Luke 8 – Studies

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each chapter is divided into a number of studies and each study or passage has a simple four-Part, verse-by-verse approach, to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Luke 8:1-15: The Parable of the Four Seeds

A. Find Out:    

1. What was Jesus doing and who was with him? v.1-3
   •  After this, Jesus travelled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; 3 Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.
2. What were the four places the seed in the story fell on? v.4-8
   • 4 While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: 5 ‘A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. 6 Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.’
   • When he said this, he called out, ‘Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.’
3. Who questioned the meaning of the parable? v.9
   • His disciples asked him what this parable meant.
4. Why did he say he spoke in parables? v.10
   • He said, ‘The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that ‘“though seeing, they may not see;  though hearing, they may not understand.”
5. What did the seed falling on the path & the rock represent? v.11-13
   •  ‘This is the meaning of the parable: the seed is the word of God. 12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.
6. What did the seed among thorns and on good soil represent? v.14,15
   • The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.

B. Think:

1. What do the people travelling with Jesus indicate about him?
2. What is the point of parables according to Jesus?
3. What was the point of this parable?

C. Comment:

This passage tells us a great deal about Jesus and about his teaching ministry. First of all the people travelling with him: note the variety of people, the high and the lowly, men and women, all travelling together, all blessed by Jesus and now seeking to be a blessing to him.

Second, the method of Jesus’ teaching: he uses parables because they are memorable but they are also obscure to the casual and yet will provoke the seeker to come to him and find answers.

Finally, the meaning of this particular parable: the aim of this story is to say that when he spoke God’s word, it had a different effect depending on the heart that received it.

•   Some people hear the word but then, because their lives are so open to Satan, he just snatches it away and they forget it straight away.
•   Other people hear the word and say “That’s great” but as soon as pressure comes on them they show that it had not gone deeply into them and they fall away.
•   Another groups of people hear the word but as they go back into their home situations, the worries of life just overwhelm them and the word is forgotten. Again it hasn’t gone deep.
•   The final group are those who hear and receive the word deep into them and are changed by it. In them alone does the word of God bring the fruit of true salvation.

D. Application:

1. My heart? The state of heart determines the response to the word of God. How is my heart revealed? Does God’s word come to me and take root and bear fruit?
2. The state of heart: The state of heart can be changed. Am I determined to ensure that my life will be fruitful?  What do I need to do to ensure that?

Passage: Luke 8:16-21: Teaching as Jesus’ family comes   

A. Find Out:

1. What doesn’t one do with a lamp? v.16a
   • ‘No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed.
2. What does one do with it and why? v.16b
   • Instead, they put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.
3. What will happen to what is hidden or concealed? v.17
   • For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.
4. What principle does Jesus state for the listener? v.18
   • Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them.’
5. Who then came to see Jesus? v.19,20
   • Now Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. 20 Someone told him, ‘Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.’
6. What did Jesus say about his family? v.21
   • He replied, ‘My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.’

B. Think:

1. What are these passages about? (see v.18,21)
2. What is the link with the previous passage?
3. So how do you think v.16,17 fit into that?

C. Comment:

So far in this chapter Jesus was teaching on the different ways people can respond to the word of God that (implied) comes through him. In verse 18 he exhorts “consider carefully how you listen”, as if to say, “Well you’ve heard the teaching, now make sure you are like the good soil”. Then when his family arrive, he uses family as a teaching to say anyone who hears and DOES what I bring from God is part of my family. So what sense do verses 16 & 17 make in the light of this?

Ah, look at what we just said – “in the light of that”. What does that phrase mean? It means when we understand the rest. We say, “suddenly the light dawned on them” meaning suddenly they understood. Now Jesus was talking about truth, or understanding God’s word. Look, he says, you don’t hide a light, so similarly I’m not here to hide the truth but to bring it out into the open (v.16),  indeed you can know all things (v.17).

Now comes v.18 – when you listen carefully and seek God to understand, you will be given even more. The person who can’t be bothered to seek God will not have the truth and even the little wisdom they think they have, will be proved to be nothing. When they think they are clever they’ll be shown they aren’t, their cleverness will be taken away. No it’s the person who hears, receives and obeys who will receive more!

D. Application:

1. How to change my heart? We asked this in the previous study.  This one shows I can do it by changing my attitude and make myself a seeker. Will I do that?
2. How to increase my understanding: Truth is given by God to the open hearted seeker. As I make myself a seeker, He will grant understanding. Will I do it?

