Read the Passage: Luke 10:25–42

Listen to the Redeemed Mind Podcast: Luke 10:25–42

Teaching on Eternal Life (10:25–28)

There are a number of times in the Gospel narratives where Jesus is explicitly asked about salvation, the most notable examples being the rich, young, ruler and Nicodemus (cf. Matt. 19:16–22; Mark 10:17–22; Luke 18:18–23; John 3:1–21). Of course, Christ being asked about salvation is not unexpected, for He is the Savior of the world and His teachings and miracles pointed people toward God. What is surprising, however, is Jesus’ response when He is asked about gaining eternal life. For example, when the rich, young, ruler asked about salvation, Christ answered him, saying, “If you want to enter into [eternal] life, keep the commandments” (Matt. 19:17; cf. Mark 10:19; Luke 18:20). Note that in today’s passage, when an unnamed lawyer asked about enteral life, Jesus replied in a similar manner by asking, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” (Luke 10:26).

Luke is the only Gospel writer to record the interchange in this passage between “a certain lawyer” (Luke 10:25) and Jesus. Note that Christ’s appeal to the moral law here is meant to be somewhat ironic, for this lawyer was ostensibly an expert in the law. When Jesus asked this man about his reading of the law in the context of eternal life, the man answered by quoting Lev. 18:15, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” This response, indicated Christ, showed that the lawyer was on the correct path to salvation—at least intellectually. Furthermore, note the reason why Jesus often pointed to the moral law when asked about salvation is because, “By the law comes knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20). In other words, the moral law causes one to abandon self-salvation efforts and to rely totally on Christ.

Parable about Eternal Life (10:29–37)

With his citation of Lev. 18:5, this unnamed lawyer correctly identified a change of heart as being necessary for salvation. Yet, Luke 10:29 reports that this man still wanted “to justify himself.” This led Jesus, in Luke 10:30–37, to give the well-known parable of the good Samaritan. Note that Luke records more parables in total than any of the other Gospel writers, and the parable of the good Samaritan is only found in Luke’s Gospel. Christ gave this parable specifically to answer the lawyer’s question, “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:28). With his inquiry, it seems that this lawyer wanted to twist the definition of the term “neighbor” so that he’d only have to love those people whom he wanted to love. In the parable of the good Samaritan, however, Jesus demonstrated that all people—even including one’s enemies—are to be considered as one’s neighbors.

The details within the parable of the good Samaritan are familiar: a Jewish man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho is assaulted and left for dead. Three individuals come across this wounded traveler—a priest, a Levite, and a Samaritan. Of these three men, only the good Samaritan offered help, even paying for the on-going medical care of the hurt man. The challenging part of this parable for the unnamed lawyer is that he was Jewish and, as such, he would have hated Samaritans. In interpreting the parable, it is vital to remember that it was given by Jesus in the context of the lawyer’s question about salvation. We can identify the parable elements as follows: the injured Jew is the unnamed lawyer, the Samaritan is God, and the help provided is salvation. In short, then, although the lawyer asked, “Who is my neighbor?”, Jesus flipped the question to, “Who has been neighbor to you?” Indeed, as God loved us in our helplessness, so we are to love all people.

Effect of Eternal Life (10:38–42)

At first glance, the brief narrative about Mary and Martha recorded in Luke 10:38–42 may seem to be out of place. Yet, this account is included here not only because it happened next in the timeline, but also because it shows the effect of salvation in everyday life. To elaborate, encountering a dying man on a deserted road, as in Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan, will not be an everyday occurrence. However, each day Christ’s followers do have opportunities to spend time with Him and to display the reality of their salvation to a watching world. In this story, as Jesus lodged in the home of Mary and Martha, both of these sisters had an opportunity to interact with Christ. While Mary chose to spend time with Jesus, Martha was distracted by the duties of everyday life. Yet, when Martha objected to Mary’s apparent inactivity, Jesus mildly rebuked Martha in order to highlight the importance of spending time with Him.

Application Questions:

1. What are the essential parts of a gospel presentation? What does someone need to believe in order to gain eternal life?
2. In the Gospels, when Jesus was asked about salvation, why does He always answer by pointing people to the moral law?
3. What place do good works play in the Christian life? Why do most people want to save themselves by good works?
4. Does Scripture teach that we are equally morally responsible for all people (cf. Rom. 12:13; Gal. 6:10; 1 Tim. 5:4, 8)?
5. Do you get easily distracted by the pressing demands of everyday life? Is spending time with Jesus a priority in your schedule?