The big picture
The Book of Luke 10 widens the circle of messengers, then steadily narrows the field until the kingdom is being tested in a ditch and a kitchen. Seventy others go ahead of Jesus in pairs, dependent on hospitality yet carrying an announcement that remains true whether a town receives them or refuses them. Their joyful return after demons submit becomes an occasion for Jesus to relocate joy from exercised power to names written in heaven. Privilege also increases accountability: cities that have seen much are judged by their response to what happened among them. A lawyer then supplies the right summary of the law himself but tries to define the neighbor tightly enough to justify his position. Jesus answers with a Samaritan whose mercy has verbs, expenses, transportation, lodging, time, and an open account. The final household scene refuses another kind of narrowing. Martha's service is real service, but it cannot be used to remove Mary from hearing at Jesus' feet. Mission, mercy, and attention all expose what receiving the kingdom looks like.
Central truth
Luke 10 sends a wider body of disciples into a harvest they do not control, then answers questions about neighbor-love and discipleship by placing a compassionate Samaritan on the road and an attentive Mary at Jesus’ feet.
The study notes have a page of their own
The movement by movement analysis, the words to trace, the verse by verse notes and where readers differ are written for someone studying alone. They are on the Deep Personal Reflections page for this chapter. This page is the lesson.
A chapter-specific teaching brief
These anchors come from this chapter itself. They help a teacher use the Level 1 overview, the Level 2 study, and the Scripture text as one lesson.
Open with the chapter’s first image
Luke 10:1: “After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would…”
Slow down at the turning point
Luke 10:25: “And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
Keep this word trail visible
certain, house, Jesus, Lord, city, Father
What to explain, in order
Teach the passage in this order. Each step names the verses it rests on, so every point can be shown in the text before it is applied.
Luke 10:1-12
Seventy sent before his face
Begin with the wider mission. After the twelve in 9:1, now seventy others go out in pairs. Mention that some manuscripts read seventy two, so Bibles differ. Teach the prayer before the sending: pray the Lord of the harvest for labourers. Then the instructions: lambs among wolves, no provisions, peace spoken to a house, eating what is offered, healing and announcing the kingdom. Explain "son of peace" as a person ready to receive peace. Teach this first because it shows the kingdom spreading through ordinary disciples who depend entirely on God and on the welcome of others.
Luke 10:13-16
Woe to the towns that saw and did not repent
Jesus pronounces woe on Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum, towns where he did mighty works, and compares them with Tyre and Sidon, Gentile cities that would have repented. Explain sackcloth and ashes as signs of mourning and repentance. Do not hurry past this; it is a solemn warning that privilege brings responsibility. Then 10:16 ties the messengers to Jesus and to the Father: to reject them is to reject him. Teach this step to show that the mission carries eternal weight, before the joy of the return.
Luke 10:17-24
Names written in heaven
The seventy return full of joy. Teach Jesus' reply in three parts: he saw Satan fall, he gave them power over the enemy, and their deepest joy should be their names in heaven. Then Jesus himself rejoices in the Holy Ghost and thanks the Father for revealing these things to babes, not to the wise and prudent. Explain babes as the humble, those without status, like the disciples. Then 10:22: only the Son knows the Father and reveals him. Close with the blessing on the disciples' eyes. Teach this as a glimpse into the joy and the relationship at the heart of the mission.
Luke 10:25-29
A lawyer's test
A lawyer, an expert in the law of Moses, stands to test Jesus. Teach the exchange carefully: his question about eternal life, Jesus' counter question, his correct summary, Jesus' reply "this do, and thou shalt live". Then the real issue in 10:29, wanting to justify himself, and his question about who counts as a neighbour. Explain that many in that time debated whether neighbour meant fellow Israelites only. Teach this step before the parable so the class hears the parable as Jesus' answer to a man trying to limit his obligations.
Luke 10:30-37
The Samaritan on the Jericho road
Describe the road: about seventeen miles, dropping steeply from Jerusalem to Jericho, through rocky country known for robbers. Explain who each traveller was. Priests and Levites served in the temple; Samaritans were descended from the old northern kingdom mixed with other peoples, and Jews and Samaritans despised each other (John 4:9). Teach the Samaritan's costly care step by step: oil and wine for the wounds, his own animal, the inn, the money, the promise to return. Then Jesus' reversal of the question and the command. Make clear that the hero is the person the lawyer would least want to be like.
