Luke 9: 49 – 62
Graduate Studies
49 Now John answered and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us.” 50 But Jesus said to him, “Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side.” 51 Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, 52 and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. 53 But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. 54 And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?” 55 But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. 56 For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village. 57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” 59 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.” 61 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
In today’s studies our Wonderful Holy Teacher, our Lord Jesus Christ, Is going to give His disciples some advance courses. In just these 13 verses we are going to see three separate life applications that our Lord wants to drive home to His men. They courses are these;
1. No Monopoly
2. How to handle rejection
3. Professional Expenses
The disciple Mark wrote about situation #1 and Matthew wrote about lesson #3.
Mark 9:38-41, “38 Now John answered Him, saying, “Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me. 40 For he who is not against us is on our side. 41 For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.
Matthew 8:18-22, “18 And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side. 19 Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” 20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” 21 Then another of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
Let’s see if you remember our past study without looking at your bibles, ‘what happened’? Well if you answered that the apostles were in heated arguments over who would be the greatest in God’s kingdom you are correct. Also, if you mentioned about the disciples inability to drive a demon out of a boy you are also thinking about what is happening here in verses 49 and 50.
So, can you see how the first couple of verses fit in perfectly with our Lord’s teaching?
49 Now John answered and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us.” 50 But Jesus said to him, “Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side.”
Our Precious Holy Spirit is So great here. He takes our mistakes and turns them around for us to learn a spiritual truth. You might be saying, ‘How so?’
You remember that while our Lord Jesus Christ was on Mount Harmon displaying His everlasting Glory to Peter, James, and John, back home on the ranch or rather back down the hill the Lord’s other disciples were in heated arguments with religious people because they were unable to cast out a demon from a boy.
As Peter is standing next to the Lord he comments on the first thing the Lord deals with and that is protecting His disciples, so He confronts the Scribes - 16 And He asked the scribes, “What are you discussing with them?”
A man in the crowd speaks up as the one who created all the controversy.
38 Suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, “Teacher, I implore You, look on 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 it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him. 40 So I implored Your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.”
Matthew and Mark give us a little more information relative to this interaction. Matthew writes down - “a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” Mark reports Peter’s observation of this situations – “17 Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. 18 And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.” We see that this man did not just call out to the Lord but came forward and knelt before the Lord.
Now after having arguments with religious people we find that as they all are traveling along the road the mother of James and John beseech the Lord to give her sons the two top positions in His Kingdom.
This action now causes arguments, not between the disciples and unbelievers, but we have fighting now between the same group of the Lord’s followers.
The Holy Ghost uses these interactions to bring into a position where the disciples will have an on the job experience. They came upon some guy who was healing people in the name of Jesus, and was not part of their ‘official’ certified group. The disciples became jealous. Here the ‘A’ team could not cast out ‘a’ demon and they come across a guy who is not ‘ordained’ casting out ‘demons’ in the Lord’s Name. They told him to stop. Wow! Do you see how bad jealously and envy destroys your walk with the Lord.
This guy was doing something good for his fellow man. The apostles thought that they had the monopoly on Christianity. Our Wonderful Jehovah Elyon – The Lord Most High – said ‘not so’. As Peter remembered the Lord said that if anyone does even the slightest thing for others in His Name, even to the point of giving someone a drink of water, that person is on God’s team.
Our Lord had just taught His disciples that if anyone wanted to be the ‘Greatest’ in His Kingdom then that man had to be the lowest of all [servant]. Now our Lord is adding that His close followers are not to think in any way that they have the exclusive path to Him or a future monopoly that they are the only true church of Jesus Christ.
Are you getting something important here? Let me be direct. The Roman Catholic Church and now certain Protestant Denominational churches, you know who they are, also do not have a monopoly on our Lord Jesus Christ.
Just look to China. There is a government sponsored church and then there is the real underground of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ who are not part of any organized bureaucracy.
