Luke | Chapter 8

Luke 8:1-10

 

Taking the Word to the street to ears that will hear

 

 

 

• Introduction
• 1-3 The condition for change
• 10 The parable on soils

 

 

Introduction

As we begin our study in chapter eight, we immediately see the transition in this chapter from two methods our Lord used up to this time. They signal a departure from what Jesus’ had done and the way He communicated to the masses, thus we see the change both in:

• Location, here the change is the not the general area but the specific location of where He taught
• Communication, also note we see that what Jesus taught didn’t change but the way in which He taught did

Both were predicated upon the conditions that Jesus now found His ministry at in only a short amount of time and as such mandated the specific changes. This chapter also offers great encouragement alongside powerful warnings about the condition of His church today. Generally speaking, we can break apart the chapter in its entirety in two sections that ought to bring us back to our school days in the classroom. Our time in school as well as our time to the classroom of Christ is made up of the same two things:

• 1-21 Listening to the teaching or Hearing God’s Word
• 22-56 The testing on the teaching or heeding God’s Word

I’m not sure if you were the kind of student I was but I confess I never had much confidence in the tests because I had not been listening. That’s the worst part of the test is it always reveals my lack of attention to what my Master has been saying to me.

 

Vs. 1-3 The condition for change

Vs.1 You will recall that when Jesus started His ministry in Luke chapter four, the synagogues were where His teaching and preaching started and as we pick up this chapter we notice a change and it begins with the opening words of chapter 8, “He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing glad tidings of the kingdom of God”. This causes me to make two general observations as it relates to this chapter:

• First, consider that in a very brief amount of public ministry time from our Lord that He was no longer welcome to teach in the very places that had anticipated His return for centuries! The pulpits of synagogues were now closed to Him. Christian let those truths sink into your heart for a moment! Let me honestly and humbly ask you a question, “Do you think Jesus would find many pulpits open to His teaching and preaching today?” Instead of welcoming Jesus, He found opposition, instead of finding hearts that were willing to listen, He found scribes who were only interested is debating Him to find something they could arrest Him on. I can’t help wondering how many churches today would open their pulpits to Him? These synagogues were to be places of learning and spiritual growth yet seem to no longer want to listen to the Word of God even from the God of the Word. It is for this reason that these words from Luke about Jesus finding a pulpit to proclaim truth in every city and village as He took to the streets offers such a great exciting and comforting encouragement to His servants today. Truth doesn’t need to accommodate culture to be relevant it needs to confront culture as truth is never out of style. Also truth will always find an ear that will listen even if it is in the highways and byways.
• Second, notice that not only did the location change where Jesus’ pulpit was at but also note that Jesus changed how He taught truth while never bending truth to the ears that were listening! That is what we note in the introduction, the parabolic teaching that was to cause the listeners not to be comfortable and have to go deeper if they wanted more understanding!

V s. 2-3 In what many of us would skip over is a very interesting proof of the reality of the effectiveness of the Word of God when the soil is open to the seed planted by the Sower. Notice that Luke mentions three women followers and Jesus each of them were engaged in “providing for Jesus from their substance”. Here we see a small little group of women from very different backgrounds served Jesus and His ministry out of their own resources. It was considered a very great honor to support a Rabbi and not that unusual, what is unusual was that it was the women who were supplying the funds to get the ministry going. You cannot find a woman in the gospel records that didn’t like and appreciate Jesus and His ministry. Let that fact sink in as often we are told that the Christian faith is against women, but it is clearly not how the women of the day saw Him. I also am fascinated by the diversity of the women:

• Mary Magdalene: So called this because she came from the area of Magdala which was a city about 3 miles north of Tiberias on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Luke points out her bio as being the person who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities as seven demons had come out of her. Mary had a dark and terrible past. How amazing is it that someone like Mary had responded to the gospel and now is a supporter of the gospel for other to also be set free from what possess them.
• Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward: Mary had been possessed by seven demons Joanna’s husband worked for one! Joanna belonged to the privileged class. This was no passing fancy for Joanna as we will see her again among those who went to the tomb on resurrection morning. Her husband is called a steward of the king Herod which means that he was involved in taking care of the king’s properties and financial interests and that means that he was a very important official in the nation.
• Susanna: And that is all we know of her as she is never referred to anywhere else other than her to say that she ministered to Jesus with her substance.

What a beautiful mosaic these three women paint of the transformative work of the Word of God. It is the supreme gracious work of our Lord that He can produce a glorious portrait from such unusual colors. Only our Lord can mix different personalities, educations and experiences to create a masterpiece that no art museum is fit to have it hang on its wall as it is only fit for the throne room of heaven. In Isaiah 11:6 we are told that the lion shall lie down with the lamb. We assume that when this takes place that the lion will become like the lamb, and all this would mean that the lamb absorbs the lion instead of the lion eating the lamb. Ah, but the real work of the Lord in transformation is when He comes into the heart the lamb and lion both retain what He created them to be and that is what we see in these women. They remained as He had always intended them to be without losing what they always been.

 

Vs. 10 The parable on soils

You will find this parable both in Matthew 13:3-23 as well as Mark 4:3-25. Mark in chapter 3 verse 23 mentions that Jesus adopted the parabolic method when teaching. Then in chapter 4 verses 33-34, Mark will offer his commentary on this method employed by Jesus saying that, “with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples.” That commentary is the key to understanding this method as well as the difficulty of Luke 8:10, Mark 4:12 and Matthew 13:14-17. When you look at Marks gospel in the fourth chapter you notice that three of the four stories deal with some type of seed. The only one that diverts from this is found in verses 21-25 and has to do with light under a basket and visibility.

Also found in Mark’s gospel is the fact that the word “parable” in 4:10 is plural which would have included all of the parables spoken by Jesus that day, from the boat. That being said Mark gives us the chronological order of events in order to give needed instruction and interpretation on what is commonly referred to as the “Parable of the Sower” to his Roman readers. The reason for this seems to be found in Mark 4:13 where Jesus said to His parable inquirers, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand ALL the parables?”

