Luke 9:49–62

Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.

1.   While Jesus and the disciples are traveling south to Jerusalem, now in Samaria, see a man casting out demons in Jesus’ name.  And they attempt to stop him because is not one of them. Jesus says, “Do not stop him.” Thus, he is not against you but for us.

2.    Along the way, Jesus sends messengers, some of His

apostles, into a city to “make preparations” so they may

 refresh on their journey. But they are denied such, as

 Samarians, and for many centuries, held to a rival faith and

 had a rival temple in the capital city, Samaria.

3.    James and John (the sons of Thunder), after being

 refused accommodations by the Sarmatians, asked Jesus if

 they could cast fire from heaven upon them. Jesus

 thereupon rebuked these brothers.

4.    Along the way a Samaritan wanted to go with Jesus,

that is, become one of His followers. Jesus, however,

 warns him of the troubles that he would encounter if he

did so.

5.    And there were more of these would-be followers, and

 in each case Jesus warns them of the “cost of discipleship,”

 as Diedrich Bonhoeffer so eloquently put it.

6.    The passage ends with Jesus making reference to a

 farmer who while ploughing a field, and that he must not

 look, evidently in order to plough a straight line, but if he

 did, he was not fit or qualified for the kingdom of God.