“Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving 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.” (Luke 9:49-50)
Our Lord Jesus did not prohibit for someone to drive out
demons in His name although he was not among the disciples who tried to stop
him. Jesus gives an answer why we shouldn’t stop anyone to do something in the
name of Christ. It’s because whoever is not against us is for us. Our God is
bigger than our minds and deeper and higher than our thoughts. There are many
denominations in Christendom. It seems the body of Christ is divided but it is
not. Every denomination is for Christ and works together for the cause of God
and the advancement of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. There are many
gifts in the body of Christ but one body whose head is Christ.
“As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven,
Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who
went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there
did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples
James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down
from heaven to destroy them?” But Jesus turned and rebuked them. Then he and
his disciples went to another village.” (Luke 9:51-56)
Our Lord Jesus was resolutely heading toward the city of
Jerusalem to drink the cup of God for which He came into the world. Jesus knew
that the time had come for Him to be taken up to heaven through the way of the cross.
We are not told what Jesus wanted messengers to get ready for Him in a
Samaritan village. Probably, Jesus wanted to stay overnight in the village,
teaching the kingdom of heaven and healing the sick and driving out demons. But
the villagers refused to welcome Him because He was heading for Jerusalem. There
was a historically serious feud between Jews and Samaritans. It is a bit surprising
because once the Samaritans welcomed Jesus, begging His stay more days when a
woman at the well of Jacob witnessed the grace of Jesus Christ.
The disciples were indignant when they refused to welcome
their Master. Their pride was hurt. James and John called the sons of Boanerges
promptly asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy
them?” We are not sure whether they could do such a thing, bringing fire down
from heaven. Its’ probably because they experienced the power to drive out
demons and heal the sick and furthermore they saw the transfigured Jesus in glory
on the mountaintop. No wonder Jesus named them the sons of thunder.
Jesus turned on them and rebuked them. Then He went to another
village. Our God is the God of mercy and grace. Our God is reluctant and hesitant
to execute the judgment. Instead, our God wants everyone to come to repentance
and to be saved. “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some
understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to
perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
“God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through
the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate
his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed
beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the
present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith
in Jesus.” (Romans 3:25-26)
Yes, God is the God of judgment as clearly stated and
manifested in Noah’s time by flood. But the judgment doesn’t save people but the
enduring love does. For that reason, God made His begotten Son sin for us and
the eternal atoning sacrifice on the cross in Calvary. Apostle Paul when he
contemplated the longsuffering mercy and grace of God he reminded of the
quotation of Prophet Isaiah, “All day long I have stretched out My hands
To a disobedient and contrary people.” (Romans 10:21)
As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I
will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds
have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” He said to
another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my
father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and
proclaim 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 a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of
God.” (Luke 9:57-62)
Many wanted to follow Jesus but a few remained. It’s a
narrow gate to follow Jesus who says, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests,
but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Many misunderstood this and literally
lived like vagabonds in the mountains and no man’s land. That is not what our
Lord Jesus means at all. It is true that following Jesus is a very narrow way that
while the disciples went back their homes our Lord Jesus had no place to lay
down His head and spent many nights in the mountains.
What is it that our Lord Jesus didn’t mind losing even the
basic things in our lives? It is not that Jesus couldn’t afford it but rather
He chose that way in order to say something for our humanity. Housing and food
are the most essential needs in our humanity. But Jesus says even those
fundamentals are not worth comparing with the eternal weight of glory. What is
seen is fleeting, passing, and momentary. What is unseen is eternal, real, and
enduring. Food and housing will be passing and disappearing. But there is an
eternal kingdom in heaven which does not spoil, fade, or perish. God whose name
is “I Am What I Am” reign and rule the kingdom with righteousness and justice.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can
never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who
through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation
that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3-5)
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are
wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and
momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs
them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since
what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians
4:16-18)
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth
comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in
eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was
subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who
subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its
bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.”
(Romans 8:1-21)
Prophet Isaiah was told to cry out that all men are like
grass and the flowers of the field. That’s what we are in the sight of God.
James says that we are like mist in the morning which appears a little while
and vanishes (James 4:14).
A voice
says, “Cry out.”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
“All people
are like grass,
and all their faithfulness is like the
flowers of the field.
The grass
withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the Lord blows on
them.
Surely the
people are grass.
The grass
withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures
forever.” (Isaiah 40:6-8)
Therefore, we are sojourners and strangers in this world.
The Scripture confirms and underscores it over and over again. This is not our
home but just a temporary place to learn how to live now and in the ages
to come. Jesus is the truth. What He says is the ultimate reality which reveals
all things hidden and unseen in the kingdom.
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