Chapter # 9 Paragraph # 6 Study # 1
April 25, 2010
Lincolnton, NC
(611)
AV Translation:
37 And it came to pass, that on the next day, when they were come down from the hill, much people met him.
38 And, behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son: for he is mine only child.
39 And, lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out; and it teareth him that he foameth again, and bruising him hardly departeth from him.
40 And I besought thy disciples to cast him out; and they could not.
41 And Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? Bring thy son hither.
42 And as he was yet a coming, the devil threw him down, and tare
him. And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and delivered him again to his father.
43 And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God.
1901 ASV Translation:
37 And it came to pass, on the next day, when they were come down from the mountain, a great multitude met him.
38 And behold, a man from the multitude cried, saying, Teacher, I beseech thee to look upon my son; for he is mine only child:
39 and behold, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out; and it teareth him that he foameth, and it hardly departeth from him, bruising him sorely.
40 And I besought thy disciples to cast it out; and they could not.
41 And Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and bear with you? bring hither thy son.
42 And as he was yet a coming, the demon dashed him down, and tare
him grievously. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.
43 And they were all astonished at the majesty of God.
Luke's Record:
- I. The Next Day.
- A. Luke only has two "on the next day" phrases in his Gospel (7:11 and 9:37).
- B. In the first of Luke's deliberately "linked" days, Jesus' comment about how He had not found "so great faith in Israel" was immediately followed by His raising of the son of the widow of Nain from the dead in the midst of the funeral procession.
- C. The "suggestion" arises: there is a flip-flop of the order of impressions. In the 7:11 setting, the awesome miracle follows awesome faith, but in the 9:37 setting, the awesome presentation of the Kingdom is followed by the abject failure of the disciples who had been given the ability to do what they had been asked to do -- i.e., not only not "great faith", but no faith at all (Jesus' criticism is: "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you?").
- D. The message stands as a challenge: the Word of God is not given to be disbelieved. And the cause of the "unbelief"? It appears, on one hand, to be the disciples' penchant for using the gifts of God for personal reputation-building (an issue that is only briefly addressed by Luke in 9:47 but more fully developed by Mark) and, on another hand, to be the multitudes' penchant for seeking the benefits of Jesus without the commitment of Jesus. One fact that is as clear as can be about human beings is that they too easily dismiss the Truth about Jesus: His commitment to obtaining what He desired was backed by His willingness to pursue it to, and through, death while the rest of us simply want our longings to be handed to us on a platter.
- II. When They Were Come From the Mountain.
- A. The last recorded issue of "the mountain" was the Father's insistence that the disciples "hear" His chosen Son.
- B. The first thing we find out after this insistence is that those who had not been given the experience were significantly guilty of abusing His gifts.
- III. A Great Multitude Met Him.
- A. There is no question that the failure of the Nine was extremely "public".
- B. Luke's record differs from Matthew's and Mark's in several ways. The omissions are significant. The two that catch the eye immediately are the omission of the Markan record that the Nine were in an argument with "the scribes" and the omission of the distraught father's "...if You can do anything..." part of the conversation.