Luke

At this point, I am considering doing a summary of each chapter and then stringing those together as a short commentary.

Let’s go back and take an abbreviated look at all of Luke 3. Sometimes, our study goes into so much detail, that it is helpful to stand back and to see a more concise version of what we have studied. The ESV; capitalized will be used below):

Luke 3:1–2 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

Israel at the Time of Jesus (a map); from Conforming to Jesus; accessed July 10, 2020.

As an aside, when I use a graphic from another webpage, I am not necessarily endorsing that webpage. On the other hand, if I feature a doctrine written mostly by someone else, then I am indicating that I have a reasonable amount of trust in that person’s ministry.

Luke, more than any other biographer of Jesus, sets the secular historical stage. These are the political leaders—the men with power, if you will. They are the movers and shakers, according to the popular thinking of that day. But they really were not. Meanwhile, out in the desert-wilderness, is John, son of Zechariah, and the Word of God comes to him. People so often focus upon the wrong things. A small percentage of people today know about these significant rulers from this ancient era, and mostly knowledge of them comes from the Bible. But, far more important than any of these political leaders is John, the son of Zechariah, who is out in the desert-wilderness. This is the man that we know as John the baptizer or John the Herald (he is not John, the gospel writer).

In modern-day churches, there are sometimes a whole lot of things going on; but what should be fundamental to every church is the Word of God. Obviously, the good news of Jesus Christ must be known and believed by most of the congregants—but even that most fundamental doctrine is taken right out of the Word of God. The Word of God should always be front and center of any Christian church.

Application: At the time that I write this (January 1, 2021), the American election of 2020 still remains hotly contested, with nearly all of the media, most of Hollywood, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, along with most politicians (from both parties) all allied up on one side. For example, YouTube regularly removes videos which cite voter fraud; Facebook shadowbans posts from the few websites and media outlets which continue to speak of voter fraud (interestingly enough, a huge number of Americans have begun to get their news from Facebook). Nothing seems more important to many of us than this past election. The stakes for America seem monumental, as many believe that this past election was riddled with fraud. There are many who believe that this will be the end of a democratic United States; particularly if either candidate takes the oath of office. This does not mean that there will be no elections; it simply means that they will be meaningless. So, for many, the political reality of this day and time seems tremendous.

Application: What we learn from these first few verses of Luke 3 is, the politics, the politicians and the future political structure of the United States—they are not as important as we think they are. What is far, far more important is the Word of God; and the accurate teaching of the Word of God. In the era we are studying—the time when Jesus was an adult—the government was far more oppressive; and the political leaders were far more dangerous. Groups of people who fell into disfavor with the government might find themselves persecuted and killed in large numbers. Yet, what is important at this stage of the history of man? A very odd man who speaks to random groups of people out in the inhabited regions around the Jordan River; who proclaims himself as the herald to the King—and that King being the Living Word of God.

Application: We may see dramatic changes to the United States; and no matter what happens over this next month, there will be very large groups of people who will believe that this election was stolen. But what is far, far more important than that, is the teaching of the Word of God in our local churches. It is the Word of God by which we all, as believers, grow spiritually. What is happening at your local church? Are you being taught the Word of God? Is that the thrust of the church that you attend? That is far more important than the political strife occurring today (and I am fully aware of the political circumstances and what could happen to the United States as a result of the events of this coming month).

Application: Always more important than the historic events taking place is the teaching of the Word of God; and the spiritual growth of the individual believer from taking in the Word of God.

As we will study in this and future chapters of Luke, we will find out that the people of Israel—God’s people—are accepting a religious system far removed from the Scriptures which have been delivered to them. In fact, when some of these Scriptures come to life, as it were—and are fulfilled, the reaction of the people is very contrary to the Word of God.

The very Son of God will come unto His Own (to the Jewish people), but they will, as a whole, reject Him (there is a significant portion who will believe on Him as well). What ought to be the center of great celebration—Jerusalem—to receive her King, is not. And what will come upon Jerusalem in particular is great disaster for rejecting the Son of God, Who is the Living Word of God. About 40 years from the time that we are studying, Jerusalem will be crushed by the Romans, for their recalcitrance. However, the fundamental reason that so many hundreds of thousands of people would die is, they refuse to believe God’s truth. They continue to follow a corrupt religious system. Therefore, serious national discipline is their future.

Simultaneously, during that same period of 40 years, throughout the recently conquered Roman world, the gospel of Jesus Christ and the teaching of the Apostles will spread like wildfire. But where this good news should have taken root, in the ancient city of Jerusalem, it has not. The Jewish people did not universally believe in Jesus, despite how closely He linved up with their Scriptures, as the promise of their Messiah-King. Jesus presented Himself to His people; and yet, they rejected Him. As a result, the Jewish people of that era will suffer the dire consequences of their negative volition.

Application: Do you realize that, in some nations today, they have known nothing but war for dozens of years? There are children who grow up, and for a considerable amount of their lives, know nothing but war. Why is this happening, for instance, to the people of Syria or in other middle eastern nations? The people of these nations live in almost a daily Islamic revolution. These are Muslim countries, who have not only rejected the teachings of Jesus Christ, but they persecute the few who are in their country and believe in Him. These Muslims often seek the death or conversion of people who want nothing more than to quietly learn about Jesus. And so they suffer despotic leaders and constant strife. These are the consequence of their negative volition.

Application: The fundamental reason why this tiny island known as England was able to conquer perhaps a fifth of the entire world is, they brought both law and order and the gospel of Jesus Christ to the places where they went. People all over the continent of Africa worship Jesus Christ because of British Empire. On the other hand, the United States has been in the nations of Iraq and Afghanistan for the past 2 decades, with little to show for the money and blood that we have spent there. Have we brought the gospel of Jesus Christ to them? Did we at least bring them freedom of religion? We did not! As a result, these nations are not much better off than they were when we first entered into them with our armies. After spending trillions of dollars in these two nations, we did not bring them the most important thing—the message of Jesus Christ and the redemption that He offers. This is why tiny Great Britain was successful throughout the world; and we cannot tamp down what appears to be a constant struggle between various factions of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan, despite having the greatest military in human history. The key solution which we have abandoned as a nation is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the teaching of the Word of God. That should have been a part of our mission in these foreign lands, but it was not. And so, we have nothing to show for the time we have spent there.

What I am trying to do is to show you the parallels between the world which we are studying, circa a.d. 30, and the world that we live in today. The key is always Jesus Christ and the Word of God. Leave these things out of the picture, and we, as the most powerful nation on this planet, can do nothing right.

Luke 3:3 And he [John] went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

The Jordan River runs north-south in the middle of nation Israel (which was broken up into 5 regions at this time). The Jordan River goes as far up as the Galilee region—where the bulk of the Lord’s public ministry would take place—and it feeds into the Dead Sea, which is a natural border for Judæa.

The Repentance spoken of here has nothing to do with feeling sorry for sin or feeling badly that you are a sinner. You may have feelings about that, and you may not. Repentance means a change of mind; it is not a subjective emotional reaction—that is, it is not an intense feeling of regret for being a sinner. This change of mind, which John is speaking of, is directed towards the religious philosophy of that day, where one earns favor with God based upon personal merit. We cannot earn God’s favor. We come to God as sinners, as unworthy of Him, seeking His forgiveness. The religion of the Jews had become a man-centered, works-based religion; and John is proclaiming that they must change their mind about that.

Luke 3:4–6 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"

We already studied how the gospels treat this quotation from Isaiah. Luke throws it in as somewhat of a descriptor of John’s ministry; the book of John has John the Herald quoting this verse himself and applying it to himself.

John the Herald is the voice calling out from the desert-wilderness. He is acting as a herald for the Lord Jesus Christ. He goes before the Lord just as a herald would go before a king, announcing the king’s presence.

Luke 3:7–8 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

Luke, at first, does not differentiate between the various groups of people who show up to hear him, many of whom choose to be baptized. This specific quotation from John sounds particularly harsh. We find elsewhere that there were religious types showing up to check John out, perhaps with an interest in shutting him down. The Jewish people were a particularly God-centered (or, religion-centered) people. Their dedication to their system of religion was fundamental to their life and beliefs. But they had been leaning more and more towards legalism and dead works than they were towards God’s mercy.

There were several groups within Judæa who had religious power, and this was quite important in a nation where YHWH worship was central to the lives of most people. Having a man unaffiliated with any of them, who has this ministry out in the desert-wilderness, is certainly a curiosity. John also appears to pose a potential threat to them, as he is not teaching the tenets of the current Jewish traditions.

Despite their difference in demeanor, both John and Jesus spoke very harshly to the religious types of that era. These words of John in particular castigate the religious types of his day (and their followers).

Luke 3:9 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

John’s warning is that the people of Israel are not productive; they are not really doing God’s work. This statement is rather dramatic. “If you are not producing the fruit that God expects from you, you will be cut down and thrown into judgment!” he warns.

There were many who showed up to hear John who were not getting what they needed from their synagogue and Temple. They knew something was wrong, even if they were unable to put their finger on it exactly.

It is difficult when you are born into something, and you know that there is something amiss, but you do not really have anything to compare it with.

Luke 3:11 And he answered them, "Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise."

Israel was about to go through a very transformative time. Some people would be financially ruined and far worse. John is not telling them, “What you need is a socialist government.” (We discussed this at length in our study.) He is telling them that they will need to voluntarily share their own blessings with others (socialism is anything but voluntarily sharing). There would come a time when those hearing John would need to share their own basic necessities with others.

Luke 3:12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?"

Several groups of people come to John and pose questions to him. Both sets of people specifically mentioned here were apparently rejected by the religious types in that day, but both sets of people sought acceptance by God.

It was legitimate for a Jew to be a tax collector in that era. There is nothing in the Word of God which would forbid a Jewish person from performing that function. However, the Jewish religious class has rejected them; and many fellow Jews have rejected them. So they ask John, what should we do?

John tells them, simply, do not overtax. Their jobs are legitimate; the taxes are legitimate; what is not allowed is for them to tax the people more than what their taxes are. Some tax collectors became quite rich by overcharging people on their taxes, and keeping the difference in their own pockets.

I believe that this a detachment of Jews who are soldiers in Judæa; possibly under the authority of the governor of Judæa. They are also despised by the religious classes and by some of their fellow Jews. They also ask John, “What should we do?”

Luke 3:14b And he said to them, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages."

As soldiers, they are told not to abuse their authority or their power; and to be content with their wages (so that they would not use their position to extort money from others).

Luke 3:15 As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ,...

Quite a number of people, during that time, believed that this was the era of the Messiah. I would suggest two reasons for this (1) There is actually a complex timetable laid out in the book of Daniel, which appears to take them to around a.d. 30. (2) There was the birth of the Messiah, which was a pretty big event about 30 years ago. Many of the people who saw the baby Jesus are, at this point in history, dead. But they would have enthusiastically spoken about what they saw.

Now, even though Jesus had been, as an infant, identified by several groups of people (who we studied in the first couple chapters of Luke), they apparently lost track of Him (or they passed away over the past few decades). But they would have spoken to their own families about seeing the baby Jesus. Therefore, the people were in expectation [of the Messiah].

Clearly, based upon the history that we are studying, the people did lose track of Mary, Joseph and Jesus. You may remember that shortly after Jesus’ birth, the family relocated, for a few years, in Egypt. When they returned to their own city, they appear to have kept a low profile (there is only a single story about Jesus between the age of 1 and 30).

Here, according to Luke, the people are thinking about this in their right lobes (= hearts). That means, they were closely observing John, listening to the words that he spoke, and then comparing that to the prophecies of the Messiah that they knew.

At this point, the people in the crowd are wondering if John is the Messiah. At other times, they will ask John this question directly.

John seemed to sense what they were thinking. He may have been asked this question directly before.

Luke 3:16 ...John answered them all, saying, "I baptize you with water, but He who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of Whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Jesus is the One Who John is speaking about. John knows that he is the messenger for the Messiah; John knows that he is not the Messiah. John has no illusions about his own place in the plan of God.

John says that he is unworthy even to untie the sandals of Jesus. This means that John is grace oriented. He understands that he is a sinner in the eyes of God, and, as such—despite his commission as herald to the King—is no greater than anyone else. We are all sinners before God.

John tells those who have come to him what Messiah will do. For those who believed in the Lord, Jesus would give them the Holy Spirit; and for those who would reject Him, Jesus would bring judgment down on them (represented by fire).

Luke 3:17 His winnowing fork is in His hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire."

Throughout the Bible, there is always this separation of two sets of people. Some will be the wheat and some will be the chaff, which is the waste. The wheat is preserved by God and the chaff is placed under judgment (chaff is often burned up).

Many people asked John many questions; and he had a great deal to say; but not all of it is recorded in the gospels.

We do not know the length of John’s ministry. I suspect that it took place over a period of perhaps 6 months (or less). If Jesus is the Messiah and His public ministry is 3 or 4 years in length; then John, His herald, should be in front of the public for a much shorter period of time (I would not be surprised to find that his desert ministry was only 1–3 months long).

John’s purpose was limited. He had things to teach those who did not believe that they were getting an accurate assessment of the Scripture through their Temple worship. People understood—or at least suspected—that there was something wrong with the religious class. Some groups of people were simply rejected by the religious class, so they had nowhere else to go. They came to John for guidance. But John’s primary purpose was to inform the people of the coming of their Promised Messiah.

Illustration: The protestant movement, known as the Reformation, rebelled, in part, against the religious class, which was a powerful and entrenched class in the Catholic Church. The established Catholic church, at that time, taught a great many falsehoods (which they do even today).

Luke 3:19–20 But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.

That Herod the tetrarch was reproved by John is fascinating to me. Did John suddenly riff on Herod before a crowd of people? Or did John have some sort of face to face with Herod? The latter seems likely to me. The religious crowd clearly went out to see John; did Herod do that as well?

We saw in this chapter how various men stood up before John and asked, “What should I do?” I believe that Herod came out to see what all the fuss was about, heard people stand up and pose that question, so he did the same. “I am Herod, I rule over Galilee and Perea. What should I do?” He may have even spoke these words in jest, but he was not prepared to hear an actual answer from John. Most people cowed before such a cruel ruler; but John did not. John publically reproved Herod for these things that he did. No doubt, he took this public rebuke very personally. Although this is not recorded in Scripture, I believe that this is the circumstance behind how Herod came to be reproved by John.

That John was put into prison is found in the 3 other biographies (Matt. 4:12 Mark 1:14 John 3:24), but without letting us know what transpired right before that. I have given you what I believe happened above.

Vv. 19–20 are an aside. These verses take a quick look into the future. We return to the present (the present of the narrative) with v. 21. With v. 21, we are back with John the herald, baptizing people; and Jesus has come before John and John baptized Him.

Luke 3:21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened,...

John is baptizing a number of people; but then, Jesus appears before him. John baptizes Jesus (Whom he recognizes from afar), and the heavens open up. I believe that the statement, the heavens were opened is defined by the next verse:

Luke 3:22 ...and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, "You are My beloved Son; with You I am well pleased." (NKJV, capitalized)

The people there see something like a dove descend upon Jesus—this was the Holy Spirit manifested in a form which could be seen. There was a voice from the sky. I can recall God speaking the Ten Commandments in the hearing of all the people; and then there is this particular statement, heard by the people watching Jesus being baptized. I cannot recall any other time when God spoke to a group of people.

At this point in Luke 3, we examine the genealogy of Jesus, starting with Jesus and going all the way back to Adam, through His true mother, Mary. All people have a genealogy on the father’s side and on the mother’s side. Jesus had on a true human genealogy on His mother’s side. Jesus is fully man by birth; but this genealogy goes back only through Mary, as He is virgin-born (the other genealogy in the book of Matthew is the genealogy of his legal father, Joseph).

One might, in the middle of this narrative, ask, now, just exactly Who is this Jesus again? Whose Son is He? Luke answers such a question by presenting the genealogy of the Lord.

The House of David (a genealogical chart); from RedeemingGod.com; accessed November 21, 2018. This presents both lines leading to Jesus (the legal line and the bloodline).

Luke presents Jesus (primarily) as the Son of Man; that is, Luke emphasizes Jesus’ humanity. Therefore, Luke emphasizes Jesus’ human birth and human origins. Jesus is fully and completely human; the doctrine of Kenosis tells us that He voluntarily sets aside His Deity in order to accomplish His work on earth. I believe that it is entirely possible that Jesus did not rely on His divine attributes to do anything during His life on earth (including the Transfiguration). However, I am not yet ready to defend that position.

The Two Genealogies of Jesus (a chart); from Medium.com; accessed May 7, 2020. I do object to the image of Jesus presented in this chart, as He did not have long hair.

Let’s review this entire chapter. The translation used below with be the Niobi Study Bible.

We have already studied this chapter; but we are going to condense that study and examine this chapter as a whole. An outline is helpful:

This is an action-packed chapter. Despite this being the beginning of the Lord’s ministry, Jesus actually speaks in only 13 of the 44 verses in this chapter, which is less than a third of the chapter. The emphasis is upon what Jesus did more than what He said (however, what the Lord says in this chapter is quite remarkable).

As we move forward in the book of Luke, more and more of each chapter will be devoted to the words of Jesus. In chapters 5–9, about half of each chapter will be devoted to the teaching of the Lord; but nearly all of chapters 10–18 will be the words of Jesus. The final 6 chapters are about half teaching, half narrative.

Luke 4:1–2 And Jesus, being full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, and for forty days was tempted by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward when they were ended, He hungered.

Jesus is guided by God the Holy Spirit. It appears that He did not draw upon His Deity for any of this ordeal. It is passages like this which convince me that Jesus did not, at any time, depend upon His deity. I am not aware of any passage, including the Transfiguration, where Jesus necessarily accessed His deity.

He was tempted by the devil. At the end of this period of time, Jesus was very hungry.

I have already made two statements which are potentially at odds with one another. Jesus fasted for 40 days and He did not access His Deity. Quite obviously, you and I cannot fast for 40 days, but Jesus did. Although Jesus is fully human, He also lacks a sin nature. This sin nature affects not only our decisions and what we do, but it infects the entire physical body. Adam lived for over 900 years, and he had a sin nature. We don’t live more than 100 years (for the most part). The sin nature actually made death a part of the human experience, and, taking into account the reduced life spans of Adam and his progeny, it has progressively affected the human body in a negative way.

My point is, the human body without the sin nature is far more resilient than the human body with the sin nature. Jesus, as we have studied, has no sin nature (we studied this in Luke 1:28–34). He is temptable, but not from within.

Luke 4:3 And the devil said unto Him, "If You be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread."

It is very possible that Satan was allowed to tempt Jesus only after this 40 days had passed. We only know of 3 specific temptations, so if there were more, they are not recorded.

