Chapter 9 of Luke, which we are reading a chapter at a time, gives us a great view of the turning point in Jesus' ministry. He is preparing his disciples to carry on the work bringing the kingdom of God to our world, when he won't be physically present with them. So to discover if they are ready, and they aren't, but that's another story like ours, he sends them out to tell others the good news.
We are reminded by this event that all of us have a part to play in the work of the church, the church is not a building or a social club with a religious theme, or a social service agency motivated by our faith, but a way for God to change lives to bring people who are separated from God into a relationship with God. He sends his disciples out to get them some experience in sharing the good news, of helping people who are overwhelmed in life to find the help God can give. They cast out demons, heal the sick and tell the good news, which they have been seeing Jesus do all along. That's our mission too, tell people, help people when they are having troubles, that God wants to heal and restore and connect to them for their wholeness.
They come back and apparently a whole group of people are coming with them so that suddenly there are five thousand men and their families sitting on the hill side listening to Jesus and being healed and taught. It get's late and the disciples feel that the people should leave now, or they will be hungry. Jesus suggests that the disciples feed them. Once again, Jesus is asking us to be helping people as a part of their learning and growing in faith. The disciples still haven't developed the faith they need and wonder how on earth we are going to feed all these people. Someone suggests that there isn't enough money in the treasury for all of them to have food. Someone else found a small lunch, consisting of 5 loaves of bread and two fish. The loaves are about the size of a dinner roll or hamburger bun. How will that feed this many people?
Once again Jesus gets to show us that our faith can be a whole lot bigger than it is. Jesus asks the people to sit down in groups of about fifty, and then he lifts the bread toward heaven, and gives thanks for them and then breaks them and passes the bread to the disciples, who pass the bread to the people. He does the same with the fish. And lo and behold, a dramatic expression when we see God at work, there is enough food for everyone and a collection of 12 baskets of left overs! God has a way of doing far more than we can even imagine.
The next part of the story invites us to wrestle with what all of this means. So after the people are gone and they have traveled some more, Jesus starts to ask them, "Who do people say that I am?" This question is still asked today. Who do people think Jesus is? well some say, you are a prophet, or John the Baptist come back to life, or some other great rabbi. It sounds like the same answer by people today. Jesus is a great teacher, a miracle worker, a religious leader from the first century, a person we have heard about from a long time ago. Even today we have many answers to what we and our friends think of Jesus. We will explore that in more detail later. Stay tuned.
Then to make sure that Jesus can move toward his purpose of dying in Jerusalem to accomplish the forgiveness of sins and prove who he really is with his Resurrection, he asks the disciples and he really is asking us. "Who do you say that I am?" The reality comes to us, how do we answer that question. Who is Jesus? Peter blurts out that he is the Son of God, the Christ, the Messiah of God. And Jesus thanks him for the revelation that was not a human concoction, but a divine revelation.
Yes, Jesus is the Son of God, yes, Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah of God. Which is pretty unbelievable sometimes. And when Jesus says that this revelation is right and that as the Son of God we are going to have the same challenges he has, we have a hard time with that. He tells them that the Son of God will be betrayed, arrested, tried, crucified and buried. But on the third day be raised back to life. And as a matter of fact each of us, if we want to be a true disciple, must surrender our own wills and take up the cross of obedience and follow him to that difficult end.
The disciples, and us included, have a hard time with Jesus announcing such a horrible event coming to him and they begin to doubt his divinity and his purpose. He will need to show them something else to help keep them on track, and that's what comes next. He takes Peter, James and John up on a mountain top for a time for prayer.
I pray you will continue to read the gospel of Luke for more details, and continue to struggle with and decide for yourself, who Jesus is and what you will do to stay with him for your whole life and beyond. Come back and we will share what happens next in a future Blog report.
Blessings
Pastor Jeff
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