Luke 9:28-50: “Jesus Is Transfigured / Casts Demon Out Of
Boy After His Disciples Were Unsuccessful / Teaches What True Greatness
Consists Of”
By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study, we looked
at chapter 9 verses 18 through 27.
1.1.1. Jesus asked the twelve who they thought that He is and Peter speaking
for all declared that Jesus is the Messiah.
1.1.2. Jesus warned the twelve not to tell anyone about this confession and
who He really is.
1.1.3. Jesus began to tell His disciples about His impending death and
resurrection.
1.1.4. Jesus finally began to tell the twelve what true discipleship involves.
1.2.
In our study today, we are
going to look at verses 28-50 of chapter 9.
1.2.1. Jesus is transfigured into glory.
1.2.2. Jesus casts a demon out of a boy who had epilepsy.
1.2.3. Jesus corrects His disciples when they were arguing about who among
them might be the greatest.
2. VS 9:28-36 - “28 Some eight days after these
sayings, He took along Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to
pray. 29 And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became
different, and His clothing became white and gleaming. 30 And
behold, two men were talking with Him; and they were Moses and Elijah, 31 who,
appearing in glory, were speaking of His departure which He was about to
accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and his companions had been
overcome with sleep; but when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the
two men standing with Him. 33 And as these were leaving Him, Peter
said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three
tabernacles: one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not realizing
what he was saying. 34 While he was saying this, a cloud formed and began
to overshadow them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35
Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My Son, My
2.1.
In our last study, we saw
that it was after Jesus had demonstrated to His disciples His power and
authority in every arena over and over again that He finally had queried them
in order to obtain whether or not they yet understood who He was, saying, “Who
do you say that I am?” Peter answered
for all saying that Jesus was “The Christ.”
Then, Jesus immediately began to try to explain to His disciples what
kind of Messiah He truly is, that He was going to be rejected, suffer, die, and
raise from the dead. After this, Jesus
began to explain to His disciples what the true nature of discipleship
consisted of: if any is to follow Him he
must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Him.
2.2.
In this study, Jesus is
going to continue to establish His power and authority to His disciples, only
this time He is going to do this by being transformed into the glory that He
will have with the Father after that point in time when He is resurrected from
the dead and ascends up to heaven.
2.3.
Jesus’ being transfigured in
this way will also prove to be an encouragement to His disciples for they need
to know that following His suffering and death which He has been telling them
about that glorification and exaltation beyond words awaits Jesus for He will
be exalted in glory for eternity to reign as the Lord of lords over all of creation. Jesus’ disciples have seen Him do great
things and exert power and authority over everything, however they have just
seen a glimpse of His greatness and glory for the Lord is exalted in
unspeakable glory and reigns over all creation.
2.4.
We see here timeframe wise
that Jesus’ transfiguration occurred just eight days after Peter made his Great
Confession that Jesus is the Christ.
2.5.
Luke tells us that Jesus
invited only Peter, James, and John to go up on a mountain and to pray with
Him. We have mentioned before that this
trio alone were invited to be with Jesus on three occasions where they
experienced Jesus do great things. In
addition to Jesus’ transfiguration they alone were invited to be with Jesus
when He raised Jairus’ daughter and when He was praying there in the
2.6.
Peter, James, and John fell
asleep during this prayer session with Jesus and evidently missed much of what
happened. This is one of two times in
the gospels where we read that these three disciples should have been awake,
praying, and waiting on the Lord but instead fell asleep. The other time is that evening alone with
Jesus in the
2.6.1. This detail of these disciples falling asleep ought to be an
admonishment to us as Christians of how we need to be careful to be praying
disciples because if we are not doing so we too will miss out on much that the
Lord is doing. Honestly, I think that
this is really the case with us as Christians so often, we miss much of what
God is doing in our lives and the lives of those around us because we are
simply not spending time in prayer with the Lord as we should and thus we are
oblivious to what God is doing.
2.7.
