Bible Commentaries

Luke 10:7

I. Two views may be taken of the minister of Christ as regards his personal condition in his work; and two totally different systems pursued, according as one or other of these views prevails. He may be regarded as a solitary being, who has abjured the world and its lies, and is simply and entirely bound to the office which he bears. He may be trained in strict self-denying discipline, and thus sent forth on his lonesome toil. It may be urged on the other side, that, fitted as the solitary minister may be, and has been proved, for certain portions of the work of the Church, he is by no means so fitted for her ordinary and normal requirements. The strength of a body of solitary men is rather theological and ecclesiastical than pastoral; and the ordinary work of the Church is undoubtedly pastoral. It is in the bosom of the family, in the unwitnessed growth of thoughts and habits of faith and purity and love; in the silent progress of enlightenment and confidence and kindly feeling, that the real advance of our holy religion is to be seen in the world.

II. Whenever this has been forgotten by the Church, consequences disastrous to religion have ensued. We cannot, therefore, too carefully recall to our minds the proper work and province of our most holy faith: that it is, not to propagate a system, not to disseminate a science, not to produce a uniformity of profession, but to change men's lives; to persuade men, by the agency of our exalted Saviour and Head, who is ever with us and helping us by His Spirit, of certain living facts which, if received by them, must bring about purity and holiness and love—the reception of which cannot co-exist with a double heart and a hypocritical life. And to such an end who are the labourers? Not, in the main, the lonely student, standing aloof from society, identified in interest with an artificial organisation with which society has no sympathy. The minister of Christ who is to work on society should be himself a part of society, should stand in, and be a leader of, the same conflict in which all Christian society is engaged; whose influence will be not only precept personally illustrated, not only example in his family, but also—which is a most important element in the matter—will be extended and continued by the fact that he himself mingles in among the laity, those who have been born and fostered under his roof, and in the light of his Christian character.

H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. vii., p. 260.

References: Luke 10:9.—Clergyman's Magazine, vol. v., p. 225; F. Cooke, Church of England Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 15. Luke 9:13-16.—W. Wilson, Christ setting His Face to go to Jerusalem, p. 112. Luke 10:17-20. Homiletic Quarterly, vol. xiv., p. 241; W. Wilson, Christ setting His Face to go to Jerusalem, p. 393; R. C. Trench, Studies in the Gospels, p. 246; A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, p. 107.

Luke 10:18

Looking back upon our Earthly Life.

Throwing ourselves forward in the pure imagination of faith into the world to come, let us seek to look back and down upon this world as though we already were beyond it. Surrendering ourselves in our faith,—and with our powers of spiritual imagination lent to the aid of our faith, let us seek humbly to imitate our Master, and look upon our world as He looked upon this earth, when as from a position in eternity He saw Satan fall from heaven.

I. If we look upon our own lives as one looks back upon a way already trodden, and a work already accomplished, we shall gain a truer sense of the proportions of things. This true sense of proportion in life is hard for us to keep in the nearness of present things; yet it is essential to large, happy living that we should gain and keep it. Whenever we shall be far enough out in eternity to look back and see our lives as one whole, we shall understand better God's grouping of events in them; we shall know then how all the while He who sees the end from the beginning, and beholds all earthly things framed in the quiet charity of heaven, has looked in the good pleasure of His love upon the history of this world, which to us in the midst of it seems often so broken, over-shadowed, and wild. And certainly the more freedom of faith we can exercise in letting our hearts sail away from the present and the near, taking in as in one view our own past, present, and future, and contemplating our life as one Divinely ordered whole of existence; the happier will our thought of life be, and the more just our estimate of what things are small or great in our lives.

II. In so far as we can put ourselves in the exercise of our own faiths beyond this life, we shall gain in many respects a different, and in all a more just, estimate of our own real attainments. We shall see more clearly what we may expect to win for ourselves from life. Here I venture to say that the training and discipline of any power in the honest work of a lifetime may be so much real attainment for immortality—so much gain carried in the man himself through death into the world of larger opportunity. A man, therefore, should perform all his labour on this earth not as though what he does now were all of it, but as an heir of immortality.