Luke 10:38-42
The one thing needful
End in a house in a village. Martha receives Jesus; Mary sits at his feet and hears his word, the posture of a disciple with a teacher, unusual for a woman then. Martha is distracted by serving and complains. Teach Jesus' gentle double address, "Martha, Martha", and his answer. Place this right after the Samaritan deliberately: the Book of Luke sets loving the neighbour beside listening to the Lord, so the class does not make either one the whole of discipleship. Doing without hearing becomes anxious; hearing leads to the right doing.
Where learners get stuck
The misreadings this passage tends to produce, and how to answer each from the text.
"The priest and the Levite were just bad people."
The text gives no reason for their passing by (10:31-32). Some think they feared becoming unclean by touching a body that might be dead, others that they feared robbers. Jesus does not explain, because the point is not their motive but the Samaritan's compassion (10:33). Teach the class that religious people can see need and pass by for reasons that seem good to them, and let each learner ask where they do the same, rather than condemning the two men.
"The Good Samaritan teaches that we earn eternal life by being kind."
The lawyer asked what to do to inherit eternal life (10:25), and Jesus pointed him to the law he already knew, love God fully and love your neighbour (10:27-28). The parable shows how far that love reaches, and it exposes the lawyer's attempt to justify himself (10:29). No one keeps it perfectly. The Book of Luke teaches elsewhere that the humble who trust God's mercy go home justified (18:13-14). Teach the parable as a demand that sends us to God for mercy and then shapes how we treat others.
"Martha was wrong to serve; it is better to be spiritual than practical."
Jesus does not criticise Martha for welcoming him (10:38) or for serving. He names her anxiety, "careful and troubled about many things" (10:41), and her demand that Mary leave his feet. The Samaritan in the previous scene is praised for very practical service. Teach the class that both hearing and serving matter, and that listening to Jesus comes first. Many faithful servers in a congregation need to hear this gently, not as a rebuke.
"Nothing shall by any means hurt you means Christians are protected from all harm."
In 10:19 Jesus speaks to the seventy about their mission, giving them power over the enemy's power. In the next verse he warns them not to make that their joy. Elsewhere in Luke he warns that his followers will be hated, imprisoned and some killed (21:12-16). The promise concerns the enemy's power to defeat God's work in them, not freedom from all suffering. Teach this carefully for learners who are suffering and wonder whether God failed them.
Learning objectives
- Describe the mission, vulnerability, message, and accountability assigned to the seventy in Luke 10:1–16.
- Explain the disciples’ joy at spiritual authority and Jesus’ correction of what should ground their rejoicing.
- Identify who the lawyer means to justify by asking, 'And who is my neighbour?'
- Reconstruct the Good Samaritan account with attention to what the priest, Levite, Samaritan, innkeeper, oil, wine, beast, and two pence actually do.
- Explain how Jesus turns the lawyer’s noun question about 'who is my neighbour' into a question about who acted as neighbor.
- Compare Martha’s many cares with Mary’s chosen posture in verses 38–42 without belittling service itself.
Teacher preparation
- Check the KJV wording: Luke 10:1 says the Lord appoints 'other seventy also.' Some ancient manuscripts support seventy-two, but the KJV lesson page reads seventy.
- Prepare a map with the direction from Jerusalem down to Jericho and a brief explanation that the route descended sharply through difficult terrain.
- Review 2 Kings 17 and the later Jewish-Samaritan tension only enough to explain why making the compassionate figure a Samaritan carries force.
- Prepare the practical details of first aid and hospitality: oil and wine are applied to wounds, the injured man is placed on the Samaritan’s own beast, taken to an inn, cared for, and financially provided for.
- Read Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.
Evidence and interpretation checks
Explicit
Luke 10:9 explicitly gives the seventy a paired ministry: heal the sick and say, 'The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.'
Scripture-supported
Luke 10:33–35 explicitly says the Samaritan has compassion, treats the wounds, transports the man, cares for him, pays the host, and promises further reimbursement.
