By Dan and Brenda
Cathcart
Moed Ministries International
The video version
of this teaching is available at:
Scripture reading
for this teaching:
Luke 9:51-10:42 (Matthew 8:19-22)
In the Gospel
accounts we see that Yeshua made frequent trips from His headquarters in
Capernaum on the northern shore of the Galilee to Jerusalem, almost always at
the time of the Feast days. The time of
Passover was approaching with the Feast of Unleavened Bread beginning the day
following Passover, and since it was a pilgrimage feast, all males were
required to go up to Jerusalem, specifically to the Temple, at this time each
year.
Luke 9:51-53 NKJV 51 Now it came to
pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set
His face to go to Jerusalem, 52 and sent messengers before His face. And as
they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. 53 But
they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to
Jerusalem.
There were
several routs one could take from the Galilee to Jerusalem, the most direct
route would mean traveling through the dangerous territory of the
sometimes-hostile Samaritans. Why did
Yeshua choose this route for their journey?
After the transfiguration event, and knowing the fait that awaited Him
in Jerusalem, Yeshua was determined that His disciples understood the dangers
and costs that they too would face in the years to come as one of His
disciples.
What does the
Master Yeshua tell those who want to follow him? What must be the priorities as a disciple of
Yeshua? What is the cost of true
discipleship?
Again, Yeshua was
most likely traveling with an entourage larger than just the inner circle of
the twelve as they traveled through the territory of the Samaritans. As we just read in Luke 9:52, Yeshua sent
messengers ahead to prepare for their over-night stay in a Samaritan village. Verse 53 indicates that they were not
welcomed in the village when it was revealed that they intended to travel on to
Jerusalem for the Feast day. The
Samaritans did not recognize Jerusalem as the legitimate location of the Temple
of God and resented the Jews for worshiping there. Their place of Temple worship was on Mount
Gerizim.
This rather open
hostility between the Samaritans and the Jews would intensify over the ensuing
decades, resulting in open attacks against the Jews making their way from the
Galilee to Jerusalem.
The origin of the
Samaritans is a bit murky, but dates back to the Assyrian exile in 722
BCE. The Assyrians “replaced” the Jews
forcibly removed from their land with another people. The Samaritans consisted
of a mixture of imported foreign settlers and a small remnant of the locals who
escaped exile. Over the ensuing centuries, they had come to believed that they
alone were the true descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the Jews in
the land at that time were imposters. Sound
familiar?
Many of the Samaritans
refused to take in the traveling pilgrims.
In the ancient near-east culture, this was considered an insult and a
deplorable evil. One such Samaritan
village was so proud of their inhospitality toward travelers, they even named
it “Kefar Bish,” which means, “Bad Town.”
The Disciples reported back to the Master Yeshua about the Samaritan
town refusing to receive them.
Luke 9:54 NKJV 54 And when His
disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to
command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah
did?"
I suppose they
were recalling the words of Yeshua as recorded in Matthew 10:14-15.
Matthew 10:14-15 NKJV 14 "And whoever will not
receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake
off the dust from your feet. 15 "Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more
tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for
that city!
Yeshua rebuked
the disciples for their apparent over reaction to the hostile reception they
received in the Samaritan village.
Luke 9:55-56 NKJV 55 But He turned and
rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.
56 "For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save
them." And they went to another village.
When John and
Peter returned to these very same Samaritan villages just a few years later bringing
the good news of salvation to both Jew and Gentile, they received a different
welcome.
Acts 8:14-16 NKJV 14 Now when the
apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God,
they sent Peter and John to them, 15 who, when they had come down, prayed for
them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. 16 For as yet He had fallen upon
none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Here it seems
apparent that Yeshua was teaching them a lesson about forgiveness and mercy in
the face of hostility and evil. As we
see in just a few short years, Peter and John called down a different kind of
fire on these Samaritan villages!
As Yeshua and the
disciples continued their journey up to Jerusalem, Yeshua is approached by
three individuals seeking him out to become followers or disciples. Perhaps these men wanted to commit themselves
to true discipleship; to study and learn at the feet of the Master; to be one
whom Yeshua would send out to the highways and by-ways of Judea and Samaria to prepare
for the later arrival of Yeshua. Perhaps they even witnessed first hand signs
and wonders performed by the disciples or Yeshua Himself. In the story of each of these three men, we
see they each encounter and were confronted by an obstacle in their lives which
would prevent them from obtaining what they seek.
Luke 9:57 NKJV 57 Now it happened as
they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, "Lord, I will follow
You wherever You go."
In Matthew’s
gospel, in this same encounter, the man is identified as a scribe; a Torah
scholar. He would, most likely be, not a
first-born son, but a younger son of a relatively wealthy family, sent off to
study the Torah as a full-time occupation supported by his family or perhaps
independently wealthy enough himself to pursue Torah study full time.
