We’ve all been there - the first days and weeks in a new job or maybe a new position with the same company. You’re super excited to be in this new role and can’t wait to get started. Maybe this job change or promotion came with a higher salary, more responsibility, new challenges or even a physical move to a new location and a bigger office. The perks are significant, but so is the learning curve. You formerly had one direct report, but now you have 30. You’re somewhat familiar with the work you’ve been assigned, but there is so much of it and every assignment is different, and what was that guy’s name in the office next door? It feels like you’re drinking from a firehose and will drown! There is simply too much information for you to consume in such a short period of time.
That’s exactly how I imagine Jesus’ followers, disciples and apostles felt during the period of ministry we read about today. Jesus seems to be handing them lengthy commentaries on theological truths that seem too much for them to assimilate correctly in the amount of time He has left to instruct them.
Read Luke 9:23-62
Take Up Your Cross? Crazy Talk!
In these first few verses Jesus pivots from speaking directly to The Twelve to the crowd of students surrounding them. He looks out and begins to warn them of the cost of discipleship. “Take up your cross daily and follow me?” (from v 23) What did Jesus say? Did they mishear or did He really just use crucifixion as a metaphor for discipleship? Yes, He did. In order to be Jesus’ disciples, they must:
Deny themselves, meaning they must die to self-will and lay everything else down, such as
Scrambling to save or better themselves
Jockeying for position in the Kingdom of God
Acquiring money, possessions, children
Shame of Jesus and His unorthodox ways
Take up their cross
Embracing God’s will, no matter the cost
Follow Jesus wherever He leads
This is crazy talk! The disciples are simultaneously drawn to Jesus’ message - it is freedom and hope - yet so many of his statements are harsh and confusing. Is He the Messiah or that odd bachelor uncle everyone loves but causes most to roll their eyes? Jesus assures them that following Him is worth the risk. All will be understood when the Son of Man comes in all of His glory; as a matter of fact, some in this crowd will soon have a glimpse of the kingdom of God. What in the world is He talking about?
Three See the Kingdom of God
A little over a week later, Jesus takes Peter, James and John up on a mountain to pray. As we’ve come to expect in Luke’s narrative, whenever Jesus prays, amazing things follow! But Peter, James and John haven’t come to expect the amazing, at least not yet. In fact, they fall fast asleep while Jesus is praying and “the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white,” (v 29) bright as a flash of lightning in the dark sky. This transfiguration was not the same glory that shone on Moses’ face after being with Yahweh that we read about in Exodus 34:35. This transfiguration was a glimpse of the future glory of the Christ, the Son of Man, at his second coming when he will come in the cloud of the glory of God. (see Rev. 1:7, 13-16) Speaking of Moses, Elijah and Moses appeared with the transfigured Jesus, also bright in their glory and were talking with Jesus about His departure and what He was about to accomplish in Jerusalem.
When Peter, James and John finally awoke from their deep sleep, they saw the three men representing the law, the prophets and salvation in all their glory. Peter, rarely at loss for words, scrambles a plan together, “Master, this is awesome! I can’t believe we get to see this! Why don’t we set up shelters for each of you…you know, so you can be more comfortable and stay like this a little longer.” (from v 33) When suddenly a cloud appeared and overshadowed them. Fine idea, Peter, but you are in no way equipped to create shelters for these three. God, who is their shelter, then speaks from the cloud, “This is my Son, the Chosen One; listen to Him!” (v 35) And just like that, the moment was over, the curtain pulled together over heaven and Jesus’ true identity.
A Tough Case
The next day, a father in the crowd cried out to Jesus for help for his son. A spirit regularly would seize the boy, causing him to shriek, then throw him into convulsions until he foamed at the mouth. The father had begged Jesus’ disciples to drive it out, but they could not. Jesus’ response seems harsh, “You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long will I be with you and put up with you?” (v 41) Who was this aimed at? The son? The father? The disciples who tried to heal the son? In another gospel, Jesus also mentions that this type of healing required prayer and even fasting. Is Jesus frustrated by the disciples’ lack of understanding in the strong connection between authentic, desperate prayer and powerful help and healing?
