Luke 9:1-9

Transcript

00:00:00:25 – 00:00:26:35
Clint Loveall
And we’re grateful that you join us today as we move into Luke chapter nine. I think you mentioned this yesterday, Michael, kind of a shift of focus for Luke. We had this dramatic story yesterday. The woman who was suffering and the young girl who was dying. A really beautiful story. If you didn’t get a chance to be with us yesterday and didn’t get a chance to watch that.

00:00:26:40 – 00:00:48:39
Clint Loveall
Not because of anything we say about it, but because of the story itself. I think it would be worth going back to pick that up today. Luke really kind of changes direction a little bit, begins to move a little bit more into the public sphere. We’ve had these two very intimate stories and now we get broader pictures of some of the things that are happening out in the world.

00:00:48:42 – 00:01:11:13
Clint Loveall
The first involves the disciples. A fairly short text, but a pretty powerful one. Let me read from chapter nine versus one through six, and then we’ll stop and talk about them a little bit. Then Jesus called the 12 together and gave them power and authority over all demons and cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal.

00:01:11:18 – 00:01:35:51
Clint Loveall
He said to them, Take nothing for your journey. No staff, no bag, no bread, no money, not even an extra tunic, whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there wherever they do not welcome you as you are leaving that town. Shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them. They departed and went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere.

00:01:35:56 – 00:01:57:43
Clint Loveall
So again, this is not unique to Luke. There’s a version of this story in the other Gospels as well. Jesus calls the one of his primary circle of followers and he sends them out and as we saw yesterday, with the idea of Jesus having authority in him, the woman who touches him, and he says power has gone out for me.

00:01:57:48 – 00:02:18:34
Clint Loveall
He now conveys upon the disciples some of his ability, some of his authority, and he tells them some of what that will mean for them. You’ll be able to heal, you’ll be able to cast out demons. In other words, go and proclaim and proclaim here means more because of these words. Then go talk about the kingdom of God.

00:02:18:39 – 00:02:45:24
Clint Loveall
Jesus is literally telling them, Go demonstrate the kingdom. Go be an agent of healing. Go be an agent of good in the face of evil and you don’t need other stuff. Don’t take money. Don’t take extra stuff. You don’t need a bag or food. Be with people. Be a benefactor of their generosity. Stay in houses. If you’re not welcome, don’t stay.

00:02:45:28 – 00:03:11:15
Clint Loveall
But shake the dust off your feet as a testimony. And I think the most amazing thing here, Michael, in some sense, maybe particularly for Luke, in view of the fact that Luke also writes acts, is this sending idea, the idea that these 12 men get sent out to do the things Jesus has been doing, the things that have been remarkable, the things that have amazed people, the things that are astounding.

00:03:11:20 – 00:03:37:55
Clint Loveall
And now we’ve just as we’ve become somewhat comfortable with the idea that Jesus has this power, Jesus now transfers some of that power to these ordinary men who are sent out to do these extraordinary things in his name. And I think because of Luke’s passion for the church and for the mission that he’s going to outline in the Book of Acts, that’s exceptionally important to him here.

00:03:37:57 – 00:03:41:03
Clint Loveall
And I think it’s not something we should overlook.

00:03:41:07 – 00:04:04:51
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, I think that there’s two things to hold in tension in this story. The first is Luke is obviously including this as a emphasis which will be incredibly relevant as the story progresses, as we move to the Book of Acts, the idea of the disciples having been given power and authority. Those are the words that we have in our translation, power and authority.

00:04:04:51 – 00:04:29:31
Michael Gewecke
This is essential for the work that they are beginning now and going to ultimately do on the other side of Pentecost as well. But that said, there is also just an element in which this is integral to the other Gospels accounts of Jesus’s work in ministry. Every gospel has a way of inclu ding the equipping of the disciples.

