Today's main idea: Jesus calls us to show mercy to the person in need and to receive his teaching with attention. As we listen to him, he changes whom we notice and how we serve.
Read Slowly
Main reading: Luke 10:25–42
Watch how Jesus responds to two people who want him to settle a question. A lawyer asks who his neighbor is. Martha asks him to make Mary help. In both encounters, his answer reaches the heart of the person speaking.
In Day 18, the Father told the disciples to listen to his beloved Son. Today we see what that listening can require: receiving correction, practicing mercy, and making room for Jesus' words.
Jesus Calls Us to Live the Truth We Know
A lawyer, an expert in God's law, stands up to test Jesus. He asks what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus directs him to Scripture and asks how he reads it.
The man answers that he must love God with his whole heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love his neighbor as himself. Jesus affirms his answer and tells him to do this and live.
The command is demanding. Love for God reaches the whole person, and love for a neighbor gives another person's welfare the seriousness we give our own. Jesus treats that love as something to be practiced.
Then Luke tells us why the lawyer asks his next question: he wants to justify himself. He wants to establish that he is in the right. So he asks who his neighbor is.
He has given the correct answer, yet Jesus' instruction has brought him to a point where he must examine his life. His next question seeks a definition. Jesus will answer with a person in need and someone who helps.
That reveals something about Jesus as our teacher. He takes us beyond being able to repeat what is right. His words call for a response in how we live.
I may know that I should love others while finding reasons to keep a particular person outside my concern. I may speak well about kindness while postponing an apology. Jesus invites me to let the truth I know examine the next choice I make.
Remember: Listening to Jesus means letting the truth I know change the way I treat someone.
Jesus Shows What Mercy Does
Jesus tells of a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. Robbers strip him, beat him, and leave him half dead. A priest sees him and passes by on the other side. A Levite does the same.
Both men have roles connected with Israel's worship. Both see the wounded traveler. The story then introduces a Samaritan who also sees him and responds with compassion.
Jews and Samaritans had a history of religious and communal hostility. Making a Samaritan the example of mercy would challenge the lawyer's expectations. Jesus asks his listener to recognize goodness in someone from a group he would be inclined to regard with suspicion.1
The Samaritan goes to the man, binds his wounds, and uses oil and wine in caring for him. He places him on his own animal, takes him to an inn, and cares for him there. The next day, he pays the innkeeper two silver coins and promises to cover further expenses when he returns.
Compassion takes the form of actions. It uses the Samaritan's supplies, transport, time, and money. He also arranges care that will continue after he leaves.
The repeated act of seeing helps us notice where the responses divide. Each traveler encounters the need. The Samaritan allows what he sees to change what he does next.
Jesus makes this kind of mercy worth our attention. The wounded man's need becomes a reason to draw near, and the helper's care reaches beyond a passing moment of sympathy.
For us, mercy might mean taking a meal to someone who is exhausted, arranging a ride, or helping a person find the support they need. We can ask what would make an actual difference and follow through. A willingness to be interrupted can become the beginning of useful care.
Remember: Jesus teaches me to let compassion become practical help that costs me something.
Jesus Changes the Question We Ask
At the end of the story, Jesus asks which of the three proved to be a neighbor to the wounded man. The lawyer answers that it was the one who showed mercy. Jesus tells him to go and do likewise.
Notice the change in the question. The lawyer had asked which people count as his neighbors. Jesus asks which person acted as a neighbor. The answer is found in mercy shown to someone in need.
That change places responsibility back in the lawyer's hands. He has recognized the right action. Now he is called to practice it.
Jesus also asks him to learn from the Samaritan. The man he might have placed outside his circle has become the example he must follow. Humility belongs to this lesson in love: I must be willing to recognize mercy even when its source challenges my expectations.
This gives us a useful question for moments when we are weighing whether to get involved. What would it mean for me to act as a neighbor here? That question directs attention toward the person's need and the help I can offer.
It can also expose the conditions I attach to kindness. I may find it easy to care for someone who agrees with me or is likely to thank me. Jesus' story asks me to take the suffering person seriously before making those calculations.
Knowing Jesus shapes both my actions and my judgment. I can recognize the good another person does, learn from it, and practice the mercy he commends.
Remember: I can begin loving my neighbor by asking how to show mercy to the person before me.
Jesus Sees the Heart Beneath Our Serving
Jesus enters a village, and Martha welcomes him into her house. Her sister Mary sits at his feet and listens to his teaching. Martha is distracted by much serving.
Martha then asks Jesus whether he cares that her sister has left her to serve alone. She wants him to tell Mary to help.
The scene begins with a welcome, but that welcome has become troubled. Martha is occupied with the work, watching her sister, and questioning Jesus' care. Mary is giving attention to what he says.
