Luke 9

It was an exasperating evening. I was studying and writing, and the phone was ringing every half hour. Had the calls been from friends, I would have enjoyed taking a break and chatting, but they came from people wanting to sell me everything from dance tickets to investments. By the time I got to bed that night, I had just about decided to get an unlisted number and start protecting my privacy.

At eleven o’clock, a man phoned who was contemplating committing suicide, and with the Lord’s help, I was able to encourage him to get a new grip on life. When I hung up, I gave thanks that I did not have an unlisted number. As I lay down to go back to sleep, I thought of the Lord Jesus and the kind of schedule He must have had. He was available to all kinds of people at all times, and He did not turn anyone away. He probably would not have had an unlisted number.

In this chapter, Dr. Luke described the busy life of the compassionate Son of Man as He performed four ministries.

The commission (vv. 1–6). The Twelve had been ordained some months before (Luke 6:13–16) and had been traveling with Jesus as His helpers. Now He was going to send them out in pairs (Mark 6:7) to have their own ministry and to put into practice what they had learned. This was their “solo flight.”

But before He sent them out, He gave them the equipment needed to get the job done, as well as the instructions to follow. The parallel passage in Matthew 10 reveals that the Twelve were sent only to the people of Israel (Matt. 10:5–6). Luke does not mention this since he wrote primarily for the Gentiles and emphasized the worldwide outreach of the gospel.

Power is the ability to accomplish a task, and authority is the right to do it, and Jesus gave both to His apostles. They were able to cast out demons and heal the sick, but the most important ministry He gave them was that of preaching the gospel. The word preach in Luke 9: describes a herald proclaiming a message from the king, and in Luke 9: it means “to preach the good news.” They were heralds of the good news!

The apostles’ ability to heal was a special gift that authenticated their ministry (see Rom. 15:18–19; 2 Cor. 12:12; Heb. 2:1–4). Miracles were one evidence that the Lord had sent them and was working through them (Mark 16:20). Today we test a person’s ministry by the truth of the Word of God (1 John 2:18–29; 4:1–6). Miracles alone are not proof that a person is truly sent of God, for Satan can enable his false ministers to do amazing things (Matt. 24:24; 2 Cor. 11:13–15; 2 Thess. 2:9–10).

Jesus told the apostles what to take on their journey, with an emphasis on urgency and simplicity. They were not to take a “begging bag” along but were to trust God to open up homes for their hospitality. Matthew 10:11–15 tells how they were to select these homes. If they were refused, they should shake off the dust from their feet, a familiar act performed by orthodox Jews whenever they left Gentile territory (see Luke 10:10–11; Acts 13:51).

The confusion (vv. 7–9). When the disciples left, Jesus also departed and ministered for a time in Galilee (Matt. 11:1), and together they attracted a great deal of attention. In fact, their work was even discussed in the highest levels of government! Herod Antipas (Luke 3:1) was a son of Herod the Great and the man who had John the Baptist killed (Matt. 14:1–12; Luke 3:19–20).

Who was this miracle worker? John the Baptist had done no miracles (John 10:41), but that might change if he were raised from the dead. The Jews expected Elijah to come, so perhaps the prophecy was being fulfilled (see Mal. 4:5; Matt. 11:10–14; 17:11–13; Luke 1:17). Herod’s conscience was no doubt convicting him, and he was wondering if perhaps God had sent John back to judge him.

Herod kept trying to see Jesus, but Jesus, unlike some modern “religious celebrities,” did not make it a point to go out of His way to mingle with the high and mighty. Jesus called the evil king a “fox” and was not intimidated by his threats (Luke 13:31–32). When Herod and Jesus did finally meet, the king hoped to see a miracle, but the Son of God did nothing and said nothing to him. Evil King Herod had silenced God’s voice to him (Luke 23:6–12).

The conclusion (vv. 10–11). The apostles returned and gave a glowing report of their ministry, and Jesus suggested that they all take some time off for rest (Mark 6:30–32). As the popular speaker Vance Havner used to say, “If we don’t come apart and rest, we’ll just come apart.” Their mission of preaching and healing had been demanding, and they all needed time alone for physical and spiritual renewal. This is a good example for busy (and sometimes overworked) Christian workers to imitate.