Passage: Luke 8:22-25: Jesus calms the storm on the Lake

22 One day Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let us go over to the other side of the lake.’ So they got into a boat and set out. 23 As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.

24 The disciples went and woke him, saying, ‘Master, Master, we’re going to drown!’

He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. 25 ‘Where is your faith?’ he asked his disciples.

In fear and amazement they asked one another, ‘Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.’

A. Find Out:

1. Who suggested what? v.22
   • One day Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let us go over to the other side of the lake.’ So they got into a boat and set out.
2. What happened? v.23
   • As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.
3. What was the disciples’ response? v.24a
   • The disciples went and woke him, saying, ‘Master, Master, we’re going to drown!’
4. What did Jesus do? v.24b
   • He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm.
5. How did he rebuke them? v.25a
   • ‘Where is your faith?’ he asked his disciples.
6. How were they left feeling? v.25b
   • In fear and amazement they asked one another, ‘Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.’

B. Think:

1. How real was the danger on the lake do you think?
2. Why do you think Jesus was able to sleep in it?
3. Why do you think he rebuked the disciples?

C. Comment:

Moving away from his teaching, Luke now gives us an incident that occurred one day as they were travelling. For some reason Jesus suggests they go across the lake (which is really a small sea). The lake is known for its changeable weather and while they are part way across a storm comes. This is a serious storm!  Luke says they were “in great danger” and these disciples, some of whom are fishermen who had spent their whole lives on this lake, were seriously worried!

Now in the midst of this storm something strange is happening: Jesus is sleeping.  Is he oblivious to the danger? No, he’s simply tired AND at peace in the knowledge of his Father’s will – at peace in the knowledge that his Father is looking after him and that he can handle whatever comes along.

The disciples do not have that double assurance yet! They wake Jesus in panic, and Jesus simply takes authority over the storm and it abates. The disciples are astonished. More than that, they are afraid. They had not realised that their master has this sort of authority. This is a completely different ball game!

But now Jesus rebukes them for their lack of faith. Why? He obviously expected them to react in a different way. How? Well perhaps he wanted then to call on God themselves for deliverance, perhaps simply to trust Jesus in peace that God would look after them and that Jesus could handle it.

D. Application:

1. The storms of life: In a “storm” do we panic or trust God? Do we have that assurance that Father is looking after us, His children? Is that assurance translated into peace in the face of turmoil?
2. Handling the storm:  In a “storm” do we know the authority we have? (see Eph 2:6 & Jn 14:12)  Do we go down under it or take authority over it under God’s direction?

Passage: Luke 8:26-33: Jesus and the Demoniac    

A. Find Out:

1. When did they go and who did they meet? v.26,27a
   • They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. 27 When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town.
2. How is the man described? v.27b,29b,c
   • For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs…. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.
3. What did Jesus do and how did the man respond? v.29a,28
   •  For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man….. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, ‘What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!’
4. What did Jesus next do and with what response? v.30,31
   • Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’ ‘Legion,’ he replied, because many demons had gone into him. 31 And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.
5. What did the demons ask? v.32
   • A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission.
6. So what then happened? v.33
   • When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

B. Think:

1. What was state of the man to start with?
2. How did the demons seem to resist Jesus?
3. So what stages are there to this deliverance?

C. Comment:

This is one of the rare cases of deliverance recorded in the Gospels that seem to take place in stages. Mostly Jesus simply spoke a word and the demon came out. In this case it is different.

Note first the state of the man: he had probably been classified as a madman and has been chained up because he was so wild and violent. Yet so strong had he been that he had broken free and now lived out on his own in a graveyard. Note, therefore his symptoms: utterly violent, isolationist, self-destructive, associating with death.

Now see how Jesus dealt with him. First, Jesus commands him to be released, but there seems to be resistance. Second, Jesus asks him his name and finds out there are a multitude of demons in him. Finally the demons beg to be allowed to exist in a nearby herd of pigs. For whatever purpose, Jesus consents and the demons leave the man. Note, therefore, that there was no question over the fact that they were going to leave, simply where they would go. Once in the pigs they cause them to destroy themselves.

The temptation here is to lay down a strategy for deliverance, but this might be a one-off case. What it does show is that however many demons there are, Jesus is still Lord and has the authority to tell them to leave.

D. Application:

1. Deliverance is a fact of spiritual life: Is the thought of demonic deliverance alien to my thinking? Do I realise that this is a very real activity when God is on the move?
2. Fear? Does the thought of the demonic create fear in me, or do I realise that Jesus is always Lord, even over masses of demons?