00:04:29:31 – 00:05:05:27
Michael Gewecke
The reminder that Jesus was not only the Son of God, but He was one who called those around him, who taught them, who empowered them, and then sent them out as his ambassadors, his emissaries to proclaim the kingdom that he was initiating. And here Luke just does this in an incredibly succinct and I think powerful way, because Jesus sends out these disciples with the power and the authority over demons to cure diseases, to claim and proclaim the kingdom of God, to heal those whose bodies are broken.

00:05:05:27 – 00:05:31:42
Michael Gewecke
This is a work of restoration. These disciples are called to go about doing the thing that Jesus has already been doing and of course summarized, you know, the way you led this conversation can’t go back to yesterday’s conversation because in many ways the immediately preceding story summarizes the extent of Jesus’s power and how far he is bringing and pushing this Kingdom of God beyond what anyone had imagined.

00:05:31:42 – 00:05:59:15
Michael Gewecke
No one imagined the kind of power that would heal a woman after 12 years of her physical ailments and a girl 12 years old, brought back from death itself. And yet here Jesus is now sending out his by the way, 12 disciples who are going to be the ones to go out and to do this work. There’s some really interesting things here, including other gospels, but I think relevant the idea, you know, I don’t take more than what you need for that journey.

00:05:59:15 – 00:06:24:15
Michael Gewecke
Don’t take stuff a bag, bread, money, don’t bring in extra tunic. Don’t be moving house to house. Stick with one host. You know, this isn’t about trying to get as many people in the circle as possible. You know, staying at different houses every night, trying to evangelize every house you stay at. No, it’s be grateful and gracious to the people who are your host.

00:06:24:19 – 00:06:46:35
Michael Gewecke
Be the kind of people who don’t ask other people for money and resources, trust that God is going to take care of you. The commentator points out one of the common commentaries that I have points out that we might think of that bag is potentially being carried by other missionary type religious groups where they would ask for money and arms kind of thing.

00:06:46:35 – 00:07:11:10
Michael Gewecke
You know, could you give me money so I can continue the mission? If that’s the case that Jesus is making clear we’re not doing business like other people, we’re not going out trying to spread a religious movement like other movements do. Jesus is making the case you go, you trust God, God’s going to give you the power and authority to do this work, and that’s all that you need, that that’s enough for you to take the journey and to sleep well at night.

00:07:11:15 – 00:07:21:19
Michael Gewecke
And that is the kind of ministry that Jesus calls these 12 to an Ultimately, it will be the story of their ministries as their lives continue on.

00:07:21:32 – 00:07:47:10
Clint Loveall
I think this is a good moment for the disciples, Michael. You know, often in the gospels they are bystanders. Sometimes they are used in the story as examples of people who get it wrong. You know, they fall asleep in the garden. They they say, particularly in Peter’s instance, Peter’s case, they say things that don’t make sense. They miss the point.

00:07:47:15 – 00:08:16:14
Clint Loveall
They’re sometimes slow to understand. And yet here they are, active participants in the sharing of the kingdom. And we did a big piece on the Kingdom of God a week or so ago, and Jesus literally sends them out to be demonstration of the kingdom, of the kind of things what happens in the kingdom lives are changed, people are healed, people are fed.

00:08:16:19 – 00:08:43:16
Clint Loveall
What doesn’t the kingdom need? The kingdom doesn’t need to raise a bunch of money and worry about tomorrow. The Kingdom relies on the power of God. And this is, I think that I can think of off the top of my head. This is as much a celebration of the role of the disciples as anything that I can think of, and particularly in view of the fact that Luke also writes the book of Acts.

00:08:43:21 – 00:09:09:05
Clint Loveall
This is a celebration, and I would say a challenge, a calling to the church, to those of us who follow Jesus. A reminder that we are all sent, that we are all sent out to the world in the power of Christ to demonstrate the kingdom. And in some instances that may be dramatic ways. In other ways it may be less dramatic.

