Down from the Mountain

The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. A man in the crowd called out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.”
“You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”
Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the impure spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. And they were all amazed at the greatness of God.
While everyone was marveling at all that Jesus did, he said to his disciples, “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.” But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.

An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. Then he said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest." “Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.” Luke 9:37-50


After soaring to spiritual heights, there is almost always the rude slap of human weakness and failure waiting at the foot of the mountain. It awaited Moses as he descended Mt. Sinai, after receiving the law (Exodus 32). It awaited Elijah when he descended Mt. Carmel, after demonstrating the power of God to the priests of Baal (I Kings 18-19). And here it awaits Jesus, Peter, James and John after the transfiguration. The crowd is gathered, and there is great need. The Lord exhibited a bit of human exasperation with the shallowness of the disciples' faith to exercise the authority He had delegated to them previously. He graciously healed the demon possessed boy and continued to try to teach the apostles that they must prepare themselves for His death! They weren't getting it, and were afraid to ask Him for further explanation. It seems they really didn't want to understand what He and they were about to face. I've done that, when I think the explanation is something I'd rather not understand and deal with, haven't you? If I just ignore this, maybe it won't happen. This is too much information for me right now.

Let's just think of other things, such as: which of us is more important to Jesus! In their weakness and confusion, the apostles were reverting to childish competitiveness. Jesus simplified it for them. Whoever welcomes this little child in My Name welcomes me. You represent Me and I represent the Father, and the innocence of this child is greater than all of you.

Well, what are we gonna do about the guy who was driving out demons in Your Name? We tried to stop him. Jesus said let him do it. He isn't working against us, so he is working for us.

The time is approaching that these men will face the worst experience of their lives. And the simple truth is, they don't want to face it. There will be no opting out.