51 Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem,
Just to keep our thoughts together. We need to remember that Luke came back many years after our Lord Jesus Christ was back in Heaven. He spoke to eyewitnesses and gave his findings in the Gospel that bears his name. We see here that Luke mentions that our Lord Jesus has now set His attention to reach Jerusalem. We then understand this that our Lord was on His final journey to be arrested and then give His life on the cross. What we miss here is that Luke actually skips chronological movements of our Lord. He is interested in getting to our Lord’s amazing sacrifice for us. You see our Lord actually from this point goes up to Jerusalem actually on three separate occasions.
He does want to list for us the Lord’s visit to Samaria because through his investigation he is amazed that people would reject the Messiah especially with all the things He was doing and was greatly impacted in hearing about John and James remarks about destroying the area by fire from heaven.
52 and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. 53 But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. 54 And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?” 55 But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. 56 For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.”
Why did the Samaritans refuse to receive the Lord. The answer is given here but many miss its significance - because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.’ Most Jewish people would avoid going through Samaria to reach Jerusalem. There was bad feelings between these two cultures. The Samaritans had their own Temple on Mount Gerizim. These people did not like the Jewish people going to Jerusalem to worship. So, when we read that our Lord Jesus ‘because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.’ Which the Samaritans were told this bothered them and therefore they would not receive His visit
Have you ever ran across some people who have visited your church and then they let you know that they are then going to their church. How does that make you feel?. I would think you would be a little upset. ‘What’s the matter? Our services are not good enough for you?
Do you see my point?
John and James had been on the Mount when our Lord Was Transfigured before them. They knew who He Was now and here these people reject the Son of God. Well, if you reject God then we will wipe you out. You notice today that the Islamic religion picked up on James and John’s attitude on those who would not receive the message. ‘If you do not convert we will kill you.’ Wow!
If this was the way it worked your churches would be packed but the people would be there for the wrong reasons.
No, our Lord rebukes them. On a side note we are so familiar with our Lord rebuking Peter that we miss out that these two ‘Sons of Thunder’ were also rebuked – poor Peter always taking the biggest hit.
These guys are God’s Representatives who in the near future will be His Ambassadors to the world. They had just heard previously the Lord’s direction in dealing with just this same type of situation. – ‘Love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you. And pray for those who use you badly.’ Hello!
Boy I just got convicted from that point.
Now, we all need to count the cost of what it means to follow Jesus.
And they went to another village. 57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” 59 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.” 61 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
The first man came and offered to follow our Lord Jesus. Please note that Matthew points out to us that he was a Scribe. We cannot skip the amazing answer our Lord gives to this man. We read in Psalm 8 that our El Shaddai – God Almighty – placed man above the animals. Do you catch what He Is saying here? He has chosen to place Himself below the animals, for unlike them who God has provided a home or living spot, He and His disciples do not settle anywhere. Are you listening Pastors? It is God’s call to wherever and whenever He wants to use you. Not some million dollar salary, beach and mountain homes, and all kind of worldly fixtures.
The second group are addressing people who want a solid financial support system before they venture out in their service for the Lord. The man’s father was not dead. He was hoping Jesus would be impressed that he would follow the Lord after certain things happened. The Lord told him to forget that thinking. If you want to come and follow Him, today is the day to forsake all and follow Him. How many people do you know that comes under this category? How about yourselves?
The third man is interesting in that he is almost echoing the same words that Elisha said to Elijah in the book of 1 Kings chapter 19, “19 So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him. 20 And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” 21 So Elisha turned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen’s equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah, and became his servant.
Our Lord answered the man to do the same as Elisha. For Elisha took his plow, slew an ox and followed Elisha. Our Lord told this man also to forsake what was his lively hood and join in with His group of followers right now.
If these three types of advanced courses that our Awesome Holy Spirit has helped you understand more fuller God’s Amazing truth then you have on your internal records 9 continuing education credits. And by the way, have you paid your tuition yet. You want to know how much you owe? Nothing! It has already been paid for you by the One Who taught the course – our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
