Luke 9:1-17: “Jesus Sends The Twelve On An Intern
By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study, we looked
at verses 22 through 56 of chapter 8.
1.1.1. Jesus performed four miracles:
1.1.1.1. Jesus fell asleep in the boat while He and His disciples were crossing
the Sea of Galilee and then when a storm arose and they were about to perish in
the sea the disciples awoke Jesus and asked Him to save them and He calmed the
wind and the sea.
1.1.1.2. Jesus healed a man possessed by a legion of demons who lived in the
tombs.
1.1.1.3. Finally, Jesus agreed to go with Jairus’s and heal his daughter who is
gravely ill however on the way a woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years
touched the hem of His garment by faith and was healed.
1.1.1.4. Jairus received word that his daughter had now died, then Jesus went
with Jairus and raised his daughter from the dead.
1.2.
In our study today, we are
going to look at the first 17 verses of chapter 9
1.2.1. Jesus sends the twelve out on an intern mission trip to prepare them
for ministry once the church is inaugurated (see Acts chapter 2).
1.2.2. Herod wonders who this man Jesus that he hears so much about really is.
1.2.3. Jesus miraculously feeds the 5,000.
2. VS 9:1-6 - “1 And He called the twelve together,
and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases. 2
And He sent them out to proclaim the
2.1.
In Matt. 10:5-6, in
Matthew’s account of this story, we find that Jesus sends out the twelve to go
only to the house of
2.2.
In Matthew 10:1-4 it is
implied that Jesus sent out the twelve in pairs, with each set of brothers
staying together.
2.3.
‘Authority’ is the
right or permission to do something and ‘power’ is the ability to do
it. Jesus confers to His disciples His
authority and power over all demons and sickness, and even death itself.
2.4.
Lets begin think for a
minute about the big picture of what Jesus is doing in this story. In the first eight chapters of the book of
Luke we have seen how that Jesus has been demonstrating His power and
authority.
2.4.1. He has shown that He has power over disease by performing incredible
acts of healings.
2.4.2. He has shown that He has power over the spirit world by casting demons,
and even legions of demons, out of people.
2.4.3. He has shown that He has power over nature by calming the wind and the
waves on the
2.4.4. He has shown He has power over death by raising from the dead the widow
of Nain’s only son and Jairus’ only daughter.
2.4.5. Jesus has even shown that His power and authority are not hindered by
distance and time by healing the Roman centurion’s daughter from a distance
when the man told Jesus that he was unworthy for the Lord to come to his house
yet he believed that if Jesus were to just say the word that his daughter would
be made whole.
2.5.
Now, Jesus is going to begin
a whole new dimension in demonstrating His power and authority. He is going to demonstrate that His power and
authority can be transferred to those whom He has called and sent out for the
purpose of ministry. Jesus sends out His
twelve disciples granting them the authority and power to perform the very
miraculous acts which have attested to His calling and sanction by heaven.
2.6.
Jesus sends out His twelve
disciples assuring them that through His power and authority they too will be
able to heal disease and cast out demons, and in Matt. 10:7 we read that Jesus
also told the twelve that on this trip they were also to raise the dead.
2.7.
I believe that this
demonstration of Jesus’ power and authority in allowing His disciples to
perform the very miracles that He has been performing is really His greatest demonstration
of power and authority for Jesus’ power and authority will be working
simultaneously in various areas throughout
2.8.
In this sending out the
twelve on their intern mission trip, Jesus is now beginning to prepare the
twelve for life and ministry without Him.
Knowing that He will soon be going to the cross of
2.9.
Now, I would like you to
think for a moment. If it were to be you
who were now sending out your followers to do ministry on an intern basis, what
would you advise them to do as they proceeded?
What counsel would you give them?
Now lets consider what advise and counsel Jesus gives them:
2.9.1. ‘Take nothing
for your journey, neither a staff, nor a bag, nor bread, nor money.’
2.9.2. ‘Do not even
have two tunics apiece.’
2.9.3. Don’t be bouncing
between houses but stay in one house when you enter the city.
2.9.4. ‘For those who
do not receive you, as you go out from that city, shake the dust off your feet
as a testimony against them.’
