Luke 9:1-17

God will Provide (1) – Total Trust

Luke 9:1-6 - Jesus Sends the Twelve on Mission

¹ He summoned the twelve to him,

and gave them power and authority over all demons

and to heal sicknesses.

² And he sent them off to proclaim the Kingdom of God

and to heal the sick.

The mission of the twelve was to proclaim the kingdom and to heal. Indeed, the healing was part of the proclamation, the offer of hope that things would improve.

To achieve their mission Jesus gave them power and authority over all demons and the ability to heal sicknesses. They were probably not empowered on such a brief mission to take on the demonic activity entrenched in the destructive elements in Jewish society. That sort of demon required the authority stemming from inner truth and integrity, and such authority could not be simply given but needed to be truly developed and integrated over time.

³ “Bring along nothing on the journey,

no stick, no pouch, no bread, no money,

and do not bring two undergarments.

Their power would be exercised through their powerlessness, need and vulnerability.

⁴ Stay in whatever home you enter, and leave from there.

⁵ Regarding those who do not welcome you,

as you leave the town, shake off the dust from your feet

as a testimony against them.”

They were to come to terms with their own preferences, and not seek to improve their situation. Nor were they to take on themselves the guilt of those who would not listen but place it squarely where it belonged.

⁶ They departed and travelled around the villages,

telling the Good News

and healing everywhere.

There were about two hundred towns and villages in Galilee, none very distant from the other. Given the number, however, the reach and impact of the twelve would probably have been limited.

Who is Jesus? (1) – Herod’s Answer

Luke 9:7-9 - Herod’s Perplexity

⁷ Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was going on

and was confused.

Some were saying John had risen from the dead,

⁸ some that Elijah had appeared,

some that one of the ancient prophets had arisen.

⁹ But Herod said, “I beheaded John.

Who then is this I hear so much about?”

And he wished to see him.

On issues of security Herod was somewhat paranoid. It is not surprising that he had knowledge of what was happening.

None of the circulating rumours carried weight with the probably faithless Herod. Like the disciples in the storm at sea, he, too, wondered just who Jesus could be. The references to Elijah returned are explained by a prophecy of Malachi who spoke specifically of Elijah’s return preceding the day of God’s final intervention in history. Likewise, the Book of Deuteronomy contained an unclear reference to a future unidentified prophet like Moses.

Mark had inserted his reference to Herod’s assassination of John the Baptist at this point in his story to make the point that the missions of Jesus and of his disciples were carried out against a background of potential arrest and reprisal. This threat would not go unnoticed by Luke’s own community, who lived their lives under the constant cloud of Rome’s arbitrary power.

God will Provide (2) – Resources are Enough

Luke 9:10-17 - Jesus Feeds Five Thousand

¹⁰ The apostles returned

and filled him in on all the things they had done.

The apostles were apparently quite thrilled with themselves and their recent activity, anxious to share their stories. Jesus was concerned that they keep their own importance in perspective: he would confront them very quickly with the reality of their own powerlessness.

He got them together

and they went off by themselves to a town called Bethsaida.

¹¹ Learning of this, crowds followed him.

He welcomed them

and spoke to them about the kingdom of God,

and he healed those who needed it.

Luke’s reference to the city of Bethsaida fitted well with his desire to locate the action of Jesus as much as possible within an urban setting. It did not fit well, however, with the story at this point because in the next breath he had Jesus obviously out in the countryside.

The proclamation of the Kingdom and the healing of those in need were complementary.

¹² The day began to fade.

The twelve approached him and said,

"Let the crowd disperse.

They can go into the surrounding villages and farms

and buy provisions for themselves.

We are in a deserted area here."

¹³ But he said to them, "You give them something to eat."

The disciples did not see the crowd’s need as in any way impinging on their own convenience. The crowd could look after themselves.

But they replied,

"We have nothing more than five loaves of bread and two fish –

unless you expect us to go off and buy

enough to feed all these people."

¹⁴ For there were about five thousand men.

When challenged, the disciples’ immediate response was an economic one. Jesus saw more widely. His response was hospitality. They were to share whatever they had, even though it seemed radically inadequate.

But he said to his disciples,

"Get them to recline in dinner-groups of about fifty each."

¹⁵ They did accordingly and got them all to recline.

¹⁶ Jesus then took the five loaves of bread and the two fish.

He raised his eyes towards heaven.

He blessed them,

broke them in pieces,

and kept giving them to the disciples

to serve out to the crowd.

¹⁷ They all ate and satisfied their hunger.

Twelve baskets of leftover scraps were picked up.

Continuing awkwardly his attempt to suggest an urban context, Luke had Jesus ask the disciples to get the crowd to recline (rather than sit down) in dinner-groups (not just groups).

Borrowing directly from Mark, Luke kept the obviously eucharistic language: took the loaves, raised his eyes towards heaven, blessed, broke, gave. This incident was certainly not a Eucharist, but served to illustrate the meaning of Eucharist within the Christian community. Eucharist was also part of the proclamation of the Kingdom and the ongoing spiritual healing of the participants. In Luke’s mind, Eucharist celebrated other than in the context of the proclamation of the Kingdom or not leading to spiritual growth and healing would lose its focus and sacramentality. Significantly for Luke, Eucharist would also emphasise a sense of welcome, and there would always be more than enough.

No explicit mention was made in the narrative of miraculous happenings, no amazed reactions from those present. Was this the elaborated and theologized version of some other event whose details have been lost forever?

Next >> Luke 9:18-27