Jesus instructs the father to bring his son over to Him. Even as he approaches, another seizure overtakes him. Can you imagine how exhausted this boy’s body was? Just as he would begin to recover from the previous seizure, here it would come over him again. Jesus treats the young man holistically - spiritually, physically and relationally. First, He rebukes the unclean spirit. Then He heals the boy. Lastly, he restores the son to his father.
This Makes No Sense!
While everyone is celebrating the greatness of God, Jesus shares His second prediction of next steps, this time including a betrayal. “Pay attention to Me - let this sink in - take time to process…the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.” (from v 44) The poor disciples had no category for Jesus’ outlandish predictions and so they went in one ear and out the other. And this theme was just getting started.
I’m the Greatest!
A hierarchy of importance was developing amongst the apostles. It’s becoming painfully apparent that Peter, James and John are being asked to join Jesus without the others; Peter has taken on the role of spokesman for the group and has even been given a new name that means “Rock.” Then there were the disciples who couldn’t cast the unclean spirit out of the boy. An argument over which disciple had the greatest authority, deserved the most preferential treatment, was most valuable to Jesus led Him to bring a little child over to them. Perhaps because they tended to be dismissive of the kids in the crowds as irrelevant and unimportant, Jesus tells them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me and whoever welcomes me welcomes him who sent me.” (v 48) The ESV uses the word “receives” for “welcome” and there is this sense of receiving the child…and Jesus, as the gifts that they are, with humility and kindness, rather than a means to an end, proving one's own importance. Jesus concludes, “For whoever is least among you - this one is great.” (v 48)
Unfortunately, instead of Jesus’ words soaking in and changing their attitudes towards the crowds they were called to minister to, the apostles doubled down in their need to be better than, special and set apart in Jesus’ eyes. They took offense at someone outside their inner circle who was driving out demons in Jesus’ name, and then James and John really got carried away when a village of Samaritans was unwelcoming to them and Jesus. They reported to Jesus, “Lord, let us at these rude Samaritans, who should be honored by your presence. We’ll happily call fire down from heaven to consume them - just say the word!” (from v 54) But Jesus replies to the Sons of Thunder, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! That’s enough! You are getting way out over your skis and not following me or my ways. Shaking the dust off your feet is one thing. Calling down fire from heaven is too much!”
I’d love to, but…
More and more people were interested in following Jesus, but many were also coming up with reasons why they couldn’t. “I’d love to, but…I have obligations at home, my parents are elderly and might die soon, I’ve got to get my field plowed and planted first.” While intrigued with this new method of discipleship, many would convince themselves that they were just too busy, too important, with too many obligations. Following Jesus would often be confusing, overwhelming and always costly, much like drinking from a firehose, but so worth it!
“Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me. When I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was one like the Son of Man, dressed in a robe and with a golden sash wrapped around his chest. The hair of his head was white as wool—white as snow—and his eyes like a fiery flame. His feet were like fine bronze as it is fired in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of cascading waters. He had seven stars in his right hand; a sharp double-edged sword came from his mouth, and his face was shining like the sun at full strength.
When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid. I am the First and the Last, and the Living One. I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades.” (Revelation 1:12-18, emphasis mine)
Big Picture Questions for Today:
How are you inclined to respond to Jesus’ invitation to discipleship? Are you too busy doing important things for your family, your work and community to follow Him?
How do you respond when your familiar and accepted theology is challenged by Jesus’ words? With humility, considering that you might be wrong? Or do you double down, finding your security in what you’ve always believed to be true?
Pray for the Lord to give you courage and faith to hear, to listen, to struggle to understand Jesus' sometimes confusing call and follow Him!