Attracted by the signs Jesus was doing, the crowds would not leave Him alone, but followed Him from the cities. When Jesus and the Twelve landed, the crowd was already there to meet them, and Jesus had compassion on them and ministered to them (Matt. 14:13–14). The Son of Man could not even take a day off!

Our Lord was not the kind of person who could teach the Word and then say to hungry people, “Depart in peace, be ye warm and filled” (James 2:16). The disciples were only too eager to see the crowd leave (Luke 18:15; see Matt. 15:23). They had not yet caught the compassion of Christ and the burden He had for the multitudes, but one day they would.

When you combine all four accounts of this miracle, you find that Jesus first asked Philip where they could buy enough bread to feed such a great crowd. (There could well have been ten thousand people there.) He was only testing Philip, “for He Himself knew what He was intending to do” (John 6: nasb). In the crisis hours of life, when your resources are low and your responsibilities are great, it is good to remember that God already has the problem solved; Jesus started with what they had, a few loaves and fishes that were generously donated by a lad found by Andrew (John 6:8–9). Did Andrew know the boy? Or did the boy offer his little lunch without being asked? Before we ask God to do the impossible, let’s start with the possible and give Him what we have. And while we are at it, let’s give thanks for mothers who give their sons something to give to Jesus.

The Lord looked up to heaven, the source of our daily bread (Matt. 6:11), gave thanks, and blessed the food, and then He multiplied the few loaves and fishes. Jesus was the “producer” and His disciples were the “distributors.” The amazing thing is that everybody was served and satisfied, and there were twelve baskets of leftovers, one for each of the disciples. Jesus takes good care of His servants.

This miracle was more than an act of mercy for hungry people, though that was important. It was also a sign of our Lord’s messiahship and an illustration of God’s gracious provision for man’s salvation. The next day, Jesus preached a sermon on “the bread of life” and urged the people to receive Him just as they had received the bread (John 6:22–59). But the people were more interested in their stomachs than their souls, and completely missed the spiritual impact of the miracle. Their desire was to make Jesus king so He could give them bread for the rest of their lives (John 6:14–15)!

After Jesus returned to heaven, the disciples must often have been encouraged by remembering this miracle. It teaches us to have compassion, to look on problems as opportunities for God to work, and to give Him all that we have and trust Him to meet the needs. If we do all we can, He will step in and do the rest. “Let God’s promises shine on your problems,” said Corrie ten Boom, and that is good counsel for us.

In Luke’s gospel, the feeding of the five thousand marks the end of what is called the “Great Galilean Ministry” (Luke 4:14–:17). Jesus now begins His journey to Jerusalem (see Luke 9:51; 13:22; 17:11; 18:31; 19:11, 28). This would be a time of relative retirement with His disciples as He prepared them for what lay ahead. There is a parallel between this account and the account in Acts of Paul’s last journey to Jerusalem. In both books we have “a tale of two cities”: in Luke, from Nazareth to Jerusalem; and in Acts, from Jerusalem to Rome.

In this section, you see Jesus teaching them three basic lessons about His person, His sacrifice, and His kingdom.

His person (vv. 18–21). If any of us asked our friends what people were saying about us, it would be an evidence of pride, but not so with Jesus Christ. People had better know who He is, because what we think about Jesus determines our eternal destiny (John 8:24; 1 John 4:1–3). It is impossible to be wrong about Jesus and right with God.

Jesus had prayed all night before choosing His disciples (Luke 6:12–13), and now He prayed before asking for their personal confession of faith. The crowd would have its opinions (see Luke 9:7–8), but His disciples must have convictions. Peter was the spokesman for the group and gave a clear witness to the deity of Jesus Christ. This was the second time that he confessed Christ publicly (John 6:68–69). Except for Judas (John 6:70–71), all of the Twelve had faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus commanded them (the word means “an order from a military officer”) not to spread this truth openly. To begin with, the message of His messiahship could not be divorced from the fact of His death and resurrection, and He was now going to teach this to the Twelve. They had a difficult time grasping this new lesson and did not really understand it until after He was raised from the dead (Luke 24:44–48). The Jewish people saw Jesus primarily as a healer and a potential deliverer. If the apostles began preaching that He was indeed the Messiah, it might cause a popular uprising against Rome.

