PREVEIW LUKE CHAPTER 9

Luke 9 - The Kingdom of God is Preached and Displayed

A. The apostles are sent to preach and heal

1. (1-2) Jesus calls them and sends them forth
a. In the gospel of John, Jesus said As the Father has sent Me, I also send you (John 20:21); here, Jesus is sending out His disciples to do the same things that Jesus did: to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick
b. What does it mean to preach? It simply means to proclaim, to tell others in the sense of announcing news to them. Some of the best, most effective preaching never happens inside a church; it happens when people are one-on-one with others telling about what Jesus has done

i. Preaching the kingdom of God is also simple; we are here to announce that there is a King and we are in His kingdom!
ii. The Kingdom that Jesus was bringing needed preaching, for it was not the same Kingdom that the Jews of His day were expecting

c. To heal the sick means that God wanted to use the disciples to bring healing; God desires to do more than save souls, He wants to minister to the whole person
d. They are given power and authority for their mission; God never tells us to do something without giving us the ability and the right to do it

i. The power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases is vitally connected with preaching the gospel; it shouldn't surprise us to see the two going together
2. (3-6) The Kingdom they preach is marked by simplicity, urgency, and sincerity
a. The disciples didn't need fancy equipment to preach a simple message; too much stuff would get in the way of their urgent message
i. There was a rabbinic rule that you could not enter the temple area with a staff, shoes, or a money bag, because you wanted to avoid even the appearance of being engaged in any other business than the service of the Lord. The disciples are engaged in such holy work (preaching the gospel and bringing God's healing) that they can't give the impression that they have any other motive
b. As well, travelling light kept them dependent upon God; they had to trust the Lord for everything if they didn't take much with them. If the preacher isn't trusting God, how can he tell others to trust Him?
i. "The forbidden bag may be the kind frequently used by itinerant philosophers and religious mendicants for begging." (Liefeld)
c. Their job as preachers wasn't to change people's minds. They were to persuasively present the message, but if they didn't receive it, they didn't receive it - and they could leave, and shake the very dust from your feet as they left
i. If Jews had to go in or through a Gentile city, as they left they would shake the dust off their feet as a gesture saying, "we don't want to take anything from this Gentile city with us." Essentially, Jesus is telling them to regard a Jewish city who rejects their message as if it were a Gentile city
d. So they departed: they actually did it! We can hear Jesus' word to us all day long, but something is missing until we do it
3. (7-9) Herod hears of Jesus' ministry and is perplexed
a. The last time we saw John the Baptist in Luke was back in 7:18-23; John was in prison and wondering if Jesus really was the Messiah. Here, Luke tells us that Herod had John executed in prison, because John rebuked Herod about his sin with his brother's wife (Matthew 14:1-12)
b. Herod's confusion comes from his own guilty conscience; it is hard to see clearly who Jesus is when we are in sin and rebellion

4. (10) The apostles return
a. When they left Jesus in 9:1, they were called disciples - that is, "learners." When they come back after their preaching mission, they are called apostles - that is, "those sent with authority and a message."
b. Jesus wanted to know how they had done; Jesus is concerned with the results of our work for Him

c. Jesus wanted to take them aside privately into a deserted place, to minister to their needs; when ever we are serving Jesus as He directs us, He always wants to minister to us

5. (11-17) The feeding of the 5,000
a. The disciples saw the crowd as a bother; after all, didn't they want to spend special time with Jesus? But Jesus saw the crowd in terms of love, care, and compassion
b. Jesus wants to minister to the crowd; not only spiritually (spoke to them about the kingdom of God), but also ministering to their physical needs (healed those who had need of healing . . . You give them something to eat)

i. Jesus doesn't only care for your spiritual needs; He has a real concern for your physical and material needs as well. It isn't unspiritual to look to God in these areas
c. Jesus miraculously multiplied the loaves and fishes, until far more than 5,000 were fed. Seemingly, the miracle happened in the hands of Jesus, not in hands of the disciples - they simply distributed what Jesus had miraculously provided
i. If someone left hungry, it was either because they refused the bread from Jesus, or because the apostles didn't distribute the bread to everyone; Jesus supplied plenty for everybody
d. When Jesus blessed before the meal, He wasn't blessing the food; He was blessing God for supplying
it. The idea of praying before a meal isn't to bless the food, it is to bless (thank) God for blessing us with the food!
e. The assurance that Jesus can provide - even miraculously - for all of our needs should be precious to us; it was to the earliest Christians. On the walls of the catacombs, and other places of early Christian art, loaves and fishes are common pictures
f. What we have in ourselves to give others is insignificant, but when we put it in Jesus' hands, He can do great things with our gifts and talents to touch the lives of others

