Luke 9:37-50

Jordan Taylor

The Gospel of Luke • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

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Jesus' disciples failed in many ways, and so do we. Fortunately, Jesus is greater than our failures and offers us a freedom from a cycle of trying harder to be better.

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Back to the Mundane

Good morning, everyone! Let’s pray: Father, we pray this morning for your Spirit to move in us as we receive your Word. Help us to clearly see your will, and give us the strength we need to live into that will. Be with me, a dying man, as I preach to dying men and women. Amen.

We are continuing in our series on Luke. Pastor Eric is away this week, but he preached last week on the Transfiguration, an important passage in Scripture, and especially so in the Gospel of Luke. It marks a changing point in Jesus’ ministry, but it also reveals who Christ is to the disciples. They had been travelling with Jesus for a few years up to this point, and had seen firsthand his ministry and teachings. But it was only just beginning to click with them that Jesus was much more than just a great rabbi. Luke 8 marks the beginning of this, perhaps, with the disciples proclaiming that “even the winds obey him!” During this time, Jesus had been prepping them for ministry, but what they failed to see was that he was preparing them for ministry after he leaves. This passage today points out that the disciples actually failed in many ways, even after being trained and discipled by Christ directly. Hear again what the passage says, starting in vs. 37:

“The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. Just then a man from the crowd cried out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, because he’s my only child. A spirit seizes him; suddenly he shrieks, and it throws him into convulsions until he foams at the mouth; severely bruising him, it scarcely ever leaves him. I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they couldn’t.’”

Jesus has just gone through this intense event on top of the mountain, where he was engaged with Moses and Elijah, culminating with God the Father speaking audibly from Heaven, declaring Jesus to be His son and making it very clear that all should listen to him. So Jesus goes from that experience right back to everyday life with the people. Picture this: as soon as he gets down, the people immediately need him and begin making requests. For any of you who have ever had some major spiritual experience on a retreat or something, perhaps you can identify with this moment a bit. Because at some point, that experience ends and you enter back into the normal rhythms of life. I think that’s a normal feeling, but I also think it is important to recognize that you’re not meant to stay on that mountaintop. Those experiences, as great as they are, and I can only imagine what Jesus, Peter, John, and James were all going through…but as great as those experiences are, they are ultimately meant to shape you for the calling in your life. We don’t experience these things simply so that we feel good spiritually, but that we take that experience as motivation and empowerment to live in the way God has called us to live, which is to reflect the transforming power of the Gospel for all to see. Jesus does exactly that in going back down the mountain, and interacting with the people there. That was his ministry, the Transfiguration a form of anointing on his ministry, as Pastor Eric talked about last week. He went back into his life.

Failing In Their Calling

The disciples, however, seemed to have not done that. A man comes before Jesus, pleading with him to heal his son from what appears to be some form of epilepsy caused from demon possession. If you’ve ever known someone with epilepsy, you know how scary it can get, and this father went to the disciples for help. But they didn’t heal the boy. The father is desperate; this is his only son, meaning his only heir, the hope of a future quickly fading away. Some of us may be well-acquainted with this feeling, the loss of hope for the future. Our mountaintop experiences, if left alone, do not prepare us to engage the darkness and hopelessness we are called to confront in our world. By mountaintop experience, I am not referring to a literal experience on top of a mountain, because that was only a few disciples. The rest of the disciples though had been given authority by Jesus to do ministry. They had experienced the feeding of the 5,000, and they also were there when Peter declared Jesus to be the Christ! Clearly, they had gone through some stuff.

But that is what makes this event so interesting: why did the father say they didn’t heal his son? In fact, the man says they couldn’t do it. Why on earth not? They were just given the authority to at the beginning of chapter 9! Jesus seems to think it was a lack of belief from his disciples in vs.41, calling them a ‘perverse generation”. Jesus does not act like the cute, fluffy Jesus we’re used to seeing here! He’s mad, and he is calling out his disciples. Jesus asks how long he has to endure their unbelief and their wickedness, something startling coming from Jesus! We get it though, I think, at least most of us do. We’ve all had to endure someone and their failures, even repeated ones. Someone who lies about everything, or continues to take advantage of you only “this time will be different”…The frustration for Jesus here is that they have been properly equipped and trained, they have even heard the truth about who he is, and yet, they fail to put it all together, much to the detriment of this poor father. His son is not well, and the people who should have been able to handle it, couldn’t.

