Observation
Setting. On the road to Jerusalem (9:51), Jesus appoints seventy others and sends them in pairs to every city He will visit (vv1–16). They return with joy (vv17–20), and Jesus rejoices in the Holy Spirit and speaks privately to the disciples (vv21–24). A lawyer tests Him, and He tells of a man on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho (vv25–37). Then He enters a village and the home of Martha and Mary (vv38–42).
Structure:
- vv1–16 — the seventy sent: sent in pairs ahead of Him (v1); the harvest is plentiful, pray for laborers (v2); lambs among wolves; carry nothing; greet no one (vv3–4); “Peace be to this house” (vv5–7); heal and say “The kingdom of God has come near” (vv8–9); wipe off the dust; more tolerable for Sodom (vv10–12); woe to Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum (vv13–15); who listens to you listens to Me (v16).
- vv17–20 — the seventy return: “even the demons are subject to us” (v17); Satan falling like lightning (v18); authority over serpents and scorpions (v19); rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven (v20).
- vv21–24 — Jesus rejoices: rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit; hidden from the wise, revealed to infants (v21); the Father and the Son know each other (v22); blessed are the eyes which see (vv23–24).
- vv25–37 — the neighbor: “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (v25); love God, love your neighbor; “do this and you will live” (vv26–28); “And who is my neighbor?” (v29); robbers, a priest, a Levite, a Samaritan (vv30–35); “Which of these three … proved to be a neighbor?” — “Go and do the same” (vv36–37).
- vv38–42 — the one thing: Martha welcomes Him (v38); Mary at the Lord’s feet, listening (v39); Martha distracted — “do You not care?” (v40); “Martha, Martha … only one thing is necessary … the good part” (vv41–42).
Repeated words, with counts:
- “see / saw / seen” ×8 — vv23 (×2), 24 (×3), 31, 32, 33; “saw him” ×3 — vv31, 32, 33.
- “Lord” ×8 — vv1, 2, 17, 21, 27, 39, 40, 41.
- “hear / listen(s) / listening” ×6 — vv16 (×2), 24 (×3), 39.
- “Martha / Mary” ×6 — Martha vv38, 40, 41 (×2); Mary vv39, 42.
- “city / cities” ×5 — vv1, 8, 10, 11, 12; “house” ×5 — vv5 (×2), 7 (×3).
- “Father” ×5 — vv21 (×2), 22 (×3); “Son” ×3 — v22 (×3).
- “reject(s)” ×4 — v16 (×4); “send / sent” ×4 — vv1, 2, 3, 16.
- “heaven” ×4 — vv15, 18, 20, 21.
- “harvest” ×3 — v2 (×3); “laborer(s)” ×3 — vv2 (×2), 7.
- “peace” ×3 — vv5, 6 (×2); “rejoice / rejoiced” ×3 — vv20 (×2), 21.
- “neighbor” ×3 — vv27, 29, 36; “do” (the lawyer’s word) ×3 — vv25, 28, 37.
- “care” ×3 — vv34, 35, 40.
- “kingdom of God … come near” ×2 — vv9, 11; “more tolerable” ×2 — vv12, 14; “Woe” ×2 — v13; “passed by on the other side” ×2 — vv31, 32; “subject” ×2 — vv17, 20.
Contrasts: Plentiful harvest ⟷ few laborers (v2). Lambs ⟷ wolves (v3). A man of peace ⟷ peace returned (v6). Receive ⟷ reject (vv8–16). Galilean towns ⟷ Tyre, Sidon, Sodom (vv12–15). Exalted to heaven ⟷ brought down to Hades (v15). Spirits subject ⟷ names recorded (v20). Wise and intelligent ⟷ infants (v21). Prophets and kings who longed ⟷ disciples who see (vv23–24). “Who is my neighbor?” ⟷ “Which … proved to be a neighbor?” (vv29, 36). Priest and Levite ⟷ Samaritan (vv31–33). Martha’s many things ⟷ one thing (vv41–42).
Shape of the chapter: outward and then inward. Verses 1–24 send disciples out and bring them back rejoicing; verses 25–37 show love going out to a stranger on the road; verses 38–42 bring everything back to one woman sitting still at Jesus’ feet.
Chapter theme (my words): Jesus sends His people into a ripe harvest with His authority and His peace, and He wants their deepest joy to be grace — names written in heaven. Love for God shows up as love that stops on the road for the wounded, and all of it flows from the one necessary thing: sitting at His feet and listening to His word.