B. The kingdom and the cross
1. (18-20) Peter's understanding of who Jesus is
a. This scene begins with Jesus praying, and the disciples joining Him; we don't really know if they joined with Him in prayer, or if they interrupted His time of prayer. But when Jesus was done praying, He asked them a question: Who do the crowds say that I am?
i. Why was Jesus asking? Because He didn't know? No; but because He will use this question as an introduction to a more important follow-up question
b. People who thought that Jesus was John the Baptist didn't know much about Him, and that He and John had ministered at the same time; but both John and Elijah were national reformers who stood up to the corrupt rulers of their day
i. Perhaps in seeing Jesus as John or Elijah, the people are hoping for a political messiah, one who will overthrow the corrupt powers that oppressed Israel
c. Peter knows Jesus better; he knows that Jesus is the Christ of God - God's Messiah, the Messiah from the heart of God, not the Messiah from the desire of man
2. (21-22) Jesus reveals the true nature of His mission
a. After receiving the polling data, both from the crowds and His own disciples, Jesus now explains what He has really come to do: suffer, be rejected, be killed, and be raised the third day. This isn't what His disciples or the crowds wanted!
i. This would be an unbelievable shock to anyone expecting, or hoping, that Jesus was the national and political messiah; it is as if a presidential candidate were to announce towards the end of his campaign that he is going to Washington to be rejected and executed
b. An important word in verse 22 is must; this isn't just a plan or an idea or a prediction; this is the fulfillment of what was planned before the world began for our salvation (1 Peter 1:20; Revelation 13:8)
i. But the resurrection was as much a must as any other aspect of His suffering; Jesus had to rise from the dead
3. (23) Jesus calls everyone wanting to follow Him to do what He will do
a. It was bad enough for the disciples to hear that Jesus would suffer, be rejected, and die on a cross; now He tells them that they must do the same thing!
b. Everybody knew what Jesus meant when He said take up his cross; everyone knew what the cross was: an unrelenting instrument of nothing but death

i. The cross wasn't about religious ceremonies, it wasn't about traditions and spiritual feelings. The cross was a way to execute people
ii. We have sanitized and ritualized the cross in these twenty centuries after Jesus; how would we receive it if Jesus said, "walk down death row daily and follow Me"?

iii. Taking up your cross wasn't a journey, it was a one-way trip. There was no return ticketing; it was never a round trip

b. Jesus makes deny himself equal with take up his cross; the two express the same idea. The cross wasn't about self promotion or self affirmation - the person who carried a cross knew they couldn't save themselves
i. Denying yourself means to live as an others-centered person. Jesus was the only person to do this perfectly, but we are to follow in His steps
c. Jesus makes it clear that He is speaking spiritually when He adds the word daily; no one could be crucified literally everyday. But they can have the same attitude as Jesus every day
d. This is following Jesus at its simplest - He carried a cross, He walked down death row; so must those who would follow Him

4. (24-27) Why we must take up our cross and follow Jesus
a. We must follow Jesus this way because it is the only way that we will ever find life; it sounds strange to say "you will never live until you walk down death row with Jesus," but that is the idea. You can't gain resurrection life without dying first
i. You don't lose a seed when you plant it, though it seems dead and buried; you set it free to be what it was always intended to be.
b. Avoiding the walk down death row with Jesus means that we may gain the whole world - and end up losing everything
i. Jesus Himself had the opportunity to gain all the world by worshipping Satan (Luke 4:5-8), but found life and victory in obedience instead
ii. Amazingly, the people who live this way before Jesus are the ones who are really, genuinely happy. Giving our lives to Jesus all the way, and living as an others-centered person does not take away from our lives, it adds to it

c. It isn't easy to walk death row with Jesus; it means that we have to associate ourselves with someone who was despised and executed - but if we are ashamed of Him, He will be ashamed of us
d. Walking with Jesus doesn't just mean a life of death and crosses; it means a life of the power and glory of the kingdom of God - Jesus promises some of His disciples a soon glimpse of that power and glory

