Luke 9:46

The Bible says in Luke 9:46-48, “Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them should be greatest. And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a child, and set him by him, And said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receives me: and whosoever shall receive me receives him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great.” Another mistake made by the disciples was the discussion that they were having among themselves concerning which of them was the greatest. One of the great problems of this world is the seeking after power and position. Some people spend their entire lives scheming and seeking to climb the ladder of position and fame. There are people in this world who have sold their souls for the sake of gaining the next promotion.

Of course, we know that Jesus was not like that. He left the throne of glory in order to come into this world of woe. When those who claim to be the followers of Christ seek position and power, they are most unlike Christ. A sure evidence of a lack of spirituality is the lifting up of man. Believers make a big mistake when they compare one man against another. The carnal man will lift up man and follow man, but the spiritual man will lift up Christ and follow Christ.

The attitude that the disciples had in discussing which among them was the greatest was a kind of competition between them. Competition can be a bad thing when those who should be fellow-laborers are driven apart by the spirit of competition. We are laborers together with God. We should view each other as fellow-servants. In reality there is no one greater than the other. We are all sinners saved by grace. The ground is level at the cross. Only Jesus deserves praise and honor. The human being who seeks honor for himself is selfish and conceited and carnally minded.

We are all brothers and sisters in Christ. We are all the children of God. Jesus said that there is something that adults can learn from children. God does not like to see human beings taking the honor that He alone deserves. Perhaps that’s why He sometimes used children to teach some of the important lessons of the gospel. O the depths of the vanity and the foolishness of the proud mind of man!

There is something about religion that tempts the foolish mind of man to think he is something when in fact he is nothing at all. In Luke Chapter 9 we saw through the transfiguration of Christ that the disciples were taught very clearly that only Jesus was to be honored and glorified. Then in the incident of the demon possessed boy, we saw that the disciples failed miserably to demonstrate enough faith to cast the demon out of the boy and they were sternly reprimanded by Jesus in Luke 9:41 for being “faithless and perverse.” And yet here they are discussing among themselves who should be greatest! Unless you walk close to Christ and listen carefully to the Spirit, your religious activities will cause you to have a high-minded opinion of yourself. You will become self-righteous. That was the sin of the Pharisees and Jesus warned the disciples, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.” The slippery slime of the self-righteous religious person: they have forgotten how sinful they really are. They are so very proud of the accomplishments they have made in their adult life. That’s part of the problem, according to Jesus. There is something important they could learn from a child: the simple selfless humility of a child-like attitude.

As the disciples discussed among themselves who should be greatest, that is, who would be closest to Christ in His kingdom, Jesus took a child and set the child beside Him. One of the lessons in this is the fact that if you want to be close to God and close to Christ, then you must be as a child. In simple faith to trust in Him. There is a connection between the better qualities of child-like faith and closeness to Christ. “Except you become as a child you shall not enter the Kingdom of God.” It’s no wonder that most people who come to know Jesus as Savior do so when they are a child. Evidently the older that a person gets the more they lose the capacity to have child-like faith. According to Jesus, if you really wish to be great in the eyes of God, then turn to children and learn from them. Instead of seeking to be great, seek to be the least of all and you will find yourself closer to Christ.

The disciples competed with each other and thereby made mistakes with their attitudes and the way that they thought. The disciples also had a competitive attitude towards those who were not of their number. The Bible says in Luke 9:49-50, “And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he follows not with us. And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.” There are divisions in this world. There are some divisions that should exist, but there are others that should not. Some people are too critical of other Christian groups just because they do not see eye-to-eye on every matter. You had better be careful whom you condemn and why you condemn them. You might be condemning someone who is a servant of God, and how will that look when you stand before Jesus to be judged of everything in your life?

The important thing about this incident is that the person who was not a part of the disciples was casting out demons in the name of Christ. That’s the most important detail. If some other group is right about the doctrine of Christ, then they are right about the most important thing. If they honor the name of Jesus, praise the name of Jesus, and uphold the name of Jesus, who are you to oppose them? To their own Master they must give an answer, not to you.

Of course, this incident is another example of how foolish and unspiritual were the disciples. They were proud and vain. They were critical of others, but they could not see their own faults. Earlier in this chapter they themselves were unable to cast a demon out of a young boy. Now someone else who is not in their group they find casting out demons. What do they do? They condemn that other person who was better and stronger and who had more faith than they had.

