Luke 9:37

The Bible says in Luke 9:37-41, “And it came to pass that on the next day, when they were come down from the hill, much people met him. And behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son: for he is my only child. And, lo, a spirit takes him, and he suddenly cries out; and it tears him that he foams again, and bruising him hardly departs from him. And I besought thy disciples to cast him out; and they could not. And Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? Bring your son here.”

This was a very revealing incident in the life of Jesus. A demon was cast out of a child. A father, whose heart was broken, met the Master and found healing for his son and for his heart. Perhaps the greatest suffering in the world is what a parent can suffer through their child. This man came to Jesus and found deliverance for his son. What a contrast to what God the Father must have suffered when He watched His own son die for the sins of the world. He saved the children of others, such as this man’s son, but his own He did not save. O what love motivated the infinite God to send His Son to the death of the cross.

Notice that when Jesus passed that way that Luke 9:38 says that the man who called out to Him “cried out” from out of the company of people. There was a great crowd. In order to be heard and in order to be seen, it was necessary for this man to make an effort. He had to be determined to get to Jesus. He could not let anyone stop him. He was determined, because He was desperate. His situation was desperate. His child was in torment and he had nowhere else to turn. No one could help him but Jesus. This has a good symbolism to salvation. When a person realizes the depth of their own sins, such a person will spare no effort in reaching out to Jesus for salvation when they have the opportunity to do so. No one but Jesus can help you with your sin problem.

This man cried out from the midst of the crowd. Jesus heard him, the disciples heard him, and certainly other people in the crowd heard him. Some people are reluctant to give their lives to Christ because of the fear of the opinions of others who may not approve. The seed that falls on rocky ground has no root, and when persecution arises they wither away. If you are desperate enough and determined enough, your desire to come to Jesus will be stronger than your fear of man.

This child had a very strange and violent and destructive behavior. The source of this destructive behavior was an evil spirit. In the twentieth century we have seen many advances in medical science. In the years to come, we will undoubtedly see many more, but modern medical science will never be able to address the problems that evil can bring into a person’s life. The effect may not be as dramatic, but it is just as true for each of us as it was for the child in this incident. If we want the victory over evil, we must go to Jesus. Without Christ you will be overcome of evil.

With Christ and through faith in Christ you will have great victory over evil. Luke 9:42-43 says, “And as he was yet a coming, the devil threw him down, and tare him. And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and delivered him again to his father. And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God.” One of the wonderful things about being a Christian is the great safety we have in the arms of Jesus. He’s the Great Shepherd, and the Great Shepherd takes care of His sheep. He promised, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Jesus said, “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”

In this world of evil and danger, there is a safe haven: the arms of Jesus. Because we are His children and His servants, we also have access to the power of Christ. He has not left us in the world with our own devices. Remember what Jesus said in the giving of the Great Commission, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore.” The way that we have access to His power and the way that we tap into it is through faith. Without faith we can do nothing, but with faith we can do all things. With faith we can remove mountains and see them cast into the sea.

Why could not the disciples cast this demon out of the boy? Lack of faith. If they had had the faith in Christ that they could have had and should have had, they would have seen the victory. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” “This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.” Notice how Jesus reacted to the disciples when they were unable to cast out the demon. That is, they were unable to get the victory over evil in that situation. The Bible says in Luke 9:41, “And Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? Bring your son here.”

The normal Christian life is that everyone would grow in faith and Christian character. When you start your Christian life, perhaps you are somewhat weak in faith. You are a babe in Christ. But through the nourishment of the Word, you can grow stronger. That’s how the Christian life should work out for everyone who puts their trust in Christ and starts following Him. That’s how faith should work also. It might start as small as a grain of mustard seed, but if everything happens the way it is supposed to happen, it will grow tall and strong. First Peter 2:2-3 says, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby: If so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”

By this point in the lives of the disciples they should have had a great deal of faith. They had traveled with the Master. They saw what He could do. Better yet, they heard His teachings day after day. Strong faith and lasting faith and a faith that accomplishes something must always be based upon the teachings, the Word, and the promises. The disciples should have been able to face this circumstance and see victory through faith in the Lord, but they did not. Evidently, they looked at the difficulty of these circumstances instead of remembering the teachings of the Lord. If we are not careful, the same thing will happen to us. There is a real challenge to the Christian life. On any given day something new might come along in which the only hope for victory will be to have faith in the promises of God and to rely upon the power of God to take care of it. If we are not ready to think about the promises of God, then we will only see the difficult circumstances, and we will fail just like the disciples did here.