Based upon Mark 4:13 the “Parable of the Sower” is the key to all parables. It is for this same reason I think it is best that we first deal with the setting in verses 1-2 then move to the instructions in verses 10-12 before we move to the parable itself, verses 3-9 and with Jesus’ interpretation in verse 14-20.

The difficulty presented Luke 8:10, Mark 4:12 and Matthew 13:14-17 is best understood by keeping these verses in context. If we take them out of context we create confusion with regards not only to the intent of parables but to the character and nature of Jesus. Did Jesus mean, as “simple reading” seems to imply that He spoke these stories in order to hide truth so that people could not understand and in not understanding couldn’t be forgiven?

Our Lord points out that there are two kinds of hearers:

• The first one He describes as “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God..” This is a class of hearers who according to Mark 4:10 “when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked about the parable.” A group who certainly was the minority among the 10’s of thousands but was not exclusively disciples. Their chief characteristic, the common denominator in this first group is they are the ones that “came to Him and asked Him” about the parable. Jesus said it had been given to THEM “to know sacred secrets or mysteries of the kingdom of God.” Twice in the telling of the parable Jesus refers to the key to these sacred secrets as being available to those that He says in verse 3 “Listen!” and again in verse 9 who have “ears to hear, let him hear!” Notice what this mystery is about; “the kingdom of God” that is how God is at work in the world, functioning through humanity now and throughout world history.
• The second one Jesus describes as, “…those who are outside, all things come in parables.” Jesus isn’t mentioning a geographical location but rather a position of a person’s heart. It is to this second group that Jesus addresses the information of Mark 4:12 as He describes their present condition as: “Seeing that they may see and not perceive, and hearing that they may hear and not understand; lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them.” This passage presents some difficulties that are cleared up in the context of Mark 4:11 and 33 as clearly Jesus wanted people to be able to hear who were truly interested.

First the word, “THAT” at the start of Mark 4:12 in the Greek means, “in order that” or because of, which implies that Mark 4:12 was a preexisting condition in these hearers and NOT one caused by Jesus’ teaching parables. Matthew’s account supports this as these folks were seeing and hearing, but what they saw and heard was not leading them to the Lord. This is a quote from the prophet Isaiah in the 6th chapter verse 9-10 who describes the people of his time as being those who saw and heard but were nonetheless blind and deaf because of the hardening of their hearts.

Jesus employed parables to loosen the heart and was fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy. This is more obvious when we read in Matthew 13:14 as Jesus says, “And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled”. He quotes Isaiah further in verse 15 saying, “For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes have closed, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.” God didn’t close their eyes and ears; they closed them for the purpose of not turning from sin and the outcome was that they didn’t receive forgiveness.

Next lesson we will look at the parable further covering:

Vs. 5-15 The Parable and the explanation of the parable

 

 

Luke 8:5-15

The parable of the soils

 

 

• Introduction
• 5-8 The parable
• 9-10 The right question
• 11-15 Jesus interpretation

 

Introduction

At the start of our study in the eight chapter of Luke, we noted a change predicated upon the condition of the soils. The two methods Jesus had used up to this time were changed:

• Location, the change was not the geographical region instead it was the specific location of where He taught, from synagogue to the streets!
• Communication, what Jesus taught didn’t change but the way in which He taught did!

We also dealt with the difficulty with the simple English reading found in the three gospels were this parable is found, Matthew 13:3-23, Mark 4:3-25 as well as here in Luke. It is only when we examine the text in Mark in chapter 3 verse 23 and 4:33-34 where he mentions that Jesus adopted the parabolic method when teaching and offers his commentary on this method employed by Jesus saying that “with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples.” That commentary is the key to understanding this method as well as the difficulty of Luke 8:10, Mark 4:12 and Matthew 13:14-17. Based upon Mark 4:13 the “Parable of the Sower” is the key to all parables.

Jesus is points out that there are two kinds of hearers:

• The first one He describes as “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God..” This is a class of hearers who according to Mark 4:10 “when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked about the parable.” Their chief characteristic, the common denominator in this first group is they are the ones that “came to Him and asked Him” about the parable. Twice in the telling of the parable Jesus refers to the key as being available to those that He says in verse 3 “Listen!” and again in verse 9 who have “ears to hear, let him hear!”
• The second one Jesus describes as, “…those who are outside, all things come in parables.” Jesus isn’t mentioning a geographical location but rather a position of a person’s heart. It is to this second group that Jesus addresses the information of Mark 4:12 as He describes their present condition as: “Seeing that they may see and not perceive, and hearing that they may hear and not understand; lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them.” The word, “THAT” at the start of Mark 4:12 in the Greek means, “in order that” or because of, which implies that Mark 4:12 was a preexisting condition in these hearers and NOT one caused by Jesus’ teaching parables.

Now we move to the parable as well as the explanation given the disciples after their inquiry.

 

Vs. 5-8 The parable

First as we look at this parable generally we see that there are three points of interest in this story:

• The Sower: Who we are told in verse 37 is the Son of Man. Though truly there is a sense that all who are His disciples are Sowers.
• The Seed: Clearly in Jesus’ explanation of the parable, the seed is the Word of God. Also, in Mark 4:14, we are told that the Sower sows the Word.”
• The Soilsrepresent the responses of the heart upon hearing the Word of God.

There are four consequences of the seed in these four soils.

Each had an agent that caused the consequence:

• Soil by the wayside, the seed was stolen by the foe
• Soil on stony ground, the seed was starved by the flesh
• Soil among the thorns, the seed was strangled by fear
• Soil on good ground, the seed was successful by faith

There is also according to Mark’s account to be three levels of fruitfulness that could be due to opportunity or fidelity, ability or loyalty. Jesus says that the crop showed growth by yielding a crop that sprang up and increased, “some by thirty, some by sixty and some by 100 grains” Mark 4:8. I’m reminded of what we read in 1st Peter 1:23 Peter writes that we are “born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God that which abides forever.”