Because Jesus is hungry, Satan suggests, “Just turn these stones into bread and satiate Your hunger.”

Jesus did not do this because this would have required Him to depend upon His essence as God to do that. There are a number of things recorded in this gospel to suggest that Jesus did not depend upon His Deity for anything.

Luke 4:4 And Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written: `Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'" (Deuteronomy 8:3)

Jesus answers Satan by citing the Word of God. Man’s sustenance in this life is also the Word of God. Jesus’ soul is satiated with the Word of God, as we studied in Luke 2:40, 52.

Luke 4:5 And the devil, taking Him up onto a high mountain, showed unto Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

Satan takes Jesus up to a high mountain, somehow showing Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. We do not know how this was done, but it is reasonable to suppose that Jesus could take in what Satan was showing Him in an instant (without depending upon His Deity, but simply upon His Own natural abilities). My assumption would be that Jesus looked over a massive land mass.

Luke 4:6 And the devil said unto Him, "All this power will I give You, and the glory of them; for this has been delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will, I give it.

Satan tells Jesus that he is able to give Him all the power over these kingdoms, because they are in Satan’s domain. Satan is the ruler of this world, making this a legitimate offer.

Satan knows that Jesus is heir to the throne of David. Satan understands, from the Scriptures, that Jesus is David’s Greater Son. Satan does not fully understand the plan of God; but he is able to offer Jesus what he believes Jesus wants—power over all the kingdoms of the world. The only catch is, Jesus must be obeisant to Satan.

Luke 4:8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, "Get you behind Me, Satan! For it is written: `You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.'" (Deut. 6:13)

This quotation comes from the book of Deuteronomy, which is primarily the teaching of Moses during his final month or so on earth. Despite these being the words of Moses, Jesus treats them as authoritative. That is, Jesus treats the words of Moses as being the Word of God. Based upon this (and similar passages), we have no reason to separate the words of God out of the Old Testament, as if they form a separate, more divine section. It is all the Word of God. It is all authoritative.

Luke 4:9 And he brought Him to Jerusalem, and set Him on a pinnacle of the temple and said unto Him, "If You be the Son of God, cast Yourself down from hence.

At the front of the Temple, there appears to have been a very high structure, possibly one that could be seen from a great distance. Jesus may be 5 or 6 stories up; and He may be hundreds of feet up (the height of this tower is disputed).

Somehow, defying the normal laws of gravity, Satan brings Jesus to the pinnacle of the Temple. Satan clearly has some supernatural powers, but they are limited to God’s specific limitations. For instance, here, Jesus is able to see Satan; and Satan is able to take certain liberties with the human body of Jesus (such as, taking Him to the pinnacle of the Temple). Satan is able to talk to Jesus. However, Satan cannot make himself visible to us, we cannot hear his voice, he cannot pick us up. Satan is allowed to exercise some influence over people—possibly even to place ideas into the thinking of some men (we do not know exactly how Satan’s viewpoint is made accessible to man). However, we can see clearly the results of Satan’s warped thinking today on our society in the United States. People accept homosexual relations as normal; and many accept transsexuals as a normal thing. Large numbers of Americans actually accept socialism as a better form of economy than capitalism. All of this is Satanic thinking.

My point being, Satan is limited by God as to what he can do. His influence is clearly felt within the United States (and throughout the rest of the world, of course, as it is his domain). Here, Satan is give more leeway regarding his interaction with Jesus.

Satan tells Jesus, “Throw Yourself down from here, if You are the Son of God.” Then Satan quotes Scriptures as well, to back up his point of view:

Luke 4:10–11 For it is written: `He shall give His angels charge over You to keep You,' and, `In their hands they shall bear You up, lest at any time You dash Your foot against a stone.' " Psalm 91:11, 12

Satan quotes Scripture back to Jesus. “God has given His angels charge over You to keep You. So You would not be harmed, even if You were to fall from here.”

Essentially, Satan is thinking, “You are quoting Scripture to me; I will quote it right back to You.” He attempts to use Scripture to make his point of view seem credible.

It is as if Satan is saying to Jesus, “You are up here at the very top of the Temple tower. You know You can simply drop to the ground, and you won’t be harmed. Here is the Scripture which proves that.”

Luke 4:12 And Jesus answering said unto him, "It is said, `You shall not tempt the Lord your God .' " (Deuteronomy 6:16)

Jesus tells Satan that he is not to tempt the Lord his God. Satan is not to put God to the test.

Interestingly enough, Jesus does not argue Satan’s ill-applied quote from Scripture, but simply condemns what Satan is doing. Jesus is not in some sort of debate with Satan. They have not sat down to debate any topic with all angelic creation in observance. Jesus is, in essence, telling Satan, “You have exceeded your limits right here. You do not get to test God in this way.”

The debate between Divine and satanic viewpoint has, at various times, occurred to some extent. When Scripture is taught accurately from the pulpit, that is divine viewpoint. What we see, hear and read in this world is often Satan’s cosmic thinking, but dressed up in some way or another (such as, social justice, which is not just).

Throughout His time on earth, Jesus is teaching both fallen and elect angels by what He says and does. This will continue in the Church Age by means of us, the Lord’s representatives. How do we do this? We remain in fellowship and we take in the Word of God.

Luke 4:13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from Him for a season.

Satan, after ending this temptation, departed from Jesus. Jesus used Scripture to remind Satan of his limitations; and that apparently ended these temptations.

We do not know if these are the only 3 direct temptations by Satan of Jesus. They are the only recorded ones.

Luke 4:14–15 Jesus early ministry without disciples and probably without signs or miracles

Luke 4:14–15 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and His fame went out through all the region round about. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

These two verses seem to reference the beginnings of the Lord’s public ministry, which I believe to be very different from the years which follow. We always picture Jesus with His disciples and He is wandering about, teaching and healing people. This does not appear to be the case here. He is teaching, but there are no disciples and He is not healing anyone.

Jesus would be depending upon God the Holy Spirit along with the doctrine in His soul to guide Him as He taught. My assumption is, Jesus would enter the synagogue and volunteer to read. He would read a few chapters and explain what He just read. People responded very positively to the Lord’s ministry during this period of time.

It says that He was glorified by all. This does not mean that people looked in the Lord’s direction and said, “Glory, glory to You.” It means, they told their friends and family. “You have to hear this new teacher who is at the synagogue. The Scriptures are making total sense. He explains them and I understand them far better than I did before.”

We do not know how long the period of time lasted. I have arbitrarily suggested that this continued for 6 months or so. There were no miracles, no healings and no disciples. Just teaching. Luke is the only biographer of Jesus to speak about this period of time.

What happens in the next section is, Jesus continues this ministry, but, because of the passage of Scripture before Him, He reveals Who He is.

With v. 16, Jesus’ circuit takes Him to where He was raised. Some of the people in the synagogue know Who He is.

Luke 4:16 And He came to Nazareth where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read.

Jesus continues this first segment of His ministry. On the Sabbath, He would go to the synagogue, wherever He was, and offer to read the Scriptures (along with several other men—locals—who also read the Scriptures).

So Jesus has come to Nazareth, where He was brought up. He appears to continue this familiar pattern of standing up, reading from the Scriptures and then explaining. However, Jesus does something which is very odd in this synagogue.

Generally speaking, a synagogue had a reading schedule. People did not stand up and read their favorite passage to those in attendance. They read each book of the Bible (the Old Testament), starting at the beginning and reading all of it. Possibly each synagogue chose the books to be read; perhaps the priests at the Temple released a list of the books to be read, and in what order. My point is, Jesus did not request this passage; nor, when handed the scroll, did He choose where to start reading. Someone had just finished reading Isaiah 60 (they were not divided into chapters then), and Jesus picked up with the next chapter.

As an aside, Jesus had heard and He knew the entire Bible by attending the synagogue all of His life as well as going to Jerusalem for the feasts as called for in the Old Testament. People did not have a copy of the Bible back then as is so common today. If they wanted to hear the Bible (and possibly hear it taught), they would have to go to the synagogue each Saturday and on any other Sabbath when it was open.

Luke 4:17–19 And there was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." (Isaiah 61:1–2)

Jesus did not simply find the place in Isaiah, but He obviously begins to read this prophecy from Isaiah. However, He suddenly stops and sits down. He has only read a few verses. There is much more to this prophecy; but Jesus did not read it.

Luke 4:20 And He closed the book, and He gave it again to the minister and sat down. And the eyes of all those who were in the synagogue were fastened on Him.

Now, since men typically would read several chapters from the Scriptures, for Jesus to read a few sentences, and then suddenly sit down, without explanation—this was very unusual.

Jesus also had a reputation for reading and explaining the Scriptures. Yet He read only 2 verses and sat down.

Because what Jesus did here was so odd, everyone was looking right at Him. He hands back the scroll, and sits down, and every eye in the synagogue is on Him. Instead of reading a few chapters, the Lord has read only a few sentences. Because this is so unusual, everyone is now looking at Jesus. Their eyes follow Him back to the seat where He had been sitting.

Luke 4:21 And He began to say unto them, "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears."

What Jesus says here is remarkable. He tells the people that these words which He just read—the people at the synagogue are witnessing right then and there and fulfillment of this Messianic passage.

Given the passage which He read, given the situation that Jesus is in, He reveals Who He is. He did not get up that morning thinking, “I will reveal Who I am; it is about time that I do that.” The passage which He read essentially demanded for Him to do this. Those words read at that moment in time revealed to Jesus that it was time.

You may recall that this was a rather complex study. However, the idea here is, the Old Testament is filled with prophecies of the Messiah and His return. From there, the next few words might be about the Tribulation and they might be about the Millennium. But, the idea is, there is a 1^st advent of Jesus (His birth and public ministry that we are studying) and a 2^nd advent (when He returns at the end of the Tribulation, which event leads mankind into the Millennium, after all the evil is removed from the earth).

Throughout the Old Testament, these two advents are generally treated as one. That is, there does not appear to be a period of time between the two advents. Jesus, due to the knowledge of Bible doctrine, and because He is a prophet, understood that there were two events in this passage. He stopped reading where the prophecy of the first advent stopped. Jesus reads only the prophecy of His 1^st advent and then tells the people of Nazareth that these words are being fulfilled right before them.

Between the 1^st and 2^nd advents is the Church Age. The Church Age is inserted (intercalated) in between these two great events. Did Jesus, in His humanity, understand this? It is my own opinion that He did not. He understood the two advents as being separate events, but I don’t believe that Jesus knew more than this at this point in His ministry (again, I believe that Jesus acts within the confines of being human throughout His earthly ministry—the doctrine of Kenosis).

Luke 4:22 And all bore Him witness and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"

Everyone there heard and understood what Jesus was saying. He had just told them that the words of Isaiah were being fulfilled right there before their eyes. This required some time for what Jesus said to sink in.

Let me suggest that a minute or so of silence followed those words of Jesus. Hearing that the greatest prophecy of the Bible is coming to pass would have stunned the synagogue attendees.

Then one of them spoke up, saying, “Isn’t this just Joseph’s son?” And most of the people appear to agree, setting aside the claims that Jesus was making. Many of the people there knew Jesus from a very young age—so how could He be the fulfillment of a prophecy in Isaiah?

Luke 4:23 And He said unto them, "You will surely say unto Me this proverb: `Physician, heal yourself! Whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in your country.'"

Jesus then prophesies two things that the people of Nazareth will say to Him in the future: (1) They will say something akin to, Physician, heal yourself; and (2) they will hear about mighty works being done by Him in Capernaum, and they will ask Him to do these works in Nazareth.

When Jesus was suffering on the cross, some people remarked, “He is calling for God. If He is the Son of God, let God save Him.” This is akin to someone saying, Physician, heal yourself. They were saying, Messiah-Savior, save Yourself.

Secondly, there will be works performed in Capernaum and elsewhere—healings and the casting out of demons (Jesus has not done this yet). Some will later complain, “If Jesus did these things here, maybe we might have believed in Him.” However, that is simply not true. Many people would witness miraculous healings at the hand of Jesus, and they did not change their minds or their position against Him.

Luke 4:24 And He said, "Verily I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.

Jesus points out that no prophet is accepted in his own country. Jesus is not given the respect in Nazareth that He should have received.

This leads me to a somewhat interesting tangent. If these men knew Jesus growing up, did they not recognize Him as being out of the ordinary? After all, He was sinless throughout His entire life. Let me suggest that this stood out less than we might think. We have all known very honest, moral people in our lives, who have led very nearly irreproachable lives. We know academically that they had sin natures, but this was not something that we actually observed (my father was such a person). This is how Jesus would have seemed to those who knew Him. In a moral culture, Jesus did not stand out, despite being sinless.

Luke 4:25–26 But I tell you in truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land. But unto none of them was Elijah sent, save unto Zarephath, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.

God’s plan is very specific. Despite there being many widows in Israel during Elijah’s lifetime, Elijah was sent to a very specific widow. Elijah went to the person who was positive toward the plan of God.

Jesus is making the point that, God’s plan called for Him to reveal Himself in Nazareth, despite having been raised up there. God’s plan reveals from the beginning the negative volition of the Hebrew people towards their Messiah. The other widows would not have received Elijah. They would have been skeptical of him and his mission. Just as the Nazarenes are skeptical of Jesus.

Luke 4:27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed, except Naaman the Syrian."

Jesus makes the same point here with Elisha the prophet. There were many lepers who needed to be cleansed, but only one from among them was.

There were going to be many specific things which take place during the life and ministry of Jesus the Messiah, and they are done just that way in accordance with God’s plan. Jesus would not heal every person who is sick; Jesus would not cast out demons from every person who is possessed. He would, after a time, even go to the gentiles and present Himself as the Messiah.

Luke 4:28–29 Then all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him unto the brow of a hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast Him down headlong.

The people were filled with emotion; they were angry. What Jesus has alleged has sunk into their thinking, and they reject Him as their Messiah. They did not believe that Jesus, the supposed Son of Joseph, could be the Messiah.

Their city was built upon a hill, and they took Him to the edge of this city, to the edge of this hill. Their intention was to throw Him down the hill to His death.

It is fascinating, because one of the temptations of the Lord was to allow Himself to simply fall from the pinnacle of the Temple, knowing that the angels would protect Him. Here, Jesus is being faced with the same thing once again.

Jesus is able to pass through the midst of these men, who are unable to recognize Him. He simply goes on His way from there; no one is able to recognize and stop Him. No one cries out, “Here He is! Grab Him!”

Some of these people had some moderate knowledge of Jesus, given that He grew up there. However, none of them were able to see and know the Lord as He walked through the middle of them. They could not stop Him from walking through their midst and out of Nazareth. They did not know Him.

Luke 4:31 And He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath days.

It is approximately 32 miles between Nazareth and Capernaum. It would have taken Jesus perhaps 2–4 days for this walk, depending upon the geography. It is fairly easy, if there is a modern road with a grassy walkway next to it, to make this walk in a day. However, even though there would have been a road between the two cities, it may not have been very easy road to ride or walk. We might liken it to a poorly developed trail off in the wilderness.

Luke 4:32 And they were astonished at His doctrine, for His word was with power.

The people in Capernaum were astonished at what Jesus taught. Jesus also combined His teaching with power, which power is described in the verses which follow.

Luke 4:33–34 And in the synagogue there was a man, who had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Let us alone! What have we to do with You, You Jesus of Nazareth? Are You come to destroy us? I know You and who You are -- the Holy One of God !"

Jesus only announced Who He was in Nazareth. This was not something that He did every time that He spoke. In fact, He almost never made such a clear declaration again; and not before a crowd of people.

Demons, however, have a better understanding of the invisible struggle and the part that they play in it. They know Who Jesus is and they fear that He will cast them into a state of permanent judgment. They are better able to look at Jesus and perceive exactly Who He is.

Luke 4:35 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Hold your peace, and come out of him!" And when the devil had thrown him in their midst, he came out of him and hurt him not.

Jesus told the demon who was speaking to shut it, and He ordered the demon out of the man. There is nothing that the demon is allowed to do upon his exit from the man he possessed. This suggests that a demon might be prone to retribution; that it may want to retaliate against the man whose body it possessed, but he is apparently not allowed.

Luke 4:36 And they were all amazed, and spoke among themselves, saying, "What a word is this! For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out."

There are many people in the synagogue in Capernaum. What just had occurred would have been quite amazing. The behavior of this man was no doubt disturbing and noticed by everyone in the synagogue. The sudden return to normalcy must have been quite remarkable to the witnesses who are there. Clearly, no one had seen anything like this before.

I have suggested that Luke is both chronological (with a few obvious places where it is not) and that Jesus did not do signs or miracles until this visit to Capernaum, even though He had been teaching Scripture for an indeterminate period of time previously (I arbitrarily have suggested 6 months).

It does not appear that Jesus did anything but dismiss the demon, but that was enough. His fame went out to the cities and villages around Capernaum. Nobody had seen anything like this happen before, so this would have been the talk of this area.

Luke 4:38 And He arose out of the synagogue and entered into Simon's house. And Simon's wife's mother was taken with a great fever, and they besought Him for her.

When some passages are read in isolation, it seems as if Jesus just sees random people wandering about and He would say, “You, leave everything and follow Me.” But here, Simon (Peter) has a relationship with Jesus that predates his being called by Jesus.

It is reasonable to think that many, if not all, of the disciples had some sort of interaction with Jesus before He chose them. Although it appears that Jesus seems to choose these men out of thin air, let me suggest that Jesus knew these men by talking with them and by observing them. These men were followers of Jesus, to some extent, prior to Jesus calling them.

At this point, Jesus appears to know Simon (Peter); and that he and others asked Jesus to come to see Simon’s mother-in-law.

Many do not appear to understand Jesus’ ministry or His power or how He was guided. There is no reason to assume that Jesus had specific directions given Him by God the Father; or that He acted based upon His omniscience as God the Son. What we read here suggests how Jesus chose to go from point A to point B. Simon and several others requested Jesus to come and see Simon’s mother-in-law. They recognize that Jesus has some power and authority, based upon Him casting out that demon (or, demons). Jesus hears their petition and goes with them.

All or most of the Lord’s ministry was done in the power of the Spirit in His humanity. He did not access His Deity or He rarely accessed His Deity (the more I study the gospels, the more I lean towards Him never accessing His Divine nature).

Exactly how this works, and exactly how the Lord’s Deity functions apart from His humanity is difficult to understand. As R. B. Thieme, Jr. pointed out, there is at least one verse which indicates that Jesus, as God, held the universe together, even while being a baby in a manger. We can have some understanding of this strictly from the man-ward side—that He chooses not to access the attributes of Deity throughout His earthly ministry.

