CRITICAL NOTES
Luke 9:46. A reasoning.—Rather, “a dispute.”
Luke 9:47. Perceiving the thought of their heart.—The word “thought “is the same as that in Luke 9:46, translated “reasoning.” We are naturally led to understand that the disputation was not carried on or fully spoken out in the presence of Jesus. A child—Rather,” a little child” (R.V.).
Luke 9:48.—Meyer explains the idea of the passage as follows: This child, the child whom Jesus sets before His followers, stands as a type of the humble and childlike disciple; and (the dispute having been about the comparative greatness of the disciples) such a disciple is the greatest: he is so honoured by God that he stands on earth as the representative of Christ, and of God Himself, since “he that is [willingly] least among you all, the same shall be [truly] great.”
Luke 9:49. In Thy name.—The words “in My name” (Luke 9:48) evidently suggested to John what he and others of the disciples had seen being done in the name of Christ. He was shocked at seeing one who was not of their company doing work which was not always possible for them to do (Luke 9:40).
Luke 9:50. Against us is for us.—A better reading is, “against you is for you” (R.V.). The meaning of the two is, however, virtually the same: “us” includes both Christ and His people. Another, and at first sight a contradictory maxim is found in Matthew 12:30: “He who is not with Me is against Me.” The whole section (Luke 9:51 to Luke 18:28) is the record of our Lord’s last journey from Galilee to Jerusalem; and most of the incidents related in it are peculiar to St. Luke. It was evidently not a direct journey, but a “slow, solemn, and public progress,” covering a period of some months. In John 10:22 we find our Lord in Jerusalem at the feast of the Dedication (about the end of December). After that feast He retired to Bethany beyond Jordan: from this retreat He came to Bethany near Jerusalem to raise Lazarus from the dead: then He again retired to Ephraim, and six days before the Passover He returned to Jerusalem for the last time.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Luke 9:46-50
Humility commended; Jealousy reproved.—In very different frames of mind did Jesus and the twelve apostles return from the Mount of Transfiguration to Capernaum. His thoughts were fixed upon the cross, theirs upon places of honour in the kingdom which they believed He was about to establish on earth. This difference came out in their respective utterances. Jesus spoke for the second time about His coming sufferings, while the disciples disputed among themselves which of them should be the greatest. This dispute is a humiliating revelation of the mood in which the disciples of Jesus were, and showed how far they were from obeying the command so lately heard by three of them on the holy mount—“Hear ye Him.” The cross of which He spoke they thought not of; or, rather, they banished it from their thoughts, and fixed their attention upon the honours and rewards which could scarcely fail to be theirs when their Master had set up His kingdom. It was therefore most needful for Jesus to banish this spirit of selfish ambition from the minds of His disciples, if they were to co-operate with Him as ministers of the kingdom of God.
I. The lesson of humility.—He chose a little child, and presented him to the disciples as a type of the feeble, the ignorant, and the poor, whom they were in danger of slighting and driving away by assuming airs of superiority, and also as a type of the humble in spirit. It is of the very nature of ambition to render him who cherishes it harsh and contemptuous towards others, especially towards those who are too weak and insignificant to be rivals. And hence, in order to be kind and gracious and loving in their relations with those to whom they ministered, the disciples needed to cast out from their minds the selfish schemes they were forming to secure their own advancement and high places in the kingdom. It is significant that Christ does not put an end to all strife by saying that there would not be difference of rank in that kingdom—that in it all would be equal. On the contrary, He distinctly says that there are grades of distinction there as well as in the kingdoms of the world; and He enunciates the principle according to which promotion would be given. “He that is least among you all, the same shall be great.” This child in its unpretentiousness, and simple trust and love, represents the type of character He would have them to imitate; and he who came nearest to it would become worthy of high rank in the kingdom of heaven.
II. Jealousy reproved.—The consciences of the disciples seem to have been touched by the reproof of Christ. It recalled to the memory of some of them the attitude they had recently taken up in dealing with one who was a believer in Christ, but who, for some reason or other, had kept aloof from their company. So far from “receiving” him and approving the good work he was doing in Christ’s name, they had forbidden him to proceed further in it. They tell what they had done, apparently with an uneasy feeling that their action would not meet with their Master’s approval. Perhaps the man whom they had interdicted was after all “a little one” whom they should have taken to their hearts, and not an enemy to be silenced. The same self-seeking spirit that had led them to dispute among themselves as to who should be greatest, had led them to resent any apparent encroachment upon their prerogatives as accredited ministers of Christ. The lesser fact that the exorcist followed not them over-shadowed the greater fact that he was a follower of their Lord. The reply of Christ, in which He claims as allies those who in faith in Him do good work, and in which He passes no censure upon those who are unattached to the visible Church, contains a lesson which His followers in all ages have been very slow to learn. Had it been learned, there would not have been the many exhibitions of bigotry and uncharitableness which have marred the history of the Church and diminished its power for doing good in the world. All would have been approved, encouraged, and helped who in the name of Christ strove against evil, and proved the genuineness of their attachment to Him by the success of their work. As it is, it is a defect of every organised form of Christianity that those connected with it look on all who are outside it with a certain measure of suspicion and jealousy and ill-will.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luke 9:46-62
Luke 9:46-62. Lessons to the Twelve.
