Posts Tagged ‘Luke 9:37-50’

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Luke 9:37-50 (with focus on v. 43b-45)

We have before us today a short passage from Luke’s gospel focusing on the failure of the disciples to understand Jesus’ prediction that he will “be betrayed into human hands.”  To understand it better, I’d like to view it in its broader context (Luke 9:37-50), which you’ll find printed on the handout.

Jesus is with his disciples in Galilee, about to turn his face towards Jerusalem, where he will face betrayal, crucifixion and death.  He is speaking with his disciples about the cost of discipleship, and the necessity of “taking up the cross” in order to follow him.

In this section of Luke 9, we are brought face-to-face with the weakness of the twelve.  They are lacking in power, having failed to cast a demon out of a boy.  They are lacking in understanding, failing to grasp Jesus’ prediction of his betrayal into the hands of his enemies.  They are lacking in humility, arguing about which of them was the greatest.  And finally, they are lacking in sympathy and in Jesus’ spirit of inclusivity, when they try to exclude those who do not join them.^[i]