Luke 9 - Why Children are the Greatest According to Jesus!

Enduring Word Commentary

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

9 When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, Jesus gave them his power and authority. 

You can have power but no authority to use it. Or, you can be in a position of authority but no power to use it. Jesus gave them both. This group of fishermen and tax collectors will now go out and do the same things Jesus did.

They would heal the sick, deliver demons, and even raise people from the dead. I would call that power. In the Great Commission Jesus us that He has given us the authority and power and authority to carry it out. And, He will be with us until the end of time when he returns in great and promised glory.

2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

They would use his power and authority to do this. Notice again the content of their proclamation and preaching, “The Kingdom of God”.

3 He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt. 4 Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. 5 If people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”

As a sign of their dependence on him, they were to travel light with only the bare necessities. They were to rely on the hospitality of others. If they were not welcomed, they were to move on not wasting time with people who were not open to the message.

Sometimes we spend much time trying to convince and persuade someone to become a Christian and they have a wall up. We need to move on to where the fish are biting just like a good fisherman.

To "shake the dust off your feet" was a phrase that meant you did not want to take any of the house or anything from the town with you. You have sowed the seed and someone else will have to plow the ground and cause it to grow if it is God's will.

6 So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere.

They didn’t stay in one town, because they had so many to reach. They had two things they focused on. The preached the kingdom and then showed its power by healing people it says “everywhere”.

7 Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was going on. And he was perplexed because some were saying that John had been raised from the dead, 8 others that Elijah had appeared,and still others that one of the prophets of long ago had come back to life. 9 But Herod said, “I beheaded John. Who, then, is this I hear such things about?” And he tried to see him.

Herod heard what happened and he was guilt ridden because what he had done to Jesus. People were making wild claims like he had risen from the dead, or he was one of the prophets who had come back to life. Remember the Israelites had not heard from a prophet in over 400 years

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

10 When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then he took them with him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, 11 but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God,and healed those who needed healing. 12 Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.” 13 He replied, “You give them something to eat.”

Of course, the news of the miracles spread far and wide and thousand came to see and hear Jesus. Jesus temporarily took the disciples aside to give them a rest in a secluded place, but that didn’t stop the crowds from finding them.

So Jesus kept preaching the kingdom and demonstrating it by healing. Note Jesus almost never preached the kingdom without showing the power of the kingdom. I wonder why we don’t do that more often.

By this time everybody was hungry. The disciples thought it would make sense to send them to the local McDonald’s, but Jesus had another plan.

What was the plan? Jesus summarized it for the disciples by saying “You give them something to eat!”

They answered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.” 14 (About five thousand men were there.) But he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 The disciples did so, and everyone sat down. 16 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. 17 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.

The disciples just had one simple and logical question, “How are we going to feed 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish”. Certainly Jesus had miscalculated something Nope! Jesus essentially said, "Give me what you got!" Jesus was so confident God would provide, He had the people sit in groups of 50. That would be 100 groups if you are counting. I am sure the disciples were thinking, “What is he going to do now?” After all he hadn’t let them down yet.

Jesus looked up to His Father and gave them to the disciples to distribute to all the people and somehow the Father multiplied the loaves and fish and everyone was fed. And guess what, there were plenty of leftovers. Jesus was just showing off.

Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah

18 Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?” 19 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.” 20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.”

We see Jesus once again praying, something he did early and often. He checked in with as to what people were saying about who he was. They reported some thought he was John the Baptist, or a maybe resurrected prophet.

Then Jesus turned to them and said, “BUT who do YOU say I am???” Peter, never the shy one, finally gets it right and said “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Bingo! Peter gets it right. Peter was the first one to ever declare Jesus as Lord and Savior.

In Matthew, Jesus affirms Peter’s answer and tells him this was not revealed to him by flesh and blood but by God. And the same is true with each one of us. As Martin Lutheran wrote in the Small Catechism,

“We cannot by our own understand or effort come to know Jesus as Lord but the Holy Spirit has called us, enlightened us, and sanctified us in the One True Faith.”

Predicts His Death

21 Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. 22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third daybe raised to life.”