I. Humility (Luke 9:46-48).
II. Tolerance (Luke 9:49-50).
III. Mercy (Luke 9:51-56).
IV. Self-sacrifice (Luke 9:57-62).—W. Taylor.
The Disposition which Christ Approves.—The aim of this whole section is to show the mind which our Lord desires to see in His disciples.
I. Childlike humility.
II. Gentle love.
III. Resolute self-devotion.
Luke 9:46-56. How Christ rebuked Pride.
I. Pride is a common sin.
II. It takes various forms.—
1. Pride of place (Luke 9:46-48).
2. Pride of party (Luke 9:49-50).
3. Offended pride (Luke 9:51-56).—W. Taylor.
Three Faults rebuked.—Three wrong dispositions rebuked:
(1) ambition to be greatest;
(2) intolerance, in forbidding even exorcism;
(3) vindictiveness, in proposing to avenge an insult by calling down fire from heaven.
Luke 9:46-50. Exclusiveness and Bigotry.—The same spirit of pride that led the apostles to vie with each other as to who should be greatest prompted them to manifest exclusiveness and bigotry in forbidding exorcism in the name of Christ because the exorcist did not belong to their circle.
Luke 9:46. “Which should be the greatest.”—The disciples were guilty of a double fault:
1. They were inclined to dispute about the rewards of victory before they had accomplished their warfare.
2. They were animated by selfish ambition and jealousy.
The Crown and the Cross.—The Saviour’s repeated predictions of His sufferings had not sunk into the minds of His disciples: they were thinking of the crown, while their Master’s eye was fixed upon the cross.
Luke 9:47. “Set him by Him.”—They knew that the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is he who is nearest to Christ; but they asked which of them had the best claim to the place. Probably the rest of the apostles envied those who had been with Christ upon the mount, and this was the origin of their strife.
Luke 9:48. “This child.”—The central point of comparison is the child’s humility. This humility
(1) frees the child’s understanding from vain imaginations,
(2) the child’s heart from rivalry, and
(3) the child’s will from stubbornness.—Van Oosterzee.
Luke 9:49. “We forbad him.”—Cf. the jealousy of Joshua against Eldad and Medad, and the noble answer of Moses (Numbers 11:27-29).
Luke 9:50. “Forbid him not.”—
1. A reproof for the past.
2. A direction for the future.
“He that is not,” etc.—When, in applied morals, we sit in judgment on ourselves, we should in ordinary circumstances apply the law stringently, “He who is not with Christ is against Him.” But when we are sitting in judgment on others, into whose hearts we cannot look directly, we should in ordinary circumstances apply the law generously, “He who is not against Christ is with Him.”—Morison.
Two Complementary Sayings.—In Matthew 12:30 we have a saying which is at first contradictory to this: “He who is not with Me is against Me.” Yet both are true. In the contest between good and evil neutrality is as bad as enmity, so that those not for Christ are against Him; yet we can recognise all as on our side who are striving against evil, even if they are not using our methods or formally taking their place beside us. While the apostles were taught this lesson in toleration, the man receives only negative praise. There are always earnest Christian labourers who decline to be orderly in their methods. Their irregularity calls for toleration, not approval.
Inward Unity and Outward Conformity.—The saying in Matthew refers more to inward unity with Christ: this one to outward conformity with His people. The former may exist independently of the latter, and its existence unites real Christians, whatever their name and outward differences.
Lessons taught by the incident.
I. Beware of hasty conclusions concerning men’s spiritual state based on merely external indications.
II. “Forbid him not” reminds us of the sorrowful fact that too often in the history of the Church it has been the spirit of the twelve rather than that of their Master which has predominated.
III. Outward union among Christians may be impracticable, yet the duty remains of recognising from the heart all who truly love Christ, whatever Church they may be in; they should be dearer to us than those in our own Church who may be in spirit and life not with Christ, but against Him.
A Lesson of Mercy.—This text teaches us a lesson of mercy. It guides our estimate of others. It says: “Do not make a man an offender for a word; do not let your sympathies be narrowed to the circle of those who express the same convictions in the same phrases, or seek the same end by the same precise means, as yourself. Be prepared to believe and act upon the belief that God is not limited to one field of action or to one kind of character, but can aid and bless the work, and will eventually accept the person of all those who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, and who avail themselves of His help in combating evil within and around them.”—Vaughan.