Luke 9:18-22 The Cross is Coming
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: August 13, 2018 Luke 9:18-22
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.” Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
(Understanding the Text) Mark tells us that Jesus was traveling on the road. “And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” (Mar 8:27). Card’s commentary on Mark says “from Bethsaida the disciples strike out north to the area of Caesarea Philippi, twenty-five miles distant. This was Antipas’s brother Philip’s capital city, hence named Philippi.” (Michael Card. Mark: The Gospel of Passion (Biblical Imagination) (Kindle Locations 1187-1188). Kindle Edition.) They were near Bethsaida when they fed the 5,000. Now they began traveling north which had to be done by walking, not by boat. This is away from Galilee and the easy access of the lake, so maybe there weren’t a lot of people with them at this point because of their location.
Card says “it could not have been more different than the village they’d left behind. Caesarea was a thoroughly pagan area. Herod the Great had constructed a temple for the worship of his patron, the deified Augustus. Next to this temple was the cave of Pan and its temple” (Michael Card. Mark: The Gospel of Passion (Biblical Imagination) (Kindle Location 1190). Kindle Edition. ) Card points out the contrast of waiting until they were in totally pagan territory before asking the question that was so important to them as Jews and followers of the one true God.
This passage gives a glimpse into Jesus’ prayer life. It mentions this as if it was just part of the normal routine, which it was. I think that it was probably dark as there were no crowds around, and they had stopped for the evening. The disciples were with Jesus, but He was over away from them a little praying by Himself. He finished speaking with His Father and looked over at His disciples. Were they watching Him pray? I sort of think not. They weren’t sleeping, but I think maybe some of them were quietly talking with each other. Maybe they were chewing on some last bit of food. Others were gazing up at the stars thinking. Maybe some were repairing clothing or shoes. Maybe, they had hobbies that they were working on. What kind of crafts might they have had back then? Whittling, making something with leather strips, braiding plants? (On the other hand, maybe my shyness about praying alone when others are around is coloring my understanding and there was a crowd following them. In that case, it could have been daylight, and Jesus had just drawn away from the crowd to pray.) Another possible scenario is that this was a morning prayer and the disciples were fixing breakfast, getting ready for the day (Did they brush their hair?), and people were starting to gather.
They all looked up as they heard Jesus’ quiet question. They thought back on the different comments that they had heard as they traveled around preaching and healing. I always thought of this question as without context, but taken in the context that they had all just returned from their solo missions in the Galilean countryside and towns, they may not have been very surprised as it would be more along the lines of part of the debriefing that had been interrupted earlier. They informed Jesus of the various theories that they had heard. Then, they heard Jesus ask their own opinion. Their first thought was that, of course, Jesus was the Messiah, but it seemed strange to say it directly to Jesus when He had not claimed the title for Himself. Then Peter heard himself saying the words that he had not planned to say but that he knew were true down to the deepest part of himself. “You are God’s Messiah.” Other books tell us more details of this interaction-first of Jesus’ commendation of Peter and then of Jesus’ condemnation of Peter’s denial of Jesus’ fate, but in Luke, there is only Peter’s proclamation and Jesus’ prediction.
Card says that the timing is important. It is not just that the disciples had just returned, and Jesus was gathering information. It is also that the transfiguration is coming up and after that events will begin to rapidly reach fulfillment. It “is important that the question is answered by faith before the final proof of the transfiguration occurs” (Card, Michael. Luke: The Gospel of Amazement (The Biblical Imagination Series) (p. 123). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition). This peaceful time is the time to finally make the announcement of who Jesus really is.
(Revelation of God) Jesus did not need to hear the reports of who people thought he was. He usual method of teaching His disciples was by asking questions to direct their minds towards the lesson that He was teaching. He wanted them to have clarity. First, He had them think about the background to the question, so that they could organize their thoughts. They would have known that the people’s ideas were wrong. They knew that this was the Messiah. Jesus wanted that knowledge to be confirmed in their hearts so that they would be ready for His first official acknowledgement that He was the long awaited Messiah.
The disciples listened in satisfaction to Jesus’ confirmation of His role as Messiah and then in growing horror as Jesus filled the darkness with predictions of His rejection, death, and resurrection. They could not accept the first two predictions, and so had deaf ears for the prediction of hope. We wonder how the disciples could not have faith in Jesus’ resurrection when He had told them about it so many times, but by refusing to believe the first part of Jesus’ statements, they also closed their minds to the possibility of resurrection. They must have just thought that Jesus was being pessimistic and that the resurrection part was a panacea.
(Application / Prayer) My application to myself is that I need to listen as clearly as I can to what God has to tell me. I have to try not to close my ears or mind to what He has to say to me. I know that I tend to do this with the prophecies of the end. I know that You gave these end-time prophecies for a reason, and I should try to understand. I have started trying to understand Revelation, but still turn away in horror of the glimpses I see of how ugly humans I love and/or respect are going to get. I need to face this with bravery in Your strength.