Luke 9, Part One

The apostles sent out to preach (vs. 1-6)—Over the next several chapters, we have some of the most poignant, decisive, and thought-provoking material on Christian living anywhere in the New Testament.  It crops up from time-to-time, but we will learn, clearly, that the Lord demands total obedience, right now, and brooks absolutely no interference with complete, utter commitment to Him.  Chapters 9 through 14 of Luke present some of the most powerful, determinative teaching anywhere in the Bible.  I shall make note of it as we proceed.

But we start innocuously enough.  The Lord sends out His twelve apostles to “preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick” (v. 2).  Yet even here, there is a jaded reference to trusting Him implicitly:  “Take nothing for the journey, neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money; and do not have two tunics apiece” (v. 3).  He would take care of them (and us).  Do we have that kind of faith?

Herod desires to see Jesus (vs. 7-9)—This is Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great, who was “king” when Jesus was born.  When this latter Herod died, his territory was divided among his sons.  Herod Antipas became “tetrarch” of Galilee and Perea.  Technically, a tetrarch was to rule over only a quarter of a territory, but in effect, governed all.  This is the Herod who killed John the Baptist.  He had some idle curiosity about Jesus.  By the time of the events recorded here, he had already killed John (v. 7).  He’s hearing rumors about Jesus and wants to see Him (v. 9).  He’ll get his chance, but not until Christ’s trial, when Jesus will appear before him (Luke 23:7).

Feeding the 5,000 (vs. 10-17)—This has already been covered in my comments on Matthew 14:13-12.  They read as follows:

“When Jesus heard about the death of John, He departed to a deserted place, but the multitudes followed Him. “He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick,” (v. 14). But when evening came, His disciples came to Him and suggested that He had best send the people away to find something to eat (v. 15). Jesus responded that such wasn’t necessary, that the disciples could feed them (v. 16). “And they said to Him, ‘We have here only five loaves and two fish’" (v. 17), which Jesus then used to feed the throng. When all the food had been divided up, there was 12 baskets full of leftovers (v. 20). The number fed was “about five thousand, besides women and children” (v. 21). So Jesus fed probably at least 10,000 people miraculously. A notable miracle indeed.”

Apparently, Jesus was trying to get a little respite from the multitudes at the time (v. 10), but when they came, He turned them away.  He never turns people away when they come truly searching for His aid.

Peter’s confession and the cost of commitment (vs. 18-27)—Matthew goes into much more detail, in chapter 16 of his gospel, regarding this grand confession of Peter’s, including discussing the church and Peter’s role in founding it (click this link to go there:  Matthew 16:13-20, Peter's Confession).  I won’t relate that material here, but I want to proceed on to the rest of the discussion.  This belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God costs something—or it will, if we truly believe it and intend to live by it.  Jesus is the “Son of God,” which is simply a Hebraism to state that He is God.  Thus, since He is God, He has the right to demand total submission to Himself; can you imagine a human with the gall to insist that people deny themselves, and follow Him, regardless of the cost (v. 23)?  Eternal salvation is dependent solely upon our response to Him, and if we love our lives on this earth more than Him, we will be lost eternally (v. 24).  And how vain that will be in eternity:  “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?” (v. 25).  If we are ashamed of Him in this life, He will be ashamed of us on the Day of Judgment (v. 26); that doesn’t bode well for our eternal destinies.  Again, Jesus only has the right to make these claims if He was, indeed, God incarnate.  Total, complete submission to Him.  Nothing else is acceptable.  He will tighten those screws repeatedly over the next several chapters of Luke.

Yet, this section ends with an encouraging words to His disciples, who were the initial receivers of this unyielding message.  Some of them would be alive to see the coming of the kingdom—the church.  I go into great detail on this thought in my discussion of Mark 9:1.  Click on the following link if you are interested in reading further about this (Mark 9:1).