2.9.4.1. In Matt. 10:15, Jesus said about those who would reject His disciples
on this trip, “15 “Truly I say to you, it will be
more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment
than for that city.”
2.9.5. In Matt. 10:11-15, we read of what Jesus instructed the twelve about
how they were to choose whose houses they were to stay at, saying, “11 “And whatever city or village you
enter, inquire who is worthy in it, and stay at his house until you leave that
city. 12 “As you enter the house, give it your greeting. 13
“If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it
is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace.”
2.10.
Jesus tells His disciples then that they were to take
nothing for their trip, and this is because more than anything they needed to
learn to trust in the Lord to lead, guide, provide for, and protect them. They needed to learn to live by faith and do
ministry by faith, and therefore stripping away from them anything which they
might be able to hold onto as a crutch was necessary.
2.10.1.
As an application, do you find the Lord kicking out from
under you ever crutch that you might choose to lean upon in your times of
need? Does it seem like the Lord is
placing you in the position of trusting in Him and Him alone to provide all
that you need? If that is the case, then
rejoice for you are in good company for so did He to His twelve disciples. This was invaluable training for ministry for
them.
2.10.2.
I want to tell a story from my own life that really only
reveals the Lord’s glory and power. When
my family and I were living in Seattle and praying for the Lord to open the
door at some point so that we could be able to go out and plant our first
Calvary Chapel church, we were asking the Lord what we would need to do to be
prepared for that ministry. I had read a
biography on the life of
2.11.
More important even than the performing of miracles on this
mission trip, Jesus’ disciples were preaching the gospel of the kingdom as they
went out. The Greek word εὐαγγελίζω (euaggelizo)
used for this preaching means to “herald”
a message or “bring glad tidings.”
The twelve surely testified of the nearness of the
3. VS 9:7-9 - “7
Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was happening; and he was
greatly perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the
dead, 8 and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one
of the prophets of old had risen again. 9 Herod said, “I myself had
John beheaded; but who is this man about whom I hear such things?” And he kept
trying to see Him.” - Herod heard about
the great things that Jesus and His disciples were doing and he wondered who
this man Jesus truly was
3.1.
This is Herod Antipas who is being referenced here. He was the ruler of
3.2.
A couple of years prior to this event, Herod Antipas had
had John the Baptist thrown into prison and then beheaded, and now I believe
that his guilty conscience had caused him to wonder if John somehow had risen
from the dead and now was going to come and judge him for his sins.
3.3.
The people in Israel knew that according to the last
chapter of the book of Malachi that the Lord would send Elijah before that last
day, and therefore many wondered if because of the incredible miracles that
Jesus was performing that He might indeed be Elijah. After all, Elijah had performed some great
miracles on the order of the many miracles that Jesus was performing.
3.4.
Herod Antipas wants an opportunity to see Jesus and one day
in the future Jesus will appear before him during Jesus’ mock trial the morning
of His crucifixion, however Jesus will not say a word to him. Sadly, like many people today Herod Antipas
had silenced the voice of the Lord in his life by his willful sinning and
rebellion.
4. VS 9:10-11 - “10
When the apostles returned, they gave an account to Him of all that they
had done. Taking them with Him, He withdrew by Himself to a city called
4.1.
The apostles returned from their mission trip and they had
many incredible testimonies to relate to Jesus of how they had exercised great
authority and power. Many had been
healed, had demons cast out of them, and even been raised from the dead,
through the ministry of the twelve.
4.2.
Jesus knew that ministry takes a toll upon people,
especially a mission trip such as the twelve had just been on. Therefore, Jesus sought to take the twelve
apart to be with Him. Ministers,
missionaries, and all of those doing ministry need times apart from ministry so
that they can be refreshed by the Lord for awhile.
4.3.
Because of the notoriety of Jesus’ ministry in the Galilean
region at this time, there can be little rest and relaxation time for Jesus and
His disciples. The crowds follow Jesus
and His disciples as they try unsuccessfully to take some respite apart from
the crowds.
4.3.1. Each of us as
Christians need to realize that we need to spend time alone with Jesus, for we
need times of refreshing with Him. Even
ministering for Him cannot be substituted for time spent alone with Him.
