Luke 09 Round Two: Come On, Peter!

The profound journey through Luke chapter 9 reveals pivotal moments in Jesus' ministry that fundamentally shape our understanding of his mission and message. This chapter serves as a spiritual crossroads where Jesus' identity becomes clearer and the demands of discipleship are laid bare with unmistakable clarity.

When Jesus empowers the twelve disciples with his authority to cast out demons and heal diseases, we witness a divine delegation that foreshadows the future of Christian ministry. Their successful return marks not just a training exercise but the first ripples of a movement that would eventually transform the world. This delegation of power demonstrates Jesus' intention to work through ordinary people who are willing to follow him.

The feeding of the 5,000 stands as one of Jesus' most universally recognized miracles—appearing in all four gospels. With just five loaves and two fish, Jesus creates abundance from scarcity, feeding thousands with twelve baskets left over. This miraculous provision reveals Jesus' compassion for physical needs while pointing to his ability to satisfy our deeper spiritual hunger. The multiplied bread foreshadows the Last Supper and reminds us that Jesus is the bread of life who sustains us in ways that transcend physical nourishment.

Perhaps the most mysterious and awe-inspiring moment comes with the Transfiguration, where Peter, James, and John witness Jesus transformed into dazzling brightness, speaking with Moses and Elijah about his upcoming "exodus" in Jerusalem. This supernatural encounter confirms Jesus' divine nature and his fulfillment of both the Law and the Prophets. The Father's voice from heaven—"This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to him!"—provides divine authentication of Jesus' identity and authority, demanding our complete attention and obedience.

As the chapter concludes, Jesus "resolutely sets out for Jerusalem," marking a decisive turn toward the cross. His teachings about the cost of discipleship become increasingly pointed and challenging. Following Jesus, we learn, requires self-denial, cross-bearing, and undivided commitment—looking back makes us unfit for the kingdom. These demanding words remind us that authentic faith transforms our priorities, reshaping our lives around Jesus' mission rather than our comfort.

Join us as we dig deeper into God's Word and discover that truly, the more we dig, the more we find. Have you fully grasped what it means to follow Jesus without looking back? This chapter invites us to examine our commitment and embrace the path of true discipleship.

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Luke Chapter 9
• 2:14 Jesus Sends Out the Twelve
• 3:22 Feeding the Five Thousand
• 6:33 Peter Declares Jesus as Messiah
• 8:31 The Transfiguration on the Mountain
• 11:37 Healing a Demon-Possessed Boy
• 13:20 The Cost of Following Jesus
• 15:09 Final Reflections and Prayer

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. Every day, we take one chapter of the Bible, dig deeper and discover that the more we dig, the more we find. You can find out more at thebiblebreakdowncom. Now let's grow in God's Word together. Well, hello, and welcome back to your tour through the book of Luke Today, luke, chapter nine. As we are walking with the doctor turned investigator, as he is studying the claims of Jesus and this is one of those again I would love to know who the Holy Spirit inspired him to talk to as we go through this chapter. There's so many great things that happen in this amazing chapter and I'm telling you, the more we dig, the more we find. So my hope for you is to excite you about God's Word. There's so much in God's Word that the more we look into it, man, the more exciting it gets. We're going to see how Jesus sends out the 12 disciples today. We're going to see one of the only miracles that is listed in all four gospels the feeding of the 5,000. And then we're going to talk about one that is absolutely amazing to me. It's about the transfiguration of Jesus. It's powerful. It's about the transfiguration of Jesus. It's powerful, it's mysterious. And then Jesus is going to continue to go back and forth with some different ones, and then he's going to talk about the cost of following him. So it's gonna be really good. We're going to just dive right in. There's like 60 something verses. I'm going to try to not like get tripped up too much. Let's dive in. So you've got your NLT Bible ready to go.

