Luke 9:37-40 The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. A man in the crowd called out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.”
Matt. 17:14-16 Whey they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”
Mark 9:14-18 When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to great him. “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked. A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”
What we have studied so far on the topic of evil spirits: they take advantage of weaknesses in the human mind and find footholds here; they attempt to separate the human from others; they can stimulate regular illness symptoms or manipulate preexisting symptoms.
What is NOT true of evil spirits: the presence of symptoms does NOT mean there is an evil spirit!!! I cannot emphasize this enough. Pay attention to your symptoms and validate them accordingly.
Symptoms: screams, convulses, foams at the mouth, gnashes teeth, becomes rigid, loss of speech
There are many disorders that carry these symptoms. The more symptoms you add the narrower the list becomes. With all these symptoms input into a search engine the list produced offered 50 separate disorders. The type of disorders listed are currently recognized as incurable. This does not mean that some day we won’t find a cure, I just want to emphasize the power Jesus demonstrated in this instance when confronted with this disorder. Please make note that the evil spirit and the symptoms are separate.
What is a seizure: A seizure is a symptom, not a disease. It happens when nerve cells in the brain function abnormally and there is a sudden abnormal electrical signal in the brain. The seizure can cause strange sensations and behavior and sometimes muscle spasms and a change in or loss of consciousness.
Grand mal seizure: a generalized seizure that starts with a loss of consciousness and falling down, followed by a brief period of rigid muscles and a 1 to 2 minute period of violent, rhythmic jerking. The seizure ends with a few minutes of deep sleep before you return to consciousness.
Luke 9:41-45 “O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.” Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the evil spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. And they were all amazed at the greatness of God.
Matt. 17:17-20 “O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Mark 9:19-29 “O unbelieving generation”, Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” “If you can?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “ I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up. After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “this kind can come out only by prayer”.
Two things were happening here. First off the boy had a legitimate medical condition. Secondly, an evil spirit was doing as they always do and taking advantage of a preexisting situation of weakness. Jesus proceeded to rebuke first the spirit and then heal the boy’s condition.
In my own personal life the spirit I am often faced with is one of fear. The spirit does not allow for healing or correction in my life because fear often overwhelms, paralyzes, incapacitates or immobilizes me. The evil spirit had done the same for the boy. The spirit needed to be dealt with first and then Jesus could heal the disorder. We are all plagued with bombardment from spirits. Satan does not decide to just take a break. Each day is a day requiring commitment to Christ, dressing in the armor of God, and guarding our minds from harm.
Questions?
Luke 9:43-45 “While everyone was marveling at all that Jesus did, he said to his disciples, “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.” But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.
Matt 17:22-23 “When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief.
The view they had of the Messiah, as we discussed last week, did not include plans for death. Through this announcement and the later fulfillment of this, the disciples were forced to abandon their preconceived notions of what the Messiah was in actuality here to do. I have a rising suspicion that at Christ’s return we may be equally surprised and may have to witness the death of our own preconceived notions on what Christ is truly here to accomplish. We must strive hard not to attempt to box Christ into a set pattern of events but we must also be sure that we KNOW the Word of God so that when events do begin to occur we are able to recognize and see them for what they are. Let us learn from the mistakes of the disciples and NOT repeat their errors.
Luke 9:46-50 An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. Then he said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all—he is greatest.” “Master,” said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”
Discussion:
What does it mean to be least? What does it NOT mean to be least?
To be least means to SERVE God and SERVE others. Throughout Church history, “being least” was often associated with self deprivation. But there comes a point where self deprivation can inhibit a person from serving God and serving others. We are called to “deny ourselves” but what does it mean to deny oneself?
Luke 9:51-56 As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went to another village.
Note: other versions include Jesus words in this rebuke as being, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of, for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”
Who has the evil spirit now??? What does this tell you about the ease with which evil spirits can suggest things and ideas to us? What do we do with these suggestions?
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Debbie,
ReplyDeleteGood topic. As I respond let me first address two possibilities from two completely different Church fathers. Theophylact sees John’s comment as regret, his conscience having been pricked by what Christ said about the least and the great. In other words… having felt convicted (according to Theophylact) of not acting when others were casting out demons.
St. Ambrose, on the other hand, sees John as expecting full obedience to accompany such blessings (casting out demons). In other words… he wanted to demand that those casting out demons to be numbered among the disciples. However in either case Christ’s response shows those acting in good faith can be agents of divine grace at work.
Now… having said that I think that the central theme to this passage (Luke 9:16-50) has to do with Christ’s statement surrounding the little child. It is interesting that Jesus would say: “whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me.” The interesting thing is the disciples were arguing about who would be greatest? Christ responded by placing a child in their midst. Why?
Well one must think about what a child “brings to the table.” In fact if we were to look at what people gain from children it would reveal something about what Jesus is saying. Think about what an adult gains from a child. From the stand point of the church… children take up a lot of time and do not contribute much (no tithe, no work force, no teachers). In fact they are a drain in church finances, a liability, and cost much more than any other ministry. As a parent, children are expensive… they demand time, attention, and care. So why would Jesus use the example of a child?
A child gives you what no other can… an opportunity to love and receive love unconditionally. Loving and caring for a child is the closest of human relationships that mirror the love that God has for us. We demand time, attention, and care from God but yet we gain the experience of unconditional love.
Now… what does this have to do with demons and authority? Well a lot. If we act in a manner of contribution – in other words if we think we are contributing and helping God do His work… we are not operating under the right spirit. God does not need our help. But if we come and do good works because we love unconditionally and we want others to experience that same love, then we are acting under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
So… in my humble opinion… sometimes we are too busy wrestling with our own human spirit which can be operating against God’s desire to really be an instrument of divine grace.
I probably went a whole different way on the blog than you had intended but I think that its at least relative to the topic.
Well I respectfully disagree. I Believe that Jesus clearly demonstrates through his life on earth that Satan is the author of sickness, disease, pain, suffering and death" John 10:10 says "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy" and John says in 1 John 3:8 "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." even in Job we see that Satan is the author of wars, lighting, tornado's, sickness, disease, death ect.! Jesus even said to the bent over woman in Luke 13 that Satan had her bound for 18 years, Scholars speculate that what she suffered with was arthritis. So IMHO Satan is the author of all that destroys and every time you are suffering or have symptoms they are from the oppression of Satan's minion's. My two cents
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