We see here that as Jesus is
praying that He begins to be overcome with glory such that His face and even
His clothing are glowing. This glory
will be Jesus’ normal appearance after His resurrection from the dead and
ascension up to heaven and in fact reflects the apostle John’s vision of the glorified Christ
found in Revelation 1:10-19, “10 I was in the Spirit on the
Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a
trumpet, 11 saying, “Write in a book what you see, and send it to
the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira
and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” 12 Then I turned
to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven
golden lampstands; 13 and in the middle of the lampstands I saw
one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded
across His chest with a golden sash. 14 His head and His hair were
white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. 15
His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow
in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. 16 In
His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged
sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength. 17 When
I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on
me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18 and
the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have
the keys of death and of Hades. 19 “Therefore write the things which
you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place
after these things.”
2.8.
Matthew and Mark in their
gospel accounts of this story describe what happens to Jesus using a word that
is translated “transfigured” and comes from a Greek word from which we
get our English word “metamorphosis.”
This words means to be transformed or changed into something of a
different nature. Luke doesn’t use this
word in his account but describes the same event.
2.9.
Peter, James, and John awake
to see Jesus transformed into glory before them and speaking with Moses and
Elijah, two of the great prophets of the Lord from the Old Testament. There has been a lot of speculation about why
Moses and Elijah appeared before Jesus on this evening as well as what the
subject was that these two men spoke with Jesus about:
2.10.
Why did Moses and Elijah
appear before Jesus and speak to
Him ?
2.10.1.
Some say that it was because
Moses represented the Law and Elijah represented the prophets, and the
Law and the prophets testified of Jesus.
2.10.1.1. However, the problem with this view is that its much easier to see
Moses represent the Law than it is to see Elijah represent all of the prophets
of the Lord as a chief prophet.
2.10.2.
Some see a prophetic link
of some sort bringing these two men to appear and begin to speak with
Jesus.
2.10.2.1. Elijah was prophesied in Malachi chapter 3 to reappear before the
kingdom of the Lord was established.
John the Baptist did not actually fill this prophesy of the coming of
Elijah either, for the New Testament tells us that he only came “in the spirit
and power of Elijah.” Elijah is still
yet to appear before that final day of the coming of the Lord to reign upon the
earth.
2.10.2.2. There has been speculation that Moses and Elijah may be the two
witnesses of chapter 11 of the book of Revelation who during the 7 year
Tribulation will appear miraculously and begin to preach to everyone, then
later are killed by the Anti-Christ only to be raised from the dead three days
later as all of the world is watching (BTW, prior to the advent of television
and the internet it would have been impossible for this event to occur). Two facts of scripture have bee used to
support this speculation, the fact that Elijah never died but was taken up to
heaven in what is described as a “chariot of fire” as Elisha looked on
(2 Kings chapter 2), and the fact that the angels took away Moses’ body after
he died (Deut. 34:5-7).
2.10.2.2.1.
Rev. 11:1-12, “Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff;
and someone said, “Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and
those who worship in it. 2 “Leave out the court which is outside the
temple and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations; and they
will tread under foot the holy city for forty-two months. 3 “And I
will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for
twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 These are the
two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
5 And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth
and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed
in this way. 6 These have the power to shut up the sky, so that rain
will not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over
the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague,
as often as they desire. 7 When they have finished their testimony,
the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome
them and kill them. 8 And their dead bodies will lie in the
street of the great city which mystically is called
2.11.
What were Moses, Elijah, and
Jesus discussing ?
2.11.1.
The text tells us clearly
here that the topic of their discussion was Jesus ‘exodus’ (‘departure’)
that was to come. The problem is that we
aren’t told exactly what the ‘exodus’ involved that they were speaking
of. However, most believe that the ‘exodus’
they were speaking of was Jesus’ impending death and resurrection from
the dead. I wish we knew the details of
that discussion which Peter, James, John, and Jesus had, but unfortunately we
don’t have that information.
2.12.