III. Only as we strive to throw ourselves forward into the life beyond, and to consider our whole existence here as it is in its relation to the man and his life then and there, can we form a safe estimate of the worths of things. Jesus Christ left no doubt as to what in the retrospect of eternity is of worth before God. It is the new heart. It is the soul born of the Spirit of God. The image of Christ in a human heart is the gain of eternal worth.

N. Smyth, The Reality of Faith, p. 30.

Reference: Luke 10:19-21.—W. Wilson, Christ setting His Face to go to Jerusalem, p. 408.

Luke 10:20

The Temptations besetting a Useful Life.

I. It well shows how much we always require to obey Christ's command, to watch and pray lest we enter into temptation, that even our very duties may be a snare to us; and we may be falling away from the path of life, even when we seem to others and to ourselves to be following it most steadily. This concerns all those who are engaged in promoting works of charity, and most of all, who are labouring to do good to their neighbour in the great matter of his soul, and who, therefore may be inclined to think that they are employed most securely. It concerns, too, every man who is busily and honestly engaged in his regular calling; who, living in the fear of God, is making his work a godly service; and who, doing good in his generation, is setting forward the kingdom of Christ; and is, so far, casting out devils in his Master's Name. Let us see, then, what it is that the spirit of Christ's words recommends to us.

II. We are so formed that we cannot even work in the most useful calling long together without finding our spiritual state go backwards, unless we often go to Christ, the Fountain of life, and refresh ourselves with His Spirit. Let us treat as one of the devil's worst snares the temptation which we may feel to trust in our own useful lives and virtuous feelings, and, therefore, to neglect coming to God; that is, to neglect the only means of knowing ourselves thoroughly, and thus of obtaining a cure for every weakness of our souls, and a guard to save us from falling away, through the Spirit of Christ our Saviour. Christ Himself, whose day was spent in active usefulness, was accustomed to rise long before it was day, that He might commence with His Heavenly Father. In this, as in all the rest of His life, He was our Example that we should follow His steps: and if He, to whom the Spirit was given without measure, did not neglect the means of gaining fresh spiritual strength by prayer and devout meditation, how can we neglect it, without being certain that we shall suffer for our presumption?

T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. i., p. 264.

References: Luke 10:20.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 414; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxii., No. 1321; M. Simpson, Sermons, p. 257; Homilist, vol. vi., p. 174.

Luke 10:21

Both in substance and in circumstances these words are unusually profound, even among the profound sayings of our Lord.

I. First, they mark the almost solitary exception to the pervading gravity, not to say sorrowfulness, of His demeanour and life. In prophetic anticipation He looked onward to the final triumph, when the processes of His salvation should be completed, when the moral influences of His Cross should subdue men's hearts, and He, the Crucified, should "draw all men unto Him." And to the spiritual Jesus there was in this an unutterable satisfaction. Breakings in of millennial glory would irradiate His sorrow, so touchingly indicated by this one solitary record of His joy.

II. The occasion which elicited this expression of spiritual joy from our Lord is also very remarkable. The lower adulterated joy of the Seventy suggests to our Lord a higher and purer spiritual joy. Their miracle over the external phenomena of demoniacal possession suggests afresh to their Lord His spiritual triumph over the moral power of evil. "You," He says, "see the devils subject to you: I see Satan as lightning fall from heaven." "In that hour" He began to see the "travail of His soul." He first realised the spiritual satisfaction that was to comfort and sustain Him amid outward discouragement, rejection, and infliction.

III. It is worthy of notice that our Lord's most piercing spiritual visions, and His most profound words of spiritual wisdom occur in connection with His acts of devotion. More than once our Lord permitted His disciples to overhear His communings with His Father. His prayers are ever the utterances of His greatest thoughts, of His deepest feelings.

IV. The sentiment itself is one of the many expressions of the great Christian paradox—that the kingdom of God is accessible, not to men of great intellectual power, as such, but to men of childlike hearts.