His sacrifice (vv. 22–26). Jesus had already given a number of “hints” about His sacrificial death, but now He began to teach this truth clearly to His disciples. John the Baptist had presented Him as the “Lamb of God” (John 1:29), and Jesus had predicted the “destruction” of the temple of His body (John 2:19). When He compared Himself to the serpent in the wilderness (John 3:14) and to Jonah (Matt. 12:38–40), Jesus was making statements about His suffering and death.

This is the first of three statements in Luke about His coming passion in Jerusalem (Luke 9:43–45; 18:31–34). It is clear that the Twelve did not understand, partly because of their unbelief and immaturity, and partly because it was “hidden” from them by God. Jesus taught them as they were able to receive the truth (John 16:12). It must have shocked the men to hear that their own religious leaders would kill their Master.

But Jesus did not stop with a private announcement of His own death. He also made a public declaration about a cross for every disciple. In his gospel, Matthew tells us that this was necessary because of Peter’s desire to protect Jesus from suffering (Matt. 16:22ff.). Keep in mind that Jesus is talking about discipleship and not sonship. We are not saved from our sins because we take up a cross and follow Jesus, but because we trust the Savior who died on the cross for our sins. After we become children of God, then we become disciples.

The closest contemporary word to “disciple” is probably “apprentice.” A disciple is more than a student who learns lessons by means of lectures and books. He is one who learns by living and working with his teacher in a daily “hands on” experience. Too many Christians are content to be listeners who gain a lot of knowledge but who have never put that knowledge into practice.

In the Roman world, the cross was a symbol of shame, guilt, suffering, and rejection. There could be no more despicable way to die. Crucifixion was not mentioned in polite conversation, and the people would no more think of wearing crosses on their person than we would think of wearing gold or silver electric chairs. Jesus laid down the stern requirements for discipleship. We must first say no to ourselves—not simply to pleasures or possessions, but to self—and then take up our cross and follow Christ daily. This means to be identified with Him in surrender, suffering, and sacrifice. You cannot crucify yourself; you can only yield your body (Rom. 12:1–2) and let God do the rest.

Of course, this kind of life seems foolish to the world; but to the Christian, it is wisdom. To save your life is to lose it, and how can you ever get it back again? But to give your life to Christ is to save it and to live it in fullness. If a person owned the whole world, he would still be too poor to buy back a lost life.

Discipleship is a daily discipline: we follow Jesus a step at a time, a day at a time. A weary cleaning woman said to a friend of mine, “The trouble with life is that it’s so daily!” But she was wrong. One of the best things about life is that we can take it a day at a time (Deut. 33:25).

Our motive should be to glorify Christ. Anyone who is ashamed of Christ will never take up a cross and follow Him. But if we are ashamed of Him now, He will be ashamed of us when He comes again (Mark 8:38; 2 Tim. 2:11–13) and we will be ashamed before Him (1 John 2:28).

His kingdom (vv. 27–36). As far as the gospel record is concerned, the Transfiguration was the only occasion during Christ’s earthly ministry when He revealed the glory of His person. Luke did not use the word transfigure, but he described the same scene (Matt. 17:2; Mark 9:2). The word means “a change in appearance that comes from within,” and it gives us the English word metamorphosis.

What were the reasons behind this event? For one thing, it was God’s seal of approval to Peter’s confession of faith that Jesus is the Son of God (John 1:14). It was also the Father’s way of encouraging the Son as He began to make His way to Jerusalem. The Father had spoken at the baptism (Luke 3:22) and would speak again during that final week of the Son’s earthly ministry (John 12:23–28). Beyond the suffering of the cross would be the glory of the throne, a lesson that Peter emphasized in his first epistle (1 Peter 4:12— 5:4).

