Tuesday 17th June
Read Luke 9:37-40
“The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. 38 A man in the crowd called out, ‘Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. 39 A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. 40 I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.’” (NIVUK)
There are surprisingly sobering words contained in Luke’s succinct summary of spiritual insipidity – ‘but they could not’ (v40b). Why could they not cast out this spirit? After all, the passage begins with the gifting of power to the disciples.
“When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal those who were ill.” (Luke 9:1-2) (NIVUK)
How much faith is actually needed to serve Jesus and extend His kingdom? Was the failure of the disciples related to trusting in their own strength or not trusting in His? In one sense this failure explains why Jesus takes more than a year from the high point on the mountain to His death on a cross. Despite their knowledge of who Jesus is, their faith remains weak and inadequate, and Jesus must spend more time with them. That He was willing to do so means we have a fuller account of what the kingdom of God looks like in practice. We should be grateful for their failure.
