As we begin this study we will notice an obvious shift in the direction of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus has spent most of His ministry in the area of Galilee with a very brief stint in Judea at the beginning of His public ministry. Of course we know with the Gospel of John that Jesus always traveled to Jerusalem for the feasts but for the most part His ministry has been focused on the area of Galilee. Now we will notice that Jesus begins His journey toward Jerusalem, not just for a feast but to accomplish the plan of salvation that will require His life. This direction to the cross will span from this point all the way to Luke 23 where Jesus will die and then resurrect in chapter 24. So we have a lot of content to cover in these last 9 months or so of Jesus’ life.
In this study we will look at the change of direction in Jesus’ ministry and more moments to teach the 12 disciples what they need to know as they continue this journey with Him. We have just came off of some very detailed instructions that the disciples needed to know and this will be more instructions on how they are to conduct their lives for the sake of the Gospel. Let’s look now at our first point.
1.Jesus’ DIRECTION is set towards the cross.
Look with me at Luke 9:51 Now it happened that when the days for Him to be taken up were soon to be fulfilled, He set His face to go to Jerusalem.
Luke the writer of this Gospel of course has hindsight into what happened throughout Jesus’ life but with that we clearly see that this was the transition point of Jesus’ ministry that would lead Him to the cross. We have to always keep in mind that Jesus is on the divine timeline not man’s. Many times we see this stated about the time that was planned for Jesus to die. Jesus says in John 7:6 “My time is not yet here, but your time is always here.
We also see in John 7:8 Go up to the feast yourselves; I am not yet going up to this feast because My time has not yet been fulfilled.”
John 7:30 says So they were seeking to seize Him; yet no man laid his hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.
John 8:20 says These words He spoke in the treasury, as He was teaching in the temple; and no one seized Him, because His hour had not yet come.
But then when the divine timetable was ready we see John 13:1 that says Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
Also Matthew 26:18 says And He said, “Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is near; I am keeping the Passover at your house with My disciples.”’”
The finally John 17:1 in the high priestly prayer we see Jesus say “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You.
All of this shows to us that Jesus knew when and how all of this would take place. It is now in our Luke text that we see that He set His face to go to Jerusalem. It’s not that He hadn’t been to Jerusalem before but this time would be different. He has warned His disciples numerous time of what His fate would be. They refused to listen, they refused to understand and Peter even rebukes the Lord for such statements concerning Jesus being killed.
Our next study will reveal again the call to and the cost of being a disciple of the Lord Jesus. The words that Jesus speaks to them concerning the cost of discipleship must be asked of us as well but we will dive into that in our next study. For now we will look at what Jesus begins to do as He makes His way towards Jerusalem one last time before the cross. This leads us to look at our next couple of verses in our next point.
2.The Samaritan’s did not DEVOTE themselves to Jesus.
Look with me at Luke 9:52-53 and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him. 53 But they did not receive Him, because He was journeying with His face toward Jerusalem.
As we see Jesus begins to move towards Jerusalem by way of Samaritan land. This would not be the normal route of a Jewish person because the Samaritans and the Jews did not get along. The Jews looked down on the Samaritans because of their heritage of being mixed race who practiced their own form of Judaism. The first mention of these Samaritans dates back to the time of Ezra and Nehemiah around the 5th century BC era.
The Samaritans have a rich history that sets themselves as the keepers of the Torah but the Jewish people did not see anything other than a half breed mixed race of Jews and Gentiles that were defiling the temple of God and God’s standard of living. We know that Jesus went through Samaria often because of trying to stay away from the Jewish leaders that were seeking to kill Him. In John 4 Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman by the well where she says in John 4:9 “How do You, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, being a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
To build the context of our Luke passage I believe we must look back at John 7:1 and also verse 2 that says And after these things Jesus was walking in Galilee, for He was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him. 2 Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was near.
I believe that John 7:1-9 is before He leaves Capernaum which lines up with our Luke text. So we see that Jesus is going to Jerusalem to the Feast of Booths but also because His time was drawing near. I believe as you can read in John 7 that Jesus does eventually go towards Jerusalem but not in the path the others would take. He sets out to go through Samaria to reach these people as well. Remember back when Jesus and the Samaritan woman had finished their conversation that Jesus said in John 4:35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.
