The Scripture reading for today is found in Luke 9:51–62. Here in Luke 9:51-56, Dr. Luke is the only writer in the
Gospels to record this account. What we will study today in The Journey Begins…01. Turning Point (Luke 9:51); 02. Rejection in Samaria (Luke 9:52-56); and 03. Don’t Look Back (Luke 9:57-62).
01. Turning Point (Luke 9:51)
Luke 9:51 “Now it came to pass” in the Greek (ἐγένετο δέ) serves as a
turning point in this gospel by Dr. Luke. Dr. Luke has the focus change from
the Galilee region to that of Jerusalem, and he highlights the final journey of
Jesus towards Jerusalem (Luke
9:51-Luke 19:28).
Luke 9:51 “when the time had
come” in the Greek (ἐν τῷ συμπληροῶσθαι τὰς ἡμέρας) reminds us
of how the Holy Spirit directed Paul to write to the Galatians, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His
Son, born of a woman, born under the law,”
(Galatians 4:4) The time was getting
nearer for the fulfillment of the prophecies of the death and resurrection of
Jesus to be fulfilled, and He lived His life in complete obedience to the will
of God (John 4:34; John 6:38).
Luke 9:51 “for Him to be
received up” in the Greek (της ἀναλημψεως αὐτου) which literally means, “of
his taking up.” It is derived from the Greek verb (G353 ἀναλαμβανω) that is used of the Ascension
of Jesus (Acts
1:2; Acts
1:11; Acts 1:22; 1 Timothy 3:16) after His Resurrection.[1]
Luke 9:51 “He steadfastly set
His face” In the Greek (αὐτος το προσωπον ἐστηρισεν), this
is graphic description that illustrates Jesus turning to face Jerusalem. It speaks of firmness of
purpose.[2]
In the Greek, “He”
here is emphatic, it can be translated as “He Himself then”, hearkening us to
His own prophecy in Isaiah 50:7, “I have set My face like a flint”.[3] This
alludes to Jesus’ prophetic role. For God to “set his face” against a
person, city, or region (Jeremiah 21:10; Ezekiel 14:8; Ezekiel
15:7;
Ezekiel as God’s spokesman in Ezekiel 6:2.) is for God to show His wrath. The
opposite is for God to “make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you”
(Numbers
6:25). But here Jesus “sets his face”
to go to Jerusalem not to show wrath or mercy to Jerusalem, but to face and
overcome all temptations and opposition that would turn Him aside from
traveling to the cross.
Luke 9:62 balances Luke 9:51 with a proverbial
summation of what it means to “set one’s face.” The words of Luke 9:52–61
illustrate some of the potential distractions. [4] Old
Testament precedents offer further illumination on the significance of the fact
that Jesus “set
his face”, for example God made Ezekiel’s forehead as hard as
flint so that the prophet could endure the hostility of rebellious Israel (Ezekiel 3:8–9).
The Suffering Servant says, “The Lord YHWH has
opened My ear; And I was not rebellious, Nor did I turn away. I gave My back
to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the
beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting. “For the Lord YHWH
will help Me; Therefore I will not be disgraced; Therefore I have set My face
like a flint, And I know that I will not be ashamed.” (Isaiah 50:5–7) Jesus, the Servant, is
resolutely determined to go to the cross, fully aware of the torture and humiliation
involved. He trusts in eventual vindication by the Father (Isaiah 50:8–9), and he knows
that the cross is the only way to procure salvation for humanity (compare Isaiah 50:8–9
with Romans
8:31–34). [5]
This journey to Jerusalem is what sets in motion all that
Jesus discussed with Moses and Elijah at the transfiguration in Luke 9:31.
The phrase “spoke of His decease” in
the Greek (ἐλεγον την ἐξοδον
[elegon tēn exodon]). Is written in the Imperfect active, meaning that they were talking about his ἐξοδυς
[exodus].[6] Just
as the children of Israel had to go up from Egypt in their journey to the
Promised Land, so too does the Christ have to go up to Jerusalem.
Even though Jesus was with Israel on that first exodus (1 Corinthians
10:1–13), they repeatedly turned to idols, were filled with
grumbling, rebellion and lack of faith. But on this exodus journey, Jesus will
do so in perfect obedience to die as the perfect sacrifice for not only the sin
of Israel, but also the sin of the whole world (John
1:29; John
3:16–18)!
