Luke 9: Down from the Mountain

LUKE 9:37 - 62: DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN

For a few moments Peter, James and John had seen the glory of Jesus: a brief glimpse of his eternal, divine identity. The limitations and anonymity of his humanity had been ripped away, at least in part, and the deep meaning of Peter’s earlier confession uncovered.

This man Jesus, with whom they walked and talked, is the Lord of glory. But it was not yet time to reveal that glory. There was still something that he, as man, had to accomplish. Something that Moses, the representative of the Law, had anticipated in his writings. Something that the prophets, represented by Elijah, had foretold.

Coming down from the mountain Jesus was immediately confronted by the fallenness and faithlessness of the world for which he was about to die. This brokenness is reported in several different ways in the rest of Luke 9.

A. THE BOY WITH AN EVIL SPIRIT – Luke 9:37 – 43

Just as Satan tempted Jesus immediately after his baptism and his Father’s affirmation (Luke 3:21, 22; 4:3ff), now here again, having again heard his Father’s affirmation (9:35), Jesus is again confronted by the evil one, not directly as in Luke 4, but through the presence and impact of an evil spirit.

In dealing the evil spirit in the boy Jesus anticipated his confrontation with Satan on the cross. Here he released one boy from Satan’s destructive bondage: there in his death he provides for the liberation of all who believe in him, not liberation just from physical bondage, but from that bondage to sin and separation from God in which Satan holds us entrapped.

Answer these questions:
List the contrasts between what happened on the mountain, and what confronted Jesus at the bottom of the mountain.

Who do you think Jesus was calling an ‘unbelieving and perverse generation’?

What do you think was the cause of the frustration/disappointment of Jesus in verse 41?

What was the reaction of the crowd when Jesus healed the boy?

B. THE DISCIPLES AND THEIR BROKENNESS – Luke 9:40 – 56

Luke reports several details about the disciples that reveal how little they had really understood about Jesus, his purpose and his teaching.

B.1 Their limited faith – 9:40, 41
It would seem that Jesus’ disappointment and frustration expressed in verse 41 was largely because of the disciples’ unbelief that had resulted in their inability to drive out the demon (verse 40). Jesus had given them ‘power and authority to drive out all demons’ (Luke 9:1), so, unless that was just for that mission, they ought to have been able to do so here.

B.2 Their limited understanding – 9:43 – 45
The reaction of the crowd to Jesus’ driving out the demon was an ongoing amazement at the greatness of God displayed in Jesus’ action. It was not that they believed Jesus was God, but that God was mightily at work in and through him, not only in this one action, but in ‘all that Jesus did.’ Their excitement fuelled and was fuelled by a growing expectation of what this man, Jesus, might do. If he could do all of this, could he not also be the national hero-Messiah that everyone was hoping and praying for?

To dispel any such expectation that his disciples might hold, Jesus again tells them what he had told them only a week or so previously (9:22), and he urged them to listen carefully to what he told them – that ‘the Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.’

Answer these questions:
Did the disciples know that they did not understand Jesus’ words?

Suggest why Jesus’ meaning ‘was hidden from them’.

Why did they not ask him to explain?

Albert Barnes in his commentary on Luke makes this interesting comment:

‘They had imbibed the common notions of the Jews that he was to be a prince and a conqueror, to deliver the nation. They could not understand how that could be, if he was soon to be delivered into the hands of his enemies to die. In this way it was hid from them – not by God, but by their previous false belief. And from this we may learn that the plainest truths of the Bible are unintelligible to many because they have embraced some belief or opinion before which is erroneous, and which they are unwilling to abandon. The proper way of reading the Bible is to lay aside all previous opinions and submit entirely to God. The apostles should have supposed that their previous notions of the Messiah were wrong, and should have renounced them. They should have believed that what Jesus “then” said was consistent with his being the Christ. So “we” should believe that “all” that God says is consistent with truth, and should forsake all other opinions.’

Given all that Jesus had taught them up to this point, they should have understood. Perhaps their ‘fear’ to ask him was neither reticence, nor not wanting to appear ignorant, but the fear of what he would say he meant; because, if he meant what they feared he meant, if he meant what the words sounded like, it was not at all what they wanted to hear. It was not something they could accept or understand. It just didn’t fit their expectations of God’s Messiah.

B.3 Their focus on personal power and position – Luke 9:46 – 48
So little did the disciples understand Jesus’ teaching and purpose that, in complete contrast to what he has just said about himself, and in contrast to the self-denial he taught a few days earlier (9:23 – 27), they started arguing about which of them would be greatest. They were still bound in the self-centred, self-promoting mindset that is natural to us all, and that tied in with the popular expectations regarding the Messiah.

But the kingdom that Christ came to inaugurate is not about personal, physical, military or political power. Jesus demonstrated the nature of his kingdom by having a little child stand beside him and spoke of the significance of accepting a little child in his name – 9:47 – 48. By this he taught that greatness in his kingdom does not consist in doing great and spectacular things or in being popular or powerful; rather, greatness in his kingdom consists in doing in his name things that may give us little or no significance among men, but are of value in his sight:

To receive a little child in his name is to receive him.
To receive him, is to receive the one who sent him.
The person who so belittles himself as to welcome a little child, is actually the greatest.