To offer yet another illustration: most of us have credit cards. Let’s say you have a credit card with a $5000 limit. Do you immediately go out and run that card limit up to the top? Or, do you have that card in your wallet, and maybe you use it and maybe you do not. Having the card but not using it is analogous to Jesus being God but not using those resources (like all analogies, this is certainly not a perfect one).

Luke 4:39 And He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and ministered unto them.

Apparently Simon’s mother-in-law was extremely ill; but when Jesus rebuked her fever, she was completely good-to-go. She likely provided a meal for Jesus and the followers who are with Him.

Many people apparently knew Peter and his mother-in-law and knew of her sickness. So when Jesus heals her (and or, they hear about Him casting out the demon (s) in the synagogue), everyone with a sick friend or relative quickly runs that person down and brings him or her to Jesus.

Luke 4:40 Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto Him; and He laid His hands on everyone of them, and healed them.

Apparently all day long, people began bringing their sick to Jesus and He healed them.

Jesus was associated with God the Father; and when He places his hands on the sick, He is identifying them with the power of God. Jesus is not necessarily using any innate power which He has but, just like Moses, was able to let God work through Him.

Luke 4:41 And devils also came out of many, crying out and saying, "You are Christ, the Son of God !" And He, rebuking them, suffered them not to speak; for they knew that He was Christ.

What appears to be the case is, when someone with a demon was brought to Jesus, the demon would immediately identify Jesus as the Messiah, (= Christ) the Son of God. Jesus would stop them, and likely stopped all of the demons from speaking at some point. Jesus was not going to allow demons to testify as to His person.

In his humanity, Jesus has the authority to require something or to forbid something, but He lacks the power. Let me provide an analogous situation: the Pharaoh of Egypt prior to the exodus had the authority to order pyramids and other buildings built. However, he did not, in himself, have the power to build anything. Men under his authority required of the Hebrew people the building of these structures and the Hebrew slaves actually did the work. So Jesus is exercising authority which God has given to Him; but He is not using His divine power to limit or direct the actions of the demons. They are being cast out either by God the Father or God the Holy Spirit. Similarly, what they are able to say is similarly limited.

Luke 4:42–44 Although Jesus went out into the desert, the people sought Him out and found Him. He continued teaching in the Galilee region.

Luke 4:42 And when it was day, He departed and went into a desert place. And the people sought Him and came unto Him and would have stayed Him, that He should not depart from them.

Jesus, in His humanity, desired time apart from the human race. Many of us can relate to that. How many of us have hunted or fished or hiked among nature, simply to get away from it all? Even when I used to go to the ocean with my family, I used to enjoy hiking out by myself, often to deserted places that I had not been before.

Jesus has the added dimension of communing with God in these circumstances (obviously, believers have the added dimension of appreciating nature as God’s creation when going to the mountains or to the ocean).

Luke 4:43 But He said unto them, "I must preach the Kingdom of God to other cities also, for therefore am I sent."

Jesus could not simply have a ministry in Capernaum. Even though His ministry was severely limited in a geographical sense (more than any other religious figure), He still chose to go to many cities and villages.

You may recall that this is a disputed reading. However, Galilee makes much more sense, as Jesus only went down to Jerusalem (in Judæa) 3 or 4 times during His public ministry. Most of His public ministry, interestingly enough, took place up in the northern kingdom (as it was known hundreds of years previous).

An Understandable Version (by William E. Paul; ©1994, 2003) is used for the text. Inserted into the translated text are some additional notes by Wm. Paul, always placed in brackets and italicized. So, the notes which appear in that formatting come from Wm. Paul and not from me.

Jesus has had a public ministry for a period of time different from the public ministry which we associate with Him. Perhaps this had continued for a few months; perhaps as long as a year. But this ministry is barely described in two verses back in the previous chapter.

In that chapter, Jesus did not have any of His 12 disciples; He did not appear to perform healings or any other miracles; He appeared to travel by Himself from synagogue to synagogue. Perhaps there were disciples (students of His) who traveled with Him; perhaps not. I lean towards there being some followers with Jesus from the very beginning, some of whom go back to John the Herald’s baptism of Him.

Nevertheless, in this chapter, we will begin studying more about the sort of ministry with which we are all more familiar. Jesus will have disciples whom He calls; He will teach and He will heal; and He will have His detractors (the Pharisees and others of the religious hierarchy). He will teach the Old Testament; and He will teach using parables. This describes the bulk of His public ministry. All of these things appear to begin with v. 31 of the prevous chapter and continues on with this chapter.

Luke 5:1 Now it happened while Jesus was standing on the shore of Lake Genneseret [i.e., Lake Galilee] that the crowd was pushing closer to Him to hear God’s message.

This narrative apparently takes place not too long after Jesus was teaching in Nazareth, in the synagogue, where He proclaimed Himself the Messiah (and was nearly killed for saying that).

Along the lake, Jesus is receiving a much larger response of those who want to hear Him teach. The people here appear to be very positive towards His teaching.

One thing that Jesus will no longer be teach to the crowds is, that He is the Messiah. He is; He knows that He is; but most of those in Nazareth became enraged when He taught this.

We do not know exactly how this is taking place. However, Jesus has been, for several months, teaching in synagogues all over the region, and on off days, people apparently wanted more.

At this point in time, this situation of Jesus standing alone in the midst of a crowd—it appears to be potentially dangerous. There are a very large number of people who have come to Jesus. Somehow, these crowds need to have some control.

Luke 5:2 He saw two boats [tied up] along the shore of the lake, for the fishermen had left them [there] and were washing their nets [i.e., on the beach].

Jesus, as we would expect, is extremely observant, and His immediate environment often plays a part in the narratives that we read.

Jesus observes a group of fishermen who are washing their nets on the beach. He actually knows some of them.

Luke 5:3 So, He entered one of the boats that belonged to Simon [i.e., Peter], and asked him to launch out a short distance from shore. Then He sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.

Jesus goes on to one of these boats which belongs to Simon (Peter). We know from the other biographies of Jesus that He and Simon have already been introduced by Simon’s brother Andrew, who met Jesus when listening to John the Herald. So there is enough history there for Jesus to be able to make this request of Peter.

Jesus gets into the boat, asks that it be taken a little ways from the shore, and then Jesus teaches from there. The water around the boat forms a natural border between Jesus and the people.

Given all that is taking place, there may be a thousand or more people listening to Jesus.

Luke 5:4 And when He had finished talking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into deeper water and lower your nets for a catch [of fish].”

At this point, recall that the human author, Luke, did not see any of these things take place himself. He heard these stories from those who experienced them firsthand. I suggested that Luke heard this from Peter, and here is why: Peter is very distracted at this point in time and he did not hear a word of what Jesus said. Hence, this narrative concentrates heavily on Jesus and Peter interacting, but there is not a word from Jesus’ teaching this large crowd. It would have been brilliant; it would have been thought-provoking, and yet, Peter did not hear a single word of it. Peter remembers his interaction with Jesus at the beginning, but once Jesus began to speak, Peter tuned out.

Surely you have gone to church before and emerged an hour later, unable to remember a single thing that was taught, because you spent that entire time thinking about your own personal problems. That is what is happening with Peter at this time.

Jesus, fully aware that Simon had not heard a single thing that He said, speaks to Simon directly, and He tells Simon what he needs to do. “Let’s go out into deeper water and than you can cast your nets into the water there.”

Luke 5:5 Simon replied, “Master, we worked all night, but did not catch anything. But I will lower the nets if you say so.”

Peter is not being disrespectful; he simply lays out the facts. They had worked all that night and had caught nothing at all. “But, You want me to go out a little further and lower the nets, I will do that.” (Peter is no doubt thinking, “I have no idea what Your plan is, but this is a waste of my time.”)

Luke 5:6 And when they had done this, they gathered in a large number of fish [until] their nets began to break.

When Peter did what Jesus suggested, Peter’s net became engorged with fish—with enough fish to break the nets. This is coming out of the same water which yielded not a single fish to Peter and his crew the night before.

Luke 5:7 So, they motioned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. When they came, they filled both boats until they began to sink.

They called for their partners in the other boat to come and help them. The other boat was brought near, and all of the men struggled to bring all of the fish on board. There was more fish than the two boats were able to hold. The boats began to sink noticeably lower into the waters.

Luke 5:8 But when Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, because I am a sinful man.”

Peter knows all that has taken place. Jesus has been teaching for however long, and Peter knows that he did not listen to a word of His sermon. During the sermon, Peter was thinking about what a lousy night that they had just had and how that impacted his life and the lives of the others there. But now, they had so many fish, they almost cannot transport them.

Although Luke does not give us the background, Andrew, Simon’s brother, brought Simon to meet Jesus, telling Simon that Jesus was the Messiah. Let me suggest that, at this point, Simon realizes that is a fact. Simon also becomes acutely aware of the moral distance between himself and Jesus.

Sometimes at salvation, a person may have a distinct understanding of his unworthiness before God; and sometimes, this information is learned after salvation. In any case, it is a good idea to begin to understand how far we are from being right with God if we stand upon our own merits. At this point in his life, Peter gets this. He understands that there is a great gulf between his own personal standards and righteousness; and those of the Lord. That gap is so massive that Peter understands there is nothing that will bridge the gap between himself and the Lord.

Luke 5:9 For he and those who were with him were amazed at the [huge] quantity of fish they had caught.

Throughout the Bible, in the Old and New Testaments, there is one thing that all these miracles have in common: they are always audience-appropriate. Jesus does this miracle for Peter and the others who work with him (presumably Andrew, James and John). Let me suggest that not one of them heard the sermon which Jesus gave that day—all that was on their minds the whole time was their lack of fish. And now they have more fish than they know what to do with. They are now ruminating about what just happened.

The concept is this: these men spent an hour or two thinking about their own problems while the Lord of Glory was teaching them the truth—truth which they could not even be bothered with. Their personal problems were greater, in their own minds, than what Jesus had to say. But now, each one of these men understands the gravity of this situation and the power of God working through Jesus.

Peter’s own conclusion is this: “Lord, I should not even be in the same room as You.”

Luke 5:10 Simon’s partners James and John, sons of Zebedee, were also amazed. So, Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will catch people.”

These 3 men (4, when you include Andrew) are awestruck by what has just happened. Jesus tells them, “From now on, you will be catching people (instead of fish).”

As an aside, this is very prophetic, as these disciples would primarily act as evangelists for most of their lives.

Bear in mind that Jesus is a prophet, and He will make prophetical announcements. Speaking prophetically does not mean that He is accessing His Deity. No prophet from the Old Testament was equal to God.

Quite frankly, I do not know how the mind of a prophet works. My guess would be this: the prophet has information in his own mind much as you or I have information stored in our own minds. I read this verse, I study it in the Greek, and then I pontificate about it. Because I am using the grace apparatus for perception, this is all a grace process. As I study and learn more about this verse, I am able to expound upon it. I would think that a prophet will occasionally have information in his mind which he did not really have process by which it enters into his mind. Either God, in some way, tells him, “X, Y and Z;” or, that information is suddenly in his soul. “Hmm,” the prophet thinks to himself, “X, Y and Z.”

So Jesus, at various points during His teaching ministry, has information somehow implanted in His thinking, as He is a prophet.

Luke 5:11 And when they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed Jesus.

These men were convinced. They brought their boats onto shore and left everything behind in order to follow Jesus.

Luke 5:12 And it happened while Jesus was in one of the towns [i.e., surrounding Lake Galilee], that a man covered with an infectious skin disease appeared and, when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face [to the ground] and begged Him, saying, “If you want to, You can heal me.” [Note: Throughout this narrative the terms “heal/healing” are originally “clean/cleansing” because the Jews viewed a person with such a disease as ceremonially “unclean.” See Lev. 13:1-3].

Jesus continues His ministry to the various cities and villages in Galilee. Bear in mind that this would have been considered northern Israel after the time of Solomon, when two nations were formed from nation Israel (which was a unified nation under Saul, David and Solomon). We often call them the northern and southern kingdoms (or Israel and Judah), but they operated as independent nations after Solomon died.

Both nations were disciplined by God, to the point of each nation suffering the 5^th stage of national discipline (= the 5^th cycle of discipline). The Bible contains quite a bit of information about Judah (the southern kingdom) becoming reconstituted as a nation; however, after 400 b.c. or so, they were no longer an independent nation.

The northern kingdom also faced the 5^th stage of national discipline, earlier than the southern kingdom; but how it was reconstituted is less well-defined.

I bring up this history because Jesus did most of His teaching in the northern kingdom (in Samaria and in the Galilee region). Obviously, most of His teaching was to Jews (given that He teaches at the synagogues throughout this region). It is less clear which tribes are there. Jesus is from the tribe of Judah (genetically and legally), yet He was raised up north (not in Judæa, where the tribes of Judah and Simeon originally settled).

Not many of the 10 northern tribes are mentioned in the gospels. Some people, over the years, who have called them the ten lost tribes). Nevertheless, Asher is mentioned in Luke 2:36. The territories of Zebulun and Naphtali are mentioned in Matt.4:13–15. There is a town named Ephraim in John 11:54. Paul is famously from the tribe of Benjamin (Romans 11:1 Philippians 3:5). Levi (Levites) is (are) mentioned throughout the New Testament, as they were scattered throughout both regions. My point is, there are a lot of Jews living in the northern kingdom. Clearly, they must know their Jewish heritage, or those names would not be used. However, I am unaware of a clear history of their return to the land (to the northern kingdom). It is certainly possible that small patches of Hebrew groups never left the northern kingdom.

Israel at the Time of Jesus (a map); from Conforming to Jesus; accessed October 1, 2021. Galilee and Samaria (populated mostly by those who are half Jew and half gentile) are where the northern kingdom was; Judæa is where the southern kingdom was. There territories shown on the map and much more were a part of what made up a united Israel under Kings David and Solomon.

Most of Jesus’ teaching takes place in Galilee, but He does some teaching in Samaria, Judæa and Perea.

The actual region where Jesus taught is very small compared to other religious leaders; and the period of His public ministry (3–4 years) is also very short comparatively speaking. Historically speaking, we should not even know Who Jesus is. Examining, from human viewpoint, what Jesus did as a religious leader suggests that the greatest miracle of all is, we know His name.

That being said, while Jesus is teaching in Galilee, a leprous man came up to Him and said, “I know that You can make me clean, if You choose to.” That is quite an amazing statement of faith, because Jesus’ ability to heal was not well-known at the beginning of His public ministry. Up to this point in time, Jesus had healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law and a number of others (Luke 4:40–41), but we have no record of Him healing a leper.

There is also a question of, how does the leper know to come to Jesus. For the most part, lepers are going to be separated from society, to keep them from spreading their malady. Yet, somehow this man knew about Jesus and he had enough faith to seek Jesus out.

Luke 5:13 Then He reached out His hand and touched the man, saying, “I [do] want to; be healed.” And immediately the infectious skin disease left him.

Jesus, amazingly enough, touches this man (ceremonially, a person is made unclean by touching a leper). However, somehow, rather than the unclean leper making Jesus unclean; Jesus made the leper clean.

Luke 5:14 Then He ordered the man not to tell anyone [about the healing], saying, “Go on your way and show yourself to the priest and offer the proper sacrifice for your healing that Moses required [Lev. 13:49; 14:2ff] as evidence to people [that you were healed].”

What Jesus has done is a very major thing; and if He is looking to drum up some interest in His ministry, He could have told this man, “Go back out into the world and tell everyone you have ever known what I just did. If they know you from being a leper, this whole thing will knock their socks off.” But Jesus does not do that. He tells the man to go to a priest and follow the ceremonial instructions for a leper who has been cured.

The people to whom Jesus is sending this man have performed a great number of sacrifices and offerings, according to the specifics laid out in the book of Leviticus. Many of the ceremonies that they oversee are so well-known to them that they can simply do them, without even needing to reread the Biblical instructions. However, this is one thing which they have never done before. This leper shows up and these priests will be in a panic. “What are we supposed to do? I know the instructions are in the Scriptures, but where exactly?”

Jesus healing men was not specifically to alleviate suffering, although Jesus clearly did feel empathy for men so stricken. The healings which Jesus did were illustrative. This leper, his body covered with skin abrasions and various eruptions on the epidermis, is a picture of us ruled by our sin nature. How the leper looks to his fellow man; that is how we look to God. Jesus curing this man symbolizes our spiritual healing at salvation. In life, we continue to have a sin nature; however, by the use of rebound, we are able to be graciously controlled by God the Holy Spirit and to perform divine good.

Luke 5:15 But the news about what Jesus had done spread all the more widely, so that large crowds assembled to listen to Him and to be healed of their sicknesses.

Other people were there and they witnessed this with their own eyes. People told everyone that they knew what was taking place.

Many religious leaders love the position of recognition and even adoration which they receive. Some even seem to bathe themselves in that light. However, Jesus regularly sought to have time alone with God.

Throughout the Lord’s ministry, He took time to pray to God the Father in private. We do not know if this was a one-way or a two-way conversation. In my opinion, Jesus did all of the talking to His Father (off the top of my head, I can remember only two instances in the gospels when God’s voice from heaven was audible).

Jesus heals a paralytic before an audience which included pharisees and teachers of the Law

Luke 5:17a And it happened on one of those days [in Capernaum. See Mark 2:1], as Jesus was teaching, that some Pharisees [i.e., a strict sect of the Jewish religion] and teachers of the Law of Moses, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem, were sitting around [i.e., listening to Him].

Jesus ministry had begun a new phase, since He had taught in Nazareth. He was now healing people and He had called some disciples. There was a period of time which is described in one passage where Jesus simply went from synagogue to synagogue reading the Scriptures and then teaching them (which ministry is found in the previous chapter).

In Nazareth, Jesus caused a great commotion by claiming to be the Messiah. The people there tried to kill Him.

Since then, He no longer publically claims to be the Messiah. However, he has performed some miracles and healings (the Holy Spirit worked through Him to cause these things to happen).

Pharisees have come to observe Jesus. We can only speculate as to how and why they did this. What He said in Nazareth certainly caused a big stir; and what He has done lately, by way of signs and miracles, has also been quite incredible. He had also cleansed that leper, and told him to keep his healing quiet. However, the mental attitude sins was to go and tell the priests, so that they could go through the ritual from the Bible for lepers being cleansed. It is likely that these were the things which caused the Pharisees to come and to audit what Jesus is doing.

People were coming from all over to see Jesus; and members of this religious sect were also coming from all over to observe Him.

Also, right at this time, Jesus was aware of His own power to heal—that this ability was in full force on this particular day.

Jesus, in His humanity, did not have the inherent ability to heal people. Jesus in His Deity certainly could heal anyone, but He did not operate in the power of His Deity (the doctrine of Kenosis). The very fact that this verse specifically tells us that the Lord (=God the Father) was with Jesus to heal indicates that we are not speaking of an innate ability of the humanity of Jesus.

