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Luke 9:37-43 Harsh words from a loving Savior

Good afternoon fellow disciples,

This passage got my attention for the harsh words "O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you?"  Luke 9:41.  I hope you will be encouraged by thinking through this passage with me.  

May you be blessed as you prepare for public worship tomorrow.

Jeff

Synoptic gospels all have Jesus saying what seem to be rather harsh words.  Here is a man who comes to the disciples for aid and they are unable to cast out the demon.  The 9 (Peter James and John) had been on the mountain) had been able to heal when sent out by Jesus at the beginning of the chapter.  When Jesus shows up, he calls those who come to him a faithless and twisted generation.  Seems like the father has a lot of faith as he believes that the disciples should be able to help him and now turns to Jesus.  Twisted is perverse, morally corrupt.  What is morally corrupt about asking for deliverance of his son?

Commentaries indicate this comment is made to the crowds and/or his disciples.  The crowd were presumably there to see failure despite the fact that Jesus and the disciples had been healing and delivering for quite some time.  The disciples may have become overconfident or thought that power resided in them intrinsically, not delegated.

Instruction - Jesus rebukes his disciples for being faithless and therefore morally perverse at this late stage of his earthly ministry.  There is a moral component to lack of faith.  First commandment - no other gods before me.  Idols are not just a religious issue but a moral issue. Having seen all that Jesus did makes them morally responsible for not having faith.   I must take lack of faith as a serious moral failing.  Even above the explicit moral issues of the second table.

Thanksgiving - You are the founder and perfecter of my faith.  Faith in any other god is not faith at all.  Faith is only valid when centered on the one true God.  Faith is not a work that justifies me.  It is response to regeneration which is Your work alone.

Confession - Being content with a weak  small faith. 

Petition - Make me uncomfortable, cause me to listen to the Spirit's assessment of my faith. You reprove those whom you love even as a father the son in whom he delights.


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