There are also three enemies to the fruitfulness of the word of God in the human heart:

• vs 5 Birds = the wicked one: Now it is important to realize that the fields here had paths through them. So the farmer would take his wooden plow and would go through an area that had a path in it, scattering the seeds. Simply put, the ground would be hard, and so the birds would come and eat the seed. So, if a person is hard and not receptive to the seed of the Word of God, the Devil will come and snatch the Word away. Notice that they heard the Word but did not consider it (understand). It is not that they could not understand it; rather, it was that they did not want to think about it wisely in their lives.
• vs 6 Stony ground: Here the enemy is the flesh. They say that sounds great; they raise their hands at an altar call and come forward all excited, but when they see that the flesh has to die they cannot continue to live a lifestyle of sin, then they don’t want anything to do with their profession of faith. People don’t know anything anymore about commitment and cost. Once they find out there is a cost involved, they walk away.
• vs 7 Thrones = deceitfulness of riches: Here the enemy is the world system. Pleasure and the pursuit of it causes those to say the cost is too great. Now the problem with this soil is that it is receptive to any kind of seed. It simply grows all sorts of things that choke out the seed of the Word of God.

The soil upon which the seed is sown speaks of the conditions of people’s hearts not only the hearts prior to salvation but at any given time. We must not think that our soil is automatically “Good” and will produce fruit because at one time it has. Any given day this can change, if we don’t remain in the same spot spiritually. We can again see this in Mark’s account as he records the fact that Jesus started this parable in Mark 4:3 with the word “listen” and in the Greek means, “Be listening” yet the word was NOT a word that was issued as a command but one rendered in kindness. Though issued in kindness and gentleness it was nonetheless done to a crowd that was far more interested in coming in contact with Him to be healed than it was to listen to the Word. That combined again in Mark 4:3 with the word “behold” right after the word listen was Jesus’ way of saying, “Pay attention to what I’m about to say!”

So as we put the parable together with Jesus’ interpretation we note the consequences of four places where the word was sown:

• vs 5  Wayside:The word “wayside” simply means road and is defined by Jesus in verse 12 as the condition of the heart whereby after a person hears the Word, satan comes in and takes away by force the Word that was sown in their hearts. The fact that it was sown in the Greek describes that it had begun to germinate but satan came in and snatched it away before it had time to become a plant. The first group described are those that are “Hard Hearted” they hear the word and as far as obedience to the word is concerned they say, “That’s for the birds.
• vs 6 Stoney ground: The same seed of the word fell on ground full of rocks and Jesus defines the condition of this soil in verses 13 as having a superficial experience with the Word and that the condition of their heart as being rocky didn’t permit the roots to go down into the heart. Jesus describes these “rocks” as tribulation and persecution that comes and they quickly stumble. As long as the Word is producing the desired results without any negatives they are fine, but as soon as tribulation or persecution comes, they leave. Stony ground speaks of “Shallow Heart”. They say Jesus is the Way but as soon as things don’t go their way they drop their commitments. They are crisis Christians as that is when they turn back to faithlessness.
• vs 7 Among the thorns: The seed of the Word here fell amongst the seeds of thorns, and it choked out the Word suffocating the plant. Jesus describes this in verse 14 and says they are drawn in a different direction by cares and worries of their course in life. The cravings for the things and lifestyle of this world chokes out the Word thus the Word isn’t able to bear fruit.  This heart speaks of a “Crowded Heart” a person has too many things crowding out the Word of God. Such as worries about finances either because they have too little or they have too much.
• vs 8 Good ground: Finally Jesus describes in verse 15 “good soil”, in which the seed not only yields a crop, according to the Greek it keeps on yielding a crop. As noted in Mark 4:20 the final soil of the heart is a “Fruitful Heart”, producing an ever-yielding crop. Agriculturalists tell us that a great yield is 48 times the amount of seed sown. So 30 times would still be very good, 60 times the amount of seed would be amazing and a 100 times the amount sown would be miraculous.

As we read this parable along with Jesus’ explanation clearly, this parable is about “fruitfulness.” A farmer sows seed to bear fruit; that is why he does so. Typically a farmer would take his bag full of about 30 pounds of seed and throw it out over about half an acre, and in about 4 months they hoped to see fruit from his labor. These fields were not cultivated fields; they were plowed crudely, only breaking the soil up to 4 inches. As they were plowed, the seed was scattered; sometimes they were plowed to cover the seeds, but not always.

So what we are looking at is the seed in relation to the soil and whether or not it would produce fruit. In this story, 3/4 of the work does not produce any lasting fruit. Only 25% of the seed sown produced any fruit, and out of that 25%, it had faring results (100, 60, 30). I find this truth quite comforting. A lot of times we are out sowing the Word of God, and we just don’t see the results that we would like. Well, the problem is NOT the seed; folks, the problem is not even the field; the problem is what is in the field, which does not allow germination.

Eternity magazine did a study on a large crusade. 178 churches came together, and in one week, 4,106 decisions were made for Christ. Within three months, only 3% were still going to church. So what is in the soil?.

The difference is found in Jesus’ words, “he who hears the word understands.” It is found in the person who considers the truth; the person who receives the King will bear fruit. Now with that said, the key is in hearing. How are you hearing? Do you want the truth? Folks, fruitfulness has everything to do with how you hear.

