This week's Scripture passage is Luke 10.

(Click here for a PDF of this week's study.)

Focus verses:

Luke 10:1-20 - Jesus sends the 72, in the power of the Spirit, ahead into the towns where He will go. 'Pray earnestly for laborers. The harvest is plentiful, but laborers are few.'

Luke 10:21-24 - A special glimpse into the Trinity. Jesus rejoices in the Holy Spirit that the Father reveals truth as it pleases Him.  Jesus knows the Father and reveals the Father to whom He chooses. 'Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.'

Luke 10:25-28 -  Loving the Lord completely and your neighbor as yourself. A lawyer tests Jesus. 'What shall I do to inherit eternal life?'

Luke 10:29-37 - The parable of the Good Samaritan.  'Who then is a good neighbor? The one who shows mercy.'

Luke 10:38-41 - Martha and Mary. Martha serves Jesus, but Mary chooses to sit at His feet and listen to Jesus' teaching, the good portion. 

In Luke 10, Jesus demonstrates and teaches the priority of:

• God's heart for the lost
• Team ministry
• Earnest prayer, asking the Father to provide workers for His ministry (laborers for the harvest)
• Focused ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit
• The necessity of God's power, will, and initiative to open blind eyes to see (reveal) Him
• Loving God completely
• Loving all people sincerely with hearts filled with mercy
• Devotion and worship, over well-intentioned service and busyness

Questions for Reflection and Discussion:

1. Are we praying both for harvest laborers and willing to go? Jesus commands us to do both.  

Isaiah 6:8 - ... And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”

Matthew 28:19 - Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,...

2. As we share our faith with others, are we secure and confident that it is God who softens hearts and opens eyes to see Him? We don't have to 'have it all together' and share perfectly.  Remember God uses the weak and foolish to demonstrate His power and strength so that He receives the glory. 

1 Corinthians 1:26-31- For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.  But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

3. Meditate on verse 27.  Regularly ask the Holy Spirit to show you how you can love the Lord more.

Luke 10:27 - And he answered, “You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself.”

4. Are there any 'neighbors' in your life that you are tempted to pass by? Why? Consider ways to show mercy to those who have just come to mind.

5. Why does Jesus' exhortation to Martha seem unfair? Wasn't she doing all the necessary work as a good hostess to make his visit pleasant?  What does Martha's question reveal about her heart in serving?  What may she have been anxious and troubled about?  How do you feel about Mary as you read the story... sitting listening to Jesus as Martha does all the work?

6. Do we serve the Lord for the recognition of others? How do you respond when others receive recognition and you do not? 

7. Are we busy serving at the expense of quality time sitting at the feet of Jesus, hearing His Word? How do we balance devotion to the Lord and service to Him, His church and others?