The Gospel of Luke
Chapter 8
Luke has begun to show us that Jesus is certainly more than a prophet. Yet it is not clear to the people in Galilee and Judea precisely who Jesus is. They marvel at His actions and are led to ask, “Who is this?”, but they seem unable to answer their own question. Meanwhile, Jesus continues to preach and to act and this combination of word and deed draws His identity into sharper focus. In this chapter, Luke relates Jesus’ teaching about hearing the word of God and His power as the living word of God.
Hearing the Word of God—Luke 8:1-22
Jesus clearly understood that His ministry centered on preaching the good news about the kingdom of God (4:42-44). Consequently, He traveled around the region of Galilee preaching that very message. No matter how crucial the message though, preaching requires maintenance; somebody has to provide the necessary goods of life. Luke tells us that a group of women contributed directly to the support of the Lord and His small inner group of disciples. That the women are named is very interesting; some are otherwise unknown, and Joanna only appears again at the empty tomb on the morning of Jesus’ resurrection (24:10). Her husband was Cuza, an important official in the household of Herod Antipas.
In this location, Luke records for us a parable that Jesus must have told more than once—the parable of the soils (or, sower). After briefly telling the story, Jesus ended with a call to pay attention: “Let him hear.” The point to that command is for the people to take the story to heart and to obey this word. Apparently, the disciples were afraid they were missing something important about the parable, so they asked Jesus to explain it to them in more detail. Jesus’ reply is very instructive.
In essence, He declared that He explained the teaching about the kingdom to them, but others got the message in parables so that if they were willing to think and consider the matter, they’d understand it. Meanwhile, those who are unwilling to think about the parable will pass it off as a senseless story, thereby fulfilling exactly what God had said to Isaiah in Isaiah 6:9, showing that when that great prophet preached, the people who should have known God didn’t understand him. Notice in this that Jesus is pronouncing a judgment on the hearers of the word, not the preacher! In essence, these crowds (and especially the elites) think they are judging and evaluating Jesus; in reality, it’s precisely the opposite! It is His word that judges them.
He immediately followed the explanation with another comparison. Here, He urged the disciples to think carefully how they hear Him. The things that they learn (in moments like this!) they are to proclaim as publicly as possible. And those who will hear and take it to heart will be ever more enriched in their spiritual understanding while those who let the word lie dormant within them will discover that it dwindles and vanishes in their lives.
It was at this point that Mary and Jesus’ brothers came to Him, but they were blocked by the sheer size of the crowd. When the message was passed up to Him, His response was to include into His family everybody who would hear God’s word and actually perform it. Jesus speaks the word of God—and there is actually more to know about Him.
Jesus is the Powerful Word of God—Luke 8:23-56
Leaving the area of
Capernaum in the northwest of Galilee, and sailing to the opposite shore
would take Jesus and the disciples to the Gentile side of the lake—the Gadarene (Geresene or Decapolis) region. They got into a typical Galilean boat, perhaps 30 feet long, and headed across the lake. The Sea of Galilee is actually a lake, only about seven miles wide and 12 miles long. The level of the surface is actually about 700 feet below sea level, which means that it sits in a bowl-shaped hollow in the steep hills. Frequently storms form in the Mediterranean, out of sight, then barrel inland and suddenly break over the peaks that rim the Sea of Galilee, landing with great force and suddenness. That apparently happened here, and the experienced fishermen were all too aware of the potential of such a squall. Jesus had fallen asleep in the boat and the disciples shook Him awake, fearing for their lives. He stood up and spoke and a hush fell over the lake; the storm was dissipated. The response to His disappointed question was a stunned echo of the earlier crowd: Who is this? Who can command the weather?
When the boat continued on its way, it arrived at the Geresene region. When Jesus exited the boat, He was met by a man tormented by demons. This man was notoriously beyond any control and permanently unclean, living in the tombs. He saw Jesus and fell at His feet, identifying Him as “Son of the Most High God,” and begging not to be tortured by Him. Jesus asked the name of the demon and the reply came: Legion (since there were many demons within him). The demons asked permission to enter the pigs nearby—apparently it is better to be a pig than to enter the Abyss (Hell). The demons seized control of the pigs, who destroyed themselves by drowning in the lake rather than submit. The swineherds reported the miraculous cure—and the destruction of the pigs! The response of the townspeople was to beg Jesus to leave them, so Jesus got back into the boat. The man wanted to go with Jesus, but Jesus commanded him to return to his family and tell how God had blessed him. The man did exactly that.
The topic of demon possession has fascinated many over the years—sometimes to a very unhealthy degree. It is clear that the demons knew who Jesus was; they recognized how God had allowed His Spirit to enter into human flesh to bring about redemption and life. In order to oppose Him on this worldly battleground, the evil spirits also meant to enter human flesh by force and deception in order to work for human destruction. The eternal contest spilled onto the material earth and the power of evil spirits was permanently broken by the Spirit of God.
When the group sailed back across the lake again, a crowd was waiting, including Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, as respected a man as could be found in the region. He fell at Jesus’ feet, begging Him to come and heal his dying daughter. They began pushing through the crowd to come to the house when a woman sneaked up behind Jesus and clutched at His robe in hopes of a cure. Jesus felt the power go from Him and stopped to demand who touched Him. All denied it; Peter pointed out the press of the crowd; Jesus repeated His demand. The woman admitted her action and declared that she had been healed of her 12-year affliction. Jesus commended her faith, but the delay had been fatal to the 12-year-old daughter of Jairus.
Messengers arrived to tell him she had died, but Jesus contradicted despair with a promise that she would be healed. Upon arrival at the house, Jesus told the mourners to stop their wailing since it was unnecessary. Their response was mocking laughter, but He took the dead girl’s hand in His and called her to get up. And she did, immediately. He further commanded the astonished parents to give her some food (ghosts don’t eat; she was really alive!). Although this was a terrific miracle that would necessarily give hope and urgency to people whose loved ones were dying, Jesus commanded the parents not to tell about it. There are many reasons why Jesus might have demanded their silence, but it seems obvious that if He could reverse death, He would be just the warrior to lead His people against the Roman occupiers! No matter what the Roman soldiers did, He could reverse it while the enemies had no such power! This was precisely the kind of “kingdom” Jesus rejected. He had something bigger in mind.