This unbelief, characterized by Jesus as perverse, leads Jesus to explain again to his disciples what is soon going to take place. Looking again, starting at vs. 43:

“And they were all astonished at the greatness of God. While everyone was amazed at all the things he was doing, he told his disciples, “Let these words sink in: The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.” But they did not understand this statement; it was concealed from them so that they could not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.” Vs.43b-45

Jesus sort of ruins the party here, you know? He just healed this man’s son and everyone is amazed, but Jesus is focused on something else. Yes, he came to heal, at least in part, but he goes back to the disciples’ failure to drive out the demon in the first place. Their unbelief prevented them from casting out the demon. Their failure to exercise the authority given them underscores their inability to recognize who Jesus really is, even though they’ve rightly proclaimed him as the Messiah. Because the disciples and others fail to see Jesus for who he truly is, or at least to understand what it means for him to be the Christ, is the reason Jesus will be betrayed into the hands of men. Someone will betray him because they don’t fully recognize him, the hands of men ready to receive Jesus in order to kill him, and a people ready to accept his judgement, all because they don’t know who Jesus is.

The passage tells us that the disciples don’t understand what Jesus means, and the Spirit is keeping them from understanding. Some may wonder why that is, and there could be several reasons, but I think all good theories essentially summarize it as simply not being the time for the disciples to know. My conclusion would be that them knowing now would accelerate the process of Jesus ultimately being handed over, but Jesus still has work to do. But notice in this passage that Jesus is giving them information, revealing some pretty major stuff! And what is their reaction? To stay silent. If a friend told you that soon they would be arrested, would you respond with silence? I would assume not! I would hope you’d want to ask some questions and find out what exactly that situation is. Here then is another failure: failure to understand, yes, but perhaps even more importantly, a failure to ask questions.

There is a tendency to undervalue the role of questions in our faith. I think this is especially true in our kids. I have two stories to illustrate this: the first is that we had a student in our youth program that had a lot of questions. They challenged things I would say, never just accepting what I would teach. I think this sort of behavior worries many, especially parents concerned for their children’s spiritual well-being. Every year, we have seniors graduating, and you always wonder, and hope and pray for, that they would continue to pursue Christ throughout their young adulthood as they experience a new level of independence. Every year, I feel like I have a few students I feel pretty confident in, that they will not spiritually flounder in college but thrive. That student is one I felt confident in. Why? Because they asked questions! They engaged with what they were being taught. For those that don’t ask questions, life is going to throw them curveballs. How will they respond when something seems to challenge their beliefs? Or, they simply accept what the world teaches them about life, they don’t critically engage with that either. As long as you spoke with authority, they’ll take it in, often even allowing logical inconsistencies to coexist. I remember a study being done that showed that a bunch of students at a major university claimed to be Christian, but more than half believed Jesus sinned in his life, and even more believed that Jesus was not the only way to heaven. We need to ask questions!

The other story is about a little girl, who I want to say was about 10 at the time. Grew up in a really strong, Christian family and was attending a church family camp. I was told that she was talking to a counselor and asking questions about what it really meant to follow Jesus. After a lengthy discussion, this little girl said, “I’m not sure I’m ready to follow Jesus. It seems like I’d have to give up a lot.” Again, that might sound worrisome, but to me, it indicated someone who was seriously considering the cost. They weren’t simply going to claim to be a follower of Christ unless they knew what it meant to be one, and committed to it. The disciples, despite having Jesus right in front of them and willingly telling them information, didn’t even ask. They didn’t seek to understand, which matters even if the Spirit would have prevented them from being able to do so.