02. Rejection in
Samaria (Luke 9:52-56)
Luke 9:52 “and sent messengers
before His face.” On His way
down to Jerusalem, Jesus sends messengers (MSS. ἀγγέλους from G32 ἄγγελος aggĕlŏs, ang´-el-os[7]) ahead of
him into a Samaritan village. This is something that never happened at the
beginning of His ministry, where He was sending people ahead to announced or
herald His coming into an area or town. The Bible doesn’t say who these
messengers were, or even the name of the town. What
we also see is that Luke 9 ends as it started (Luke 9:2), with Jesus sending
out His disciples to prepare for Him.
Just as Jesus is making His exodus journey towards
Jerusalem, the wording here in Luke 9:52 seems
to not only point to Jesus being the Prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15–22), but also
as the Angel of YHWH that led the children of Israel out of Egypt, through the
wilderness and into the Promised Land (Exodus 23:20; cf. 1 Corinthians
10:1–13).
Luke 9:52 “And as they went,
they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him.” Dr.
Luke records that Jesus “steadfastly set His face
to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51), and now we see Him and His disciples
on their way.
Luke 9:53 The Samaritans are from a region in Northern
Israel known as Samaria, named after the city of Samaria, which once was where
the northern kings ruled. (1 Kings 16:23-34; cf. 1 Kings 21:1-29; 1 Kings 22:10-53;
2 Kings 1:2-3;
2 Kings 3:1;
2 Kings 10:36;
2 Kings 13:1;
2 Kings 13:9-13;
2 Kings 14:16;
2 Kings 14:23;
2 Kings 15:8;
2 Kings 15:13;
2 Kings 15:17;
2 Kings 15:23-27
etc.) It is believed that the ethnic Samaritan people came about after the Assyrian
Empire took the Northern Kingdom of Israel into captivity (2 Kings 17:1-41) in 772 bc. The
foreign people that the Assyrians brought in to inhabit the Northern Kingdom of
Israel (2
Kings 17:23-24) eventually intermarried with each other and with the
Jewish remnant. From these unholy unions came the Samaritans (2 Kings 17:23-30).
In 2 Kings
17:29 is the first time we see that the Samaritans are specifically
mentioned in the Bible. It is interesting to read other historical resources,
such as Josephus (Antiquities
of the Jews 9:288–91) as well as many of the rabbis of the Second
Temple period, and most of them did not consider the Samaritans as ethnically
Jewish, but of Cuthean descent.[8] Cuth
was an important city in the Babylonian empire, located Northeast of Babylon. They
were identified as “Cuthim” in Hebrew, and as “Samaritans” to the Greeks. The
Samaritans, however, viewed themselves as descendants of the tribes of Ephraim
and Manasseh, and trace their lineage to the time of Eli[9] (1 Samuel 1-4).
Josephus states that the Samaritans were a group of people who constantly
changed their ethnicity, for when the Jews were in
prosperity, the Samaritans claimed kindred to them (Ezra 4:2), but, when the Jews
were in distress, they were Medes and Persians; see Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 11.340–341; Antiquities of the Jews 12.257.[10]
After the return of the Jews from the exile in Babylon for seventy years, Ezra 4
states that people who lived in Samaria opposed the rebuilding of the temple in
Jerusalem and the city walls (cf. Ezra 4:17; Nehemiah 2:10).[11] It
was around this time as well that the Samaritans built a temple on Mount
Gerizim because they believed that YHWH should be worshipped in Shechem
(Samaria) rather than in Jerusalem (Antiquities of the Jews 13.74). Modern excavation on Gerizim dates construction of the Samaritan
temple to the period of Nehemiah.[12]
The Talmudic booklet Masseket Kutim gives later regulations
concerning the Samaritans for the Jewish people. The final section commands
that no Samaritan could be admitted into the Jewish fellowship unless he would
deny Mount Gerizim and affirm Jerusalem—presumably as being the true site for
the temple (Masskete Kutim, 28). This
pamphlet gives ironic witness to the continuation of this controversy long
after both the Gerizim temple and the Jerusalem temple had been destroyed.[13]
When Jesus talked
with the Samaritan woman at the well, when His questions start to focus on her
marital status (John 4:16–18), she attempts to
avoid His questions by bringing up the long-standing dispute between the Jews
and the Samaritans about where was the God-ordained place of worship, Mount Gerizim
or Jerusalem (John 4:20). Jesus doesn’t fall for her red herring, but instead He spoke
of a future time when both Mount Gerizim and Jerusalem will be irrelevant for
the purpose of worship (John 4:21–24).[14] Mount Gerizim was also
where half of the children of Israel were instructed to stand on to utter the
blessings (the curses on Mount Ebal) after they had entered the Promised Land (Deuteronomy
11:29; Deuteronomy 27:12-26; Joshua 8:33; Joshua 9:7).
