On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him.38
And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child.
39 And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him.
40 And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.”
41 Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.”42
While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.
43 And all were astonished at the majesty of God. But while they were all marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples,44
“Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.”
45 But they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, so that they might not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying. 46
An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. 47 But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side
48 and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.”
“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the greatest of them all?”
Jesus was just on the mountaintop, his body shone with dazzling glory and there he spoke about His exodus, His victory
through His death, His giving up of life for the sake of those He loves. He then comes down from that experience and delivers a child from demon possession when the disciples could not cast the demon out…only Jesus could deliver the boy. And the disciples,
with all of this going on, get into an argument about which of THEM was greatest?
I have often wondered how that discussion got started. None of them could help the boy; had they been taking turns
trying to cast the demon out? “Step away Peter, you obviously don’t know what you are doing, I will show you how I did it in Samaria last week!” You would think that failure, the inability to cast out the demon would have been humbling, but it seems
it was just the opposite, a cause for pride and self-grandeur to take center stage.
Before we go all sanctimonious on the disciples, perhaps we should look good and long at ourselves. Have we not had
such conversations with ourselves in our thoughts? Are we not just as guilty as they? Do we not compare ourselves to others and think that at least we are not as bad as they are…at least I don’t do that!
Jesus has been speaking of giving up his life for his people, literally giving himself up for His people, and they
are concerned for pride of place. He was thinking of others, they could think of nothing but themselves and their position of superiority in comparison to one another!
Chapter 9 of Luke is a contrast between light and darkness. Jesus basked in the glory of heaven and the disciples were arguing about their own glory and they were very serious
about it. They were more concerned with THEIR names, with their position, that folks would think them important, or invaluable to God, than they were with the Lord, His cross and their calling and their cross.
The disciples are not just Christians for their era, they are Christians in every era. They are a microcosm of the church, in all their fear, cowardice and questions. We see
within Jesus’ own inner circle, pride, selfishness, and even a vengeful spirit. We will later see utter betrayal and even a sad denial of knowing the One who is life itself. Even the disciples, those who gave up much to follow Jesus, are often bumbling around
in the dark, not sure of what God is doing, and thinking more about themselves than the mission of the Son of God…doesn’t that sound just a tad bit familiar?
We see Christians today bickering, offended that someone doesn’t agree with the way they see things, or understand things. Sadly, it doesn’t take a lot of introspection to see
the same things in ourselves! We see ‘kingdoms’ being built by Christian men and women and we have to wonder whose kingdom is being served? We have Christian superstars…one man was asked what it felt like to be a Christian ‘sex symbol’(is that really a thing???)…and
another preacher said a woman one time came up and asked him to sign her bible! Perhaps we are missing the point?
Jesus is talking about his life and ours; a life of service, a life given up, a life that bears a cross, a life that is emptied of self and we stand around wondering about our
position and how valuable we are to the church, arguing who is greatest…We want to have mattered and we think that will come only as we exalt ourselves, as we set ourselves above others, instead of at the feet of others ready to serve.
It is a very precarious position that we find ourselves in this morning. The fact that the best
of Christians struggle, fall and even get caught up for a time in sin causing them to justify, excuse and ignore their sinful behavior, doesn’t mean that such a person is not truly the Lord’s. The precariousness lies in the fact that this reality cannot and
must not be used as a justification for disobedience.
But at the same time, looking at the disciples is genuine proof that the Christian life is a
journey, a process, during which one who truly loves the Savior can do stupid, proud and foolish things! It is right for us to pity and to condemn the disciples here. We must never excuse, never accept or tolerate behavior like this. But it is also
right for us to sigh and say, “Such is my life too. I must be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.” We Christians are a happy lot and a sad one at the same time, and will be until the Lord takes us Home. If you weren’t both happy
for your salvation and sad for your continuing sin, you wouldn’t be a Christian!
There is something uniquely Christian here. The adherents of other religions and secular faiths do not
mourn their failures as Christians continually do and must do. They are not daily conscious of the fact that they have
not lived worthy of the grace and love they have received from God. But we Christians are and will be until the end of our lives.
And yet, as bumbling as the disciples were, they were used by the Lord to do great things for
His glory. They would become the most influential men of their day and they established the church as the visible presence of God’s kingdom in the world! They are a picture of the reality that you don’t have to be some kind of spiritual giant to serve the
Lord, you just need to be faithful where God has planted you! Just as personal failings, including such moral failings as we see in the disciples, are no excuse for not doing our duty, so they are no impediment to fruitful service. To demonstrate to
us that both our salvation and our usefulness is all of his grace, the Lord chooses to use proud, weak, fools like us to accomplish His will in the world. This is the great mystery of the kingdom of God, but the proof of it may be found everywhere we look!
As one pastor put it: The disciples may have been indeed they were — the living proof that
Jesus had to go to the cross to accomplish the salvation of his people. They were obviously not capable of saving themselves! But they were also the living proof that the Lord’s disciples — weak and foolish as they remained — would and could build the kingdom
of Jesus Christ in the world.
Prayer: Father, I confess my sins to You; my pride, my exaltation of self and the ambitions to stand
above my brothers and sisters instead of bowing low to serve them. I confess that I think too much of myself and not enough of You or others. I abhor these sins that I find in my life and ask that You would go on with Your gracious and sobering work of ridding
these things from my life. I thank you for the pruning work of Your Spirit and give myself to sanctification, to being made holy, that I would be used for the glory of Christ and the purposes of my God, through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Hymn: Come Ye Sinners Poor and Needy
