Story of Jesus, December 9th

Luke Chapter 9

One day Jesus called his twelve apostles together and he gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and to cure diseases. He sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal.

He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey; no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, or even a change of clothes. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave their town, to show that you have abandoned those people to their fate.”

So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere.

When Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, heard about all that was going on he was perplexed. Some were saying that John the Baptist had been raised from the dead. Others thought Jesus was Elijah, or one of the other prophets from long ago that had come back to life.

But Herod said, “I beheaded John. Who then is this I hear such things about?” And he kept trying to see him.

When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus all that they had done. Then he took them with him and they went by themselves to a town called Bethsaida. But the crowds found out where he was going and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God and healed those who needed healing.

Late in the afternoon, the twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowds away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging. There is nothing here in this remote place.”

Jesus said to them, “You give them something to eat.”

They replied, “We only have five loaves of bread and two fish, unless we go buy food for all these people.” There were about 5,000 men there.

Jesus said to his disciples, “Tell them to sit down in groups of about fifty each.” The disciples did so and all the people sat down. Taking the five loaves of bread and the two fish, he looked up to the heavens and gave thanks. Breaking it into pieces, he kept giving the bread and the fish to the disciples to pass out to everyone. They all ate and were satisfied. When they finished, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of broken pieces that were left over.

One day Jesus left the crowds to pray alone. Only his disciples were with him, and he asked them, “Who do the people say I am?”

They told him that some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say an ancient prophet risen from the dead. Jesus asked them, “But what about you? Who do you say I am?” Peter replied, “The Christ of God.”

Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law. He will be killed, but on the third day be raised from the dead.”

Then he said to all of them, “If anyone wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”

About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him up the mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightening. And behold, two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor and began talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment in Jerusalem.

Now Peter and the others were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.

As the men were starting to leave, Peter, without knowing what he was saying blurted out, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters as memorials; one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.

While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. Then a voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to him!” When the voice finished speaking, Jesus was there alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and didn’t tell anyone at that time what they had seen.

The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. A man in the crowd called out to him, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. A spirit seizes him and he screams suddenly. It throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. I begged your disciples to cast out the spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”

Jesus said, “You faithless and corrupt people! How long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”

Even as the boy came forward, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the evil spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. They were all amazed at the majesty of God.

While everyone was marveling at what Jesus did, he said to his disciples, “Listen carefully and remember what I say. The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hand of his enemies.” But they did not understand what this meant. Its significance was hidden from them, so they couldn’t understand it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.

Then his disciples began arguing about which one of them was the greatest. But Jesus knew their thoughts, and brought a little child and had him stand beside him. Then he said to them, “Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever is the least among you is the greatest.”

“Master,” said John, “we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.”

“Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”

When the days drew near for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. He sent messengers ahead of him, who went into a Samaritan village to prepare for his arrival. But the people of the village did not welcome Jesus because he was on his way to Jerusalem. When his disciples, James and John saw this, they said to Jesus, “Lord, should we call down fire from heaven to burn them up?” But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went to another village.

As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

He said to another man, “Follow me.” But the man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead! Your duty is to go and preach about the kingdom of God.”

Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”