So because of their attempt to worship
YHWH on Mount Gerizim, and because they were regarded as half-breeds, they and
the Jews did not get along. In fact, the religious leaders tried to
slander Jesus by calling Him a Samaritan and saying that He was demon-possessed
(John 8:48)! Here in our text, when we read “they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.”
(Luke 9:53), we now know that there was
great animosity between the two groups, and the fact that Jesus, a Jewish
rabbi, was heading to Jerusalem, was probably more than enough reason for the
Samaritan village to reject Him. Often,
when the Jews from the north would travel down to Jerusalem, they would avoid
going through Samaria, and instead they would cross the Jordan into the region
of Perea, head southward, and then cross the Jordan again in the area of
Jericho. From there, they would travel roughly 10 miles to Jerusalem.[15]
Luke 9:54 James and John, also known as the “Sons of Thunder”
(Mark 3:17), upon seeing the
rejection of our LORD and Saviour, wanted to go command fire from heaven to
wipe out all the Samaritans! Notice that they say, “Lord,
do You want us” as if they themselves had the power and authority to
do so! In order to justify their feelings, they say, “just as Elijah did”! The account of Elijah calling fire down
on the Samaritans can be found in 2 Kings 1:1–18.
This whole incident, like the contest on
Mount Carmel, was designed to demonstrate God’s sovereignty to the king and the
people of Israel.[16]
This is the same James who was
willing to “to
drink the (bitter) cup” (Mark 10:38-40)
of Christ, as Dr. Luke records that Herod “killed James the brother of
John with the sword.” (Acts 12:2-4) And this is the same John, who it is said was “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 21:20), and who
wrote “And now I plead
with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which
we have had from the beginning: that we love one another. This is love, that we
walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have
heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.” (2 John 5–6) It would seem that their fiery zeal was
matured and sanctified much later.
Luke 9:55-56 James and John had great zeal for Jesus, but it
was a misguided zeal. The fire from heaven was to remind King Ahaziah that God
was the ruler of Israel, and that the king should yield to the sovereignty of
God, whereas Jesus was sent “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10), “To preach the gospel to the poor…to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty
to the captives And recovery of sight to
the blind, To set at liberty those who
are oppressed; (and to) To proclaim the acceptable year of YHWH.” (Luke 4:18–19), because “the
Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” (Luke 9:56)
03. Don’t Look
Back (Luke 9:57-62)
Luke 9:57-62 can also be found in Matthew
8:18–22.
Luke 9:57 Matthew tells us that this someone was a “scribe” in Matthew
8:19 and from Matthew 8:21
it would seem that he was a disciple. This disciple seems to be one who was
filled with emotion, excited to follow Jesus, much like the seed sown on the
rocky soil, “who, when they hear, receive the word
with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of
temptation fall away.” (Luke 8:13)
Jesus is straightforward with him, telling him that if he were to follow the
Son of Man, that “Foxes have holes and birds of
the air have nests,”
essentially saying that animals have it better than the Son of Man “but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” (Luke 9:58)
So if you’re going to follow Jesus Christ, you must be prepared to be a
stranger in the world. Emotion alone will not sustain you when you come to the
tragedies and trials of life as a follower of Jesus Christ. Emotion is
insufficient.[17]
When you become a disciple of Jesus, you forever become a sojourner
and a pilgrim (1
Peter 2:11-12) on this earth, for this world is not our home (Hebrews 13:14).
This is not what you would hear from Joel Osteen, Todd Bentley, et al. Because
we are “sojourners and pilgrims”, we will suffer, and
not experience our best life now, for if this is our best life, then Heaven is
not in our future!
Emotion will not carry your faith, for when the seed is sown
on the rocky soil (Luke 8:13), they start
out well with a ton of emotion, but because the Word of God is not implanted in
their souls (James 1:21), they have
no foundation in the Scriptures and then when their faith is tested, their
excitement wears off and they start to give up.
