Our scripture reading tonight is from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 9. Some of you may remember that when Pastor Gordon was on sabbatical, I took up a series of sermons on Luke, and we're continuing with that series rather more occasionally, but still following through the Gospel of Luke. And that brings us to chapter 9, And beginning our reading at verse 37 and reading down through verse 40. Luke chapter 9, beginning our reading at verse 37. This is immediately after Jesus has been on the Mount of Transfiguration. Let us give our careful attention to God's own word. On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth and shatters him and will hardly leave him. And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not. Jesus answered, O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here. While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy and gave him back to his father. And all were astonished at the majesty of God. But while they were all marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, Let these words sink into your ears. The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men. But they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them so that they might not perceive it. and they were afraid to ask him about this saying. An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side and said to them, Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great. John answered, Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he does not follow with us. But Jesus said to him, Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you. So far, the reading of God's Word. One of the important themes in the New Testament, and we've been seeing it repeatedly in the Gospel of John, is the theme that first comes suffering and then comes glory. And Jesus tells his disciples over and over again, The servant is not greater than the master. If the master must first suffer and then enter into his glory, so the servants also must first suffer and then enter into their glory. So it's a familiar theme. It's a common theme. It's a very important theme. And so it should come as a little bit of a surprise to us that that theme is, in a sense, reversed here. And what we could say Luke is telling us in chapter 9 is that Jesus has a moment of glory on the Mount of Transfiguration and after the glory comes suffering. And we're going to gain, I hope, insight into the character of Jesus and the ministry of Jesus as we follow that teaching of Luke and that remarkable reversal, we might say, of seeing the glory of Jesus followed by the suffering of Jesus. And what kind of suffering is that? Well, it's he comes down the mountain to a mess, to a distressing situation. A distressing situation, particularly among his own disciples. In some ways, it's the theme of the disciples that run through these passages that otherwise may not seem all that well connected to one another. But the disciples are revealed in each of these stories as a mess. They were unable to cast out a demon. They were unable to understand that Jesus needed to suffer. They were unable to achieve any level of humility among themselves. They misunderstood what others in the name of Jesus were doing. He came down to a mess. And Luke is writing to help us see something of how Jesus coped with this reality of having experienced for a moment on the Mount of Transfiguration glory and the approval spoken in the voice of His Heavenly Father and now comes down the mountain to this mess. And He deals with it preeminently in the way He teaches. Luke highlights that by having the first word spoken to Him by the boy's father who's so sick at the base of the mountain, the first word is teacher. He sees Jesus as one who understands, who knows, who teaches. And that's what we want to do tonight is to listen to Jesus as our teacher and follow him as he explains to us something of how we should react to the mess that we often find ourselves in. And the first thing that we see about this is that Jesus sees clearly the misery of this world. Jesus sees clearly the misery of this world. And, you know, one of the temptations we often face that the Scriptures address in a variety of ways is to think that Jesus is not really sympathetic, is not really able to enter in in an understanding way to our reality. That's why we heard so helpfully last Sunday afternoon that he is indeed a high priest who is able to help us having faced all temptations. And Jesus is able to help us in a mess because he's found himself in a mess. That's what we just see. He understands misery. He understands the misery of this life. And this text talks about some of the various ways that misery can come to us and shows us that Jesus really understands. Part of the frustration of the world we live in is that there's a lot of misery that people don't understand, don't see correctly. In the middle of the summer, when the fires were burning in wine country in Northern California, I was following that with some care because when my family first came to California, they settled up in Sonoma County. So I've always had a kind of special place in my heart for Sonoma County. And I saw an article in the midst of those fires where a supervisor in Sonoma County was quoted. We all know whenever we want profound insight into truth, we turn to politicians. And the supervisor was quoted as saying, why does God have no sympathy for Sonoma County? And I wanted to write back and say, I've been to Sonoma County on a Sunday, and I don't see hardly anybody in Sonoma County in church. How much sympathy does Sonoma County have for God? But that may not have been a sympathetic response. But here is misery completely misunderstood. A misery leading to no insight into truth. But Jesus sees clearly what our misery is and what it means. And he sees, first of all, the misery of human suffering. The description of this boy who is possessed by an unclean spirit is a very touching description. It's unusually detailed. Luke uses language he doesn't very often use to talk about how severe the suffering of this boy is. How awful it is that he is convulsed and shattered and nearly crushed by the spirit that consumes him. Our hearts have to go out to someone suffering in this sort of way. But the human suffering here is not just the suffering of the boy. it's also the suffering of the father. Do you feel the plaintiff cry of the father as he says, this is my only child. And I'm seeing my only child suffering in this way. Could you do something to help? And as we look around the world, we see that kind of misery, don't we? Too often on many hands we see it. So Jesus sees the human