Tag Archives: perverse generation

LUKE’S GOSPEL…A PERVERSE GENERATION – 23

Bible Study, ,

“The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him. A man in the crowd called out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. 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. I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.” “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.” Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the impure spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. And they were all amazed at the greatness of God…”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭9‬:‭37‬-‭43‬a NIV‬‬

A perverse generation! What did He mean?

“In the Bible, “perverse” means a deliberate, twisted turning away from God’s moral standards, involving crooked speech, corrupt actions, and a hardened heart that rejects what is right, often linked to distorting justice or truth, and seen as contrary to divine wisdom, with Hebrew terms like iqqesh (crooked/twisted) and Greek diastrepho (distort) highlighting this deviation from God’s upright path.”

A perverse generation, in this context, seems to refer, not to that particular generation in general but to that particular group of people who had turned around…that is, away from faith to unbelief…In this circumstance, why was Jesus’ rebuke so meaningful? 

First, to whom did Jesus address this harsh rebuke? To the crowd? No. They were merely onlookers. To the father of the boy? Not likely, since he had brought his son to the disciples in good faith that they could help him. Obviously, He was addressing His disciples because they were the ones who were supposed to be doing the healing. 

Did Jesus really mean that His disciples had turned away from the revelation He had given them of Himself as the Messiah? Were they really perverse in their attitude to His Word and His kingdom? 

Let’s examine the context of Jesus’ rebuke. 

Luke records, in the previous chapters, a plethora of situations in which the disciples had either taken part in Jesus’ miracles or witnessed Jesus’ power. For example, He had sent them out to announce the kingdom with power and authority to demonstrate the nature of the kingdom. They returned with stories of miracles that had accompanied their preaching. 

Jesus had fed five thousand plus people with the lunch of a small child. At Caesarea Philippi, He  had assured them of the power of His yoke that would transform people from idolaters to members of His church…and much more. 

Now, faced with a demon that was particularly stubborn and vicious, as reported in Mark 9:17-27, the disciples were intimidated and powerless. Why had they retreated? 

Jesus chided them for turning around, from faith to unbelief. They had been influenced by the circumstances. They had been facing the wrong way. They had forgotten the witness of the power of Jesus and the power of the kingdom within them. They were deceived and overwhelmed by the demonstration of the demon’s antics and had turned around. 

After the upheaval had quietened down, the squatter demon evicted, and the disciples alone with Jesus, the guilty ones inevitably asked why? Where had they gone wrong?

Jesus’ response might seem surprising to us. Luke didn’t bring closure to this incident, so, we must turn to Mark’s record for completion. 

“After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”

‭‭Mark‬ ‭9‬:‭28‬-‭29‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Although Jesus’ reply may seem broad and incomplete, what He said was loaded. What did He mean by “prayer”? Were the disciples meant to pray before they dealt with the demon? I think His reply went much deeper than that. 

Prayer is, in essence, the communion with the Father, through Jesus, by the power of the Spirit, that allows us access into the very circle and heart of the Trinity. Prayer is much more than getting God to do things. This idea is distortion of the Father/child relationship Jesus has made possible through His atoning death. 

It is in the intimacy of this relationship that we have fellowship with the triune God. The more we gaze at God’s glory in Jesus, through prayer and contemplation, the more we grow in confidence in the authority and power of the Son. 

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭3‬:‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This is the pinnacle of prayer. Armed, then, with this conviction, no demonic resistance or any other adverse circumstances can defy the power of that name. Focusing on circumstances diminished faith. Focusing on Jesus despite circumstances releases invincible power. 

Without the prayer that seeks greater intimacy and greater fellowship that bonds us to Jesus, prayer and faith remain flabby and ineffective. By communion with God in prayer, and contemplation of the glory of Jesus, we grow in the conviction of who He is and commitment to the power of His word to do what He has promised. 

How often Jesus’ accusation can apply to us when we are so intimidated by what is happening that we turn around and look the wrong way. Jesus called this “perverse”. Faith in the authority of the one who has spoken defies all odds and releases heaven’s resources to do what His word  has said. 