Failing In Their Pride

Our next passage is probably a familiar one to most:

“An argument started among them about who was the greatest of them. But Jesus, knowing their inner thoughts, took a little child and had him stand next to him. He told them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me welcomes him who sent me. For whoever is least among you—this one is great.” Vs. 46-48

The disciples here are arguing about who is the greatest. Perhaps they’re feeling insecure because of their recent failings, or maybe in recognizing Jesus’ great power, they want to position themselves as his right hand man. Whatever their reasons, they fundamentally misunderstand Jesus’ power and his mission in the world. They are so used to power being used to climb up the ranks of society, or to gather resources for the powerful. Jesus uses a child to demonstrate what the Kingdom is really about. In the world, might is right, but in the Kingdom of Heaven, the dynamics shift. Everyone makes themselves to be one of the “least of these”, seeing everyone else as worthy of serving. Power is used to further solidify one’s own standing, but with Jesus, it is merely a tool for love. Jesus only recently had explained that he was going to lay down his life for the people, but they aren’t getting it. They’re still thinking about what power gets them. Jesus uses a child to illustrate his point, dignifying the child in the process. “You must become like this child in order to receive the Kingdom of Heaven” its stated elsewhere. By serving the “least of these”, you are serving God Himself! There’s a lot more that could be said here, and we will get to some of it a little later, but I think there’s another element here that ties to the next section.

“John responded, “Master, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he does not follow us.” “Don’t stop him,” Jesus told him, “because whoever is not against you is for you.” Vs.49-50

Part of the issue for the disciples in seeing how important humility is for the Kingdom is due to how they understood themselves collectively. They attached themselves to Jesus, and perhaps specifically to this power of his. These disciples felt like they were early investors on something special. Imagine someone who bought Apple or Google stocks when it first hit the stock market. They were “in the know” before anyone else, and they had close proximity to the Son of God! So who the heck is this outsider thinking he can do ministry in Jesus’ name? He doesn’t belong with them, he doesn’t follow Jesus like they do. Who does he think he is? And that’s how it connects to the previous section. These disciples are prideful, and they’re ranking themselves within the group, while assuming anyone outside their group is clearly below all of them, no matter how their rankings turn out. They’re putting everyone on a line, and sorting through them, declaring some to be lesser than them. Where that child stands on that line, we don’t know for sure. But we do know where this mystery exorcist stands, and he doesn’t make the cut in their eyes.

Jesus says something startling to them, however. Don’t stop him. He is working for the Kingdom, Jesus says. There is no reason to oppose him, because as long as he isn’t resisting Jesus and the coming Kingdom, and ministering in Jesus’ name, he is an asset. He might not belong to their particular group, but he clearly has the same goal. But you might be remembering this statement differently in your head, because there is another passage where Jesus says that whoever is not with him, is against him. There are some who pounce on stuff like this, claiming that the Bible contradicts itself. But we’re not seeing a contradiction, we’re seeing different things being emphasized. In Luke 11:23, Jesus has been accused of casting demons out in the name of Beelzebub. Jesus responds by saying that he is bringing judgment, and that only those with him will be saved. There is no neutral ground. So, these are two different situations: one is closer to what Paul said about those preaching to gain prominence, to which he says: great, so long as Christ is preached. The other, is about salvation, where people cannot remain neutral when the final judgement comes. The point here then, is that good things are happening in Jesus’ name. Let them be, says Jesus. There are enough enemies actively opposing their efforts as is, and ironically, even from within their own group they think so highly of. They’re worried about Joe Schmo the Exorcist without even realizing the wolf that Judas is within their own group! The ultimate point is that pride was causing the disciples to determine who was “in” and who was “out” of the Kingdom, and by extension, struggling with the concept of serving others, especially those they felt they ranked above. Well, Jesus is the greatest, and he serves the children, and he welcomes the man working in his name.

Failing In Our Callings

As we look at this passage, it is impossible to ignore all the ways the disciples have failed. They’re glaring, or at least they should be. These are not written however, for us to look down on them and to lift ourselves up. This instead should serve as a mirror, confronting us with our own shortcomings. It certainly did for me as I studied this carefully.

In the first section with the disciples failing to use the authority God gave them, I couldn’t help but think of all the times I have shrunk away from proclaiming the Gospel to someone. Someone who needed spiritual healing, and me, holding the answer back out of some fear of rejection or awkwardness. I think of a neighbor that I kept meaning to invite over for dinner for months and never did (and then Covid hit), an example of my own lapse in faithfully carrying out the Great Commission given by Jesus, to preach the Gospel to everyone.

What about you? The Church has been called to be the light unto the world. It is to draw out the darkness with Christ, who serves as the light (Jn.1). Are you being faithful in that? Are there issues you see in the world that you don’t truly believe can be solved by the proclamation of the Gospel? Are there people you think are too lost? You’ve been given authority and commanded to go and see people won for Christ! Jesus can conquer all. Jesus has conquered all! There is no divorce too messy, no tragedy too unbearable for the good news of Jesus to redeem and transform.