 

 

Luke 8:16-21

When a mirror becomes a window

 

 

• Introduction
• 16-18 Three laws on the nature of the Christian life
• 19-21 Obedience to the Word is thicker then blood

 

Introduction

As we move on in the 8^th chapter of Luke in verse 16 you note that there is no break in thought as the words of Jesus in parables continues but the next part of the narrative has a time stamp with the word “then”. The fascinating thing to me is that the word indicates a change in time but not necessarily in subject. Whenever any writer sits down to write they are attempting to give the reader context and connection to the subject and characters they are unveiling. Luke had informed his reader in chapter 1:1-4 that he had complied this gospel record from “eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account..” This “orderly account” is not completely chronological in nature and at times to develop a picture of the subject that Luke is unveiling needs to be taken out of sequence in order to complete the thought, this is just such a case and the reason for the word THEN in verse 19, simply put, Luke has given us a succinct condensed version. This is clearly seen in the story of verses 19-21 where Jesus’ mother and brothers meet Him and this most likely occurred towards the end of Jesus’ third year of ministry and is covered more fully by Mark in the 3^rd chapter. The question that the bible student must ask is, “What thought is the writer wanting the reader to connect?” Or perhaps, “What is the common denominator in subject matter?” Looking at these three sections two of which are parables, what do they have in common? Well they further develop the idea of hearing or listening to the Word of God by examples both in how we speak and also what listening is all about.

• 4-15 The parable of the soils/Sower = How to listen to receive the Word of truth. To truly hear God’s Word, you must be willing to receive it and the three different soils are indicative of the reason why the Word of God is or isn’t having its proper effect of what it should indicated by the fourth good soil.
• 16-18 The parable of revealed light = How to speak to others about the Word of Truth which indicates whether you have received the Word of Truth. When you have received God’s Word (A lit Lamp) you demonstrate that you have received it by understanding three laws with regard to light:
• Light must not be kept from its essential nature of visibility so others can see.
• Light should be impossible to keep secret; its very nature is to reveal.
• Any attempt to keep light from being light will only increase the person doing so of losing the benefits of the nature of light and plunging back into darkness.
• 19-21 The visit of Jesus’ Mother and Brothers = How to live when you have heard the Word of Truth. To hear God’s word requires the person having done so to ever seek to live in obedience to it even if we don’t understand it and are motivated to disobey it out of love and concern.

 

Vs. 16-18 Three laws on the nature of the Christian life

It is always good to be reminded that the word parable means to cast alongside and as such it is a story that teaches truth by placing it alongside of something familiar. A parable would start off with something of interest and familiarity and then becomes a mirror in which the person would be able to see themselves and it is when in the parable a person sees their own reflection that a mirror can become a window through which we can see God and His grace. Charles Spurgeon once said that the sermon is the house, the illustrations are the windows that let the light in. Those that use illustrations must do so as our Lord demonstrated and that was never to just stir up emotions of listeners. Also every parable Jesus ever taught even though it was cast alongside of truth was also actually true in fact.

The appeal in this parable switches on another reason to make sure you have ears to hear as others count upon the light you share to save them from darkness. We all ought to be hearing in such a way that we will be able to proclaim clearly what we have seen in our hearing. As noted above there are three natural laws of light:

• Verse 16, Light must not be kept from its essential nature of visibility so others can see. When a person truly receives the light of the Word of God it has a nature within us that makes it visible to those around us. This is NOT a self-righteous nature of flaunt our faith, but there is a natural visible nature to those who have come into true contact with the Word of God. This goes against our fleshly natural tendency of the fear of being different as the world always likes to persecute that which is different. Yet with that said, the true recipient of the Word of God will lay a hold of the privilege of being made new and different from what they were and not ashamed of the gospel among whom they are now called to serve. We have all heard well-meaning professing believers say that they don’t mix business with their faith, but to adopt such an attitude and practice is to fail at both. For the person who has truly received the light of the Word of God they can no more say that they never use any of their natural resources in their business as they don’t mix them with their business. We are transmitters of truth, not only by what we say but also by how we operate in every sphere of our lives!
• Verse 17, Light should be impossible to keep secret; its very nature is to reveal. There are three types of people in this world that the person without the light of God’s Word tries to keep secrets from:
  • They try to keep secrets from their fellow humans. But things always have a way of coming out. First a person who keeps secrets from other people are generally unhappy people as the joyous person is the person who has nothing to hide. There was once an architect who offered to build Plato a house in which every room would be hidden from public view. Plato responded that it would be far better for him that the architect would build the house where every room in it was visible to humanity.
  • Sometimes we try to keep secrets from ourselves. Why shut out our hearts from the consequences of our habits, our actions and attitudes which we are very aware of. It is like a person who has symptoms of a grave illness but shuts their hearts from it in an attempt to ignore the illness. Oh what folly it is to keep secrets from ourselves as it changes nothing and only makes our condition worse.
  • We try and keep secrets from God! No person has engaged in a more impossible task than this. We all should remember Hagar’s confession at the birth of Ishmael in Genesis 16:13 “You-Are-the God-Who-Sees” and also ask ourselves in her respond as she did, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” One day we will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ and in that day not only our actions, but every idle word will be revealed, how much more beneficial is it for us today to not be keeping secrets from God and instead ever seek to live openly in the light of sweet confession as we see this day growing closer? Seven times in Jesus’ words to His Church we read this admonishment, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” We should listen to the Word of God as it has its primary message from the Lord to our own souls. To not do so is an insult not only to our own redeemed heart but also to our Sacrificed Lord who has spoken to us for our benefit and obedience.

• Verse 18, Any attempt to keep light from being light will only increase the person doing so of losing the benefits of the nature of light and going back into darkness. Organically light is essential for growth and maturity of all living things and that is the third natural law of light. The universal law is that the more a person has of light the more they will grow and the converse of this is equally true the less a person has of light the less they will grow. This is true physically as the stronger a person is the stronger they will become the weaker a person is the weaker they will become. We may not like this, but it is like the natural law of gravity in that the natural law doesn’t care about what you think or feel about the natural law. The more a person seeks the light of the Word of God for their life the more they will mature into the person God has called them to be. But if they refuse the light of the Word of God in their own life they will see diminished results and eventually lose what gains they may have enjoyed. Saint’s there is no standing still in Christian maturity if we are not pressing into to Him to press on with Him then we are going back. In that sense we all ought to continually be seekers as those that seek Him shall find Him. Proverbs 8:17 says of wisdom, “I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently will find me.”