4.4.
If any of us ever feel like complaining about our busy schedule,
we ought to consider what kind of a schedule that Jesus had on a daily
basis. Jesus never turned anyone away
who came to Him to be ministered to.
5. VS 9:12-17 - “12
Now the day was ending, and the twelve came and said to Him, “Send the
crowd away, that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and
find lodging and get something to eat; for here we are in a desolate place.” 13
But He said to them, “You give them something to eat!” And they
said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless perhaps we go and
buy food for all these people.” 14 (For there were about five
thousand men.) And He said to His disciples, “Have them sit down to eat in
groups of about fifty each.” 15 They did so, and had them all sit
down. 16 Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking
up to heaven, He blessed them, and broke them, and kept giving them to
the disciples to set before the people. 17 And they all ate and were
satisfied; and the broken pieces which they had left over were picked up,
twelve baskets full.” -
Jesus feeds the five thousand
5.1.
After a long day of ministering to the multitude of people
who had come from far and wide to seek out Jesus, the twelve disciples
admirably began to be concerned about the welfare of the people. They realized that the multitude had been
there for a long day and that they were now hungry and some not from the
surrounding locale needed lodging for the night. Having a long journey ahead of many of them,
the disciples thought that they should convince Jesus to simply send the people
away so that they leave and find something for themselves to eat on their
journey home.
5.2.
Both Matthew and Mark in their accounts of this miracle
mention that Jesus had compassion for this multitude. Mark mentions that Jesus had compassion for
them because He saw that they were like sheep without a shepherd.
5.3.
Notice here that at the suggestion of the twelve to out of
compassion send the people away, Jesus tells them to ‘give them something to
eat.’ Jesus was challenging the
twelve to meet this need, to supply them.
However, the twelve knew that there was no way that they were going to
be able to come close to meeting the physical need for food of such a great multitude,
for all that they had was five loaves of bread and two fish. Both John (John 6:5-7) and Mark (Mark 6:37)
in their gospels mention that the disciples tell Jesus that it would cost
around two hundred denarii to buy enough food for this group. This was more than seven months wages since a
man was usually paid a denarius a day to work.
5.4.
Having previously sent the twelve out on their intern
mission trip to heal and preach, we saw that Jesus had told them to take
nothing with them for the trip and thus learn to depend upon the Lord for everything
in their life. The twelve had done this
and seen God’s provision, however they hadn’t yet learned to translate that
experience into the rest of their life.
Now Jesus wanted the twelve to trust the Lord to miraculously provide
food for a multitude of people of whom just the men numbered 5,000. The total number of people including women
and children could easily have been two or more times that number.
5.5.
Warren Wiersbe writes the following about this story, “When
you combine all four accounts of this miracle, you find that Jesus first asked
Philip where they could buy enough bread to feed such a great crowd. (There could well have been 10,00 0 people
there.) He was only testing Philip, “for
He Himself knew what He was intending to do” (John 6:6, NASB). In the crisis hours of life, when your
resources are low and your responsibilities are great, it is good to remember
that God already has the problem solved.
Jesus started with the what they had, a few loaves and fishes that were
generously donated by a lad found by Andrew (John 6:8-9).”
5.6.
Jesus tells the disciples to organize the multitude into
groups of fifty so that they could more easily distribute the food to them.
5.7.
The Lord uses what we have when we bring it and ourselves
to Him asking Him to bless and multiply it to others. God doesn’t do all of the work while we just
sit back and do nothing. No, we first
must bring to Him our meager gifts and resources and then ask for Him to
multiply and bless them. By the way, the
other gospel writers tell of Jesus praying for and blessing these loaves and
fish before He handed them to the disciples to begin handing out to the
multitude to eat.
5.8.
This was an incredible miracle performed on this day by
Jesus. This miracle demonstrates for all
of us as Christians how that if we will simply rely upon and look to the Lord
to give us the ability to meet the challenging needs of people around us in
this world, that He will in fact work mightily through us. Our trials can become opportunities to trust
the Lord and see Him work through us.
