In this video, Clint Loveall and Michael Gewecke continue their study of the Gospel of Luke. They discuss the disciples’ concern about betrayal and their argument about who among them is the greatest. Clint and Michael explore the themes of service and humility in light of Jesus’ teachings. They also reflect on the disciples’ human flaws and how they relate to our own struggles. Join them as they delve into the rich narrative of Luke’s Gospel and uncover its timeless lessons for discipleship.
Subscribe to our channel for more insightful discussions on biblical texts and Christian teachings.
Thank you for joining us, we sincerely help that this study encourages you in your understanding of the Bible. Please be sure to share this with anyone who you think might be interested in joining us. If you want to subscribe for future episodes, go to our website pastortalk.co.
Pastor Talk Quick Links:
- Learn more about the Pastor Talk series and view our previous studies at https://pastortalk.co
- Subscribe to get the Pastor Talk episodes via podcast, email and much more! https://pastortalk.co#subscribe
- Questions or ideas? Connect with us! https://pastortalk.co#connect
- Interested in joining us for worship on Sunday at 8:50
Transcript
00:00:00:27 – 00:00:28:50
Clint Loveall
Hey, everybody. Thanks for being with us. We continue through the Gospel of Luke today on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, which I think is fitting. Not maybe not exact, but not bad. As we move into the 24th verse of the 22nd chapter. Just a quick reminder. Yesterday, we saw Jesus meet with his disciples at what we call the Last Supper.
00:00:28:55 – 00:00:52:34
Clint Loveall
And Luke ends with this idea that Jesus predicts his betrayal. And then this. Literally, I’ll just read it to you. Then they began to ask one another, which one of them it could be who would do this? And we’ll come back to that as we debrief our next passage here, starting in verse 24. So let me read a couple of versus.
00:00:52:39 – 00:01:17:00
Clint Loveall
A dispute arose among them as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest. But Jesus said to them, The kings of the Gentiles lorded over them. Those in authority over are called benefactors. Not so with you. Rather, the greatest among you must become like the younger and the leader, like the one who serves for who is greater.
00:01:17:00 – 00:01:39:07
Clint Loveall
The one who is at the table or the one who serves. It’s not the one at the table, is it? Not the one at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves you. Are those who have stood by me and my trials. And I confer on you just as my father conferred on me. A kingdom so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom.
00:01:39:12 – 00:02:09:43
Clint Loveall
And you will sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. What I think is fascinating about this text, sometimes the most interesting, the most interesting questions of Scripture are raised by the words that aren’t there. And so this bridge between yesterday sitting with Jesus, dipping their their bread in the dish, asking who is it that’s going to be the betrayer?
00:02:09:43 – 00:02:29:55
Clint Loveall
And we get less of it in Luke. But in the other gospels, you get a sense like they’re a little bit worried that each of them worry that it might be them. Luke doesn’t really do that. But then Luke takes us to the very next thing. A dispute arose among them as to which of them should be called the greatest.
00:02:29:56 – 00:02:51:14
Clint Loveall
And that is a very fascinating bridge in the silence between those two texts that they they start with an argument about, or at least a discussion, a worry about who it is, who’s going to betray him. And then you can almost hear it. Well, it wouldn’t be me, because I’m I’m. I’m the third best. Well, won’t be me.
00:02:51:14 – 00:03:19:06
Clint Loveall
I’m the first. But way. You’re not the best. I’m the best. He likes me more than you. And how quickly it. It devolves from soul searching to grandstanding. And I just think that is a masterful transition. I think without saying a word, Luke just paints the absurdity of this picture with nothing else than just putting these two stories next to each other.
00:03:19:06 – 00:03:41:58
Clint Loveall
And so the the gospel then presents us with this moment where the disciples kind of give in to their ego and they’re trying to rank order themselves according to who they believe is the best disciple, which is a very almost comedic presentation.
