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2010 Luke’s Gospel

Jesus Came Down

and Fought the Devil

Luke 9:37-45

Key Verse: 9:44 “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.”

Last week we learned that Jesus went up onto a mountain to pray because it was the time in his ministry when he had to turn his direction to the way of suffering and death, the way of the cross. After being encouraged by the glorious appearance of Moses and Elijah, he gained new strength to go to Jerusalem and fulfill God’s will. However, he faced some discouraging situations-the failure of his disciples and the betrayal against Jesus right after being encouraged. It was truly a spiritual battle for Jesus to go through discouraging situations in carrying out God’s mission. Even though everything seemed to be against him, Jesus never gave up his messianic ministry and won the final victory. Let us pray to learn how we can also win the victory in a daily spiritual battle in the mission field overcoming discouraging situations through today’s passage.  

Look at verse 37. “The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him.”  Here we see that a large crowd was waiting for Jesus. They might have been wondering about Jesus’ whereabouts. Jesus had been away from them for more than a week now (9:28). They really wanted to see Jesus again because many of them were in great desperation to solve some problems in their lives. 

Look at verse 38. “A man in the crowd called out, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child.” Among the crowd was a man who called out for Jesus’ help. Perhaps many other people in the crowd called out for Jesus. “Jesus, Jesus, have mercy on me!”  But the passage focused on the man who had a son. “Teacher, please take a look at my son. He's my only child.”  The man who was a father was so desperate because of his only son. This father loved his son so much that he was even begging Jesus like a real beggar for his help. As a matter of fact, begging is not easy. If you have to beg someone for his help when you are in a great desperate situation, how do you feel? Some time ago, I begged my boss at work for some reason. “Please forgive me.” I thought I could get fired if he did not like me. Then, I lose my job and cannot support my precious children with food and a place to live. When I thought about the worst situation, I could not but beg him because I loved my children. If I did not have any child, then I might fight back against my boss for what was right between him and me. When a father loves his children, he can do anything for his sons and daughters. I believe all fathers in UBF loves their children very much whereas some fathers in the world love themselves more than their children. Fathers in our ministry sacrifice themselves for their children. Do you have a father who loves you more than anything else in this world? Then, give thanks to God for your father. If no, still give thanks to God for Jesus is our true father who loves us so much that he did not even beg but also gave up his own life. I pray that JBF boy members here may be a good father in their generation like the man in the passage.

Look at verse 39. “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.” What was the child’s problem?  The symptoms of sudden screams, convulsions and foaming at the mouth are all indicative of childhood epilepsy. During seizures children often hurt themselves by knocking against sharp objects. It can happen over a hundred times a day. Perhaps this boy already had many scars all over his body which was black and blue.  Interestingly, even though the author of Luke’s gospel was a physician who had studied and been in medical practice, he diagnosed the child with demon possession, not with some kind of physiological diseases or mental disorders.

Demons are also called evil or unclean spirits. Some people do not believe spiritual phenomena or consider them as superstitions or myths. Other people do believe them extremely. Still other people just enjoy unclean and evil spirits by making and watching movies, dramas and books such as Vampire, Moon light, Zombie, and Dracula in this post-modern world as if it is one of their favorite hobbies. However, as the author of the book Luke mentioned, there must be evil spirits that are beyond human control. Demon-possession may not always be as obvious and dramatic as having a monstrous appearance and supernatural phenomena. Evil spirits are at work in all kinds of ways, most of them quite subtle. Ephesians 2:2 describes the world in which we live. It says you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. Basically, unclean spirits try to work on us and get us to follow the ways of this world. They try to get us to disobey God, according to the major directive of their chief officer, Satan.  And also in 1 Peter 5 we see that our enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. So Peter commands us to be self-controlled and alert and to stand firm in the faith. And he also tells us to be submissive to those who are older with humility.  In this boy’s case, we do not know how he got demon-possessed. Maybe he played video games too much, or indulged himself in sinful desires or was too proud to listen to those who are older. Anyway somehow a demon seized him and it was always living in him. The father said it scarcely ever left him and was destroying him. It must have been heart-wrenching, especially for the father, to see him suffer like this. When I saw my children suffer from fever and coughing due to flu, I was very sorry for them. Personally, I cannot imagine how painful the father was to see his lovely son suffer severely with the fact that there was nothing he could do for his son.

