Lesson 2—John the “Son of Thunder”
Welcome back to our study of the Apostle John. I trust that you enjoyed learning more about this major figure in the early Christian Church, and his humble beginnings as a fisherman—otherwise you probably wouldn’t have shown up for another week! If you remember from last week, we discussed the call of the four disciples found in Matthew 4. Included among these disciples whom Jesus called was John. John, as we saw last week, was found in his fisherman’s boat with both his brother James and his father Zebedee. He was found in the fisherman’s boat because that’s what he was—John was a fisherman by trade. We saw that this was not a glamorous job—but it did imply that John was a diligent worker, as this was a very physically demanding job. We also saw that when Jesus called John, as well as the other 3 disciples, he was willing to immediately leave everything to follow after Jesus. We saw that John was willing to forsake his life as a fisherman to be the “fisher of men” which Jesus called him to be. He found Jesus’ call to be worthy of full adherence, and he left even his father in the boat and followed after Jesus.
Tonight, as we continue our look into the life of John as a disciple of Jesus, we are going to see something that will hopefully resonate with all of us in our experience of following after Christ. The thing that we will be studying tonight in John’s life will be his sinful stumbling—have we all not dealt with this in our lives as Christians. We follow Christ, then we fall, then we get back up, then we fall, then we get back up, then we fall again. It almost feels like a never-ending falling sometimes, and it feels like the Apostles were some sort of super-breed of Christians who were impervious to temptations. I’m hoping our study tonight will lay to rest this false feeling. The Apostles were not super-saints. They were sinful human beings just like you and I. They were prone to stumbling just as we are prone to stumbling. In fact, in tonight’s passage alone, we are going to see three areas in which John struggled as a follower of Jesus Christ. The three areas in which John struggled were pride, jealousy, and anger. In each one of these areas, John showed that he was a man who was still sinful, and in need of God’s forgiveness. Let’s look at the passage for tonight to see John’s sin areas more clearly.
Tonight’s passage is found in Luke 9:46-56, which reads, “An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side and said to them, ‘Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.’
John answered, ‘Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.’
When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’ But he turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village.”[1]
These verses actually make up three incidents in which the disciples—John included in every one of them—needed rebuking for their hard hearts. Each of these separate accounts gives us an example of John’s sinful heart at work. The first account shows us John’s failure in the area of pride. Look at verse 46 again, “An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest.” Now, to put this into context, this passage, in Luke 9, follows the accounts of the cost of discipleship, the Transfiguration, and the failure of the disciples to heal a demon-possessed boy. The last two should have particularly crushed any remaining pride left in the hearts of the disciples. They saw (at least three of them did) Jesus’ flesh pulled back which revealed a brightness comparable to the sun, and then they saw themselves fail (epically) at removing a demon from a young boy whose father had solicited their help. Yet here they are quarreling shortly thereafter about which one of them is the greatest of Jesus’ disciples. What we see in this from the vantage point of John is a great demonstration of the pride that was in his heart. The disciples assumed that one of them would have to be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus’ response to the disciples’ quarrel was to take “a child and put him by his side,” as a way of showing them their lack of humility. John Calvin notes on this, “The general meaning is, that those who desire to obtain greatness by rising above their brethren, will be so far from gaining their object that they do not even deserve to occupy the lowest corner…. As we are more powerfully affected by appearances presented to the eyes, he holds up to them a little child as an emblem of humility.”[2] Matthew notes, in his parallel passage in Matthew 18, that Jesus said that the disciples must “turn and become like children”. This implied, not that the disciples were to act like children in every way, but that they must become like children in their dependence before God. Children are completely dependent upon their parents for everything, and this is what Jesus wanted from the disciples spiritually—to be dependent on their Heavenly Father for everything. Luke, here, emphasizes that this means welcoming those who are meek in heart. John Gill says of this person, “not in age, but in meekness and humility; one that is not proud and haughty, ambitious of worldly honour, and envious at the superior state of others”[3]. Jesus rebukes the disciples, John included, for their proud hearts. Yet, despite this rebuke, it does not seem that John had quite learned the point of the lesson.
The second area in which we see John’s need of God’s forgiveness is jealousy. This comes in verse 49, “John answered, ‘Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.’ Zondervan’s Commentary notes the absurdity of John’s jealousy: “The cause of advancing the kingdom takes precedence over individual status and privilege. The man casting out demons is viewed as no different from the disciples themselves, since all are merely servants and instruments to accomplish God’s work.”[4] This comment from Zondervan is in response to Jesus’ response to John. John, apparently not understanding Jesus’ lesson on humility, proceeds to inform Him of the man whom he forbid from casting out demons because of his disassociation with Jesus’ apostles. Jesus, showing great patience for John, rebukes him gently by explaining to him that those who are not opposed to Jesus Christ in word and deed are not going to be against Jesus. Mark 9:39 notes that Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.”[5] John received rebuke from Jesus once more for his sin-hardened heart—this time for his jealousy.
This leads us to the final portion of the passage before us tonight. This will show us the third area (in this passage, at least) where John’s heart was still sinful—anger. The way in which John displayed his anger—along with his brother—was in response to the rejection of Jesus. The account relates that Jesus had set his face to head to Jerusalem. While still traveling, however, they came across Samaritan villages. When Jesus sent messengers to the villages to let them know that He was approaching, the villages rejected the messengers—and Jesus—because He was set on going to Jerusalem. The reason they reacted this way was because this was a rejection of their system of worship. Gill notes, “they perceived he was going to Jerusalem, either to keep the feast of ‘tabernacles’ there, or the feast of the dedication of the temple; and if the latter, it must be still more provoking to them, because it showed, that he preferred that temple to theirs”[6]. So, in response to the rejection of Jesus by the Samaritans, James and John request that Jesus call down fire upon the villages. Zondervan’s Commentary notes, “Elijah had called down fire from heaven to consume two companies of troops sent against him by Ahaziah, the king of Samaria (2 Kings 1:1-17). Though ‘Samaria’ in that case refers to the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel rather than the Samaritans of the New Testament, James and John may have connected the two.”[7] John’s response to Jesus’ rejection was one of unrighteousness anger. This type of reaction must have been typical for James and John, because in Mark 3 it says that Jesus had named these brothers the “Sons of Thunder”. Jesus’ response to John follows the pattern from the rest of this passage—He has to rebuke John (and James) for their unrighteous anger. John’s heart was still sinful—and in need of correction—despite the fact that he was a follower of Christ.
Throughout this passage, we have seen three accounts which show that John still had a sinful heart despite the fact that he was Jesus’ follower. This could apply directly to our lives, couldn’t it? We still find ourselves battling sin on a daily basis; sometimes, it makes us long for the day that we will no longer have to fight! We also can see through this passage that John needed the grace which Jesus offered to change his heart if he was ever going to be able to finally conquer the remaining sin in his heart. This too, I would say, is easily applicable to our own lives. How many times do we fail to rely on the grace of God—offered to us through the Word and prayer—and instead attempt to battle remaining sin on our own? We must rely on the One who saved us—and is saving us—to change our hearts into His image!
Next week, we will see what happened to John when he experienced more of this change.
[1] Luke 9:46-56 (English Standard Version)
[2] Calvin, John. Commentary on Matthew, Mark, Luke Volume 2. Public Domain.
[3] Gill, John. An Exposition of the New Testament. Public Domain, 1746-8.
[4] Arnold, Clinton E. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002. pg 406
[5] Mk. 9:39 (English Standard Version)
[6] Gill, John. An Exposition of the New Testament. Public Domain, 1746-8.
[7] Arnold, Clinton E. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002. Pg 409
No comments:
Post a Comment