Hey friends, welcome to December 9th. Luke 9 is the hinge chapter of the whole Gospel. Everything now turns toward the cross, and Jesus asks the question that still echoes today: “Whom say ye that I am?” (v. 20).
Scene 1 – Power Shared (vv. 1-17)
Jesus “called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases” (v. 1). He sends them out to preach the kingdom with nothing but a staff: no bread, no money, no extra coat. They go, and villages everywhere receive the gospel.
When they return, the crowds are so huge that Jesus takes everyone to a desert place. Five thousand men (plus women and children) are hungry. The disciples say, “Send them away.” Jesus answers, “Give ye them to eat” (v. 13). They have five loaves and two fishes, practically nothing, in their view.
He takes the little boy’s lunch, looks up to heaven, blesses it, brakes it, and keeps giving it to the disciples to set before the multitude. Everyone eats and is filled, and twelve baskets of fragments are left over.
The lesson is unmistakable: the blessing always flows from Jesus → to the disciples → to the hungry crowd. We have nothing to give the world until we first come to Him empty-handed and let Him multiply what we place in His hands.
Scene 2 – The Question That Changes Everything (vv. 18-27)
One day Jesus is praying alone with the Twelve, and He asks, “Whom say the people that I am?”
They answer, “John the Baptist; but some say Elias; and others, that one of the old prophets is risen again.”
Then He looks straight at them: “But whom say ye that I am?”
Peter answers, “The Christ of God” (v. 20).
Immediately Jesus tells them, for the first time, that the Christ must suffer, be rejected, killed, and rise again the third day. Then He adds the hardest words of all:
“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (v. 23).
Scene 3 – Glory Revealed (vv. 28-36)
Eight days later He takes Peter, James, and John up a mountain to pray. While He prays, “the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering” (v. 29). Moses and Elijah appear in glory, talking with Him about His coming “decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem” (v. 31).
Sleepy Peter blurts out something about building three tabernacles, but a bright cloud overshadows them and the Father’s voice thunders:
“This is my beloved Son: hear him” (v. 35).
Scene 4 – Power Restored and Children Welcomed (vv. 37-48)
The next day, down in the valley, a desperate father begs Jesus to deliver his demon-tormented only son. The disciples had tried and failed. Jesus cries, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?” (v. 41), yet He casts the spirit out, gently gives the boy back to his father, and all are astonished at the majesty of God.
While the disciples argue about who is the greatest, Jesus sets a little child in their midst and says, “Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me… For he that is least among you all, the same shall be great” (v. 48).
Scene 5 – Hands to the Plough (vv. 57-62)
Three men want to follow Jesus.
– One says, “Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.” Jesus replies, “Foxes have holes… but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head” (v. 58).
– Another is told, “Follow me.” He answers, “Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.” Jesus says, “Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God” (v. 60).
– The third says, “I will follow thee, but let me first go bid them farewell which are at home.” Jesus answers, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (v. 62).
Five scenes, one blazing heartbeat:
Jesus is the Christ of God, the glorious Son Who shares His power, reveals His glory, carries His cross, and calls every one of us to follow Him all the way to Jerusalem.
So He still asks us today:
“But whom say ye that I am?”
May our answer be the same as Peter’s—and may our lives prove it by denying ourselves, taking up our cross daily, keeping our hands to the plough, and never looking back.