C. The Transfiguration
1. (28-29) Jesus is transfigured before Peter, John, and James
a. What started as a mountain top prayer meeting quickly changed into the shining forth of the glory of Jesus; and as He prayed, Jesus was transformed right before the eyes of the disciples
i. White and glistening translates a word that has the idea of "flashing like lightning"
ii. What exactly happened here? Matthew says that Jesus' face shone like the sun (17:2), and both Matthew and Mark use the word transfigured to describe what happened to Jesus - for this brief time, Jesus took on an appearance more appropriate for the King of Glory than for a humble man

iii. How did it happen? This was not a new miracle, but the temporary pause of an ongoing miracle. The real miracle was that Jesus, most of the time, could keep from displaying His glory

b. Why did Jesus do this, and why at this time? Because Jesus had just told His disciples that He was going the way of the cross, and that they should follow Him spiritually; it would have been easy for them to lose confidence in Jesus after such a "negative" statement
c. But now, as Jesus displays His glory as King over all God's Kingdom, the disciples know that Jesus knows what He is doing; if He is to suffer, be rejected and killed, He is still in control

d. Jesus is showing in a dramatic way that cross bearers will be glory receivers; the end isn't the cross, the end is the glory of God

2. (30-31) Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus
a. Why Moses and Elijah? Because they represent those who are caught up to God (Jude 9; 2 Kings 2:11); Moses represents those who die and go to glory, and Elijah represents those who are caught up to heaven without death (as in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)
b. Also because they represent the Law (Moses) and the Prophets (Elijah); the sum of Old Testament revelation comes to meet with Jesus at the Mount of Transfiguration

c. Moses and Elijah also figure together in prophecy; they are likely the witnesses of Revelation 11:3-13

d. What did they talk about? Moses and Elijah were interested in the outworking of God's plan through Jesus; they spoke about what Jesus was about to accomplish at Jerusalem

i. We can almost picture Moses and Elijah asking, "are You really going to do it?" Moses would say, "I offered to be judged in the place of the people, but God wouldn't have it. Can you go through with this, Jesus?" Elijah would add, "I was persecuted terribly by Ahab and Jezebel, and I hated it - sometimes I went into a spiritual tailspin. Can you go through with this, Jesus?"
3. (32-36) Peter's unwise offer to build three tabernacles to honor Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, and the Father's response to that offer
a. We often get into trouble when we speak like Peter did - not knowing what he said. Peter's err was in that he was putting Jesus on an equal level with Moses and Elijah - one tabernacle for each!
b. Peter, when he saw Jesus in His glory, must have said to himself: "All right! This is how it should be! Forget this business about suffering, being rejected, and crucified! Let's build some tabernacles so we can live this way with the glorified Jesus all the time."

c. As Peter says this, they are overshadowed with the cloud of God's glory - the Shekinah glory of God. This is the same idea of overshadow in Luke 1:35, when the glory of God came upon Mary and she received the child Jesus

i. Being in the presence of God's glory in this way was not really a pleasant experience, especially because Peter had just sinned and needed correcting. Sometimes the glory of God is shown in His correction of us
d. The voice from the cloud of glory makes it clear that Jesus is not on the same level as Moses and Elijah; He is the beloved Son - so Hear Him!
i. With so many voices crying out to us in our modern day, how we need to hear the call to Hear Him!
e. After it was all over, Peter, John and James told no one - after all, who would believe them?
i. But the event left a lasting impression on these men; Peter relates what happened in 2 Peter 1:16-18, how the voice from God saying This is My beloved Son. Hear Him! was still ringing in his ears, confirming who Jesus was
ii. As impressive as this experience was, it in itself did not change the lives of the disciples as much as being born again did. Being born again by the Spirit of God is the great miracle, the greatest display of the glory of God ever

