The Word Made Fresh
1Not long afterwards he went on through the towns and villages, preaching and teaching the good news of God’s kingdom. The twelve went with him, 2and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and other illnesses: Mary the one called Magdalene, who had been freed of seven demons, 3Joanna, who was married to Herod’s servant Chuza, and Susanna. They used their resources to provide for him.
4A large crowd gathered around Jesus from several towns, and he told them a parable: 5“A farmer went out to scatter seeds. As he scattered them, some fell on the path and were trampled and eaten up by the birds. 6Some fell among the rocks, and even though they took root and grew, they quickly withered without water. 7Some were thrown among the briers and were choked by them. 8But some fell onto good soil, and took root and multiplied a hundred times over.” Then he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear, listen!”
9Later, his disciples asked him to explain the parable, 10and Jesus told them, “You have been chosen to learn the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but for the crowds I use parables, so that, ‘they look but do not see and they listen but do not understand.’ 11In the parable, the seed is God’s word. 12The ones that fell on the path are those who have heard, but the devil comes and steals the words from their hearts so that they will not believe and be saved. 13The ones that fell on the rocks are those who hear the word and receive it with joy, but since they have no root they believe for only a while, and when they are tested, the word falls away. 14The seeds that fell among the briers are those who hear, but over time the cares and riches and pleasures of life chokes them out and no fruit is produced. 15But the seeds that fell in the good soil are those who hear the word, hold on to it in a good and honest heart, and produce fruit through patient endurance.
16“No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a jar or under a bed. They put it on top of a lampstand so that those who enter can see by its light. 17Nothing is hidden that won’t be revealed, and nothing is secret that won’t be exposed. 18So, be aware of how you are listening. More will be given to those who have, but for those who have little, even that will be taken from them.”
19Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but couldn’t get to him because of the crowds. 20Someone told him they were there, and wanted to see him, 21but he said, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and live by it.”
22One day Jesus got into a boat with his disciples, and told them to row across to the other side of the lake. They cast off, 23and while they were sailing he fell asleep. A storm swept across the lake and the boat began to take on water, putting them in danger. 24They awakened Jesus and yelled, “Master! We’re going to die!” Jesus looked out at the wind-driven waves and reprimanded them, and all was calm.
25He said to them, “Where is your faith?”
They were scared and amazed and said, “Who is this, that he can even order the wind and the waves, and they obey him?”
26They arrived at the Gerasene side of the lake across from Galilee. 27As Jesus stepped out on land, a demon-possessed man from the town met him. He had not been living in a house but in the tombs, and he had no clothes. 28When he saw Jesus he fell at his feet and cried out at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you not to punish me!” 29Jesus had commanded the unclean spirits to leave the man. For a long time, the demons had inhabited him so that he was kept under guard and bound with chains and locks. But he would break the chains and be driven out into the wilds by the demon.
30Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
He said, “Legion,” for many demons had controlled him, and they begged Jesus not to order them to return to the Abyss.
32On a hillside nearby a large herd of pigs was feeding, and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter the pigs. He told them to go, 33and they left the man, entered the pigs, and the pigs ran down the bank into the lake and drowned. 34When the herdsmen saw it happen, they ran away and told the story in the town and in the countryside. 35Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus they saw the man who had been demon-possessed, sitting at Jesus’ feet, fully clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 36Some who had seen it told them how the man had been healed. 37Then all the people who had come from the Gerasene countryside asked Jesus to leave, because they were overcome with fear.
So, Jesus got into the boat to go back across the lake. 38The man who had been demon-possessed begged Jesus to let him go, too, but Jesus told him, 39“Go back to your home and tell everyone what God has done for you.” So he left, and went throughout the city telling everyone what Jesus had done for him.
40When Jesus arrived on the other side of the lake a crowd was waiting for him and welcomed him. 41Suddenly, a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and knelt before Jesus and begged him to come to his house. 42He had only one child, a twelve-year-old daughter, who was dying. As they were going, the crowds pressed in around Jesus. 43There was a woman who had been suffering from bleeding episodes for a dozen years. She had spent everything she had on doctors, but they couldn’t heal her. 44She approached Jesus from behind and reached out to touch the edge of his clothes, and her bleeding ceased at once.
45Jesus asked, “Who touched me?”
No one around him spoke up, but Peter said, “Master, the crowd is all around you, pressing in on you.”
46But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I felt power leaving me.”
47When the woman realized that she could not stay hidden, she came to him, trembling, and falling before him she told him in front of all the people why she had touched him, and she had been immediately healed. 48Jesus said, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”
49He was still speaking when someone arrived to tell the synagogue leader, “Your daughter has died. There is no need to trouble the teacher any longer.”
50Jesus heard him, and said, “Don’t be afraid. Only believe, and she will be healed.” 51When they arrived at the home he wouldn’t allow anyone to go inside with him except for Peter and James and John and the child’s parents. 52Everyone was weeping and mourning for her, but Jesus said, “Don’t weep. She is not dead; she’s only sleeping.”
53Convinced that she had died, they laughed at him, 54but Jesus took her hand and called out, “Child, wake up!” 55She awakened, and immediately got up. Then Jesus told them to get her something to eat. 56Her parents were astonished, but Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.