 

Vs. 19-21 Obedience to the Word is thicker than blood

Vs. 19 As mentioned the placement of this story in the account here is not in chronological order and instead is a further illustration open the aspects of proper listening of the Word of God. In that vein it is important before we look at this passage to generally understand a few things that this meeting points out with regard to listening:

• Then His mother and brothers came to Him: The first thing that I see is that the proximity to truth in the Word of God is not necessarily beneficial. What I mean is here in Mary and Jesus’ brothers were people who had enjoyed the most time with Him, they had witnessed His life the closest and never once did they ever noticed anything but His perfection in keeping and living truth. There were no inconsistencies in Jesus’ life that would cause this reaction. The reaction was a product of fear and their own loving concerns about His health and safety due to the crowd’s response to His ministry. So the principal offered by Luke indirectly is that relational closeness to Jesus is NOT measured by time around the truth of the Word of God but rather upon obedience to it!
• And could not approach Him because of the crowd: Second I think it is important to establish that such a response by Jesus’ Mother and brothers was not out of the normal human reasoning. Jesus’ family witnessed the chaos of His ministry. Mark 3:21 tells us that His own people heard about the fact that “they could not so much as eat bread” that they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, “He is out of His mind.” The use of the words means His kinsmen or His mother and brothers. Yet with that said we ought not to assume that this was unkind speech or criticism from Jesus’ immediate family as I don’t believe that to be true. Instead I believe it was a loving concern for Jesus physical and mental well-being. Again what this points out with regard to receiving the Word of God is that it is possible to react reasonably out of concern in love and to do so in disobedience. Obedience is not optional to our understanding nor to our emotions and loving concern. We are to respond to the Word of God as Peter the experienced fisherman did at Jesus command to go out to deeper water and again cast his net after having been out all night and catching nothing in Luke 5:5, “nevertheless at Your Word I will let down the net”.

Vs. 20-21 Jesus had hoped that the tens of thousands would have dispersed when He went up the mountain with His disciples, but they hadn’t, as demonstrated by the fact that He couldn’t so much as eat bread. And as already noted the Greek phrase, “His own people” in Mark 3:21 is further identified by Mark 3:31 as “His brothers and mother” which indicates that it was his immediate family. The words “about this” in Mark 3:21 are italicized which means that they aren’t in the Greek but were added in an attempt to clarify. In this case they misrepresent Jesus’ family’s concern as only being the multitudes with regards to Him eating. Instead, the words having heard refers to all the incidents and crowds during Jesus’ ministry in this region. The words lay hold mean to get possession, become master over or seize and indicate that Jesus’ immediate family came to take Him by force against His will. The reason for such a forceful action is that they estimated that He had become mentally unstable due to the demands of the multitudes.

When word came to Jesus from the multitude saying, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You.” I’m certain the multitude expected that Jesus would immediately go out and see them. They were concerned enough about His condition to come to where He was at even with thronging multitudes. They had to have let people know loud enough and long enough to garner attention that got word to Him. Jesus didn’t respond to the request but asked the multitude, “Who is my mother, or brothers?” Then before they could answer He looked around at those closest to Him and said, “Here are My mother and brothers!”

To clarify what He meant by this Jesus continued, “For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.” His answer reveals both His identity and others’ relationship to Him which is a stronger bond then any human bond or need. His greatest need that superseded all human needs is to “do the will of God”. There is a primacy given in relationships that bind us to our brothers and sisters in Christ and to our Lord Jesus, to God the Father, and the Holy Spirit above the demands of even our natural family.

 

 

Luke 8:26-39

“Pigs Perish”

 

• 26-27 From fear to fear
• 28-29 Six characteristics of demonic influence 
• 30-33 Even demons believe – and tremble
• 34-39 Go from Him or go for Him

 

Introduction

 

As we continue on in Luke’s gospel, we again find ourselves in an event that is recorded in three of the gospel records:

• Mathew 8:28-34: Matthew mentions that there were two men
• Mark 5:1-20: Mark mentions only one of the two men
• Luke 8:26-39: Luke also only tells the account of one of the two men

The difference of these accounts is that though there were two demon possessed men, the one that Mark and Luke mention is the one that Jesus specifically confronted and delivered. Of further interest to me is that Luke uses this story as a further illustration of the testing of our listening to the Lord. It is best understood in the observation that on that day three worlds came into contact:

• The demonic underworld: That seeks the material realm for evil purposes but know that they will face God for their pursuit.
• The human world of earthly experience: Here is a group that can not see a delivered man in his right mind because they are out of their mind over the concern for their lost pigs.
• The heavenly world of Divine control: It would seem that it is far easier to deliver a man from the grip of demonic influence, than it is to wrestle them from the bondage of the mighty dollar.

Under the scope of things that can bring about fear I suppose that a loss of dollars is right up near the top. Though Jesus doesn’t directly take this fear up it does appear in the story we are looking at today. It is quite interesting that Jesus’ deliverance of the man from the demons increased the fear of the loss of dollars in the people of the Gadarenes. Their stock in pork bellies literally plummeted taking a dive into the sea. Jesus’ work had opposite effects on two groups of people:

• To the demoniac it was clearly a blessing
• To the people of the Gadarenes it was seen as an economic curse.

If there had been a headline of this incident recorded in the Gadarene Gazette it most likely would have recorded the incident as Pigs Perish instead of Demoniac Delivered.

