Luke 9, Part Three

With Him or against Him (vs. 49-50)—Mark 9:38-41 covers this in a little more detail. Here’s what I wrote there:

“’The disciples said to Jesus, “’Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us’"’ (v. 38). We have no idea who this fellow was, but he could scarcely have been working miracles in Jesus’ name without the Lord’s authority. He was probably a disciple of John the Baptist or one of the 70 Jesus sent out on the “limited commission” (Luke 10). Jesus told His apostles not to forbid the man, for “he who is not against us is on our side” (v. 40). He again makes the point about humble service: “For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward” (v. 41). It might be a small thing to us, but the Lord sees it.”

The only addition I wish to make to this is to correct a serious error on my part. In my post in Mark 9, the end of the second sentence reads “….with the Lord’s authority.” I have corrected the “with” to “without,” which is what it should be, and have also made the amendment in the Mark 9 post. No man can work miracles unless God be with him, and I apologize for that slip. Hard to catch all my boo-boos.  If the reader sees one (or what he/she thinks is one), I would appreciate you letting me know.

Rejected by a Samaritan village (vs. 51-56)—Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem (for the final time) and passes through a Samaritan village which “did not receive Him” (v. 53) because of His Jewish heritage and inclinations. James and John were affronted by this rebuff and asked Jesus, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?" (v. 54), perhaps showing off a little of their knowledge of Hebrew history. Jesus corrects them: “The Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them” (v. 56). There are four distinct attitudes present in this story. One, Jesus’ determination to do God’s work, to finish what He came to do: “He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem” (v. 51). Nothing was going to keep Him from doing God’s will. Two, the prejudice of the Samaritans: “they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem” (v. 53). Jews and Samaritans, of course, did not get along. The latter were considered half-breed riff-raff by the Jews, and thus of inferior blood. The Samaritans reacted to this attitude as most men would. Three, the temper of James and John, in effect, “Lord, let’s wipe these people out.” Their first thought was revenge, not salvation. But, four, Jesus’ compassion spared the village. The very reason He was going to Jerusalem was to save men. Who knows? Perhaps, in time, some of these Samaritans heard and obeyed the gospel. Not too surprisingly, in these four attitudes, the two shown by men were bad, the two demonstrated by Jesus were good.

Conditions for discipleship (vs. 57-62)—We’ve seen in this chapter that Luke has a number of short, pithy anecdotes, some of which were covered in much more detail in other gospels. Matthew 8 includes some of the information of this section, and with an addition or two that is noteworthy. In verses 57-58, a scribe (Matthew informs us) tells Jesus that he will follow the Lord everywhere. Jesus, in effect, tells him to count the cost and be prepared to leave all. In the second example, Matthew says this fellow is a disciple. “Lord, let me first go and bury my father” (v. 59). The implication here is that the man’s parent was near death, not gone. Jesus tells him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God’" (v. 60). Jesus is not being cruel. He hears an excuse for not putting God first, and there’s nothing more important than that. But notice, He speaks those words to a disciple. Some of His followers still had a long way to go to enter the kingdom of God. The third example (vs. 61-62) has some similarities to the previous one. “Another also said, ‘Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house’" (v. 61). Notice how each of the last two men said “first” let me go do such and such. Something was coming between them and allegiance to Christ. But He must come first. To this second man, Jesus responded, “’No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God’" (v. 62). So in these three examples, Jesus teaches us, regarding the kingdom of God, be prepared to leave all. Do it now. And don’t look back.