Luke 10

Luke 10:31

Passing On And Passing It On He passed by on the other side.—Luke 10:31.I AM going to speak to you this morning about “passing on” and “passing it on.” What have these two things to do with each other? If you listen you will find out.1. First of all we shall think about “passing on.”In St. Luke’s Gospel we have a very interesting story, a sort of story of adventure. It is a parable which Jesus told and it is called “The Parable of the Good Samaritan.” You know the story. It tells of how a man was going down by that wild, bleak, rocky track that leads from Jerusalem to Jericho. There he was set upon by some of the robbers who infested the mountains. He was stripped of all he possessed and left wounded and half dead by the roadside.

Later a priest came past and then a Levite, but each, in turn, passed by on the other side without doing anything to help the sufferer. At last a Samaritan came along, and when he saw the wounded man he got off his beast and went to his aid. He bound up the wounds, set the man on his own donkey, and brought him to an inn. And when, on the morrow, he had to continue on his way he left money with the landlord to pay for the visitor’s board for several days, and told him that if more was spent he would repay it on his return journey.Now I don’t want to say anything more about the Good Samaritan. He speaks for himself. But I wish to talk about the two men who passed by on the other side. Why did they do it? Well, I don’t think it was altogether because they didn’t care.

I believe they were sorry enough in a way that cost them nothing at all. I fancy they passed on for two reasons. First, because to care for the wounded man would have cost them a good deal of trouble (and money and time into the bargain); and secondly, because it might have exposed them to danger. The robbers were probably not far away, and they might return at any moment and set upon them. No, no, it was too much to risk! So they gathered their skirts about them and hurried on. Fear made them shirk their duty.You see these men were really selfish. They cared little about anything except their own comfort and safety.

I think in some ways they were worse than the robbers. The latter were wild men who had perhaps never had a chance to be good. But the priest and the Levite were ministers of religion. They knew more about what was right and kind than most people, and yet—they passed on.We are all ready to blame the priest and the Levite, but are we never like them ourselves? Yes, I think we are. And our reasons are just the same as theirs. It is partly because we won’t take trouble, and partly because we are cowards.We are like them when we join in the laugh against a schoolfellow who is unpopular. We may know that he doesn’t deserve to be laughed at, but we laugh because everybody else is doing it and we don’t like to be singular.

And we are like them when we omit to help a friend in a difficulty. We may be sorry enough for him, but it isn’t much good being sorry for people unless we do something practical to help them.· The world is filled with thousands of people who mean well. How much happier a place that world would be if all the meaning were turned into doing!2. So much for “passing on”; and now for “passing it on.”At school we used to play a game in class called “passing it on.” I wonder if you still play it? It was rather a silly game, but the fun consisted in playing it without being detected by the master. A boy at one end of the form gave his neighbor a pinch or a nudge with the injunction, “Pass it on.” Then the neighbor did the same to his neighbor with the same injunction, until the pinch or nudge had gone from one end of the form to the other.I was reminded of that game the other day when I read a story about a boy who afterwards became a celebrated preacher—Mark Guy Pearse.

He was once going home from school. He had to travel part of the way by steamer, and he was under the impression that the sum of money he had paid for his ticket also included payment for lunch.

When the luncheon gong sounded he went down below and had a good tuck in.Afterwards, just as the boat was reaching its destination, the steward walked up to him and presented him with his bill for lunch. The boy was taken aback. He had spent all his money and had nothing to pay the bill. Then the steward told him that he must leave his luggage behind and give his name and address. But when the man heard the name his face changed. “Shake hands,” he said. “I will pay the bill myself for the sake of what your father did for my mother years ago when she was in great trouble.” So he paid the boy’s bill, gave him five shillings, and saw him safely landed.When the boy told the story at home, his father said, “My lad, I passed on the kindness to him long ago, and now he has passed it on to you. Mind, as you grow up, to pass it on to others.”Years after, when the boy had grown into a man, he stood one day at the booking office of a railway station waiting for his turn to buy a ticket.

In front of him was a small boy who seemed to be in difficulties. He had not quite enough money to purchase his ticket, and the clerk was telling him to move on.

