Luke 9:37-45

Butler's Comments

SECTION 5

Tenderness Amid Tragedy (Luke 9:37-45)

37 On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. 38And behold, a man from the crowd cried, Teacher, I beg you to look upon my son, for he is my only child; 39and behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out; it convulses him till he foams, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him. 40And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not. 41 Jesus answered, O faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here. 42While he was coming, the demon tore him and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. 43And all were astonished -at the majesty of God.

But while they were all marveling at everything he did, he said to his disciples, 44Let these words sink into your ears; for the Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men. 45But they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, that they should not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

Luke 9:37-43 Failing Faith: The next day after the Transfiguration, Jesus came down from the mountain with Peter, James and John. There was a great crowd of people gathered around the other nine apostles (who had been left at the foot of the mountain during the Transfiguration). The crowd was involved in an argument with some Jewish scholars (scribes). Seeing Jesus approaching, the crowd ran to greet Him. Jesus asked the crowd what they were discussing with the scribes. The reader should study this incident from a harmony of the Gospels in order to get the full impact of it.

A man from the crowd came to Jesus kneeling (Matthew 17:14) and bellowed (Gr. eboesen, from boao which is the word used to describe John the Baptist's crying loudly, or bellowing forth in the wilderness), Teacher, I plead with you, direct your attention to my son, because he is my only son and, see, a spirit takes him and suddenly he screams out as he is convulsed with spasms. Matthew records that the father of the boy said he was moonstruck (Gr, seleniazetai, translated, epileptic, Matthew 17:15). Doctor Luke uses the Greek word, sparassei, from which we get the English word, spastic. The boy was demon-possessed (Luke 9:42). The demon tortured the boy by causing him to fall into fires, into water, foaming at the mouth, grinding his teeth, dashing him down upon the ground and bruising (Gr. suntribo, to shatter, to smash, to crush, to break) him.

Then the boy's father cast a lightening bolt into the situation. He said, I plead with your disciples to cast the demon out of my boy but they were not able. Jesus-' immediate reaction was to accuse His own disciples of being part of a faithless and perverse generation and to ask exasperatedly, how long must I bear with you? Was Jesus justified in speaking so severely to these disciples? Indeed! Why should He be partial toward any person? Any display of unbelief, especially in people who have been given so many extra-ordinary opportunities to know the truth and such miraculous confirmations of it, deserves quick and firm correction. Jesus minced no words with the two disciples on the way to Emmaus (Luke 24:25-27) for their unbelief. Jesus rather bluntly corrected His own mother (John 2:4; Luke 8:19-21).

Jesus cast out the demon commanding it, Come out of him, and never enter him again (Mark 9:25). He gave the boy back to his father and all the multitude was astonished at the very apparent demonstration of the majesty of Almighty God.

Luke 9:44-45 Fearful Forecast: The proper relationship to Jesus does not consist in marveling over the miraculous but in faith in the face of the fearful. While this particular crowd stood around subjectively soaking up the great privilege they had enjoyed by their close proximity to a real miracle, Jesus turned to His disciples with a fearsome forecast of His messianic fate. Jesus took the twelve aside and resumed His journey south through Galilee (see Matthew 17:22; Mark 9:30) for He had something of utmost importance to say for their ears only. So He prefaced His remarks with this command, Let these words sink into your ears.. The Greek verb thesthe is in the imperative mood (a command) and is from tithemi which means, put in, deposit, establish. What Jesus is about to say to them is not just to make conversation. It is imperative that what He is about to say be deposited in their minds so that it may become a part of their thinking processes. And what were these all-important words? ... The Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men. Their Master, their Lord, the One they recently confessed to be the Holy One of God (John 6:69), is going to be killed and raised again after three days (cf. Matthew 17:22-23; Mark 9:31-32). It is important for them to believe this because it is the will of God for the Son of man (the Messiah). Jesus must emphasize it and stress it because of the worldly-minded view of the Messiah held by most of the Jews (see our comments on Luke 9:18-27).