Strong inference
Because Jesus asks in verse 36 which of the three 'was neighbour unto' the wounded man, the account strongly shifts the lawyer away from defining the minimum category of people owed love and toward becoming the one who practices mercy.
Possible or traditional reading
The Good Samaritan has often been read allegorically, with the wounded man as humanity, the Samaritan as Christ, the inn as the church, and the coins assigned symbolic meanings.
Limit
Luke does not say why the priest and Levite pass by, does not specify the wounded man’s ethnicity, and does not tell us the exact village where Martha and Mary live in this scene.
Discussion with answer guidance
1. What instructions make the seventy both urgent and vulnerable in verses 1–12?
What a good answer contains
The urgency: "The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few" (10:2), they go ahead of Jesus to every place he will come, and they "salute no man by the way" (10:4), meaning no long roadside greetings. The vulnerability: "I send you forth as lambs among wolves" (10:3), with "neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes" (10:4), relying on a house that receives their peace and eating what is set before them (10:7-8). Their message is "The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you" (10:9). A strong answer sees that dependence and urgency belong together. A weak answer lists the rules without noticing the danger Jesus names.
Show teacher guidance
Look for lambs among wolves, no purse, scrip, or shoes, limited greetings, dependence on a house, eating what is set before them, healing, and announcing the nearness of the kingdom.
2. When the seventy return rejoicing that devils are subject to them, what does Jesus redirect in verse 20?
What a good answer contains
The seventy say "Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name" (10:17). Jesus affirms the victory, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven" (10:18), and then redirects their joy: "in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven" (10:20). A good answer sees that power in ministry is a gift that can be lost or misused, while belonging to God is the secure ground of joy. A weak answer hears Jesus discouraging success; he simply puts it in second place.
Show teacher guidance
He tells them not to make subjected spirits their primary ground of joy, but to rejoice because their names are written in heaven.
3. What answer does the lawyer give to his own law question in verse 27?
What a good answer contains
The lawyer joins two commands: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself" (10:27). The first is Deuteronomy 6:5, the second Leviticus 19:18. Jesus says "Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live" (10:28). A strong answer notes that the lawyer knows the right answer; his problem is in 10:29, "willing to justify himself". A weak answer forgets that the man's original question was about eternal life, and that Jesus points him to doing, not knowing.
Show teacher guidance
He joins Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18: love God with the whole person and love one’s neighbor as oneself.
4. What does each traveler do when encountering the wounded man?
What a good answer contains
The priest "when he saw him, he passed by on the other side" (10:31). The Levite "came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side" (10:32). The Samaritan "when he saw him, he had compassion on him" (10:33), and then acts: binds his wounds with oil and wine, sets him on his own animal, takes him to an inn, cares for him, pays two pence and promises more (10:34-35). A good answer notices that all three see him; the difference is compassion. A weak answer guesses at the priest's reasons, which the text does not give.
Show teacher guidance
The priest sees and passes by.
5. How does Jesus reshape the question 'Who is my neighbour'?
What a good answer contains
The lawyer asked "who is my neighbour?" (10:29), looking for the limit of his duty. Jesus asks "Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?" (10:36). The question moves from whom must I love to how can I be a neighbour. The lawyer answers "He that shewed mercy on him", avoiding the word Samaritan, and Jesus says "Go, and do thou likewise" (10:37). A strong answer sees that Jesus answers by making a despised outsider the example. A weak answer reduces the parable to a general call to be nice.
Show teacher guidance
He asks which person proved to be neighbor to the wounded man.
6. What is Jesus correcting in Martha in verses 40–42?
What a good answer contains
Martha "was cumbered about much serving" (10:40), meaning distracted and weighed down, and asks "Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?" Jesus answers "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part" (10:41-42). Explain careful as full of anxious care. A good answer sees that Jesus corrects the anxiety and the complaint, not the hospitality itself, and refuses to take the good part away from Mary. A weak answer turns the scene into a contest of personality types.
Show teacher guidance
Martha is cumbered about much serving, troubled about many things, and asks Jesus to compel Mary to help.
