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Luke 9 "Just as Elijah?"
Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. And He said to them, "Take nothing for the journey, neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money; and do not have two tunics apiece. Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them." So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by Him; and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead, and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the old prophets had risen again. Herod said, "John I have beheaded, but who is this of who I hear such things?" So he sought to see Him. And the apostles, when they had returned, told Him all that they had done. Then He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. (Luke 9:1-10)
Jesus sent His disciples out to preach the kingdom of
God, to heal and cast out demons. Not only did He send them, but He
sent them out with power. Now it seemed that wherever you looked, people
were talking about Jesus. Jesus has also sent us out with power. We
can trust in Him to answer our prayers. We should not hesitate to pray
for the sick, to intercede for those who are in spiritual battles, to
preach the good news of Jesus. Like the disciples, wherever we go, the
name of Jesus should be on the lips of those we meet.
But Jesus was also brought to the attention of Herod the tetrarch, the
same Herod who had executed John the Baptist. This ruler was concerned
because He really did not know who Jesus was. Some people said that
He was John the Baptist come back to life. But Herod expected those
that he had executed to stay dead. Others said that Jesus was Elijah
or some other prophet of old. So Herod sought to see this Jesus so that
he could get a handle on what was happening in his country.
Herod, like everyone else, was trying to figure out how to classify
Jesus. Is He a threat, a political opponent? Is He a nuisance, some
religious nut that could stir up trouble? Is He a problem, a loose cannon
that will have to be silenced? Could He actually be something more?
We are very uncomfortable with anything new. The first thing we do when
we encounter something that does not fit in our experience is label
it as "like" something else that we do know. I used to do
an exercise in my English classes with this. You see when you are speaking
a foreign language there are many nouns that simply do not translate
because they are unique objects to that culture. Foods are one example.
How do you translate "gyoza" into English? How about "okonomiyaki".
Well, gyoza is like a pork and vegetable-filled dumpling and okonomiyaki
is like a pancake but also kind of like a pizza. The problem with this
is that gyoza really isn't what an English speaking person would imagine
when they think of a "dumpling" and okonomiyaki is very, very
different than pancakes or pizza. Our labels can very easily misrepresent
what they are trying to describe.
We do this with spiritual things as well. If I asked a person who had
never been to church before what it is, what would they say? They might
say, "It is like a club for Christians" or "It is like
a school to learn about God" or "It is like a counseling center
for people with problems." or "It is like an event hall for
weddings and concerts" Each of these descriptions might be right
to some extent. But they don't really tell us what a church is. If I
asked you to explain to someone who had never been to church before,
what it is, what would you say? You might have to stretch to give them
an answer. Actually, the best description of the church in the Bible
is given the same way. Paul said that the church is like the human body.
But it is the body of Christ. The human body does many different things,
but it is all under the direction of the head. The head of the church
is Jesus and the church acts like His hands and feet and mouth, doing
all the things that Jesus would do, loving as Jesus loves.
Now what about Jesus? How do we understand Him? For a while it really
looked like He was going to be labeled as Elijah. Elijah was the greatest
prophet of the old testament. He had done many mighty miracles, feeding
the hungry, raising the dead, controlling the weather, defeating the
false prophets and restoring Israel to the worship of the true God.
Jesus was doing many of the same things and the people loved Him for
it.
But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing. When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, "Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here." 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 we go and buy food for all these people." For there were about five thousand men. Then He said to His disciples. "Make them sit down in groups of fifty." And they did so, and made them all sit down. Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven. He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude. So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them. And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them saying, "Who do the crowds say that I am?" So they answered and said, "John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered and said, "The Christ of God." And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day." Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:11-27)
The label that many were using to understand Jesus was
that He was Elijah. Elijah was a man of God. But Jesus was not Elijah.
Jesus was not just a powerful prophet speaking the word of God. But
as Peter said, Jesus is the Christ of God. Christ means Savior or Messiah
and Jesus came to save men from their sins. Jesus came to rescue us
from death and the power of evil. He is absolutely unique. He cannot
be labeled. He cannot be understood as anything less than the Son of
God. I am sure that those who were calling Jesus, "Elijah"
thought that they were paying Him a compliment. Like the announcers
at the Olympics. It seems that you cannot watch an olympics without
somebody calling a talented new star the "next" so-and-so.
"Oh, I think that this girl will be the next Dorothy Hamill."
But Jesus was not the "next" Elijah, he was the first and
only Jesus Christ!
