Second Presbyterian Church

"Unready Disciples:
Preaching From the Gospel of Luke"
October 31, 2004

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Sermons Homepage » Sermons for 2004 » Sermons for October 2004 » Sermons from the Series on Luke

#34 in the Series on Luke
The Rev. Daniel E. Hale, D. Min.

• Isaiah 6: 1-13
• Luke 9: 37-50

Today we are bringing together four related episodes from Luke. Please understand, these episodes are also related to what went on before and when is getting ready to happen. They are related to Peter's confession, Jesus' prediction of his passion, the requirement of discipleship, and the transfiguration. These four related episodes are connected to the following verses that have Jesus now moving toward Jerusalem and his subsequent passion: his arrest, death, and resurrection.

Now we see the twelve disciples in some disarray. First they cannot exorcise the demon that plagues the father's only son. After hearing another prediction of Jesus' passion, they remain clueless; in fact their lack of understanding seems to have some external force. Then the disciples begin to argue among themselves about who will be the greatest. Finally Jesus corrects the disciples about stopping others from ministering in His name.

The temptation is for the minister to identify too closely with Jesus and then he goes on and identifies the congregation with the struggling disciples. I shall try to avoid that temptation, for one main reason. I can be as unready a disciple as anybody else can. And all of us, congregation and pastor, need to allow Jesus to speak to where we need the most spiritual healing. Perhaps Jesus needs to speak to our arrogance and lack of faith that robs us from using the power of God that He has bestowed upon us for the building up of the church. Perhaps Jesus needs to speak to our lack of understanding of just how Jesus is Messiah - that He came, died on the cross for us and redeemed us. Perhaps Jesus needs to speak our lack of understanding of how He calls us to serve one another with humility and faith. And perhaps Jesus needs to speak to our lack of understanding of how we can exclude other, different disciples who don't worship with us, but who also worship Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

None of us are finished disciples. Finished disciples are the sisters and brothers for whom their spiritual journey and struggle are over. They are the ones who have already finished this life in mortal flesh and now wait with the Lord for the time when Christ's redemption is complete and we shall all be united with Christ in fact, rather than in faith. So, by definition all of us here this morning are unfinished disciples and the challenge for us is to listen to Jesus and allow Christ's Holy Spirit help us to grow and mature as Christians.

So I would briefly like to go over the four aspects mentioned in our passage where we might learn about how we need to grow as Christians all of us, not only you, but also me.

The first episode has Jesus with Peter, John, and James coming down the mountain. They are met by a large crowd and a man whose only son is possessed by demon that the disciples could not exorcise. The question that first comes to mind is 'Why?" Why couldn't the disciples exorcise this demon? After all Jesus had already given them authority to cast out demons and to heal those who were ill. Jesus directly answers the question: lack of faith. The generation is a faithless generation. They witnessed the marvels of God and the miracles of Jesus. But Jesus knew that soon all would reject him, even his disciples would desert him. Perhaps the disciple's faith in Jesus was disturbed by his prediction of him being arrested, crucified, the raised from the dead. Perhaps the disciples weren't ready to be disciples who were willing to take up their cross daily and follow Jesus. Some of the other episodes covered today seem to reinforce the fact that the disciples did not understand that as Messiah, Jesus was to suffer and die; they expected an earthly Messiah who would deliver them from the power of Rome. They did not expect a spiritual Messiah who would choose to deliver the disciples from their sin and condemnation.

And we can identify with that. How often do we consider the words of Jesus? How often do we consider how much, or how little faith we practice? Is it not easy to look for our "deliverance" in terms of economics or politics. Are we not all going out to vote on Tuesday? Do you find yourself wondering if it will make a difference who is elected? My point is not to tell you how to vote. My point is to say that we can really identify with these new disciples who did not yet understand just how Jesus was to be the Messiah. Although we have heard all our lives about Jesus who died on the cross for our sins and who rose again for our redemption we so easily slip into worrying about our daily routines and issues, especially personal security. Our lack of faith is demonstrated by how little joy we feel in our relationship with Jesus Christ and how much we worry about our near future.

For the second time Jesus tries to tell the disciples about his passion. That is, his up-coming arrest, death and resurrection. They do not understand and they are afraid to ask. In fact they are kept from understanding. It is not clear who is keeping the disciples from understanding and accepting Jesus' prediction of his passion. But what is clear for us is this: we run a decided risk of totally misunderstanding our Christian faith when we ignore the cost of Christ's passion. We misunderstand our faith by avoiding the cross and thus create a Christ that is all glory and no sense of his identifying with humanity's plight. At that point we run the risk of a Christianity that looks like any other organization in which there are a privileged few who run the show, rather that a group of redeemed sinners seeking the help of their Savior and each other for life and purpose. The true glory of Jesus Christ comes through his death and resurrection. Remember, even while on the mountain top, in all his glory, Jesus was speaking with Moses and Elijah about his exodus, his passion, his up-coming deliverance of all people from the slavery of sin!

The third episode shows the disciples' continued misunderstanding. If the Messiah is the one who suffers, if Jesus is the one who will be handed over to men, killed, then it makes little sense in wondering who's going to outrank whom in the Kingdom of God. Be assured, according to Jesus, that it is the least who shall be the greatest. It is the child that shall lead. Once more, there is no room for arrogance in the Kingdom of God. Our human pride becomes a barrier to our ability to approach God and to accept the fact that our redemption is based upon what Jesus Christ has done - not what we do!

Whenever there is conflict or strife in the church, whenever there is unhealthy tension among the children of God, one can find selfish pride if they look for it. This word of judgment is particularly true for congregational leaders such as ministers and session members. When we begin to look at the responsibility we have in terms of human power, it tends to corrupt.

The fourth episode describing the disciples' (and our) unreadiness has to do with being exclusive. John reported to Jesus how they stopped someone who was healing others in the name of Jesus, because he was not part of the original 12, or 72, or whatever as part of the group that followed Jesus around. Historically, we used to pride ourselves for being Presbyterian, rather that Baptist, Methodist, or Roman Catholic. Sometimes we pride ourselves for being true believers of Jesus Christ. Sometimes we pride ourselves in being liberal Christians. Sometimes we pride ourselves for not being holy rollers. Sometimes we pride ourselves in our ability to be charismatic Christians. The problem here is NOT what particular brand of Christian are we; the problem has to do with what is stated in ALL THE ABOVE: PRIDE. Why? Because when we become proud, we have displaced Jesus Christ and replaced him with ourselves - self worship. It is a genuine form of idolatry. I don't care what kind of pride it is; it becomes idolatry. It can be pride in going to Sunday school. It can be pride in reading the Bible everyday. It can be pride in being the best preacher in the city. It can be pride in anything! If we must have pride, then we need to listen to the apostle Paul who stated, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends." (2 Corinthians 10: 17-18)

None of us has anything to brag about when it comes to our Christianity. Jesus Christ did it all. He is the one who redeemed us. We did not redeem ourselves. And with our ability to give up our selfish pride comes our ability to accept and receive the Grace of Jesus Christ and his salvation. Amen.

The Rev. Daniel E. Hale, D. Min.