H. Allon, Penny Pulpit, new series, No. 326.

The Simplicity of Mystery.

I. "In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit." What hour was that? When He saw, humanly speaking, a glimpse of God's method of unfolding His governmental purposes, and His beneficent plans and designs. It is always so. Now and then God seems to lift the veil, and we are allowed for one moment to see what He is doing, and how He is doing things; and I have never yet had one of these revelation glimpses without saying afterwards, "This is Divine; this is sufficient; this is infinite in beauty. God is doing all things well."

II. Religion, as propounded to us by Jesus Christ, is not a riddle to be solved by the intellectually great. It is a revelation to the heart; it is a word spoken to sin; it is a Gospel breathed upon sorrow; it is a word of liberty delivered to those that are bound, a subtle sympathy, something not to be named in high-sounding phrases, or to be wrought out in pomp of words. "And hast revealed them unto babes." It will be found that simplicity itself is the chief mystery of God. The fact of the matter is, that things are so simple that we will not believe them. We look for mystery, and therefore we miss the thing that is close at hand. The notion of the day would seem to be the notion of intellectual power, intellectual efficiency, intellectual culture. If we are babes what may we expect from the world? Ridicule. Let us understand the terms under which we go into this kingdom, and that is, that we return to babyhood. The greater the man, the greater the simplicity; the greater his acquisitions, the more beautiful his modesty; the more wonderful his power and influence, the greater his readiness to consider, and oblige, and do good. From the greatest expect the best; from the master more than from the servant; from the disciple expect rudeness and rejection; from the Master "Forbid them not, let them come." As thou dost increase in gentleness, thou wilt increase in modesty, and the increase of thy manfulness and valour shall be an increase of gentleness, and thou shalt find thy highest joys in succouring many, in blessing all.

Parker, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiii., p. 72.

References: Luke 10:21.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. vii., p. 265; Ibid., vol. xi., p. 206; Preacher's Monthly, vol. viii., p. 222; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 85. Luke 10:21, Luke 10:22.—Ibid., Sermons, vol. xxvi., No. 1,571; W. Wilson, Christ setting His Face to go to Jerusalem, p. 421. Luke 10:22.—W. Dorling, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 142.

Luke 10:23-24

The Sights and Sounds of Christendom.

I. Our Lord's words suggest the solemnity, the blessedness, of living at a great epoch in human affairs.

II. They also suggest a characteristic of His religion. That which is spiritual and moral, though it be not outwardly striking, is permanent, while that which is merely material, whatever be its magnificence, sooner or later, is surely condemned to perish or be transformed.

III. Why were the eyes that saw and the ears that heard Christ so pre-eminently blessed? Christ's attitude towards men is justifiable only and solely because He is Divine—Divine, not in the sense in which all good men are Divine, in that they are gifted by the good God with some rays of His moral perfections; but Divine in the absolute sense of having shared from all eternity in the uncreated life of Deity, so that in Him a Divine Substance became historically incarnate, or, as St. Paul expresses it, all the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in Him bodily.

H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 452.

References: Luke 10:23.—J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 1st series, p. 28; C. Kingsley, Village Sermons, p. 161; J. Keble, Sermons for Sundays after Trinity, part ii., p. 1.2. Luke 10:23, Luke 10:24.—Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. x., p. 215; A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, p. 41. Luke 10:23, Luke 10:37.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 348; Clergyman's Magazine, vol. iii., p. 85. Luke 10:24-26.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. xvi., p. 169.

Luke 10:25

I. The lawyer knew the answer at the time when he asked the question. He said, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" and all the time the answer was in his own recollection, had he but known it. Alas! we do not always turn our knowledge into wisdom. We know the fact and we hardly ever sublimate the fact into truth. We know the law, and we fail to see that under the law there is the beauty and there is the grace of the Gospel.