There is an important connection with the story we have just heard. Jesus has commended practical care. Here, Luke lets us see what can happen within a person who is serving: the work can fill her attention until she struggles to receive the guest she welcomed.
Jesus hears Martha's complaint. In the next verses, he responds to her anxiety and the way many concerns are pulling at her. His answer reaches beyond the task she wants redistributed.
We can recognize that experience in ordinary responsibilities. I may begin helping gladly and gradually become preoccupied with who is doing less. I may keep working while resentment shapes the way I speak. Those changes deserve attention.
Following Jesus gives me a reason to bring him what is happening inside my service. I can name tiredness, ask another person for help honestly, and listen before deciding that their behavior proves they do not care.
Remember: When serving turns into resentment, I can bring Jesus the burden and listen for his correction.
Jesus Protects Our Place as Learners
Jesus addresses Martha by name twice. He tells her that she is anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, and it will not be taken away from her.
Mary is sitting at the Lord's feet, receiving his teaching as a learner. Jesus affirms her choice. He will not send her away from his words in response to Martha's demand.2
This shows us something personal about Jesus. He has teaching to give, and he values the person's attention as she receives it. Mary has a place there.
His answer also directs Martha toward what matters in this moment. Jesus has entered her home, and the work surrounding his welcome has become so consuming that she is missing what he is offering. His words invite her to reconsider where her attention is going.
The phrase “good portion” names Mary's choice as something valuable and lasting. Receiving Jesus' teaching belongs within the life of someone who loves and serves him.
That can change how we approach a busy day. I can make time to hear Jesus before allowing the next demand to claim all my attention. I can also protect that time for someone else, sharing a responsibility so that they have room to learn and pray.
There is humility in receiving. I come to Jesus as someone who needs his words. Listening gives him room to correct my priorities, deepen my compassion, and shape the care I offer.
Remember: Jesus gives me a place to listen, and receiving his words matters in the life I offer him.
What We Learn About Jesus
Jesus calls for love that reaches God with the whole person and reaches a neighbor through mercy. He exposes the desire to excuse ourselves and gives a concrete example of the life he calls us to practice.
He challenges the boundaries we place around compassion. The Samaritan becomes a teacher of mercy to the man questioning him.
Jesus receives hospitality and also cares about the heart of the person serving. He addresses Martha's anxiety and protects Mary's place as a learner.
He has something to give us through his teaching. Knowing him includes receiving that gift and allowing it to change our response to others.
How the Reading Fits Together
The lawyer knows the command to love. Jesus leads him toward doing it. Martha welcomes Jesus, but her many tasks distract her from hearing him. Jesus points her toward receiving what Mary has chosen.
Together, the scenes show two ways we need Jesus' direction. We can discuss love without showing mercy. We can become so occupied with serving that we stop attending to him. His teaching reaches both.
The stories also challenge our expectations about who deserves attention. A Samaritan becomes the example of a neighbor, and Mary is affirmed in her place at Jesus' feet. Jesus directs us to recognize mercy and welcome learning where we might otherwise overlook them.
For our daily lives, these passages belong together as a call to hear and respond. I can sit with Jesus' words long enough to let them examine me, then go toward someone with practical kindness. The one I listen to is the one who sends me to show mercy.
Take a Moment with Jesus
- Who am I finding reasons to keep outside my concern, and what would mercy toward that person look like?
- Where has a good responsibility become tangled with resentment, comparison, or anxiety?
- What can I change today to give Jesus' teaching my attention and put one part of it into practice?
Prayer
Jesus, help me receive your words and live them. Show me where I am making excuses instead of showing mercy. When I become anxious or resentful in serving, help me tell you the truth and listen. Teach me to recognize the person who needs care and to offer help with a willing heart. Amen.
One Thing to Do
Spend five quiet minutes rereading the main passage. Choose one person whose need you have noticed but have not acted on. Offer a specific form of help today, such as a meal, a ride, or time to listen, and follow through on what you offer.
Carry This with You
Jesus gives me a place to listen and calls me to show mercy. I can receive his words today and let them change the way I care for someone.
Sources Consulted
Source citations
-
Mikeal C. Parsons, Commentary on the Good Samaritan, Working Preacher, Luther Seminary. On the surprising choice of a Samaritan as the example and Jesus' movement from the lawyer's question to the command to practice mercy. ↩
-
Elisabeth Johnson, Commentary on Mary and Martha, Working Preacher, Luther Seminary. On Mary's posture as a learner, Martha's distraction, and reading this scene alongside the Samaritan's practical care. ↩
What is one thing you want to remember?
Your progress stays on this device.