Commentary
1-3: Luke gives us a rare glimpse into the organization of Jesus’ movement by mentioning the group of women who have been working behind the scenes in support. Mary Magdalene is the only one about whom we know anything else. She will be present at the crucifixion and at the resurrection. Luke says Jesus had healed her from seven demons, but we know nothing else about that incident. Luke is the only evangelist to mention Joanna, the wife of a government official, who also was a witness to the empty tomb, and Susanna, about whom nothing else is known.
4-8: In keeping with Luke’s pattern, following several stories of Jesus’ activities we now have a section focused on his teaching. Right away we see that his teaching methods have changed. His first teaching was directly from scripture, reading the scroll from Isaiah in the synagogue at Nazareth. His customary setting was in the synagogue. Then, in response to the large number of people who thronged about him, he began to teach outdoors, giving practical advice on how to live in the kingdom of God. Now his style changes again, and from now on parables will become a mainstay of his teachings. The subject is the kingdom of God (see 8:1).
9-15: The disciples ask him to say more. Jesus tells them that, while the parables are intended to be somewhat obscure, they are related to the kingdom of God. (The quote in verse 10 is from Isaiah 6:9.) The kingdom of God belongs to those who hold God’s word “in a good and honest heart, and produce fruit through patient endurance.” What a beautiful and simple description of the Christian life.
16-18: This lesson is practical and plain as day: there is no point in producing light unless it illuminates that on which it is intended to shine.
19-21: In one of the old Bibles I have, these verses are introduced with the heading, “Jesus rejects his family.” No, he doesn’t. He is simply inviting his hearers to join his family.
22-25: Okay, enough teaching. Let’s have a few miracles. I mentioned before that Luke almost always refers to the Sea of Galilee simply as “the lake.” I believe he does so for a purpose and not just because he may not be personally familiar with the area. I believe that the lake, for Luke, represents the world into which the followers of Jesus must go. In the first incident on the lake the fishermen had fished all night long and caught nothing until after Jesus taught them; then the boat couldn’t hold the massive catch. Get it? Without Christ we toil unsuccessfully in the dark; with Christ there is light, and our efforts are so rewarded that others come and share. The world (the lake) is not always a benign environment for Christ’s followers, though. But Christ is still with us although it sometimes seems he is asleep (I’ve been in churches like that!). He is able to still every storm if we but call on him. The lack of faith Jesus refers to in verse 25 has nothing to do with their inability to still the storm, but rather with their “we’re gonna die!” mentality when confronted with a threatening situation. There Jesus was in the boat with them, and they still thought they were doomed.
26-33: The external storms of life are not the only ones we have to face. There are internal storms as well. On the other side of the lake, they are confronted by a man who is filled with demons instead of with the presence of the LORD. He is naked, filthy, and masochistic. He is very insane and frighteningly strong and loud and violent. He lives in tombs, caves scattered among the rocky banks along that side of the lake. No one can handle him. No one but Jesus, that is. After a brief conversation, Jesus orders the demons to enter a herd of pigs and the man is set free. Then, given pig legs, the demons do what demons do; they rush back into the chaos from which they had sprung.
Note that the first miracle Jesus performed in Jewish territory was the casting out of a demon (4:31-37); now the first miracle he performs in Gentile territory is to cast out demons. Perhaps Luke is hinting that the casting out of evil is the first step to be taken in any community before anything of God can be accomplished.
34-39: Getting rid of demons often has an economic impact on a community, and that is probably what is going on here. The community would rather have the pigs and let the demons return. They had learned to live with the demons by letting them afflict one poor soul. They didn’t know how to live without the pigs. They would rather sacrifice one man to the torture of naked evil than suffer a little financial setback themselves. That’s how it is in communities where evil practices are allowed to thrive.
40-42a: Many of the miracles Jesus performed were in response to being interrupted. It seems that whenever he is on his way somewhere, someone pops out to ask for help. Back in Capernaum crowds are waiting to see him and hear him teach, and he is interrupted by a man named Jairus, whose daughter is dying.
42b-48: Off he goes to look in on the little girl, and guess what? He is interrupted! A woman whose chronic menstrual flow has afflicted her for twelve years, ever since Jairus’ little girl was born, a curious confluence of details that has caused some speculation that she is perhaps Jairus’ wife and the mother of the child, and that perhaps her hemorrhaging began the day the girl was born. There is no way of knowing. Luke’s point, however, is that her faith brings her to Jesus and her contact with him, tenuous and fleeting as it is, makes her whole again, stops her flow of blood and restores her to the community. No longer is she “unclean.” A little contact with Jesus goes a long way.
49-56: The little girl is pronounced dead. Jesus disagrees. They laugh at him. Jairus and his wife join Jesus at her bedside with Peter, James, and John. Jesus takes her hand (it is forbidden to touch a dead body, remember) and calls her back to life. He tells them not to tell anyone what he has done, which means the crowd will simply think the diagnosis was incorrect. But then, with Christ any diagnosis of death always is.
Takeaway
In this chapter, Luke puts together a busy collection of miracles and people – healings and demon exorcisms among Jews and foreigners, men and women and children. Everyone is invited into God’s kingdom. The only restriction is the lack of faith.