shared sayings source called Q, though some scholars reject Q. The Good Samaritan and Martha and Mary are found only in Luke. They fit his interest in outsiders, in women and in hearing the word.

The setting is a journey. The towns named in the woes, Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum, lie around the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho in the parable drops from about 2,500 feet above sea level to about 800 feet below, in some seventeen miles, through rocky country that had a reputation for robbers. Samaritans worshiped at Mount Gerizim and accepted only the five books of Moses. Many Jews traced them to the peoples Assyria settled in the north (2 Kings 17:24), while Samaritans claim descent from the northern tribes. Relations were bitter (John 4:9).

The chapter holds a mission narrative, a hymn of thanksgiving, a parable and a short scene. The unifying thread is the question of how to respond to the arrival of the kingdom: with the urgency of messengers, the joy of those who see, the mercy of a neighbor and the attention of a disciple. Each scene ends with a pronouncement or command from Jesus.

The parable of the Good Samaritan is the most familiar part and needs careful handling. It is a story told in answer to a question, and the question frames it. The lawyer asks who his neighbor is, and Jesus ends by asking who proved to be a neighbor to the man. The point is that mercy, not membership in a group, defines neighborliness. Many early Christian writers, including Origen and Augustine, read the parable as an allegory of salvation, with the traveler as Adam, the robbers as the powers of evil, the Samaritan as Christ and the inn as the church. Modern interpreters generally do not accept this as the meaning Luke intended, but it is valued as a reflection on how the story relates to Christ. This class reads the parable first as Jesus' answer to the lawyer and then notes the echo.

A textual point: the number of those sent out is seventy-two in some manuscripts and seventy in others, and the manuscript evidence is divided. Either number is symbolic of a mission to the nations: Genesis 10 lists seventy nations in the Hebrew text and seventy-two in some Greek traditions. This class follows the reading seventy-two and notes the alternative.

Verses 1–12

The Lord appoints seventy-two others and sends them in pairs ahead of him to every town and place where he is about to go. The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few, so they are to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers. They go as lambs among wolves, with no purse, bag or sandals, and are to greet no one on the road, which means they are to be single-minded. Into any house they first say, Peace to this house. If a son of peace is there, their peace rests on it. They remain in that house, eating and drinking what is given, for the worker deserves his wages. In a town that welcomes them they eat what is set before them, heal the sick and say that the kingdom of God has come near. In a town that does not, they go into the streets, wipe the dust from their feet and still say that the kingdom of God has come near. The judgment on that town will be worse than on Sodom.

Verses 13–16

Jesus pronounces woe on Chorazin and Bethsaida: if the mighty works done in them had been done in Tyre and Sidon, those cities would have repented long ago. Capernaum, which is exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades. He closes, Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.

Verses 17–20

The seventy-two return with joy, saying that even the demons submit in his name. Jesus says that he saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. He has given them authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy. Yet they are not to rejoice that the spirits submit, but that their names are written in heaven.

Verses 21–24

At that moment Jesus rejoices in the Holy Spirit and thanks the Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from the wise and revealing them to little children. All things have been handed to him by the Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Turning to the disciples privately, he says that many prophets and kings wished to see what they see and hear what they hear and did not.

Verses 25–37

A lawyer, an expert in the law of Moses, stands to test Jesus and asks what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asks what is written in the law. The lawyer answers with the commands to love the Lord with all the heart, soul, strength and mind (Deuteronomy 6:5) and one's neighbor as oneself (Leviticus 19:18). Jesus says, Do this and you will live. Wanting to justify himself, the lawyer asks, Who is my neighbor? Jesus tells of a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho who falls among robbers, who strip him, beat him and leave him half dead. A priest comes by and passes on the other side. A Levite does the same. A Samaritan, on a journey, sees him and is moved with compassion. He binds the wounds, pouring on oil and wine, sets the man on his own animal, takes him to an inn and takes care of him. The next day he gives the innkeeper two denarii and promises to repay whatever more is spent. Jesus asks which of the three proved to be a neighbor, and the lawyer answers, The one who showed mercy. Jesus tells him to go and do likewise. The priest and Levite may have feared ritual uncleanness from a body that might be dead (Leviticus 21:1-3; Numbers 19:11), but the story does not give their reason.

Verses 38–42

Jesus enters a village, and a woman named Martha welcomes him into her home. Her sister Mary sits at the Lord's feet and listens to his word. Martha is distracted with much serving, and asks Jesus to tell Mary to help her. He answers, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her. To sit at a teacher's feet was the posture of a disciple (Acts 22:3), and it was unusual for a woman to take it. Luke does not name the village; John 11:1 places Mary and Martha in Bethany. Some manuscripts read 'few things are needed, or only one', and the textual evidence for the shorter wording is mixed.

Luke 10 combines a theology of mission with a theology of love and of the knowledge of God. The mission of the seventy-two is the first step toward the mission to the nations in Acts. The sending of disciples in pairs, with the message that the kingdom has come near, shows that the proclamation is not the work of one apostle but of the whole body. The statement that whoever listens to the messengers listens to Jesus, and whoever rejects him rejects the Father, ties the authority of the apostolic word to the authority of God.

The lawyer's question is the question of the whole law. The two commands from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 are given by Jesus elsewhere as the greatest commandments (Mark 12:28-31). Love for God and neighbor is the summary of the law, and Paul agrees (Romans 13:8-10). The parable shows love as active mercy that crosses social and religious lines, and it implies that eternal life is not earned by a clever answer but lived in mercy.

The thanksgiving of 10:21-22 is among the clearest statements in the Synoptic Gospels of the unique relationship between the Father and the Son and of salvation as revelation. God's saving knowledge is given, not discovered. The passage is sometimes called a 'Johannine thunderbolt' because its language sounds like the Gospel of John (John 3:35; 17:2). The fall of Satan in 10:18 describes the defeat of evil at the coming of the kingdom, and its full result is still awaited (Revelation 12:9-10).

This chapter is a fulfillment text. Jesus tells his disciples that prophets and kings longed to see what they are seeing (10:23-24), and he claims that only the Son knows the Father and reveals him (10:22). Jesus' claim to a unique mutual knowledge of the Father is a claim to deity as the one who reveals God. The statement that all things have been handed to him echoes Daniel 7:14 and anticipates the authority of the risen Lord (Matthew 28:18).

The seventy-two sent out in the Spirit's season likely echo the seventy elders who received God's Spirit under Moses (Numbers 11:24-25), a type of a greater leader gathering helpers. The number may also recall the seventy nations of Genesis 10 and point to the mission to all peoples. It is best offered as an echo. Jesus' words that he saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven describe his own victory over the evil one.

Many early Christian readers took the Samaritan as a picture of Christ, who comes to the wounded, binds them up and pays the cost of their care. That reading is a reflection of the church fathers, not the meaning stated in the text, but it fits what Luke elsewhere says of Jesus: he is the one who has compassion on the helpless, and he is called a friend of sinners (7:34). Jesus himself, like the Samaritan, was considered an outsider by many religious leaders. In Martha and Mary, Jesus is the Lord at whose feet one listens, and his word is the one thing needed.