Yeshua invited
him to follow but issued a stern warning.
Matthew 8:19-20 NKJV 19 Then a certain
scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You
go." 20 And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air
have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."
In other words,
Yeshua was letting him know that being one of his disciples would require him
to dispense with his comfortable life as a scribe and Torah scholar. He would be required to “hit the road” as an
itinerant disciple with no apparent means of supporting himself, relying on God
through others for his daily provision as well as even a place to lay down his
head at night.
For this man, the
cost of discipleship may have been too high.
If he was indeed wealthy and comfortable in his life as a scribe, which
seems likely, what was his answer to Yeshua’s challenge? What would be our answer if faced with a
similar choice? Did this man choose then
to follow Yeshua and reconcile himself to an itinerate lifestyle? We do not know; the Bible makes no further
mention of him.
In the next verse
of Luke’s gospel, we see another man asking to join with the Master.
Luke 9:59 NKJV 59 Then He said to
another, "Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and
bury my father."
Yeshua
immediately invites this man to follow Him, but the man has an objection or
condition to his commitment to discipleship.
Luke 9:60 NKJV 60 Jesus said to him,
"Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of
God."
Yeshua was
telling this man, first things first. In
other words, there are priorities to following Him. Discipleship must take precedent over other
obligations and duties of one’s life.
Yeshua’s answer
is a bit puzzling, however, in light of the commandment to honor one’s father
and mother. Certainly, burying one’s
father is an important obligation and should take priority. Yeshua taught at
length about honoring one’s parents and even rebuked some Pharisees for
neglecting their parents in favor of sacrifices and offerings.
Mark 7:10-13 NKJV 10 "For Moses
said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or
mother, let him be put to death.' 11 "But you say, 'If a man says to his
father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is
Corban"-' (that is, a gift to God), 12 "then you no longer let him do
anything for his father or his mother, 13 "making the word of God of no
effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things
you do."
Would Yeshua encourage
someone to neglect such an important obligation? Would burying his father be so incompatible
with discipleship? I don’t think so, but
what is implied by Yeshua’s words to this man?
In the ancient
world, as it is today in Jewish culture, a person is usually buried within
twenty-four hours of their death. I
suppose that would imply that this man’s Father died that very day. If that is the case, then why is he out
speaking with Yeshua, inquiring about becoming a disciple rather than attending
to his family obligations?
Perhaps the man’s
father was ailing and near death and he wanted permission to wait until after
the death of his father. Another
explanation for this odd request would be the traditional method of burial at
the time. After a person dies, their
body is placed in a burial chamber, usually a cave naturally occurring or one
that has been carved out of the rock.
The body is placed on a stone shelf within the tomb and sealed for
eleven months. The ensuing eleven months
are a mourning period where the surviving sons recite the kiddish daily.
After the eleven
months are completed, the burial tomb is re-opened and the body, now just
bones, is gathered and placed in a small stone box called an ossuary, which is
then stored somewhere else in the family tomb.
After this second burial, the tomb becomes again available and the daily
mourning ritual ends. Perhaps it was
during this eleven-month period that this man approached Yeshua about becoming
a disciple.
In this case,
Yeshua’s answer makes more sense. If the
man’s father was already dead, he had no further obligation to his father. He
may have been requesting time to complete this second burial of his father’s
bones.
Yeshua apparently
regarded this request as an unnecessary objection to immediate discipleship.
The Talmud records the tradition of placing equivalent importance on the
obligation of honoring one’s parents, including the burial of deceased parents,
and on the study of the Torah. Yeshua was asking this man to set aside the
other equivalent obligation of burying his father to pursue the immediate need
for proclaiming the kingdom of heaven. Did this man drop everything and follow
Yeshua?
When a third man
approached Yeshua to inquire about becoming a disciple, Yeshua had yet another
kind of answer.
Luke 9:61-62 NKJV 61 And another also
said, "Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell
who are at my house." 62 But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put
his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
Yeshua’s answer
to this man’s request is reminiscent of the story of Elijah and Elisha.
1 Kings 19:19-21 NKJV 19 So he
departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with
twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. Then Elijah passed
by him and threw his mantle on him. 20 And he left the oxen and ran after
Elijah, and said, "Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I
will follow you." And he said to him, "Go back again, for what have I
done to you?" 21 So Elisha turned back from him and took a yoke of oxen
and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen's equipment, he
gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah and became
his servant.
In the 1st
Kings account we see that Elijah consented to Elisha’s request. Yeshua did not
consent to this man’s request to return home to say his goodbye’s. Yeshua’s lesson here may be one of divide
loyalties. His words in verse 62 sound proverbial. If a plowman looks back over his shoulder, he
will most likely veer off course and not plow straight furrows. In the same way, a true disciple committed to
following the Master, cannot stay on the straight path while looking back or
with divided loyalties.