00:09:09:05 – 00:09:47:55
Clint Loveall
But I think Luke loves this language of being sent out and being equipped with power, and that they went, they departed and they went through the villages, bringing good news and curing diseases. In other words, they brought good news and they did good things everywhere they went. And if that could be said about all Christians, if that could even be said about more Christians, that wherever we went, we brought good news and did good things, we would be doing, we would be doing the kingdom work and we’d be doing it well.

00:09:48:00 – 00:10:09:12
Michael Gewecke
So that actually leads to the point I wanted to make. Next year. And let’s just look at verse three here. This is where we begin the read the right is text things that Jesus himself said. And I just want you to note that here he gives them instructions about the journey, right? Take no staff, no bag, bread, money, extra tunic.

00:10:09:27 – 00:10:36:59
Michael Gewecke
Then he gives them this positive instruction wherever you go, when you get there, stay there and then leave from there. But the verse five, wherever you’re not welcomed as you’re leaving that town, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them that is maybe on its surface, just a sentence. Jesus saying, Hey, if they don’t want to listen, don’t waste time, Get out of town, move on to the next city.

00:10:37:13 – 00:11:07:53
Michael Gewecke
It could just be that practical. But I got to say, it strikes me as we read this, there’s something beautiful about how Jesus is teaching his disciples what to do with those who disagree or turn away or have no interest in the faith. And that seems to me like there might be some wisdom for Christians today who who get the sense that when they bring the gospel that there isn’t an ear for it, that people aren’t interested in it.

00:11:07:53 – 00:11:34:08
Michael Gewecke
I think some of the temptation in a very divided, tribalistic kind of cultural moment right now is to think about, you know, insulting the other or making a brash, loud argument. And here, when Jesus tells his disciples what to do in the face of denial, in the face of others, not being compelled by the gospel, he says, Well, just shake the dust off your feet as you leave town.

00:11:34:21 – 00:12:02:04
Michael Gewecke
He doesn’t say strike. He doesn’t say get signs. He doesn’t say, Go pay for Google AdWords. None of that. He says, when you leave, just shake the dust off your feet and move on. There’s something there, I think, about how we behave, how Christians respond to those who aren’t compelled by the gospel message. I think, you know, it maybe in some ways pushes back against some of our cultural moment and our temptation of of what to do in the face of that kind of denial.

00:12:02:04 – 00:12:26:58
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I want to be careful not to insert this into the text, Michael, But I think it also says something about the gospel power because the gospel power is to cure and help heal, not to attack, not even to defend. Yeah, right. You know, the fact that a town turns its back on the gospel, the fact that a town turns its back on the work of Christ is a testimony against it.

00:12:27:12 – 00:12:54:27
Clint Loveall
And that’s enough. It doesn’t there doesn’t need to be more than that, that that town has already done harm to itself and it is not the role of the disciples to punish or to argue or to move on, move on. Their actions are bad enough. Leave them behind and go to the next place and do good. And I think, you know, that’s a wise word.

00:12:54:27 – 00:13:15:41
Clint Loveall
The idea that Jesus isn’t calling the disciples to fight there may be those moments at some point down the road, but they’re not here. This is a mission to go out and share the good news and to do good things and to be examples in demonstrators of the kingdom. And that’s enough that that in itself is more than enough.

00:13:15:41 – 00:13:20:13
Clint Loveall
And when they do that, they’re living up to what Jesus has called them to do.

00:13:20:18 – 00:13:48:07
Michael Gewecke
And we might, you know, make the mistake of thinking that this last sentence is just a throwaway kind of scripture. But I think it’s really helpful that as they go through the villages, they bring the good news and cure diseases everywhere. That is a combination of the two essential elements. I think Luke wants us to know that they bring the good news, which is of course the spreading the knowledge and the awareness of Jesus Christ, who is the Lord.

00:13:48:21 – 00:14:16:39
Michael Gewecke
And then the action that accompanies that is lives made, right, bodies that are broken, healed diseases or diseases. These things are restored by the power working within them. For Luke, I think those two things are key. The Christian life should always be a combination of what we say as that tells others the good news. Right? And by the way, good news should be good news.

