Questions answers from Luke 9:37-45...Bible reading week 33, day 3

Today's devotional will be a podcast of a couple questions I got Sunday regarding the sermon covering Luke 9:37-45.  Thank you for filling out those little slips of paper and putting them into the fish bowls.

The first one was kind of an incomplete question that maybe is a clue to how I should try to answer it.  Sometimes I say things that need more explanation because the words don't match up.  The card says, "V.45:  Authority w/out prayer/power?"

I really didn't spend much time on verse 45 which reads,

"But they did not understand this statement; it was concealed from them so that they could not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask Him about it."

The statement is found in verse 44 which reads,

"Let these words sink in:  The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men."

Actually both questions were related to these two verses.  The other question is, "Why were the disciples afraid to ask Jesus about the saying of verse 44?  Fear they didn't understand the saying or fear of Jesus rebuking them?"

I love that those asking the question were connecting the two verses together.  What was concealed from the disciples?  Was it that Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of Man which was a title given in the book of Daniel as an address of the coming Messiah or was it that Jesus concept of Jesus being betrayed by someone?  They had heard Jesus refer to Himself as the Son of Man before.  They had heard the plan of him being rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes.  They had seen some of this already.  They also heard Him say that He would be killed and Peter rebuffed this plan to get a swift rebuke from Jesus.  They also heard that Jesus would rise again on the third day.  The new part was being betrayed.  

Jesus would bring this back up again in the Upper Room at the Last Supper and at that time they did question Him.  "Is it I?" they all asked.  They even were confused when Judas Iscariot left thinking he was going out for more food or maybe taking something to the poor.  They were blindsided by this part of the plan that involved one of them to fulfill the Scriptures about the Messiah.  Actually another statement about not understanding is found in Luke 18:31-34, which says,

Then He took the Twelve aside and told them, "See, we are going to Jerusalem.  Everything that is written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished.  For He will be handed over to the Gentiles, and He will be mocked, insulted, spit on; and after they flog Him, they will kill Him, and He will rise on the third day."  They understood none of these things.  The meaning of the saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

Mary and Joseph had a similar situation when they came looking for 12 year old Jesus was stayed behind.  Luke 2:49 and 50 says,

"Why were you searching for Me?"  He asked them.  "Didn't you know that it was necessary for Me to be in My Father's house?"  But they did not understand what He said to them.

I think this is one of those cases where you could answer Jesus on the particulars of what He said and maybe say it back to Him but to go "ah ha, I get it" was out of the question.  That "ah ha" moment was going to be reserved when Jesus rose from the dead.  Many things would come into view when the risen Lord made His appearance.  

When Jesus speaks to the two on the road to Emmaus who didn't know who He was, it says in Luke 24:25 through 27,

He said to them, "How foolish and slow are you to believe all that the prophets have spoken!  Wasn't it necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and enter into His glory?"  Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted from them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.

There was a time when these things would make sense.  These two even responded after Jesus dramatically left them in verse 32,

They said to each other, "Weren't our hearts burning within us while He was talking with us on the road and explaining the Scriptures to us?"

I would say that part of the plan was to know the plan but not to understand the plan until it was completed.  Soon we will cover that passage of scripture in Zechariah 11 that deals with the amount of 30 pieces of silver for payment and the potter's field that foretells the actions of the betrayer, Judas Iscariot.  

The other part of the question about authority without prayer/power I will wing with the idea that we can have authority or position in our world.  We can hold those positions that have authority bestowed upon them.  We can run on our ability to accomplish things of this world.  We can even do good things that benefit others but there is a limit to what we can do with our own authority and ability.  Jesus is calling for His disciples to acknowledge where the authority and ability were coming from by being in prayer to the One who can do all things.  Good stuff can happen by good people but great stuff happens for God by those who keep in connection with Him, i.e. prayer.  We show a limited power with our own authority and ability but we don't see God's unlimited power without prayer to His given authority and ability.  

My fear is that much in the church happens under our own ability and authority.  We can do many good things and settle for that being enough when God wants to use us to do great things that could only happen because we totally depended on His authority and ability.  Those mountains are moved by a mustard seed faith that is focused on who He is rather than us mustarding up our faith in ourselves and how good we might think that we are.  The disciples in the valley had left off the requirement to seek God before saying the words of God over the demon possessed boy.

Maybe we could make the point too that authority without prayer reverts to grabbing and abusing power to get our way rather than authority with prayer that reverts to a seeing of God's power at work which brings glory to Himself.  I think it is obvious which route we should take.  

Thanks for the questions and always feel free to fill out the yellow "The Big Question" slips or shoot me a text or email.  Let us pray.

"Lord, thank You that You reveal what we need to know when we need to understand it.  Help us to take the rest and acknowledge that it has come from You and for our benefit even though we still see through that glass dimly at this point.  Also, help us to see how much prayer means to the process of others seeing Your great power.  May they be overwhelmed by Your authority and ability rather than what we might be able to do.  Yours can save people.  Ours just puffs us up.  Amen."

Pastor Adam