Luk 9:46-56 | KingComments | STEP | In we see that we are not only dealing with powers around us, but also with a power within us. That power is the flesh. We see three different sides of the selfish flesh in the believer that prevent him from walking in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus. First there is personal selfishness, finding oneself important and measuring oneself against others ( ). In we find a second form of selfishness. This is more about collective selfishness, the importance of the group, of the community of which we are a part. The third form of selfishness is the selfishness which is clothed with the appearance of zeal for the Lord, but without being truly in tune with Him ( ). In we see that the disciples discuss which of them might be the greatest. That is a bad thing. They all find themselves more important than the other and they demand the best post in the kingdom their Master is going to establish. Here we find the true reason for why the words the Lord has proclaimed about His rejection and suffering remain concealed. If that happened to Him, nothing would come true of their dream. Dreaming of a top position in the coming realm is a pleasant activity. However there is competition. So there is need for a talk about the division of the posts, because it is better to make it clear what you are best at and which ministry you want to be in charge of, rather than occupying an insignificant place later on. The lobby has begun. The Lord sees what is going on in their hearts. He wants to teach them a lesson by a child He stands by His side. He “took” this child. He has it at his disposal, without having to ask the parents for permission. He “stood him by His side“, He identifies Himself with it. By this action He shows the value of a child. A child does not count in the eyes of adult people. Children do not contribute to solving the great issues of life. Sometimes they are even experienced as annoying in pursuing a career. And the disciples are busy with the latter. The Lord points out to them the child standing with Him, and speaks of receiving him in His Name. He binds His Name to this child. He who sees Him in this child and therefore receives the child, receives Him. As unpretentious as this child is, He is. Someone must be as uncompromising as He is to have an eye for it. Not to stand on his rights, not to claim his due, is what He shows and in which He asks to be followed. He who shares this with Him, receives all those in this world who are not counted with because of their conformity to Him. By receiving them, they receive the Lord Jesus, and by receiving Him, they receive His Sender, God. That is the reward for anyone who wants to be the least and gives priority to others. True greatness is connected to and seen in everyone who wants to take the least place. We see this true greatness in Christ. The disciples are far away from it with their quarrels about whom of them is the greatest.

‏ Luke 9:46-56

The Greatest in the Kingdom

In Lk 9:46-56 we see that we are not only dealing with powers around us, but also with a power within us. That power is the flesh. We see three different sides of the selfish flesh in the believer that prevent him from walking in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus.

First there is personal selfishness, finding oneself important and measuring oneself against others (Lk 9:46-48).

In Lk 9:49-50 we find a second form of selfishness. This is more about collective selfishness, the importance of the group, of the community of which we are a part.

The third form of selfishness is the selfishness which is clothed with the appearance of zeal for the Lord, but without being truly in tune with Him (Lk 9:51-56).

In Lk 9:46-48 we see that the disciples discuss which of them might be the greatest. That is a bad thing. They all find themselves more important than the other and they demand the best post in the kingdom their Master is going to establish. Here we find the true reason for why the words the Lord has proclaimed about His rejection and suffering remain concealed. If that happened to Him, nothing would come true of their dream.

Dreaming of a top position in the coming realm is a pleasant activity. However there is competition. So there is need for a talk about the division of the posts, because it is better to make it clear what you are best at and which ministry you want to be in charge of, rather than occupying an insignificant place later on. The lobby has begun.

The Lord sees what is going on in their hearts. He wants to teach them a lesson by a child He stands by His side. He “took” this child. He has it at his disposal, without having to ask the parents for permission. He “stood him by His side“, He identifies Himself with it. By this action He shows the value of a child.

A child does not count in the eyes of adult people. Children do not contribute to solving the great issues of life. Sometimes they are even experienced as annoying in pursuing a career. And the disciples are busy with the latter.

The Lord points out to them the child standing with Him, and speaks of receiving him in His Name. He binds His Name to this child. He who sees Him in this child and therefore receives the child, receives Him. As unpretentious as this child is, He is. Someone must be as uncompromising as He is to have an eye for it. Not to stand on his rights, not to claim his due, is what He shows and in which He asks to be followed.