II. "This do," said Jesus, "and thou shalt live." What had the lawyer to do? To love the Lord his God with all his heart and soul and strength and mind. Love is life. Only he who loves lives. Only love can get out of a man the deepest secrets of his being, and develop the latent energies of his nature, and call him up to the highest possibility of his manhood. The end of the commandment is charity; the summing-up of all true law is love.

III. "But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?" It is precisely there that every man has a great battle to fight—namely, at the point of self-justification. So long as there is any disposition in us to justify ourselves we are unprepared to receive the Gospel. One of the first conditions required of us at the Cross is self-renunciation.

IV. Jesus asked the man certain questions which he answered rightly, and those answers were returned to him as a response to his own enquiries. This ought to have a very serious application to ourselves, because we are to be no longer self-deluded by the impression that if more was said to us we should do more; if we had a better minister we should soon have higher knowledge of truth and keener perception of moral beauty. Jesus Christ showed in this case that all the while there was in the man's heart the very answer which he professed himself eager to ascertain. So it is with ourselves. We know the right; yet oftentimes the wrong pursue. There is in our hearts and minds information enough upon these great questions, if so be we are minded to turn that information to account.

Parker, City Temple, vol. iii., p. 85.

Luke 10:25-37

The Good Samaritan.

I. It is clear that the kindness of this man was of the spirit, and not merely of the letter. Here was one main point of difference between him and the priest and Levite. They needed a specific injunction, but he wanted to carry out a great principle.

II. We may perceive that this man's benevolence was not hindered by any prejudices of nationality or religion. The injured traveller was an entire stranger to him, but he did not say within himself on that account, "He has no claim upon me." He was, besides, a Jew, and the feud between his people and the Samaritans, because it was a religious one, between people that were neighbours and agreed in certain points while they differed on others, was exceedingly bitter; yet he did not exclaim "Let him die, for all I care!" No, he was a man in great straits, and all other things were forgotten by him in the presence of these two. Now, here we are furnished with a test as to the genuineness of our neighbour love; and by its application we may discover that our benevolence is often chilled, if not—indeed, absolutely killed—by some prevalent influences. These may be described as caste, denominationalism, and a certain prudishness which we may call purism.

III. It is obvious that this man's benevolence was not hindered by any considerations of personal convenience.

IV. It is evident that this man's benevolence took its form from the nature of the misery which he sought to relieve.

V. If our benevolence would be of the highest order we must exercise it out of regard to Him who died to show mercy to ourselves. Thus our humanity will rise into Christianity, and our benevolence will be baptized into the Name of the Lord Jesus.

W. M. Taylor, The Parables of Our Saviour, p. 226.

References: Luke 10:25.—F. W. Farrar, Church of England Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 189. Luke 10:25-27.—H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xi., p. 244. Luke 10:25-28.—Preacher's Monthly, vol. iv., p. 151; W. Wilson, Christ setting His Face to go to Jerusalem, p. 171. Luke 10:25-37.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. v., p. 542; Ibid., vol. xii., p. 328; Preacher's Monthly, vol. i., p. 310; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiii., No. 1360; H. Calderwood, The Parables, p. 175; A. B. Bruce, The Parabolic Teaching of Christ, p. 342; Parker, Wednesday Evenings in Cavendish Chapel, p. 98. Luke 10:26.—H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. x., p. 145; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 203. Luke 10:27.—A. P. Stanley, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 145; H. W. Beecher, Ibid., vol. vii., p. 371. Luke 10:29.—M. Walrond, Church of England Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 205. Luke 10:29-37.—Homilist, vol. vi., p. 256.

Luke 10:33-34

Between Jerusalem and Jericho.

I. A certain man fell among thieves; here is the black margin which surrounds civilised society. It is, perhaps, only a man here or there who may actually fall amongst thieves; but it is from individual men that we learn the true condition of the society that lies beyond us. There is a boundary beyond which if a man step he will pass into the most aggravated form of barbarism.

II. There came down a priest that way, as also a Levite and a Samaritan; so the escape of some is not to be taken as a condemnation of others. All the four men went down the same road, yet only one of them was unfortunate. You have passed safely down the roads of business, sociality, affliction; do not turn your escape into a whip with which to scourge less fortunate men.

