Luke 10:25-37 Good Sam

Luke 10:25-29 A lawyers asked Jesus what he needs to do to inherit eternal life. Parallel passages in Matt 22:35, Mark12:28, but then go on to other topics. Luke records a different part of the response. Matthew, Mark, and Luke record Jesus' question to the lawyer - you know the answer, what does the Law of Moses say? Insightfully, the lawyer did not respond with the ten commandments, but responded with the great commandments, loving God with all your heart, and loving your neighbor as yourself (Deut 6:5 and Lev 19:18), Jesus responded to Him with Deut 4:1 - do this and you will live - the answer to the lawyer's initial question. Luke is the only one who recorded the follow-up question from the lawyer - who is my neighbor? And Jesus responded with the parable of the Good Samaritan.

         With all of the run-ins Jesus had with scribes, Pharisees, and lawyers, it seems odd that this lawyer actually responded to Jesus with insight. Perhaps He had been following Jesus' teachings and recognized that Jesus was saying something new - that the love of God transcended the law. Perhaps after working as a lawyer, he realized that the law could not save or bring eternal life, but only condemnation and death. In any event, Jesus thought highly enough of him that He gave one of the great teaching parables that even those who do not believe in Christ still know and recognize as a great teaching.

Luke 10:30-37 Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. So much has been written on this that there is little I could say that would give insight. Perhaps it was just one more episode in Jesus' exposition on the inadequacy of the legalistic religion of the priests and Levites. In modern times, besides the innumerable hospitals named 'Good Sam', the conviction of people that they need to stop to help stranded motorists or hitchhikers is probably a result of this teaching.

         Why does this parable touch us so profoundly? Perhaps it is because deep down, we feel that this is how God should be, and this is how people who reverence God should act (like the Samaritan, not the priest or the Levite). We connect because this is how God made us. And that should tell us something about the teachings of Christ.   

Luke 10:17-24 Jesus rejoices

Luke 10:17-24 Jesus responds to the results of the ministry of the seventy. The first observation is a perception He had of the results in the spiritual kingdom of their ministry. He was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. It is hard to tell exactly what He was referring to here. The actual casting of Satan out of heaven is recorded later (Rev 12:7-9), but even the timing of that is difficult to discern. In some eternal sense, it may be outside of time, or it may be that Satan was cast from eternity into the space-time continuum, whenever that happened. Or perhaps Jesus was speaking metaphorically, that He foresaw that through the church's ministry Satan would be defeated. Nevertheless, He cautioned His followers not to rejoice in their power over demons, even though it was a cause for Him to rejoice, but to rejoice that their names are recorded in heaven.

         Jesus then went on to rejoice in the Holy Spirit. He rejoiced that God's plan was working, that the simple and the naive were able to triumph over the evil, and that He was in the midst of fulfilling and implementing God's plan. Then He tried to explain to His disciples how blessed they were at this moment, because the entire Old Testament pointed to and led up to this moment, and longed to see His day, and they were the ones who were there to witness it. This is very similar to a passage told in the context of parables that Jesus explained privately to His disciples. (Matt 13:16-17)

         One aspect of the innumerable Old Testament prophecies concerning Jesus' coming was the mystery surrounding how this would be possible. The messianic aspect of prophecy was to some extent understandable - the Christ would be a great deliverer like Moses or perhaps like the Maccabees. But how could God live among them and talk to them without destroying them, as was the warning to Moses? (Exodus 33:20) That God could somehow take on flesh was possible through the miracle of the incarnation, which although prophesied, had no Old Testament foreshadowing. And what would God be like when He was in the flesh? Their concept of the presence of God was conditioned by the experience of Moses in the Tabernacle in the wilderness, in which a column of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night indicated God's presence. And there was a complete revelation of truth and life through the words of Jesus. The disciples were truly blessed beyond all Old Testament prophets.

