You Can Read the Bible Guided Podcast

In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.  And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles…      Luke 6:12-13

Back in chapter 6 we noted that this change in title from “disciples” to “apostles” signified not just status but mission: these are the first twelve who would be sent out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.  Before doing so, Luke tells us that Jesus …gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases… but again, Luke doesn’t tell us what he means by this.  Put yourself in that space, with those apostles, hearing that the same power they had seen at work in Jesus would now flow through them. 

This conferring of authority is significant background for the rest of the chapter.  When the crowds are hungry, the disciples want Jesus to send them away.  When confronting with a demon-possessed boy, they are unable to drive the demon out, a result, according to Jesus, of their faithlessness.  Later, they bicker over which of them is the greatest, and even try to stop one who is not of the twelve from casting out demons in Jesus’ name.

In chapter 10 the commission is expanded to include seventy-two others who are sent ahead of Him, two-by-two, into every town and place where He himself was about to go…  and they returned, marveling to Jesus (and perhaps to the twelve) that “even the demons are subject to us in your name!"   

Through Jesus’ response: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven…” Luke again highlights the power of God in Jesus’ eyes, hands, and words.  Luke recounts – almost as though it happened yesterday – how Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit that the Father has “…hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children, that no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.” 

Keep this context in mind for the encounter immediately after it.   Putting Jesus to the test, a lawyer asks, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus responds with a simple story, one that a child could understand, about a priest, a Levite, and a Samaritan….

Our verse for this week is Psalm 27:1: The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Luke chapters 9 and 10.  Now let’s read it!

And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria.  And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place.”  - 1 Kings 19:15-16

Today’s reading picks up in the middle of the siege of Samaria.  The capital of Israel has been reduced to desperation as the king of Syria demands that the man of God – Elisha – be handed over to him. 

So the king of Israel has two options: turn to the LORD for deliverance, or dispose of Elisha and satisfy the Syrians.  By the end of chapter 6, he’s made his decision, but when the messenger from the king arrives, Elisha, like his predecessor, makes a courageous prediction: the LORD will again reveal his power to the king of Israel.  The rest of chapter 7 demonstrates that Elisha knew of which he spoke. 

Before we turn to the next episode, I want to point out the way the author refers to Elisha and Joram, the king of Israel.  Throughout these stories, Joram is almost never named, instead referred to simply as “The King of Israel.”  And Elisha is often called simply, “The Man of God.”  This is perhaps just a literary flourish, or maybe something is being said about the respect, or lack thereof, the author has for them. 

Nonetheless, chapter 8 opens with a closing bookend of the Shunamite woman’s story, whom we met in chapter 4.  After this, the political intrigue reaches a new phase in both Syria and Israel, as Elisha reconnects with Hazael, whom Elijah had anointed to succeed Ben-Hadad in Syria.  Events that Elijah foresaw a dozen years ago are spun into violent motion. 

The middle episode of chapter 8 is intense.  Elisha heads to Damascus, of all places, and Ben-Hadad calls on him, probably elated that Elisha was no longer in the service of Israel’s king.  Listen intently to Elisha’s brief interchange with the king’s messenger (which seems to be a theme in these passages).  The messenger is Hazael, who is told to go lie to Ben-Hadad, and then, tragically, is presented with all the horrors he will bring on Israel.  Elisha’s emotions are jarring to his hearer, and will be jarring to us if we’re willing to meditate on what he could see, both before him, and in the distance. 

Our verse for this week is Romans 8:28: And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

2 Kings 7 through 9.  Now let’s read it!

At the beginning of today’s reading Jesus heads to Capernaum, a city on the Sea of Galilee, where He is confronted by a group of elders of the Jews.  These elders have been sent by a Roman centurion, who hopes that Jesus will heal his servant.  Their request is interesting on at least two fronts: first, that they deem the centurion “…worthy to have you do this for him for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue…” and second that they – elders of the Jews – recognized that the power of the Lord was with Him to heal. 

This similarly occurs at the end of today’s reading, when Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue – begs Jesus to heal his daughter.  Weren’t the Jewish leaders opposed to Jesus?  Well, some were.  Others weren’t.  Luke doesn’t draw clear lines on this, but instead recounts events and conversations as they happened. 

Pay attention to the variety of responses to Jesus.  Just today, synagogue rulers ask Jesus for help and the people of Nain report, “A great prophet has arisen among us!”  Pharisees and lawyers oppose Jesus and the crowd’s assessment of Him, but one of them invites Jesus to dinner – only to judge Him for allowing a “sinner” to get too close.  A group of women follows and even supports Jesus, while the Gerasenes, after witnessing that Jesus had driven demons out of a man, were seized with great fear.  And finally, after raising Jairus’ (the synagogue ruler’s) daughter back to life, her parents were amazed.   

And I want to highlight one more detail that is just as curious as people’s reactions.  When the demon-possessed man wants to follow Jesus, Jesus permits him to “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.”  However, just one scene later, when Jesus raises Jairus’s daughter, “He charged [her parents] to tell no one what had happened.”  So what gives?  Why would Jesus tell one healed person to “Tell anyone you want,” and tell another healed person, “Don’t tell a soul”? 

This contradiction is never ironed out.  Does it matter that the demon-possessed man was in the region of the country of the Gerasenes – a foreign land – while Jairus’ daughter was in Galilee?  Does it matter that Jairus was a synagogue official, while the demon-possessed man was an ordinary citizen?   It’s hard to believe that Luke would not have noticed this.  It’s even harder to believe that Jesus would be haphazard with His words.  There is something more going on here, and it likely tells us something about Jesus, His purposes, and His mission. 

Our verse for this week is Psalm 27:1: The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Luke chapters 7 and 8.  Now let’s read it!

Last week ended with the transition from Elijah to Elisha as the most prominent prophet in the Northern Kingdom.  In today’s reading a series of signs continue to affirm that Elijah’s spirit is indeed on Elisha. 

Keep in mind that these signs carry multiple layers of significance.  There is the first, on-the-ground layer of importance to the characters: a widow’s home is saved; a boy is raised to life; a man is healed of disease; a borrowed axe head is retrieved.  These were real people, under real threat, who received real deliverance through Elisha. 

Another layer of importance is that these signs are, quite simply, an opportunity for the LORD to reveal His power.  And greatest result of these revelations is when the witnesses turn their awe into worship – a purpose God often makes explicit with “So that [fill in the name] will know that I am the LORD.  This is exemplified today by Naaman, the Syrian general, who asks Elisha for “…two mules’ load of earth, for from now on your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god but the LORD.”

Yet another consequence of these signs – and one we saw emphatically through the Elijah stories – is the connection between the revelatory signs of the prophet and the revelatory message of the prophet.  Ahab is not judged simply by Elijah’s call to repent (though that should have been sufficient); he is forcefully condemned by his obstinance in the face of the mighty confirming signs the LORD did through him.  

This is demonstrated today not so much through the king of Israel – who only emerges by title in chapter 6 – but through the king of Syria.  King Ben-Hadad of Damascus – and this might be a family name we’ve seen before – is so convinced of Elisha’s power that he wants him dead.  Oddly enough, so does the king of Israel.  These intrigues sets up the rest of the Elisha story.  

One final highlight… pay attention to the phrase that opens chapter 5: “Namaan, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria.”  Wait:“…the LORD had given victory to Syria…”?  Wasn’t Syria the enemy?  Yet the LORD – the God of Israel – is giving them aid.  That might be a signal to you, the reader, about the LORD’s methods and priorities.

Our verse for this week is Romans 8:28: And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

2 Kings 4 through 6.  Now let’s read it!