Our Lord’s own words in Luke 9: indicate that the event was a demonstration (or illustration) of the promised kingdom of God. This seems logical, for the disciples were confused about the kingdom because of Jesus’ words about the cross. (We must not be too hard on them, because the prophets were also confused—1 Peter 1:10–12.) Jesus was reassuring them that the Old Testament prophecies would be fulfilled, but first He had to suffer before He could enter into His glory (note especially 2 Peter 1:12–21).

But there is also a practical lesson here, for we can have a spiritual “transfiguration” experience each day as we walk with the Lord. Romans 12:1–2 and 2 Corinthians 3: tell us how. As we surrender body, mind, and will, the Lord transforms us from within so that we are not conformed to the world. As we behold Him in the Word (the mirror), we are “transfigured” by the Spirit “from glory to glory.” The theological name for this experience is sanctification, the process by which we become more like the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the Father’s goal for each of His children (Rom. 8:19; 1 John 3:2). Note that our Lord was once again praying, which suggests that prayer is one of the keys to a transformed life.

Peter, James, and John had accompanied Jesus when He raised Jairus’s daughter from the dead (Luke 8:51ff.), and they would accompany Him when He prayed in the garden (Matt. 26:36–46). These three occasions remind me of Philippians 3:10: “That I may know him [the Transfiguration], and the power of his resurrection [raising the girl], and the fellowship of his sufferings [in the garden].”

This may well have been the greatest “Bible conference” ever held on earth! Even apart from the great glory that was involved, here you certainly had the greatest speakers: Moses, the law; Elijah, the prophets; and Jesus, who came to fulfill the law and the prophets. You had the greatest topic: Jesus’ “decease” (the Greek is exodus) that He would accomplish at Jerusalem. Moses had led Israel out of bondage to Egypt, and Elijah had delivered them from bondage to false gods, but Jesus would die to set a sinful world free from bondage to sin and death (Gal. 1:4; Col. 1:13; Heb. 2:14–15).

And while all of this was going on, the three privileged disciples were sleeping! (They would repeat this failure in the garden .) Peter’s suggestion reminds us of the Jewish “Feast of Booths” that in the Bible is related to the future kingdom (Lev. 23:33–44; Zech. 14:16–21). Peter wanted Jesus to hold on to the glory apart from the suffering, but this is not God’s plan.

The Father interrupted Peter by bathing the scene in a cloud of glory (Ex. 13:21–22; 40:35, 38) and speaking out of the cloud. (Peter would one day be interrupted by the Son [Matt. 17:24–27] and by the Spirit [Acts 10:44].) These arresting words from heaven remind us of Deuteronomy 18:15; Psalm 2:7; and Isaiah 42:1. When the cloud was gone, Elijah and Moses were also gone.

As wonderful as these experiences are, they are not the basis for a consistent Christian life. That can come only through the Word of God. Experiences come and go, but the Word remains. Our recollection of past experiences will fade, but God’s Word never changes. The farther we get from these events, the less impact they make on our lives. That was why the Father said, “Hear him!” and why Peter made this same emphasis on the Word in his report (2 Peter 1:12–21). Our own personal “transfiguration” comes from inner renewal (Rom. 12:1–2), and that comes from the Word (2 Cor. 3:18).

“How long shall I stay with you and put up with you?” (Luke 9: niv). You might expect that lament to come from an overworked kindergarten teacher or an impatient army drill instructor, but it was made by the sinless Son of God! We are prone to forget how long suffering our Lord had to be while He was ministering on earth, especially with His own disciples.

When you analyze this section of Luke’s gospel, you can better understand why Jesus spoke those words: He was grieved over the failures of His followers. He had given His apostles authority over Satan, yet they were too weak to cast out a demon (Luke 9:37–45). In feeding the five thousand, Jesus gave them an example of compassion, yet they persisted in manifesting selfishness and lack of love (Luke 9:46–56). He taught clearly what it meant to follow Him, yet the volunteers turned out to be “me first” disciples (Luke 9:57–62). No wonder He was grieved!