Luke 5:18 Just then [four] men [See Mark 2:3] brought a paralyzed man on a cot and attempted to place him in front of Jesus.

It appears that the period of time during which Jesus has been healing is relatively short. However, Luke 4:40 tells us that many people from all over came to Him to be healed. Therefore, this became an important and well-known part of His ministry.

4 men + 1 paralyzed man came to see the Lord while He is here, speaking in Capernaum (Mark 2:1–3). Their intention was to place this paralyzed man before Jesus.

Luke 5:19 But because they could not find a [suitable] way to get him in [to the house] because of the people crowded [around], they went up to the housetop [Note: This was a flat area, where people retired for rest, prayer, etc., with a stairway accessible from the outside] and lowered the man on his cot through the roof tiles into the presence of Jesus.

The men could see where Jesus was, but it was also clear that getting close to Him was nearly impossible, as there were so many people crowded around Him. The men determined that they could get onto the housetop and be very close to the Lord.

Many houses of that era came with a courtyard (this is where Jesus probably was speaking) and a rooftop where people might go to catch a breeze (rooftops in this era were designed to be lived on). People lived in their courtyards and on their roofs just as often as they were inside of the house structure.

By going onto the roof, these men were able to lower the cot very close to Jesus.

Luke 5:20 And when He saw the evidence of their faith, He said, “Man, your sins are forgiven.”

Jesus no doubt observed all of this; and He was aware of the pharisees in the audience. What He says here He knows to be very provocative. Jesus was a brilliant man, and He knew that this would cause quite a stir.

The pharisees were quietly observing. They might have said a few things to one another; they may have been taking some mental notes, but they were not revealing bias or opposition in the beginning. However, these words from Jesus apparently flushed them out.

Luke 5:21 Then the experts in the Law of Moses and the Pharisees began to reason [in their minds], saying, “Who is this man who speaks things against God [i.e., by claiming the ability to forgive sins]? Who can forgive sins except God only?”

Despite having the word saying here, we do not know whether this group of men spoke to one another quietly, or if this simply reflects what they were thinking (people can speak to themselves in their own minds).

When Jesus said, “Man, your sins are forgiven,” that would have caused quite a stir among the religious crowd. Charley Brown could not simply tell Lucy Van Pelt, “Your sins are forgiven.” That would be unheard of; and this is how they saw it. The pharisees saw Jesus as an ordinary man—possibly as an independent religious charlatan—but what he said here stepped over the line.

Luke 5:22 But Jesus perceived their reasonings and answered them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts?

Jesus can see the religious crowd and He knows what they are thinking. This is not because He is functioning in His omniscience, but simply because He knew what He said would have provoked them. He probably said those words, in part, for that reason. He knew exactly what they would be thinking: “What the heck did He just say? No man can forgive sins!”

Luke 5:23 Which is easier, to say [to the paralyzed man], ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?

Jesus certainly has their attention, and He says to this religious group, “Which is easier for Me to say to this paralyzed man? ‘Your sins are forgiven;’ or, ‘Stand up and walk?’ ”

No doubt, the religious types begin to ponder this question. If He says, “Your sins are forgiven,” what can we really say about this? What does it look like for sins to be forgiven? But if Jesus says, “Stand up and walk,” then we can all see that. The man either gets up and walks or he doesn’t. But how could He make such a man walk?

Do you see? If they ponder these two options, the first requires Jesus to have divine authority, as no one but God can forgive sins. But the second—which involves a miraculous healing—would that not reveal that Jesus has this divine authority?

Luke 5:24 But so you will know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins [I will command this man to walk], (He then said to the paralyzed man), ‘I say to you, get up, pick up your cot and go home.’”

Then Jesus says, “I have the authority to say both of these things. Now I am going to say the things that should prove to you that I can forgive sins.” He turns to the paralyzed man and says, “Get up, pick up your cot, and go home.”

The recorded narrative suggests that this seems to happen very quickly. That is, Jesus is not engaging the pharisees here in a discussion. He knows what they are thinking; and He answers whatever misgivings that they may have directly.

Luke 5:25 So, immediately he stood up in front of them and picked up what he had been lying on [i.e., his cot], and went home, giving honor to God.

The man stands up in front of the pharisees and everyone else and he picks up his cot. He then walks home, giving honor to God for his healing.

Luke 5:26 And everyone was filled with amazement; they gave honor to God and were overwhelmed with reverence, saying, “We have seen incredible things today.”

Everyone saw this. Even though Jesus did this specifically for the pharisees to see, to answer the questions in their mind, everyone in this large crowd saw this, and they were amazed.

Luke 5:27 Then after these things happened, Jesus went out [i.e., probably walking along a street] and saw a publican [Note: This was a person with a bad reputation for dishonest tax collecting activities] named Matthew [i.e., the same person as Levi. See Mark 2:14] sitting at the toll booth [collecting taxes] and said, “Become my follower.”

In many of the gospels, it appears as if Jesus simply picks some random dude out of a crowd and tells him to follow Him; and so he does. However, when we examined Simon (Peter) earlier, it was clear that they had interacted on several occasions prior to Jesus calling him.

I would suggest to you that the calling of Matthew was not random and completely spontaneous. It is possible that Jesus came looking for him specifically. A lack of background history does not mean that the two men had no history. However, we cannot rule out that Jesus, as a prophet, knew this man, and therefore called him.

Luke 5:29 Then Levi prepared a lavish dinner for Jesus at his house. A large number of [other] tax collectors were [also] having dinner with them.

We have parties and gatherings all of the time. However, this is not nearly as common in the ancient world—particularly a spontaneous dinner, as what appears to be taking place here (I say spontaneous, because Jesus calls Matthew; and then, by that evening, there is a dinner party).

Many of us have a thing for celebrities, and if our favorite celebrity (a football player, an actor, a politician, a billionaire) somehow walked into our life, we might want to throw a party for everyone that we know so that they might meet this celebrity face to face (and certainly, we hope that our association with this celebrity will impress our friends and relatives). This is sort of what Matthew was doing, but not exactly. The greatest celebrity of all time (in fact, the only true celebrity of the human race) is Jesus. Matthew would like everyone that he knows to meet this Jesus. Let me suggest that Matthew is not doing this to bask in the notoriety of knowing Jesus, but to introduce his friends to Jesus.

After Jesus told the leper that his sins were forgiven him, the religious types began to take a much closer and more critical look at Jesus. We do not know if they were invited to this party or not, but they are there.

Luke 5:30 Now the Pharisees and their experts in the Law of Moses complained to Jesus’ disciples, saying, “Why do you men eat and drink with tax collectors and worldly people?”

The pharisees and the experts in the Law of Moses are still around. Are they at the party? Could anyone come to the party? Did they hang around the entrance to the party? These religious types are still complaining about the things being done by Jesus.

They have sized up the situation and they realize that going head-on against Jesus might be difficult. He is quick and can meet their arguments. But, the disciples—well, that is a whole other matter.

The pharisees ask the disciples specifically, “Why are you all eating with tax collectors and other worldly people?” Those associated with the religious pharisees are not considered worldly; and those not closely associated with them are considered worldly.

Luke 5:31 And Jesus answered them, “People who are healthy do not need a doctor, but [only] sick people do.

Jesus is apparently watching over His disciples. He hears the objection made by the pharisees and Law experts, and He steps in. He tells the religious types, “Only sick people need to see a doctor.” What He is telling them is, only people who have sinned and cannot reach God need Me.

Obviously, the religious types need Jesus as well, even though they may not recognize that fact.

Luke 5:32 I did not come to call those who are doing right to repent [i.e., to change their hearts and lives], but [only those who are] sinners.”

Jesus has not come to call the righteous to a change of mind; He makes His appeal to those who are sinners (the types of sins committed is not really a part of this discussion, although the pharisees would like to make it so).

We understand that all people are sinners; however, the pharisees did not see themselves in the same classification as the tax collectors and others at this party. Jesus tells the religious crowd, “These people that you disapprove of—they are the very ones I need to reach.”

The pharisees essentially blow off Jesus’ response and they essentially build upon their first objection. Now they address Jesus directly.

Luke 5:33 Then they said to Jesus, “John’s [the Immerser’s] disciples fast frequently [i.e., going without food and/or drink for religious reasons] and they offer earnest prayer requests, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same things. But Your disciples eat and drink.”

It is apparent, by this statement, that the religious types have done some research. They have not just shown up out of the blue to listen, to consider, and to discuss later. They have put together what they believe to be some serious disparities. As far as they can see, these objections have no answers.

Even though the pharisees were not fans of John the baptizer, they noted that his disciples fasted a lot and they prayed a lot; as do the disciples of the pharisees. “However,” they say, ‘Your disciples don’t do any of that stuff. Here, they are just eating and drinking and hanging out.”

Luke 5:34 Jesus answered them, “Can you force the companions of the groom to fast while the groom is [still] with them?

Jesus is the groom and His disciples are the friends of the groom. Prior to the wedding, the groom and his friends are celebrating. They are not fasting. It would make little sense for the groom and his friends to hang out together and fast.

Luke 5:35 But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them [Note: Jesus here refers to Himself]. Then they will fast at that time.”

There will be a time when the groom (Jesus) is taken away from His friends. At that point in time, they will fast (but not in the way that the religious types fast).

You may recall the fasting is simply taking a legitimate act—like eating—and setting it aside temporarily while time is spent on spiritual things (such as, learning the Word of God).

Luke 5:36 And He told them a parable [i.e., a brief story to illustrate His teaching]: “No one tears a piece [of cloth] from a new item of clothing and sews it on an old one. If he does, it will tear the new one. And besides, the piece [of cloth] from the new clothing will not match the old one.

The pharisees have tried to take what they know from their own ministry and from the ministry of John the Herald and apply it to the work of Jesus. The things of the pharisees and even of John represent the old cloth. Jesus is the new cloth. You cannot take a patch from old clothing and try to patch up a new shirt. It won’t match and it won’t shrink in the same way.

The pharisees are somehow likening John the Herald’s ministry to their own, as they both pray and fast. Jesus is telling them, “These two things do not fit together. It is like trying to repair an old piece of fabric with a new patch. It just won’t work.”

Luke 5:37–38 And no one puts freshly squeezed grape juice into previously used bottles made of animal skins. [If he does], the newly squeezed juice will [crack and] burst the [dried out] animal skins and [all the juice will] spill out, and the animal skin bottles will [also] become useless. But freshly squeezed grape juice must be put into newly made animal skins.

Jesus then illustrates the same thing with a different parable. New wine (or grape juice) is placed into new skins. The new skins are more pliable, and when the juice begins to ferment, these new skins expand as needed; they will not burst open.

If new grape juice is placed into old wine containers made of leather, the fermentation process will burst. the old skins.

The old skins represent the traditional teachings of the pharisees and other religious types. The Jewish people had developed great traditions around the Mosaic Law. They defined in detail what not working on the Sabbath looked like. Then they held the people to these new regulations.

Jesus’ teaching, which was, at this point in time, simply the Old Testament, His correct exegesis of the Scriptures would be the new wine (the unfermented grape juice). His teaching could not be put into the confinement of the Jewish traditions; otherwise it would burst those traditions, much as unfermented wine would cause old skins to burst as the wine begins to ferment.

Luke 5:39 And no one who has drunk aged wine wants newly squeezed [juice], for he says, ‘The older [grape juice] is better.’”

This remark is also directed at the pharisees. They want their old wine, which refers to the old religious customs which they have followed all of their lives. They do not want fresh squeezed juice because it has not yet aged and fermented.

What Jesus is offering is newly squeezed juice (as per the parable). The pharisees do not want that.

It is possible that this should be reversed. That is, Jesus is providing the old wine—accurate teaching from the Old Testament. The pharisees are promoting their new teachings (their traditions). Once people taste the old wine (which Jesus is teaching), they will not want the new wine of the pharisees (the traditions which they developed after the writing of the Old Testament).

The interpretation of this final parable depends upon who is the person making the subjective judgment, “I want the old wine; not the new wine.”

No parable or analogy matches up in all respects, so we need to be careful not to push them in that way. Jesus’ teaching is actually the accurate teaching of the Old Testament. What the Pharisees and other religious types are teaching is based upon their traditions more than it is based upon the Old Testament.

Today, in Judaism, this is even more apparent. If you find the most conservative synagogue in your region and watch what they do and say, you will recognize that there is only the barest connection to the Old Testament. They may even read the Old Testament (often in Hebrew), but the practices outlined in the Old Testament—that is not what they do today.

With this very long lesson, we close out our study of Luke 6, an amazing chapter in the Word of God.

The translation I will use here is the Literal Standard Version Copyright © 2020 by Covenant Press and the Covenant Christian Coalition. Briefly, their claim is to be the only literal translation written in modern English.

I must say, I am surprised if 55% of believers today use the KJV. I think this is a big mistake and it is one reason why there are not a lot of young people in our churches today.

Let me approach this in a different way: some people love Shakespear and other cannot stand him because of the language. It makes no sense. This is how some people react when they walk into a KJV-only church. The pastor appears to be speaking a foreign language. Some people won’t mind adjusting to that; but most will pass it by.

One of the things which I have observed with the LSV is, they retain the lengthy sentences which are found in the book of Luke. So, it is not unusual for a single sentence to go on for 4 or 5 verses (the same is true for the Book of Acts).

There is a correct way in English to do quotation marks and an incorrect way, and I do it incorrectly, as does the LSV. Rather than, within lengthy quotation to begin each new paragraph with quotation marks, I place a quote at the beginning and at the end of the quotation, regardless of its length or the number of paragraphs. The LSV does the same thing. I personally find that simpler to follow—particularly when there is a quote within a quote.

Like much of Luke, this chapter is a selection of vignettes, probably presented in chronological order. When they came to the end of the enough verses, the ones who divided up the chapters decided, “Time to start a new chapter.” (In the original manuscripts, there are no chapter or verse divisions.)

Luke 6 is a series of vignettes, which is very much the case for most chapters in the book of Luke. There are 49 verses in this chapter and it covers a lot of ground.

Now, even though Jesus has not been teaching for a very long time (maybe 6 months or so doing the sort of teaching with which we are familiar), He is known well enough for the religious class to take notice of Him. However, the religious hierarchy out of Jerusalem is beginning to watch Jesus carefully. “Where is the chink in His armor?” they may have been asking themselves.

It is a Sabbath morning; the disciples are very hungry; and they walk through a wheatfield and pick some stalks of grain (which is legal for them to do). They rub the heads of grain with their hands, and some pharisees seem to be right there, watching them and taking notes. Jesus will ask these pharisees a question (which they cannot answer) and then claim to be the Lord of the Sabbath (that is, Jesus is claiming authority over the Sabbath).

Later, on another Sabbath, Jesus encounters a number of scribes and pharisees in a synagogue, and also in this synagogue is a man with a withered hand. What will Jesus do? And is healing on the Sabbath an actual infraction of the Law?

Luke then records the calling of Jesus’ twelve Apostles. Although Luke gives all of their names at once, we know from the previous chapter that Jesus called these men to follow Him at different times.

The final section of this chapter is known as the Sermon on the Plain. There are many parallels between this sermon and the more famous Sermon on the Mount (found in the book of Matthew). 33 verses of this chapter are given completely to Jesus’ words.

As we move further along in the book of Luke, there will be fewer historical incidents and more extensive sermons from Jesus.

Luke 6:1–2 And it came to pass, on a Sabbath, as He is going through the grainfields, that His disciples were plucking the ears, and were eating, rubbing with the hands and certain of the Pharisees said to them, “Why do you do that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbaths?”

The pharisees who are apparently following the Lord and His disciples around, accuse them of doing exactly what the pharisees themselves are doing. The pharisees, on the Sabbath, are following the Lord and His disciples around, men whom they are coming to hate. They are watching them carefully to see where they violate some traditional regulation. That sounds exactly like work to me.

Another aspect which is worth noting is, the pharisees are following these men around in order to find something to accuse them of. This is an historic example of, show me the man and I will show you the crime. In their minds, the pharisees have decided that Jesus is a wrong guy; so now they are following Him in order to find something to back up this evaluation of His character.

Luke 6:3–4 And Jesus answering said to them, “Did you not read even this that David did when he hungered, himself and those who are with him, how he went into the house of God, and took the Bread of the Presentation, and ate, and gave also to those with him, which it is not lawful to eat, except only to the priests?”

Jesus often answered a question (or accusation) with another question. He could certainly find something which the pharisees could not explain because this is something that they themselves do not understand.

David and his supporters were on the run from King Saul. They were starving. They were not far from where the Tabernacle was, and David was aware that there was fresh bread to be found in the Tabernacle itself. So he went to the city, robbed the Tabernacle of this bread, and shared it with his men. See 1Samuel 21 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD) for more information about this incident.

If the pharisees are going to condemn Jesus and his disciples for eating when they are famished, then they must condemn David as well. They are not ready to do that. They may not be able to explain this incident in the life of David; but they can at least see some of the parallels.

Then Jesus makes this most remarkable statement, which indicates that He is the One with authority over the Sabbath (not them). This is clearly a statement of Divine authority.

How did Jesus slip this statement in without being challenged? The pharisees were still stuck trying to figure out how to explain David’s actions. I don’t think they really heard and understood what Jesus just said, because their minds were back thinking about David.

Luke 6:6–7 And it came to pass also, on another Sabbath, that He goes into the synagogue, and teaches, and there was there a man, and his right hand was withered, and the scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him, if on the Sabbath He will heal, that they might find an accusation against Him.

The pharisees and other religious types were continually setting up the Lord, so that they might accuse Him of doing something wrong.

There is a man with a withered hand in the synagogue on a Sabbath day. It makes perfect sense that the Pharisees, in some way, engineered things for this man to be there (and they are expecting Jesus to be there as well).

Again, the people who are clearly working on the Sabbath are the scribes and pharisees, who are trying to trap the Lord (that is work). And they plan to be right there and accuse Him of doing wrong (healing on the Sabbath—which is nowhere prohibited on Saturdays—not even in their own traditions).

Luke 6:8 And He Himself had known their reasonings and said to the man having the withered hand, “Rise, and stand in the midst”; and he having risen, stood.

There is some humor as to what takes place here, and exactly what the Lord does. Every movement is done specifically to frustrate the religious types.

First of all, Jesus tells the man to rise up and stand. Every person who was to read from the Word of God (the Torah and the Prophets) in that synagogue would also rise up and stand. So this man is not doing anything wrong and he certainly is not performing some sort of work.

