Year 4, Day 218: Luke 9

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Character

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

This is a neat chapter through which to view the lens of character, because there are so many stories into which we can look.  We really have a bird’s eye view of Jesus’ ministry and the many characters that surrounded Him.

In the beginning, we hear Jesus tell His twelve disciples to go and do ministry.  They have the character to accomplish the task!  They listen, they preach, they teach, and they heal.  It is a great display of growing character.

Then we have the feeding of the 5,00 story.  Here is another interesting look at character.  The disciples see an earthly need and come to Jesus to figure it out.  Jesus flips it back upon the disciples and tells them to feed the people.  But rather than get frustrated, the disciples realize that they cannot make it happen.  So they stop and listen to Jesus.  They do as He asks.  They do have the character to serve Him as He leads them.

Then there is the story of Peter’s confession.  What a neat story of character.  Peter boldly confesses.  But Peter is met with challenge from Jesus.  Peter’s question evokes the challenge of following Christ and taking up his own cross.  We see that the confession of Christ truly brings challenge to the one who confesses.  Yes, confessing Christ brings joy and salvation.  But it also brings challenge.  Confessing Christ evokes a moment of character-check within us to see if we really have what it takes.

Both the Transfiguration and the “Who is the Greatest” stories in the Bible are great character-fail stories.  In one, Peter tries to convince Jesus to stay on the mountain forever.  While Peter is trying to talk about the splendid nature of the event, what is really going on here is that Peter is also preventing Christ from going to the cross.  Peter means well, but he is ultimately wrong.  Which brings us to the “Who is the Greatest conversation.”  Rather than taking Jesus’ charge to pick up one’s cross seriously and follow Jesus, the disciples start arguing about who is the best.  They completely fail the character test of understand that Christ came to call us into service, not greatness.

Finally, we get to the three people who meet Jesus on the road.  Do they really want to follow Jesus?  Do they have the character to do what it takes?  Or are they just giving Jesus lip service so they sound good while having no intention of making good on their promises?

Each of these lenses are a great place to speak about character.  Where do I see myself in these stories?  Where is my character strong enough to do as Jesus asks?  Where is my character weak enough that I fail?

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