 

Vs. 26-27 From fear to fear

Vs. 26 The Greek speaks of the people of the town of Gersa which was in the district of the Gadarenes located on the Southeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. This area is where the tribe of Gad settled which was on the wrong side of the Jordan. Because of this it was frequently attacked and invaded by the Gentiles. This is the reason that it was primarily inhabited by the Gentiles and Jews who had adopted the Greek culture above their own and is the reason why swine was a commodity.

Vs. 27 Each of the gospel writers add touches as to this man’s condition. Matthew informs us that there were two demon influenced men that came out of the tombs and were so fierce that no person could pass that way. Mark and Luke only mention one, this has caused some to attack the validity of the scriptures saying that there is an obvious contradiction. The solution to the difference in these two accounts is that Matthew records the fact that there were numerically two but only one had a dialog with Jesus, which is why Mark’s and Luke’s only identify the one called legion.

Mark tells us that he came OUT OF the tombs and the way Mark introduces the demoniac to his readers suggests that the personality of the demons was far more noticeable than the man’s own human personality. The concept that he was demon possessed does not occur in the Bible. The purpose of demonic influence is always destruction. There is never any hint that a person can be influenced by a spirit for good purposes, the only Person who can influence a person for good is Christ. If an unclean spirit influences a person, though it may at first seem to enlighten or heal a person the ultimate aim is never good, but only destruction.

We can look out at the sphere of influence Satan, and his cohorts have over the world and there are discernable degrees of that increase. I can imagine the disciple’s fresh off of the new realization that Jesus was in their boat that caused a greater awareness of just who Jesus was, only to be immediately confronted by these two demon-crazed naked men the moment they came ashore. There are more tests to our security than the mere elements of nature, none more frightening than people.

 

Vs. 28-29 Six characteristics of demonic influence

• Mark 5:2 Unclean: This word in Mark 5:2 is rendered, “unclean spirit”. It is the effect this spirit caused in this lost soul. A general observation is that the demon influence causes the oppressed person to prefer death, squalor and moral pollution.
• 27 Isolation: Another thing that we see associated with the demonic influence is anti-social or isolationist tendencies where the person prefers little or no human contact. Here again we see this man withdrawn from family and friends living separately, physically and emotionally from the rest of humanity.
• 29 Supernatural strength or power: This man exhibited strength outside the bounds of normalcy breaking chains and shackles. It took more than one person to subdue him due to this demonic power. Having had multiple law enforcement personnel in my life I have heard of many cases of this where the person regardless of their size or physique possessed a supernatural strength that caused the police to have to use extraordinary means to subdue the person.
• Mark 5:5a Tormented: The demonic influence seems to enjoy tormenting its host. A person may at first be lured into giving themselves over to demonic control through the promise of controlling power over others and sometimes a promise of greater sexual prowess, or a sense of belonging. But the end result is that they were lured into this and are tormented because of it. This man was restless night and day, crying out in pain and cutting himself with sharp stones in an attempt to drive out his inner torment.
• Mark 5:5b Self destructive and suicidal tendencies: There is a self-destructive nature seen in self-mutilation and in some cases destructive suicidal behavior. Not all suicidal behavior is of demonic origin, but this one clearly was.
• 28 Recognition of higher authority: There was an instant recognition of the authority of God as he came running to Jesus calling Him by name as well as recognizing His authority over himself. The Greek describes this demon-controlled man aggressively running towards Jesus and His disciples in a hostile manner. Matthew clearly alluded to that when he mentioned the fierce nature of these two poor souls and how they keep people away from their location. The word used for worship means to prostrate oneself as a sign of reverence. It is used to mean a person’s recognition of another’s superiority and rank. James writes in chapter 2 verse 19 saying, “Even the demons believe – and tremble!”

 

Vs. 30-33 Even demons believe – and tremble

Vs. 30a The picture we have is a host of demons unredeemable in nature, destined to be damned, destroying and disrupting everything that has to do with God bending their knees to God the Son. The words of the demons to Jesus inform us that they recognize nothing in common with our Lord and their only concern is to temporarily buy time so that they won’t immediately inherit what they deserve for their rebellion. The word “torment” in verse 28 is a word that in the classic Greek meant to test or to assay metals to determine their content. These demons wanted to put Jesus under oath which when you consider those who value a lie greater than the truth it is quite ironic. This response Mark informs us was instigated by Jesus’ words to the demons, “Come out of this man”. Note the priority of the work of Christ as He didn’t begin with social work or any attempt to reform him to deliver him from his condition. No, for Jesus the quickest way to get him out of his current condition was to get his current condition out of him, thus he didn’t clothe him He saved Him, then he clothed him.

Vs. 30b The Greek tells us that Jesus kept on asking the demons which tells us that they were still very rebellious and only responded to continual repeated questioning. A careful reading of this story reveals that Jesus was not asking the demons their name but the man his, calling the man to remember his own personality. The word legion is a Roman military designation of soldiers over 6,000. It was a Roman insignia of irresistible power organized into a single unit. What amazing tenderness of Jesus who would speak to a man that all of society no longer called by name and instead only referred to him by what had taken over his life! He was so far gone that the only answer Jesus received was from that which had taken over his life. And what had taken over his life wasn’t one thing but many!

Vs. 31-33 The demons who called themselves “irresistible power organized into a single unit”, kept begging Jesus that they wouldn’t be sent out of this region, and instead requested the pigs. Jesus allowed it as it makes no difference to demons whether they inhabit people or pigs because they soon will make people’s behavior like pigs by their influence.  For these demons to exercise their influence they would need a body and what they didn’t want was to be without one so Jesus grants them a herd of swine. And Matthew records with the one word GO, Jesus passes judgement.

