Lesson 50: Luke 10:1–37 adapted
---Look for truths as we study Luke 10:25–37
that can guide you as you interact with individuals who may be difficult to
love.
---Bring to class a container full
of objects (such as balls of various sizes). Invite a student to the front of
the classroom. Ask the student to hold the objects you give him or her without
dropping or setting down any of them. Give the student objects until he or she
can’t hold them all and some begin to fall. Then ask the student:
- What could you do to prevent the objects from falling?
---If necessary, suggest that the
student ask for help from others in the class. Continue to give the objects to
the student, and allow him or her to pass some of them to other students. Then
invite the students to be seated.
- How would you compare this activity to the way Church leaders handle their responsibilities?
---Remember that the Savior had
called twelve Apostles and sent them forth to assist in His work. However, the
Apostles would need others to help them teach and minister so that the
blessings of the gospel could be taken to all people.
- Whom did the Lord appoint to assist Him in His work? What was their role?
1---The word seventy in Luke
10:1 refers to an office in the Melchizedek Priesthood. This
same office exists in the restored Church today. SHOW GA PAGE FROM ENSIGN. There
are now multiple quorums of the Seventy, though only members of the first two
quorums are called as General Authorities. Each quorum may have up to 70
members. Their work to preach the gospel and help administer the Church is
directed by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the Presidency of the Seventy (see
D&C
107:25–26, 34;
Guide to the Scriptures, “Seventy,” scriptures.lds.org).
- According to verse 2, what did the Lord say were too few for the harvest of souls?
- What truth can we learn about the Lord’s work from these verses? (The Lord calls laborers in addition to the Apostles to represent Him and to assist Him in His work.)
- In addition to Apostles and Seventies, who else has a responsibility to assist the Lord in His work today? (All Church members.)
---Just as the Savior declared the
need for more laborers to bring about the harvest of salvation, latter-day
prophets have consistently called for more missionaries.
President Thomas S. Monson:
2-“I repeat what prophets have long taught—that every
worthy, able young man should prepare to serve a mission. Missionary service is
a priesthood duty—an obligation the Lord expects of us who have been given so
very much. Young men, I admonish you to prepare for service as a
missionary. …
“A word to you young sisters: while you do not have the same
priesthood responsibility as do the young men to serve as full-time
missionaries, you also make a valuable contribution as missionaries, and we
welcome your service” (“As We Meet Together
Again,”
Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2010, 5–6).
- Besides serving a full-time mission, how else might we assist the Lord in His work?
- What experiences have you or someone you know enjoyed through assisting the Lord in His work?
---In Luke 10:3–24 the Lord gave the Seventy instructions on how
to fulfill their responsibilities. He also chastised the people in various
cities who had rejected His works. The Seventy later reported their labors to
Jesus, and He gave them additional instruction and rejoiced with them.
---Ask a student to read aloud the
following statement by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the First
Presidency:
3-“The people around us are not perfect. People do things
that annoy, disappoint, and anger. In this mortal life it will always be that
way” (“The Merciful Obtain
Mercy,”
Ensign or Liahona, May 2012, 77).
- Why might it be difficult to love someone who does things that annoy, disappoint, or anger you?
- What did the lawyer ask the Savior?
- What principle do we learn from these verses concerning what we must do to obtain eternal life? (To obtain eternal life we must love God and love our neighbor as ourselves.
---Notice the phrase “love our
neighbor as ourselves” (on the board.)
---List on the board the things you
do during a typical day. (Items might include preparing for the day, eating,
sleeping, doing homework, and so forth.)
---Think about how many of your
activities are focused on yourselves.
- What can we learn from this exercise?
- What are some ways we might be able to focus more often on the well-being of others and seek to love them as much as we love ourselves?
- What are some ways we can do this even during activities we do for ourselves? (Examples might include eating lunch with those who seem lonely or complimenting others during our school activities.)
- How do you think loving God and our neighbor as much as we love ourselves can help us progress toward eternal life?
- What was the lawyer’s second question?
---Prepare several students to act
out the parable of the good Samaritan in Luke 10:30–35.
Invite one student to be the narrator and others to play the roles of the
wounded Jewish man, two thieves, the priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan. (If
you have a class with only a few students, they could play multiple roles.) You
may want to provide some props, which could include name tags, extra clothing
to take from the Jewish man, two containers representing the oil and wine, a
rolling chair to represent the beast, and two coins to represent the two pence.
