Lessons the disciples missed

Do you think Jesus ever rolled His eyes at the disciples?  Do you think He ever let go of an exasperated sigh?  I know He was equal to and full of the Holy Spirit, and that the Fruit of the Spirit includes patience, but...He was also fully human, and shared in all of our emotions, didn't He?

The 9th chapter of Luke is a case in point.  In the first five verses, He commissioned the Twelve to go out in His name.

When Jesus had called the Twelve together, He gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and He sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.  He told them, "Take nothing for the journey--no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra tunic.  Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town.  If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave their town, as a testimony against them." --Luke 9:1-5

Pay attention to the phrases that I have emphasized in the passage above, because the rest of Luke 9 contains contrasting images, where these same disciples seemed to forget the commission that Jesus gave them in verse 1.

God will provide
Starting in verse 10, the disciples came back and reported to Jesus what they had done.  Can you imagine the rejoicing? "Master, we had a revival in our town! There were people in church who hadn't been seen near church in decades.  Folks all over the region have confessed their sins, and they all want to follow You."  I bet each disciple had stories, each more amazing than the last.  And those new converts had told all their friends, so a huge crowd began to gather around them.  As the crowd gathered, Jesus began teaching them.

The disciples began to be concerned.  On the one hand, they were concerned with the welfare of the people who had gathered to listen to Jesus' teaching.  On the other hand, they had forgotten the lesson that Jesus had taught them when he sent them out with nothing.  Remember that Jesus had just told them not to worry about what they would take with them on their journey, or what they would eat, or what they would wear.  They were even told not to take any money with them.  The implied promise was that God would provide for their every need.  Maybe the disciples thought the lesson was that they should rely on the goodness of strangers.  Maybe that was why they had taken inventory, and had found the five small loaves and two fish.

Jesus offered a simple prayer of blessing, and broke off pieces until all 5000 plus people there had been fed. The crowd saw this as a miracle.  Why, even the leftovers pieces were far and away more than what they had started with.  But I think Jesus was using this as a message to His disciples.  Didn't I tell you not to take anything with you? Because I will provide.  Bread and fish? That's nothing compared to what I will do through you after I'm gone.  By my power, the twelve of you will change the world!  With your twelve voices, my Word will spread to the entire world.

We must abide
Skipping down to verse 37, the crowds are back the next day.  One man in the crowd gets Jesus' attention, and begs Him to cast a demon out of the man's son.  "A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him." (verse 39).  This was a pretty severe situation, one that needed divine intervention.  But then the man goes on: "I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not." (verse 40).

Wow.  Earlier, hadn't Jesus given them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure all diseases?  Why couldn't the disciples help this poor boy?  Luke doesn't mention it, but a parallel passage in Matthew chapter 17 gives the answer.  "Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, 'Why couldn't we drive it out?'  He replied, 'Because you have so little faith.' "  When Jesus told them they had power over all demons and diseases, they didn't believe it.  They placed limitations on God.  Before we start jeering at them, consider what we would have done in the same situation.  Wouldn't we be a little limiting ourselves?  If my own experience is that I know I can't be like Jesus in my own power, then what would my expectations be if Jesus told me to go and do the impossible? "I'm sure He will be pleased with my effort.  I am only human, after all.  I can only do what I can do."

This same story is told in greater detail in Mark chapter 9.  In that passage, when the disciples asked why they had failed, Jesus responded, "This kind can only come out by prayer and fasting." (Mark 9:29).  So when Jesus asks us to do the impossible, we must pray with all of our hearts--being so caught up in our prayer that food is the last thing on our mind.  This was the lesson that He intended for His disciples to learn from this episode.  John 15:7 says, "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given you."  If we live so close to Him that His words are our words, and His will is our will, then when we pray anything in His name, it will happen.

Lay them aside
Jesus knew when He commissioned the disciples that not everyone would welcome them with open arms.  His instructions included what they should do where they were not welcomed.  He told them to leave that town, and to "shake the dust off their feet."  Symbolically, it was showing that the disciples would not have anything to do with those who rejected Christ.  It was not intended as a curse.  Jesus did not call us to a jihad, to wipe out unbelievers in a Crusade.  He just told them to leave, and to leave the consequences to God.  In the parallel passage in Matthew 10, Jesus told them what would happen to the people who die without accepting Him: "I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town." (Matthew 10:15).

Well, apparently the disciples heard the reference to Sodom and Gomorrah loud and clear, and completely missed the true message.  Luke 9:51-56 tells the story of Jesus steadfastly going to Jerusalem, where He knew He would be arrested and crucified.  He sent some disciples ahead into a Samaritan town, but when the Samaritans found out they were headed to Jerusalem, the townspeople refused to welcome them. James and John, whom Jesus had nicknamed "the Sons of Thunder" asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?" (Luke 9:54).  Jesus stopped and rebuked them (verse 55), and they went to another town to make preparations for the Passover (verse 56).

Sometimes when we want to share the Gospel, that message is rejected.  You may want to share with your family and friends.  In every other area, that friend or family member may share your likes and dislikes, your hopes and dreams, your politics or philosophy of life.  But when you try to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them, they may reject that message--they may even reject you.  The lesson that Jesus wanted to share with His disciples, and with you today, is that sometimes you just have to walk away.  If that person lives long enough, perhaps they will get another chance to hear about Jesus and accept Him as Savior and Lord.  But you don't know that; it is out of your control.  It is not up to us to judge them, to send them to hell.  God is calling them to Himself.  If they do not respond to His invitation to Heaven, then they are choosing to spend eternity separated from Him.  It is not His will that any should perish, so we should continue to pray for that person.  But we cannot make them believe.  And it is not our job to judge them.  We can only love them, like God loves us.

I heard a message on the radio this week about our adoption into God's family.  The speaker was an adopted father himself.  He said he would go beyond telling his adopted son that he loved him; he would always add the words, "forever and always."  His point was to let his son know that under no circumstances would he ever disown the child he chose--no matter what that child did or said.  This father would love the child even when he was unlovely.  How much more does our Father in heaven love us?  How much love did the Son of God show by laying down His life when we were at our most sinful?