Elijah came to point the people of Israel back to God. He came down
hard on the evil, burning with righteous anger. The most famous of Elijah's
many miracles was the contest with the 450 prophets of Baal. The prophets
of Baal danced and wailed and cut themselves trying to get their god
to show himself. But Elijah called down fire from heaven to consume
his offering to God. After it was clear which god had won, Elijah executed
all of the evil prophets that very day. Elijah was like a thunderbolt
from God, awesome divine judgement targeted right at the enemies of
God. But Jesus knew that His role would be different. Jesus told His
disciples, "The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected
by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised
the third day." Instead of calling down fire from heaven to defeat
the evil-doers, Jesus would be defeated. Jesus, Himself would become
the sacrifice, the offering that would be destroyed.
Who is Jesus? Is He a great prophet with power from heaven? Is He a
great teacher who spoke the truth of God's Word? Yes, He did all of
these things, but no, He is more. Jesus is the one who sacrificed Himself
so that we might be saved. Jesus is the one who threw away His life
so that we might live forever. Jesus is the one who suffered pain and
death so that we might be set free. Jesus Christ is our Savior and He
has promised that all who believe in His name shall have life everlasting!
What is this name? Jesus Christ. We must believe that He has the power
to save us from our sins. Not Jesus the wise man, Jesus the holy man,
Jesus the prophet or teacher, but Jesus Christ! Believe and be saved.
Now it came to pass, about eight days after these sayings, that He took Peter, John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. As He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening. And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. But Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep; and when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him. Then it happened as they were parting from Him, that Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" -- not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were fearful as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!" When the voice had ceased, Jesus was found alone. But they kept quiet, and told no one in those days any of the things they had seen. (Luke 9: 28-36)
When Peter saw Moses and Elijah with Jesus on the mountain
it confirmed his own thoughts to him. I knew that Jesus was one of the
greats. See, here He is huddling with Moses and Elijah. Let me build
three temples here, three shrines so that everybody can come and know
that Jesus ranks right up there with the best of them. You see Peter
knew Jesus, he had walked all over Galilee with Him. He had seen Jesus
hungry and tired, smelled Him when He hadn't had a bath for a while,
knew how human He was. But Moses and Elijah, these were legends. Everybody
knew that Moses and Elijah were great. Peter must have thought, "Wow,
what an honor for Jesus to be visited by these guys." It would
be like if the Japanese pop band Mr. Children, were having a concert.
Now Mr. Children is probably the number one band in Japan with thousands
if not millions of fans. But what if during their concert the surviving
members of the Beatles and Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones suddenly
walked up on stage and started to play the set with them? I think that
they would be honored. This is how Peter felt, but he didn't really
understand what was going on. For "while he was saying this, a
cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were fearful as they entered
the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is
My beloved Son. Hear Him!" Wake up Peter! Jesus is not just the
Christ. He is not just the Savior, the Messiah. Jesus is also the Son
of God. And it is because Jesus is the Son of God that He can save us
from our sins. A prophet like Moses might be able to save his people
from oppression, bring them out of slavery. A prophet like Elijah might
be able to save his people from idolatry, bringing them back to God.
But only the Son of God can save the world from sin. Jesus was not honored
to get a visit from Moses and Elijah, it was the other way around.
How can Jesus save us? A prophet can only save you if you are lucky
enough to live in the time when he was around. A teacher can't save
you, he can only point you along the right path. Jesus can save us because
He is the Son of God. As the Son of God, instead of blasting away the
sinners, with righteous anger like a prophet, instead of pointing out
what is sin and how to avoid it like a teacher, Jesus took all of that
sin upon Himself. Jesus knew beforehand how bad it would be. He knew
that He would suffer many things, be rejected and killed. (vs. 22) He
knew how "faithless and perverse" (vs. 41) the world that
He had come to save was. He knew that He was "about to be betrayed
into the hands of men" (vs.44) He knew that He would have no place
to call "home", "nowhere to lay his head"(vs. 58).
But Jesus allowed all of our sins to be placed on Him so that He could
set us free. No one but the Son of God could do this. No one but the
Son of God could be so spitefully used, so cruelly treated, and yet
forgive so completely.
Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did? But He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them." (Luke 9:51-56a)
Even as He was being rejected. Jesus forgave. Even though the power to destroy sinners was in His hands, Jesus chose to save sinners instead. I am so thankful that Jesus was not the "next" Elijah. Elijah was God's man for his time. But Jesus is God's Son for all time. Our Savior for eternity.
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