00:14:16:39 – 00:14:43:15
Michael Gewecke
It should be. There is a way towards restoration. There is a path for salvation. This is a good message. And when Christians get off the path, we we turn that into a message of judgment against enemies as opposed to a message of invitation to each who might have ears to hear. And then that life of spreading the good news should be accompanied by the real restorative work of Jesus Christ.

00:14:43:15 – 00:15:20:06
Michael Gewecke
And I know that we do think of this miracle loosely. Certainly that’s the way that Luke tells this story. But friends don’t miss the power and possibility and opportunity of that restoration coming through much more. I don’t want to say mundane but human ways. When you make it possible for someone with no food to eat through by way of giving, or you help contribute to someone else’s health care or you contribute to someone else’s sense of well-being, mental health, you know, however you might find the opportunity to this day, this week, this month to serve someone else in Jesus Christ’s name.

00:15:20:20 – 00:15:42:55
Michael Gewecke
That is a small part of the greater kingdom. That’s a restorative action. And the Christian life should have words that reflect Christ and should have actions that reflect Christ’s power. And both of those are a key component of being among the 12. And I think Luke is maybe tipping off a little bit of what the Christian life should look like.

00:15:42:55 – 00:15:55:40
Michael Gewecke
And, you know, it looks like trusting God with what we need for today. It looks like saying the good news of Jesus Christ and it looks like our lives being marked by the kind of power that comes from being a part of the kingdom work in the world.

00:15:55:44 – 00:16:22:57
Clint Loveall
Yeah, and I think that’s very important that the power is not the disciples. You know, it’s interesting that when we get stories of Jesus healing or casting out demons, Luke has given us some elaborate stories. The the demonic acts that were into the herd of pigs just yesterday story which is multilayered and multifaceted. Here we get told that 12 men went out and they cured diseases everywhere.

00:16:23:04 – 00:16:49:37
Clint Loveall
Not a single person is mentioned, not a single story about where that was or what happened. It is Luke’s way of saying. And so they went out and they did Jesus stuff. They went out and they did Kingdom stuff, but it wasn’t about them. They got that power from Jesus. They understand the Kingdom through Jesus and they demonstrate the kingdom through the power that Jesus has, has shared with them that Jesus has offered them.

00:16:49:37 – 00:17:12:22
Clint Loveall
And so the brevity of this story even tells us something about it. And I think I think that matters as we move on here. Chapter nine is is interesting in Luke because it’s kind of about expanding so we have the 12 people, the 12 disciples, they’ve gone out, they’ve done things, they’ve been in various towns, now they’ve cure diseases.

00:17:12:27 – 00:17:38:40
Clint Loveall
Now we get to see this movement kind of rolling. So a lot of these stories in Chapter nine are big stories in here. This next one, we have all the way up to the ruler. We have verse seven, Herod the ruler heard about all that had taken place, and he was perplexed because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead by some that Elijah had appeared in, by others that one of the ancient prophets had arisen.

00:17:38:45 – 00:18:03:04
Clint Loveall
Herod said, John, I beheaded. But who is this about Whom? I hear such things, and he tried to see him. Now, at some level, Michael, I think this is foreshadowing. Herod is going to show up later in the story and and Luke is making sure we know that there’s also a Roman component to this story. There’s a political and an empire component to this story.

00:18:03:09 – 00:18:29:22
Clint Loveall
On the other hand, Jesus, now the notoriety is such that even world rulers are hearing about this and this word perplexed, confused, unsettled. He’s not in this instance, is not too worried about John. He says, I beheaded John, but who is this? And remember, Luke has given us this question before. Who is this that the waves obey him.