Lack of power (vv. 37–45). We dare not stay on the glorious mountaintop when there are battles to fight in the valley below. Here was another “only child” needing the help of the Lord (Luke 7:12; 8:42), and even more so because His own disciples had failed. They had the power and the authority (Luke 9:1) but they did not have the success. Why?

When you study all three reports (Matt. 17; Mark 9), you discover what was lacking in their lives. First on the list was faith (Matt. 17:19–20); they were part of an unbelieving generation and had lost the confidence that they needed in order to use their power. But prayer and fasting were also lacking (Mark 9:29), which indicates that the nine men had allowed their devotional disciplines to erode during their Lord’s brief absence. No matter what spiritual gifts we may have, their exercise is never automatic.

The devil tried one last throw (a wrestling term in the Greek), but Jesus rebuked the demon and cast him out. The Lord lovingly gave the boy back to his father (see Luke 7:15) and then took the Twelve aside for another lesson about the cross. After all, it was at the cross that Jesus would give Satan that final blow of defeat (John 12:31–32; Col. 2:15).

Lack of love (vv. 46–56). The disciples did not have much love for each other, or they would not have argued over who was the greatest (Luke 9:46–48). Perhaps this debate started because of envy (three of the disciples had been with Jesus on the mount), or because of pride (the other nine had failed to cast out the demon). Also, just before this, Jesus had paid Peter’s temple tax for him (Matt. 17:24–27), and this may have aroused some envy.

In His kingdom, the example of greatness is a little child—helpless, dependent, without status, living by faith. The only thing worse than a child trying to act like an adult is an adult acting like a child! There is a great difference between being childlike and childish (see 1 Cor. 13:4–5; 14:20)!

They also showed a lack of love for believers outside their own group (Luke 9:49–50). This is what we would expect from a “son of thunder” (Mark 3:17)! Perhaps John was trying to impress Jesus with his zeal for protecting His name, but the Lord was not impressed. Believers who think that their group is the only group God recognizes and blesses are in for a shock when they get to heaven.

Nor did the apostles love their enemies (Luke 9:51–56). James and John had seen the prophet Elijah on the mount, so they thought they might imitate him and call down fire from heaven (2 Kings 1)! The Samaritans and Jews had been enemies for centuries (2 Kings 17:24–41), so it was understandable that this village would reject Jesus as He traveled toward Jerusalem (John 4:9, 20). Jesus rebuked their vengeful spirit and simply went to another village (Matt. 5:37–48). Later, Samaria would be reached with the gospel (Acts 8).

Lack of discipline (vv. 57–62). Three men could have become disciples, but they would not meet the conditions that Jesus laid down. The first man was a scribe (Matt. 8:19) who volunteered to go until he heard the cost: he had to deny himself. Apparently he was accustomed to a comfortable home.

The second man was called by Jesus (what an honor!), but he was rejected because he would not take up the cross and die to self. He was worried about somebody else’s funeral when he should have been planning his own! Jesus is not suggesting here that we dishonor our parents, but only that we not permit our love for family to weaken our love for the Lord. We should love Christ so much that our love for family would look like hatred in comparison (Luke 14:26).

The third man also volunteered, but he could not follow Christ because he was looking back instead of ahead. There is nothing wrong with a loving farewell (1 Kings 19:19–21), but if it gets in the way of obedience, it becomes sin. Jesus saw that this man’s heart was not wholly with Him, but that he would be plowing and looking back (see Gen. 19:17, 26; Phi. 3:13–14).

No wonder the laborers are few (Luke 10:2)!

It would appear that what Jesus taught His disciples and the multitudes had done them little good. They lacked power, love, and discipline, and they grieved His heart. If we today lack these spiritual essentials, we can never truly be His disciples, but they are available to us from the Lord. “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but of power, of love and of self-discipline” (2 Tim. 1: niv).

Are we a joy to Jesus Christ, or are we breaking His heart?