Luke 9 - a faithless and twisted generation

Luke 9:41 (ESV)

Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.”

Everybody loves Jesus, but it is often not the Jesus of the Bible that they love. It is too often a nice, safe Jesus of their own making. The disciples had been with Jesus. They had been taught by Jesus. They had been given power over the demons, and yet in this case they were unable to help (Lk 9:40). Jesus looks out over the crowd that has gathers and calls them faithless and twisted .

The word faithless (apisto) means without faith, or unbelieving. Twisted means crooked or perverted. In Philippians 2:14-15 the Apostle Paul warns the Philippian believers to, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.”

Have you ever seen trees on the edge of an ocean beach, or a mountain top? They are twisted and distorted by the wind. The world is twisted, crooked, and perverted by the winds of sin as it pervades culture and society. It is twisted by the sin that indwells each individual. It is twisted by the constant focus on the creature rather than the creator.  But notice Jesus’ calm power. The “demon threw … convulsed, but Jesus rebuked … healed” (Lk 9: 42).

The unclean spirit threw the boy down. The word means to throw down, or slam down. It did not throw him down easily. He convulsed. The word means to be thrown into convulsions, or mangled. It is combined with the idea of being together with someone or something. Together with the unclean spirit the boy was literally mangled before the crowds. Jesus didn’t panic He rebuked the spirit. It carries the idea of putting him in his place, In some passages of scripture it is translated “warned sternly.” It is the same word used when Jesus rebuked the wind in previous chapter. The result? The boy was healed. “Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father” (Lk 9:42).

Demons tend to scare us. Extremely powerful storms can scare us. The influence of a “crooked and twisted generation” can scare us. But Jesus calls out the people for their unbelief, rebukes the demon, and heals the boy without breaking a sweat. Isn’t it time that we stop focusing on the threats around us, and set our eyes on Jesus? After all, he is the King! It is faith in that Jesus that will shine as lights in a dark, twisted world.