“The Son of Man must suffer many terrible things,” He said. “He will be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He will be killed, but on the third day He will be raised from the dead.” Then He said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be My follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow Me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed? If anyone is ashamed of Me and My message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when He returns in His glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels. I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Kingdom of God.”
Luke 9:22-27
Remember Luke joins the other two synoptic writers again and then sticks with their order and text until he get to the point where he begins his Greater Interpolation (large section of solely Luke material).
Compare these two sections from the harmony to find the Luke distinctives. Compare them now.
Did you find any distinctively Luke elements, or any Luke additions or changes? No the truth is there are none. Luke pretty much tracks word for word from Mark in this section. All of Luke’s section is yellow; shared material from Mark basically. Luke doesn’t depart from the standard story. This is quite a new Messiah who is being painted with these words. It departs markedly from the Messiah the Jews were expecting. The Scriptures and the Jews talked about two Messiahs. There was Ha Messiach ben David, (Messiah the Son of David) and Ha Messiach ben Yosef (Messiah the Son of Joseph). The first was the all conquering King Messiah. The second signified the suffering servant Messiah. The surprise is that Jesus is both and. The Jews were looking for Messiah to come and rule and throw off the Roman oppression. For them it was a matter of a political entity and an earthly kingdom. But that was not the kingdom or the focus Jesus was coming to bring.
- The Son of Man must suffer many terrible things
- He will be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law
- He will be killed
- On the third day He will be raised from the dead
Want to follow me?
- You must turn from your selfish ways
- Take up your cross daily.
- If you give up your life for My sake, you will save it.
- But if you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it.
That is the very antithesis of what they expected. No doubt a shock to the disciples who had been with Him constantly and were privy to more than the crowds were. Note that everything they saw suggested here was a man who could do anything, make anything happen, even if it was against the laws of nature. This man was the ancient version of Superman. They hadn’t seen Him do it yet but he could probably fly too and kryptonite didn’t seem to be a factor either. Anything we want He can do.
But what is all this talk about suffering, rejection, dying and being raised? Yes I want to follow You anywhere You go Jesus, but not to die; I want to be on the winning side. I want to go from success to success; not from failure to failure. Let’s go back to the miracles and the overcoming. Enough of this silly talk. Jesus.
This is the first mention in Luke about the “passion of Christ” (Suffering). The first mention of the ultimate purpose of God for the Messiah. The first hint that He is Messiah the son of Joseph, not the conquering reigning King Messiah. This is a theme which will be developed by Luke. The implications for the disciples (and for us) were and are immense. Still want to follow? There is a cost to discipleship; a cost to following the Christ. Are you willing to pay it? There it is in its stark reality. The uncut version; unadulterated and laid before us. Do you want to follow Christ? Then this is the destiny. It is inescapable. This theme runs through the Bible. It is everywhere. This is the true gospel. Luke doesn’t tamper with it in any way. This is the end point of the story for us all. Let it come as no surprise to you. This is your destiny if you wish to follow Christ. There is no other ending.
This gospel is diametrically opposed to the success gospel. Come to Jesus and you will have all you want; He will fulfill your every desire. No that is not the Gospel of Christ. Our human flesh and desires are opposed to this gospel. Our flesh wants to follow Jesus when all is going well and we are on the winning side. But the end point of the gospel is death and resurrection. The angels looking over the edge of heaven and all the events unfolding below must have been in shock when Jesus died. That wasn’t supposed to happen. “Father, come and see what’s happened now! The story is not going according to script”.
- “No angels! The story is going perfectly according to plan. This is the plan.”
- You want another ending; get another saviour. What you have is Messiah the son of Joseph, not the reigning, conquering King. That is for later. Death first, then victory.
- This story is right on target. Much to the disciples horror.
Note Mark’s inclusion which Luke misses:
“And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.” or Matthew’s addition “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and *said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. There is a twist to this story. The way up is the way down.
In a day when you don’t come across any problems you can be sure that you are travelling on the wrong path.
Ian Vail
Too many of us have become preoccupied with our material well-being. Instead of believing God for the salvation of our loved ones, we’re believing Him for houses, cars, holidays, and so on.
Bob Gass
God’s goal is not our comfort; it’s producing in us the character of Christ so the world will be drawn to Him.
Anon
When God gives an assignment, he deposits the “want to” and the “can do” in the same heart.
Max Lucado
The world is hungry for humble people with absolute confidence in God. Obedience, not ego, is the source of true confidence.
Rick Warren
God won’t grade your life on the curve, but on the Cross.
Rick Warren
God took the worst thing that man could do to His Son, & transformed it into the best thing He could do for man. Grateful…
Sidney Mohede