Luke 6:9 Then Jesus said to them, “I will question you something: is it lawful on the Sabbaths to do good, or to do evil? To save life or to kill?”

The pharisees and the scribes are there, and Jesus, knowing He is being set up, asks them a simple question: “Is it lawful to do good or evil on the Sabbath? Is it lawful to save a life on the Sabbath or kill?” They are setting Him up, so He sets them up. What can they answer?

Luke 6:10–11 And having looked around on them all, He said to the man, “Stretch forth your hand”; and he did so, and his hand was restored whole as the other; and they were filled with madness, and were speaking with one another what they might do to Jesus.

In the synagogue, on a Saturday, men would rise up and stand, and put out their hand to take one of the sacred scrolls to read.

Jesus tells the man to reach out with his hand—exactly what every reader in the building had done and will do. When he holds out his hand, it is restored, meaning, there is a great physical change which takes place. There is no denying what just happened.

What did Jesus do? He said a few words. Everyone who stood up to read would say a few words. And what did the man with the withered hand do? He stood up and then put out his hand. These are things which had been taking place all day already in the synagogue. There is nothing which Jesus did; and nothing that this man did that could be faulted. Then God healed the man’s hand. Everyone saw it. And what could the religious types say or do? Nothing; nothing at all. They must have been so frustrated.

Jesus probably had 50–200 followers by that time. Some men he had called; some people simply chose to go along with Him. All this time, Jesus has been analyzing these people. I do not believe that God the Father gave Jesus a list from heaven; I do not believe that Jesus, in His humanity, knew specifically who to choose. But the time had come for Jesus to require some men close to Him to take care of a variety of responsibilities. One of the things that was needed—and I don’t believe is talked about in any of the gospels—is crowd control. Several times, it is alluded to, but without using those words. If a few hundred or a few thousand people come to hear Jesus, there must be some kind of order established. These 12 would be able to see to that. There is much more involved with this choice, but that is a purely practical reason.

Luke 6:12–13 And it came to pass in those days, He went forth to the mountain to pray, and was passing the night in the prayer of God, and when it became day, He called near His disciples, also having chosen twelve from them, whom He also named apostles:...

It is easy to get the wrong impression about how Jesus chose His disciples. There are times in some gospels where it appears as if Jesus sees some random dude walking down the street, and He calls out, “Hey, you—come here; follow Me.” If you study the text carefully, you can tell that Jesus, in His humanity, carefully chose the men whom He would designate as His Apostles.

Now, do you think that God the Father said aloud to Jesus, “Okay, these are the men I want you to choose.” I do not think that happened. I think there is a good chance that for most of the Lord’s decisions, there was no specific command coming from God the Father, telling Him what to do. And yet, Jesus adhere perfectly to the plan of God.

Luke 6:14 ...Simon, whom He also named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,...

Most people know a third or a half of the Apostles chosen by Jesus. This is to be expected, as about half of them are not described in any way apart from their name and some identifying title.

Peter we know as the impulsive disciple; but he is simply a man of action, and a man of great enthusiasms. He makes a great many mistakes. Andrew is Peter’s brother who first told Peter about Jesus (Andrew was baptized by John the Herald).

James and John are brothers who own a fishing vessel; and they work in tandem with Peter and Andrew. Peter, James and John will see the glorified Jesus. James will be the first Apostle to be martyred.

James is not to be confused with the half-brother of Jesus, also named James. This second James was the pastor at the church at Jerusalem; and he wrote the epistle entitled James.

John, of course, wrote the gospel of John, 3 epistles and the book of Revelation.

Philip is the disciple who will ask Jesus, “Just show us the Father; that would be sufficient for us.” (Which elicited a very famous response from Jesus.)

Matthew is the tax collector and the one who wrote the book of Matthew. Thomas is the Apostle who will insist on actually touching the resurrected Jesus in order to recognize that He had risen from the dead.

The first Judas is known by name only. The second Judas is the one who betrayed Jesus.

Luke 6:17–18 And having come down with them, He stood on a level spot; and a crowd of His disciples, and a great multitude of the people from all Judea, and Jerusalem, and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases, [gathered]. And those harassed by unclean spirits [also gathered] and were healed.

It would be fair to say that most of those who came to Jesus here wanted to be healed of whatever physical ailment that they suffered from. However, based upon this and other information that they collected, some of these people believed that Jesus might be the Messiah spoken of throughout the Old Testament.

Even though Jesus was just beginning His ministry, people came from all over to see Him and to be healed by Him. So His reputation, even over a very short period of time, was known throughout the land.

Luke 6:19 And all the multitude were seeking to touch Him, because power was going forth from Him, and He was healing all.

No doubt some became impatient, and they recognized that all they needed to do was touch Jesus and they would be healed.

Luke 6:20 And He, having lifted up His eyes to His disciples, said: “Blessed the poor—because yours is the Kingdom of God.

Jesus first lifts up His eyes to His disciples. Let me suggest that this is a signal. He is about to begin teaching, so people cannot be wandering all over the place, sneaking up beside Him to touch His robe.

Most of the people who came to Jesus would have been poor, hungry, and possibly weeping (since many of them came with physical maladies).

We have to be careful in this section not to simply assume, poor people will be rich in heaven; and rich people may not be in heaven at all. That is not what Jesus is teaching, simply because it would contradict the teachings of the Old Testament.

When we stand before God, we are impoverished with nothing whatsoever to offer God. When we come to Him in the name of Jesus, standing upon Jesus, we are blessed and eternally saved.

This is quite the opposite of the religious type who comes to God, and he fasts every week, and comes to the synagogue each Saturday, and lives a righteous life. He brings these things to God in exchange for eternal life. They are not poor; and they do not see themselves as poor. The Kingdom of God is not for them.

Luke 6:21 Blessed those hungering now—because you will be filled. Blessed those weeping now—because you will laugh.

Life is a temporary proposition. We are hungry at times in this life; there are times when we weep. All of this is temporary for those who come to Jesus.

Luke 6:22–23 Blessed are you when men will hate you, and when they will separate you, and will reproach, and will cast forth your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake— rejoice in that day, and leap, for behold, your reward [is] great in Heaven, for according to these things were their fathers doing to the prophets.

The people who were there, who would choose to follow Jesus, would face extreme pressures and persecutions. Jesus is promising them great rewards from God the Father.

So that there is no misunderstanding, a person who is rich is not automatically destined for hell. The deciding factor is Jesus. Unfortunately for the human race, too often people will not turn to God if they are prosperous. The poor have few places where they can turn, so often, they turn to God.

Luke 6:25 Woe to you who have been filled—because you will hunger. Woe to you who are laughing now—because you will mourn and weep.

Again, it is not wrong that you have had a healthy and filling meal. Nor it is wrong to see or hear something and laugh out loud. Now, is it possible that these same people, at some point, will hunger or weep? Certainly. However, it is those who depend upon these things, and believe that these things mean blessing from God—they are the ones who should be careful. We are saved by faith in Christ; and not by any other means.

Luke 6:26 Woe to you when all men will speak well of you—for according to these things were their fathers doing to false prophets.

Other people place some importance upon their social standing. In fact, China actually rates people socially, in order to gain certain behaviors from their people and to discourage other behaviors. However, holding a popular opinion or siding with the majority does not make you right.

Israel, throughout the Bible, has a history of persecuting God’s prophets. Apparently, they often celebrated and followed false teachers.

Luke 6:27–29 But I say to you who are hearing, Love your enemies, do good to those hating you, bless those cursing you, pray for those maligning you; and to him striking you on the cheek, give also the other, and from him taking away from you the mantle, also the coat you may not keep back.

Jesus then suggests behavior which will seem odd to many Jews. They are told to love their enemies, do good to those who hate them, bless those who curse you, pray for those who malign you, etc.

Jesus’ disciples will very much fall into this set of behaviors when the Church Age begins. They will have their enemies and those enemies will persecute them unmercifully. Jesus and His disciples will many times give the gospel to people who revile them and pray for their salvation at other times.

Luke 6:30–34 And to everyone who is asking of you, be giving; and from him who is taking away your goods, do not be asking again; and as you wish that men may do to you, do also to them in like manner; and—if you love those loving you, what grace is it to you? For also the sinful love those loving them; and if you do good to those doing good to you, what grace is it to you? For also the sinful do the same; and if you lend [to those] of whom you hope to receive back, what grace is it to you? For also the sinful lend to sinners—that they may receive again as much.

What sets people aside who are Christians is not their behavior and attitude towards their friends and relatives, but towards those who are hostile towards them.

The overall principle is this: we are, by nature, hostile to God. We act against God in nearly all that we do. Nevertheless, God sent His Son to pay for our sins; and through Him, we have access to God—something that we are completely undeserving of.

Jesus has not only paid for our sins, but He has paid for the sins of every person that we know, friend and foe alike. We ought to pray for those treat us with contempt, and, when given the chance, give them the gospel.

Throughout the latter half of the book of Acts, Paul finds himself persecuted by Jews and gentiles alike. He did not respond to his persecutors with anger or arrogance. In fact, in the many hearings where Paul faced off his enemies in court, he gave the gospel, that they might be saved. When held unlawfully by two different governors of Judæa, Paul gave each of them a clear delineation of the gospel, that they might be saved, if they placed their trust in Jesus.

Luke 6:35–36 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Highest, because He is kind to the ungracious and evil; be therefore merciful, as also your Father is merciful.

You will encounter atheists, agnostics, and people who worship false gods. It is not up to us to set ourselves apart by attacking these people. We set ourselves apart from others by our concern and interactions with these people. We do not reject them; we do not throw them out. We do not insult them when online, trading insult for insult. We present to them Jesus, and Him crucified. If God is kind to the ungracious and evil, can we be anything other than that?

We all have personal enemies in life. We have enemies in life, even if we are not obnoxious. How do you treat them? How do you respond to them? Anger for anger, insult for insult?

Luke 6:37 And do not judge, and you may not be judged; do not condemn, and you may not be condemned; release, and you will be released.

If we do not judge others—and by this, Jesus means to assign a sin or wrong motivation to someone else—then God will not judge you in this regard. That is, you will not be under God’s judgment for the sin of judging others.

So that there is no misunderstanding, this is not the same as evaluating others or using good, common sense. If you are a boss or a manager, it is not judging to evaluate a person’s work habits; and it is not judging to carefully review a work application. When someone wants a reference, it is not judging to provide an accurate evaluation of their work and work habits. If you are a landlord, it is not judging to give an honest reference, good or bad or mixed.

Not judging others does not mean that you accept and even embrace all lifestyles and all points of view. For instance, your protect your own children from criminal and deviant lifestyles. You evaluate their friends and activities, and act upon those evaluations. You do not want your children hanging out with thugs, criminals, druggies or sexual perverts. This is not judging; this is common sense (which there is very little of today).

Jesus says, “Do not condemn and you may not be condemned.” We do not get to assigned sins and bad motivation when we don’t actually know. I recall some leftists who constantly criticized Donald Trump, assigning greed as his motivation to be president. There are a great many politicians who appear to be motivated by greed; but there is no actual evidence that Trump is anything like this (he gave his salary away, for goodness sake—had any president at any time before done that?).

When is comes to some sorts of Biblical maxims, there is often an asterisk when it comes to your own children and who they hang with. Obviously, you do want them running with criminals or alcoholics or sexually confused people. In many cases, a parent can make simple observations and then act on those. There are times that a parent might be mistaken, but that is okay.

As a teacher, at a teacher conference, I pointed out that the problem student at hand had drawn marijuana leaves all over his folder. I suggested at the time, “Perhaps this is a key to your child’s problem.” Had I seen this in the capacity of being a parent, that kid would not have been allowed to hang with my kid.

The third thing that Jesus said was, ...release, and you will be released. The Greek word here means to pardon or to forgive; and we as believers must be willing to forgive others, despite the actions of others being quite annoying or damaging.

Furthermore, we forgive as Christ forgave, not in order to secure our own salvation (that is secured by faith in Christ), but to demonstrate the character of Christ.

Luke 6:38 Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed, and shaken, and running over, they will give into your bosom; for with that measure with which you measure, it will be measured to you again.”

We are to give generously of our money, time or whatever it is that God has given to us. God will give to us (in a variety of ways) so that our blessing is overflowing.

There is always a balance in the Christian life. That is, you do not give away so much money (for instance), to the point where you deprive your family. You do not donate so much time to Christian organizations, that your family does not get any of your time; or that your work is substandard when on the job.

The believer with a family has multiple responsibilities which must be attended to.

Luke 6:39 And He spoke an allegory to them, “Is blind able to lead blind? Will they not both fall into a pit?

V. 39 seems to be a jump to another topic. The blind teachers of that era were the scribes and pharisees, who were not regenerate and did not have a correct understanding of the Law. They had been taught legalism; and, as a result, they taught legalism. Those whom they were teaching were blind; and they themselves were blind. The blind pharisees would guide their blind congregation into a drainage ditch where they would all fall in (Jesus was speaking metaphorically here).

Luke 6:40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone perfected will be as his teacher.

The key to growth, according to Jesus, is a teacher (but, obviously, not a blind teacher). Believers are brought to spiritual maturity through a teacher who knows the Word of God. In fact, the proper teacher can bring those under him to his level.

Although Jesus does not allude to the concept of a local church, it is clear in the epistles that God’s classroom for the believer is the local church. Our primary focus in the local church ought to be the teaching of the Word of God.

Luke 6:41 And why do you behold the speck that is in your brother’s eye, and do not consider the beam that [is] in your own eye?

It is very easy for a believer to have a great desire to run someone else’s life (again, there is the exception of parents and children here). It is not your job to run someone else’s life. It is not up to you to look people over, decide what they are doing wrong, and then tell them all about it. It is not up to you to follow others around and to scrunch up your face when you see them sin.

There is a place for one believer to help another when it comes to restoration of fellowship, but this is not by being nosy, pushy, overbearing, or interfering.

Some people do not understand 1John 1:9 or even know that it exists. Sometimes when you present that to another believer, this gives them the mechanics to get back into fellowship. Sometimes when you explain 1John 1:9, that helps a person to understand exactly how to apply that verse to their own lives.

On the other hand, it is not our job to follow other believers around and then shout out “1John 1:9" when we think now is a good time for them to apply it.

As Jesus puts it, “You cannot see a tiny speck of dust in another person’s eye if you have a log (or beam) in your own eye.” That is, if you are judging and condemning another believer, that is a sin and that is the log in your eye.

Luke 6:42 Or how are you able to say to your brother, Brother, permit, I may take out the speck that [is] in your eye—yourself not beholding the beam in your own eye? Hypocrite, first take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that [is] in your brother’s eye.

One believer out of fellowship cannot help another believer who may or may not be out of fellowship. Removing the beam in your own eye is the personal application of 1John 1:9 (If we acknowledge our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all wrong-doing). Once we have been restored to fellowship, then we determine what role we ought to be playing in the life of a brother—and it is never our place to try to run his life or to interfere with his volition (unless, of course, that person is our son or daughter).

In the time that Jesus spoke, this exactly describes the religious types of that era. They continually criticized the Lord for some tiny speck, yet were guilty of far worse. Remember at the beginning of this chapter, the religious types following Jesus and His disciples around and accusing them of working on the Sabbath? The very fact of these religious types following them around on the Sabbath and criticizing their actions—that was clearly work. They were violating the very regulations—in fact, the Sabbath Law itself—in order to catch Jesus and His disciples doing something wrong.

Luke 6:43 For there is not a good tree making bad fruit, nor a bad tree making good fruit; for each tree is known from its own fruit, for they do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they crop a grape from a bramble.

The good tree which produces good fruit is the maturing believer who is in fellowship and applying Bible doctrine. The bad tree is the believer out of fellowship; the believer who has not grown spiritually; or the unbeliever. People who fall into those classifications cannot produce divine good.

Too often, new believers are pressured into producing some sort of fruit. New believers should be helped or guided towards spiritual growth; not bullied to witness or to participate in some form of spiritual works.

Luke 6:45 The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which [is] good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth that which [is] evil; for out of the abounding of the heart his mouth speaks.

The believer who has Bible doctrine in his heart is able to produce divine good. The believer with human viewpoint in his thinking can only produce human good (at best).

We may understand heart to refer to the human spirit and human soul. Too often, when we read the word heart, we think of our emotions (which is not the case for the Biblical use of that word).

When you hear the teaching of Jesus Christ, and do the opposite, then why do you call Him Lord? He is obviously not your Lord if you disobey Him.

Sometimes, our lifestyle reveals a rejection of Jesus Christ. Fundamental to the Church Age are local churches and pastor-teachers. Is that fundamental to your life? Is there a pastor-teacher to whom you look for the teaching of Scripture?

We have to be careful about the application here, because all believers sin, and that means, all believers disobey Jesus Christ. So, when we have sinned, we name that sin to God and we are back in fellowship with Him.

Luke 6:47–48 Everyone who is coming to Me, and is hearing My words, and is doing them, I will show you to whom he is like; he is like to a man building a house, who dug and deepened, and laid a foundation on the rock, and a flood having come, the stream broke forth on that house, and was not able to shake it, for it had been founded on the rock.

The believer who hears the word of Jesus and does them is compared here to a wise man who builds his house on a solid foundation, affixing that house to bedrock down below. There is nothing more solid in this life than the Word of God. The principles of Bible doctrine should be the foundation of your thinking.

Luke 6:49 And he who heard and did not, is like to a man having built a house on the earth, without a foundation, against which the stream broke forth, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house became great.”

Both believers and unbelievers face storms. Bible doctrine gives the believer the inner resources to stand up to the storm. Believers without Bible doctrine and unbelievers are damaged and even taken out by life’s storms.

An Outline for Luke 7 (most of these are the headings found in e-sword)

vv. 1–10 Jesus Heals a Centurion's Servant

vv. 11–17 Jesus Raises a Widow's Son

vv. 18–23 Messengers from John the Baptist

vv. 24–35 Jesus’ Salute to John the baptizer

vv. 36–50 A Sinful Woman Forgiven

Luke 7, like the last few chapters, is a series of vignettes which take place early on during the Lord’s ministry (let me suggest within the first year). However, there seems to be a theme in chapter 7. So much of it is a contrast between various groups of people (and sometimes, between a single individual and a group of people). Key to all this, of course, is positive and negative volition.

Jesus first responds to a centurion who asks Him to come and heal his servant (actually, the centurion sends some Jewish elders to make this request of Jesus).

Luke 7:1 And when He had completed all His words in the hearing of the people, He entered into Capernaum.

In the previous chapter, Jesus had just finished teaching the sermon on the plain.

