Who Wants to
Be the Greatest?
[Luke chapter
9, verses 37-62 (part 3 of 3)]
When
we ended last week's lesson, Jesus, Peter, James and John were
descending from the mountaintop where the Transfiguration had taken
place. Jesus had given strict instructions to the three apostles that
they were to never mention this to anyone, including the remaining
nine apostles, until after he rose from the dead. It is evident that
the apostles had placed their complete faith in him. How could they
have completely understood the meaning of the resurrection of Christ
more than a year before the fact? The answer is, only partially at
best. Put yourself in their place. If a man you had only known for a
few months came to you and told you he would be executed by the state
and then raise from the dead three days later, would you believe him?
As we all ponder that one, let's go ahead and start this week's
ongoing study of the apostle Luke's gospel, taking up where we left
off last time at verse 37.
“The
next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met
him. A man in the crowd called out, 'Teacher, I beg you to look at my
son, for he is my only child. 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. I begged
your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.' 'O unbelieving
and perverse generation', Jesus replied, 'how long shall I stay with
you and put up with you? Bring your son here.' Even while the boy was
coming, it threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked
the evil spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. And
they were all amazed at the greatness of God. While everyone was
marveling at all that Jesus did, he said to his disciples, 'Listen
carefully to what I am about to tell you: the Son of Man is going to
be betrayed into the hands of men.' But they did not understand what
this meant. It was hidden from them, so they did not grasp it, and
they were afraid to ask him about it.” (Luke 9, verses 37-45)
By
today's medical standards, it could be said that the boy in this
story was afflicted with a seizure disorder of one kind or another.
But as we have seen in the past, when Jesus healed people on a
spiritual level, the mind and body immediately follow suit. Although
today's medical technology can only offer ongoing treatments that
didn't exist in Jesus' time, Jesus healed consistently and instantly
at a rate of 100%! We also get a glimpse of the personality of our
Savior during a moment of exasperation with his disciples. When the
sick boy's father tells Jesus the apostles had tried and failed to
heal the boy, Jesus says to no one in particular, “'O
unbelieving and perverse generation', Jesus replied, 'how long shall
I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.'”
He certainly wasn't talking to the sick boy's father standing next to
him!
But
then Jesus' whole conversation changes gears after the healing takes
place as he takes the apostles aside and says to them, “'Listen
carefully to what I am about to tell you: the Son of Man is going to
be betrayed into the hands of men.' But they did not understand what
this meant. It was hidden from them, so they did not grasp it, and
they were afraid to ask him about it.”
Here we have Jesus telling them that one of them was going to betray
him, but without saying exactly that. It's pretty clear that none of
the apostles, including Judas Iscariot who betrayed him, had any idea
what he was talking about. As it was with the parables of Christ, so
it was with his 12 apostles. It often seemed that in both cases our
Lord often talked in riddles and was unquestionably a very enigmatic
individual, another noteworthy personality trait of his. And now
let's move on to the next portion of today's study, beginning at
verse 46.
“An
argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the
greatest. Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had
him stand beside him. 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 he who is least among you all, he is the
greatest.' 'Master', said John, 'we saw a man driving out demons in
your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not one of us.'
'Do not stop him', Jesus said, 'for whoever is not against you is for
you.' As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus
resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead,
who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but
the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for
Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked,
'Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy them?'
But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went to another village.”
(Luke 9, verses 46-56)
As
we can can see from verse 46, some of the apostles apparently had
some issues with their personal maturity, so Jesus compared them to
little children just to snap them back to reality! Although it
doesn't say it in so many words, Luke's narrative says just that when
you read between the lines. Who wants to be the greatest? In the
kingdom of God, in a world ruled by Christ, the least becomes the
greatest and the reverse is also true. In a world ruled by Christ,
there is no such thing as hierarchy. Hierarchy is a fossil from
antiquity and a man-made invention designed to control people or
order them around. All of us are peers and everyone is equal
unconditionally, just as Jesus shed his blood on the cross
unconditionally for the multitudes of humanity. In this the true
nature of humankind is revealed, that our nature is collective rather
than hierarchical, and that authoritarianism has no place in a 21st
century world. People have been aware of this for far longer than any
of us has been alive. One of the earliest examples is that of King
Solomon, son of David and King of Israel from approximately 1,000
BCE, who wrote, “Go
to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no
commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in
summer, and gathers its food at harvest.” (Proverbs 6, verses 6-8).
