We come now to the 9th chapter here in our study of Luke. The context of what takes place here is in a sense true to the chronology even though Luke does leave out something that Mark includes. Between the miracle of Jairus’ daughter being brought back from the dead and our text for this study, Jesus goes back to His birth town of Nazareth. There He had been rejected and nearly killed because of the message that He preached earlier in His ministry. They thought they had arrived, they felt that they were the chosen people because they had this great prophet of God right in their own town. Jesus at that time preached a message that showed that they too would be rejected because of their lack of faith, disobedience and ritualistic worship. They were depending on their heritage and Jesus destroys that thought with the message He preached on how God rejected unfaithful Israel in Elijah and Elisha’s time. You can read the 2 Bible studies I wrote on this section in Luke 4:16-30 linked here in this study.(Jesus Teaches In His Hometown Of Nazareth. and The People In Nazareth Respond To Jesus’ Teaching.)
It is after this that we pick up the chronology of Jesus sending out the twelve Apostles. We must keep in mind that this event is somewhere in the middle of Jesus’ ministry. Somewhere between 18 to 24 months into the ministry of Jesus we see Him send out these twelve for the first time. There is only about a year and a half left in Jesus’ life before He goes to the cross so this is a preparation for what is to come. These 12 men, minus Judas plus Matthias, will be the group to carry on the ministry of spreading the Gospel and it is here that we will see them go out with the power that God gives them for their eventual commission after the ascension of Jesus. Let’s look at our first point as we open up the 9th chapter.
1.Jesus empowers the twelve for the work of the ministry.
Look with me at Luke 9:1 And calling the twelve together, He gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases.
Every person that ever preaches, teaches, ministers, mentors or is used in any area of Christian ministry must always remember that they are not to go in their own power. It is not in our own personal abilities that we go to share the Gospel and it is never in our own ability that we involve ourselves in ministry. Notice here that Jesus calls the twelve Apostles to Him and then gives them power and authority over all demons and to heal diseases.
I think we must never take this portion of Scripture as the normative for every believer. To many people throughout history and in our time have made claims to having this power and authority. They have made the claim but have never been able to show this to be true. What was done here was for a specific reason and a specific time. This was done to these twelve men only and was not to be the norm for every believer.
I know there would be many arguments against this so I want to address a couple of those here. Many people would say well what about the 70 that Jesus sends out just 1 chapter over? In Luke 10:8-9 Jesus instructs the 70 that whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you; 9 and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’
Jesus sends these 70 out for a specific reason and a specific purpose. Most people including these 70 focus to much on the miraculous manifestations but that was not the point. In Luke 10:1 it says that He sent these 70 to every city and place where He Himself was going to come.
This was never the normative action for all believers of all time. These examples of the 12 and the 70 were done for specific reasons. Yet they would have the power to heal and authority over demons but they were also to preach. Remember this has been a major theme throughout Jesus’ ministry that we have seen over and over again. This will be very apparent as we conclude this study.
The other area I want to point out that will become and argument against this is at the end of Mark’s Gospel. Mark 16:9-20 has been debated often because in the oldest manuscripts of this book these verses are not there. This has concluded to many that these verses were added by a scribe that would have including this to add context to what happened. If you stop at verse 8 of that chapter, Jesus had risen, the grave was empty so there is no diminishing of the Gospel message. These verses being excluded is not even a new argument even though the earliest manuscripts were discovered after the translation of the KJV. I encourage you to do a study of this on your own but I do hold to what the oldest manuscripts show us which excludes these verses. I say all of this because this is an area that is brought up often from what Mark 16:17-18 says. It says And these signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; 18 and they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
Nowhere do we find in Scripture that every believer has these signs to validate their status as a believer. What we do have is the fruit of the Spirit, gifts that are from the Spirit and the power to fulfill the Great Commission.
I say all of this to show that what we see in the sending out of the twelve Apostles is for that time and for a specific reason that we will see as we move through this text. This moves us now to our next point.
2.Jesus sends the twelve out to spread the Gospel.