Passage: Luke 8:34-39: Outcomes

A. Find Out:

1. What did the watchers do? v.34,36
   • When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside …. Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured.
2. What did the people find when they came? v.35
   • And the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.
3. How did they react? v.37
   • Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left.
4. What did the delivered man ask? v.38
   • The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away
5. What did Jesus tell him to do? v.39a
   • ‘Return home and tell how much God has done for you.’
6. So what happened? v.39b
   • So the man went away and told all over the town how much Jesus had done for him.

B. Think:

1. What was the first effect that was positive?
2. What was the second effect that was negative?
3. Why do you think Jesus told the man to stay?

C. Comment:

The man has been wonderfully delivered. The initial effect of the deliverance was somewhat strange, a whole herd of pigs died. Unfortunately that effect tends to hide the main effect: the man WAS delivered! The man who was once mad, a threat to society, is now in his right mind and normal. THAT ought to be a cause for rejoicing but, Luke tells us, it was a cause for fear.  When the returning crowds saw the man now restored and when they heard the manner of his deliverance they were afraid.

Why? Perhaps they themselves felt threatened. Here was a healer who obviously had power beyond anything they knew. A man doesn’t get demonised to the degree that this man had been unless he is involved with the occult or idolatry in a big way. Perhaps many others in the area were similarly involved, and now they realise the might of the power and authority that has come into their land. Perhaps their lives are being challenged.

The man himself, understandably wants to go with Jesus but Jesus, perhaps sensing his Father’s will for the man, instructs him to stay and be a witness to his own people. Testimony is incredibly powerful and this man has an incredibly powerful testimony. It is better that he stays and is Jesus’ witness here in his own home.

D. Application:

1. Fear of Deliverance: The enemy fears Jesus’ presence and power. If we fear Jesus’ activity is it because the enemy speaks that fear into us, and we accept it?
2. Witnesses: Are we the witnesses to Jesus that he’s called us to be?  We are called to shine “where we are!”  Do I do that in my home,   my neighbourhood,  my work, school or college?

Passage: Luke 8:40-56: Jesus & Jairus   

A. Find Out:

1. Who was Jairus and why did he come to Jesus? v.41,42
   • Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. 41 Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house 42 because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying.
2. Who came and touched Jesus and why? v.42-44
   • As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. 43 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. 44 She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.
3. How did Jesus reveal her? v.45-48
   • ‘Who touched me?’ Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, ‘Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.’ 46 But Jesus said, ‘Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.’ 47 Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. 48 Then he said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.’
4. What news then came and how did Jesus respond? v.49,50
   • While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. ‘Your daughter is dead,’ he said. ‘Don’t bother the teacher anymore.’
   • 50 Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, ‘Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.’
5. What did Jesus do at the house? v.51-54
   • When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother. 52 Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. ‘Stop wailing,’ Jesus said. ‘She is not dead but asleep.’ 53 They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. 54 But he took her by the hand and said, ‘My child, get up!’
6. With what effect? v.55,56
   • Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. 56 Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.

B. Think:

1. Why do you think that Jesus revealed the woman?
2. Why do you think Jesus cleared Jairus’s house?
3. Why do you think Jesus said not to tell anyone?

C. Comment:

First, consider Jairus, a synagogue leader, who comes pleading for Jesus to come and heal his only daughter who was dying. Most of the time, it seems, the various religious leaders were threatened by Jesus and therefore opposed him. This leader is desperate and often it takes threatening circumstances to make people put down their prejudices.

Then there is the woman who needed healing. Why didn’t she come openly? Perhaps she would be embarrassed at her infirmity, perhaps she wasn’t sure that she could be healed and so reached out to Jesus in a surreptitious way, “just in case” nothing happened. Whatever the reason, Jesus was aware of what she did and simply confirmed to her that she had in fact been healed.

Finally there are the people back at Jairus’s home, apparently mourning for the death of the little girl. As good as that may apparently be, they are a hindrance to faith; they firmly believe she is dead and nothing is going to change that. For this reason, perhaps, Jesus makes them all go out while he raises the little girl to life. Years later Peter would follow the example of his master (see Acts 9:39 ,40) and put the faithless outside while he prayed.

D. Application:

1. Prejudice: Will it take a crisis for me to cry out to God and really start to move in faith? Ask the Lord to help you BEFORE a crisis.
2. Remove faithlessness: Lack of faith has to be removed from situations requiring faith. How might that apply in situations that I can see?  
3. Faith Rewarded: Jesus honours even the smallest of our faith activities. Is my life founded on faith?