00:03:42:03 – 00:04:20:25
Michael Gewecke
Well, yeah, it is because of the weight of the scene that we just had before Jesus turning to the table, giving us the liturgy, the story, the practice of the Lord’s table. This is a high point in any Gospels account of Jesus’s life, because it’s a thing that the disciples who receive this letter, much as we the disciples who received this letter again today, we can place in our own lives the practice of that table that the coming together for communion is a thing that we’ve all experienced if we’ve been people in the faith.
00:04:20:25 – 00:04:58:57
Michael Gewecke
And so there’s an immediately a connection to that place. What I think is so striking is now Luke is going to move on. And in the context of that feast and by the way, that’s not universal in every gospel. Matthew tells this story, Mark tells this story, and they put it at different places in Jesus’s life, the kind of disputes happening between the disciples over whose greatest what Luke has accomplished in recording this way for us is that we can see that though the disciples may not all be betrayers, in fact, there’s only one of those clan.
00:04:59:02 – 00:05:36:50
Michael Gewecke
All of them are yet still falling into the trap and temptation of fighting over primacy. Those who’s going to be considered most important in the circle and that kind of concern Jesus literally calls out as being a concern of the kings of the Gentiles, who Lord over others, the power that they’ve been given. And Jesus goes on to make the case that it is the greatest, who will be the one who serves, and the least will be made the greatest that that’s the that’s the kind of thing that we see elsewhere in the Gospels.
00:05:36:50 – 00:06:17:47
Michael Gewecke
But here what it stands to accomplish, I think, is to remind us moving forward, all generations of disciples, that service is the fundamental lesson of the table, that what you learn when you come to communion is that your life is called to be one of self-giving just like Jesus is. Life is one of self-giving. And so I think that this story begins to help us frame the fact that not only are the disciples all clamoring to sort of assure themselves that they’re fine, but also I think it’s a lesson as to what the Kingdom of God will look like for those who partake of Christ Cup, those who eat of that bread, those are the
00:06:17:47 – 00:06:24:13
Michael Gewecke
ones who are going to be called servants. And this is Luke teaching us this through Jesus’s own teaching.
00:06:24:18 – 00:07:05:40
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I’m not sure whether this is Luke’s intention, but when we encounter the story this late and we hear Jesus say, I’m among you as the one who serves on the cusp of the the stories of betrayal, of abuse, and ultimately of crucifixion and death, I am the one among who among you who serves. I am among you as the one who serves that that sentence, that phrase hangs over everything else that’s left in the story, in maybe a way that’s less obvious when the disciples are on the road from Village to village in the other gospels.
00:07:05:40 – 00:07:30:54
Clint Loveall
I think by having that here, it just makes it sort of stand out as prominent and we we get a better sense of of what that means and how it is that Jesus lives that out. And then we have kind of an odd verse. I confer upon you a kingdom that you may eat and drink and that you will sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.
00:07:30:59 – 00:08:01:55
Clint Loveall
This language or this imageries picked up in the Book of Revelation, the idea that the disciples, though they are of no worldly importance, are of tremendous spiritual import, and that’s, you know, to some extent that’s Luke looking down the road. There’s not a lot of indication of that yet, but it is, you know, in keeping with the unfolding story of the church to to celebrate what the disciples aren’t yet.
00:08:02:00 – 00:08:10:27
Clint Loveall
But will one day live into being. And so I think, you know, kind of a nice touch from Luke.
00:08:10:31 – 00:08:53:10
Michael Gewecke
I think that modern day Protestants probably maybe undervalue. I don’t know if you would agree with that, but I don’t know that we put a very high value on the disciples as characters. I mean, I think most of us know of Peter. I think we we would be conversant with someone like John, but what I think is really important to recognize is that not only did these men follow Jesus and consistently are they shown in the Gospels as missing the core teachings of Jesus of His Messiah ship His Lordship, until finally they come along.