Luke 10:1-16 Twelve become seventy - woe to those who won't listen

Luke 10:1-16 The beginning of chapter 9 records the sending out of the twelve. Here we have seventy others that Jesus sends out. The instructions are very similar, but more is added. When they enter a house, say first 'Peace be to this house (10:5) and if a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him, if not, it will return to you (10:6). The seventy had not yet received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, so peace is not a euphemism for the Holy Spirit, it seems to be more of a place-holder. To the extent that the Holy Spirit could be with a person but not in them prior to Calvary, Jesus was saying they should share His presence with His followers with those whose houses they enter. And if the man of the house receives that presence, it will rest on him. If not, it will return to them. Presumably this means they will recognize it.

         Jesus then goes on to pronounce woes on the cities that will not receive the gospel. It is intriguing that in this case it is cities corporately, and not individuals, that are going to experience consequences of rejecting the kingdom of God. He singles out Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. We don't really know what happened there, because Jesus says this before the seventy go out. But the implication is that rejection of Jesus is rejection of God, and rejection of God will bring disaster. Perhaps we can see this as divine judgment, but Jesus refers to Tyre and Sidon as examples of cities that did experience disaster. Curiously, He did not cite Sodom, which is a city that God directly judged for their sin. I am not sure about Sidon, but Tyre's downfall was pronounced in Ezekiel 26 & 28. It was destroyed by the armies of Alexander the Great in 332 BC. This was subsequent to Nebuchadnezzar's attack on it in 573 BC when he destroyed the city on the mainland but the inhabitants established themselves on an island fortress where they continued to live. After 332 BC, although people later came and built a city they called Tyre, it was no longer the dominant seaport of the eastern Mediterranean. Interestingly Hiram of Tyre had worked with David (2 Sam 5:11) and Solomon (I Kings 5:1, 9:11-12) on various projects, but by the time of Nebuchadnezzar, Tyre had rejected cooperation in favor of competition. They became so successful that they mistook themselves for God (Ezekiel 28:1).  Sadly, this judgment appears to have been not so much God's direct judgment, as happened to Sodom, but with the removal of God's blessing, the world came and swept them away.

         The downfall of Sidon was also prophesied (Ezekiel 28:20-24). Recall that Ahab's wife Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal the Sidonian king. (I Kings 16:31) Sidon was conquered numerous times over the centuries preceding Christ, with the most notable conquest being by Artaxerxes in 351 BC. In 333 BC, Alexander the Great conquered it, but evidence suggests that they surrendered and welcomed Alexander, even though their culture was fundamentally changed to be Hellenistic. It survived all these conquests as a city and in fact continues to this day. It is however a poor backwater, no longer one of the preeminent port cities of that region.

         And so Jesus is telling the seventy that the ones who listens to them will receive Him and His Father. And the ones who will not listen to them are also rejecting Him and His Father. And the end result will be worse than what happened to Tyre and Sidon.

Luke 9:57-62 The cost of discipleship

Luke 9:57-62 Parallel passage in Matthew 8:19-22. In this section, we have three specific responses of Jesus to people who said they wanted to follow Him. First, He pointed out that He did not have a home on earth. Second, He said that proclaiming the kingdom of God is more important than tending to family matters such as burying one's father. Third, He said that anyone who looks back to his family, even to say goodbye, after he has put his hand to the plow, is not fit for the kingdom of God. This is a hard passage.

         The reference to not having a house was foreshadowed in Jeremiah 35:7-9 when the Rechabites vowed to live in tents all of their lives. Similarly, the statement about saying goodbye to one's family refers back to I Kings 19:19-21 in which Elijah called Elisha to follow him. Elisha wanted to kiss his parents goodbye and Elijah said he would have nothing to do with him. So Elisha sacrificed the oxen he was plowing with and immediately went to follow Elijah. The statement about burying one's father seems contrary to Old Testament precedent, which set high value on filial piety and respect.

