Luke 10:25–42
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
What we do, or who we are?
When Jesus is asked “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” He offers a reply that puts less emphasis on “doing” things and more emphasis on having a loving relationship with God and with other people. When he is asked “Who is my neighbor?” He offers up a story in which the religiously observant come off looking badly, and the exemplar of the story prioritizes care for another human being over the observance of religious boundaries and taboos. And when he is asked to pass judgement on one who is accused of not “doing” enough to serve him, he makes it clear that a person’s relationship with him is always more important than what that person “does” in the supposed furtherance of that relationship.
There is, to be sure, a great deal of “doing” involved in how we live our lives as followers of Jesus Christ. We understand, of course, that the Good Samaritan “did” the right thing. But in the Gospel according to Luke, Jesus makes it very clear that it is us he is interested in, not what we can “do” for him. The relationship doesn’t flow out of the doing. The doing flows out of the relationship. One of the traps inherent in a life of Christian service is the temptation to set aside the pursuit of a deeper, fuller, sweeter relationship with him in favour of trying to do more things (and more effective things) for him.
Questions for reflection / discussion.
1. What has been your understanding of what a person needs to “do” to inherit eternal life? Is your understanding different from the answer that Jesus gives?
2. Why are people so obsessed with figuring out what they are supposed to do? Does it have to do with wanting to have control over their own lives? Over their own futures?
3. Is there a way for us to love God without necessarily doing something? How does Mary accomplish this? How can we imitate what Mary does?
4. Are there ways in which you make time to “sit at the feet of Jesus?” What barriers do you face in making time to do this?
5. Is there a way for us to love others that doesn’t necessarily involve doing things for them? Could Mary’s example be applied to loving others? How? What would that look like in your life?
Author Bio
Brian Robertson is the Executive Pastor at
Sevenoaks Alliance Church in Abbotsford. He holds a B.A. from Acadia University, an LL.B. from Dalhousie University, and an M.Div. from Wycliffe College.
Luke and Acts taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®
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