Doubts and Fears

Luke 9:37-50

A Boy Is Healed

37 Now it happened on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, that a great multitude met Him. 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."

41 Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here." 42 And as he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him. Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father.

Jesus Again Predicts His Death

43 And they were all amazed at the majesty of God.

But while everyone marveled at all the things which Jesus did, He said to His disciples, 44 "Let these words sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men." 45 But they did not understand this saying, and it was hidden from them so that they did not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this saying.

Who Is the Greatest?

46 Then a dispute arose among them as to which of them would be greatest. 47 And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and set him by Him, 48 and said to them, "Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me. For he who is least among you all will be great."

Jesus Forbids Sectarianism

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."

There was a man with a possessed boy who was abused by the demon spirit which put the lad into convulsions like an epileptic.  The fearful father pushed through the crowd to get to Jesus so he could beg for the Master to evict the unwelcome squatter from his only child.  The disciples were unable to cast the demon aside and Jesus did instead as He also explained to the twelve in Mark 9:28-29 that they needed to pray more before attempting this, likely because they were not exercising trust in God’s power but relying on their own to command the spirit to leave.  It was a question of divine authority over the fallen angels (Luke 10:17, Revelation 12:9) and not their abilities that was the hindrance.  Jesus spoke to the crowd also about casting out their demons as a lack of faith to only desire His healing of their bodies and nothing more for their souls.  Their doubts and fears kept faith at bay along with true healing as Isaiah 53:5-6 was explained in 1 Peter 2:24 for us all to hear and that the physical healing by His suffering for us was not the end goal to pursue, but reconciliation with God in the Messiah Jesus Christ our Lord by healing our sin-ridden souls.  When Jesus then tried to explain His imminent atoning suffering and death by piercing as foretold by Isaiah, they could not understand what this betrayal and crucifying meant.  His words were told to sink down into their ears but the truth was still hidden from them in God’s providential plan.  Their fear kept them from asking further to have the truth revealed and they simply kept silent instead.  May we be faithful to ask the Lord for understanding of the hard sayings which we encounter in hearing and reading scripture instead of keeping silent as the twelve.  May we trust His Spirit inside us to open the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:9-10, 12, 16) to grasp the difficulties in His word that we may honor and glorify Him as His word sinks down into our ears.  Finally, we find Jesus explaining that true greatness is faith founded on the humility of a receptive child who takes his Father at His word as an example for us to imitate.  This means when others who are not with us in our local churches are speaking the gospel to  the lost, we are not to tell or expect them to stop and only do so if they come alongside us.  God uses many for the same purpose and our pride should never stop the true gospel (1 Corinthians 3:3-4).  Those not against us and the gospel of the kingdom of heaven in Jesus Christ are on our side!  Put aside the doubts and fears.