Interpretation
Seventy or seventy-two? The NASB reads seventy and notes that some manuscripts read seventy-two; Sproul uses seventy-two, Guzik and Henry seventy. Henry hears the seventy elders of Numbers 11. The number is not the point; the harvest is.
What did “lambs in the midst of wolves” mean for them? Defenseless men depending on God for protection and on hospitality for bread. Spurgeon: “the lambs and the sheep are very defenseless.” Later Jesus will tell them to take purse and bag (22:35–36), as Spurgeon notes — this mission was a special assignment.
Are there degrees of judgment? Yes. “More tolerable … for Sodom than for that city” (v12). Sproul: “Some sins are far more egregious than others.” Spurgeon: “Hearing and rejecting the gospel is the crowning sin of all.” The more light a man has seen, the heavier his accountability.
What did Jesus mean, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning” (v18)? Guzik: the phrase “doesn’t mean that Satan fell from heaven, but that his fall was as dramatic and sudden as a bolt of lightning,” since Satan “still has access to heaven” (Job 1:12; Zech 3:1); his fall was real judgment, “though not complete judgment, which still awaits.” Sproul: Satan’s power fell because of the ministry done in Jesus’ name. I read the mission as a down payment on the final defeat still to come — Satan thrown down (Rev 12:9) and finally judged (Rev 20:10).
Why not rejoice in power? Because gifts prove nothing about grace. Spurgeon: “We cannot judge character by gift.” Henry: “Saving graces are more to be rejoiced in than spiritual gifts.” Guzik: “Some people get emotionally intoxicated after successful service.” A name written in heaven (engraphō, perfect tense) stands written.
Hidden from the wise, revealed to infants — is that fair? Sproul calls it “one of the most difficult aspects of doctrine,” and answers that grace is “altogether undeserved and unmerited.” Spurgeon: “It is not ignorance which God loves, but conceit that he hates.” Jesus did not merely tolerate the Father’s choice; He rejoiced in it — the only time the Gospels say He rejoiced (Guzik, Spurgeon).
Was the lawyer’s answer right? Yes — Jesus says so (v28). The trouble is that no one keeps it. Sproul: “You cannot understand grace if you do not understand the law.” “Do this and you will live” drives an honest man to admit he hasn’t, and the lawyer instead tried to justify himself (v29).
Is Jesus the Good Samaritan? Our teachers differ in emphasis. Henry reads it as a picture of the gospel: “We were like this poor distressed traveller … then comes the blessed Jesus, that good Samaritan.” Spurgeon cautions against straining the parable but says Christ “has done better than the good Samaritan, because our case was worse.” Guzik lists “many ways that the Samaritan was like Jesus” without making it the main point. Sproul keeps to the lawyer’s question. I hold both: the first meaning is a command — “Go and do the same” — and the deeper reason I can obey it is that Jesus came down my road and stopped for me.
Who is my neighbor? Jesus never answers the lawyer’s question; He changes it. Not “Who qualifies to be loved by me?” but “Will I prove to be a neighbor?” Guzik: “My neighbor is the one with a need right in front of me,” even the one others “might consider my enemy.” Sproul: not a universal brotherhood but “the universal neighborhood of God.”
Was Martha wrong to serve? No. Guzik: “Martha did nothing wrong in working hard for Jesus.” Sproul: “This was not a contrast, but a comparative analysis.” Spurgeon: “Her fault was not that she served” but that “she grew cumbered.” Henry: “Care is good and duty; but cumber is sin and folly.” The one thing is sitting at His feet and listening to His word.
Word study (Greek):
- send — apostellō (G649): to send on a mission; vv1, 3, 16.
- peace — eirēnē (G1515): shalom; “a son of peace” (v6, KJV).
- subject — hypotassō (G5293): to rank under; vv17, 20; 2:51.
- recorded — engraphō (G1449): written in a register; Luke 10:20; 2 Cor 3:2–3.
- rejoiced greatly — agalliaō (G21): exult; 1:47; 10:21.
- infants — nēpios (G3516): babes, the simple; v21.
- justify — dikaioō (G1344): to show oneself righteous; v29; 16:15; 18:14.
- felt compassion — splanchnizomai (G4697): gut-level mercy; 7:13; 10:33; 15:20.
- distracted — perispaō (G4049): pulled every direction; only Luke 10:40.
- worried — merimnaō (G3309): anxious care; 10:41; 12:22–26.
- part — meris (G3310): portion, share; Luke 10:42; Col 1:12.
Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive):
- Pray, then be the answer (vv2–3; Guzik).
- Sent men carry the Sender — apostellō (v16).
