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The Twelve Apostles Are Sent Out Without Jesus. EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE study #73 (Luke 9:1-6)

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.

From Demon Possession To Proclaiming Jesus. EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE study #70 (Luke 8:34-39)

In our last study we looked at this man that was possessed by the Legion of demons and how Jesus cast the demons away. In this study we will look at the people from the city and their reaction to what happened. Then we will look at the man’s reaction to what just happened to him. Coming off of such a display of power and authority this should bring a great reaction from the people of this city but as we will see that is contrary to what happens here.

Remember that Matthew’s account of this story has two demon possessed men being healed and I said last study that I do believe that two men were healed. I also believe that only one man was saved in a salvific way and that is the reason why Mark and Luke only includes the one man. They deal with the reaction of the people of the city along with the one man’s reaction where Matthew only deals with the reaction from the people of the city. I think this will be clear as we go into this text. Let’s look at our first point for this study.

1.The reaction from the people from the city.
Look with me at Luke 8:34-37 And when the herdsmen saw what had happened, they ran away and reported it in the city and in the countryside. ³⁵ And the people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting down at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. ³⁶ And those who had seen it reported to them how the man who was demon-possessed had been saved. ³⁷ And all the people of the country of the Gerasenes and the surrounding district asked Him to leave them, for they were gripped with great fear. And He got into a boat and returned.

We must keep in mind that these two demon possessed men ruled the area with their constant torment and dangerous actions. Matthew records in Matthew 8:28b that these two men were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way.

Mark says in Mark 5:3b-4 no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain; ⁴ because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him.

Then we see in Luke 8:29 that the demon had seized him many times, and he was bound with chains and shackles, being kept under guard. And yet breaking his bonds, he was driven by the demon into the desolate regions.

So keeping this in mind shows us that if these two men were somehow miraculously healed then you would think there would be much joy but that is not the case as we will see. At the time of all of this happening, the original language says “idontes de hoi boskontes to gegonos” which translates Having seen then those feeding [them] that having taken place. What we see in our text is that most translators say something like And when the herdsmen saw what had happened.

The fact is that the herdsmen who would have been tending to these pigs had a front row seat to what just happened. They saw the pigs take a dive into the lake but they also observed the two men free from this demon possession. Matthew 8:33 says Now the herdsmen ran away, and went to the city and reported everything, including what had happened to the demoniacs.

Again our focus is only on the one man because it is this one man that was healed and saved, the other was just healed from the demon possession. What these people find when they get to this location is astonishing. Luke 8:35 says And the people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting down at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.

What they find is that this man who once was terrorizing the people and this entire region was now sitting, clothed and in right mind. The original language indicates to us that this man’s mind went from one of rage, out of control action to one that is now temperate and in control. This is amazing but notice that these people were not joyful but were afraid.

This is the Greek word ephobēthēsan which is rooted in the word phobeó (fob-eh’-o) that we have looked at several times in our study of Luke. This is a fear of knowing to be inadequate. This is a recognition from these people that they knew they were in the presence of God or some higher deity than themselves. I do not think they confessed Jesus as the Son of God but rather rejected Him because of their own fear. They feared the demon possessed men but now they had very great fear of the One that had just delivered these men.

I believe by the time they got to where Jesus was that the other man had took off and was nowhere to be found. But they saw this one man sitting and in control. They did not thank Jesus but rather allowed their fear to push Jesus away. Now as we move along in our text what we see in Luke 8:36 is that the herdsmen who had seen it reported to them how the man who was demon-possessed had been saved.

They recounted everything that happened. They made sure to tell of how this man was saved or healed. This is not an indication of the salvific nature of what just happened but only indicates to us that this man along with the other man had been delivered from what controlled them before. The salvific nature of what happened is noticed in the man’s reaction that we will look at in our next point but before we look at him let’s look at our final verse for this point. Luke 8:37 says And all the people of the country of the Gerasenes and the surrounding district asked Him to leave them, for they were gripped with great fear. And He got into a boat and returned.