Although Jesus is God, this does not mean that He chose to access His attributes as God. This is known theologically as Kenosis, which is the willful relinquishment of divine attributes by Jesus. To have the best understanding of kenosis, it is best to work backwards from the cross. Jesus, as God, can have no contact with sin. God, therefore, cannot die for our sins. Jesus, as a man, had to live a sinless life and come to the cross without sin in order to bear our sins. Jesus, as a man, had to bear our sins on the cross; which meant that He endured the punishment due us for three hours on the cross. All of our sins and all of the sins of mankind were poured out upon Him in His humanity. At that point in time, He had no fellowship with God the Father; and He was no longer filled with God the Holy Spirit. When He screamed, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me,” He was speaking to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. The sins of all mankind were poured out upon Him in that state of being.

We often conflate the suffering of the cross with the payment for our sins. The crucifixion was real but it was also illustrative of the torment which Jesus endured paying for our sins. Everything that we have heard about the pain and suffering of the Roman cross is true, and Jesus endured that pain and suffering. However, the pain and suffering from the crucifixion did not pay for our sins; it merely illustrated the payment which took place (which act of justice no one was able to see).

There was a period of three hours when God the Father poured out on Jesus the Son our sins. At the same time, He placed a blanket of darkness over Golgotha, so that this could be heard by the people there, but not seen. Jesus endured, in His humanity, the equivalence of billions of hells over those three hours on the cross.

If Jesus is able, in His humanity, to pay for our sins—a suffering which is unimaginable to us—then it logically follows that He did not require His Deity during the incarnation in order to grow from an infant to an adult, to live a sinless life, and to have a public ministry during which He, just like the Passover Lamb, could be observed by nation Israel. Although Jesus is clearly God—by testimony of the Scriptures—this does not mean that He necessarily accessed His Deity during the 1^st Advent.

So, when Jesus walks into a city like Capernaum, He does not know what is going to happen next. He does not know who will come to see Him, what situations will take place, or what He is required to do, apart from what He has read about Himself in the Scriptures.

Although, as a prophet, God the Holy Spirit will make some things known to Jesus the man, there is a great deal of information which Jesus understood from the Scriptures themselves. He knew Isaiah 53; He knew that this was about Him, and, as an informed Person, He knew about Roman crucifixion. At some point in time, He put the two things together, understanding that He would be crucified and, during that time, endure the punishment for our sins. He understood that, fundamental to the crucifixion would be taking on our punishment for our sins.

So Jesus walks into a city like Capernaum. He meets who He meets and decides, based on a number of factors, what He will do next (much the way that we live our own lives). Jesus’ choice in these matters varies from person to person.

For instance, at the beginning of this chapter a centurion, a gentile, sends a delegation of Jewish elders to Jesus to make a request and Jesus responds immediately to this delegation. However, at the end of this chapter, Simon the pharisee will ask Jesus to come to his home for dinner on many occasions, and Jesus apparently puts Simon off. Jesus does not come to Simon’s home after the first invite, but eventually agreed to the invitation. Jesus, during His public ministry, received thousands of requests; and He had to decide when to respond to which request (and what His response should be).

Jesus and the Centurion’s Servant (a graphic); from Free Bible Images; accessed July 29, 2022. Interestingly enough, it does not appear that these men actually met face to face.

Luke 7:2 And a certain servant of a centurion, who was valued highly to him, being sick, was about to die.

Luke, as a biographer, presents this information to us, using the writing style of 3^rd person omniscience.

This is an event, foreseen by God the Father and incorporated into the divine decrees. God the Father knew about this event in eternity past and He made provision for it. The provision was His Son Jesus.

Luke 7:3 And having heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to Him, begging Him that having come, He might save his servant.

This centurion is very much like the cop on the beat, the cop who walks his neighborhood and lives in his neighborhood. He knew the people there and had a particularly good relationship with the Jewish people who lived there.

The centurion understood that Jesus is a fulfillment to centuries of prophecies; the Messiah Who would come to His people. And this Messiah was in Capernaum. The centurion was aware of what Jesus was able to do, but he also understood that Jesus was there, coming into Capernaum, to minister to His people. So the centurion felt that it would be presumptuous for him to go to Jesus himself. Therefore, he sent a number of Jewish elders to speak with Jesus about his servant who is deathly ill.

Luke 7:4–5 And having come to Jesus, they were begging Him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to whom You will grant this, for he loves our nation, and he built the synagogue for us.”

The Jewish elders make two appeals to Jesus. They first make the appeal of the centurion to come and save his servant. Then they make their own personal appeal on behalf of the centurion. “This centurion,” they tell Jesus, “is a worthy man, despite being a gentile. He loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us in Capernaum.”

The centurion may have built the synagogue from scratch or he may have repaired the existing synagogue (the word used here can mean to build or to rebuild).

Jesus, upon meeting any person or persons, then has to make a determination of what He will do about it. He decides to go with this group of Jewish elders. As a Man Who is able to read people, Jesus understood that these men were sincere in their plea.

The Centurion and His Sick Servant (a graphic); from Free Bible Images; accessed July 29, 2022.

Luke 7:6 And Jesus was going with them. And already, He being not far distant from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should come under my roof.

All of this takes time—the discussion between Jesus and these Jewish elders and the walk toward the centurion’s home. All this time, the centurion is at the bedside of his servant—probably praying—and he comes to two realizations: he is a sinful man, not fit to have the Lord of Glory come into his home; and he understands that Jesus is able to heal his servant without coming into his home.

The centurion has friends upon whom he calls and asks them to intercept Jesus on his way to his home and to bring Him a message. His friends speak the centurion’s words to Jesus verbatim: “[He says,] Lord [recognizing the Lord’s authority], do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should come under my roof.”

The centurion knows that he is unworthy, and his friends convey this message to Jesus.

Luke 7:7 Therefore neither did I count myself worthy to come to You; but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.

“Listen,” the centurion says to Jesus, through his friends, “I am not worthy even to come and stand in front of you and make such a request. However, I understand that You need only say the word in order for my servant to be healed.”

Luke 7:8 For I also am a man appointed under authority, having soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

The centurion is a man who has authority. He can tell one of his soldiers to do X, and that soldier will do X.

“You have the authority,” the centurion explains (through his friends), “to command that this healing be done. You are not required to actually come to my home in order to heal my servant.”

Luke 7:9 And Jesus having heard these things, marveled at him; and having turned to the crowd following Him, He said, “I say to you, not even in Israel did I find such great faith.”

The word faith can refer to believing something; but it also refers to the content of what is believed. The centurion understands that Jesus, as the Messiah, has great authority. He understands that Jesus can simply call for something to be done, and that thing will be done. Jesus does not have to be in the same room as the sick person; Jesus does not have to lay His hand on the sick person; Jesus does not have to offer up some deep and flowery prayer in order for the healing to take place. Jesus can, as it were, snap His fingers, and the centurion’s servant would be healed.

The centurion understands his sinful condition before the Lord; and he understands the Lord’s authority. Jesus’ Own disciples, who have been with Him for a few months, do not understand this much information. But the centurion understands it and believes it. The centurion heard Scripture about the Messiah and he put this together with what he has heard about Jesus (if he built/rebuilt the synagogue, then surely he would have attended a few times). This takes him to the conclusions that we have been discussing.

Luke 7:10 And having returned to the house, those having been sent found the servant in good health.

The centurion’s friends, having spoken to Jesus, return to the centurion’s home and find that his servant is completely healed.

Luke 7:11 And it came to pass on the next day, He went into a town called Nain, and His disciples were going with Him, and a great crowd.

There is apparently a town called Nain not too far from Capernaum that Jesus goes to. He is followed by His disciples (not just the twelve) and by a great crowd.

A large number of people had come to be healed and to listen to Jesus teach (the sermon on the plain); and many of these people have decided to follow Him.

Based upon Jesus’ interaction with the centurion, there are probably both Jews and gentiles from Capernaum who are now following Jesus.

Logically, this great crowd comes from these two groups of people. Some perhaps have believed in Him; some perhaps have not. But they are certainly interested in what Jesus is going to do next. They may even be interested in what He is going to say next (which is even more important). In any case, these people have not committed themselves to anything as of yet. For the time being, they are simply following Him.

Luke 7:12 And as He drew near to the gate of the town, also behold, one having died was being carried out, the only begotten son of his mother; and she was a widow. And a considerable crowd of the town was with her.

Just as Jesus and this great number of people approach Nain, there is a funeral procession coming out of the city; and these two disparate crowds are nearly face to face with Jesus between them.

Everyone in the crowd knew that this was a funeral. Jesus understood from the beginning that this woman had lost her only son and that she was already a widow. He was able to ascertain this not from His omniscience but simply by picking out the bereaved woman from the crowd and noticing the people around her. It was likely that the body of the deceased was also able to be seen.

Luke 7:13 And the Lord having seen her, was moved with compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”

Jesus approaches the woman and speaks to her. But, instead of embracing her and saying, “That’s all right, dear; just let it all out;” He said, “Stop crying.”

Jesus wants the woman to be alert and in a state of mental acuity. He wants her to set her grief aside for a time and to pay attention to what He says and does. He also wants the rest of the people there to watch what He does. Previously, the mournful cry of the woman was the focus of the crowd. No matter what the circumstance or situation, our eyes should be on Jesus (by which, I mean that our minds should be thinking divine viewpoint).

Luke 7:14 And having come up, He touched the bier; and those bearing it stopped. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, Arise!”

The funeral procession has stopped. Jesus has just told the mother to be quiet. He is standing before the bier (which is probably a slab of wood with a body upon it being carried by 4 or 6 men). All eyes are on the Lord and He touches the bier. Then He speaks to the young man laying dead upon the bier, “Young man, I say to you, arise!”

Luke 7:15 And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and He gave him to his mother.

Much to the shock of everyone there, the dead man sits up and begins speaking. I like to think that he sat up and said, “Where the hell am I?” but God the Holy Spirit has not revealed to us his exact words.

Luke 7:16 And fear seized all, and they began glorifying God, saying, “A great prophet has risen up among us!” and, “God has visited His people!”

The people following Jesus and those in the funeral procession are shocked. Many of them recognize what is taking place before their eyes. “A great Prophet has risen up among us!” This is a fulfillment of the words of Moses, where He said that God would raise up a prophet like him to the people of Israel.

Others said, “God has visited His people!” Between the final words of the Old Testament and this point in time, 430 years have elapsed. Apart from John the baptizer, no words from God (through a prophet) have been heard. Some in the crowd recognize that, through Jesus, God is among His people again.

Luke 7:17 And this report concerning Him went out in all Judea and all the surrounding region.

News of what just took place is broadcast throughout all Judæa and the surrounding regions.

As an aside, it is quite fascinating just how limited in area the public ministry of the Lord was.

Although Jesus did go down to Jerusalem, that apparently only took place 3 or 4 times.

John the Herald is probably in jail at this point in time; and his disciples come to him, perhaps having heard the amazing news of Jesus raising this young man from the dead or something else that Jesus has done.

Luke 7:19 And having summoned a certain two his disciples, John sent them to the Lord saying, “Are You the coming One, or are we to look for another [of a different kind]?”

Many Jews, at this time, believed that the Messiah was coming and that He would stand up against Rome and free the people of God. John, while in jail, probably thought himself that Jesus would spearhead such a movement, as the Messiah of God. But Jesus was not doing that. He was not walking about northern Israel gathering an army of Jews; He was healing people and teaching them. Jesus spent almost no time in Judæa.

John sends messengers to Jesus, “Did we get our signals crossed? Are you not the Messiah but someone else? Should we continue to look for the Messiah?”

This does not indicate that John is terribly confused. He isn’t. The Messiah is portrayed in the Old Testament as a conquering hero. This is what many people expected of the Messiah. We discussed this in great detail in Luke 4 (within the doctrine of intercalation).

Luke 7:20 And the men having come to Him said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are You the coming One, or are we to look for another [of the same kind]?’”

What you are reading here is a rarity in Scripture. We read what John the baptizer said to his disciples; and now we are reading about them saying that exact same thing to Jesus. It is far more common for there to be an economy of narrative (at the beginning of this chapter, the centurion is sending men with messages to Jesus; we do not read both what the centurion says and then what the messengers repeat). But what is taking place is this: in v. 19, John uses the pronoun another of a different kind; but His disciples say, another of the same kind. From a distance, John was not sure at all about Jesus. When he asks if they should be looking for another, John is saying, another of a different kind, indicating that Jesus is not the Messiah at all or even like a messiah. However, John’s disciples see this differently when they are close up, John’s disciples realized that, if there was another, it was another of the same kind. That is, they look at Jesus and what He is doing and they recognize Him as being from God. When they repeat John’s question, but with the one word changed, they are implying, “Are you the Messiah? We kind of think that You are.”

Even though we read twice what John said, what Jesus said to the disciples is unknown. Did Jesus give them the come here signal with his index finger? Did He tell them, “You guys stand over there and watch what I do”? Did He simply nod, as if to say, “Okay, I hear you”? Jesus will tell them what to do, but only after they observe Him for a time.

Luke 7:21 At that very hour, He healed many of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits, and He granted many blind to see.

These disciples from John watch, and they see Jesus perform all manner of miracles before them. As we have seen, Jesus has taken people with clearly visible diseases and has made them normal in an instant. They have never seen anything like this in their lives.

Luke 7:22–23 And answering, He said to them, “Having gone, relate to John what you have seen and heard: Blind receive sight, lame walk, lepers are cleansed and deaf hear, dead are raised, poor are gospelized. And blessed is whoever shall not be offended in Me.”

Jesus does not specifically answer their question. He sends them back to John to tell him exactly what they have seen.

Although Jesus appears to be quoting from the Old Testament here, it is not an exact quotation. It is similar to what we read in Isaiah 35:5–6a (Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.) and Isaiah 61:1a (The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor;...). In both cases, these passages continue into millennial prophecies, which Jesus, of course, does not allude to. The ESV (capitalized) is used for both quotations (I also checked the Greek Septuagint on this quote and it is very similar to the ESV).

The conclusion appears to summarize Isaiah 8:14–15 “And He [the Lord of the Armies] will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken." (ESV; capitalized)

Although Jesus has had many opportunities to clearly say, “I am the Messiah sent by God, and I am equal to God;” He has not made such a clear declaration since Nazareth, when He announced to the people in the synagogue, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your ears.”

Instead, Jesus says, “You have seen these things with your own eyes; go back to John and tell him what you saw. You can come to your own conclusions and John can form his own opinion as well.”

Now, Jesus was not being snide, nor was He upset that John misread the situation. Probably, as these men start to return, they can hear what Jesus has to say about John the baptizer (John was not a Baptist).

Luke 7:24 And the messengers of John having departed, He began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What have you gone out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

These disciples from John were possibly recognized by the crowd; and some were close enough to Jesus to hear the exchange which took place.

As John’s disciples depart, Jesus speaks kindly of John, His herald. Some in the crowd, no doubt, went to see John. There was clearly a connection between those who followed John and those who followed Jesus.

“What did you expect to see out in the wilderness?” Jesus asked them. “A reed shaken by the wind?” Along the Jordan river, there would have been many reeds growing, and the wind would blow on them. But Jesus is speaking metaphorically, as He so often did. “Did you expect to see a man shaken by every wind of doctrine?”

Luke 7:25 But what have you gone out to see? A man arrayed in fine clothing? Behold, those in splendid clothing and living in luxury are in palaces.

As discussed in the early chapters of the book of Luke, there is probably quite the backstory on John, which is certainly implied but not given to us. His parents were older; they probably died when he was quite young. Did circumstances force him to go out to the wilderness to live, to figure out how to clothe and feed himself on his own? Is this why he wore rude clothing and ate honey from a honeycomb?

“If you want to see expensive clothing in the latest styles,” Jesus says, “go visit a palace and meet the people there. That is not what you are going to find with John.”

Luke 7:26 But what have you gone out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and one more excellent than a prophet.

“Did you go out to the desert to see a prophet from God? John is even greater than the prophets.” This is exceptionally high praise from Jesus.

Perhaps John’s disciples hear these words as they are walking off, returning to John.

Luke 7:27 This is he concerning whom it has been written: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before your face, who will prepare Your way before You.’ (Malachi 3:1)

How many people find themselves spoken of in Old Testament prophecy? We cannot even find the United States in prophecy; but God, through Malachi, spoke of John.

Luke 7:28 I say to you, no one among those born of women is greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

Jesus is speaking of John strictly as a man, saying that he is the greatest. John had great humility. He developed a following out in the middle of nowhere. No doubt, he could have exploited this for his own good and glory, but he did not. He was a herald for the Messiah to come. He did not glorify himself; he glorified the Messiah.

But those in the kingdom of God will not have a sin nature (when we are raptured, our sin nature stays behind, apparently as a part of the old body). Therefore, even the least of them will be greater than John.

Luke 7:29 And all the people having heard, even the tax collectors, declared God righteous, having been baptized with the baptism of John.

No doubt, they appreciate the continuity between the Lord’s ministry and John’s. They also appreciate the righteousness of God, which is half of His holiness/integrity (the other half is His justice).

Luke 7:30 But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God as to themselves, not having been baptized by him.

The pharisees and experts in the Mosaic Law rejected God’s counsel, which was the teaching of John. They went out to see John, to see what was going on, but they refused John’s baptism.

These two verses describe the two sets of people who came out to see Jesus: those who were positive toward Him and His teaching; and those who were negative. Jesus then addresses those in His audience who are negative.

Luke 7:31 “To what therefore will I liken the men of this generation? And to what are they like?

Jesus now specifically addresses the people who have rejected Him (which ones also rejected John).

Luke 7:32 They are like to little children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one other, saying: ‘We piped to you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’

The idea is, there are two groups of children in the marketplace. One group consists of spoiled children for whom you can do nothing to make them smile or happy.

That application is, John the baptizer and Jesus were very different in personality. John did not eat bread or drink wine (he had a very weird diet based upon what he could find in the desert).

Luke 7:33 For John the Baptist has come neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’

Luke 7:34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a man, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and of sinners!’

Jesus ate whatever was placed in front of Him; and He drank actual wine. He was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard (although He would have had no characteristics in common with gluttons and drunkards).

Remember that John baptized people out in the middle of nowhere. But Jesus came and was willing to interact with anyone who had positive volition. They were very different people with very different ministries. However, both men spoke the truth, and those who heard them responded positively or negatively. Those who responded negatively to both men were like the spoiled children in the marketplace. No matter what you did, they could not be pleased.

Jesus and John both taught truth and wisdom. A significant number in their audiences responded with positive volition. Their subsequent thoughts, words and actions vindicated the words of Jesus and John.

Luke 7:36 And one of the Pharisees was asking Him that He should eat with him, and having entered into the house of the Pharisee, He reclined.

The verb tense indicates to us that this pharisee asked Jesus on many occasions to come and have a meal with him.