00:08:53:15 – 00:09:22:46
Michael Gewecke
We’re not even to, you know, Peter’s betrayal and these kinds of things like these disciples were in the thick of it with Jesus, and then they became a driving force and passion, an eloquent, a a timeless force advocating for the gospel on the other side of Jesus death and resurrection. And I think there is a way in which a text like this looks ahead.
00:09:22:51 – 00:09:56:22
Michael Gewecke
It points us to the second book of Luke, which is acts. But there’s also within this the recognition that though the disciples are fully human, they get it far less often in the Gospels than we might imagine that they do. They misunderstood and or they they have misplaced priorities. Regardless of that, these are indeed going to be the ones who every living Christian today could ultimately trace our faith to that.
00:09:56:36 – 00:10:35:35
Michael Gewecke
The work, the the theological sort of commitment of these disciples. And I think, you know, we owe a debt of gratitude to those who ultimately, at the end of the day, did indeed serve as they were served by Jesus Christ. And, you know, we’re not going to put a lot of time into that as Protestants. But it’s worth finding in that a source of inspiration and a reminder that that’s to our calling to ensure that, like the earliest disciples did, hand on the faith, our job too, is to pass on the faith so that others after us might know it as well.
00:10:35:40 – 00:11:09:18
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I think it’s fair to say, Michael, that the disciples in the Gospels are sort of presented with their potential. And interestingly enough, that potential goes to ways you know, and maybe that’s best encapsulated with a disciple, the disciple Peter, who, you know, Jesus calls the rock and a building the church on you and the gates of hell won’t prevail against it, but then says, Get behind me, Satan.
00:11:09:23 – 00:11:36:47
Clint Loveall
And we move into another one of those stories here, just a few verses. Let me read through this. Simon. Simon, listen, Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I’ve prayed for you that your own faith may not fail. And you, when once you have turned back strength in your brothers. And he said to him, Lord, I’m ready to go with you to prison in death.
00:11:36:52 – 00:12:11:31
Clint Loveall
But Jesus said, I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day until you have denied three times that you know me. And this is one of the, I think, most human moments in regard to the disciples story. I mean, again, we know where this is headed, but the disconnect between Simon Peter’s confidence and and his expressed faith and what will ultimately be a breakdown where he gives in to fear.
00:12:11:31 – 00:12:35:15
Clint Loveall
And some of that is is our way of remembering that. I think as you you know, as you pointed out alluded to, that these aren’t simply characters in the story. These are real people. These are real men struggling with real issues. One of them’s going to betray Jesus. We just learned that another is going to deny Jesus.
00:12:35:20 – 00:13:02:15
Clint Loveall
Some of that is what it means to be the Messiah to face broken this alone and to be abandoned. But some of that is just a tale of the human heart. And as we are confronted with that, we’re reminded that those themes run through all of our own stories as well. And so we’ll come back to this story more when Luke tells us how it happens.
00:13:02:20 – 00:13:25:05
Clint Loveall
Right now it is a prediction, but, you know, the disciples cover interesting ground in these three texts that Luke has given us, which one of us is going to betray him, which one of us is greatest, and I will die. I will die with you. Jesus. No, you won’t even admit that you know me by the time the rooster crows.
00:13:25:10 – 00:14:05:46
Clint Loveall
It’s. It’s fascinating. It’s fascinating territory for modern day disciples. For those of us who call ourselves disciples to. To think about the ways in which those kind of stories overlap our own. The gospel doesn’t have a a plethora. There’s not an abundant source of stories where the disciples get it right. Mostly they they don’t quite live up to their calling in Luke and in acts, maybe that changes a little bit, but I think this this takes us over some interesting ground, Michael, and leaves us, I think with a lot to think about.
00:14:05:51 – 00:14:33:15
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, I think Clint just to name here on the front end, I don’t know that we should read too much into this language of Satan has demanded or Satan has been given permission to sift you like we. I do think that there’s certainly a biblical tradition of evil being a reality, being a part of the churches fight because the Kingdom of God is coming.