The news of what happened to this man reached beyond the people of the city pretty fast. These people were not thankful but only allowed their fear to now control them. I know that we may think that this seems a little harsh because we too may have a sense of fear if something like this happened to someone we know. I would say that if you were to ever be in the presence of God, I would expect nothing but fear. The fear that we as Christians would have would be a reverent fear that would draw us closer to Him and not push Him away. Here their reaction shows their rejection and with that Jesus gets into the boat and leaves.

Before He leaves we will see the reaction from the man that was once demon possessed and the request he makes as Jesus begins to set His steps towards leaving this area. Let’s look now at our next point.

2.The reaction of the once demon possessed man.
Look with me at Luke 8:38-39 But the man from whom the demons had gone out was begging Him that he might accompany Him. But He sent him away, saying, ³⁹ “Return to your house and recount what great things God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.

Clearly the people of the city and surrounding region have not accepted Jesus, welcomed Jesus, thanked Jesus for healing these two men but they have asked Jesus to leave. Let’s be clear here that they are not asking Jesus a question about when He will leave but this really shows that they were begging Him to leave their region. The Greek word for asked back in verse 37 is erótaó (er-o-tah’-o) which means to ask or to question from a preferred position. So this asking is not that they were wondering if He was going to leave but asked Him if He would leave immediately. They rejected Jesus even though He removed these two demon possessed men as threats to their land and city.

They may have rejected Jesus but there is one here that wants to follow Jesus. There were two men restored but only one wants to follow. The other man is not even mentioned in either Luke or Mark. This indicates to me that the other man may have ran off in embarrassment from his nakedness or just simply because he is like a lot of us that had no real appreciation for what just happened to him. This is something that will happen often throughout Jesus’ ministry. He heals people, delivers people from demon possession and they walk away from Jesus. They may be thankful to some extent for the healing but they reject Him as Messiah and Lord.

I want to direct our thoughts towards Luke 17 where we see this happen in similar fashion. Luke 17:11-19 says And it happened that while He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing through Samaria and Galilee. ¹² And as He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him. ¹³ And they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” ¹⁴ When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And it happened that as they were going, they were cleansed. ¹⁵ Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, ¹⁶ and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷ Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? ¹⁸ Was there no one found who turned back to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”

Notice that last statement that says that your faith has saved you. None of the other former lepers came back to thank Jesus or to glorify God. They were happy to follow the law that said to show yourself to a priest but they were not redeemed, they were not converted. This Samaritan was converted and saved in a salvific way as he displays the heart change that moved him to worship God for what had just happened.

I relate this story to what we see back in Luke 8 because this one man does not leave. He does not return back to his old life even before he was demon possessed but rather looks to follow Jesus immediately. Luke 8:38-39 records this as we see: But the man from whom the demons had gone out was begging Him that he might accompany Him. But He sent him away, saying, ³⁹ “Return to your house and recount what great things God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.

I love how Mark 5:19 says it, it says And He did not let him, but He *said to him, “Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.”

I love the fact that Jesus mentions how he needs to proclaim what God had done to him simply because God had mercy on Him. This man was not seeking for God, this man was demon possessed with power to break chains, rule whatever area he was in and was in his mind his own god. But by the mercy of God this man was delivered from demon possession and was given eternal life.

How do we know he received eternal life? Because Luke 8:39b says So he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.

Also Mark 5:20 And he went away and began to preach in the Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was marveling.

We do not have a record of how his efforts went. We do not have a record of this man in history and the work he did other than what we have right here. We know that even if no one ever received what Jesus did, even if not a single person got saved or started following Jesus that this man was obedient to the call to preach and proclaim the good news of salvation. This man was a Gentile with no former connection to the Jewish customs or the idea of a Messiah and yet God saved this man. The story of the leper showed us a Samaritan that the Jews despised and here a Gentile that they would look at as those damned for eternity. Here Jesus is clearly expanding the Gospel beyond any cultural boundaries. This man was saved and in that we glorify God for this man and our own salvation.