Good morning, RTB’ers!
When the days drew near for Him to be taken up, He set his face to go to Jerusalem (v. 51) The note in STS today is important. Luke 9:51 is a major turning point in Luke’s gospel – we have seen the end of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee; He is now on His way to Jerusalem. Tomorrow we leave Luke for a while to cover the first half of the book of Genesis. When we return to Luke we will see more of Jesus’ teachings, including additional “Sermon on the Mount” material (parallel to Matthew’s) and a number of His famous parables. Finally it will be in Luke 19 before we see Jesus finally arriving in Jerusalem.
It happened to me again – in my mind I added something that’s not in Luke’s gospel. As Jesus is healing the boy with the unclean spirit the father says, “And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” Matthew and Mark then continue the story with the disciples asking Jesus why they could not cast out the demon. Jesus replies, “But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” (Mt. 17:21; Mark 9:29) If you have The Chronological Study Bible that we have been using the past few years, these “parallel passages” appear together, whether two or three or all four gospels report the event. Those of you with regular Bibles or even Study Bibles will have to do your own cross-reference. [NOTE for you “Bible scholars”: A further analysis of Matthew 17:21 shows that this verse appears in the normal flow of Mark’s text, but apparently was not included in earlier manuscripts in Matthew’s gospel and was added later.]
Blessings!
I very much appreciate Fred’s comments about checking out parallel passages, cross-referencing one bit of Scripture with the rest of Scripture. We can easily get into serious trouble when we pick verses out of context! At the same time, though, let’s be sure that we absorb this passage of Scripture and not be overly distracted by cross-referencing. At the very least, let’s follow Fred’s example and be aware of where we might be “filling in the blanks” from other passages. What does this passage actually say? What does this passage not say? Why?
Can you imagine a cloud coming upon you and God starts speaking to you?! Wow!
From all the words in Luke, my take away is that if you are going to be a follower of Christ you must believe no matter what and read His words and not question His ways. Have faith. Keep the faith. God’s will be done always. Just my take on it. The message is loud and clear!