the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 4 of 5
Luke 10:25-42
Being asked a question by a lawyer, the Lord Jesus returns the question to the lawyer’s own conscience. He tries to escape the challenge by restricting the meaning of the word "neighbour". The Lord Jesus teaches him that this neighbour is first of all Jesus Himself (vv. 36, 37), and that following His example in love, the redeemed one becomes neighbour to all mankind. This poor man stripped of his raiment, and left half-dead is a picture of the sinner lost and utterly helpless; the priest and the Levite speak to us of the vain help of religion; but the good Samaritan speaks to us of the Saviour who stooped down to meet us in our need and to pluck us from a tragic and helpless plight. The inn reminds us of the Assembly where the man who had been rescued could receive the care appropriate to his needs, and the innkeeper is a figure of the Holy Spirit providing this necessary care by the Word and prayer (the two pence), the subjects of vv. 38-42 and Luke 11:1-13. In concluding the Lord does not say "Do this (the law) and thou shalt live" (v. 28) but "Go and do thou likewise" (v. 37).
The following scene takes place in a friendly home. The Lord Jesus is welcomed there, served, listened to and loved. But "much serving" occupies Martha’s thoughts and she has to be rebuked. Mary’s heart is open to the Word of God; that is what rejoices the Lord’s heart (1 Samuel 15:22).
