While Jesus spoke repeatedly of his coming death, the disciples remained in a fog. They simply didn’t want to hear it. He was their Messiah. They had a lot to do to be freed from the grip of Rome. They were trying to learn from him and help him, maybe hoping for places of honor after he took control. They believed he was the Christ. They just weren’t clear on what it was the Christ came to do. The Kingdom of God is still not clearly defined in their minds.
The day after Jesus took Peter, John and James up to the mountain to pray where they saw the transfiguration, a man brought his demon possessed son to Jesus asking for healing. His disciples had tried but couldn’t do it. “’O unbelieving and perverse generation,’ Jesus replied, ‘how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.’” Luke 9:41 Was it the disciples or the man or the crowd that Jesus was speaking to? Maybe it was all of the above.
Why was the crowd there? Crowd behavior is often a strange thing. Natural curiosity often brings people together in a crowd. Just as people today rush to see the accident or scene of the tragedy, a crowd had come to see the boy who was having seizures and to see if Jesus and/or his disciples could take care of this one. They may have been placing bets on it. They followed Jesus around because they were entertained and they wanted the latest information to talk about – not so different from people today. Yes, they were likely an unbelieving and perverse generation – many of them even hoping to be convinced that Jesus was the Messiah.
And the father of the boy likely didn’t believe that Jesus’ disciples were as good as the ‘real deal’ and had no confidence that they could heal his son. He may have approached them asking for Jesus and verbally doubted they could do anything continuing to ask them to take him to Jesus. He may have doubted even Jesus could heal his son. After all, his son was really sick – not like some of those who had minor problems. He may have been a man who had become accustomed to living in crisis and even thrived on being in crisis. I know a few people like that today. They aren’t happy unless they can tell you how miserable they are. They like people feeling sorry for them. Yes, he could easily have qualified for being unbelieving and perverse – and yet, he was hoping that Jesus could heal his son.
The disciples obviously had not been able to fix the problem. The boy was still convulsing and the father was still begging for help. The disciples were not yet mature in their faith. If we have any doubt of that, we don’t need to read much further. “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 he who is least among you all – he is the greatest.’” Luke 9:46-48 They were arguing over who was the greatest – likely punching each other around playfully and bragging about their strength. They still didn’t get it that Jesus’ kingdom was a spiritual kingdom and that the rules were all very different. Power in the world is taken by force. Power in God’s kingdom is given freely to those who ask in Jesus’ name.
Though the people he was dealing with were unbelieving and perverse, Jesus had compassion for the child. He rebuked the evil spirit and healed him. “And they were all amazed at the greatness of God.” Luke 9:43 And while they were all standing around marveling at what had just happened, Jesus spoke to his disciples. “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.” Luke 9:44 I’m guessing that Peter, John and James were tuned in even if no one else was. They had heard the words, “Listen to him,” from the mouth of God. Now Jesus began his lesson with those words: “Listen to me.” While they still did not understand it, Jesus had their attention. Jesus knew the time was soon coming that he would no longer be there with them in his earthly body. He needed them to understand what their mission was so they would be able to go on. There was an urgency in his response to the situation. It was a similar urgency to when a teacher is telling a class, “You need to get this. The test is in two days!”
I wonder how often I mess up life tests because I wasn’t paying enough attention or getting my mind focused in the right place when God had something for me to learn. I have already caught myself and said, “Oh no! I really blew that. Now I’m going to have go through this test again!” Thankfully, God is a patient God and keeps teaching me and giving me retests. But there is an urgency to learn – to get it. People’s eternal lives are at stake here.
God, help me to mature quickly in my faith so that my focus will be on things that matter for eternity.
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