         The point of all this is that Jesus was saying that while family duties may be important, obeying the Father is more important. This may require having no fixed dwelling, perhaps even sleeping in tents. However, the Rechabites lived in tents because their father had commanded them - it wasn't even a direct command of God. If they would do that, we should be prepared to do so in order to serve The Lord in the way He commands, if that is what He commands. The spiritually dead can bury their dead, without hope perhaps, but the important thing is to proclaim that in the kingdom of God, there is eternal life. It is verse 62 that is the most challenging. The reference to Elisha suggests again that God's kingdom has such a high priority that saying goodbye to parents suggests that we really are stalling or that we value them over God. Not that parenthood is unimportant, but that for adults, there comes a time to cut the cord. If we value an inheritance we may get from our parents when they die, we have an unhealthy value on the things of the world. Since Elisha was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, we can infer his family was wealthy. Elijah offered him the hope for his soul - to let go of his family inheritance, probably very hard to do by worldly values, and embrace the kingdom of God.

         Worldly values are very deceptive and hard to keep from overtaking us. Wealth in itself is neither good nor bad, but when our hearts are captured by it, they are no longer in tune with God's kingdom. This is the bottom line on what Jesus is saying.

Luke 9:49-56 Grace outside our own little circle - discerning spirits

Luke 9:49-56 The disciples need to learn the true nature of God - His desire to save and to offer grace to those who reject Him. Two incidents occur that Jesus uses to show the disciples aspects of His kingdom. In Luke 9:49-50 (paralleled in Mark 9:38-40) the disciples' response to someone who is outside the twelve but is nonetheless casting out demons in Jesus' name is to try to hinder him. Jesus' response is recorded by Luke as 'Don't hinder him because whoever is not against you is for you.' Mark records this plus and additional comment that no one who performs a miracle in His name is able afterwards to speak evil of Him.

         Speculation about who this person was or how he was able to exercise authority in Jesus' name is pointless because we have no other information. But for us the question is how we react to the actions of others who are not in our crowd but are doing things in Jesus' name. We might call them cults or perhaps say their ministry is unhealthy because that person is focusing too much attention on himself, or perhaps he is working outside of the church altogether and operating as a lone wolf ... there are many different things we might disapprove of in others' ministries. But Jesus response seems to be if that person is not against you, and is ministering in His name, then do not hinder him. We may not be privy to everything that God is doing through all sorts of different people.

         The second incident occurs when Jesus tries to go through Samaria on His way to Jerusalem. En route, he sends messengers ahead to a village, but they would not receive Him because He had set His face towards Jerusalem. The disciples wanted to call fire down from heaven as Elijah had done (2 Kings 1:10-12), but Jesus rebuked His disciples because the Son of Man (Him) did not come to destroy but to save. He also warned them that they did not know what spirit they were speaking from. The heart of God was what the disciples were missing. Even though Jesus had displayed to them what His heart looked like in action, they were not yet getting it. They had not yet learned to discern spiritual sources, although their reaction may have been purely from the flesh, but Jesus didn't think so. When we encounter opposition, our reaction needs to follow Jesus' advice in Luke 6:27 & 35.

Luke 9:43-48 Like little children

Luke 9:43-45 Jesus tells His disciples that He is going to be delivered into the hands of men. This passage is paralleled in Matt 17:22-23 and Mark 9:30-32. In a sense, this is just revisiting the earlier discussion in Luke 9:21-22. Luke notes that at this time the disciples did not understand what He said, it was concealed from them, and they were afraid to ask Him about it. Perhaps this was just denial - how could such a good man, demonstrating the power of God, be arrested and executed by human authorities?

Luke 9:46-48 Jesus explains that the least is the greatest. Parallel passage in Matt 18:11-5. An object lesson in humility that even the disciples could understand. Jesus stood a child in front of them, no doubt put His arm around the child, and told them that whoever received a child in His name received Him, and thereby the One who sent Him. So that the one who is greatest is the most humble, and the one who thinks he is the greatest is the least of all, in God's eyes. Matthew adds that this is what the kingdom of heaven is like.

