Read Luke 10:25-37

How did this event look to the innkeeper?

The story of the Good Samaritan is so well known that we feel as if we know the poor man who was beaten and robbed. His fellow Jews ignored him. A Samaritan, a member of an ostracized minority, treated his wounds and paid for his care at an inn.

If the innkeeper were a good Jew, he probably had doubts about taking in a Samaritan at all. It could have been bad for business. But you don’t make money in the hospitality industry by refusing clients, especially when the would-be customer has cash in hand. As best the innkeeper could judge, the Samaritan was up and down all night helping the poor hurt Jew. Then he paid more money to insure care for the injured man.

The innkeeper was puzzled. It seemed unlikely that a Jew and a Samaritan would be friends. But why else would he help the guy? It was all very strange.

The expert in the law, whose question prompted Jesus to tell the story in the first place, must have been flabbergasted. Jesus didn’t complicate the facts. He pointed no morals. He did not make a list of items that characterized neighbors. He told a simple story ending with a simple command.

The lawyer, like the innkeeper, must have gone away in confusion. “Am I supposed to be nice to them?!”

Read Luke 10:1-24

What do you need to know in order to share the gospel successfully?

Jesus gives us a dozen crucial requirements.

1. The first principle of successful Christian work is prayer. Pray about the chronic labor shortage (v 2).

2. The work can be dangerous (v. 3).

3. Travel light (v. 4). Keep your mind on your business. Don’t waste time on nonessentials.

4. Come in a peaceful spirit (vv. 5-6).

5. Stay put (v. 7-8). Don’t trail around looking for more comfort or better food.

6. Do the work God has called you to (v. 9). Jesus sent these persons out with instructions to heal the sick and preach salvation to all. What is your special instruction from God? Stick to it.

7. Realize that not everyone will accept your message, but preach anyway (vv. 10-11).

8. Take your work seriously. Realize how grim it is to reject the gospel (vv. 12-15).

9. You speak for God. Any success is His doing, not yours (vv 16, 18-20). Your real triumph is that your name is written in heaven.

10. God’s work is joyous (v. 17).

11. You don’t have to be a scholar, renowned for your wisdom, to win people for the Lord (v. 21).

12. Jesus rejoices with you in your triumph (v. 21, 23-24). He made it possible. It’s His strength that gave you success. But He lets you bask in the glow.

Read Luke 9:51-62

Luke 9:51 is a watershed verse. Jesus has taken a decision: He will go to Jerusalem where He knew He would die.

Jesus could have fled the cross. Even the night before His death, He struggled with that idea (Luke 22:42). Nevertheless His underlying decision was firm. Jesus’ death was a tragedy, but it was not an accident or a suicide. He saw His death coming and went to meet it. He gave His life for us.

What better time to speak of the cost of discipleship? Luke tells us of three would-be disciples (vv. 57-62). In each case, it is Jesus who sets the standards for discipleship. He never compromised then to make a disciple. He still does not. What went wrong here?

The first man was rash. He volunteered, but turned back when he discovered Jesus’ lifestyle involved some uncertainty.

The second man was insincere. “He who hesitates is lost,” we say. Caring for the dead, sacred duty that it is, must take second place to answering Christ’s call and claim on our lives.

The third man was undecided. He joined Mrs. Lot (Gen. 19:26) in looking back in indecision and divided loyalty and so was lost.

Jesus teaches here three things that are necessary for discipleship: Self-denying devotion to God’s kingdom, giving absolute priority to God, and exclusive attention to Him.

Read Luke 9:46-50

Perhaps the Spirit moved Luke to include this story because He knew that down the centuries, the more things were different, the more they would be the same.

Jesus has power and popularity. The disciples can just see themselves as big shots at Jesus’ court when He is crowned king. Jesus says to them in effect, “Don’t think you are going to be my lieutenants in a triumphant Jewish state. Isn’t going to happen.”

Then He answers their absurd behavior with an object lesson, a little child. Sometimes we hear this scene described, using the child as an example of humility. But is that what Jesus said (v. 48)?

What He names as an example of faithful, humble service pleasing to God is not the child. It is welcoming a child into your care. Undertaking some service as humble as the daily care of a little child, as if you were caring for Jesus Himself, is what makes one great in the Lord’s sight.

This reminds John of a stranger he had seen who was doing good work in Jesus’ name. “He was not one of us,” says John, “so we tried to stop him.”

“Don’t do that,” says Jesus. “There is truth outside the four walls of your home church. Don’t rule anybody out just because his denominational emphasis is different from yours. If he’s not against us, he must be for us. Let him be!”

Read Luke 9:37-45

“How long will I put up with you?”

Jesus is disgusted. His words are addressed to the nine disciples, not to the father of the sick boy. While Jesus, Peter, James, and John were on the mountain enveloped in the glory of the Transfiguration, the other nine disciples were down in the valley having a bad time.

Back in 9:1, the record says that Jesus had given the disciples power to preach and heal with authority. Yet they are unable to drive a garden-variety demon out of a tormented child. Jesus wonders why out loud.

Jesus had given them the power to do the job. Have they still not really realized that He is God? “How long is it going to take before you know who I am?” Jesus says in frustration (v. 41).

From a human point of view, Jesus must have felt more than frustration. He must have been almost frantic. Jerusalem was getting closer; the cross, torture, and death were on the horizon. He had taught and preached and done miracles to the point of physical exhaustion. And they still didn’t get it. While people are marveling at the boy’s recovery, Jesus tries again.

“Listen carefully,” He says. “I am going to be betrayed. Everything is not coming up roses. Suffering is inevitable.”

The cross and death to self are parts of the Christian life. They didn’t grasp it. Do we?