Friday, December 1, 2017

Luke 10: Jesus sends out his Disciples

Hi all, it's been a couple of weeks and we're officially back from all the holiday stuff and in between more holiday stuff, so it seemed like a good time to do some writing. Today I take a look Luke Chapter 10, specifically 17-24 verses.

17 The 70 disciples came back very happy. They said, “Lord, even demons obey us when we use the power and authority of your name!”
18 Jesus said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like lightning.  
19 I have given you the authority to trample snakes and scorpions and to destroy the enemy’s power. Nothing will hurt you.  
20 However, don’t be happy that evil spirits obey you. Be happy that your names are written in heaven.”
21 In that hour the Holy Spirit filled Jesus with joy. Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from wise and intelligent people and revealing them to little children. Yes, Father, this is what pleased you.
22 “My Father has turned everything over to me. Only the Father knows who the Son is. And no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son is willing to reveal him.”
23 He turned to his disciples in private and said to them, “How blessed you are to see what you’ve seen.  
24 I can guarantee that many prophets and kings wanted to see and hear what you’ve seen and heard, but they didn’t.”

Jesus expanded his Disciples from 12 to 70 or 72 depending on which text you read, and then sent them out with the now famous verse: "Behold I send you out as sheep amidst the wolves." The disciples were supposed to go in pairs into various cities and preach, heal, and cast out demons. They weren't supposed to take any possessions and they were supposed to stay with friendly people there and basically rely on their kindness for food and shelter.

In these verses those 70-something people have returned in awe and wonder. The name of Jesus Christ had power over demons! They were shocked that they could use the name of Jesus to cast out evil spirits and heal the sick. Jesus was excited for them, but he also wanted to remind them that this kind of power to make evil spirits obey paled in comparison to having a place in heaven.

Jesus then praises God for revealing these secrets to little children rather than the wise and intelligent of the earth. Why would Jesus say that about learned or wise people? Did he actually mean little children? I think he was referring to the faith of the disciples, who were gathered from the lowest classes of society to follow Jesus, and lacked any real education. They only knew about God with the intelligence and faith of a child. They were young in faith and young in instruction, unlike the priests and Pharisees of the day who would spend countless hours studying and debating the law.

This statement also tells us something about faith amongst the "intelligent" people of our society even today. How often do you know really smart people who just outright reject the idea of a loving God? They would tell you that if you can't see it, and can't test it, and can't prove it, then it doesn't exist. They call religion the opiate of the masses, that it mollifies and coddles the ignorant, that we are idiots for believing in a false Sky-Daddy who watches over our every move.

But they are flat wrong. Faith and Reason don't intersect. If I can prove God, then I have no need for faith, because faith is the belief in things that are unseen and unknown. Jesus was pointing out that God has hidden things from the intelligent and wise, and revealed them to children. Why? Because the intelligent have a very difficult time discarding the knowledge they've obtained about the World, and then applying it to heavenly matters. There's no reason to believe that God cannot heal or cast out demons, or change lives. Yet, to make that leap of faith, the intelligent person has to admit they don't know everything, and that they will believe in that unseen force which cannot be fully explained.

Now think of a child. A child has faith that can move mountains. Before the world has settled in with hard "reality" of what's possible, a child has the ability to believe in the wonderfully impossible. Often, I think that as adults we start to make assumptions about what God is, and we also start to believe that we can fathom the motives of God. Nothing could be further from the truth. A child doesn't assume to know how God works, a child simple accepts God's love with open joy. To be more child-like in our belief is to become closer to God.

This isn't to say that smart people can't accept God. They absolutely can. Just as rich people can accept Jesus, even though he gave his famous verse about rich men going to heaven being as easy as a camel going through the eye of the needle. The point is that what's impossible with men is possible with God. We absolutely can call on God today to heal, and cast out evil spirits in Jesus' name. Nothing has changed from that time when Jesus sent out his disciples and now. God still wants us to love him, worship him, and follow his commands to change the world.

And we can do all that with the faith of a child.

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