What the disciples lacked

Jesus had just come down from the mount of Transfiguration with Peter, John, and James. Awaiting him were a multitude of people.  One man among them cried out to Jesus to cast the devil out of his son.  The surprising thing is that he had brought him to the disciples and they couldn’t cast him out.

This scene introduces us to a number of things God directed Luke to record about what the disciples lacked.  God wants us to know that the men he chose were ordinary men.  The challenges they faced in the ministry are the challenges we face.

They lacked faith – Lk 9:37-42.  A man with an only child asked Jesus to cast the devil out of his son.  Notice what this devil did.  It was a spirit that “taketh him… teareth him…, and bruising him hardly departeth from him”, v.39.  The devil would take this boy, pull him violently, and harshly (in a severe manner) depart from him.  During these episodes the boy “crieth out and… foameth”.

The disciples had the power to cast out this devil, Lk 9:1, but not the faith, v.41.  The lack of faith was theirs, not the father’s, Matt 17:20.  They needed prayer and fasting to strengthen their faith, Matt 17:21.  For more on this, see Trouble With Healers.

The boy was not experiencing a medical condition.  He needed a spiritual solution.  Furthermore, you can’t presume because God has given you gifts or power,  that you can simply utilize these at your will.  They still require God to work through you, 2 Tim 1:6-7. Lk 9:43 it was “the mighty power of God”.

They lacked understanding – Lk 9:43-45.  This is the third time they’ve heard about Jesus dying, Lk 9:22, 31, 44.  And they still didn’t get it.  Their four problems were these.  They understood not (the result of unbelief, Jn 8:43-45).  The truth was hid from them (truth has to be revealed, Matt 16:17).  They perceived it not (failed to apply the wisdom and knowledge, Prov 1).  And they feared to ask (they didn’t ask, Jas 1:5).

You may have heard that Old Testament saints were looking forward to the cross.  The disciples were certainly not looking forward to the cross.

They lacked humility – Lk 9:46-48.  Jesus perceived the thought of their heart and he perceives our’s, as well.

So he taught taught them by an illustration.  To receive a child in Jesus’s name is about the least “amazing” thing someone could do.  Receiving a child is certainly not a display of “mighty power”, drawing attention to the person who has it.  With God, the least is the greatest.  Fight the urge for recognition, ambition, and measurable success.

They lacked lowliness – Lk 9:49-50.  The disciples weren’t exclusive, as if they were the only ones God would use.  If the guy they forbad could cast out devils in Jesus’s name (the devils were going out) then he was for them.  Contrast the exorcists, Acts 19:13-16, and many that SAY they cast out devils, but don’t do the will of Jesus’s Father, Matt 7:21-23.

We can get the idea that we are “it”.  God uses lots of people that aren’t in our “club”.

They lacked knowledge – Lk 9:51-56.  The Samaritans and the Jews had a problem with each other.  James and John, the sons of thunder, Mk 3:17, were ready to “command fire to come down from heaven”.  They couldn’t even cast out that devil.

They didn’t know what manner of spirit they were of.  Jesus came to save men’s lives, not destroy them.  And when it comes to certain sinners that we deal with, we feel the same way today.

Conclusion: Can you see yourself in the disciples?  We lack the same things the disciples lacked.