Luke 10: How to do Jesus' Work Jesus' Way

We read Luke 10 and track one thread through three scenes: Jesus sends out the seventy two, defines true neighbor love through the Good Samaritan, and corrects Martha’s distracted service. We end by asking what we celebrate, who we overlook, and whether we are making time to sit with Jesus as the one necessary thing. 
• Jesus sending out the seventy two with urgency, simplicity, and a clear message about the kingdom of God 
• Reframing success by rejoicing in salvation more than spiritual victories or ministry results 
• The Good Samaritan as a test of mercy that crosses barriers and refuses religious excuses 
• A challenge to love people we find unlovable and to move toward those who feel outside of God’s love 
• Mary and Martha as a picture of busy service versus attentive presence with Jesus 
• Reflection questions to examine pride, misplaced priorities, and distraction in our daily work 

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Transcript

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This is the Outloud Bible Podcast, and I'm Mike. We're going to be reading Luke chapter 10 today, and prior to this, we've seen Jesus send out his disciples,

Why Luke 10 Matters

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his twelve disciples, in pairs. He gave them authority to heal and to cast out demons and to make more followers of Jesus and spread the news about his kingdom coming. And whenever we read these stories of the disciples going out on mission from Jesus or Jesus teaching about how to follow him or what it means to follow him or be his disciple, these are times in the Bible that we really need to lean in because we want to be followers of Jesus, right? That's why we're here. This is why we're having these discussions. We want to know what it's like to follow Jesus and how we can better be a disciple of him and become like him. And so when we get these glimpses in Scripture, more sometimes more than glimpses, just a whole descriptions and stories of what it looks like to follow Jesus and kind of represent Jesus out in the world, like we'll see more today, it's time for us to lean in and ask, okay, well, how does this apply to me? What can I do? Where am I succeeding in this? Where am I maybe not succeeding in this? Uh, in what areas can I be more like the kind of person that Jesus is sending out into the world to represent him? Today in chapter 10, we're going to see Jesus send out not 12 disciples, but 72 disciples. And you might be like, well, who are those? Who are those people? I know of the 12. Well, they're people who started maybe as crowd members and then they stuck around. Jesus already gave some tough teachings to try to honestly alienate some people who were just there for free handouts. But these are those who stuck around and kept asking Jesus questions and followed his teachings and took steps to obey them. And so Jesus has a uh a core group of 12, but he also has a group of at least 72 others who he wants to send out and equip to go do his work and represent him. We don't know their names, but they are fundamental in sharing the gospel in this time. And I think we can find ourselves relating to these. So here's a story of Jesus sending out the 72 disciples, followed by a very important teaching, a parable that helps us understand how Jesus views people. And if we're going to represent him out in the world, then we need to be like this. Some really important teachings today here in Luke chapter 10. Let's get into it. This is the New English translation. After this, the Lord appointed 72 others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself

Jesus Sends Out The Seventy Two

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was about to go. Side note, he is about to come back to earth. Like he said, he's going to come back. We're in this time now where we get to go out into the world, every town and place where he himself is going to come back into when the time comes for him to return to earth. We've got a job to do. Let's see what happens here. He said to them, The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest. Go, I'm sending you out like lambs surrounded by wolves. Don't carry a money bag, a traveler's bag, or sandals, greet no one on the road. And whenever you enter a house, first say, May peace be on this house. And if a peace-loving person is there, your peace will remain on him. But if not, it'll return to you. Stay in that same house, eating and drinking what they give you, for the worker deserves his pay, and don't move around from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and the people welcome you, eat what's set before you. I feel like I've had that conversation with my daughter before. When we go and someone feeds us dinner, just eat what's set before you, don't complain about it. Heal the sick in that town and say to them, The kingdom of God has come upon you. But whenever you enter a town and the people do not welcome you, go into its streets and say, Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet will wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this: the kingdom of God has come. I tell you, it'll be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. Woe to you, Corusine. Woe to you, Beth Seda. For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it'll be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No. You'll be thrown down to Hades. The one who listens to you listens to me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects the one who sent me. Well then the seventy-two returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name. So he said to them, I saw Satan fall like

Real Joy Beyond Spiritual Victories

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lightning from heaven. Look, I've given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and on the full force of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, don't rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your name stand written in heaven. On that same occasion Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your gracious will. All things have been given to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son decides to reveal him. Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said privately, Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings longed to see what you see, but didn't see it, and to hear what you hear but didn't hear it. Now an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus, saying, Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? He said to him, What's

