It records the sending of seventy disciples by Jesus, the famous parable about the Good Samaritan, and his visit to the house of Mary and Martha.

[1] This Gospel's author, who also wrote the Acts of the Apostles, is not named but is uniformly identified by early Christian tradition as Luke the Evangelist.

[6]: 941  Protestant theologian Heinrich Meyer calls this section (verses 1-16) the "Narrative of the Seventy" and links it to the earlier account of the sending out of advance messengers in Luke 9:52.

This passage includes Jesus's assertion that "the laborer is worthy of his wages",[8] which is reflected in similar wording in 1 Timothy 5:18: The first of these statements is found at Deuteronomy 25:4, but the second statement is not found in the Old Testament, leading to the suggestion that the author of the letter to Timothy may have referred to Luke or the equivalent verse in Matthew.

In response, Jesus told a story of a traveller, presumably a Jew,[20] who is beaten, robbed, and left half dead along the road.

[21] Some Christians, such as Augustine and John Newton,[22] have interpreted the parable allegorically, with the Samaritan representing Jesus Christ, who saves the sinful soul.

[25] Bethany is not mentioned and would not fit with the topography of Jesus' journey to Jerusalem, which at this point in the narrative is just commencing as he leaves Galilee.