Responsible application
Heart and habits
Use verse 20 to discuss the difference between rejoicing in visible effectiveness and rejoicing in belonging to God.
Relationships and community
Let the Samaritan scene define neighborliness through verbs.
One thing needful
Compare the Samaritan’s active mercy with Mary’s attentive listening so the class does not create a false choice between action and contemplation.
Session plans
Two timings of the same lesson. The shorter keeps the reading, the central discussion and one response; the longer gives the confusions and the application their own time.
45 minutes
Lambs among wolves
Read 10:1-12 and ask question one.
Joy rightly placed
Read 10:17-20 and ask question two. Take confusion four briefly.
The lawyer's question
Read 10:25-29 and ask question three.
The Samaritan
Read 10:30-37. Ask questions four and five and take confusions one and two.
Martha and Mary
Read 10:38-42. Ask question six and take confusion three.
Handout
Read the key verse together, give out the sheet, and pray for one neighbour in need.
90 minutes
Who counts
Ask the group who they find it hardest to think of as their neighbour. Do not comment yet. Then read 10:1-12 and ask question one.
Woe and responsibility
Read 10:13-16. Discuss what it means that the towns saw great works and did not repent.
Names in heaven
Read 10:17-24. Ask question two and take confusion four.
What is written
Read 10:25-29, Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. Ask question three.
The Jericho road
Read 10:30-37 and John 4:9. Ask questions four and five. Take confusions one and two. Return to the opening answers.
At Jesus' feet
Read 10:38-42. Ask question six and take confusion three.
Application
In pairs, each learner names one person on their own road whom they tend to pass by, and one concrete act of mercy for that person.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together, point to the take-home line, and close in prayer.
Adapting the lesson
Children
Act out the Good Samaritan with simple roles: the hurt man lying down, two people walking past, and the Samaritan kneeling to help with a plaster and a toy donkey. Ask the children which one was a good neighbour. Keep the robbers in the background without frightening details. For Martha and Mary, set a table with toy dishes and a cushion at Jesus' feet, and talk about listening to Jesus first.
Youth
Ask who would be the Samaritan in their school or town, the person their group looks down on. Retell the parable with that person as the hero, and let them feel the discomfort. Discuss what stops them stopping for others: time, fear, embarrassment. Then talk about Martha's busyness and whether their phones, schedules and activities leave room to sit and listen to Jesus.
Adults
Give time to the background of Samaritans and Jews, the Jericho road, and the lawyer's attempt to justify himself. Discuss how the parable turns the question from whom must I love to how can I be a neighbour, without turning it into a political programme. Spend time on Martha and Mary; many adults are busy serving and anxious, and Jesus' words to Martha are tender as well as corrective.
One to one
Ask whether they feel more like the wounded man, a passer by, or the Samaritan right now. Listen. If they are wounded, tell them Jesus is the one who stops. If they are busy and anxious like Martha, read 10:41-42 slowly and ask what the one needful thing might be for them this week. Offer to pray with them.
Song and video learning lab
A song or video may interpret, compress, or dramatize the text. Its value becomes clearer when its choices are compared with Scripture.
- Before the media: the exact passage and its central movement.
- During the media: the words, people, events, and emotions the artist emphasizes.
- After the media: what it clarifies, what it leaves out, and what belongs back in the biblical text.
Handout
One page for learners to take home. The print button prints this section alone.
Luke 10
The passage in brief
Jesus sent seventy followers in pairs to heal the sick and announce that God's kingdom had come near. When they returned rejoicing, he told them to rejoice most that their names are written in heaven. A lawyer asked how to inherit eternal life and who his neighbour was. Jesus told of a man beaten by robbers whom a priest and a Levite passed by, but a Samaritan stopped, cared for him and paid for his care. Then at Martha's house Jesus said Mary had chosen the good part by listening to him.
A verse to keep
And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
Luke 10:27 · King James Version
Questions to take home
Why did Jesus tell the seventy to rejoice that their names are written in heaven (10:20)?
What did the Samaritan do for the wounded man (10:34-35)?
What did Jesus say Mary had chosen (10:42)?
This week
Stop this week for one person you would usually pass by, and do one practical thing to help them.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