III. The priest passed by on the other side, so did the Levite. The thing which is always being done by a negative and do-nothing respectability. There are two sides in life; (1) the side on which men are dying, and (2) the other side. We can choose our side. On the first side we shall find (1) something to shock our sensibilities; (2) something to interrupt our speed; (3) something to tax our resources. On the opposite side we shall find a clear path to infamy and the hell of eternal remorse.

IV. The priest passed by and so did the Levite—so sacred names are no guarantee for sacred services. It is a terrible thing for the nature to fall below the name.

V. But a certain Samaritan had compassion on him—there are unexpected sources of help in life. This reflection is of the greatest practical value as showing (1) that we all need help; (2) as protecting men from despair; (3) as showing that we ourselves may become the unexpected helpers of others. The Christian application of this study is obvious. (1) Life is a perilous journey. (2) Lost men will never be saved by formal piety. (3) The true Helper is the very Being whom we have offended. The Teacher of this parable is the Exemplar of its beneficent doctrine. The teacher should always be the explanation of his own lesson.

Parker, City Temple, vol. ii., p. 25.

References: Luke 10:33, Luke 10:34.—J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 2nd series, p. 26; C. Kingsley, Discipline and Other Sermons, p. 154; Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. iv., p. 177. Luke 10:34.—J. Vaughan, Sermons, 3rd series, p. 41.

Luke 10:35

I. All Christians should regard each himself as the host, to whom the good Samaritan brought the poor man, and should order his way to his poor brethren accordingly. We shall do so if we will but trust in our Lord, the great King of heaven and earth, as we trust in one another on common occasions. You know what credit means, when people are transacting business. A man who is known, or believed, to have plenty of money takes out goods, or uses a man's work, to a certain amount, and the workman, or owner of the goods, allows him to do so without making him pay for it at the time. Why? Because he has credit in him; he believes that the other has wherewithal to pay, and thinks himself quite certain to have his money after a time. Now, this credit which we give one another in trade and bargains is really a kind of faith, a type and shadow of the faith which pleases God and brings Christians to heaven. The faith which pleases God is when we have such entire trust in what He tells us, that we act as if we saw and felt it; though it is out of sight and beyond experience. Thus the good Samaritan required the master of the inn to have faith in him, to wait on the sick man, and to lay out money on him, fully expecting to be paid by-and-bye.

II. Our good Lord might have required of us to wait upon our brother out of mere gratitude, without promising any reward to us, but it hath pleased Him to promise a reward. Suppose that host in the parable had himself been a traveller before, and had been robbed and wounded and relieved and cared for by the very same Samaritan, he would hardly have needed the encouragement of a promise, "I will repay thee," to make him kind to this new traveller; and so much the more bountiful would he think it, when his gracious Lord vouchsafed to encourage him. Now this is just our case.

III. Mark another instance of overflowing bounty. He accompanies his aid with a gift. The Samaritan took out two pence and gave to the host, saying, "Take care of him." Ancient writers say that these two pence mean the two great laws of charity; to love God with all your heart and your neighbour as yourself. They are God's treasures with which He furnishes us, pouring the true love of Him and of our neighbour into our hearts by His Holy Spirit. Let us, then, grudge nothing that we can do or suffer, either for our Saviour or for His members. He that shall walk most courageously by this rule will surely find at the last that he has been most of all bountiful to himself.

J. Keble, Sermons for Sundays after Trinity, part ii., p. 21.

Reference: Luke 10:35.—Preacher's Monthly, vol. ii., p. 255.