The boy offered to send him a little more, but again the clerk roughly told him to move on.Then in a flash the gentleman behind him had a vision of another small boy who had no money to pay his lunch bill, and he heard his father’s voice say, “Don’t forget the kindness. Pass it on.” Immediately he stepped forward and said, “I’ll pay the difference. What is it?” And he did pay, and afterwards in the railway carriage he told the boy the story of his own boyhood and of how his father had told him to pass on the kindness. Then he gave the boy the same bit of advice—“Pass it on.” And as the train drew out of the station the boy waved his handkerchief out of the window and shouted, “I shan’t forget! I’ll pass it on!”Do you wonder why I have told you that story and what it has got to do with the other—the story of the men who passed on?Well, it’s like this. We are all a little like that wounded man by the roadside.

We all depend on the help and kindness we receive from others. And so it ill befits us to pass by anyone who is in trouble, anyone we can be kind to, or help.If you have received kindness from anyone—your parents, or teachers, or neighbors, or friends—pass it on.

And don’t forget the biggest kindness of all, the kindness we have received from the best of all Friends. Pass on a little of that kindness. If He has forgiven you, forgive others. If He has been patient with you, be patient with them. If He has loved you, love them.Have you had a kindness shown?Pass it on;’Twas not given for thee alone,Pass it on;Let it travel down the years,Let it wipe another’s tears,Till in heav’n the deed appears—Pass it on.Did you hear the loving word!Pass it on;Like the singing of a bird?Pass it on;Let its music live and grow,Let it cheer another’s woe;You have reaped what others sow—Pass it on.’Twas the sunshine of a smile,Pass it on;Staying but a little while!Pass it on;April beam, the little thing,Still it makes the flow’rs of spring,Makes the silent birds to sing—Pass it on.(Henry Burton)

Luke 10:34

A Drop Of Oil Pouring on them oil.—Luke 10:34.That was what the Good Samaritan did to the poor hurt traveler by the wayside. He poured oil into his wounds. And why did he pour oil on the wounds? It was to soothe them and heal them.Now I think one of the most splendid bits of work in the world is the work done by doctors and nurses. I think it is a very fine thing to be able to go about the world healing hurt people, making sick people well. But you know there are other hurts in the world besides the hurts of the body, and some of these are harder to bear than any bodily pain.

Well, you can all be healers of these hurts, you can all carry a little oil about with you to soothe these wounds.As I was reading these words, I thought of a special kind of hurt that boys and girls are specially able to heal. What do you think it was?

Well, it was the hurt that is caused by strife, and envy, and unkindness.The Romans of old had an unusual belief about the hazel tree. They thought it had the power of bringing peace and reconciliation; so they burned hazel torches at weddings in order that the new home might be happy and free from quarrels. And the Roman mothers used to bind hazel twigs at the back of their babies’ heads so that the little ones might have hazel eyes, because they believed that the people with hazel eyes had a happy, sunny, peace-making nature.Now your eyes may not be hazel. They may be blue, or grey, or black, but still you may have the happy, sunny nature that makes peace and joy in the home.For do you know what spoils a home? It isn’t the big troubles and sorrows as a rule. It is the little frictions—the little strifes and jealousies, the nasty tempers, the bitter words, the discourteous acts.

And those are the things the boys and girls can smooth and heal with their drops of reconciling oil.Now if you are going to be a healer of wounds there are two “don’ts” and two “do’s” you must carry along with you.And the first “don’t” is—Don’t repeat any nasty thing that is said to you about another. If anybody should say an unkind thing about another, don’t let it go past yourself.

The chances are that it is not all true, and even if it were, to repeat it cannot possibly do any good and may do a lot of harm. Those who repeat unkind things are stirrers up of strife, not healers of wounds, so make up your mind to repeat only the kind and the nice things about others.The second “don’t” is—Don’t quarrel yourself. There was a minister once who had charge of a very quarrelsome congregation, and a friend asked him how it was he managed to avoid being drawn into some of the disputes. “Oh," he said, “I always allow the angry person to have the quarrel to himself!” Well, next time somebody wants to quarrel with you, just let him have the quarrel to himself. It is wonderful how short a time it will last. You see there is no fun in being angry with nobody.And now for the “do’s.” The first “do” is—Do look on the funny side of things. You know there is a funny side to most things.