         What is it about children that God approves of? Little children tend to be selfish and self-centered. Well-raised children curb these tendencies through self-discipline, but that is making them more like adults. Most likely there are two aspects that shape this metaphor. Firstly, we tend to overlook the faults in children because we recognize that they haven't had time to learn right from wrong, or learn to be good, or whatever. We give them grace, yet at the same time we attempt to teach and disciple children (at least our own children) to behave in ways that we think are proper. And so God deals with us. Secondly there is the aspect that children tend to receive whatever is given to them as gift, and unless they are incredibly spoiled, are grateful for it. To a child, the entire world is a magical place, filled with wonderful things, and they are often surprised by what they receive from it.

         But the aspect of humility that the disciples really needed to learn (which will surface again in Luke 22:4) was that in God's kingdom, greatness is inextricably bound up with service. In the world, the great are served by those who are oppressed by them, or those who are cozying up to them, or those who are in league with them. But without exception, the great are served. Not so in God's kingdom. Everyone from Brother Lawrence to Jesus Christ who has stature in God's kingdom is noted for the service they perform for others. 

Luke 9:37-42 Fasting and Newt's eyes

Luke 9:37-42 Jesus casts a demon out of a child who is having a grand mal seizure. Parallel passages in Matthew 17:14-21 and Mark 9:14-29. We would today say the child has epilepsy or possibly is autistic, both of which have physical causes. Are we to interpret the need for exorcism as a superstitious misunderstanding? And yet, when Jesus rebuked the demon, it left, and the child was healed. We can only accept, in faith, that not all seizures of this type have physical roots and in this case the cause was spiritual. How the demon came to control this child we do not have any information. We are told that the disciples tried unsuccessfully to cast it out and when Jesus rebuked it, it first threw the boy on the ground in a convulsive fit before it left.

         The part that Matthew & Mark add, but is not included in Luke, is the discussion between Jesus and the disciples about why they were unsuccessful in trying to cast it out. Jesus explained to them that this kind of demon would only come out with prayer and fasting. There is a note in some translations that some early manuscripts omit Matt 17:21 and that the words 'and fasting' are not found in all early version of Mark 9:29. What does this tell us?

         I think the point here is that in dealing with unclean spirits, the role of fasting is hotly contested. At this point in the disciples' spiritual development, they were not continuously anointed with the Holy Spirit and power so even though Jesus had given them authority over unclean spirits earlier (Luke 9:1), they weren't always able to exercise it. This limitation in part had to do with the quality of their spiritual relationship with God the Holy Spirit. He was at that time with them but not in them. (John 14:17) But even more, their hearts were not necessarily continuously attuned to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. This is where the role of fasting most likely comes in. Fasting is not some magic practice like an incantation or a witch's concoction of newt's eyes that gives a person a special power like in a Harry Potter book. Fasting is a discipline whose primary purpose is to enable the individual believer's heart and soul to focus on and tune to the whispering of the Holy Spirit. Jesus told them that He only did what He saw the Father doing (John 5:19), and the Holy Spirit is the means by which both Jesus and we discern what the Father is doing.

         The bottom line on this is that casting out demons is not simply some words said according to a pattern shown in the Bible, claiming the authority of Christ. It requires the one exercising that authority to be fully attuned to the Holy Spirit and become, in effect, an instrument through which the Holy Spirit flows. It involves surrendering autonomy because it is God who is doing the work. Perhaps the best analogy would be like a court clerk who is delivering an eviction notice to a tenant. The clerk who delivers the notice doesn't actually force the tenant to leave, but tells him to leave with the understanding that the police will be along on a given date to enforce it physically if he doesn't leave. And so for the clerk's words to have effect (in most cases they are printed in a document) it must be the precise language that the judge has approve so there can be no quibbling later about authority.