The Savior for All: A Samaritan as the Hero

Luke 10 contains one of the most famous parables ever told — and the parable's hero is a Samaritan.

Jews and Samaritans hated each other. They had hated each other for centuries. Samaritans were considered half-breeds, heretics, religious traitors. No respectable Jewish teacher would tell a story in which a Samaritan was the good guy.

Jesus does. And He uses the Samaritan to expose the priest and the Levite — the religious establishment — as the ones who failed to love their neighbor.

The chapter also contains the sending of the seventy-two, and the famous scene at the house of Mary and Martha. Three pictures of what it means to follow the Savior for All: be sent, love your neighbor, and sit at His feet.

The seventy-two are sent

After this, the Lord appoints seventy-two others and sends them on ahead of Him, two by two, into every town and place where He himself is about to go.

The number is symbolic. In Genesis 10, seventy nations of the earth are listed. The seventy-two are a foreshadowing of the Gospel going to all nations.

He says to them:

"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."

Then He warns them:

"I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves."

Take no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals. Greet no one on the road. Whenever you enter a house, say: "Peace be to this house!" If a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. If not, it will return to you.

In whatever town you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick. Say: The Kingdom of God has come near to you.

In whatever town they do not receive you, wipe the dust off your feet and say the same: The Kingdom of God has come near. It comes either as salvation or as judgment.

Woe to the unrepentant cities

He pronounces woes on the cities of Galilee that have seen His works and not repented:

"Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago."

The greater the revelation, the greater the responsibility.

"The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me."

The seventy-two return

They return with joy: "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!"

Jesus answers:

"I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven."

Then He says something deeper:

"Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

The greater miracle is not authority over demons. The greater miracle is that your name is written in the book of life.

The Father revealed in the Son

In that same hour, Jesus rejoices in the Holy Spirit:

"I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children."

The Savior for All is revealed to those willing to be little. The proud and wise have already missed Him.

He turns to the disciples:

"Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it."

"Who is my neighbor?"

A lawyer stands up to put Him to the test:

"Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

Jesus answers: "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?"

The lawyer answers correctly: "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."

Jesus says: "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live."

But the lawyer, desiring to justify himself, asks:

"And who is my neighbor?"

This is the question that prompts the parable.

The Good Samaritan

A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho — a notoriously dangerous road. He fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and left him half dead.

A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.

A Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where the man was. When he saw him, he had compassion.

He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. He set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying:

"Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back."

Jesus asks:

"Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?"

The lawyer cannot even bring himself to say the Samaritan. He answers: "The one who showed him mercy."

"You go, and do likewise."

The Savior for All redefines the word neighbor. It is not a category of people to be loved. It is a verb to be lived. To love your neighbor is to be a neighbor to whoever needs you, regardless of race or religion.

The priest and the Levite knew the Law better than anyone. They failed it. The Samaritan, who had no reason to help a Jew, fulfilled it.

Mary and Martha

As they go on their way, Jesus enters a village. A woman named Martha welcomes Him into her house.

She has a sister called Mary, who sits at the Lord's feet and listens to His teaching.

Martha is distracted with much serving. She goes up to Him:

"Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me."

The Lord answers her:

"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 Savior for All values the heart that sits at His feet more than the hands that bustle in His name.

Service is not wrong. But service that crowds out Christ Himself is anxious work. Mary chose the one thing necessary: to listen to Him.

The chapter began with seventy-two sent out in mission. It ends with one woman sitting at His feet. Both are right. Both are needed. But the listening must come first — or the going becomes Martha's anxious bustle, instead of the Lord's commissioned work.

Closing prayer

Father, thank You that the Savior tells a story where a despised Samaritan is the hero — and exposes the religious as the failures. Make us neighbors to the wounded who lie in our path, regardless of who they are. And before You send us, let us sit at His feet — like Mary — and choose the one thing necessary. In Jesus' name, amen.