Unfortunately for me, and probably for you, our sins don’t end there. In the second section, we see the disciples disengaged out of fear of Jesus. I obviously go to church, I work in ministry to our awesome kids here, and I am currently in seminary. You’d think that I would be fully engaged, but I’m not. It’s extremely easy for me to slip into only engaging with my mind, and not my heart. I end up pondering the mechanics of theology, and neglect reflecting deeply on what I need to do with all that theology. Theology is good, I’ll even say great. I love it! But if it stays in my head then I am being a poor steward of the knowledge given to me.

(GET SERIOUS) What about you? Are you engaged? If your answer to that would be that you attend church and tithe, then I have to be frank and say that you’re missing the mark! This is sort of tied back to the last point, but brother, sister…if your engagement with your faith this week is limited just to worship this morning and me preaching to you now, you need more. You’ll still need more even when Pastor Eric is preaching next week. Start asking questions. Start reading or listening outside of Sundays. It’s okay to listen to worship music on a Wednesday morning, I promise. Most importantly, start talking with God. Ask the Spirit for guidance, not just in your troubles, but in how to interact with people, for opportunities to be revealed to share Jesus with someone, how to shine light in a dark area you’ve encountered.

Failing in Our Pride

I think that second section is related to the third as well, because it is sometimes due to our lack of engagement that we fall into our most sinful attitudes. The disciples were ranking themselves, wanting to determine who had the most power, who was closest to Jesus. There are people I think I am better than, people that I don’t really want to serve, because truthfully, I think my time is more valuable than their plights. We have this feeling of superiority over people, and those people might be different from the people I tend to think down on, but there’s always someone. I remember when I was volunteering at a ministry in Chicago working with men selling themselves, and they would tell me that they had to be very careful around a lot of the homeless people. They would be targeted and harassed, sometimes robbed and beaten. It was an exercise of superiority by a group that had been victims of it quite a bit themselves. Human nature doesn’t tell us to use those experiences as reasons to be kind to others, it activates within us a desire to feel powerful over someone else.

The Gospel, however, says that in the Kingdom, there is no power structure like here on earth. Nobody should seek to be at the top, but everyone should treat everyone else as though they were at the top. There’s a quote by D.A. Carson, someone pretty local to us, that has humbled me many times since I first heard it: “We are all just poor beggars telling other poor beggars where to find bread.” I am not better than anyone else, but because of Jesus, I do know where to find food. That doesn’t make me or you special, that makes Jesus special, and it provides good news to other poor beggars we encounter.

But we like feeling powerful. We like using our moral uprightness as a measuring tool against others. We like our circles, and are suspicious of anyone outside of them. We can be legalistic, declaring intentions irrelevant and demanding things should be done only as we see fit. I’m guilty of this often. I have my circles, and I can be harsh or dismissive of those outside of them. There is a common group of people in our Reformed tradition of what a friend of mine referred to as “heresy hunters”. These are people who seem to read every book, tweet, sermon, etc. put out by every pastor everywhere, and will immediately label them a heretic if things are said incorrectly. Now of course, we are called to watch out for false teaching, and I think what Jesus says in vs.49-50 assumes that the person casting out demons at least was generally in the right place. For example, in Acts 19, we see a group doing essentially the same thing, but it seems as though they’re claiming it as some sort of magical power and are not viewed positively. But often our pride of being correct gives us the sense that we have some right to declare people as “in” or “out”, as “deserving” or “undeserving”. I wish I could say I did this only in regards to theology, but I can’t! I have strong opinions on dumb things, too, and will sometimes maintain a posture of gracelessness. What about you? Who are you declaring as being in the wrong? Who do you view as a threat to whatever social position you think you have? Who are we ostracizing?