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭11‬:‭6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

To be continued…

THE FRUSTRATION OF JESUS

Christian Life, ,

THE FRUSTRATION OF JESUS

Life with Jesus’ disciples was not all perfume and roses. The one thing that frustrated Him above everything else was their persistent unbelief. There were times when His patience ran out; like the time when He came down from the Mount of Transfiguration to find them battling to get a demon out of an epileptic boy. I wonder if they eventually reverted to the tactics of the prophets of Baal when the stubborn demon would just not come out!

When Jesus arrived on the scene, He was met by an equally frustrated father. Jesus expressed His impatience with His disciples in no uncertain terms!

‘O unbelieving and perverse generation,’ Jesus replied, ‘how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.’ (Matt. 17: 17)

Eugene Peterson captured the sense of Jesus’s words beautifully in his paraphrase:

‘What a generation! No sense of God! No focus to your lives! How many times do I have to go over these things? How much longer do I have to put up with this? Bring the boy here.’ (Matt 17: 17, The Message)

When the disciples questioned Him later about their powerlessness to drive out the demon, His reply was blunt and to-the-point.

‘Because you have so little faith.’ (Matt. 17: 20a)

Their faith must have been non-existent at that point because He went on to tell them,

I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.’ (Matt. 17: 20b)

Some manuscripts add:

‘But this kind does not come out but by prayer and fasting.’ (Matt. 17: 20 – margin)

The amount of faith was not the issue. In the end it was the object of their faith that counted. What did Jesus mean by “prayer and fasting”? Was this a particularly nasty and tenacious demon that needed more than mustard-seed-sized faith? Did prayer and fasting have to do with the authority that comes from submision? Jesus spent forty days in prayer and fasting while the devil tested His submission to the Father. The authority He exercised after that episode startled the people. Whatever He meant, the disciples were still in kindergarten as far as authority was concerned.

Another time, they were on their way across the lake when a massive storm hit. Where was Jesus? Amazingly enough, asleep in the back of the boat! The disciples battled to keep the boat from capsizing but, in the end, they panicked. What was wrong with Jesus? Didn’t He realise the danger they were in? They woke Him with a sharp rebuke. Nonchalantly Jesus got up and spoke to the wind. As suddenly as the storm blew in, it blew away. Silence! Calm!

The disciples were stunned. How did He do that? His retort? Not, “What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you? Where is your faith? Don’t you trust me?” They were supposed to be His disciples – people who trusted their rabbi implicitly. It was going to be a long journey for them – to learn to trust what He said even when things appeared to go wrong especially as they began to realise that He was no ordinary man.

What was the goal of His relationship with His disciples? Unlike any other rabbi, He craved to be one with them and that they be one with Him. Without the union of His Spirit with theirs, and the intimacy that this union would produce, His mission on earth was doomed to fail. Union and unity were the hallmark of the Godhead. For Jesus, His goal for Himself and His disciples was no less.

He used a beautiful image to describe the intimacy of that union.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15: 5)

The fruitfulness of their lives was to be much more that preaching, teaching, and doing the works of Jesus. Their fruit was to be the evidence of their union with Him, like the fruit of a tree is evidence of the nature of the tree.

If you love me, you will obey what I command. (John 14: 15)

Their love for Jesus, evidenced by their obedience and submission to Him, would be the glue that bound each one to Him. The surprising question Jesus asked Peter after Peter’s lamentable denial was not, “Peter, are you sorry for what you did?” or “Peter, do you promise never to do it again?” but “Peter, do you love me?” Jesus knew that only true love, the love that valued Jesus and what He stood for enough to lose everything for His sake, was what would keep the bond intact.

To be one with Jesus meant that they would allow Him to be their source – under His authority, submitted to His will, and obedient to His instructions. Like the branches in the vine, the life of the vine flowing into the branches would sustain the branches and provide the nourishment to produce an abundance of fruit. 

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.