Serving the
Master Yeshua is a true privilege but there is a cost to discipleship. These three potential new disciples or
followers received specific warnings, but the other disciples should take
lessons from Yeshua’s encounter with these three as well. They too would face life or death challenges
in the years ahead.
Yeshua went on to
declare that all things had been handed down to Him.
Luke 10:22-23 NKJV 22 "All things
have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the
Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills
to reveal Him." 23 Then He turned to His disciples and said, "Blessed
are the eyes which see the things you see;
The Greek word
translated here as delivered is number 3860 in the Strong’s dictionary meaning
to yield up, transmit or to put in trust. It implies a handing down of
knowledge or tradition from a teacher to pupil. Yeshua was declaring that He had
received all insight and revelation from the Father and He was able to reveal
this knowledge to His disciples.
First Fruits of
Zion in their work The Chronicles of the Messiah put it in these terms.
“The simple meaning is that no one
knows a man as well as his son, but at the same time, no one knows a son as
well as his father. Yeshua applied this concept to His unique filial
relationship with God. He drew upon the
esoteric wisdom-tradition of early Judaism which personified Wisdom in
relationship to the LORD. The one who issues forth from Him, rejoices before
Him, and reveals Him to men, but is ultimately known only to Him.[1]
The writer of
Proverbs 30:2-4 laments that he does not know the name of the son of the Holy
One and complains about a lack of knowledge.
Proverbs 30:2-4 NKJV Surely, I am more
stupid than any man, and do not have the understanding of a man. 3 I neither
learned wisdom nor have knowledge of the Holy One. 4 Who has ascended into
heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the
waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His
name, and what is His Son's name, if you know?
The disciples of
the Master did indeed stand in a unique position of knowledge and
revelation. They were given divine
wisdom in the form of the Son of God in their midst! The Father chose them to
reveal His Son and the Son in turn revealed to them the fullness of the Father.
Luke 10:23-24 from the Delitzsch Hebrew Gospels.
“O, the gladness of the eyes that see
what you see! For I say to you, many prophets and kings have longed to see what
you see but did not see it, and to hear what you are hearing but did not hear
it.”
Peter states it
quite well in his first epistle.
1 Peter 1:10-12 NKJV 10 Of this
salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of
the grace that would come to you, 11 searching what, or what manner of time,
the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified
beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 To
them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering
the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached
the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven--things which the angels
desire to look into.
Generation after
generation of righteous men; prophets, priests and kings as well as the common
man of the past, had waited patiently for the revelation of the Messiah. But when God sent His Son to dwell among men,
He revealed His kingdom not to the wise and intelligent kings, scribes and
Pharisees, but to the common fishermen and the despised tax collectors.
There is a
Messianic blessing in a Jewish text which I will leave you with.
“Blessed is the generation whose eyes
behold Him! Blessed is the eye which waited for Him whose lips open with
blessing and peace, whose speech is pure delight, whose heart meditates in
trust and tranquility. Blessed is the
eye which has been given the privilege of seeing Him![2]
We are also
called to be disciples of the Master. We
too, through the power of the Holy Spirit are privileged with knowledge and
wisdom like that imparted to the original disciples. If we wish to be a true disciple of Yeshua,
we face the same choices and challenges that the three inquirers did on the
road to Jerusalem. How will you answer
the call to true discipleship?
Study Questions:
1. What
new insight did you gain by reading this blog? How do you respond to this new
insight? How will you realign your life based on this new understanding?
2. The
Samaritans appear to be the first people to practice a kind of “Replacement
Theology.” Discuss how their practices are
like those of the Gentile based Christian Church arising from the 4th
century AD. How is replacement theology
manifested today?
3. When Yeshua and the disciples faced the inhospitality
of the Samaritan village, in His response, Yeshua referred to Sodom and Gomorrah. Referencing the story of Lot and the destruction
of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis, how are the two situations alike?
4. In
Luke 10:13 Yeshua speaks a condemnation of the Galilean towns of Chorazin,
Bethsaida, and Capernaum. Why would
Yeshua speak a condemnation of the very towns and villages where he spent most
of His time and where He performed most of His signs, miracles, and wonders?
5. Yeshua
sent messengers ahead to Samaria. After this event, Yeshua sent out seventy
messengers to “every place and town He sought to go.” (Luke 10:1). Yeshua previously sent out just twelve
disciples. What is the significance of
first the twelve, then the seventy? How was sending out the twelve and the
seventy different than sending messengers ahead to Samaria?
6. Hospitality
was lacking from the Samaritan village (Luke 9:52-56). Contrast this lack of
hospitality with the hospitality Yeshua received when He visited another
village where Mary and Martha lived. (Luke 10:38-42)
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