Our short-comings and lack of gifting and ability can become
opportunities to trust the Lord and see Him use that meager ability we offer to
Him and multiply it greatly. What is
important is not what we have, what we know, and what we are able to do, it’s
the vast resources He has, His omniscience or all-knowing, and His omniscience
or ability to do anything. All we as His
people need to do is to go to Jesus and rely upon Him to work mightily through
us.
5.9.
Not only did the people have enough to eat, each one was
full to overflowing, and the disciples were each able to pick up off of the
ground a full basket of what was left over.
The Greek word “kophinos” used for these baskets means “a large
carrying basket.” According to Darrell
Boch one account of the use of this type of basket in this day was for the
military to carry twenty rocks. During
the wilderness wanderings of the children of
5.10.
Can you imagine if the disciples had gotten their way on
this day and sent the multitude home rather than feeding them. Many would have fainted on the way, some
would have died, and Jesus’ reputation would have been damaged beyond
repair. The disciples themselves might
have lost their confidence in Jesus’ power and authority, for how could Jesus
have allowed this to happen to the multitude?
Could Jesus not have used some of His power to avert this tragedy. Yet, the Lord had His plans and knew all
along what He would do.
5.11.
In John 6:14, in John’s account of this story, he includes
that as a result of this miracle by Jesus that the crowd believed that Jesus
was a great prophet and that they wanted to make Him king.
5.12.
It is very important to
realize another point concerning ministry here.
Jesus blessed the bread and fish and then handed the bread and the fish
to the twelve (we aren’t told at what point the pieces multiplied), and it was
they who did the distribution. We as
Christians are to come to the Lord and receive from Him that bread and meat of
God’s word and then the Lord uses us to feed others. Each of us are the intermediaries through
whom the Lord works in people’s lives, but it is the Lord who does the
blessing, the multiplying, providing the sustenance, and, it is the Lord who
gets all of the glory.
5.13.
For the sake of humor, I want to share with you what those
in the church from the liberal theology camp have taught at seminaries in
recent years about what really happened during this story, as they always try to
explain away all of God’s miracles:
5.13.1.
The absence of any reference to wonder by the crowd shows
that Jesus’ example of sharing simply led the others to share with each other
food that they had brought with them.
5.13.1.1. John 6:14 though
tells us of the crowd’s wonder at this great miracle by Jesus.
5.13.2.
The supply came from wealthy ladies in the group.
5.13.2.1. No ladies are
mentioned in any account however.
5.13.3.
The stories are simply imitation of OT accounts and didn’t
really occur.
5.13.3.1. There’s no proof
or indication of this anywhere.
5.13.4.
Jesus simply broke the food up into little bits and gave it
out and the people just ate a little and then thought that they were full.
5.13.4.1. What about the
12 large carrying baskets of left-overs that were picked up?
5.13.5.
The account is allegorical and symbolic and did not
actually occur.
5.13.5.1. The Bible should
be taken literally unless it specifically tells you that a passage is supposed
to be interpreted allegorically or there is no other way to interpret it. This story is meant to be taken literally and
in fact later in the gospels there is mention that the disciples still had
learned the faith lesson from this feeding as it states that the disciples had
not learned anything from the loaves.
5.13.6.
Jesus hypnotized the group into believing that they were
filled.
5.13.6.1. This one is my
favorite and I give it an “A” for creativity!!!
6. CONCLUSIONS:
6.1.
As we consider this study, the commission of the twelve to
go out on an intern mission trip and then Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand,
we Christians must realize that the same Jesus that fed the five thousand is
here with us today. Today, the Lord
wants to work in a mighty way in and through our lives. He wants to give of His sustenance and
abundance to us and then use us to dispense those very blessings to others who
are in need. In our day Jesus has no
limit of His resources nor His desire to reach people with the gospel and His
restoring power and love.
6.2.
Lets remember however that
we need to see in the Lord our every resource and depend upon Him. He is the one to whom we need to look and
wait upon. He will come through for us
in His time and provide that great blessing that we need for He is ever aware
both of our needs as well as how He plans to go about meeting those needs.
6.3.
Depend completely upon
Jesus. Look to Him in your every need.