Look with me at Luke 9:2-5 And He sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 3 And He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, neither a staff, nor a bag, nor bread, nor money; nor have two tunics apiece. 4 And whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that city. 5 And as for those who do not receive you, as you go out from that city, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”
Here we clearly see that they were not to just have some healing services but they were to preach the Gospel of the kingdom of God. Jesus set the example as He went throughout the many cities and villages. He went to preach and teach the people and while He was there, He would heal the sick. This validated His claim as the Son of God and now the disciples would do the same to validate their association with Jesus.
I always like taking us back to Jesus’ words in Luke 4:43 where He says “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.”
The plan of God would lead Jesus to the cross to be the propitiation for us but while on Earth Jesus was to be preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. This too was the disciples focus and also should be ours.
Jesus gave the disciples some instructions as they went out in Luke 9:3-5. He says first in verse 3 “Take nothing for your journey, neither a staff, nor a bag, nor bread, nor money; nor have two tunics apiece.
This seems to be very odd to us. It would seems to us that we need to be prepared with as much as we can take. Jesus here seems to be teaching them a lesson that they obviously still needed as well as we do often too. It was a lesson of trusting Jesus no matter the circumstances. This could take us back to what Jesus say in Matthew 6:31-33 that says Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32 For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Again this is not the norm but was only a lesson to trust in what Jesus commands them to do. Later Jesus says this in Luke 22:35-36 “When I sent you out without money belt and bag and sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Not a thing.” 36 And He said to them, “But now, whoever has a money belt is to take it along, likewise also a bag, and whoever has no sword should sell his garment and buy one.
The lesson is to trust in Jesus because they all would eventual face severe persecution and death for spreading the Gospel. If they could trust Jesus in this, they would know that they would be empowered to face even more difficult times.
Jesus continues in His instruction in Luke 9:4-5 by saying And whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that city. 5 And as for those who do not receive you, as you go out from that city, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”
This account in Matthew says in Matthew 10:11 And whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it, and stay there until you leave.
They were to find a place to stay of someone that was welcoming and willing to receive them not those that were looking for some type of gain. In Matthew’s account Jesus continues by saying in verses 12-15 Now as you enter the house, give it your greeting. 13 And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 And whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you leave that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. 15 Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.
The idea is to not allow people to abuse your message or your compassion. People in that time and ours will take advantage of nice people. They think that they can push those people to do what they want for a price. Jesus here warns them and tells them to leave and show them a sign of rejection from God by shaking the dust off of your feet as a testimony against them.
So we have the empowerment and the instructions which leads us to the event of the twelve actually going out without Jesus. Let’s look at our last point and verse for this study.
3.The Twelve depart in the power of the Lord Jesus.
Look with me at Luke 9:6 And departing, they were going throughout the villages, proclaiming the gospel and healing everywhere.
Essentially the twelve apostles go out to do the work that Jesus had been doing. They depart in the power given to them. They go with nothing of their own, depending solely on God’s providence. They have seen God work through God incarnate and now they will go out in this same power. This is a preview to what they will be doing as the Church age begins. I know the question always comes up as to whether Judas had this same empowerment since he was a betrayer and the ultimate hypocrite?
I definitely do not think we have enough evidence to say that he did or didn’t. Some may argue that he couldn’t have done miracles because he was an unbeliever and others may say that God can and will use whoever He desires to perform miracles. I do know that Luke 9:1, Matthew 10:1 and Mark 6:7 specifically says that Jesus gave this authority and power to the twelve. Along with what we see here in verse 6, it seems to me that he was given this power and authority even if he never used it. I do not think we can be clear and this is really just a trivial question that I think we must not give much attention towards.
The point is that Jesus is now empowering others as He will to all believers give power to be witness as Jesus says in Acts 1:8 you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the end of the earth.”
We will look at how the spreading of the news of Jesus reaches Herod and also we will look at the results of the work of the twelve when they return from their mission to evangelize in our next study.
Disciple's Direction 