Compare Jesus’ teaching here with what he said in:
Matthew 10:40 – 42
Matthew 25:34 – 45

B.4 Their readiness to make and apply judgement – 9:49 – 56
Jesus was intent on going to Jerusalem, where he would be crucified (9:51). His mind was focused on that extreme event. But even though he had already warned his disciples of what was soon to happen to him, and although he had warned them against both judging (6:37ff) and against the human mindset that craves power and greatness (9:23ff, 48), they had not yet understood his mindset and how they too should embrace and express that mindset.

This is evident in two incidents that Luke reports:

They tried to stop a person who was driving out demons in Jesus’ name, but was ‘not one of us’ – verse 49.

They wanted to call down God’s judgement on a Samaritan village that would not welcome Jesus – verse 54.

Both of these were contrary to Jesus’ mindset and of the mindset he expected of his disciples.

He, driven by grace, was walking with great determination towards Jerusalem to bear in his own body the judgement deserved by us.

They, driven by their legalistic perception of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, endeavoured and desired to exercise and apply judgement.

He was about to willingly submit himself to the extreme degradation and abasement of a criminal death.

They elevated themselves to the position and role of judge and executioner.

In confronting the disciples’ legalistic quickness to condemn Jesus rejected all the legalism and religions of men in which we have to perform in order to be accepted. He did this knowing that shortly through his death he would inaugurate the kingdom of grace in which there is no condemnation, no judgement, no punishment, no divisions based on human merit.

Here in this man Jesus, God walked among us. Here in this man Jesus, God touches and exposes our bondage and our brokenness. With steadfast purpose he walks towards Jerusalem. With quiet and unshakeable determination he moves towards the cross – to rescue us from that bondage and that brokenness.

There he lifts up the fallen. There he gives faith to the faithless. There all the failures we have seen in the disciples, and all of our failures are forgiven. There he makes all things new.

C. THE POTENTIAL FOLLOWERS – Luke 9:57 – 62

In Luke 9:57-62 we read of three people faced with the opportunity to follow Jesus. Two of these expressed a willingness to follow him, but Jesus looked beyond the apparent willingness and challenged the shallowness of thought and commitment out of which it arose. We are not told whether or not any of these men did follow Jesus.

[1] One man said: ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus’ reply was blunt and off-putting: ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.’
It is as if Jesus said: ‘Listen, mate, following me means choosing hardship, following me means choosing rejection - do you realize what you are saying? Do you know what you are volunteering for? Have you considered what’s involved? Have you not noticed the rejection that I am experiencing?’

[Hendriksen points out that Judea rejected Jesus (John 5:18). Galilee cast him out (John 6:66). Gadara begged him to leave (Matthew 8:24). Samaria refused him lodging (Luke 9:53). Earth would not have him (Matthew 27:23). And finally heaven forsook him (Matthew 27:46).]

Here the challenge is: Have we really considered the cost of following Jesus? Do we realize that sometimes it means poverty and discomfort? And, as Jesus has pointed out earlier, do we realize that it is likely to involve persecution? Do we realize it is a life of self-denial, a life that involves a ‘cross’? (9:23 – 26)

We have seen in the parable of the sower that there is such a thing as superficial faith that has no real roots, and so does not, cannot, survive when life gets tough. Jesus did not deceive people with empty promises. He did not give the impression that following him would be easy, rather he stressed the opposite. We have seen this several times in Luke.

[2] Jesus commanded another to follow him. But the man said: ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ In other words, I will follow you, but let me wait until after I have fulfilled all of the obligations involved in my father’s burial, then I’ll follow you.’ Jesus responded: ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ [Leon Morris points out that burial duties ‘took precedence over the study of the law, the Temple service, the killing of the Passover sacrifice, the observance of circumcision’, etc (p197 ibid).] Jesus is telling this man that following him, and proclaiming the kingdom of God, are more important than even burial duties, which are more important than all of those other religious duties.

Here the challenge is: There is nothing more important and more urgent than following Jesus and proclaiming his kingdom. Jesus is not showing disrespect for the dead. Rather, by the mention of these highly urgent and prioritised duties, Jesus is affirming the supreme urgency and priority of himself and his kingdom.

It may be that this man did follow Jesus, but we are not told.

[3] When another person said: ‘I will follow you Lord, but first let me go back and say good-bye to my family’, Jesus said: ‘No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’ It seems that Jesus knew that this man’s desire to delay following Jesus involved more than simply saying ‘good-bye’.

The challenge: the decision to follow Jesus is not something that can be delayed till other matters or other people are attended to.

It is obvious in these three encounters that Jesus demands a commitment to himself that supersedes all other commitments. Because he is who he is, he, of necessity, must hold first place in our priorities. Once we realize that Jesus is God, we know that it can be no other way: if we do not give him first place in our lives, then it is obvious that we are not acknowledging him as our God, our Lord.

We are not confronted here with a man demanding our allegiance, such as a political tyrant, or even a sports coach, might demand. We are confronted here by the Lord Almighty, the Creator, by whose hand we exist, and by whose word we are sustained (Colossians 1:16, 17; Hebrews 1:3).

He stands before us and says: Follow me - with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

It is not that enjoying a comfortable life is wrong in itself. It is not that it is wrong to participate in all that is involved when someone dies. It is not that it is wrong to be honourable in family relationships and business responsibilities. The wrong is when these, or any other thing, take priority and precedence over obedience to Jesus Christ.