This week we will continue our journey through Luke with Luke 8:40-9:51 where we encounter the great stories of where Jesus begins to prepare his disciples for Holy Week and to continue his ministry after the Ascension. I know we are behind schedule, but I am still anticipating that we will get to the Crucifixion before Easter.
Herod’s Question: (vv. 9:7-9)
The initial mission of the Twelve (vv.1-6) is apparently successful. News of their mission has reached King Herod. Herod had recently executed John the Baptist (an event which Luke omits but is found in Mark 6:14-29) and believes that maybe John has come back to life. Herod thinks that Jesus may also be the prophet Elijah who was assumed into heaven and was prophesied by Malachi and Sirach to return on the Day of the Lord, restoring Judah, and instituting the messianic age. See, 2 Kings 2:11, Mal. 4:5, Sir. 48:10. As a third alternative, Herod speculates that Jesus is the prophet foretold by Moses whom God would raise up. Deut. 18:15-22. Herod wants to see Jesus. He eventually will see Jesus after his arrest. Luke 23:6-12.
Feeding of the Five Thousand: (vv.10-17)
This miracle occurs between Herod’s question as to who Jesus is and Peter’s Confession confirming Jesus’s identity. This story begins with the Twelve returning from their first missionary journey and provides a second lesson as to how the Twelve are to build up the Kingdom. When Jesus sent the Twelve out, he told them not to take anything with them, but to depend upon the kindness of strangers. Here, the Twelve want to send the people away so that the people can obtain food on their own. Jesus, however, instructs the Twelve to provide for them. Although Luke does not provide the same depth as John’s eucharistic theology in the Feeding (See, John 6:25-51), Luke’s description of Jesus’ action does mirror the Last Supper. Compare, v.26 and Luke 22:19.
Peter’s Confession: (vv.18-27)
Unlike Mark and Matthew, Luke places Peter’s Confession almost immediately after Herod’s Question. Jesus asks the disciples who people say that he is, and they answer with the same answer that Herod had given. Jesus then asks who they say he is. Peter answers correctly ‘You are the Christ of God.” Jesus then responds that the Son of Man must suffer, be killed, and be resurrected on the third day. Unlike Mark 8:32 and Matthew 16:22, however, Luke does not tell us that Peter rebuked Jesus’s teaching that he must suffer and die.
Peter’s Confession is the first time that anyone other than angels and demons knows of Jesus’s identity as the Christ. Jesus follows up his teaching that he must suffer, be rejected, and die, with the command that his disciples must do likewise. Unlike Mark and Matthew, Luke adds the description that we must take up our cross daily. Dying to ourselves is not once and done, but is a daily activity.
The Transfiguration: (vv.28-36)
The Transfiguration does not stand in isolation but necessarily follows up on the teaching of Jesus’ death and his command to us to do likewise. Verses 18-22 are about Good Friday, whereas the Transfiguration is about Easter Sunday. On the mountain, Jesus shows Peter, John, and James what comes after suffering, rejection, and death.
Last year, we discussed the Transfiguration in Mark in greater depth. The discussions are here and here.
The Failed Healing: (vv.37-43)
In this chapter, Luke gives us an overview of the training of the Twelve beginning with their commissioning and ending with their traveling towards Jerusalem. During this training, a man begged Jesus’s disciples to exorcise the demon who had taken possession of his son. The disciples are unable to cure the child. Mark attributes the disciple’s failure to their lack of prayer and Matthew attributes their failure to their lack of faith. Mark 9:29, Matt. 17:20. Luke does not give a reason but implies that failure sometimes occurs and that only in the very presence of Jesus (i.e. in the fulness of the Kingdom) is success assured. Even for the most skilled human physician, sometimes the patient does not recover.
Final Teachings on Discipleship: (vv. 44-50)
Jesus once more tells the disciples of his coming Passion. In the teachings of this world, to be the Christ or the King necessarily means to have power, but Jesus is telling them that he is the Christ but he must give himself up. The disciples do not understand.
The disciples then begin to argue as to who is the greatest. Jesus must take them aside and explain to them (using small words) that in the Kingdom of God, the least is the greatest. This is what it means to take up your Cross daily.
The disciples then get upset because someone else is casting out demons in Jesus’ name. Jesus once more has to correct the disciples’ misunderstanding of what power looks like in the Kingdom. The question is never about who is in charge but what is being produced. The disciples (and we) must crucify not only their earthly ambitions for earthly power but also their desire for power within their group and their desire for the group to have power over others.
My sermon on Jesus’s training of his disciples from Peter’s Confession through the unknown exorcist is here.
On to Jerusalem: (v.51)
With Herod asking around about Jesus and with the Twelve having completed their initial training, Jesus set his face like flint towards Jerusalem. Jesus’s time as an itinerant teacher, healer, and exorcist in Galilee comes to an end. During this journey (Luke 9:51-18:14), Jesus engages with Pharisees and other Jewish teachers and leaders more regularly, he will rely more on parables in his teachings, and miracles will become less common. Luke’s Gospel is entering its second of three parts.
Dinner is at 6. The menu is meatloaf. Discussion about 6:45. Compline at 8. Hope to see you here!
One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor. Proverbs 29:23