00:18:29:27 – 00:18:56:21
Clint Loveall
And they were amazed when he said to the person, get up and walk. Who is this is the question that drives the gospel forward in in Luke. And we hear it now from the lips of a Roman ruler, which is astounding. Now, Herod’s not a person of faith and isn’t going to be a person of faith, but he now echoes the question that Luke has been putting before us in a variety of ways.

00:18:56:25 – 00:19:23:48
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, this is a fascinating turn in the story where we do, I think to your point, clearly it’s a little bit of the glue that holds some of the story together, certainly a building block for some of the things to come. I also think it’s a reminder for us that John the Baptist is now gone, that the prophets are done, that Jesus represents a new chapter in the story of God’s unfolding.

00:19:23:52 – 00:20:02:25
Michael Gewecke
I also think that it’s worth remembering that as it related to John the Baptist Herod had power, and we’re going to see in spades as we’ve seen Jesus’s miraculous power to restore bodies, feed crowds, calm the storm we just had raised from the dead a few times. Now we’re going to see at the end of the story that they’ll Herod may think and has had a successful record of imposing the ultimate punishment death itself, that there is a ruler who he is unable to see.

00:20:02:25 – 00:20:22:40
Michael Gewecke
I can’t think that that’s a mistake in Luke, that language that he tries to see him. It’s not just I don’t think that Herod can’t, like, get to where Jesus is. I think Herod doesn’t understand who Jesus is. He can’t see him and he can’t even touch him. Is the reality the story. But Luke builds it in such a way.

00:20:22:53 – 00:20:57:48
Michael Gewecke
We are reminded Herod is in the story. We’re reminded that Herod has an effective past history of putting down messengers. And of course, Jesus’s power, which we’ve seen building in display, is only going to be magnified greater. Since we know the ending of this story. Obviously, there’s no surprises for for Christians, but when you know that Herod is going to be a part of taking the ultimate punishment from Jesus, you also know that Jesus’s powers are going to be all the more magnified in the resurrection that follows.

00:20:57:48 – 00:21:03:33
Michael Gewecke
And Luke is building the story in such a way that we might see that intensification happening.

00:21:03:37 – 00:21:37:05
Clint Loveall
Yeah, and some of this is setting up either tomorrow or Monday. We’ll look at Peter’s declaration about Jesus. Who do people say that I am? And some of this is Luke foreshadowing that. But if you put this in conversation with with the passage we just read, you have 12 men in this instance who aren’t even named, none of them particularly important, who are going out and demonstrating the gospel, demonstrating the kingdom, preaching the gospel, healing, teaching, serving.

00:21:37:10 – 00:22:12:16
Clint Loveall
And they’re growing in their understanding of Christ, even while the most powerful man in that circle asks Who is this and tries to see him? And I do think maybe Luke positions these stories this way to give us a contrast between the kingdom of that the disciples are demonstrating, which is Don’t take anything with you and don’t use people and don’t need money versus the kingdom Herod represents, which is power and wealth and prestige and authority.

00:22:12:21 – 00:22:26:36
Clint Loveall
And that kingdom doesn’t understand Jesus. You know, that’s very subtle. And maybe that’s more preaching than interpreting. But I think that the contrast of those two stories does kind of help us get there.

00:22:26:36 – 00:22:48:19
Michael Gewecke
Michael Yeah, I agree. And I think, you know, one thing that is worth noting is Luke finds the gospel in the tapestry of all these stories. And so wherever you find yourself in the story, whether it be those disciples or you see yourself tempted by the same thing, is Herod power, prestige, money. I think anyone who’s reflective recognizes that strain of the story within them.

00:22:48:34 – 00:23:05:58
Michael Gewecke
We’ll know that Jesus Christ has come for you and, you know, we’ll we’ll see how that progresses as the story continues. But that said, we’re glad that you’ve been with us today. I hope there’s been something encouraging, challenging in it, and we look forward to continuing with you as we move on to verse ten next time we gather together.

00:23:06:01 – 00:23:06:39
Clint Loveall
Thanks, friends.