misery. Jesus also sees the spiritual reality under the misery. He sees that our life is not just a matter of our bodies. The human reality is not just a matter of physical well-being. But there are great spiritual issues play out below the surface. And that's what's happening in this situation. There's a demon at work. There's an evil spirit at work. And Jesus sees the misery brought into the world by the fall into sin and by the evil work of the evil one. I've said to some of you before, I've been here so long, everything I've said, I've said before. But one of the things that really struck me when I first came into a Dutch Reformed church is that when we prayed the Lord's Prayer, we prayed, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. I think that's a good translation, actually, of the Lord's Prayer. But it brings home that evil is not just this vague abstraction, but evil is personal. Spiritual powers are at work in this world, fomenting misery, and Jesus is aware of that. So we see the misery of human suffering. We see the misery of spiritual opposition. we see the misery of the disciples' failure. That's perhaps most prominent here. The misery of the disciples' failure. And it's good for us to pause here because we're disciples. And here's a moment when we could maybe do a little inventory. How are we doing? Are we failing as they failed? I think Luke has put these episodes together to raise exactly those questions in our minds. How's it going in your life as a disciple? First thing we see in their failure is that they are powerless. They are powerless. And we have to read the whole chapter to capture the irony of that powerlessness. What had Jesus said to these very disciples as it's recorded for us at the beginning of Luke chapter 9? We read there in verse 1, And Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons to cure diseases. Now, if you and I were asked to cast out a demon, it would not be surprising, perhaps, that we couldn't do it. But you see the misery here. Jesus has given them power to cast out demons. And yet we're told they can't do it. We don't know why they can't do it exactly. That is until we hear those words of Jesus, I think very much directed at them, oh, faithless and twisted generation. They've heard the words of Jesus, giving them power. But apparently they haven't really believed the words of Jesus. And this is always the great issue, isn't it, before a disciple. Do you believe the words of Jesus? Do you believe the words of the Master? Do you listen to Him? Do you follow Him? Do you have confidence that what He's promised, He will do? Do you trust Him? Jesus apparently faces this misery of his own disciples not trusting him and not walking in the straight path he's laid out for them. They've followed a twisted path, a perverted path, a perverse path. And these words that Jesus has chosen to direct to them are particularly powerful because they're taken from the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32, where Moses had predicted a day of Israel's falling away. And God would say to Israel in that day, they have dealt corruptly. They are no longer children. They are blemished. They are a crooked and twisted generation. Jesus is speaking really a malediction on the people, on the disciples in particular for their faithfulness. And God had said, verse 20 of Deuteronomy 32, I will hide my face from them. I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom there is no faithfulness. And we should be shocked. I think sometimes we're shocked in just a sentimental way. Wow, Jesus got angry. But he's more than just angry, he's frustrated and disappointed in the faithlessness and perversity of his own disciples. And it's not enough that they're powerless and faithless, but they're selfish to boot. Do you see the irony here? That having just shown how powerless they are, they say, who's the greatest among us? How could they not say to one another, we're not very much, are we? We can't even cast out a demon when we've been given power to cast out a demon. But instead, they're meeting together to decide who's the greatest, who's the best, who should be leading the pack. And this selfishness is such that not only are they vying with one another for leadership, but they want to exclude others. Again, the irony. Here's somebody they don't really know who doesn't walk with them. So how important can that person be if he doesn't walk with them? But who is casting out demons? And they who have failed to cast out demons now want to stop the one who is casting them out. That's where their selfishness has taken. And it's like Jesus is holding up a big mirror to all of us and saying, so how is it with you? Is there any power in your Christian life? Is there faith undergirding your Christian life? How caught up in selfishness are you? And do you realize how it grieves Jesus? Because Jesus contemplates or reveals, perhaps we would better say, his own misery here, his own frustration when he cries out, how long must I put up with you and bear with you? The question how long is often a question we find in the Psalter on the lips of human beings. Oh Lord, I'm suffering. How long am I going to have to put up with this suffering? Well, Jesus is suffering and he's asking, how long must I put up with this suffering? You see the misery that surrounds on every hand? The misery that Jesus sees so clearly? The misery that must be so much more powerfully in relief as he's come down from the glory of the presence of his father, from the encouragement of Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration, now to this mess. But, of course, he came into the world to save the messed up. And that's what we see here. He reveals not only the misery that he sees, but he reveals the mission that he serves. His mission is to deal with misery. And that's what we're being shown here. His mission is to deal with misery. And so he begins, first of all, with this boy, this boy so horribly afflicted, and he heals him. Jesus' mission is a restorative mission. It's a mission to bring healing and hope into the world. It's a mission to give us a foretaste of that new heaven and new earth which he will bring into this world. And so where Jesus sees human suffering, he promises hope and healing and deliverance. That's the mission that he's come powerfully to accomplish. And his mission, when it sees the spiritual oppression, is to demonstrate that he's the conqueror of demons. He's come to crush the head of Satan. He's come to cast out the evil one and all of his minions. And he shows that here. He's the Lord of the spiritual realm as well as of the physical realm. And he's going to