Impetuous Peter yet again
puts his foot in his mouth as he typifies the response people sometimes have
of, “Don’t just stand there say something!” Seeing that Elijah and Moses
are getting ready to leave Jesus, Peter decides to try to delay their leaving
by building three tabernacles, one for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. A ‘tabernacle’ is just a tent. Peter was evidently hoping that somehow he
and the other two disciples could celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles together
there with Jesus, Moses, and Elijah and that these men could stay the night in
these tents.
2.13.
God always deals with
matters of our heart. We see here that
God the Father makes it apparent that Peter was in the wrong because he was
placing Jesus, Elijah, and Moses on the same footing by seeking to make a
tabernacle for each of them. The Lord
will allow no upstaging of Jesus for Moses, Elijah and every other man of God,
as well as every other created creature, is a servant of Jesus. The voice from heaven corrects Peter and the
other disciples by telling them to listen to this One who alone is the only
begotten Son of God.
2.14.
We are told here that Peter,
James, and John afterwards keep silent about this incident of Jesus’
transfiguration. Perhaps they felt that
the experience was just too unbelievable, too unexplainable, too embarrassing,
or maybe just too personal for them to be able to share it with anyone at this
time?
2.15.
The disciples had no idea
why Jesus had been transfigured before them, however they will ruminate over
this experience for the next few weeks and then after Jesus is raised from the
dead they will realize the importance of their being able to see a momentary
pre-figuring of Him in glory.
2.16.
Warren Wiersbe writes the
following about this story of Jesus’ transfiguration, “But there is also a practical
lesson here, for we can have a spiritual “transfiguration” experience each day
as we walk with the Lord. Romans 12:1-2
and 2 Corintians 3:18 tell us how. As we
surrender body, mind, and will, the Lord transforms us within so that we are
not conformed to the world. As we behold
Him in the Word (the mirror), we are “transfigured” by the Spirit “from glory
to glory.” The theological name for this
experience is sanctification, the process by which we become more like
the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the Father’s goal for each of His children
(Rom. 8:19; 1 John 3:2). Note that our Lord was once again praying,
which suggests that prayer is one of the keys to a transformed life.”
3. VS 9:37-45 - “37 On the next day, when they came
down from the mountain, a large crowd met Him. 38 And a man from the
crowd shouted, saying, “Teacher, I beg You to look at my son, for he is my only
boy, 39 and a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly screams, and
it throws him into a convulsion with foaming at the mouth; and only with
difficulty does it leave him, mauling him as it leaves. 40 “I
begged Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not.” 41 And
Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long
shall I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.” 42 While
he was still approaching, the demon slammed him to the ground and threw
him into a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the boy
and gave him back to his father. 43 And they were all amazed at the
greatness of God. But while everyone was marveling at all that He was doing, He
said to His disciples, 44 “Let these words sink into your ears; for
the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.” 45 But
they did not understand this statement, and it was concealed from them so that
they would not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this
statement.” - Jesus casts out a demon from a boy which had
caused him to be epileptic after His disciples were unable to cast the demon
out
3.1.
While Peter, James, and John
were with Jesus up on the mountain hearing Jesus pray and seeing Him
transfigured into glory, the rest of the disciples back at camp had been
pressed into service for Jesus. A man
whose ‘only boy’ was possessed of a demon and who as a result
experienced what appears to be epileptic seizures had come to them “begging
them” to see if they could cast the demon out of the boy. However, these disciples were not able to do
so at this time.
3.1.1. This must have been an interesting incident. We can only imagine what occurred when the
disciples tried to cast out this demon and were unsuccessful. The disciples might have wondered if they had
forgotten the exact words that they had used before to cast you demons and had
success, and how they were trying to get the right formula down. They might have started pointing blame at
each other for causing the failure.
Again, we can only speculate about what happened.
3.2.
After Jesus learns of the
boy’s circumstances and how that His disciples had not been able to cast out
this demon, Jesus rebukes His disciples for their unbelief calling them an ‘unbelieving
and perverted generation.’ In saying
this, Jesus is speaking to His disciples, however He is not speaking to His
disciples alone He is including the whole generation of people of His day. I wonder what Jesus might say about our
generation today in a similar circumstance?