He who shares this with Him, receives all those in this world who are not counted with because of their conformity to Him. By receiving them, they receive the Lord Jesus, and by receiving Him, they receive His Sender, God. That is the reward for anyone who wants to be the least and gives priority to others. True greatness is connected to and seen in everyone who wants to take the least place. We see this true greatness in Christ. The disciples are far away from it with their quarrels about whom of them is the greatest.

‘Who Is Not Against You …’

John may feel addressed by what the Lord has just said that he is quoting an event that has taken place before. He remembers that a while ago they saw someone who was busy casting out demons in the Name of the Lord. Of course that was not possible, because the man had not joined them. Therefore they – he and his fellow disciples – have tried to prevent him.

By using the word “us”, John shows that he and the others value the collective, the group. They make ‘us’ important, while the Lord has just made it clear that the only important thing is His ‘Name’. In addition, the man has done something in which they themselves have recently failed (Lk 9:40).

John and his fellow disciples are undoubtedly in the right place, with the Lord, but that does not mean that others are not. For example, the Lord sent the man who was demon-possessed, who would have liked to stay with Him, home to witness there (Lk 8:38-39). In this way He has a separate commandment for each of His own and also independently of the group to which we belong.

In what John says, sounds that, as far as he is concerned, someone can only follow the Lord if he has joined the group to which he himself belongs. To think that only one’s own group guarantees to be used by the Lord is pride and sectarianism. The Lord rebukes John. He must not prevent any work happening in His Name. That work is not aimed against them, but for them.

The Lord does not speak of ‘against Me’ or ‘for Me’, but of “against you” and “for you”. Whether John likes it or not, the Lord connects the work of this man with the work that the disciples are allowed to do. The man is not a competitor, but a co-worker in the Lord’s service. It is sometimes difficult to accept that the Lord blesses others who go a different way than we do, more than us. It is a shame to speak ill of this or even to want to prevent it.

Refusal to Receive the Lord

Here Luke begins to describe the events that lead to the suffering and death of the Lord in Jerusalem. This section continues until Luke 19:44. The Lord Jesus is determined to go to Jerusalem. He looks farther then His suffering and death for thereafter He will ascend to heaven. He sees the joy before Him, which will help Him endure the cross and despise the shame (Heb 12:2). Like the expression “His departure” (Lk 9:31), the expression “days … for His ascension” is also an expression used only by Luke and not by the other evangelists.

Although He knows what awaits Him in Jerusalem, He sends out His messengers as true King to prepare His coming. He chooses a village of Samaritans as an intermediate station. What a grace it is for Him to visit this village on his journey to Jerusalem to make them familiar with the grace of God. But the Samaritans do not receive Him. The disciples, in their search for a place of abode, will have told about the purpose of their Master, where He is traveling to. He is travelling to Jerusalem on the occasion of the upcoming Passover – not to participate in it, but to fulfill it.

When the Samaritans hear where He is heading, they close their doors to Him. They declare Him an unwanted Person. They have not recognized the time of their visitation. Yet later, grace went also to them and many of the Samaritans, possibly also in this village, have heard that He died in Jerusalem and that it is also for them (Acts 8:5-8 ; 12 ; 25).

The Samaritans’ attitude fills the brothers James and John with anger. Here their Master is dishonored. They cannot tolerate this. They suggest that they let fire come down from heaven to consume them. Did Elijah not do the same when they treated him disrespectfully (2Kgs 1:10 ; 12)?

Their proposal stems from the feeling of being important because of their connection with the Lord. If their Lord is treated disrespectfully, they feel it as a personal insult. Because by this action they actually only want to maintain themselves, they become blind to the grace that characterizes their Master, exactly when dishonor is done to Him. They want to bring fire down from heaven, while their Lord has come from heaven to bring grace.

He does not want to have anything to do with a spirit as expressed in the brothers. He turns His back on them and rebukes them for their proposal. They do not realize of what spirit they are, what their mind is. What they want is strange to His thoughts of grace. What they propose does not come from Him.

He, the Son of Man, did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. How little have they understood what His Name ‘Son of Man’ means. He has truly become a Man, a Man as God means him to be. God has sent Him as Man among men to show His pleasure in men. And now they want Him to give them permission to destroy the precious souls of men by sending down fire from heaven.

As with the Gerasenes (Lk 8:37) the Lord accepts the refusal to receive Him and goes to another village. That is the mind of grace that does not demand, but humbles itself, making that mind shine even more.