Jesus Christ Heals a Boy with an Evil Spirit & the Samaritan Opposition. Bible Study. Luke Ch 9 Pt 2

Here is a teaching on part 2 of chapter 9 of the book of Luke. If you want to check out previous Bible studies and chapters going forward, join our group here. Once you get added into that Facebook group, you can go to the "units" tab and you'll see all of the chapters and their study guides as they are being taught.

I did want to say a quick prayer... Lord, I pray that you lift up every single person reading this right now. Please open up our eyes, our ears, our hearts, and our minds to you Lord. I pray that you give us knowledge and understanding to know exactly what it is that we're reading and the wisdom to implement it in our daily lives. Holy Spirit please guide us and help us to see the truth, know the truth, discern the truth, and live by the truth. Lord, I pray that whatever it is that each person is supposed to receive from this Bible study, they receive it and implement it in their daily lives. I love you with every ounce of my being. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Luke Chapter 9 Part 2:

37 The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. 38 A man in the crowd called out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. 39 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. 40 I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.”

41 “O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”

42 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. 43 And they were all amazed at the greatness of God.

While everyone was marveling at all that Jesus did, he said to his disciples, 44 “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.”45 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.

Alright, so I'm going to stop right there and discuss these verses with you guys here. In verse 40, the fact that Jesus' disciples couldn't get this evil spirit out, showed that the spirit was more strong and more stubborn than they had dealt with in the past when they had cast out evil spirits and the disciples couldn't handle it. In verse 41, Jesus was frustrated that his disciples didn't have more faith and he knew that his time was coming when he was going to be sent back up to heaven. In verses 42-43, whenever the demon threw the boy on the ground into a convulsion when he was coming to Jesus, that was the last effort of the demon to hold on to the boy. Jesus was not intimidated by this and he healed the boy and gave him back to his father. In verses 44-45, Jesus told his disciples about the betrayal that was to come from Judas and that would lead to his crucifixion. His disciples didn't understand what this meant and they were afraid to ask him.

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46 An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. 47 Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. 48 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 the greatest.”

49 “Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.”

50 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”

Alright, so I'm going to stop right there and discuss these verses with you guys here. In verses 46-48, the child was a representation or reflection of Jesus Christ himself and Jesus is a reflection of God the Father in heaven. Jesus' disciples shouldn't worry about who is the greatest or who is going to have all of the praise of men and all of that. They should be more focused on Jesus Christ, following him, trusting in him, and having a relationship with God. Jesus challenged his disciples to be the least. We are nothing without Jesus. Whenever we follow Jesus, especially in the world where people hate Jesus, we are not going to be loved or praised and a lot of people are going to hate us and persecute us, but we have to continue to stand firm in our faith and follow Jesus no matter what. We shouldn't try to be the greatest but be content with being the least and follow Jesus no matter what hardships we are going to face.

In verses 49-50, Jesus' disciples were frustrated because there were other followers of Jesus that were able to cast out demons when sometimes the disciples couldn't even cast them out (like we saw with the demon that was in the child). In verse 50, Jesus was teaching his disciples to have a generous spirit. There will be people that will deal with things in the wrong way, but we have to let God deal with them. We have to have a generous spirit and if people aren't against us, then they are for us. We have to just love and serve others and not worry about what they are doing because God is the judge, He has all of the authority, and He can deal with that on His own.

51 As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53 but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. 54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” 55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them, 56 and they went to another village.

In verse 51, the time for Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection was near. In verses 52-53, the Samaritan people did not welcome Jesus because he was headed to Jerusalem. These Samaritans had these preconceived opinions against the Jews. We saw from our Bible study on chapter 4 of the book of John, where Jesus had met with a Samaritan woman at the well and the Samaritans and the Jews didn't associate with each other. So these Samaritans didn't want to welcome Jesus and James and John were upset that they would treat Jesus this way, but Jesus Christ didn't come to destroy the lives of men but the save the world. So they went to another village.

57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

59 He said to another man, “Follow me.”

But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”

62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

Alright, so those are all of the verses of part 2 of chapter 9 of the book of Luke, but I'm going to discuss these verses with you guys here. What Jesus told the man in verse 58 was the truth. Jesus didn't Christ didn't have a permanent place to stay on this earth. He was always going from town to town and proclaiming the kingdom of God. In verses 59-60, this man wasn't actually asking for permission to go and bury his father, but he wanted to stay in his father's house and take care of him until he died. Jesus should always come first. When Jesus calls us to follow him, we have to just follow him and put him first, and we can't try to finish what we were already doing, do things on our own, and just follow him whenever we feel like it.

Like Jesus says in verse 62, we have to leave everything and follow Jesus. We can't start to follow him and then look back and go do other things, we have to just leave everything behind and follow Jesus. We saw this in Bible studies from chapter 5 of the book of Luke where Jesus called disciples and they left everything to follow Jesus.

Here are 3 takeaways to write down:

1. We have to stand firm in our faith

2. We have to humble ourselves and follow Jesus

3. Jesus should always be the most important in our lives

Luke Ch 9 Part 2 Study Guide

Why were Jesus’ disciples not able to drive out the evil spirit from the boy?
In verse 42, why did the demon throw the boy on the ground into a convulsion?
In verse 48, who was the child a representation of?
What was Jesus teaching his disciples in verse 50?
Why did the Samaritans not welcome Jesus?
When Jesus calls us to follow him, what should we do? Why?
What is your biggest takeaway from this Bible study?

So that concludes this Bible study on part 2 of chapter 9 of the Book of Luke. Tomorrow we're going to go into chapter 10, so make sure you stay tuned for that.

I love you guys so much.

Never forget to choose faith over fear.

-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)

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