- Rejecting light is the heaviest sin (vv12–15; Spurgeon).
- Satan fell like lightning — real judgment, not yet complete (Guzik).
- Grace outranks gifts (v20; Henry).
- The only time He is said to rejoice (v21).
- Grace hides and reveals — and no one can boast (Sproul).
- The law drives us to grace (vv26–29; Sproul).
- Compassion has verbs (vv33–35).
- Service can crowd out the Savior (vv40–42).
Cross-references: Lev 19:18; Num 11:16–25; Deut 6:5; Job 1:12; Ps 27:4; Isa 14:12–15; 52:7; Dan 12:1; Zech 3:1; Matt 5:44; 9:37–38; 11:20–27; 22:37–40; Luke 7:13; 9:1–6, 51–56; 15:20; 18:14; 22:35–36; John 11:1–5; 12:1–3; Rom 3:24; 1 Cor 1:27–29; Col 1:12; 1 John 4:20; Rev 12:9; 20:10–15; 21:27.
Application
Command to obey — pray for laborers, then go. Jesus told the seventy to pray to the Lord of the harvest, and in the next breath said, “Go” (vv2–3). I pray for men in my group, guys at the facility, my own family — and then I wait for someone else to show up. This week I will be the answer to one of my own prayers: a visit, a call, a ride, a Bible open on a table.
Sin to confess — rejoicing in the wrong thing. I like it when ministry “works” — when a man opens up, when a study goes well, when someone thanks me. Jesus says that is not the deepest joy (v20). If my joy rises and falls with results, I am standing on sight, not faith. I confess that, and I thank God that my name was written in heaven by grace, not by my record.
Truth to face — I have passed by on the other side. The priest and the Levite both “saw him” (vv31–32). So have I — the man asking for help outside the store, the brother who relapsed and stopped coming, the guy nobody sits with. I have had good excuses. Spurgeon says nobody refuses to help without at least one admirable excuse. Jesus asks, “Which of these three … proved to be a neighbor?”
Promise to trust — He came down my road. I was the man half dead in the ditch — stripped, beaten, left. The Law could see me but could not lift me. Jesus came to me, bandaged me, paid for me, and promised to come back (v35). Because He proved to be my neighbor, I can “go and do the same” (v37) without trying to earn anything.
Example to follow — Mary at His feet. Martha was serving Jesus and losing Jesus at the same time (v40). That is my danger as a man who leads groups and builds things for the ministry. Before I serve this week, I will sit — Bible open, phone down — and listen to His word. Only one thing is necessary, and it will not be taken away.
Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive):
- Jesus told the seventy to pray for laborers and then sent them (vv2–3). Who is the one person I have been praying would hear about Jesus — and what would it look like for me to be the answer to that prayer? (10:2–3; Matt 9:37–38) God would use them to answer their own prayers (Guzik).
- Jesus said it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for the towns that saw His miracles and did not repent. What have I seen God do that still has not changed the way I live? (10:12–15) It is good to be made sensible of our advantages and opportunities (Henry).
- What do I rejoice in most — what God does through me, or that my name is written in heaven? How would my week look different if it were the second? (10:17–20; Rev 21:27) Grace without talent will save (Spurgeon).
- Jesus thanked the Father for revealing these things to “infants.” Where does my pride or my need to look smart keep me from receiving what God wants to show me? (10:21–24; 1 Cor 1:27–29) It is not ignorance which God loves, but conceit that he hates (Spurgeon).
- Like the lawyer, where am I trying to make “neighbor” small enough to be manageable? Who is the man on my road I keep passing on the other side? (10:29–37; 1 John 4:20) My neighbor is the one with a need right in front of me (Guzik).
- Am I more like Martha or Mary this week? What would it take for me to sit at Jesus’ feet before I start serving? (10:38–42; Ps 27:4) Serve the Master, but do not break your fellowship (Spurgeon).
Worship. The Lord of the harvest sends lambs among wolves and goes after them. He watched Satan fall like lightning, wrote my name in heaven, and rejoiced in the Spirit that the Father reveals Himself to infants. He is the One who knows the Father and makes Him known, the true Neighbor who came down the Jericho road, and the Teacher whose word is the one thing necessary.
Prayer. Lord Jesus, send laborers into Your harvest — and send me. Keep me from rejoicing more in what I do for You than in what You have done for me. Thank You that my name is written in heaven. Open my eyes to the man on my road, and give me compassion that has hands and feet. When I am worried and bothered about many things, sit me down at Your feet and let me listen to Your word. That good part I choose today. Amen.