Speaker 1: 1:23

Luke, chapter nine, verse one, says this One day Jesus called together his 12 disciples and gave them power and authority, cast out all demons and to heal all diseases. Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He said, been abandoned by those people, or you have abandoned those people to their fate. So they began their circuit of villages preaching the good news and healing the sick. So pause, so what Jesus is doing at this point is he is, at this point probably they've been with him for a year, maybe even two, and now he is giving them an opportunity to go do what he knows they're going to have to eventually do without him being there in the flesh. And so he sends them out two by two to go and to do the different things. I would love to know who went with who Like? I wonder if Matthew and Peter were side by side, or maybe James and John, as brothers, went? Who did Judas go with? You know, I just would love to know what that is. The Bible doesn't tell us. But the Bible does say that they ended up doing great works, because it said that at one point another one of the Gospels that they came back and just told Jesus about all the things that they had been doing.

Speaker 1: 2:48

So let's pick back up in verse 7. It says when Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, heard about everything Jesus was doing, he was puzzled. Some were saying that John the Baptist had been raised from the dead. Others thought Jesus was Elijah or one of the other prophets risen from the dead. I beheaded John. Herod said so who is this man about whom I hear so many stories? And he kept trying to see him. So Herod is trying to constantly see Jesus, and Jesus isn't interested in the royalty of the time, he's just interested in being about the mission for which he had come.

Speaker 1: 3:22

Verse 10. This is one of the only miracles that is. In all four gospels it says this when the apostles returned, they told Jesus everything they had done. Then he slipped quietly away with him toward the town of Bethsaida. But the crowds found out where he was going and they followed him. He welcomed them and taught them about the kingdom of God and he healed those who were sick.

Speaker 1: 3:43

Late in the afternoon the twelve disciples came to Him and said oh, send the crowds away to the nearby villages and farms so they can go find food and lodging for the night. There is nothing to eat here in this remote place. But Jesus said you feed them, but we have only five loaves of bread and two fish. They answered or are you expecting us to go buy enough food for the whole crowd, for there are about 5,000 men there? Jesus replied tell them to sit down on the ground in groups, about 50 each. So the people all sat down and Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up to heaven and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread and fish to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people and they all ate as much as they wanted. And afterward the baskets picked up were 12 baskets of leftovers.

Speaker 1: 4:33

Can you imagine how amazing that would have been? The Bible says there was about 5,000 men there, which means we know that likely some of these men would have been traveling with families and there would have been single men, there would have been families, there might have been single women there, there might have been kids from the neighboring villages, and so some estimates could have been. There may have been between 7,000 to 13,000 people that might have been there and for that timeframe that would have been a small community, like a massive, massive, moving, small community of people. And Jesus fed them with five loaves and two fish. And so the way they think this probably worked is Jesus would break off a piece of the loaf and he would hand it to one of the disciples and break off a piece, hand it to the disciples and then hand them one of the fish and then break off a piece and hand one of the fish. So they would go like that with just small handfuls and just kept going and kept going and kept going, and would have taken time to have done this. And so if you think about 5,000, if you've ever been around 5,000 people, it would have taken time to have done this, so maybe all afternoon, but eventually they would have eaten and then it would have been 12 basketfuls left over. Just a complete, total miracle. It was so amazing. It was recorded in all four of the gospels.

Speaker 1: 5:44

Then the Bible says, in verse 18, one day Jesus left the crowds to pray alone. Only his disciples were with him and he asked them who do people say I am? Well, they replied some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, others one of the other ancient prophets risen from the dead. But then he asked them but who do you say I am? And Peter replied you are the Messiah sent from God. That was a big deal for Peter to say that, because at that point they may have only guessed. But finally Peter says you're not just a good man, you're a God man, you are the Messiah sent. And that's an amazing, amazing moment for him to say that. Verse 21,.