That's us people, we are made the same way, and there's no telling
what humanity could accomplish if we began working together like
that. It appears the ants are smarter than we are. Time to catch up,
people!
“'Master',
said John, 'we saw a man driving out demons in your name, and we
tried to stop him because he was not one of us.' 'Do not stop him',
Jesus said, 'for whoever is not against you is for you.'”
As before, we get a glimpse of the personality of Christ, and he
evidently had a pragmatic streak in him. 'It doesn't matter', Jesus
told John and the others, 'if a person performing ministry in our
name is with us or not. Whoever is not against you is with you.'
Conversely, whoever is not for you is usually against you. It's just
a part of life, and it happens that way the majority of the time.
“...he
sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get
things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him,
because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and
John saw this, they asked, 'Lord, do you want us to call down fire
from heaven to destroy them?' But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and
they went to another village.”
The reason the Samaritans did not welcome the messengers of our Lord
was because they and the Jews had nothing to do with each other. This
was a reflection of some of the ethnic tensions of Jesus' time, and
they still exist today. Today's Palestinians are, in large part,
descendants of the Samaritans who lived in what is now the West Bank
area of greater Israel, and it is one of the reasons that the enmity
between Arab and Jew remains so intense up to now. The Bible predicts
how this conflict will ultimately end, but that is a lesson for
another day for the sake of brevity.
When
the apostles saw this they, being Jews themselves except for Luke –
the only Gentile apostle – were indignant to the point of
requesting permission from Jesus to “call down fire from heaven to
destroy them”. Now – remember back in chapter 6 when Jesus was
teaching at the Sermon on the Mount about not judging others? Right
here is where Jesus applied it for the apostles to see. This was a
teaching moment when Jesus must have rebuked the apostles sharply
about judging others! Don't you dare condemn other people to hell, he
likely told them, unless you want to risk being condemned right
beside them! This is how Jesus taught the apostles – he led by
example – although he did use his authority as the Son of God from
time to time, and this was one of those times. With that in mind,
let's conclude this week's study beginning at verse 57.
“As
they were walking along the road, a man said to him, 'I will follow
you wherever you go'. Jesus replied, 'Foxes have holes and birds of
the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.'
He said to another man, 'Follow me'. But the man replied, 'Lord, let
me first go and bury my father'. Jesus said to him, 'Let the dead
bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.'
Still another said, 'I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go
back and say goodbye to my family. Jesus replied, 'No one who puts
his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom
of God.'” (Luke 9, verses 57-62)
Jesus
was a homeless man much of the time, especially when he traveled,
which was always on foot. Life was very hard back then, which was one
of the main reasons life expectancy was so short during Jesus' time –
approximately 40-50 years. So Jesus was telling the man who said, 'I
will follow you wherever you go' that he didn't know what he was
talking about, without actually saying so. Still further along,
another guy tells Jesus the same thing but then says he has to go to
his dad's funeral. Jesus responds, “Let the dead bury their own,
but you – go and preach the Gospel!” He speaks even more sternly
to the next man, who tells Jesus basically the same thing, but then
asks if he can say goodbye to his family first. Jesus tells that man
he can't have it both ways, saying, “Who do you love more, me or
your family?” Nobody – absolutely no one – who commits to a
lifetime of ministry of the Gospel, but who then hesitates or slacks
off at all, should ever bother applying in the first place. I realize
this is pretty strong stuff right here, but if you'll go back and
read verses 61-62 again, you'll see that I'm telling the truth.
That's exactly what Jesus told that unidentified man. On that note,
this concludes our 3-part study of Luke chapter 9, and next week
we'll begin chapter 10. Until then, enjoy your week, everyone!
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