But the disciples did not understand what Jesus said to them. How could grown men not understand a statement as straightforward, unmysterious, plain and brief as, The Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise? The fact of death, even violent death at the hands of enemies is a common experience to mankind. Resurrection from the dead is not! This may be the reason they could not understand it. But Luke goes on to say that what Jesus said was concealed from them and they could not perceive it. The Greek word parakekalummenon means to cover with a veil. The Greek verb is in the perfect tense indicating that the veiling had taken place previous to this statement and was continuing to veil their thinking. This same Greek word is used in 2 Corinthians 3:12-18; 2 Corinthians 4:3 where it is talking about the veiled revelation concerning the messianic age in the Old Testament and that the devil uses this, along with man's unbelief, to hide the gospel. It was not God who concealed from the minds of the apostles the understanding about the-Messiah's death and resurrection, for the Prophets predicted it (Isaiah 53:1-12, etc.). It was not Jesus who concealed His death and resurrection from the Twelve, for He predicted it very plainly four times (Luke 9:22; Luke 9:44; Matthew 20:17-19; Matthew 26:1-2). It was the apostles themselves, choosing not to believe Jesus about His death, who were concealing the meaning of His teaching, (see Matthew 16:21-23; Mark 8:31-33). What the Lord says is perceived only if man is willing to let His word find a place in his heart (cf. John 7:17; John 8:37; John 8:45, etc.). The parable of the soils illustrates this (see our comments on Luke 8:1 ff.). The disciples deliberately resisted any thinking about this subject (the death of the Messiah) because it distressed them (Matthew 17:23) and it was a subject about which they were afraid (Mark 9:32; Luke 9:45) to seek any more information. Let all followers of Jesus of all ages take warning from the spiritual failure of the Twelve here. It is a betrayal of Christian discipleship to reject any teaching of the New Testament with the a priori that it does not conform to human experience. What Jesus commands and promises is accepted by faith in Who He Is!

Applebury's Comments

The Epileptic Boy
Scripture

Luke 9:37-45 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.

But while all were marvelling at all the things which he did, he said unto his disciples, 44 Let these words sink into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered up into the hands of men. 45 But they understood not this saying, and it was concealed from them, that they should not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

Comments

a great multitude met him.Jesus and the three disciples had been in the mountain; the crowds were waiting for Him to return. Their anticipation was evidently heightened by the failure of the disciples to meet the request of the distressed father.

Teacher, I beseech thee.The father turned to Jesus for help, for his only son was demon-possessed and in desperate need of help. Luke calls the demon an unclean spirit. The symptoms were those of epilepsy, but Luke says it was demon-possession. The technique which Jesus used in dealing with the case shows that it was not the ordinary disease, but real demon-possession. He, of course, had power to cast out demons as well as heal diseases.

I besought thy disciples.Why couldn-'t they cast out the demon? Jesus, according to Mark, said that this kind came out only by prayer and fasting (Mark 9:29). He also said that it was because of their little faith (Matthew 17:20). If their faith had been as much as a grain of mustard seed, they could have removed mountains. This case clearly called for a miracle, and the least amount of faith that had to do with the power to perform miracles could have accomplished it, To assume that this refers to mountains of difficulty that can be removed by trust in Jesus is to overlook the meaning of Jesus-' explanation. He had given them power over demons, but they lacked the faithnot faith like that of the woman in the crowdby which that power was made operative. Had they, in the absence of Jesus, attempted to cast out the demon without relying on Him? Without the faith that kept them in contact with the power they were utterly unable to perform the miracle. See Studies in First Corinthians, pages 224-25 and 238, for additional comment of faith to remove mountains.

O faithless and perverse generation, how long.Jesus had already given ample evidence of His deity, but many were looking at the cureunderstandably soand not at the evidential value of the miracle (John 20:30-31). Jesus was nearing the climax of His earthly ministry and knew that He would not be with them much longer. His complaint seems to be that they had not yet, even at this late date, grasped the truth about Him.

astonished at the majesty of God.Jesus cast the demon out and gave the boy back to the father. As usual, the crowds were astonished; but this time, at the majesty of God.

But while they were marvelling.They marvelled at the miracle, but Jesus reminded the disciples that He was soon to be delivered up into the hands of men to be crucified. That's why He had asked, How long shall I be with you? It was important that they realize that His mission called for the cross by which He was to destroy the power of the devil (Hebrews 2:14). He said, Let these words sink into your ears. Don-'t let them go in one ear and out the other.

But they understood not this saying.There seemed to be no place in their thinking for the cross. They had their minds centered on the kind of kingdom that they wanted Him to establishan earthly kingdom. They were afraid to ask what He meant, lest it be the end of their dream. See Luke 24:21.