Speaker 1: 6:22

Jesus warned the disciples not to tell anyone who he is. The son of man, speaking of himself, must suffer many terrible things. He must be rejected by the elders and the leading priests and the teachers of religious law and they will kill him. On the third day he will be raised from the dead. And then he said to the crowds if any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily and follow me. If you are to try to hang on to your own life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what would it benefit you? To gain the whole world but to lose yourself, or? But you yourself are lost or destroyed. And if anyone is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in His glory and the glory of the Father and His holy angels. I tell you the truth some standing here right now will not die before they see the kingdom of God.

Speaker 1: 7:12

Now, once again, what Jesus would have just said would have shocked His disciples, because they saw the Messiah as a coming conquering military warrior. They thought the Messiah was going to come in and he was going to take over Rome. He was going to defeat everybody and set himself up as the king. Well, that does happen at the end of days at the book of Revelation. But at this point Jesus wasn't interested in saving the current people alive only. He was interested in salvation for all time, for all mankind. So his vision was so much bigger? Well, because he was God. But that's why the Bible says over and over again that Jesus would warn them. I'm about to go to Jerusalem and they're going to arrest me and they're going to crucify me. But they didn't get it because it had never even entered their brain fully that Jesus was going to do anything other than become a conquering military hero. But he kept telling them over and over again I'm going to be rejected, I'm going to be killed, but I'm going to rise from the dead. And one of the things I love about that is Jesus tells them over and over again what's going to happen, but he never backs up. He keeps walking toward his appointment with eternity. I think that is absolutely amazing. Well notice, right before I quit reading, he said that some people that were standing in that moment would not die before they see Jesus in his glory. Well, they're about to see it. Here we go.

Speaker 1: 8:31

Verse 28 says about eight days later, jesus took Peter, john and James up on the mountain to pray and as he was praying, the appearance of his face transformed and his clothes became dazzling white was praying, the appearance of his face transformed and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly, two men, moses and Elijah, appeared and began talking with Jesus. They were glorious to see, and they were speaking about his exodus from the world and about the fulfillment in Jerusalem. And it was about to be fulfilled in Jerusalem. Peter and the others had fallen asleep. When they woke up, they saw Jesus' glory and the two men standing with him. As Moses and Elijah were starting to leave, peter, not even knowing what he was saying, blurted out Master, it is wonderful for us to be here. Let us make three shelters as memorials one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. Reminds me of, like Oprah, you get a car and you get a car. Everybody gets a shelter.

Speaker 1: 9:20

But even as he was saying this, the crowds overshadowed them and terror gripped them as the cloud covered them and a voice from the cloud said this is my son, my chosen one, listen to him. And when the voice finished, jesus was there alone. And they didn't tell anyone at the time what they had seen. You know why? Because they thought they was crazy. I mean, yeah, can you imagine at that point they're going yeah, jesus is the Messiah. Oh, by the way, we saw Jesus up there and he like completely went shiny and glowed. And then there was Moses, that was Elijah, and then, like God, like the Father, yahweh just spoke to us. Yeah, yeah, guys, y'all have gone a little crazy, but that's what they saw.

Speaker 1: 10:04

And scholars who went back and forth for years to try to guess as to why, exactly, of all the people that at that point have gone to heaven, why would God send Moses and Elijah to speak to Jesus? Or well, jesus is God. Why would he have summoned these two people to do this? Well, some scholars think that Moses represented the law, elijah represented all the prophets, and it said that what they were doing was they were talking to him about what was about to happen. He was going to go to Jerusalem, he was going to be crucified, he was going to rise again and they were just discussing with him the plan. Don't know, it sounds good. What we do know is that it happened.

Speaker 1: 10:41

And then I love the fact that the Bible Peter is always just sticking his foot in his mouth. Right, he is just a good reminder that God doesn't use perfect people. He just uses people, because the Bible said that they woke up and they didn't know what to say. So Peter just said something. How many times have you not known what to say? And then you said something? And then immediately you realized I should have said nothing. That's exactly what he does. But instead of kicking him out again, yahweh the father just says hey, shut up, peter, we got this, just stand there and enjoy the show, right? But they did. And then they came back and they just looked at each other, I guess, and was like, hey guys, how about you don't say anything? I don't say anything, but we're definitely going to tell the world what Peter said eventually. So here we go, verse 37.

