Luke Chapter 8
The women who followed Jesus

1 Jesus walked through towns and countryside, preaching and giving the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve followed him,

2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and diseases: Mary called Magda lene, who had been freed of seven demons;

3 Joanna, wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward; Suzanna and others who provided for them out of their own funds.


The parable of the sower

4 As a great crowd gathered and people came to him from every town, Jesus began teaching them through stories, or para bles,

5 “The sower went out to sow the seed. And as he sowed, some of the grain fell along the way, was trodden on and the birds of the sky ate it up.

6 Some fell on rocky ground, and no sooner had it come up than it withered, because it had no water.

7 Some fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with the seed and choked it.

8 But some fell on good soil and grew, producing fruit – a hundred times as much.” And Jesus cried out, “Listen then, if you have ears to hear!”

9 The disciples asked him, “What does this story mean?”

10 And Jesus answered, “You have been granted to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. But to others it is given in the form of stories, or parables, so that seeing they may not perceive and hearing they may not understand.”

11 Now, this is the point of the parable:
The seed is the word of God.

12 Those along the wayside are people who hear it, but immediately the devil comes and takes the word from their minds, for he doesn’t want them to believe and be saved.

13 Those on the rocky ground are people who receive the word with joy, but they have no root; they believe for a while and give way in time of trial.

14 Among the thorns are people who hear the word but as they go their way, are choked by worries, riches, and the pleasures of life; they bring no fruit to maturity.

15 The good soil, instead, are people who receive the word and keep it in a gentle and generous mind, and persevering patiently, they bear fruit.

16 No one, after lighting a lamp covers it with a bowl or puts it under the bed; rather he puts it on a lamp stand so that people coming in may see the light.

17 In the same way, there is nothing hidden that shall not be uncovered; nothing kept secret that shall not be known clearly.

18 Now, take care how well you listen, for whoever produces will be given more, but from those who do not produce, even what they seem to have will be taken away from them.”


Jesus’ mother and brothers

19 Then his mother and his relatives came to him, but they could not get to him because of the crowd.

20 Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing out side and wish to meet you.”

21 Then Jesus answered, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”


Jesus calms the storm

22 One day Jesus got into a boat with his disciples and said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.”

23 So they set out, and as they sailed he fell asleep. Sud denly a storm came down on the lake and the boat began to fill with water, and they were in danger.

24 The disciples then went to Jesus to wake him, saying, “Master! Master! We are sinking!” Jesus woke up. He rebuked the wind and the rolling waves; the storm subsided, and all was quiet.

25 Then Jesus said to them, “Where is your faith?” They had been afraid; now they were astonished and said to one another, “Who can this be? See, he commands even the wind and the sea and they obey him!”


The possessed man and the pigs

26 The crossing ended at the country of the Gerasenes, on the shore facing Galilee.

27 As Jesus stepped ashore, a man from the town approached him. This man was possessed by demons and for a long time was without clothes. He would not live in a house but stayed among the tombstones.

28 When he came nearer to Jesus, he yelled and threw himself on the ground before him, and then shouted, “What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”;

29 for Jesus had ordered the evil spirit to leave the man.
This spirit had seized him many times, when he had been bound with ropes and chains and kept under control. He would then suddenly break the chains and be driven by the evil spirit into wild places.
When Jesus asked him,

30 “What is your name?” the man said, “I am Legion,” because many demons had entered into him.

31 And they begged Jesus not to command them to go into the bottomless pit.

32 Nearby a great herd of pigs was feeding, so the demons asked to be allowed to enter the pigs, and Jesus let them go.

33 The demons then left the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down into the lake and was drowned.

34 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and reported it in the town and countryside.

35 Then people went out to see what had happened and came to Jesus. There they saw the man from whom the demons had been driven out. He was clothed and in his right mind, and was sitting at the feet of Jesus. They were afraid.

36 Then people who had seen it told them how the man had been healed,

37 and all this crowd from the Gerasene country asked Jesus to depart from them, for a great fear took hold of them. So Jesus got into the boat to return.

38 It was then that the man freed of the demons asked Jesus if he could stay with him.

39 But Jesus sent him on his way, “Go back to your family and tell them how much God has done for you.” So the man went away, proclaiming through the whole town how much Jesus had done for him.


A woman is healed and a child raised to life

40 When Jesus returned, the people welcomed him, for all had been waiting for him.

41 At that time a man named Jairus, an official of the synagogue, threw himself at Jesus’ feet and begged him to come to his house

42 because his only daughter, about twelve years old, was dying.
As Jesus was on his way, the crowd pressed from every side.