D. The glory of God in action
1. (37-42) Jesus casts out a demon that His disciples were unable to cast out
a. The boy displays signs that many today would regard as evidence of mental illness, but Jesus perceived that they were caused by demonic possession. Surely, some of whom we diagnose as mentally ill today are actually demon possessed
b. Why could the disciples not cast this demon out, when they had previously had success (Luke 9:1)? There are "ranks" of demonic powers (Ephesians 6:12), and evidently, some demons are stronger (more stubborn, resistant) than others, and in Matthew 17:21, Jesus said that their failure was due to a lack of prayer and fasting

i. It isn't that prayer and fasting make us more "worthy" to cast out demons; it is that prayer and fasting draw us closer to the heart of God, and put us more in line with His power
c. Jesus had no difficulty whatsoever, because He was close to God the Father, and in the flow of the Father's power
2. (43-45) Jesus reminds His disciples about His mission
a. Jesus had just revealed His glory in two pretty spectacular ways - the transfiguration and the casting out of a difficult demon. Yet, He reminds His disciples that His mission has not changed; He has still come to die on the cross for our sins
b. Though they were frequent, these reminders about Jesus' suffering and resurrection were forgotten by the disciples until after His resurrection (Luke 24:6-8)

E. The unusual character of greatness in the Kingdom of God
1. (46-48) True greatness shows itself in being like a child, and in being the least, not in the popular conceptions of greatness
a. It seems that the favorite debating topic among the disciples was which of them would be greatest; they were all counting on Jesus to take over the world as "King Messiah," and the debate was about who was most worthy to be Jesus' chief associate
b. We think that Jesus should have answered the question, "who is the greatest" by saying, "Hey dummies - I'm the greatest." Instead, Jesus draws their attention to His nature by having them look at a child as an example

c. Children were regarded more as property than individuals in the Jesus' day; it was understood that they were to be seen and not heard. Jesus says that the way we receive people like this shows how we would receive Him

i. Children are not threatening; we aren't afraid of meeting a five-year old in a dark alley. When we have a tough, intimidating presence, we aren't like Jesus
ii. Children are not good at deceiving; they are pretty miserable failures at fooling their parents. When we are good at hiding ourselves and deceiving others, we aren't like Jesus

d. Jesus then challenges us to be the least; the desire to be praised and to gain recognition should be foreign to a follower of Jesus. Jesus wants us to embrace least as a choice, allowing others to be preferred before us, not because we are forced to be least!
2. (49-50) True greatness isn't cliquish
a. Paul saw many men preaching Christ from many motives, some of them evil - yet he could rejoice that Christ was being preached (Philippians 1:15-18)
b. What was also undoubtedly frustrating to the disciples was that these other followers of Jesus were casting out demons, when they had just failed (9:40)! No wonder John wanted them to stop!

c. There are many who are wrong in some aspect of their presentation or teaching, yet they still set forth Jesus in some manner. Let God deal with them. Those who are not against a Biblical Jesus are still for Him, at least in some way

3. (51-56) True greatness is marked by mercy, not judgment
a. This is the beginning of a new section of the gospel - Jesus begins His long, final journey towards Jerusalem, with steadfastness fitting the difficulty of the task ahead of Him
i. There are two kinds of courage - the courage of moment, which requires no previous thought, and a "planned" courage, which sees the difficulty ahead and steadfastly marches towards it. Jesus had this kind of courage; He could see the cross in the horizon, but still steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem
b. Because Jesus was going to Jerusalem, He wasn't welcomed by these particular Samaritans - they didn't have good relations with the Jews, and were prejudiced against them
c. When the disciples desired to call down fire from heaven upon them (as if they could!), Jesus shows them that His mission was not destroy men's lives, but to save them

i. Being like Jesus means being merciful to others, instead of harsh with them. Especially, we should remember that God says Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord (Romans 12:19)
4. (57-58) True greatness is shown in sacrifice
a. This man desired to follow Jesus but knew little of the cost; even animals have their own home, but Jesus didn't!
5. (59-60) True greatness means that we give Jesus the top priority in our lives
a. This man's problem wasn't that his father was dead and needed to be buried; he was waiting until his father died until he would follow Jesus. Jesus lets him know that following Jesus is something you do now
b. The man was caught between a struggle between right and right; it was a good thing to hang around for his father, but it wasn't the best thing, and service of the second best at the expense of the first best can result in ruin

6. (61-62) True greatness means that we follow Jesus wholeheartedly, without delay
a. More than anyone else, Jesus lived this; He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem (9:51)
b. If one was plowing a field in that day, they kept the rows straight by focusing on an object in front of them, off in the distance (such as a tree). If one started to plow, and kept looking behind them, they would never make straight rows and do a good job plowing. In our Christian life, we keep our eyes on Jesus in front of us, and never take them off Him

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