Speaker 1: 11:23

The next day, after they had come down the mountain, a large crowd met Jesus, and a man in the crowd called out to him teacher, I beg you to look at my son, my only child. An evil spirit keeps seizing him, making him scream, and it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It batters him and it hardly ever leaves him alone. I begged your disciples to cast out the spirit, but they couldn't do it. Jesus said you faithless and corrupt people, how long must I be with you and put up with you? Then he said to the man bring your son here. As the boy came forward, the demon knocked him to the ground and threw him into a violent convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the devil, the evil spirit and healed the boy. Then he gave him back to his father.

Speaker 1: 12:08

All gripped the people as they saw this majestic display of God's power. While they were marveling at everything that was going on, jesus said to his disciples listen to me and remember what I say. The son of man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. But they didn't know what he meant. His significance was hidden for them so they couldn't understand it and they were afraid to ask him about it. If you remember what I was saying earlier, they didn't understand that Jesus wasn't coming to defeat Rome, he was coming to defeat sin once for all.

Speaker 1: 12:40

So verse 46 says a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me. And anyone who welcomes me also welcomes my father who sent me. Whoever is least among you is the greatest. John said to Jesus Master, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons that we told him to stop because he isn't in our group. But Jesus said don't stop him. Anyone who is not against you is for you.

Speaker 1: 13:13

And as the time drew near for him to ascend to heaven, jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. He sent messengers ahead of him to a Samaritan village to prepare for his arrival. But the people of the village did not welcome Jesus because he was on his way to Jerusalem. When James and John saw this, they said to Jesus Lord, shall we call down fire from heaven to burn them up? But Jesus turned and rebuked them. So they went on to another village and as they were walking along, someone said to Jesus, I will follow you wherever you go. But Jesus replied foxes have dens to live in and birds have nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head. To another person he said come, follow me. And the man agreed. But he said Lord, let me first return home and bury my father. But he said to him well, let the spiritually dead bury their own dead. Your duty is to go and preach about the kingdom of God. Another said yes, lord, I will follow you, but first let me say goodbye to my family. But Jesus told him anyone who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the kingdom. So, as you can see, a dynamic is starting to shift here.

Speaker 1: 14:16

At the end of this chapter, at one point Jesus seems to be walking and talking with the people and just kind of I don't want to say taking his time, but the pace seems to be slower. But all of a sudden it says of Jesus that he realized that it was time, so he started walking toward Jerusalem. Now what we know, eventually, is that Jesus is on his way to talk with the different people, to investigate some of the different things that's going on in the temple. He's going to end up throwing out some of the money changers and he's going to debate back and forth with the Pharisees and then eventually he is going to be arrested, he's going to be crucified and he's going to rise again. But now, as he is on his way to Jerusalem, the pace is starting to pick up and we're going to see that as we continue to go. We've got several chapters to go, but it's definitely going to continue to heat up even further.

Speaker 1: 15:03

And I don't know about you, but for me, one of the big takeaways of this is to follow Jesus wherever he leads. You notice, in this chapter Jesus is he's never in a hurry, but he's always moving. And that's one of the things for us to realize in our life is that Jesus is never in a hurry, but he's always doing something, he's always moving. In our life, our job is just to follow him wherever he leads, and he'll always lead us in the right direction. Let me pray for us, and then we're going to end our time together. Father, thank you so much for who you are. Thank you that you love us in spite of ourselves sometimes, and you always lead us in the right direction. I pray for your wisdom, your peace, and I look for your strength to guide us every day of our life. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen. All right, I hope you enjoyed this one. I can't wait to see you next time for Luke, chapter 10. Thank you.