They begin to lose interest in going to church (Proverbs 18:1;
Hebrews
10:25) and in the Word of God. Converts swiftly made are quickly
lost.[18]
This is in accord to what Paul said to the church at Corinth, that “We are confident, yes, well
pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”
(2 Corinthians 5:8) And the
disciple of Jesus Christ, who intends to truly follow him wherever he goes, can
never be at home in this world. The world is not my home. We are passing
through, on the way, to our true home, for our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). [19]
Luke 9:59 Matthew records for us that this was “Then another of His disciples
said to Him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”” (Matthew 8:21) Here is another casual disciple,
one who wants to follow Jesus, not with emotion like the first disciple here, but
only when it is convenient for him. This was an old proverb, more really an
excuse to nicely say no to what you don’t really want to do. This was said
essentially while the father, who was sometimes in excellent health, was still
alive and that he couldn’t leave his father and follow Jesus until his father
had died. [20]
Luke 9:60 “Jesus said to him,
“Let the dead bury their own dead,”” What Jesus was saying here is that the
spiritually dead can bury the literal dead, for this man was trying to use his
father, who was not dead yet as an excuse to not be an active disciple of
Jesus.
Luke 9:60 “but you go and preach the kingdom of God.” This
was a forceful, demanding claim, one that required immediate obedience.
Luke 9:61 This man simply wanted to go home to say
good-bye to his family. But the message about the Kingdom of God is to be more
important.
Luke 9:62 It is evident from our text-verse that in Jesus’
time the plow usually had but one handle. One hand guided the plow, while the
other held the long goad—a long staff, pointed on the end—by which the oxen
were spurred on to their work. Since the plow was fairly lightweight, it was
necessary for the plowman to lean forward with all his weight on the handle to
keep the share—the cutting blade—in the ground. Many commentators suggest that
by looking back, the laborer would be unable to make straight furrows. The
usual method was for the plowman to pick an object at the far end of the field
and keep the plow going directly toward it. If he turned to look behind him to
see how he was doing, he would lose sight of his objective and go off from his
straight line. Jesus’ spiritual lesson is that if we look back at our old life
with longing, as the Israelites in the wilderness kept looking back at Egypt,
then we aren’t fit for service in His kingdom.[21] Now we
must learn, when we are Christians, to follow the teaching of the word of God.
Our experience is not to be our guide. The doctrines of the word of God are to
be our guide. [22] Like
Ruth when she told her mother in law, Naomi: “Entreat me not to leave you, Or
to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And
wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And
your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried.
YHWH do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and
me.”” (Ruth 1:16–17)
Our LORD and Saviour never turned back, always doing the
will of His Father.
[1] Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Lk 9:51). Nashville, TN: Broadman
Press.
[2] Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament
and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 945). Chicago: University
of Chicago Press.
[3] Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the
Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 108). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[4] Just, A. A., Jr. (1997). Luke 9:51–24:53 (pp. 427–428). St. Louis: Concordia Publishing
House.
[5] Just, A. A., Jr. (1997). Luke 9:51–24:53 (pp. 427–428). St. Louis: Concordia Publishing
House.
[6] Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Lk 9:31). Nashville, TN:
Broadman Press.
[7] Strong, J. (2009). A
Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible
(Vol. 1, p. 7). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[8] Maiers, B. (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015). Samaritans. In J.
D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair
Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham
Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[9] Maiers, B. (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015). Samaritans. In J.
D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair
Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham
Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[10] Henry, M. (1994). Matthew
Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume
(p. 1934). Peabody: Hendrickson.
[11] Maiers, B. (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015). Samaritans. In J.
D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair
Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham
Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[12] Krause, M. S. (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015). Mount Gerizim.
In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair
Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham
Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[13] Krause, M. S. (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015). Mount Gerizim.
In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair
Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham
Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[14] Krause, M. S. (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015). Mount Gerizim.
In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair
Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham
Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[15] Barry, J. D., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Mangum, D.,
& Whitehead, M. M. (2012). Faithlife
Study Bible (Mt 19:1). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[16] Constable, T. L. (1985). 2 Kings. In J. F. Walvoord
& R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible
Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 539).
Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[18] Maclaren, Alexander (2012-05-12).
Expositions of Holy Scripture St. Luke (Kindle Locations 2797-2805). . Kindle Edition.
[20] Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Lk 9:59). Nashville, TN:
Broadman Press.
[21] Freeman, J. M., & Chadwick, H. J. (1998). Manners & customs of the Bible (p.
505). North Brunswick, NJ: Bridge-Logos Publishers.
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