Who Is My Neighbor

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written in the law? How do you understand it? The expert answered, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus said to him, You've answered correctly. Do this, and you'll live. But the expert, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor? Well Jesus replied, Well, a man was going down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him up, and went off, leaving him half dead. Now, by chance a priest was going down that road, but when he saw the injured man, he passed by on the other side. So too a Levite, when he came up to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, who was traveling, came where the injured man was, and when he saw him, he felt compassion on him. He went up to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring olive oil and wine on them, and then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, Take care of him, and whatever else you spend, I'll repay you when I come back this way. Which of these three do you think became a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers? The expert in religious law said the one who showed mercy to him. So Jesus said to him, Go and do the same. Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him as a guest. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what

Mary Martha And The One Need

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he said. But Martha was distracted with all the preparations she had to make, so she came up to him and said, Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the work alone? Tell her to help me. But the Lord answered her, Martha, Martha, you're worried and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the best part, and it will not be taken from her. Well, here in Luke chapter ten, I see a thread that connects these three stories here, and it's I see Jesus gently, lovingly correcting people regarding their roles

A Thread Through Luke 10

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and responsibilities of being in service to him. We saw the 72 disciples go out and they had a they had a genuinely great time representing Jesus and and doing miracles and sharing the good news with people, and they came back all jazzed and excited and said, Oh man, even the demons obeyed us in your name when we rebuked them in your name. And Jesus is like, Yeah, I totally get it. That's so awesome. I mean, I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning. And yeah, it's amazing when evil cowers in the name of Jesus. But I I would rather you rejoice over the fact that you are saved and that you have a relationship with God. This should be a reminder for us as we go about our work, even really good ministry work, even really good representing Jesus out in the world work, that yes, we may see great victories in the name of Jesus and accomplish great things. However, let's not lose sight of the greatest victory that Jesus has won over death. That is the victory. The fact that we can have a relationship with God and that our name can be written in the book of life is the greatest victory. That recognition should keep us humble because there's nothing we can do about that. There's nothing that we are involved in to do that. And any work that he does involve us in is because he chooses us, not because we choose him. But the greatest work and the greatest victory has nothing to do with us at all. We are simply beneficiaries of his grace. And that is something to celebrate. In the parable of that Samaritan, remember, the Samaritan is the group of people like half Jews, half pagans that the Jews want nothing to do with. And this is the one that Jesus decides to make a hero of the story, not the priests, not the religious people, not even a compassionate, well-meaning Jew is the hero of this story. To make the point that no matter how much of a friend we may think we are of God, no matter how important we think our role is, if we are not loving those who we find unlovable, if we're not going out of our way to help those who need the healing of Jesus Christ, and those who already feel on the outside of Jesus' love, then are we really doing our role? That priest may have been a good priest as far as priestly duties go, but he failed in the eyes of God to do what is most important. And of course, that brings us to Mary and Martha, where Martha was doing a lot of wonderful things. Martha also thought that her work was serving Jesus, making a great environment for him, preparing food for him, doing the very best, cleaning the home to make sure he has a comfortable place. There's nothing wrong with those things. But Jesus, again, in this theme of gently correcting our definitions and our perceptions of our work, tells her, look, I know you're doing many things, and they're they're good, they're fine things, but really only one thing is needed right now, and that is to be with Jesus, to learn from him, to slow down and make space to really prioritize Jesus over the rest of the work that is good and sure it needs to be done,

A Prayer To Recenter Your Work

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but are you making time to be with Jesus? I know there's Mary's listening to this podcast, and there's Martha's listening to this podcast. Now would be a really good time to stop and pray and ask God, how do you consider my work? Am I rejoicing in things that maybe are good, but not I've I've lost sight of the most important things? Am I ignoring those who you want me to reach out to because I think my work is too important elsewhere? Or am I so busy that I'm not actually taking time to pause and be with you? Show me where I can grow in these areas. Show me what doesn't line up with yours, because I want to know you and pause and take time to be with you and do your work your way. That's a great prayer for today. Thanks for being here with me as we've read Luke chapter 10. Go back and read it for yourself if you want to go back and kind of sit in some of these questions a little bit more, and I'll see you next time on the Outlaw Bible Podcast.