  

Vs. 34-39 Go from Him or go for Him

Vs. 34-37 It is an interesting observation to realize that a Legion of demons could fit in the heart of a man bent to their will but not find a home in 2000 pigs. The loss of nearly 2000 hogs brought the townsmen out to the scene not to rejoice at the deliverance of infamous demoniacs who had terrorized the community but rather lament over the lost profits of their commodity. It is obvious that the pigs are far less comfortable with demons than many people are! To the people of the Gadarenes the cure caused a catastrophe, and they requested Jesus to depart as they viewed Jesus far more dangerous to them due to the loss of their profits than the demons were. They were more afraid of a sane man than they had been of the insane one. The truth is the people of the Gadarenes preferred swine to a savior as they believed the greater value was in material loss than the moral gain.

 

Vs. 38-39 Here we see desire and duty in conflict as the delivered man would abide with Christ, but Jesus would rather abide with Him at his work. That is always the hardest place to share what Jesus has done for us, our homes! It is our lips and our life that must testify to that location, not just lips. Jesus’ words of Go are not FROM Him but rather FOR Him and there is a big difference in these two. Every delivered person is a sent person as we are to GO, and our mission is no less if it is to cross the street or cross the oceans!

 

There were three requests made to Jesus in this passage:

• Vs. 32 The demons ask, “Send us into the swine”, to which Jesus said GO!
• Vs. 37 The people of the Gadarenes ask, “Depart from their region”, to which Jesus left.
• Vs. 38 The former demonized man asked, “That he might be with Jesus,” to which He said no, and told him to “Go home to your friends and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you.”

Of those three requests the most startling reply is obviously Jesus’ answer to the former demonized man to be with Him. In saying yes to the demons and the society Jesus’ answer was a judgment but in his refusal to the former demonized man it was a blessing as his return to society was an influence on what God desires to do. Church history records a group of believers that sprung up out of this man’s testimony throughout this region of the 19 cities.

 

Luke 8:40-48

 “Who touched Me?”

 

• Introduction
• 40-42 Whom God enlightens
• 43-48 Flesh pushes, faith touches

 

 

Introduction

This is one of the more beautiful stories with regard to the healing touch of Jesus and it runs congruently with another story as it is intertwined with the raising of Jairus’s daughter. You will find these two stories in all three of the synoptic gospels:

• Matthew 9:18-26
• Mark 5:21-43
• Luke 8:40-56

Though these two stories are forever linked, each grant us a greater view of our Lord and are worthy of their own investigation which we will do as we will primarily look at verses 40-48. That said, the healing of the woman with an issue of blood if we were Jairus and his household, would have been viewed as an unwanted interruption. Furthermore these two come to Jesus from very different paths:

• Jairus’ approach is public
• The women’s is private

And when we contrast this against the pushing multitudes we observe that:

• Flesh presses, while faith touches
• Crowds push Him, but needs move Him

My general observation is that for Jairus’s daughter, this incident was a diversion that further delayed what is the greatest fear any parent can go through! This story points out the limitations of earthly popularity as multiple times in the story line all three of the gospel records notes the effects of the crowds upon the ministry of Jesus, one of which was this very lady. By way of application I believe all of us at times feel as though Jesus’ priorities go awry, where someone else’s inconvenience is given a higher priority over our life and death situation. But as we shall see “His mercy fails not!” Evaluating suffering as a basis of determining which gets priority is a difficult enterprise. Jesus doesn’t evaluate need based upon severity or duration but upon our connection to His loving abilities. And what at once must have seemed like an unwanted delay would turn out to be a tremendous encouragement to Jairus.

 

Vs. 40-42 Whom God enlightens

Vs. 40 The phrase, “when Jesus returned” would seem to be unimportant but in reality it links the reader to the previous story and the geography changes in these brief three words. You will recall that Jesus had an incredibly taxing day prior to His command of the disciples to get in the boat to sail to the other side. Once in the boat Jesus fell sound asleep and the disciples got caught up in a storm that shook their trust. After Jesus silenced the wind and the waves they ended up in the area of the Gadarenes with two demon influenced men. They now get into the same boat and cross the same Sea of Galilee going back to where they had sailed from and again waiting for them were the thronging crowds. This statement shows the growing popularity of Jesus in Galilee at the time but as the story before will illustrate that is not always a good thing.

I have spent some time wondering what it must have felt like being one of Jesus’ early disciples: Escaping the crushing crowds, believing you are going to drown at sea, arriving on shore with demons running at you and pigs running from you. Back on board the same boat to be faced with more crushing crowds. How many of us would join this band if we could walk with Jesus for just three days like this?

The Greek wording here is not that the multitudes were gathered to himbut were instead coming after Him not out of devotion but rather a longing to get something from Him. There are many today in the church that are like the pressing multitudes that view Jesus only from what they can get FROM Him instead of being moved out of DEVOTION towards Him.

Vs. 41 Jairus is a Hebrew name that means “whom Jehovah enlightens”. And as we read he comes begging for his daughter as she is on her last breath. His words to Jesus are not the normal words for healing and instead the words mean that she might be saved from certain death. Jairus primary request for his daughter is to be saved and healing is only the means to it. If it were not for the phrase that both Luke and Mark insert describing that Jairus “was one of the rulers of the synagogue” we would not have gotten the full picture of the situation. Jairus’ who not only came to Jesus but fell at his feet was the chairman of the board of directors of the synagogue in Capernaum.

It is this very synagogue that had first altered Jesus methodology by no longer allowing Him to preach and heal in their synagogue. They had no doubt made a ruling against Jesus as they didn’t appreciate the crowds and Jesus’ insistence of breaking their rules about healing on the Sabbath. God has indeed enlightened Jairus and He has done so through personal experience.

This crowd that Jairus wades through was of his and his boards own making as he had to travel some 6 miles. Only a short time ago he believed that Jesus was a troublemaker that only made things horribly inconvenient at the synagogue. The trampled gardens, stains on the marble floors, the interruptions by the raucous crowds. I am of the belief that Jairus and his ilk were extremely happy to see the circus side show of Jesus leave their beautiful synagogue. But all that changed in an instant when he could no longer afford indifference to human suffering. Gone was the pride, prejudice and position that had gleefully given Jesus the boot, instead Jairus is driven through the very crowds he indirectly created. Crowds that according to the Greek had a stranglehold upon traveling those 6 miles from the area of Migdal back to Capernaum.