Certainly we are reminded daily by the news media that mankind hasn’t
improved since that time.
3.3.
In Matthew’s account of this
story, Matt. 17:19-20, we read that Jesus tells the disciples that the reason
that they could not cast out this demon was because of the littleness of their
faith, “19 Then the disciples came to Jesus
privately and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” 20 And He said
to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if
you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move
from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. 21 [“But this kind does not go out
except by prayer and fasting.”]”
3.3.1. The oldest manuscripts do not include verse 21, and Mark in his account
of this story says instead that this type of spirit can only be cast out “by
prayer”, not by ‘fasting and prayer.’
3.4.
Mark in his account of this
story relates also a dispute occurring between Jesus’ disciples and the scribes
at this time (Mark 9:14).
3.5.
Note that this is the third
time in the book of Luke that the author mentions the fact that a child whom
Jesus’ heals is an only child (the others were the widow of Nain’s son in Luke
7:12 who was raised from the dead, and Jairus’ only daughter who was also
raised from the dead in Luke 8:42).
3.6.
In Mark’s account of this
miracle (Mark 9:20-27), he includes that Jesus called on the boy’s father to
believe that He could heal his son and that the man says that he believes and
then asks Jesus to help him with his unbelief.
3.6.1. We mentioned this before with John the Baptist who sent messengers to
Jesus to find out if He were the Expected One or whether they should look for
another. We mentioned at that time that
John also brought his doubts to Jesus and the Lord removed them. Bring your doubts to Jesus for if you do He
will overcome them every time!
3.7.
As happened continually with
Jesus’ healing ministry, the crowd was amazed by this great work that Jesus
performed in casting out the demon and healing this boy. Because of the big reception and praise of
Jesus by this crowd after the miracle, Jesus spoke privately to His disciples
telling them to let what He was saying sink into their ears for the Son of Man
was going to be delivered into the hands of men. However, I’m sure that at this point the
disciples could hardly imagine how that Jesus could ever be rejected, suffer,
or die since He was continually demonstrating His power over life and death,
disease and the spirit world.
3.7.1. In Matthew’s account of this story, Matt. 17:23, he includes the fact
that though the disciples did not truly understand what Jesus was saying on
this day about His being delivered into the hands of men, that they were very
distressed (“grieved”) about this statement.
Jesus’ speaking of His impending suffering and death was wearing heavily
upon them.
3.7.2. One of the things that I have seen over and over again in my life is
that the Lord because of His great love always prepares me for the sorrows and
tragedies that I experience.
3.8.
We see in these verses as
well that what Jesus tells His disciples about His impending death ‘was
concealed from them’ by the Lord. It
will not be until after Jesus resurrection that His disciples begin to
understand the many things that He was telling them about Himself and teaching
them. In fact, in Luke chapter 24 we see
that after Jesus’ resurrection He began walking unrecognized with two of the
disciples to Emmaus and then explained to them the Old Testament scriptures
that prophesied Jesus’ death and resurrection, and then when they recognized
that it was Jesus He disappeared. Then,
later in that chapter it says that Jesus at that time opened the understanding
of His disciples to the messianic prophesies of the Old Testament scriptures.
4. VS 9:46-50 - “46 An argument started among them as
to which of them might be the greatest. 47 But Jesus, knowing what
they were thinking in their heart, took a child and stood him by His side, 48
and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in My name receives Me,
and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me; for the one who is least
among all of you, this is the one who is great.”” - Jesus’ disciples argue about
who among them might be the greatest but Jesus corrects them and teaches them
what true greatness consists of
4.1.
These verses remove any possibility
that Jesus’ disciples had understood anything Jesus had previously been telling
them about His impending suffering, death, and resurrection or His teaching
that true discipleship for them involved denying oneself, taking up your cross
daily, and following Jesus. If Jesus’
disciples had understood these things that He had been telling them then they
wouldn’t have been arguing here about who was the greatest among them. How could they discuss greatness when their
leader was soon to suffer rejection and death at the hands of the leaders of
the nation? And, what greatness is there
in denying yourself and taking up your own cross? A cross pictured the greatest of humiliation,
shame, and degradation, not greatness?!