Luke 7:37–38 And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner. And she having known that He had reclined in the Pharisee’s house, having taken an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and having stood behind Him at His feet weeping, she began to wet His feet with the tears, and she was wiping them with the hairs of her head, and was kissing His feet, and was anointing them with the fragrant oil.

It appears that this woman has come to the Lord with the most expensive thing that she owns—an alabaster flask of fragrant oil. She does not appear to have a cloth or towel with her (which is likely uncommon in that era).

There is a similar narrative found in the other three gospels, but there are so many differences which suggest that this general situation happened at least twice (for all we know, this could have been the same woman in both instances).

Luke 7:39 And the Pharisee, the one having invited Him, having seen, spoke within himself, saying, “If this were a prophet, He would have known who and what the woman is who touches Him; for she is a sinner.”

One of the important things to the pharisees was ceremonial cleanliness. As we will find out, the pharisee did nothing to wash the Lord’s feet; but he (the pharisee) seems concerned that this woman is touching the Lord.

“Surely, if this Man is a prophet, He knows that contact with such a woman would make Him unclean,” is likely what this pharisee was thinking.

Jesus is able to look at Simon and, by reading the micro-expressions of his face, know exactly what he is thinking.

Many of us, having looked on Simon, might have said, “Simon, do you have something to say to me?” But Jesus took a much different tact. He had something to say to Simon.

Luke 7:40 And answering, Jesus said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he says, “Teacher, say it.”

Jesus is looking at Simon, figures out what is on his mind, and then asks to speak to him. This would have given Simon the opportunity to speak with the Lord privately, if that is what he wanted. However, Simon thinks that he has a trump card to play, no matter what Jesus has to say. That trump card is, “And You, Sir, are being touched by an unclean woman. Are You aware of that, prophet?” Simon would want to deliver this message publically, so a private conversation was out of the question.

Because the pharisee has this great trump card to play, he has to listen to Jesus speaking, so that he can figure where to play it.

Luke 7:41 “There were two debtors to a certain creditor. The one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.

Jesus immediately launches into a parable. What is good about a parable is, the people who hear it must engage their minds in order to understand what Jesus is saying. If their minds are not engaged, then they miss everything.

Parables are often circumstances that everyone who hears them can relate to what is being said. They have been in the situation before; or know enough about the situation described as to have an opinion on the matter. An often, if an opinion is called for, there will be an obvious response. The parable, on the surface, is above controversy, even though it may represent a controversial subject.

Luke 7:42 They having nothing to pay, he forgave both. Therefore which of them will love him more?”

Now, bear in mind, Simon is holding onto this trump card to play; but he has to engage with the Lord in order to play it. So he is listening to this parable, and trying to put it together with what is happening at this moment.

Luke 7:43 Simon answering, said, “I take it that he to whom he forgave the most.” And He said to him, “You have judged rightly.”

Obviously, the person forgiven the most is the most grateful. Simon makes that observation and Jesus tells him, “You are exactly right, my friend.”

Luke 7:44 And having turned to the woman, He was saying to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered into your house; you did not give water for My feet, but she wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

Of course Simon sees this woman; for the past 5 or 10 minutes, he has been glancing over at her (this is what the Greek tells us in v. 44).

Simon does not see the connection yet with the parable, so Jesus will explain it.

“It is common courtesy for a host to provide water for the feet of his guests, so that they might clean them prior to entering the house. “You did not do this,” Jesus points out, “But this woman has used her own tears to wet my feet and her own hair to dry them.”

Luke 7:45 You did not give to Me a kiss, but from which time I came in, she herself has not ceased kissing My feet.

Another ancient custom was to kiss a guest as he enters one’s home. Simon had not done that, and that is because Simon was not particularly fond of Jesus (despite the fact that he had asked Jesus on several occasions to come to his home).

Luke 7:46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but she herself anointed My feet with fragrant oil.

It was also common to provide oil for a guest’s head and hair; but Simon did not do this. The woman, however, had massaged the Lord’s feet with an expensive, aromatic oil.

Luke 7:47 Therefore I say to you this: Her many sins have been forgiven, for she loved much; but to whom little is forgiven, he loves little.”

“As a result, her many sins have been forgiven; and because of this, she is very grateful. If you do not think that you need to be forgiven or if you think your debt is small, then you are certainly less grateful when it comes to forgiveness.”

The big point that Simon wanted to make was the nature of this woman. Jesus has said, “Her debt is great because of her many sins; and she is very grateful.” Obviously, Simon has little or no gratitude, possibly not even thinking that he needs forgiveness. Has Simon put this all together yet?

And key to this parable is, Who is the Forgiver? Jesus reveals that with the next thing that He says.

What Jesus had just said to the woman shocks all of the religious types who are there: “Your sins have been forgiven.”

Luke 7:49 And those reclining began to say within themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

The people there are quite taken aback. Who is this Man who tells this woman that her sins are forgiven? How is He able to do that? From where does He get the authority to say this?

Luke 7:50 And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Jesus clarifies why she is saved—it is based upon her faith in Him (and not based upon her services to Him).

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 7:36-50 (a graphic); from Digital Ministries; accessed July 22, 2022.

ESV (capitalized) translation used below for chapter review. The bracketed material comes from me to clarify some of the verses.

I believe that reading this chapter and hearing it explained as a whole will be extremely informative. It is easy to lose the continuity and the progression when each and every verse is dissected.

We may stand at the edge of a forest and I start describing in detail each and every tree and all there is to know about them. Obviously, there is a wealth of knowledge to be disseminated. But in that approach, do you appreciate the forest itself? That is why these chapter summaries are so important.

As we have studied, there are a number of parallels between the texts of Matthew, Mark and Luke; suggesting that these events took place in this order, early on in the Lord’s ministry (perhaps at the end of the first year or the beginning of the second). Your concept of time may be thrown off when we complete this chapter and move to the next, as the events of Luke 9 match up with events taking place in the last few months of the Lord’s public ministry. So we make a jump in the book of Luke from early in the Lord’s ministry to late in the Lord’s ministry, but with nothing in between. At the end of Luke 9, I will speak to the organization of the book of Luke.

Luke 8:1 Soon afterward He [Jesus] went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him,... (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus traveled with the twelve disciples, but there were more people than the twelve who traveled with Him. Since this is early in His ministry, there are perhaps 50–100 people who are with Him. Some of these disciples are women.

Luke 8:2–3 ...and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means. (ESV; capitalized)

We know less about Mary Magdalene than you might think. What we read here is probably the most extensive bio of her. We do not know where this took place; what the circumstances were, or anything else. Based upon the narratives which follow, these women are identified early on with the Lord’s public ministry.

Mary’s name associates her with Magdala, which is a place on the southern region of Galilee.

Tradition sometimes connects her to the woman (women) who washed the Lord’s feet with her hair (this takes place at least twice in the Lord’s ministry). Mary is not so specifically identified. However, we do not know if the first connection is true (it would explain the gratefulness of the woman moisturizing the Lord’s feet); but Jesus would have healed and helped many men and women in a great variety of ways.

Tradition also connects Mary to the woman caught in the act of adultery. The second incident mentioned (the woman taken in adultery) may not have even taken place; or it may have been much different than is described (the actual text is in question). For me, it seemed weird that Jesus would be crouching over and writing stuff in the sand (this is from the text of this incident). It was also kind of goofy that her accusers left one-by-one, starting with the oldest. This incident is only found in one gospel (John 8:1–11). I think it is a later addition to the text or that portions of it are distorted.

On the other hand, this Mary is certainly more well-known after the crucifixion where she makes contact with the risen Lord and tells the disciples about it.

Similarly, Joanna is associated by some as being the wife of the centurion’s servant who was healed in Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10. However, as with Mary, there is nothing to actually connect her or her husband Chuza to that centurion. In fact, his being called a household manager for Herod Agrippa would suggest that there is no such connection. Joanna remained with the Lord throughout His public ministry, as she will be among the women going to His tomb after the resurrection (Luke 24:10).

Jesus is associate with these women and many others who supported them (Jesus and His disciples and followers) from their own personal wealth.

Luke typically gives some time and space to the women. None of the other disciples make reference to this list.

Luke 8:4–8 And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to Him, He said in a parable, "A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold." As He said these things, He called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus would often give a parable and then give no explanation for it. He would depend upon His audience to remember it, think about it and decipher it (if they could).

When Jesus said, “He who has ears, let him hear”; He is referring to a person with positive volition toward his message. Hearing is more than simply hearing these words. It is both hearing and understanding the meaning (sometimes, this word is used in the sense of to hear and obey).

However, His disciples do not understand what Jesus is talking about and they will ask Him about this parable.

Vv. 9–15 is parenthetical. The disciples heard this parable, they wondered about it, and later on, they ask Jesus about it.

Luke 8:9–10 And when His disciples asked Him what this parable meant, He said, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are [taught] in parables, so that 'seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.' (ESV; capitalized)

When Jesus is asked by His disciples about the meaning of this parable, He gives one of the most fascinating answers on record. He tells them, “It has been given to you to understand the mysteries of the Kingdom of God; but not to others, who will hear My parables and not understand them.”

Jesus is actually acknowledging that not everyone would understand all that He was teaching. We know this to be true, as some parables which He gave have been discussed and even debated hundreds and thousands of years later.

So, people showed up to hear Jesus speak, but often they did not understand everything that He said. On occasion, His parables left them wondering (as was true of the disciples).

When it comes to spiritual understanding, it is progressive. To use myself as an example: when I first moved to Houston and attended Berachah Church, Bob was teaching the book of Romans. He was nearly finished at the time I arrived. Did I understand everything that he was teaching? I did not. Most often, I did not even know that I did not understand it. I mention this because I am currently listening to that series again, and most of it is as if I had never heard the series in the first place. After nearly 50 years, I have a somewhat better background than I did the first time I heard it.

So, in some cases, what Jesus is teaching simply requires a better background and knowledge than many of His hearers had.

In other cases, His listeners may not have liked what He was teaching, but, since the information was couched in parables, they did not object to it (as they did not understand the parables).

When I taught Algebra II, most of the students were college-bound, had taken Algebra I and Geometry; so I could expect them to have some common areas of knowledge. Many times when I taught, perhaps as high as 60 or even 80% knew what I was teaching and it made sense to them.

A Bible teacher does not have this kind of audience. Some of them do not even know the full gospel message. Others know a handful of things, but have tremendous gaps in their understanding. Others have been attending Bible-based teaching for decades, and they have a very well-rounded cohesive understanding of theology. The pastor-teacher cannot teach the gospel every time; nor can he teach the finer points of justification, imputations, and the hypostatic union all of the time. A good pastor-teacher is going to teach on several different levels and those attending his church will understand whatever they can understand. Ideally speaking, new believers, growing believers and mature believers all get something from what is being taught.

Here is how the parables worked. Some crowds in attendance did not even know the gospel message (they were not even saved). Others knew a little bit about Jesus and redemption and the Messiah. So Jesus would often teach parables, and their chief advantage is this: believers could hear the parables but not understand them. However, the parables stayed with them for a long time and, maybe a few months or years later, they will think about a particular parable and suddenly understand what Jesus was saying.

That being said, this particular parable is relatively straightforward. Jesus explains it to His disciples. Some of those reading this probably understood its meaning straightaway.

Luke 8:11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. (ESV; capitalized)

The key to this parable is, the seed being scattered is the Word of God. This could be seen as the gospel message or as Bible doctrine (depending upon the recipients of the word).

Luke 8:12 The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes [along] and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. (ESV; capitalized)

In order for God’s Word to be efficacious, it must be heard and understood and believed. This process was called gap (grace apparatus for perception) by R. B. Thieme, Jr.; and it is also known as Operation Z. Briefly, gap means that the regenerated man has a human spirit, and it is the human spirit where believed information about God is placed. As this spirit grows in content, the believer is better able to understand more and more spiritual things. This comes from 1Corinthians 2:6–16, a passage taught by both R. B. Thieme, Jr. and R. B. Thieme, III.

This parable can also be understood to be directed to the unbeliever (or it has application to the unbeliever). The unbeliever has no spiritual information in his soul. Therefore, when he hears the gospel message, God the Holy Spirit acts as a human spirit for him, and makes that message understandable. The unbeliever can then believe the gospel or he can reject it. At some point, the understanding of that message will be taken from him. Somehow, it appears that Satan is involved in that process. Perhaps Satan petitions God for that information to be removed?

For the believer, he hears divine truth being taught (Bible doctrine) and he has a human spirit. Depending upon the amount of doctrine in that believer’s spirit, he may fully or only partially understand what is being taught (when I heard R. B. Thieme, Jr.’s Roman series for the first time, I probably understood 30% of what he was teaching). If the hearer chooses not to believe what he is hearing, at some point, that information is also lost to him.

As the believer increases his understanding of divine truth, information which was previously obscure to him can suddenly make sense.

Luke 8:13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. (ESV; capitalized)

For the unbeliever, perhaps he hears the gospel message and believes; but he only experiences minimal spiritual growth. So, at some point, he is tested, but the gospel message has no root in his soul. There is no place for spiritual information to grow; and they fall away from the faith (this does not mean that they lose their salvation; only that they retrogress as a believer).

The focus of this parable is the Word of God more than it is on the individual believer hearing the Word of God.

For the believer, he may hear Bible doctrine which, at some point, he begins to reject. He says, “Where did he (the pastor) get that from? I have never heard that before. Dear old Dr. So-and-so never taught that before.” (that was my best imitation of R. B. Thieme, Jr.) God has seen to it that this believer has been given the doctrine to withstand testing, but he has rejected some of that doctrine; and the Word of God does not take further root in his soul. Such a believer apparently advanced, but at some point, he falls away, having rejected the teaching which would have carried him through a time of testing.

Luke 8:14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. (ESV; capitalized)

Again, there are two applications: to the unbeliever hearing the gospel and to the believer hearing new doctrinal information.

Most unbelievers have a lot of stuff going on (as do believers), and they may hear and understand the gospel message. However, this unbeliever may set this information aside, temporarily, because there are so many other things demanding this person’s attention. At some point, the gospel message is simply choked out.

Now, let’s consider the believer. There are believers who are so involved in their own life that, they may attend church and hear some teaching; but they have so much more going on in their lives—even with prosperity—that these temporal things choke out the Word of God. This person might simply be too busy to take in the Word of God; or maybe things might be going too well for him. As a result, that person has stopped advancing spiritually, and he produces no fruit (production is a natural outgrowth of spiritual growth). He hears doctrinal information which is important to his spiritual growth, but he just sets it aside for the time being. At some point, it is lost.

Luke 8:15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. (ESV; capitalized)

Let’s first consider the unbeliever hearing the message of the gospel. The person is ready for it; and God the Holy Spirit makes it real to him. When he believes, it is as if a seed has fallen on good ground and it sprouts and produces fruit. The unbeliever hears the gospel and believes, and that sticks in his newly regenerated spirit.

This part of the parable also has application to the believer. The believer who pursues Bible doctrine; who grows spiritually; who believes Bible doctrine when it is taught—such a person grows spiritually and produces much fruit in his (or her) life.

At this point, we appear to return to the Lord’s teaching along the Galilee shore (Luke 8:9–15 was Jesus teaching His disciples privately). What takes place before and after this teaching suggests that Matthew, Mark and Luke are recording the same series of events.

Luke 8:16 "No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. (ESV; capitalized)

Light is often used as a symbol of truth; therefore, the believer who has truth should not hide it. That would be like taking a lamp into a dark room and then sticking the lamp into a closet and closing the closet door. It is no good there.

Now, this does not mean that you are going to spout Bible doctrine every moment of the day. Something happens and you immediately have a verse for it. The wise believer picks his spots and chooses his battles. The mature believer knows when the time is right and when it is not (after all, we are also warned not to cast our pearls before swine). When it is the proper time to express the truth, then the mature believer should express the truth (whether this is the gospel message, or Bible doctrine, or divine establishment truth).

When our founding fathers were writing the Constitution, the book they quoted the most in their discussions was the Bible. Under those circumstances, the Bible was recognized as a font of truth and knowledge by many of the founding fathers. Therefore, when discussion was had concerning what our government ought to be, various contributors spoke appropriate truths right from the Scriptures.

Luke 8:17 For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. (ESV; capitalized)

All truth will become manifest; and nothing will be hidden from the light. There are periods of time when lies and dishonesty rule the day (such as the United States in the 2020s), but in the end, truth will win out.

We live in a world filled with falsehoods (I write this in 2023). Some are so crazy as to boggle our collective imaginations (like the idea that a man can become a woman or vice versa). But this is what is going to be a part of life in a fallen world.

Luke 8:18 Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away." (ESV; capitalized)

When it comes to divine truth, believers are entrusted with it or not. When you are given truth, then you are responsible for it. You are responsible to know it, to believe it and to apply it. And at various points in time, you are responsible to speak it.

At some point, Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the Lord’s half brothers went to see the Lord in action (they all knew that He taught the Scriptures and they would have heard of His healings). We know that Mary believes in Jesus, but her other sons do not necessarily believe in Him.

Joseph is not named here; so he may be out of the picture entirely (meaning that he is possibly dead).

Luke 8:19 Then His mother and His brothers came to Him, but they could not reach Him because of the crowd. (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus is teaching somewhere along the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee (Capernaum?), but the crowd is so large as to make it impossible for Mary and her sons to make direct contact with Jesus. They are apparently able to get a message to Jesus.

Luke 8:20 And He was told, "Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You." (ESV; capitalized)

They sent a message to the Lord, which indicated that they wanted to see Him. This message and the response of Jesus is interesting. We do not know if Jesus taught this to the people who are there; or if He simply sent a message back to them. I am leaning toward the latter interpretation.

Luke 8:21 But He answered them, "My mother and My brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it." (ESV; capitalized)

It says that Jesus answers them. This does not mean that Jesus uses this message as a teaching tool. That is, He does not necessarily hold this note aloft from His mother and say, “I want you all to hear this note that I just received.” In the three gospels which record this incident, Jesus speaks these words to the messenger (s). This is portrayed in the singular in Matthew 12:48 and as a plural in Mark 3:33. Matthew simply noticed an individual who said this to Jesus; and Peter (the source of the book of Mark) noticed that several people were involved in passing this message along.

Jesus’ true family are those who hear the Word of God and then do it (for the unbeliever, this would mean to believe in Him). Several and possibly all of the Lord’s half-brothers have not yet believed in Him.

It is clear in the other gospels that Jesus says these things to the messenger, which things would have been conveyed to His mother and half-brothers. It is not clear that Jesus taught this as a part of His message on this day. In any case, someone remembered these words of Jesus and shared them with Luke (perhaps it was James, the half-brother of Jesus).