If you see two people getting rather “ratty” with each other, try the plan of making a joke. When people laugh they forget to be angry.

And after all if quarrels were not so serious they would really be very funny; they usually arise out of such small things.But the second " do” is the more important, and it is —Do grow a big, loving, sympathetic heart. If you want to heal the wounds of strife and bitterness you must love people and pity them. Jesus carried that heart with Him wherever He went, and He can give it to you, too, if you ask Him.Boys and girls, will you be healers? Will you pour oil into the wounds of the world? God needs His peacemakers, and there is no grander work you can daWill you do this work? You can all do it. And listen. If you will, then you shall earn a beautiful name, a name which Jesus gave to those who poured oil on the wounds of strife.

Do you know what it is? Ye shall be called “the children of God.”

Luke 10:42

The One Thing Needful But one thing is needful.—Luke 10:42.You all know what it is to have special friends. You know how you love to go and see them, and how happy you are when they come to visit you. And you have heard father and mother talking about their special friends, and saying how nice it was to have So-and-so “dropping in” of an evening.Now Christ had special friends too when He lived on earth. There was one house where He knew He could go at any moment and find a welcome. It was the house of two sisters called Martha and Mary. We are told that Jesus “loved” Martha and Mary and their brother Lazarus.

They lived at Bethany, a little village about half an hour’s walk from Jerusalem. And in the cool of the evening, after Christ’s day’s work of preaching and healing was done, He would often walk out to Bethany to refresh Himself by a talk with His friends.On the evening of which our text tells, Jesus had perhaps taken a few of His disciples with Him, for, when He arrived, there arose a great bustle in the house.

Martha, who prided herself on her housekeeping and her cooking, began to rush here and there and to prepare a great feast in honor of her guests. It was very kind of her, but she did not understand, even although she loved Jesus dearly, that it was not fine food He was hungering for. She never saw that it was the love and sympathy of His friends that He was craving.But her sister Mary saw. She loved Jesus in a more understanding way than did Martha. She loved Him in a more understanding way than did even His disciples, who were with Him all the time. She saw how He was longing for sympathy and friendship, so she sat down at His feet (as the Jews did at the feet of their rabbis or teachers) and she listened to Him and talked to Him of the things that matter most in the world—God’s love for men and men’s love for God, and how loving God we love men, and loving men we love God.

And perhaps Jesus told her how He had come to show men what God is like, so that it might be easier for men to love God.In any case, Mary got so absorbed listening and talking to Christ that she was deaf to all the clatter and fuss that Martha was making. She never noticed how hot and tired and cross her sister was growing.

But Martha was not too busy to notice Mary. Each time she flew into the room and noisily set extra dishes on the table she gave a look at Mary sitting at the Master’s feet; and each time her wrath grew hotter, till at last it boiled over. She bustled up and said sharply to Jesus, “You don’t seem to care how busy I am. Don’t you see that Mary should be helping me instead of sitting there doing nothing?”Jesus looked at poor angry Martha, and then He smiled and shook His head. “Martha, Martha,” said He gently, “I’m afraid you are worrying yourself unnecessarily cooking extra dainties for me. Don’t you know that I’d rather just share your usual meal? There is no need to make a feast.

One dish is quite enough. Did I say one dish?—Ah, Martha, don’t you see that the one thing I want most in the world is not food, but the thing that Mary is offering me—a loving and understanding heart?”Boys and girls, Christ still comes to visit His friends.

He comes to our heart as our guest any day. What do we offer Him? Do we think it necessary to make a great fuss before we can entertain Him? Do we think we must bring Him this thing or that?There is only one thing He asks for. It is the thing that Mary gave Him long ago, the welcome of a loving and an understanding heart.“I wish everybody saw me with Grandpapa’s eyes,” sighed a little girl when someone found fault with her. Grandpapa’s eyes were the understanding eyes of love. Let us try to see Jesus with Mary’s eyes, then perhaps we shall be worthy of the friendship and the comradeship He offers each one of us.