For the first of what will be many times Jesus lets the disciples know of his impending fate. He would be rejected by all of the Jewish leaders, he would suffer, die, BUT on the third day he would be raised from the dead. You wonder what some the disciples might have been thinking at that point

23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?26 Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

Jesus lays out the terms for all who would wish to follow him. On a daily basis they would need to pick up their own cross and daily die to self. Their new life would be under his control. In losing their life, they would gain abundant and eternal life

They had a choice. They could pursue the things the world offers: wealth, fame, and power. But it would come at a price. The price would be their own soul. The only part of them that would live on into eternity.

27 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”

Some of them would die before the kingdom coming. If the kingdom coming was his resurrection, the only one who would qualify was Judas.

Transfiguration

28 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. 31 They spoke about his departure,[a]which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. 32 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 33 As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)

Cool things happened on the mountain when your were hanging out with Jesus. Jesus took his inner core of 3 disciples: Peter, James, and John up the mountain to get a glimpse of his glory.

All of sudden Moses (who represented the Law/Torah) and Elijah (representing the Prophets) appeared with Jesus. The disciples got sleepy, but when they awoke they saw them Jesus in a glorified state. I assume this would he like he will exist in heaven.

Peter, always the first one to talk, said “Master It’s good we are here!” That was an understatement. He was so excited he wanted to put booth around them to capture their presence. He did not want to let go of this moment

Suddenly the presence of the Lord enveloped them in a cloud and the Father said,

34 While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” 36 When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen.

Finally, the Father spoke. "This is my Son. My chosen One. Listen to him." This is very similar to what the Father spoke at His Son’s baptism.

Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Boy

37 The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. 38 A man in the crowd called out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. 39 A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. 40 I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.”

Jesus continues his ministry of miracles, as he cast out a spirit that was driving a young boy to convulsive seizures. As a person who has epilepsy (3 seizure qualifies you), I certainly don't think this means people with epilepsy are demon possessed. 

41 “You unbelieving and perverse generation, ”Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”42 Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the impure spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. 43 And they were all amazed at the greatness of God.

Jesus often got frustrated by people’s lack of faith after all he had done. This frustration might have been directed specifically at his disciples, since they could not cast the demon out.

Jesus Predicts His Death a Second Time

While everyone was marveling at all that Jesus did, he said to his disciples, 44 “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.”45 But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.

Jesus tells them for a second time how it will end for him here on earth. Even though Peter had confessed Jesus as the Messiah, he will soon fall away like the rest of them.  At this point they were afraid to even bring it up possibly fearing Jesus’ rebuked.

46 An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest.47 Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. 48 Then he said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest.”

The disciples soon wondered and asked who would be the greatest in heaven. Jesus knew what was going on, so he picked a child to show them his idea of greatness. Why a child? Children are unassuming. They have unshakeable. They trust until you give them a reason not to trust. Unfortunate the religious leaders were just the opposite.

49 “Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.”50 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”

Someone apparently thought they could harness Jesus power by casting out demons. Jesus didn’t seem to have a problem with it. They were a lot closer to faith than the Pharisees.

Samaritan Opposition

51 As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53 but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. 54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them[b]?” 55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them. 56 Then he and his disciples went to another village.

As Jesus headed to Jerusalem to the cross he had to pass through the Samsritans. Samaritans were hated by the Jews because they were a mixture of Jew/Gentile by birth. In John showed his love for the Samaritan Women This is probably why Jesus rebuked them for their comment

The Cost of Following Jesus

57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 59 He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” 62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

A man was following Jesus, which gave him time to reiterate what he was saying to his disciples. Jesus in effect was saying, “Be careful before saying you will follow me.” Some gave excuses like, “let me bury my dad”. Jesus was certainly not someone against honoring one's father, but is likely this man was using this as excuse. Another wanted to say goodbye to their family member. The bottom line is when you follow Jesus, you surrender the right to control your own life.

This happened when I left home in the Midwest to go to seminary in California when I was 27. It was tearful leaving my parents, but they knew I was following God’s call on my life. I think my dad even had a little glint in his eye. I think he knew this was going to happen.

Where is God calling you to lay down your life to follow him? It may not mean leaving your family or switching jobs, but it will certainly mean surrendering the need to control your life. But I have found over and over and over again, we find our life by losing it!!!