00:14:33:19 – 00:15:00:57
Michael Gewecke
But it is a kingdom that is set against the kingdom of the world. The principalities and powers this language that we’ll have later in the New Testament. I certainly do think here this idea that there is an evil force even working amidst the the inner circle helps us to understand the different kinds of betrayal happening to these disciples, to the earliest generation of the church.
00:15:00:57 – 00:15:29:40
Michael Gewecke
You have Judas who’s going to betray Jesus for money. You’re going to have Peter, who’s going to betray Jesus for his own sense of identity and safety and all of the things connected to that. And you have the other disciples who, quite frankly, are betraying Jesus, His mission by their desire to make it about themselves and their own power, as opposed to the proclamation of God’s freedom for the last and the least, which Luke has made clear to us has was a core of Jesus’s teachings.
00:15:29:40 – 00:15:55:17
Michael Gewecke
So I think what we’re getting here is both a glimpse into that upper room, right? That that closed door meeting in which the disciples are given this great gift of the Passover meal, the Lord’s table, what we call communion. And at that moment is all of the human stuff happening simultaneously. And then, you know, I’m encouraged by the end of this text.
00:15:55:17 – 00:16:23:31
Michael Gewecke
Clint, where Jesus says exactly to Peter, what is going to happen? You will deny me three times that you know me. That’s a kind of I think, although it’s disturbing to to know of that betrayal, I argue that it’s comforting to hear Jesus say, this is what’s going to happen. It’s already written. It’s fine. Know that it know that I’m going to be with you, that the plan is going to happen even amidst your failure.
00:16:23:31 – 00:16:50:16
Michael Gewecke
Peter I think Jesus is in naming this, both providing for us the assurance that it’s covered in God’s providential will and also the awareness that Jesus is working with His disciples, full flesh and blood, humans who are beset by the same lack of faith, the same struggle with their circumstances that we are. And I think there’s something very approachable in that, and there’s also something very comforting in that.
00:16:50:29 – 00:17:17:57
Clint Loveall
Yeah, and I’m not sure I’ve ever been I don’t know if I’ve dismissed it or if I’ve never been struck with it in the same way. It’s fascinating that this comes on the heels of them arguing about who’s the greatest, you know, So you have which one of us is the greatest and perhaps making their cases. And and what we know of Peter from the gospel makes it seem very likely that he’s engaged in that conversation.
00:17:18:01 – 00:17:42:35
Clint Loveall
And then to have, you know, the rug pulled out from under him as Jesus confronts him with the reality that he he’s not what he thinks he is, they’ll soon learn that Jesus isn’t who they think he is. But but part of that painful learning for Peter will also be that he’s not going to be who he thinks he is.
00:17:42:35 – 00:18:15:01
Clint Loveall
He’s not the story he tells himself. He’s not the great disciple that will die with Jesus. That that it’s now that the reality is is far deeper, more broken and cloudier than that. And again, as we read those stories, the hope is that they connect in a way that that tells us that’s also our story. But until until they aren’t the greatest, they can’t understand who Jesus is.
00:18:15:01 – 00:18:41:35
Clint Loveall
Until they face their own betrayals and denials, they can’t appreciate what Jesus has done. And so that’s unfortunately a kind of interwoven part of the human story is that we have to get ourself off of the pedestal and out of the center before we can put Jesus there. And again, I think Luke has done a beautiful job of helping us do that in the way that he arranges these texts.
00:18:41:40 – 00:19:04:46
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, that’s well said. And I think that’s a great final note for us here today. We are grateful to have you spend your time with us today. It means a great deal to us that you would spend this time studying scripture. We hope it’s been helpful. If it has, give it a light that helps others find it. If you would like to stick with us as we continue on through the rising climax here in Luke, we would love to have you join us.
00:19:04:46 – 00:19:09:28
Michael Gewecke
Subscribe for more content just like this. And friends, of course, until we see you again, be blessed.
00:19:09:36 – 00:19:10:26
Clint Loveall
Thanks everybody.