Unfortunately, these words of Jesus have been used by cults over the years to separate new believers from their friends and family. If separating yourself from friends and family is a fundamental truth taught in your church group, let me suggest that you are in a cult. In some cases, some friends in some circumstances are to be avoided by the new believer; and some family members under certain circumstances are to be avoided.

I am associated online with a woman whose parents were sexual deviants—they were very public about this—and they involved her in their acts of perversion. She separated from them. People have friends who drink to excess or use drugs. New believers often recognize that these are habits to leave behind (at salvation, the scar tissue of one’s soul is eliminated, so a former alcoholic or druggie can more easily walk away from these things).

However, there is no call for a person to separate himself from friends or family who were divine establishment oriented (that is, if they are normal, hard-working people). If such separation is taught in your church as an emphatic truth for all, then you may want to try out another church.

Luke 8:22–23a One day He got into a boat with His disciples, and He said to them, "Let us go across to the other side of the lake." So they set out, and as they sailed he fell asleep. (ESV; capitalized)

Despite all there is to read about Jesus and His public ministry, we still do not know in every case why Jesus was motivated to do this or that. In many cases, it is easy. Someone comes up to Him with a need or a problem or a loved one who is ill, and Jesus is willing to go wherever to heal that person. However, here, He is teaching in northern Galilee, and then, out of the blue, He tells His disciples, “Let take a ride across the sea.” At this point, I still do not have a clear explanation for this. However, this could be as simple as, Jesus, as a man, recognized that He needed to sleep, and there was not going to be any peace and quiet on shore in the area where He was.

Although Luke makes it sound like this trip across the Sea of Galilee is unrelated to what has been taking place, Mark’s gospel sounds as if they left that very night. Mark’s gospel reads like this: With many such parables He spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to His Own disciples He explained everything. On that day, when evening had come, He said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." (Mark 4:33–35)

Both Luke and Mark record the parable about, not hiding your lamp under a bed. The problem is, Jesus taught this parable at least twice that we know of; so there is nothing which tells us that all of Mark 4 matches up with all of Luke 8. That is, there may be an additional few days here or there; or even a few weeks, between the parables found in Luke and this sudden boat trip across Galilee.

Luke would have been influenced by whomever recounted these things. If someone did not make it clear that Jesus was teaching parables and then, that night, said, “Let go across Galilee,” then Luke would not have spoken of these things as taking place on the same day.

In any case, for an undisclosed reason, Jesus tells His disciple to go across the Sea of Galilee and land on the other side.

Luke 8:23b And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. (ESV; capitalized)

However, while Jesus is asleep, a sudden storm came upon them on the lake (which was not an unusual thing to happen).

Luke 8:24a And they went and woke Him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" (ESV; capitalized)

The disciples—at least four of them being experienced fishermen who are used to such storms—wake the Lord up. The storm is that dramatic.

Luke 8:24b And He awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. (ESV; capitalized)

He asks them, “Where is your faith?” This is what Jesus means: the relationship that the Lord has with His disciples is not going to suddenly disappear; and His public ministry will not come to a sudden, unexpected halt. As the Messiah of the Old Testament, Jesus is not going to perish at sea with His disciples. They should know this much at this time.

Luke 8:25b And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, "Who then is this, that He commands even winds and water, and they obey Him?" (ESV; capitalized)

Nevertheless, the disciples are afraid; but some of them marveled at this series of events. They knew that they had to wake Jesus up, but it never occurred to them that He could calm a storm. “Who is this Man, that the winds and water obey Him?” they say to one another.

Luke 8:26 Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. (ESV; capitalized)

There is some question about the location and the name of this village. Galilee is properly the region north and west of the Sea of Galilee. Most of Jesus’ public ministry took place in Galilee, which corresponds very roughly to the Northern Kingdom (this region was more or less divided up between Galilee and Samaria).

Northern and Southern Kingdoms (a map); from Wikipedia; accessed June 17, 2023. This is what Israel would have looked like after the death of Solomon (circa 900–800 b.c.).

Interestingly enough, it is the northern kingdom which originally sponsored most of the negative volition in the Old Testament. However, despite the location of the Temple in the southern kingdom and the priests being there as well, the negative volition toward Jesus seems to primarily emanate from the south now. Things change; people change; and regions change.

Luke 8:27 When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. (ESV; capitalized)

Luke, the writer of this narrative, tells us from the beginning that this man is possessed by demons and that his behavior is very strange. Some of these things could be observed by the disciples and Jesus upon landing. Some of that information would have been told to them.

Luke 8:28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before Him and said with a loud voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me." (ESV; capitalized)

The man cries out and then falls before the feet of Jesus. Theologically, we might guess that the lead demon speaks to Jesus through the man; but that it is the man’s volition to fall before Jesus. However, given the nature of the conversation, it may be the demons in this man who bow before Jesus.

The demon knows Who Jesus is; and he begs for Jesus not to torment him. I postulate that when a demon is thrown out of a man’s body, that it is then put into some form of confinement called the abyss. All of the demons were aware of the abyss, and when they possessed anyone, they were in danger of being evicted and then sent to the abyss.

Luke 8:29 For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.) (ESV; capitalized)

Luke gives us some background on this demon-possessed man, which would have become known to the disciples later in the narrative. Nevertheless, this is where the description of this man and his behavior belong.

Jesus commanded for the unclean spirit to come out of the man but it does not appear to come out. There are two possible explanations: (1) the demon simply did not exit the body; or (2) the demon with whom Jesus was speaking left the man’s body, but there were 200 other demons remaining behind (Jesus specifically called for the removal of the demon with whom He spoke).

As long as we understand that Jesus makes this command from His humanity, this narrative continues. If Jesus commanded this demon to exit from His Deity, then we face a great theological problem (I have suggested throughout this gospel that Jesus acted within the confines of His humanity, with very few, if any, exceptions).

Luke 8:30 Jesus then asked him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Legion," for many demons had entered him. (ESV; capitalized)

If the first demon has been cast out (which is the interpretation that I lean toward), there are 200 additional demons within this man to deal with. The other possibility is, Jesus called for the demons to leave this man, and they simply did not.

Jesus acts within the confines of His humanity and when He calls for something to happen (in this case, for the demons to leave this man), it appears that His command is not followed. As I suggested previously, perhaps the command was followed, technically speaking (the one demon left the body of this man); but another 200 remained behind.

Luke 8:31 And they begged Him not to command them to depart into the abyss. (ESV; capitalized)

If the primary demon (the one who controlled the man’s vocal cords) is cast out, the other demons ask not to be cast into the abyss. I would suggest that this communication is taking place verbally (so the disciples can hear it take place), through the man’s vocal cords, which are now used by many of the occupying demons.

This verse indicates that there is a place that demons who possess men are sent to called the abyss. The implication is, this place is both confining and painful.

Even though the universe is more vast than our minds can comprehend, the demons are not off exploring other worlds. They do not go off and attempt to hide from God. They choose to cause problems with God’s human creation.

Luke 8:32 Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged Him to let them enter these. So He gave them permission. (ESV; capitalized)

This is interesting that Jesus allows these demons to enter into a herd of pigs. This is an unusual request to grant; and we do not know whether Jesus knew what would happen next (Jesus has human limitations; and being a prophet does not mean you know everything that is about to happen).

Luke 8:33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned. (ESV; capitalized)

I liken this to a ten-year-old child being given the keys to the family vehicle and then standing back to see what will happen. Is the volition of the pigs an issue here? Did Jesus know what the pigs were going to do? Is the uncleanness of the pig an issue (they were unclean insofar as the Jews were concerned)? Why didn’t Jesus tell the demons, “No, you do not have My permission; now come out of him”?

This incident is such an oddity in the gospels, that it leaves us with many questions.

R. B. Thieme, III gives the most logical partial explanation: the demons intended to destroy these hogs. This would harm the economy and likely tarnish the Lord’s reputation in the process. That would seem to be a good day’s work for a demon. They may have simply resigned themselves to going into the abyss, and this was their last hurrah, so to speak.

Luke 8:34 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. (ESV; capitalized)

The swine herders were going to be the first to tell the townspeople what happened, and the emphasis was going to be on the pigs drowning and about how this would ruin the economy of the town.

Luke 8:35 Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. (ESV; capitalized)

The people had been afraid of the demon-possessed man; but seeing him sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and not crazy—well, that frightened them as well. Despite the calmness of the scene, these people knew that somehow, Jesus was able to overpower the demons in this man. That sort of power caused them to be afraid.

Perhaps some of them believed that the demons could be anywhere around them, and that unnerved them (the abyss would be well-known to demons but not to man).

Luke 8:36 And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. (ESV; capitalized)

When the hog farmers told the people what happened, they also talked about the crazy possessed man who seemed to be healed. Everyone knew about this man. Knowing of his previous condition (which many of the townspeople may have witnessed directly) and then seeing him there being normal—this could prompt two responses from the people: (1) An appreciation for this man returning to normal; (2) a fear concerning the whereabouts of the demons who previously possessed him. We readers know enough from this chapter to understand that the demons are now in the abyss and, therefore, cannot harm anyone. The townsfolk did not know this. Therefore, their response to this situation is fear.

Luke 8:37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So He got into the boat and returned. (ESV; capitalized)

The people seemed to weigh the two things which occurred—the destruction of the pigs and the cleansing of this man of demons. From a purely economic standpoint, the people believed that the loss of the pigs was far more damaging and did not outweigh the recovery of this man. In the balance, they would have preferred for things to have been left unchanged. That is exactly the wrong viewpoint to have. The change in this man is far more important than the destruction of the swine.

You may or may not find this narrative interesting. However, for most of us, this narrative appears detached from our real lives. Let me suggest some parallels to your life right now. Are you seeing events take place which are unnerving? Are you concerned about the economy right now? Can you observe events taking place which disturb you—even frighten you? Are you seriously concerned about your future and what might take place? Are you ready to set God aside and solve these massive problems on your own (say, with a political movement)?

If you momentarily set the demons aside, are you beginning to recognize parallels that you did not see before? Can you make sense of the response of this people, even though it is the wrong response?

The people are now organized and they believe that they have identified the key to their economic woes—Jesus—and they want Him to leave. You are a believer, so this approach seems silly to you. Yet there are organized groups of atheists and agnostics who believe that Christians and churches are the problem in America. What has been preserving America for all of this time has been the pivot of believers; yet some have identified us as the problem with America.

My point being, there are a great many parallels between this narrative and our life today, parallels which may not seem obvious at first.

Luke 8:38–39 The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with Him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him. (ESV; capitalized)

The man who had been possessed desired to travel with Jesus. Jesus said no and told him to remain there.

Bear in mind that Jesus had His disciples take him clear across the Galilee Sea in order to convert this one man. But let me suggest that this one man had a great ministry after all of this. The people were not ready in those circumstances to believe in Jesus; but, given some time and the testimony of this man, it seems likely that many of them believed in the Lord at a later date.

Also, take note the inferred reference to Deity. Jesus tells him to declare how much God has done for him; and he proclaims how much Jesus had done for him. This suggests that this man understood a great deal about what had taken place and even had a basic understanding of the Deity of Jesus.

My assumption is, he was a walking testimony for the Lord and that many people believed in Jesus as a result of him staying there.

At this point, we have a narrative within a narrative. The big picture is, Jairus, a synagogue head, asks Jesus to come to his home and heal his daughter. As Jesus is on the way, something happens, which slows Jesus down. In fact, while Jesus deals with this interim event, the daughter dies.

Luke 8:40 Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed Him, for they were all waiting for Him. (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus had been well-received on the northern Galilee shore. There were some skeptics and others who only wanted to be healed, but those types appear to have gone their own way after waiting a day or so.

However, there seem to be a considerable number of people who are on positive signals toward the teaching of Jesus. Positive volition is willing to wait.

Luke 8:41–42a And there came a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus' feet, he implored Him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. (ESV; capitalized)

Jairus, the head of the local synagogue, came out to meet Jesus and to make a strong request.

Although many religious types generally resented Jesus, Jairus did not fall into that category. Furthermore, this is early in the Lord’s ministry, so there was less pressure from other religious types to repudiate Jesus.

Jesus begins to go with the man, but the people press in all around Him as He goes. Something is about to happen that will bring this procession to a dead halt.

Luke 8:43 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. (ESV; capitalized)

One of those following Jesus was a woman who suffered from vaginal bleeding. She had so suffered this malady for twelve years. This made the woman perpetually unclean, as women on their periods were considered unclean.

She had consulted many doctors concerning this ailment, but without any success. She had spent a great deal of money to find a cure.

Luke 8:44 She came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. (ESV; capitalized)

The woman could not confront Jesus and ask Him for healing, as she was unclean. However, she was able to come up behind Him and touch the tassel of his outer garment. At that very moment, she was cured.

Luke 8:45 And Jesus said, "Who was it that touched Me?" When all denied it, Peter said, "Master, the crowds surround You and are pressing in on You!" (ESV; capitalized)

No one knows that this has taken place, apart from Jesus and this woman. Jesus asked aloud, “Who just touched Me?”

Peter thought this was an odd question, as there are people all around Jesus who are trying to get to Him. This is certainly a lot of josling and movement which is occurring as Jesus walks along. At any time, one person could bump into another who might bump into Jesus.

Luke 8:46 But Jesus said, "Someone touched Me, for I perceive that power has gone out from Me." (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus knows that someone has touched Him, as He could feel power going out of Him. We do not know exactly how Jesus sensed this, but He knew for a certainty that this took place.

If Jesus were operating as God, with all the attributes of God, He would not need to ask who touched Him, as He would have known this. Furthermore, any power coming out of Him would be an act of His volition.

In this situation, Jesus is a conduit of God’s power; and God chose to heal this woman the moment that she touched any part of Jesus’ clothing. Jesus, from His humanity, did not will for this healing to take place. He was simply aware that power flowed through Him to someone in the crowd.

Luke 8:47 And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before Him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched Him, and how she had been immediately healed. (ESV; capitalized)

Generally speaking, when someone unclean has contact with someone who is clean, the clean person become unclean due to this contact. However, it was the opposite with Jesus. The woman’s contact with Jesus made her clean; and she did not spoil Jesus in any way.

Luke 8:48 And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace." (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus proclaims her both physically and spiritually cleansed, and says that she may go in peace.

Most often, peace in the Bible refers to peace between man and God, the most important peace to have. The woman had faith that contact with Jesus would cure her. Jesus tells her, “More than that, you are at peace with God.”

Man’s natural state is being at enmity with God. It is our very nature to rebel against Him. However, this was no longer the case for this woman (at least, while she is in fellowship).

We do not know how much time the Lord was slowed for. The brief narrative suggests perhaps five minutes. However, it was enough time to cause an unwanted result.

Luke 8:49 While He was still speaking, someone from the [synagogue] ruler's house came and said, "Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more." (ESV; capitalized)

At this exact same instant, someone from the synagogue leader’s home comes and informs him that his daughter has just died. He is advised not to trouble Jesus any further.

Luke 8:50 But Jesus on hearing this answered him, "Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well." (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus, having heard this, reassures Jairus about his daughter. Jesus tells him not to fear, but to believe, and she will be fine.

We know that Jairus had faith in the Lord, because he came to the Lord for help. Does he have that same faith at this point? Let me suggest that, upon hearing that his young daughter had died, Jairus went numb. There was a separation between him and the people around him. He was in one place, they were in another, even though they were all around him. He was filled with memories, but not with faith.

Luke 8:51 And when He came to the house, He allowed no one to enter with Him, except Peter and John and James, and the father and mother of the child. (ESV; capitalized)

Although Jesus moved with a large retinue of people, He only allowed the parents, Peter, James and John to enter into the house. There was going to be a bare minimum of people to observe what takes place.

Jesus appears to be very confident that God will raise this child up from the dead. However, He does not bring hundreds of people with Him to see this take place.

When it comes to signs and miracles, God always makes them appropriate for the crowd. Jesus chooses three disciples and the parents to go with Him into the house.

Luke 8:52 And all were weeping and mourning for her, but He said, "Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping." (ESV; capitalized)

Certainly the two parents are weeping. Perhaps even one or two of the disciples are as well. There are people milling about, and many of them are weeping because of this child.

Jesus tells them to stop crying. A person cannot think or discern situations while they are in some emotional upheaval. Jesus wants the parents to see and appreciate what is about to take place.

Luke 8:53 And they laughed at Him, knowing that she was dead. (ESV; capitalized)

When Jesus said that the girl is simply asleep, that seems to break the sad tension, and several laughed at Him. This would be both nervous and derisive laughter.

If they are inside of the house, it would be the child’s two parents who are laughing at Him. If they have not yet gone in, this would be some of the friends and family who are there. Obviously, no one is really believing the Lord’s power at this point.

Now, how does this happen? The parents are both crying, and suddenly, they begin to laugh. The crying indicates that they are in an emotional swing. To hear Jesus say something like this was something which cause them to go from crying to laughing in an instant.

There are only five people and Jesus at the bedside of this little girl. Let me suggest that there is a point in time when their tears and laughing have been stifled.

Luke 8:54 But taking her by the hand He called, saying, "Child, arise." (ESV; capitalized)

Luke 8:55 And her spirit returned, and she got up at once. And He directed that something should be given her to eat. (ESV; capitalized)

The girl’s spirit (life) returns to her and she immediately stands up. Jesus tells her parents to fetch some food and water.

Luke 8:56 And her parents were amazed, but He charged them to tell no one what had happened. (ESV; capitalized)

Jesus does not tell them, “Go from house to house and tell them what you saw. Tell them that I, Jesus, healed your little girl, bringing her to life.” But Jesus says exactly the opposite.

Remember previously in this chapter of the man who was demon-possessed. Jesus told him to go about and tell what God had done for him. Jesus tells the parents not to do this.

James, John and Peter all witness this miracle; and the parents. Jesus tells them all not to tell anyone else. Given the circumstances and the aorist verb form, Jesus is not telling the parents, “Never speak of this again to anybody.” Instead He is saying, “Focus upon your daughter right now. There is no reason to spread this news all over town.”

Let me suggest that the reason why Jesus told this family not to reveal what happened is, how many would be coming to Jesus, after this time, with the remains of loved one who have passed away? Clearly, everyone has a loved one they would want to see again; and this by itself could have become the Lord’s entire ministry (had He allowed it to).

Links to Each Chapter of Luke
Luke 1	Luke 2	Luke 3	Luke 4	Luke 5
Luke 6	Luke 7	Luke 8	Luke 9	Luke 10
Luke 11	Luke 12	Luke 13	Luke 14	Luke 15
Luke 16	Luke 17	Luke 18	Luke 19	Luke 20
Luke 21	Luke 22	Luke 23	Luke 24