The foolishness and lack of understanding of the disciples does not stop here. In the next incident in the life of Jesus once again we see the failure of the disciples in their attitude towards others. The Bible says in Luke 9:51-56, “And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. And sent messengers before his face: and they went and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, will you that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elijah did? But he turned and rebuked them, and said, You know not what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.”

The disciples did not have the right attitude towards other believers. It is not surprising that they did not have the right attitude towards lost people either. The disciples acted the way that human beings so commonly act. They wanted to get revenge on those who wronged them. What a contrast between the disciples and Jesus! We know what was on the mind and heart of Jesus. Jesus was headed toward Jerusalem, and He was headed there to die for the sins of the world because of His great love for sinners. Luke 9:51 says of Jesus that “He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Luke 9:53 says that “his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.” Jesus knew the will of God, and he knew that the only hope for mankind was for Him to be faithful to His destiny. We will thank God forever for the obedience and the discipline and the love of Christ that led Him to the cross of Calvary.

Jesus went to Jerusalem to die. For the most part He stayed away from Jerusalem. Jerusalem has always been a bloody city: a city of war and a city of death. Some historians claim that there have been more wars and more bloodshed in Jerusalem in human history than in any other city on earth. I have always thought it strange that people want to travel to the Middle East. God is a Spirit. There is no place on earth where you must go in order to be closer to God. The Gospel of John recorded a time when Jesus passed through Samaria and stopped and talked to the Samaritan woman at the well. She was aware that the Jews said that one must go to Jerusalem to worship God and to be close to God, and that the Samaritans said that one must go to Samaria. But Jesus simply said, “God is a Spirit, and they that worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth.” There is no such thing as one place being more holy than another. The Arabs and Jews are fighting over nothing. God is a Spirit. He’s everywhere. Every place is holy. You can get close to God right where you are. You do not have to make a pilgrimage anywhere to get closer to God.

We saw the contrast between the disciples and Jesus. Jesus said in Luke 9:56, “For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” There is also a contrast between the age of grace that Jesus brought and the age of the law that the disciples knew about from the Old Testament. “The law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” The disciples knew the teachings of the Old Testament. They were familiar with the harsh terms under which the enemies of God were sometimes dealt with. That certainly was the case with Elijah. They were right about the fact that during the ministry of Elijah fire came down from heaven and destroyed the enemies of God, but the disciples made a great mistake regarding how to interpret the Bible. They forgot to consider the fact that God deals differently with man in different ages or periods of time. Just because God told someone to do something in another age or another time does not mean that He wants you to do it now. When God gave the law to Moses, it was a requirement to stone to death men and women who were taken in adultery. Many other severe laws were given, but we do not apply them in our age because we live in the age of grace. We live in a time when the mercy of God has been revealed as never before. That’s what Jesus was trying to teach the disciples when He told them, “For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”

Many Samaritans were prejudiced against the Jews. When they found that Jesus was going to Jerusalem, they rejected Him. Of course, we also know that many Jews were also prejudiced against Samaritans. Several of the teachings of Christ in the gospels exposed and denounced any such prejudice. As is usually the case when there is racial discord among peoples, there was prejudice on both sides. In this case, the prejudice came from the Samaritans against Jesus. But Jesus did not take revenge on them as the disciples desired. Instead, according to Luke 9:56, Jesus simply left and went to another village. If someone or some place will not receive your testimony, then do what Jesus did. Simply leave them and go somewhere else. God does not force Himself on any one. He does not force the truth on anyone. He offers it, and those who choose “no” are given what they have chosen. No wonder Jesus spoke of the judgment and said that there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. What a terrible day it will be when people discover that by saying “no” to God now, they were saying “no” to Him forever and ever. They were choosing an eternity without God. What choice will you make today? Surely you can see the mistake that was made by the people of Samaria. Surely you will make a better choice. Instead of rejecting Jesus and causing Him to go away and to go out of your life, you can decide to accept Jesus and to receive Him with a willing and a ready heart. “To as many as received Him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.”

Your attitude towards Jesus will make the difference between heaven and hell. It will make the difference between remaining in the guilt of your sins or finding the forgiveness of sins. There are basically only two kinds of people in the world: those who know Jesus Christ as their Savior because they have received Him, and those who do not know Jesus as their Savior. You can know Him today if you will repent of your sins and ask Jesus to forgive you and become your Savior.

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