43 There was a woman who had suffered from a bleeding for twelve years. This woman had spent everything she had on doctors, but none of them had been able to cure her.

44 Now she came up behind Jesus and touched the fringe of his cloak, and her bleeding stopped at once.

45 Then Jesus asked, “Who touched me?” Everyone denied it and Peter said, “Master, the crowd is pushing all around you.”

46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I felt power go out from me.”

47 The woman knew she had been discovered. She came trembling and knelt before Jesus. Then she openly confessed why she had touched him and how she had been instantly cured.

48 And Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

49 While Jesus was still speaking, a messenger arrived from the official’s home to tell him, “Your daughter has just died; don’t trouble the master any further.”

50 But Jesus heard the news and said to the official, “Do not fear, only believe.”

51 When he entered the house, Jesus allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James and John, with the father and mother of the child.

52 As all the people were weeping and wailing loud ly, Jesus said to them, “Do not weep, she is not dead but asleep.”

53 And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.

54 As for Jesus, he took the child by the hand and said to her, “Child, wake up!”

55 And her spirit returned and she got up at once; then Jesus told them to give her something to eat.

56 The parents were amazed, but Jesus ordered them not to let anyone know what had happened.

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Comments Luke, Chapter 8

• 8.1 JESUS AND THE CULTURE OF HIS TIME

See the commentary of Matthew 1:18 concerning the inferior status of women in the time of Jesus and especially in Jewish society. No spiritual master would have spoken to a woman in public: women were not even admitted to the synagogues. Nevertheless, Jesus did not pay the least attention to such universally accepted prejudices. Various women took Jesus’ words and attitude as a call to freedom. They even joined the circle of his intimate friends while ignoring the gossip. Here we have a fundamental testimony about the freedom of the Gospel.

Jesus was truly human, and as such he belonged to a race and a culture: he was a Jew of his time and his gospel was attuned to the culture that he shared. Yet Jesus did not adopt the inhuman traits of his culture; nor did he accept the prejudices of the Jews of his time with regard to women, to public sinners, to pagans and so on, nor did he share their views in regard to the Sabbath. His gospel is a leaven that changes cultures for the better; in many respects his way of life goes against the mainstream of cultures.

Mary of Magdala (Mag dala was a village on the shore of Lake Tiberias) will be at the foot of the cross along with Mary, the wife of Cleophas, the mother of James and Joset. These two women, along with Joanna, will receive the first news of the Resurrection (Lk 24:10).

• 9. See commentary on Matthew13:1-23.

This is the point of the parable (v. 11). The comparison (or parable) of the sower helps us to understand what is happening around Jesus. Many people became very enthusiastic at the beginning, then, after a while they left. Only a few persevered and the apostles wondered: How will the kingdom of God come if no one is interested?

The Gospel records Jesus’ explanation about the fields on which the seed fell. There was a lot more to explain. First, his comparing the kingdom of God with something that is sown must have surprised the listeners. Throughout Sacred History, there had been abundant sowing and Jesus’ contemporaries were expecting a harvest (see Rev 14:15).

We, like Jesus’ contemporaries, want to reap, that is to enjoy the fruits of the kingdom of God, namely, social peace, justice and happiness. Many wonder how it is possible that people continue to be so evil two thousand years after Christ.

If the kingdom of God has come and it is already in our midst, that does not mean we are going to enjoy its fruits. The kingdom of God is where God rules, and God rules where people accept him for what he is, where he can be Father and where his sons and daughters can accept his plan for them.

From that moment on, people grow in a thousand ways, and social consciousness also develops. People become aware of their dignity and their common destiny, in spite of the fact that it seems more impossible every day to reach the goal.

KINGDOM OR REIGN OF GOD

Jesus spoke Aramaic, a language in which a single term means three different things: the kingdom, that is the place where God acts as king; the reign, or the fact that God acts as king; royalty, or the dignity of God the king.

Jesus often speaks of the kingdom proper: “you will not enter the kingdom of God”; elsewhere, however, the meaning is debatable as for example in the Our Father. Should we say: “Your kingdom come” or “Your reign come”?

In the present parables, traditionally called the parables of the Kingdom, the two meanings go together. The great news that Jesus proclaimed was the coming of an age totally different from the times of sacred history that the Jews had experienced. God was obviously present throughout human history, especially Israel’s history, yet now he was coming in a different way. Now, and only now, would people know him as he is.

The reign of God began with Jesus revealing the true face of God; then at his rising as Lord of the living and the dead, he would begin to rule and personally reorient human history.

• 19. See commentary on Mark 3:31.

• 26. See commentary on Mark 5:1.

• 40. See commentary on Mark 5:21.