Year 7, Day 219: Luke 10

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Luke 110 is all about the presence of Christ.  We’re going to start in the middle, circle back around to the beginning, and then finish off with the two stories at the end.  Lord willing, it will be a good circle to complete.

Let’s look at the little snippet that Jesus gives to us after the Seventy-Two return to Him.  When they respond to Jesus by telling Him all that happened in His name, Jesus says, “I saw Satan fall from heaven.” So often, this little passage only gets used to point out that Satan was once an angel in the court of God. 

While that certainly is true, I don’t think that is actually Jesus’ reason for stating it here.  Jesus says that He saw Satan fall from from heaven.  While we put the emphasis upon the object of the verb, Satan falling from heaven, I think Jesus’ emphasis is on the subject of the verb.  Jesus saw Satan fall from heaven.  In other words, Jesus is more powerful than Satan.  Jesus is more closely tied to the Father than Satan.  When this is true, the rest of the passage makes sense. 

Why shouldn’t Jesus’ name be able to do powerful things like overthrow demons and their strongholds?  If Jesus is more powerful than Satan, then Jesus’ name should be more powerful, too.  When we take it this way, we understand why Jesus would choose this response with respect to the disciples’ surprise at what they were able to do.

Therefore, we can now cycle back to the beginning.  Look at how Jesus equips them.  It’s not about the clothing they wear or the protection they bring with them.  It’s not about how well supplied they are.  They are going out with the power of Jesus.  That’s all they need, because there is no greater power than God’s power poured through Him.

This naturally takes us to the Good Samaritan story.  Who is the Good Samaritan?  The Good Samaritan isn’t the wealthy one, or the priestly one, or the proclaimer of the Law.  It’s not about what’s on the outside that counts.  The Good Samaritan is the one who reaches out with the grace and love of God and impacts the world.  The Good Samaritan is good on the inside, where it counts.  The Good Samaritan is good because God shines through him as he truly acts as a neighbor should.

Or, take the story about Mary and Martha.  Martha is trying to serve Jesus with hospitality.  There’s nothing wrong with hospitality!  Much of the Old Testament has to deal with how we treat people in our hospitality towards them, especially the poor and defenseless.  But outward hospitality is nothing when compared to inward perspective.  The greatest acts, when done for the wrong reasons, are no longer great.  That’s why we have sayings like, “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.”  Doing good things isn’t enough.  What is enough is to have the condition within our heart that desires to sit at the feet of Christ, listen to Him, and obey Him.

The Seventy-Two were able to do what they did because Christ was in them and working through them.  The Good Samaritan was good because he was living out the teachings of Christ on goodness and mercy.  Mary is lifted up over Martha because she desires to be with Christ and focus on Him to have as much of His teachings within her as possible.  If He truly is the greatest power in the universe, why should we want anything else?

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