Read Luke 9:37-62
When the United States became a democratic republic, Vice President John Adams suggested a title for George Washington with pomp and circumstance: “His Highness, the President of the United States of America, and Protector of the Rights of the Same.” The U.S. Senate instead chose the more humble title, “President of the United States.”
The disciples also had grandiose notions for God’s kingdom, all of them mistaken. Despite having experienced the climactic moments of revelation described in the earlier portions of Luke 9, they continued to misunderstand the nature of God’s kingdom. Jesus called them an “unbelieving and perverse generation,” scolding them harshly for their spiritual obtuseness (v. 41).
Luke returns to themes of hiddenness in this narrative. Jesus’ identity had been revealed to the disciples, but a shroud of fog envelops them once again. What they had failed to understand, of course, is that Jesus is not only a prophet, priest and king—He is the suffering Servant of Isaiah’s prophecies, come to be delivered into the hands of men and die (v. 44; see Isaiah 53).
Continue reading Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – JESUS, THE SUFFERING SERVANT