Look at verse 40. “I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.”  Probably the father originally had planned to bring the boy to Jesus. But when Jesus was not there, being that the boy’s condition was so desperate, he asked the disciples’ help. Evidently the disciples tried to cure the boy. How could the disciples try such a thing? It was because at the beginning of this chapter, Jesus had already sent them out for fieldwork training. He had given them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases (9:1). When they followed Jesus’ instructions, they had healed people everywhere (9:6). So they must have thought they could do it again. However, these nine disciples were having a really hard time. It already must have been hard for them to be left at the foot of the mountain while the top three disappeared with Jesus. “Oh, man Jesus did not love us. He loves only Peter, John and James most.” Now, to fail in front of everyone and to be reported to Jesus by the father must have been even more miserable for them. It seems like everybody there got discouraged and miserable, even Jesus.

How did Jesus respond to this situation? Read verse 41. “O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”  To whom is Jesus speaking here? No doubt he is speaking to the nine disciples, who had failed to heal the boy and complained and doubted about Jesus’ love. He also may have been speaking to the boy’s father, who seemed to be despairing due to his son’s condition. Perhaps he was speaking to the crowd, because he uses the word “generation.” It might even be that he was speaking to all people, including us. To Jesus, the root of all problems is unbelief. In this discourage situation, Jesus did not lose his temper or got despaired, but found the cause of the problem-unbelief and perversion, which are Satan’s lethal weapon. Where there is unbelief and perversion, God withdraws his hand of blessing and protection, and demons invade and cause destruction.  In a despairing situation, we should pray for Jesus’ help who can help us to find the root of the problems that cause us to be despaired, not focusing on the situation itself.  Once we find the root of the problems, we are half way toward the final victory.  Let us pray not to be just discouraged in a bad situation, but to realize that we are in spiritual battle and find out the root of problems with help of Jesus and bring it to Jesus for the victory in our prayers.

Look at verse 41a. Jesus used two important words here: Unbelieving and Perverse. What does it mean to be unbelieving? It means to live as if God were not there. It means to ignore the presence of the living God. Perverse means crooked. We, too, live in a generation of unbelief and perversion. Many people say they believe in God, but in practical life they do not include him. They think mostly about themselves, others and their situation. They do not take God seriously enough to believe they need to follow and obey him. Nor do they really believe God has power over all things, including all evil. Without faith in God, they respond to tragedy, violence and injustice with anger, revenge, and often, with despair. Nowadays we see so many problems. All across America, incidents of irrational violence and abuse toward children have risen to bizarre and disturbing levels. At the same time, young people suffer in many ways. Cutting and piercing has been popular; it is when teenagers use knives to make carvings on their bodies and put on a lot of rings and metal things. Many teenagers starve themselves on a diet. Many are abusing their bodies with alcohol, drugs, tobacco, deafening music and promiscuity. Many find themselves out of control. Many suffer from fear and depression and take anti-depressants to get through daily life. In this situation, traditional morals are seen as boring, and moral perversion is considered fun and funny.  And even speaking about God is taboo. Unclean spirits are having a heyday. It seems the world has not really changed much, because in his day Jesus also lamented, “O unbelieving and perverse generation!” In light of his words, we must learn to see our times from God’s point of view. Instead of being influenced and losing faith, we must repent of our unbelief and perversion and keep our faith strong like Jesus, through earnest prayer and Bible study. Like Jesus we also must lament at the unbelief and perversion around us and challenge them by living by faith in God alone and in obedience to his words. Even if people get mad, we must stand clearly on God’s side and challenge the unbelieving and perverse generation. This is why we pray, “Lord, make America and the whole world a kingdom of priests and a holy nation!”