5. Gayle Erwin has pointed out that the thing that the gospels reveal that
the disciples did the most while they were following Jesus was argue with each
other about who was the greatest, or who would be the greatest in God’s
kingdom.
5.1.
If you ever find yourself
badly misconstruing the will and ways of the Lord in your life, you can take
comfort in the fact that you’re having an “apostolic moment.”
5.2.
These verses also reveal
that the disciples believed in their hearts at this time that at any moment the
Lord could usher in His kingdom and that their path in life was soon going to
be a high road of exaltation. They had
no idea of the great suffering for the Name of Jesus that they will experience
throughout the rest of their lifetime.
We know that everyone of the twelve but Judas the betrayer, and John who
lived a long life, will die a martyr’s death because of following Jesus.
5.3.
In explaining what true
greatness consists of Jesus tries to explain to His disciples that true
greatness is not something that is inherent within a person. Rather, true greatness is the result of
having Jesus in your life. Jesus tells
them that the person who has Him in his life also has the Father in his life,
the One who sent Jesus, and thus he is great.
There is greatness then in every child of God.
5.4.
We see next that Jesus grabs
a young child, places him in the middle of His disciples, and then tells His
disciples that anyone who receives this child in His Name receives Him, and
remember, having Jesus is what brings true greatness in a person’s life. You would think that Jesus’ disciples would
have been humbled by this, but they still didn’t understand what Jesus is
trying to teach them.
5.5.
In Mark 9:35, Mark precedes
this account with Jesus’ words that those who wish to be great must be last and
the servant of all, “35 Sitting
down, He called the twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he
shall be last of all and servant of all.””
5.5.1. The one who is great shall not promote himself nor live to be served.
5.5.2. By the way, when Jesus describes to His disciples about who shall be
the greatest in the kingdom, He is describing Himself for He is the One who
shall be greatest and pre-eminent of all.
5.6.
Understanding what true
greatness consists of in God’s kingdom will preclude anyone from comparing
themselves to anyone else.
6. VS 9:49-50 - “49 John answered and said, “Master,
we saw someone casting out demons in Your name; and we tried to prevent him
because he does not follow along with us.” 50 But Jesus said to him,
“Do not hinder him; for he who is not against you is for you.”” - Jesus’ disciples tell Him
that they tried to forbid someone not from their group who was casting out
demons in Jesus’ Name
6.1.
The disciples needed to know
who to avoid and who to ally themselves with and Jesus tells them that anyone
who is ‘not against you is for you.’
6.2.
The Lord has many people all
over the earth, yet sometimes Christian groups begin to believe that they are
the only true people of God. This is so
wrong and an “exclusive spirit” is always an offense to the Lord for He works
through many different types and groups of His people to reach the many people
groups all over the earth.
6.3.
We as Christians have enough
enemies, therefore fellow Christians are to be welcomed and enjoined by us as
much as is appropriate and possible.
6.4.
On this earth, there are
only two kinds of people. There are
those who are God’s people, and there are those who are not. We as Christians must always as appropriate
seek to gather together with and encourage others who are God’s people.
7. CONCLUSIONS:
7.1.
In our study, we have seen
the encouragement that a glimpse of Jesus in His glory brings, and how that the
hearts of Jesus’ disciples were encouraged so that they might be able to endure
His rejection, suffering, and death upon Calvary’s cross. We know as Christ’s disciples that we have
such a great hope of glory that awaits us after we pass from this life, for the
New Testament teaches clearly that we shall also be resurrected in a body like
His glorified body.
7.2.
Seeing Jesus’ disciples
unable to cast out a demon because of their littleness of faith and
prayerlessness admonishes us to believe and trust the Lord, and not neglect
prayer.
7.3.
We have been encouraged to
follow Jesus’ teaching about what true greatness consists of. We are all great because we know Jesus and
have Him in our life. We are admonished
to imitate Jesus, the One who is the greatest in the kingdom, and as a result
be “the least” and the “servant of all.”