Luke 9
Return to The Gospel Of Luke.
Important: This is not a translation or paraphrase, but a story based on Luke 9.
[Note: I have linked some words to www.thefreedictionary.com. In the word pronunciations not found in the dictionary, I have made the vowels with a Long Sound bold while the vowels with a short sound are in normal print. Academic Associate students know that the "u" has 3 long sounds. These sounds are separated from each other with a 1, 2 or 3. Sometimes a vowel does not have a sound in a syllable. In dictionaries this is usually shown with a "ə" but I have chosen simply not to show it since it has no sound. Also, when the "r" says it name instead of its normal sound, I have put it in bold. Academic Associate students, of course, know why and when it says its name instead of its sound.]
Mission For The Twelve
When Jesus had called His twelve disciples together, He gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases. He then sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick with these instructions, “Take nothing for the journey - no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra clothes. Whatever home invites you to stay with them, stay there until you leave the town. If no one invites you to stay in their home, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that their town as a testimony against them.”
So the Twelve set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere.
Herod the tetrach heard about all that was going on. He was confused, because some people were saying that John the Baptist had been raised from the dead, others were claiming that Elijah had re-appeared, and still others were saying that one of the ancient prophets had come back to life. But Herod said, “I beheaded John. Who is this Jesus that I hear such things about?” And he tried to see Him.
Five Thousand Fed
When the twelve disciples, or apostles as they were called, returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then He took them away from the crowds for a quiet time at a town called Bethsaida. But the crowds learned about His plans and followed Him there. Instead of being upset, Jesus welcomed them and taught them about the kingdom of God while healing those who needed healing.
Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to Jesus and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go into the surrounding villages and countryside in order to find food and lodging for themselves. Where we are now is a remote place.”
Jesus replied, “You give them something to eat.”
The disciples were shocked at the idea. They objected, “We only have five loaves of bread and two fish - unless You want us to go and food for all this crowd.” [There were about five thousand men there plus women and children.]
Jesus smiled at their reaction and said calmly, “Have the people sit down in groups of about fifty each.”
The disciples did not understand but they obeyed and had everyone sit down as instructed. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, Jesus gave thanks for the food. Then He broke them into smaller pieces and gave some to each of the disciples to hand out to the people. As they were serving the miracle happened. Everyone ate until they were full. At the end the disciples picked up the leftover food and filled twelve baskets!
Confession Of Faith
Once when Jesus was praying in private and His disciples were with Him, He turned to them and asked, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
They replied, “Same say You are John the Baptist, others say You are Elijah, and some believe You are one of the other ancient prophets come back to life.”
“And what about you?” Jesus asked looking around at them, “Who do you think I am?”
Peter spoke up at once, “The promised Messiah from God!”
Jesus was very pleased with this answer, but He sternly warned them not to tell anyone else Who He was. Then He began to tell them the real mission of the Messiah, “As the Son of Man, I must suffer many things and be rejected by the leaders of the people, the chief priests and teachers of the law. In fact, I must be killed, but on the third day after My death I will be raised to life.”
Then He said to everyone, “If you are going to be My disciples, you must deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will save it. What good is it for a man to own the whole world but lose his soul, the core of who he is? If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words, I will be ashamed of him when I come in My glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. I tell you the truth, some of you listening to Me now will not die until they see the kingdom of heaven come.
Moses And Elijah Visit
About eight days later, Jesus took Peter, John and James with Him and went up a mountain to pray. As He was praying, His face looked different and His clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared shining beside Jesus and talking with Him. They talked of what He was shortly to accomplish at Jerusalem. Peter and the other two had been very sleepy when Jesus started to pray. Now they woke up and say His glory and the two men talking with Him. As Moses and Elijah were leaving Jesus, Peter said to Him, “Master, it is good for us to stay here. Let us build three shelters - one for You, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” [Peter did not understand the implications of what he said.]
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While Peter was still speaking, a cloud appeared and engulfed them. The three disciples were afraid as the cloud swirled around them. A voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My Son, Whom I have chosen. Listen to Him.” After the voice spoke, the cloud disappeared and they were with Jesus alone. The disciples kept what had happened secret. |
The Disciples Fail, Jesus Succeeds
The next day, when Jesus and His 3 disciples came down from the mountain, a large crown met them. A man in the crowd called out, “Teacher, I beg You to help my son, for he is my only child. An evil spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams then it throws him into convulsions and he foams at the mouth. This spirit hardly ever leaves him and is destroying him. I begged Your disciples to drive it out, but they failed.”
“O faithless and unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I be with you and put up with you? You must learn to trust God for yourselves. Bring your son here.”
Even while they were leading the boy to Jesus, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the evil spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. Everyone was amazed at the greatness of God.
While everyone was marveling at all that Jesus did, He drew His disciples apart and said, “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you. The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.”
The disciples were confused by this and when Jesus did not explain further they were afraid to ask questions.
The Argument
An argument started among the disciples. They were debating which one of them would be the greatest when Jesus established His kingdom. Jesus knew what they were doing when they thought He couldn’t hear them. He called His disciples to Him and had a little child stand beside Him. Looking at His disciples, He said, “Whoever welcomes this little child in My name welcomes Me; and whoever welcomes Me, welcomes the One Who send Me. The person among you who is the least is really the greatest.”
John changed the subject, “Master, we saw a man driving out demons in Your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.”
“Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”
Samaritan Opposition
As the time drew near for Jesus to be taken up to heaven, He was determined to go to Jerusalem. He sent out messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for Him. The people did not welcome Him because He was going to Jerusalem and they disliked the Jews. When James and John [whom Jesus had nicknamed the Sons Of Thunder] heard about this, they asked, “Lord, do You want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy them?” But Jesus turned to them and rebuked them for their anger. Then they went to another village.
The Cost Of Following Jesus
As Jesus and His disciples were walking along a road, a man approached Jesus and said, “I will follow You wherever You go.”
Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place of His own to sleep.”
To another man, Jesus said, “Follow Me.”
But the man looking for an excuse said, “Lord, let me wait until my father dies.”
Jesus answered him, “Your father can look after himself, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
Still another made an excuse by saying, “I will follow You, Lord; but first let me go back and and say good-by to my family.”
Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
Go To Luke 10.
Return to The Gospel Of Luke.
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