Jesus called people to follow Him, to be His
disciples. And He had many who claimed
to be His disciples. But then from that
crowd He chose twelve (Lk. 6:12-16) to be with Him (Lk. 8:1). We have seen that in Luke 8, as Jesus
ministers to those around Him, He is also dealing with the Twelve. He spoke a parable to the multitude (8:4) but
then explained it to His disciples (8:9).
The miracle on the sea involved the Twelve; and we saw how He took three
of the Twelve with Him in the raising of Jairus’ daughter. He is working with this core group of men as
He is broadcasting His message to all who will hear.
In Luke 9 there is an increase in the intensity
of Jesus’ training of the Twelve. Jesus
had told them they would learn to fish for men.
In 9:1-6 they get a real taste of what it would mean for them to serve Jesus. He equips them (v1) with power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases,
something unique to the Twelve. He gives
them specific instructions (v2-5), instructions that were unique for this
particular ministry. They were to take
no supplies but to depend on people’s hospitality in each city. As far as we know this was the first time the
Twelve went out like this, preaching the message that Jesus was preaching.
In v7-9 we get a glimpse into the world they encountered. It’s the answer to the most critical question
that people must answer about Jesus: who
is this of whom I hear such things?
The Twelve encountered lots of opinions about Jesus from the people to
whom they ministered. He was John risen
from the dead or Elijah who was to come before the Messiah or one of the other
prophets risen from the dead. We serve
in a world equally confused about Jesus.
Jesus valued time to evaluate and teach the
Twelve, but as was often the case, the multitudes still found Him. Jesus was not thwarted in His need to teach
the disciples. You will note that the
miracle of feeding the five thousand did not so much reveal the unbelief in the
multitude; it revealed the hearts of His disciples. Jesus directed it at the Twelve: You give them something to eat He says.
What was Jesus doing or teaching? Put yourselves in the sandals of the
Twelve. The ministry of not only
preaching but healing people and casting out demons could be quite heady. They may have come back feeling quite special.
Successful ministry has a way of doing that, even today. So the first thing they encountered with
Jesus was a miracle in which they were reminded that they were not really all
that significant and that Jesus is the One and the ONLY ONE who is El Shaddai,
who is sufficient for people’s needs.
Jesus would again make this lesson
clear on the night before He was crucified when He would tell them: without
Me you can do nothing (John 15:5).
Let us see it and learn it here.
We are called to serve Him, to be fishers of men. If we see success
it is because He, Jesus, has equipped us and empowered us. We have nothing with which to feed the
multitudes; without Him we can do nothing.
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