Jesus was not happy with the disciples. They should have won the victory. They should have had faith in the promises of God and the power of God. But they did not. Jesus said that they were “faithless.” The disciples had absolutely no faith. They did not believe in the power of God when faced with this circumstance. Some people say that the one time in the life of Jesus when He showed anger was when He cast the money-changers out of the temple. But we also see these incidents in the life of Christ where if He was not angry, He was at least extremely displeased with the disciples for their lack of faith. What does it take to please God? What must a person do in order to please God? Out of all the things that a person can do in life, what is it that one must do in order to have God pleased with them? The answer is pointed out all through the Bible, and it’s demonstrated very clearly here in Luke Chapter 9: believe God. That’s it. That’s all. Believe God for salvation, and believe God in the face of every circumstance of your life. “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” “Without faith, it’s impossible to please God.” “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

Notice that when Jesus rebuked the disciples in Luke 9:41, He called them a “faithless and perverse generation.” To be perverse means to be corrupt or twisted or to be turned away from what should be. Of course, if you are perverse, you have missed the mark and you are not what God wants you to be. Jesus said the disciples were “faithless and perverse.” There is a close connection between lack of faith and sin, and between sin and lack of faith. The only way to avoid having a sinful life is to learn to have a life of faith. On the other hand, one of the reasons to avoid sin at all cost is because sin will weaken your faith and tear into it. Behind every doubt is a sin.

Not only did Jesus rebuke the disciples, in a way He kind of said that He did not really like being around them, at least not when they were like that. He said to the faithless disciples, “How long shall I be with you, and suffer you?” What a contrast between the righteousness of Christ and the sinfulness of man! What a contrast between the greatness and strength of Christ and the weakness of man! Jesus was disappointed with the disciples that they had not learned what they could have learned and they had not yet become what they could have become, but He did not give up on them. He did not cast them away. Jesus did for them what He has often done for us. He gave them more chances. “Smoking flax will He not quench, and a bruised reed will He not break.”

After all, Jesus came into the world to save sinners, not to destroy them. If we were saved from our sins by His grace and His grace alone, how much more shall we be patiently and mercifully cared for after we have been saved. Jesus saw how weak His own disciples were still, and perhaps the thoughts of Christ turned to the main reason that He came into the world, because Jesus said in Luke 9:44, “Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men.”

Jesus saw how weak the disciples were. Their problem was that they did not yet have enough faith. There were going to be some tough times ahead. Jesus knew that one of the toughest crises of their lives was just a short time away when He would be arrested and put to death, and their lives would also be threatened, and their misconceptions about the Kingdom of God on earth would be crushed forever. He tried to prepare them so that they would not fail in the time of trial and difficulty. He told them plainly that “the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men.”

What is one of the things that God is doing in each of our lives right now? He is trying to prepare us for whatever is going to come next. It is important to be prepared for what lies ahead. The Boy Scouts try to get young boys prepared for manhood, and their motto is “Be prepared.” Financial experts advise people to prepare for the future by paying off their debts and saving and investing. The reason that we have a military force built up is to be prepared in case we are attacked by an enemy. In the Christian life we must be prepared also. One of the things that happens to all of us in this life are trials, especially the trials of faith. The disciples failed so miserably at the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus because they were not prepared for the trial of their faith. Of course, eventually the disciples did learn the lesson. Later in life Peter wrote to Christians and tried to prepare them for what he knew would surely happen in their lives just like it happened in his. He wrote in First Peter 4:12, “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you.”

But here in Luke Chapter 9 the disciples had not yet learned this important lesson. They were not prepared for the trials that would come their way. Why weren’t they prepared? Luke 9:45 tells us why. It says, “But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not: and they feared to ask him of that saying.” Jesus spoke to the disciples and gave them through His words just the right information so that they would be prepared for the trial that would come their way. The disciples were not prepared because they did not understand the Word of Christ. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

If we have faith, we will be able to face anything. We will be able to fight any foe, and we will be able to meet any challenge. The Lord has given us His Word to teach us the things we need to know in order that our faith might be strong and in order that we might stand victorious in the face of whatever life might bring our way. “This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.” Studying God’s Word, hearing God’s Word, and thinking about God’s Word will keep our faith strong. What Jesus said to the disciples as a warning and as an encouragement to be prepared, He says also to us. “Let these sayings sink down into your ears.”

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