“Temporarily Insensible” (Luke 9:43-45)

If the circumstances in our lives leave a big question mark, we’ll just let the enigma sit and won’t mix it up. We can just wait silently on the Lord and, in prayer, ask Him to bring everything to light in His perfect time.

They were all astonished at the majesty of God. But while all were marveling at all the things which Jesus did, He said to His disciples: “Let these words sink into your ears, for the Son of Man will be delivered up into the hands of men.” But they didn’t understand this saying. It was concealed from them, that they should not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this saying (Luke 9:43-45).

A great multitude met Jesus as He descended from a mountain. One of them called out to Him and asked Him to heal his demon-possessed young son. Earlier, the man met with the disciples, and he said that they were unable to cast the demon out. Jesus scolded him for his lack of faith and then healed the boy.

Humbled by Own Inadequacy

They were all astonished at the majesty of God. But while all were marveling at all the things which Jesus did, He said to His disciples… (43).

The disciples couldn’t speak with any more assertion at the realization of their failure. Disillusioned and cognizant of their apparent inadequacy, they threw themselves in a subservient attitude, ready to receive any rebuke or negative remarks from their Master.

They realized that they know very little, or nothing at all, just when they thought they already know and can take on everything.

It’s like what happened to me recently. I’ve been DIYing for more than a year now. I started doing this because I finally came to my senses that I should do something about my dingy and crowded, jungle-like little room. So I experimented on the used boards and lumber stacked upstairs on the top floor of our house to try to build something useful.

With a little cutting of wood with the handsaw and a little driving of nails with the hammer, I managed to build functional — — not pretty. My handiwork is horrible — — tables and shelves. Though my work is far from looking professional, I was glad that I was able to build something that I can actually use and to also learn a few concepts about woodworking.

Encouraged by this, I decided to try my hand at being an electrician now. Last night (February 6, 2022), I tried to connect a lamp socket and a plug through a switch. It was a used switch that I picked up upstairs. All of my materials are used ones because I don’t have money to buy materials.

After hours of work, I tried the lamp. I plugged the cord into a socket, and it automatically turned on. When I tried the switch to turn it off, the lights and electricity went out. I panicked. What did just happen? I then realized that my defective handiwork caused a short circuit. But thanks to the circuit breaker on the wall, it automatically tripped and turned the electricity off on the second floor. There was still electricity downstairs; and, thank goodness, no explosion occurred.

As I collected my thoughts, I realized that the culprit was either my wrong wiring or the busted switch. I then decided to do away with the switch and just made a straight wiring between the lamp socket and the plug. The following day, I crushed the switch into pieces using a hammer and then threw it in the trash.

After this incident, I immediately made a resolution not to play with wires and electricity anymore. Woodworking may have some risks, but it’s not as dangerous as the electrical job. I may continue to self-study in hopes of being a good carpenter, but I don’t think I’ll ever dare to be an electrician from now on.

True enough, just when we think we already know it all, the Lord may put us in situations where He can remind us that we still don’t know anything, that we still don’t know squat, that we still have a lot to learn, and that unless we cling to Him and depend on Him, we will never get at anything and we won’t amount to anything.

Jesus absented Himself from the ordeal and left His disciples on their own to expose them to something they weren’t ready for so as to check their ego and stunt the growth of their pride, the same way I felt when my electrical project went south.

The crowd who gathered around Jesus felt the same way too. They too were left speechless, dumbstruck, and awestruck at what they just saw. Some of them may be seeing miracles like this for the first time, while others already did before but not on this magnitude. Since this is a difficult exorcism task, the mere performance of it makes it already spectacular in itself without any need of embellishments.

This miracle showed the weakness and limitations of man and the grace and power of God that can cover for the former. It definitely gave God the glory He deserves.

Ashamed and Bewildered

“Let these words sink into your ears, for the Son of Man will be delivered up into the hands of men” (44).

After startling His disciples and the crowd with His miracle, Jesus then bewildered the minds of His disciples by what He said next which sounds like some sort of pronouncement.

“The Son of Man will be delivered up into the hands of men?” What does that mean? The disciples wondered amongst themselves why, after teaching them a lesson in humility, Jesus would now throw out a riddle at them? Is there a connection? Is Jesus simply teasing their minds? Is there going to be a contest now as to who can guess the answer first? They haven’t fully recovered from the humiliation. And now this?

In our present day, Jesus speaks to us through His written word. Most of His revelations are plain and as clear as day. Some are deep, blurry, and difficult to understand and may require help from other believers, from commentaries or study helps, or directly from the Lord Holy Spirit Himself through prayer.

As we read and study the Bible, some passages in it may strike us as a lightning does and yet be difficult to understand. It may seem that God is trying to say something to us, but it’s still enveloped in mystery. This may be an important revelation for us, and God wants us to figure it out by ourselves using our logical reasoning and our faith as we trust Him to reveal the answer in time.

Trusting God for Answers

But they didn’t understand this saying. It was concealed from them, that they should not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this saying (45).

We as students in the school or university consult the dictionary whenever we encounter a difficult word as we read or write so that we can know its meaning, own the word, and make it part of our vocabulary. But as we go through the pages and see the surrounding words, we get distracted by the latter and we instead read them and forget the word we’re looking for. This makes the use of a reference book taxing, but we know that that’s what we need to do if we’re searching for “meaning”.

Likewise, God can’t always spoil us and spoon-feed us with overflowing information. The more something is withheld, the more interesting it becomes, the more precious it would look, and the more we would see its importance. Thus, we would actively seek and pursue it and earnestly ask God for it. We may not be able to value God’s gifts if they’re always lavishly given to us as if they’re natural, regular occurrences and not made by the hand of God.

We may not be able to always understand God’s revelation because we are mere humans with limitations, and we’ll remain ignorant and powerless without Him. But still, God gave us minds; and He wants us to cultivate them and be good stewards of them. He doesn’t want us to be lazy. He wants us to take responsibility for what we want while trusting Him for His provision.

Passage by Passage Luke 9 series, episode 2

by: Marven T. Baldo