Luke 10:36-37

We may learn from this parable—

I. That religious profession and service have no necessary connection with real goodness.

II. That neighbourhood is not cancelled by a difference of religion.

III. That true neighbourliness involves the spirit of sacrifice.

E. Miller, The Hem of Christ's Garment, p. 177.

References: Luke 10:36, Luke 10:37.—W. Hay Aitken, Mission Sermons, 2nd series, p. 40; J. G. Rogers, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvii., p. 140; Clergyman's Magazine, vol. v., pp. 32, 273. Luke 10:37.—C. Girdlestone, A Course of Sermons, vol. i., p. 291; R. Flint, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxv., p. 228. Luke 10:38, Luke 10:39.—T. T. Lynch, Three Months' Ministry, p. 41. Luke 10:38-42.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. xii., p. 183; Preacher's Monthly, vol. x., p. 230; F. D. Maurice, The Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven, p. 172; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvi., No. 927; H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxi., p. 36; W. Wilson, Christ setting His Face to go to Jerusalem, p. 215. Luke 10:39.—Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes: Gospels and Acts, p. 98. Luke 10:40.—Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 24; J. M. Neale, Sermons in a Religious House, 2nd series, vol. ii., p. 421.

Luke 10:41-42

The Good Part of Mary.

I. It would appear from this incident, on our Saviour's own authority, that there are two ways of serving Him—by active business and by quiet adoration. Not as if His words implied that any Christians were called to nothing but religious worship, or any to nothing but active employment. Still, after all, there are two classes of Christians: those who are like Martha, and those like Mary; and both of them glorify Him in their own line, whether of labour or of quiet, in either case proving themselves to be not their own, but bought with a price, set on obeying, and constant in obeying His will. If they labour it is for His sake; and if they adore it is still from love of Him. And further, these two classes of disciples do not choose for themselves their course of service, but are allotted it by Him. The necessity of getting a livelihood, the calls of a family, the duties of station and office, these are God's tokens, tracing out Martha's path for the many. Notice, then, who may be considered as called to the more favoured portion of Mary. (1) The old, as is material, whose season of business is past, and who seem to be thereby reminded to serve God by prayer and contemplation. (2) Those who minister at the altar are included in Mary's portion. (3) Children are in some respects partakers of Mary's portion. Till they go out into the world, whether into its trades or its professions, their school-time should be in some sort a contemplation of their Lord and Saviour. (4) We are told on St. Paul's authority, that Mary's portion is allotted more or less to the unmarried. (5) In Mary's portion are included the souls of those who have lived and died in the faith and fear of Christ.

II. Mary's portion is the better of the two. Martha's portion was full of snares, as being one of worldly labour, but Mary could not easily go wrong in hers; we may be busy in a wrong way, we cannot easily adore Him except in a right one. To serve God in prayer and praise continually, when we can do so consistently with other duties, is the pursuit of the one thing needful, and emphatically that good thing which shall not be taken away from us.

J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. iii., p. 318.

The One Thing Needful.

These words imply that in order to constitute human happiness two things are essential.

I. That there must be one predominating interest in the life, not a multiplicity of interests, swaying the mind by turns. "Thou art careful and troubled about many things; but one thing is needful."

II. That this predominating interest must not be of a transient nature, must have reference not to time, but to eternity; "Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her."

E. M. Goulburn, Sermons in the Parish Church of Holywell, p. 291.

References: Luke 10:41.—H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Sunday Sermonettes for a Year, p. 101. Luke 10:41, Luke 10:42.—M. R. Vincent, God and Bread, p. 39; T. J. Crawford, The Preaching of the Cross, p. 255; Preacher's Monthly, vol. iii., p. 350; C. Girdlestone, Twenty Parochial Sermons, 3rd series, p. 85; W. Gresley, Practical Sermons, p. 341; R. D. B. Rawnsley, Village Sermons, 2nd series, p. 196. Luke 10:42.—A. Blomfield, Sermons in Town and Country, p. 324; G. Calthrop, Words spoken to My Friends, p. 61; S. Cox, The Bird's Nest, p. 113; Outline Sermons to Children, p. 156; W. P. Lockhart, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvi., p. 408; J. Keble, Sermons on Various Occasions, p. 287; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvii., No. 1015. Luke 10:42.—H. D. Rawnsley, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxii., p. 186.