Luke 10:36

Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? WHICH NOW OF THESE THREE, THINKEST THOU, WAS NEIGHBOUR UNTO HIM THAT FELL AMONG THE THIEVES? - a most dexterous way of putting the question: first, turning it from the lawyer's form of it, 'Whom am I to love as my neighbour?' to the more pointed question, 'Who is the man that shows that love?' and next, compelling the lawyer to give a reply very different from what he would like-not only condemning his own nation, but those of them who should be the most exemplary; and finally, making him commend one of a deeply-hated race. And he does so, but it is almost extorted....

25-37 If we speak of eternal life, and the way to it, in a careless manner, we take the name of God in vain. No one will ever love God and his neighbour with any measure of pure, spiritual love, who is not made a partaker of converting grace. But the proud heart of man strives hard against these convictions. Christ gave an instance of a poor Jew in distress, relieved by a good Samaritan. This poor man fell among thieves, who left him about to die of his wounds. He was slighted by those who should have been his friends, and was cared for by a stranger, a Samaritan, of the nation which the Jews most despised and detested, and would have no dealings with. It is lamentable to observe how selfishness governs all ranks; how many excuses men will make to avoid trouble or expense in relieving others. But the true Christian has the law of love written in his heart. The Spirit of Christ dwells in...

Verse 36. _WHICH - WAS NEIGHBOUR_] Which fulfilled the _duty_ which _one_ neighbour owes to _another_?...

WAS NEIGHBOUR - Showed the kindness of a neighbor, or evinced the proper feelings of a neighbor. The lawyer had asked him who was his neighbor? Jesus in this beautiful narrative showed him who and what a neighbor was, and he did this in a way that disarmed his prejudice, deeply affected him in regard to his own duty, and evinced the beauty of religion. Had he “at first” told him that a Samaritan might be a neighbor to a Jew and deserve his kindness, he would have been at once revolted at it; but when, by a beautiful and affecting narrative, he brought the “man himself” to see that it might be, he was constrained to admit it. Here we see the beauty of a parable and its use. It disarmed prejudice, fixed the attention, took the mind gently yet irresistibly, and prevented the possibility of cavil or objection. Compare, also, the address of Nathan to David, 2 Samuel 1

EXPOSITION LUKE 10:1 _The mission of the seventy. The Lord_'_s words to them of instruction and direction and warning._ LUKE 10:1 AFTER THESE THINGS THE LORD APPOINTED OTHER SEVENTY ALSO. That is to say, after the events just related which had taken place in the north of the Holy Land. "Alter these things" formally began the solemn marches in the direction of Jerusalem, which ended, as we have stated, in the last Passover. Roughly speaking, the seventy were first sent out about the October of the last year of the public ministry. The manuscripts vary between seventy and seventy two. The preponderance of authority is in favour of seventy. The Sanhedrin numbered seventy-one. The elders appointed by Moses were seventy. The

WHICH NOW OF THESE THREE,.... The priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan, THINKEST THOU, WAS NEIGHBOUR TO HIM THAT FELL AMONG THE THIEVES? the priest and Levite that passed by, and took no notice of him, and gave him no relief, neither by words nor actions; or the Samaritan, that did all the above kind and generous things to him?...

Luke 10:25. _And, behold a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?_ That was a most appropriate answer to a lawyer. « You ask me what you should do; well, you profess to be a teacher of the law, you ought, therefore, to know what is written in the law.» Luke 10:27. _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. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live._ This lawyer was one of those people who know the law, yet do it not. No doubt Jesus struck the nail on the head when he gave him t

CHAPTER 10 _ 1. The Seventy Appointed. (Luke 10:1)_ 2. The Return of the Seventy and the True Rejoicing. (Luke 10:17) 3. Jesus Rejoiced in Spirit. (Luke 10:21) 4. The Question of the Lawyer. (Luke 10:25) 5. The Parable of the Good Samaritan. (Luke 10:30) 6. Martha and Mary. (Luke 10:38 .) Luke 10:1 Seventy others are commissioned by Him to be His

THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT (Mark 12:28 *, Matthew 22:34 *), and the PARABLE OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN (Lk. only). The inquirer puts his question in a different form, but the meaning is the same. And in Lk. Jesus elicits the answer from the questioner, and commends him. Luke 10:29 is thought by some to be merely Lk.'s device, a peg on which to hang the parable, which existed in an independent form. For the parable answers the question Whose neighbour am I? not Who is my neighbour? (_cf. Luke 7:41_ *). But the question Whose neighbour am I? is after all the more important, and it would be like Jesus to turn the problem round so as to emph

LABOURERS FOR THE HARVEST (Luke 10:1-16)...