---Invite the narrator to read Luke 10:30–35 aloud, and ask those participating to act out the parable.
Ask the rest of the class to follow along, looking for what the Savior taught
about who our neighbor is. After the role play, invite the students to return
to their seats.
- Which of the Samaritan’s actions impresses you the most?
---To help the class better
understand what might be expected of a priest, Levite, and Samaritan, invite a
student to read the following explanation aloud:
4---Priests and Levites held the Aaronic priesthood and were assigned to
serve God and their fellowmen, both in the temple and as teachers and exemplars
of God’s law. These priesthood bearers were fully aware of the commandment to
“love thy neighbour as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18) and to
care for foreigners and travelers (see Leviticus 19:34;
25:35). In
contrast, “Samaritans were partly Israelite and partly Gentile. Their religion
was a mixture of Jewish and pagan beliefs and practices. … Jews had developed
[hatred] for the Samaritans because the Samaritans had apostatized from the
Israelite religion” (Guide to the Scriptures, “Samaritans,” scriptures.lds.org).
Both Jews and Samaritans typically went out of their way to avoid each other.
- In the parable, why might the actions of the priest, Levite, and Samaritan be surprising?
- What reasons might the Samaritan have had to not assist the wounded Jew?
- According to verse 33, what moved the Samaritan to act when he saw the wounded man?
---To have compassion means to notice another person’s needs or challenges
and to feel a desire to do whatever we can to help that person.
- How does this parable answer the question in verse 29, “Who is my neighbour?”
---The Savior’s use of the Samaritan
in this parable suggests that our neighbor is not just someone who lives near
us but is any of Heavenly Father’s children—including those who are most
difficult for us to love.
---President Howard W. Hunter:
5-“We need to remember that though we make our friends, God has
made our neighbors—everywhere. Love should have no boundary. … Christ said,
‘For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the
publicans the same?’ (Matthew
5:46)” (“The Lord’s Touchstone,” Ensign, Nov. 1986, 35).
- According to verse 37, what did the Savior teach the lawyer to do?
---Think again about the individuals
you previously thought of who may be difficult for you to love.
- What can we do to love and have compassion on those who are difficult for us to love?
- Think about a time when you or someone you know followed the Savior’s counsel to “love … thy neighbour as thyself” (Luke 10:27). What was the result?
---Testify of the truths taught in
today’s lesson.
---Write the following incomplete
statement on the board and invite students to complete it in their class
notebooks:
I will follow the example of the
good Samaritan by …
Commentary
and Background Information
Luke
10:37. “Go, and do thou likewise”
President Thomas S. Monson
counseled us to heed the Savior’s call to be like the good Samaritan:
“Each of us, in the journey through
mortality, will travel his own Jericho Road. What will be your experience? What
will be mine? Will I fail to notice him who has fallen among thieves and
requires my help? Will you? Will I be one who sees the injured and hears his
plea, yet crosses to the other side? Will you? Or will I be one who sees, who
hears, who pauses, and who helps? Will you?
“Jesus provided our watchword: ‘Go,
and do thou likewise.’ When we obey that declaration, there opens to our view a
vista of joy seldom equaled and never surpassed. …
“… When we walk in the steps of
that good Samaritan, we walk the pathway that leads to perfection” (“Your Jericho Road,” Ensign, Feb. 1989, 2, 4).
Supplemental
Teaching Idea
Luke
10:25–37. Video presentation—“Parable of the Good Samaritan”
To help students identify an additional principle in the
parable of the good Samaritan, invite them to watch the video “Parable of the Good Samaritan” (5:11).
---Look for how we can liken the
wounded man to us and the Samaritan to the Savior.
- In what ways can the Samaritan represent the Savior?
- If Jesus can be likened to the Samaritan, what could the oil and wine that was used to heal the wounded man represent? (The Atonement of Jesus Christ.)
- As we become healed of sin, what gift can we inherit? (Eternal life.)
- What additional truth can we learn from this parable about how we can obtain eternal life? (Help students identify the additional truth that each of us needs the Atonement of Jesus Christ to obtain eternal life.)
---Jesus Christ has compassion and
heals the spiritual wounds of sin, as well as other types of wounds we suffer
in life. He also saves us from death, brings us to safety, and employs others
to help us.
---Testify that through His
Atonement, Jesus Christ has personally paid the price for our recovery.
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