deliver us all from that spiritual oppression. That's part of his mission. It's at the heart of his mission. And then he comes to the disciples. What's his mission to the disciples? Well, to rebuke them. To point out to them how far short they have fallen. but then to correct them, to correct them. And he corrects them, first of all, by putting a child in their presence to correct their selfishness. A child that Jesus presents as a mirror of what should be characteristic of his disciples. Now his point here is not the modern point that children are a mirror to us because they are so good. One suspects that people who are always talking about the innocence of little children are people who have really never been parents. You remember the great line of Augustine that the apparent innocence of infants is only a result of the powerlessness of their bodies, not the purity of their souls. He puts this child before them, not because the child is good, but because the child is weak. Ancients were more realistic. Children are weak. Don't be talking selfishly about your greatness, Jesus says, but see a mirror of yourself in this little child to see that it's the least who is greatest in the kingdom of God. maybe you've sometimes wondered, am I amounting to anything in my service of Christ? Is my service of Christ counting for anything? Am I really a large influence for Christ? Christ is saying humble service is the most important thing you can do for Christ. Embracing the weakness of being a Christian is being a light in this world. It's selfishness that eats away at the very character of Christian love. Whereas it's humility that shines the life of Jesus into the world. And then he attacks their desire to be the exclusive representatives of the Jesus brand in the world. This other guy who doesn't go with us is casting out demons in your name. We tried to stop him. And Jesus goes to the heart of the problem here. And Jesus says, your real complaint is that he's not with you. That he's not one of you. That he's not walking with you. But Jesus says he's walking with me. He's acting in my name. He's showing power from me in casting out these demons. It's not all about you, disciples. Jesus is saying it's all about me. Now, Jesus is not saying that anytime anybody takes his name on their lips, that what they're doing is good. You remember, don't you, in the Sermon on the Mount? Jesus said very powerfully, not everyone who says Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. But these people are not just taking a name on their lips. They're showing the power and presence of Jesus in their lives, in their service of Jesus. This one who's casting out demons has walked in the way of Jesus. He's had faith in Jesus. And Jesus commends him. And there should be a warning to us, shouldn't it? But what's the warning? What's the direction? Well, the warning might be that you don't have to be Dutch Reformed to enter the kingdom of God. It's a better way, but nonetheless, you don't have to be. The Lord is working in a variety of people who know him and love him and follow his word. And we need to rejoice in that. Wherever we hear Jesus being served, we should rejoice in that. That's what Jesus is calling us to. It's not a call to compromise the truth, but it's a call to recognize where Jesus is at work, where his mission is being fulfilled through true disciples. And then he says something here about his own mission, his own work in the world, in his own life. And he shows us that he's never taking his eye off Jerusalem and the path to Jerusalem that he must walk, that there he will die. This is remarkable because just before the transfiguration, Jesus had told his disciples he must go to Jerusalem and die. And they didn't understand it then. Early in chapter 9, they don't understand it here. Later in chapter 9, they don't get what he's about at all. They don't get the most important thing he's come to do. and it reminds us how easy it is for the disciples to miss the point and how sad Jesus is to live in the misery of a world that misses the point he's come to make. I think this was an especially emotional moment for Jesus, And I think part of the reason Luke has underscored this event of this boy so tragically afflicted is because this boy holds up to Jesus a mirror of what awaits him in Jerusalem. Do you notice the language? It's a father with an only son. And the father sees that only son afflicted and shattered and crushed by the evil one. I think Jesus sees his own coming experience mirrored for him in this little boy. and it brings home to him the horror that awaits him that he might accomplish salvation for these disciples that are so stupid and so unlovable in themselves. But how gloriously displayed then is the love of the Savior who can love people like you and me and redeem people like you and me at the cost of the suffering that is mirrored to him here in this occasion. So Jesus sees the misery. Jesus serves the mission. And Jesus shows his majesty in all of this. Did you notice there, after the boy is healed, verse 43 of Luke 9, And all who saw it were astonished at the majesty of God. Now that word majesty there is really related to the word for greatness. They were amazed at the greatness of God. And while the crowds were amazed at the greatness of God, the disciples were saying, which of us will be greatest? The answer is Jesus will be greatest. Jesus shows the majesty of God. Jesus shows the majesty and greatness of God in everything that he does. He shows it when he feeds the 5,000. He shows it when he heals the boy. He shows it when he suffers on the cross. Here is the real greatness that the world can, the greatest greatness that the world can ever hope to see, displayed, revealed for us in everything that Jesus does, in everything that Jesus says, showing that Jesus came to save sinners, to rebuke them and correct them, To reorient them, to teach them. But above all else, to save them. That's the great hope, the great encouragement, the great promise that is ours. And that's the very essence of Jesus' work, isn't it? That he leaves the glory to embrace the suffering so that he can save sinners. And then enter his glory and take us with him. That's our hope. May God grant that every one of us is full of that faith. Amen. Let us pray. O Lord, how rich your word is as it points us to the greatness and majesty of our Savior. How thankful we are that he sees us in all of our misery and need. And how thankful we are that his mission was to save us and to bring us to glory. Fill us with hope in believing, O Lord, and draw us closer, ever closer, to our Savior. For it's in his name that we pray. Amen.