Jesus is Greater

We are sinners. We are deficient in all respects. Even where we are gifted, we are still far from perfect, and we tend to manipulate our gifts for selfish gain, instead of in proclaiming the Gospel! I read a passage like this, and I’m confronted with just how broken and flawed I am, how sinful and rebellious. I fail in significant ways as a husband, as a father, as a son, friend, as the youth director, as a student. Not one of those areas am I quote unquote “there”. A passage like this can beat you down. The ironic thing though is that we read this, and we think to ourselves that we just need to try harder. Certainly, as Dallas Willard famously said, grace is not opposed to effort. We should be seeking to lean into the grace Jesus offers us as believers, seeking to be more like Christ. But man, I don’t know about you, but I’ve been trying hard ever since I became a Christian. For every step I seem to take on this path to righteousness, I only seem to gain a better vantage point, which reveals sins and failures I didn’t even know I had.

I know some of you identify with this. Going back to the very beginning, most of us have had some significant spiritual experience, and we feel like we’ll never sin again. But we come down from that mountaintop and everyday life, and our flesh, get the best of us. What do we do with this? What does it even mean to be a Christian? Is there any hope at all?

The answer is that yes, of course there’s hope. But there’s hope because I think we fail in our understanding of what Jesus has done for us. We know Jesus died for our sins, cleansing us through his righteous blood on the cross. My sins are washed away! But we sin again, and I think we have this idea that the forgiveness Jesus offers only resets us to a pure heart. We fall into this cycle of asking for forgiveness and then sort of promising to “try harder next time”. We fail again, and again, and again. And we grow frustrated with ourselves and we begin to think that Jesus must be, too. Jesus even seems to say as much back in vs.41. “How long am I to bear with this generation?”

The Gospel answers: long enough to die for us. Long enough to die for us, and for all eternity! Christian, when you put your faith in Christ, you were not just putting your faith in his ability to cleanse your sins right then. We were naked and ashamed, like Adam and Eve in the Garden after their sins, but Christ offers us his robes of righteousness! There is no condemnation in Jesus Christ, Paul says in Romans 8. We fool ourselves into thinking that Jesus accepts us because we try hard, a slap in his face as we liken him to a form of training wheels, ready to shed them as soon as we figure out how to ride on our own. That is NOT the Gospel. Jesus’ perfection means that he can cover all sins and failures, and our faith is in him and his goodness, not our own ability to please God! That is good news!

Some of you worry about how your actions might affect your salvation. If you’ve put your faith in Christ, then it is about Christ, NOT you! The next time you screw up and you find yourself wondering where you stand before God, STOP. You’re already focused on the wrong person! When you sin, repent, and turn to Jesus, who is greater than your failures. His perfection is greater than your imperfection, infinitely so. How long will he bear with us? Isaiah 46:4 says, and I think is what Jesus had in mind when saying this “even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.” John 10 says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.”

At the final judgement, everyone who has ever lived will stand before the Father, and you will be judged. If you are not wearing the robes of righteousness, if Jesus’ righteousness has not covered you, you will face Hell. Jesus does not simply reset you to “pure”. He doesn’t reset you, he restores you to the Father, relationally. If you have put your trust in Christ, your salvation has already been determined. Jesus is enough, and Scripture tells us he rests at the right hand of God the Father in Heaven. We can rest in him because he rests. But Jesus rests not on a couch, but on a throne! As a king over the world, he is still actively working on our behalf, interceding for us and restoring us to the Father. He didn’t abandon us, and he never will: “I will be with you always, yes, even to the end of the age” (Matt.28:20).

My sins are many, but it is a burden that is no match for Jesus. My faith is not as strong as it should be, but my faith is in Christ. Tim Keller uses an analogy I find helpful, and it offers me a basis on which I can fully rest in Christ and not on my own ability: He talks about there being two people at an airport, getting ready to board the plane. One of them completely trusts the pilots and air crew, not worried about anything might go wrong. The other is a nervous wreck, popping Xanax like skittles, imagining the absolute worst of possibilities. Both board, and both land safely. It didn’t matter their level of faith in the pilots, so long as they had enough to board the plane.

As we close, I want to clarify that I am not saying that you are free to live a sinful life. If you love Jesus, you will obey him, as John tells us. What I am saying, is that you have a freedom and rest in Christ because your failures are already paid for. We don’t have to live in fear that if we mess up big enough or often enough that Christ will abandon us. Like a child with loving parents knows that their parents will always love them even in their sin and rebellion, we can experience that same level of security as we seek to bring light into the world. As we grow in that love, and experience that grace, we naturally grow to align our will with God’s, seeking to please Him in all that we do. Let’s pray.

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