Jesus always looked for opportunities to minister to people even those that were looked on and despised for their heritage. But this time the Samaritans would not be as open to Jesus. Luke 9:52 says and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him.
Jesus seems to want to make a stop in this village most likely Sychar or somewhere near where He was before. He sent messengers to get them prepared for Him and His disciples to visit and spend time there before going to Jerusalem in celebration of the Feast of Booths. Of course we must also keep in mind that Jesus knew that they would not be open to their visit and that He was doing this again seeking to teach the disciples a lesson that they needed. Luke 9:53 says of the Samaritans, But they did not receive Him, because He was journeying with His face toward Jerusalem.
They too would celebrate the Feast of Booths but not in Jerusalem. This seems to be an issue with them wanting Jesus and His disciples to stay with them for the feast. They reject Jesus, they do not receive Him which sets up the reason I believe Jesus sent these messengers in the first place.
3.The disciple’s lack of DISCERNMENT.
Look with me at Luke 9:54-56 And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55 But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of, 56 for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”] And they went on to another village.
The messengers come back to Jesus, who could have been close to the village, with the news that the Samaritans were not willing for them to come into the city. Most people would say that these two messengers were James and John because they are mentioned in verse 54 but I do not believe they were sent away from Jesus at this point. It could have been them or 2 of the other disciples but I believe it may have been some others that were following Jesus that may have been appointed to do this. As both James and John see what is happening their arrogance and lack of discernment kicks into to high gear. We pick up the story where they respond to this rejection in Luke 9:54 that says And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”
You talking about harsh words of condemnation. These two brothers had attitudes that placed themselves as more superior than other people. Even this situation did not teach them the lesson of humility they needed because we see in Mark 10:35-40 that they ask Jesus for the right to sit at His right and left hand in the kingdom. They felt like they were the leaders that could do whatever they pleased. Mark 3:17 says that Jesus gave the name Boanerges, which means, “Sons of Thunder” to James and John. Even though we have no indication in Scripture of why they had this name, it could very well be because of their brash, harsh and demanding attitude. Of course they both were changed as time goes on. James would die for the cause of Christ as stated in Acts 12:2 and John would endure severe persecution throughout his life even to the point of exile on the Island of Patmos.
But for this moment we see these two in acts of arrogance and the lack of compassion ask Jesus “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”
Let’s just say that they definitely did not get it at this point. They probably thought that what they asked was noble and showing a sense of strength but in reality it showed their ignorance and weakness. Jesus answers in a very harsh and direct way as we see in Luke 9:55-56 But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of, 56 for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”] And they went on to another village.
I do want to point out that there are brackets around the section that says [and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of, 56 for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”] This indication shows us that the discovery of older texts of this Scripture in recent years has shown that the oldest manuscripts does not have this statement. This means that a scribe could have added this for clarity or a commentary in a sense.
Either way we clearly see that Jesus turned and rebuked them. I can imagine words similar to what Jesus spoke to Peter when He rebuked him. Mark 8:33 says of that moment But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and *said, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
It is clear that James and John along with the other disciples are very immature spiritually and lack discernment. The commentary added in this section does give to us a little bit of clarity into why Jesus would rebuke them for such a thought because clearly the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.
*I believe the disciples knew the compassion that their Lord had, clearly they had seen how He loved people but here they allow their own self-exalting attitude to take center stage. This entire section starting back at Luke 9:46 has shown to us their lack of discernment and compassion, their self-centeredness and their arrogance thinking that they deserve more than they do. The reality is we are no different than they are. We go to God only when it is convenient, we ask God to help us in times of struggle and difficulties but never really engage in prayer at other times and we live our life the way we want and take for granted the mercy and compassion of God. We expect to grow even though we never open the Bible other than maybe on Sundays or to say we did it. The sad truth is we need to examine ourselves to see where we are spiritually and quit playing church.*
In the next 2 studies we will see once again Jesus teach the disciples what following Him actually means. The principles we will learn will cause us to examine our own lives to see if we are actually following Jesus and that we have not been making a superficial profession of faith just like many of Jesus followers that left because of hearing things that they did not like.
Disciple's Direction 