What he had one time viewed, as the Pharisees had described, demonic driven inconvenience was now his only hope of deliverance for his 12-year-old girl. I’m sure he didn’t care if it was the Sabbath, he didn’t care if he left his theology, pride or position he would gladly trade it all for his little girl. It often takes our own life’s heartaches to change our attitudes and actions. Yes, God enlightens, but we need to remember that it often takes breaking our hearts to overcome our attitudes about broken rules.

Vs. 42 I believe that in light of what we have just understood, that Jairus biggest problem lie NOT in the question of if Jesus COULD heal his little girl (after all he had witnessed that multiple times) no, Jairus acts as a man who wonders if Jesus WOULD heal in light of how he had treated Him. Jairus had to have come to understand and believe that in Jesus there is a man whose CHARACTER matches His ABILITY!

Jesus was NOT the kind of person who would take the opportunity to take a shot at Jairus, “What has that got to do with me, remember I only do this by satan’s power,….isn’t it the Sabbath?” Neither would Jesus respond, “I’m a little busy now thanks to you, I’ll get to her when I can.” Instead, we have Mark’s commentary in verse 24, “So Jesus went with Him…” Five little words that describe the fact that Jesus went with Jairus promptly without any hesitation. Those words remind us that even when we’ve been a jerk towards Jesus that if we are willing to just come to Him broken and humble He will go with us without hesitation, oh how I love Jesus!!!

Yet with that we still have the glaring reality that walks with Jairus along the way to his house to his dying little girl, “a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him” Every step was steeped in difficulty with the pressing crowds that were crushing in on them. What may have taken an hour or so now was complicated because of the decision that Jairus had been a part of. We are informed of an interesting detail that links these two stories in another way as verse 42 tells us that Jairus’s little girl was 12 yrs old and according to Jewish custom a girl becomes a woman at 12. Jairus’ little girl was at the beginning of her journey into womanhood, while the primary person in our story had not felt like a woman for the same 12 years.

 

Vs. 43-48 Flesh pushes, faith touches

Jesus’ rapid response was a wonderful thing for Jairus, but the pressing sprawling humanity must have tortured this loving father’s soul. Luke informs his readers about three things with regards to this woman’s situation:

Vs. 43 Her condition: We are informed not only of WHAT she had but also HOW long she had it. She was suffering from what doctors would call today vaginal hemorrhaging. The word “suffered” indicates that her condition caused physical pain that seemed to be furthered by the so-called treatments of the physicians. This continual menstrual flow would not only weaken her due to low iron it would have given her great distress and pain.

According to Leviticus 15:19-27 this would also have great social and religious implications as she would have been seen as a leper being ceremonially unclean which would have left her outside of religious life and thus ostracized from society. She had this condition for 12 long years and her desperation to be cured had drained her financially and the attempted cures by the quacks had been as painful as the illness. The Talmud gives 11 different cures for a person afflicted with this ailment:

• Some are nothing more than superstition like carrying the ashes of an ostrich egg on a linen rag in summer and a cotton one during winter.
• Others had the woman carry barley which had been found in dung.

Vs. 44 Her cure:  Mark 5:27 gives us a great detail as it relates to why she sought our Jesus as the literal reading of this is “having heard of the things concerning THE Jesus” which identifies OUR Jesus as His name was a common name. Jesus’ fame had spread to a level as He was now known as “THE JESUS”. The Greek says that she kept saying to herself in Mark 5:28 “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well,” as she pressed through the crowd. She couldn’t come as Jairus had done, she was ceremonially unclean instead she came lunging through the pushing crowd ignoring the fact that her action was rendering others unclean. Finally she had wormed her way close enough to touch the hem of his tasseled garment. The Greek word here for touch is fastened or clutched and upon that touch she experienced the stoppage of the flow of her blood. According to the Greek she viewed her condition as a whip that continually beat her and now instantly she was healed from its scourge. There is a tradition that says that on the four corners of the hem of a rabbi’s garment was to be woven a blue thread in the tassel symbolizing the word of God. And she touched this symbol without realizing she was touching the actual Word Himself.

Vs. 45-48 Her confession: Her act had been clandestine as well as a mixture of faith and superstition as she said according to Mark 5:28 “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” It appears that she viewed Jesus’ miracles a matter of nature and not of His will and power. She thought that should she be able to get near Him something in Him would automatically help her. But there was also faith, even though it was also combined together with superstition and yet Jesus healed her.

But having done so Jesus’ response caused her to have to come into the light as He said to her, “Daughter your FAITH has made you well” NOT your superstition your FAITH! It wasn’t the touching of His tassel even though your superstition drove you, it was your faith in Me that I’ve heard. His question of “Who touched Me?” caused his disciples to question in light of the crushing multitudes “who HADN’T touched His clothes?” Of all those pressing multitudes touching Jesus only this lady received anything from Him. He hadn’t seen her touch Him, but He knew instantly that she had. Power went out from Him; it was released without His verbal consent that suggests to me that this healing was done by the Father more than Jesus. How wonderful it is that God can heal me even when I don’t understand the means and manner He employs. This is the only time in the Word that we read that Jesus uses the term “daughter” to a woman who was most likely close to His age.

Oh how tender this public word was in light of her embarrassing situation and public confession. She had just confessed to her condition and public uncleanness in front of the crowd that she had violated and Jesus calls her His daughter. And He further tells her that her healing will be a continual one not just temporally relieved due to her condition due to her confession. And observing this all was Jairus whose own embarrassment and confession at the start of this journey must have found that this unwanted distraction was an encouraging blessing!