Look at verse 41b. Jesus said, “How long shall I stay with you and put up with you?” Usually Jesus never complained about anything. But here he expressed his frustration for the first time. Didn’t Jesus love people? Didn’t he have compassion on them? Wasn’t he moved by this father’s brokenhearted plea? Why was it so hard for him to stay with them? Surely these words came out of his heart’s desire to raise his disciples as men of God. He had done his best to train them, but even his disciples’ hearts were still unbelieving and perverse. They were only thinking about themselves and their own glory, not God and God’s glory. With that mentality God could not work through them, and people suffered. But Jesus didn’t stop with lamenting at his disciples. He told the father, “Bring your son here.” Look at verse 42. “Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the evil spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. ” The demon tried a last-ditch attempt at intimidation. But Jesus was not affected in the slightest. He rebuked the evil spirit, “Evil spirit, come out!” Jesus healed the boy and gave him back to his father. It happened so fast. People think and talk a lot, and calculate, lament and despair, taking much time about the boy’s problem. But by faith Jesus took decisive action and solved the problem right away. How did people respond? Look at verse 43a. “And they were all amazed at the greatness of God.” People rarely ever see the greatness of God. But Luke strongly emphasizes the greatness of God. Instead of emphasizing the greatness of problems, we should focus on the greatness of God. Instead of trying to prove our own greatness, we should focus on the greatness of God. Then we can become believing and righteous people.

Look at verse 43b. “While everyone was marveling at all that Jesus did, he said to his disciples.” In the midst of the marveling people, Jesus had his disciples in his mind. What did he tell them? Read verse 44. “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.” This was such a contrast to what had just happened. Jesus had just done something amazing and marvelous: He healed a boy suffering tragically from demon-possession and made his father and everyone else so happy. But this Jesus was going to be betrayed into the hands of men. This also was a contrast to the disciples’ expectations. They hoped he would keep on healing people and gaining popularity and eventually become king of Israel in Jerusalem, with them as his cabinet members. But he was going to be betrayed into the hands of men. He had told them about this earlier in 9:22 – “And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.””   This time he said pretty much the same thing, only very briefly, using a new word: Betrayed. Betrayal doesn’t come from an enemy, but from someone who was loved and trusted. How painful to be betrayed! Why did Jesus mention such a discouraging thing when God had just done something so wonderful? It’s because betrayal was the will of God. Jesus did not come to be a popular healer, enjoying power and popularity. He came to suffer and die for the sins of the world. The only way he could do this was to be betrayed into the hands of men. Jesus was willing even to be betrayed, in order to save us from our sins. Just like Jesus, when we have a clear mission to carry out and mission spirit we also overcome some discouraging situations.   

The disciples were following but didn’t understand Jesus’ heart. Read verse 45. “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.” They didn’t even want to ask him about it. What were they afraid of? They were afraid of losing their dream. Many follow Jesus with their own dream. They like it when ministry seems to go well, but in the time of testing, they fall away; others get distracted by life’s worries, riches and pleasures (8:13,14). So many things block us from really listening to Jesus’ words. Jesus knew his disciples had human dreams and worldly desires. Still he taught them. Read verse 44 again. “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.” When we follow Jesus, we must listen carefully to what Jesus says.  Actually the disciples were not stupid men. They had normal intelligence. But they had to struggle with spiritual truths they could not fully grasp. They must have felt dizzy with the truth they were hearing. In addition to not understanding, they also were afraid to ask him about it. They had a fear problem. Perhaps they were afraid they would suffer. Perhaps they were afraid they would lose their human dreams. In any case, they did not trust Jesus enough to accept his words with faith. In this part, we learn that Jesus wants his disciples to accept his words with faith. Jesus wants us to accept his teachings even when they don't make sense at the moment. Jesus wants us to accept his teachings, even when he tells us of painful and difficult things. Only faith based on Jesus' words will lead us to certain victory in the end.

In this passage we have learned that Jesus fought a spiritual battle with the devil and won the victory. We also learn how to share his victory. First, we must repent our unbelief and put our trust in Jesus. Second, we must listen to Jesus' teachings even when we don't fully understand what they mean, or when they sound difficult. We must build our faith on the truth of Jesus' words. Then we can go through sufferings without fear, in the assurance of final victory. May God bless you with great victory in your spiritual struggle as you trust and obey Jesus in this generation.