Luke 10, a visual study from The Lampstand Project.
The harvest is plentiful.
Seventy-two sent out. They return with joy. Satan falls like lightning. Jesus gives thanks to the Father. The good Samaritan. Mary and Martha.
Three movements. Mission and return, the lawyer, two sisters.
Luke 10 is the chapter of the great reversal. The seventy-two — not just the twelve — are sent out and return with joy. A lawyer asks who his neighbor is and gets a parable that turns the question inside out. A woman sits at Jesus’ feet while her sister serves. The one who seems to understand is corrected. The one who seems to be doing nothing is praised.
A chapter in 3 movements.
Tap any numbered marker to read its part
“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Seventy-two sent. Satan fallen. Names written in heaven.
The Lord appoints seventy-two others and sends them out two by two ahead of him into every town and place he is about to go. He says: the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers. Go. I am sending you as lambs in the midst of wolves. Whatever house you enter, say peace. Eat what is set before you. Heal the sick and say: the kingdom of God has come near.
The seventy-two return with joy: Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. Jesus: I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. In that same hour he rejoices in the Holy Spirit and says: I thank you, Father, that you have hidden these things from the wise and revealed them to little children.
“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
“Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”
The good Samaritan. The question turned inside out.
A lawyer stands to put him to the test: what shall I do to inherit eternal life? What is written in the Law? How do you read it? He answers correctly: love God with everything, love your neighbor as yourself. Do this and you will live. But wanting to justify himself, he asks: and who is my neighbor?
A man going from Jerusalem to Jericho falls among robbers who beat him and leave him half dead. A priest passes. A Levite passes. A Samaritan — traveling, seeing him, moved with compassion — goes to him, binds his wounds, puts him on his animal, brings him to an inn, cares for him. The next day he pays the innkeeper and says: take care of him, and whatever more you spend I will repay. Which of the three proved to be a neighbor? The one who showed him mercy. Go and do likewise.
“Let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”
“Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Mary and Martha. The one thing necessary.
As they travel, Jesus enters a village where Martha welcomes him into her house. Her sister Mary sits at the Lord’s feet and listens to his teaching. Martha is distracted with much serving and says: Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to help me.
Jesus answers: Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her. The rebuke is gentle and the naming double — as always in Luke when great tenderness is combined with great redirection. What is chosen in this scene is what the whole chapter has been pointing toward: sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening.
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
The seventy-two return with joy: Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. Jesus: I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. The greater miracle is not what they can do but whose they are.
The chapter of love and neighborliness.
The Lord appoints seventy-two others and sends them out two by two, like lambs among wolves. Take nothing. Whatever house you enter, say: peace to this house. Eat what is set before you. Heal the sick. Say: the kingdom of God has come near. They return with joy. Jesus responds with joy: I thank you, Father, that you have hidden these things from the wise and revealed them to little children.
A lawyer stands to test him: what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He answers correctly: love God with everything, love your neighbor as yourself. But who is my neighbor? Jesus tells of a man beaten by robbers. A priest passes. A Levite passes. A Samaritan stops, binds the wounds, carries the man, pays for his care. Which was the neighbor? Go and do likewise. Then Mary and Martha: Martha busy, Mary listening. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken from her.
“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.”Luke 10:27 ESV
All scripture quoted from the English Standard Version (ESV). A study from The Lampstand Project.