Luke 9:1-27

Luke 9

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

1When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 3He told them: "Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra tunic. 4Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. 5If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave their town, as a testimony against them." 6So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere.
7Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was going on. And he was perplexed, because some were saying that John had been raised from the dead, 8others that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the prophets of long ago had come back to life. 9But Herod said, "I beheaded John. Who, then, is this I hear such things about?" And he tried to see him.

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

10When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then he took them with him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, 11but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.
12Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, "Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here."

13He replied, "You give them something to eat."

They answered, "We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd." 14(About five thousand men were there.)

But he said to his disciples, "Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each." 15The disciples did so, and everybody sat down. 16Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to set before the people. 17They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.

Peter's Confession of Christ

18Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say I am?"
19They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life."

20"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
Peter answered, "The Christ of God."

21Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. 22And 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."

23Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? 26If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God."

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There's a lot packed into these sections. But with this being the week of Easter, I wanted to talk about both the sending out of the twelve, as well as Peter's confession of Christ.

I love the notion of these twelve young guys being sent out, and taking nothing with them. No money, no extra clothing, no walking stick. Nothing! It's so '60s. So Bohemian. You just gotta love it. Surely, they had some doubts. But they went out and did it! They walked from village to village, preaching and healing people!

Yet these days, it's often the creepy street preachers that give Christianity a bad name. Where are all the good, outspoken Jesus-followers? Have they gone into hiding?

Plus, if the disciples were not welcomed in any town, they were to shake the dust off their feet when they left. This was a definite testimony against the people if they rejected the disciples' teaching. This is a point that our current "open-minded" society probably doesn't like to think about.

Feeding 5000 people with a couple loaves of bread and a few fish is... well, it's a miracle. It shows me two things: Jesus cares for the physical well-being of people, and he wanted to spend lots of time with them! He didn't want them to have to go away to find food. "Let's give them food right here, so we can spend more time together!"

When Jesus asks his followers who they think he is, Peter answers "The Christ [or Messiah] of God." This is a major statement -- it reflects Peter's belief that Yeshua was not only the person that the Jewish nation had been waiting for to save them, but he was also "of God."

The Son of Man must suffer many things. He was to 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 was the main focus of Jesus' mission. He KNEW it was going to happen. It wasn't an accident. It was the driving force behind him coming in the first place -- to be a sacrifice for sin. A sacrifice for ALL sin.

Jesus gives a call to action right after that. "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."

We must deny ourselves.

That's not a fun thought. I don't LIKE denying myself.

Following Christ requires some sacrifice. Sometimes I wonder if I'm really making any major sacrifices in my life to follow Jesus. I've got it pretty good. It's definitely something to think about this weekend.