Luke 8

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Luke 8 gathers a parable and four miracles. Jesus travels with the Twelve and with women who support him from their own means, among them Mary Magdalene and Joanna. He tells the parable of the sower, seed on the path, the rock, the thorns, and the good soil, and explains it as the word of God received in four kinds of heart, adding that his true family are those who hear and do the word. Then he calms a storm on the lake, frees the Gerasene man possessed by a legion of demons and sends him home to tell what God has done, heals the woman who touched his cloak after twelve years of bleeding, and raises the daughter of Jairus with the words "Child, get up."

فتح تفسير الإصحاح

Luke 8 is one of the busiest chapters in the Gospels, and it begins with a detail only Luke gives: the movement was funded by women. Mary Magdalene, freed from seven demons, Joanna, whose husband ran Herod's household, Susanna, and many others paid the bills as Jesus went from town to town. Then the parable that Jesus said explains all the others. A farmer flings seed, and it lands on a path, on rock, among thorns, and on good ground, and what happens next depends entirely on the ground. The seed, he explains, is the word of God, and the soils are hearts, and the only one that bears a crop is the one that hears, holds on, and keeps going. After that, four events in quick succession show what the word can do. A storm on the lake, a boat filling with water, disciples screaming that they are dying, and a man who wakes up, tells the wind to stop, and asks them where their faith is. A naked man living among tombs, chained and breaking chains, possessed by a legion, who ends the story clothed and sane at Jesus' feet, sent home to tell his town what God did. A woman who has bled for twelve years and spent everything on doctors, who touches the edge of his cloak in a crowd and is called out of hiding to be called daughter. And a synagogue ruler's twelve-year-old girl, dead before Jesus reaches the house, who hears him say child, get up, and gets up hungry. Who is this, the disciples ask in the boat. The chapter is the answer.

مقاطع رئيسية

Luke 8:1-3 Luke 8:4-15 Luke 8:22-25 Luke 8:26-39 Luke 8:40-56 Mark 4:1-20

Historical and literary context

Luke alone records the women who financed Jesus' ministry; Joanna's husband managed Herod Antipas's household, which places support for Jesus inside the tetrarch's court. The parable of the sower reflects Palestinian farming, where seed was broadcast before plowing and paths, rock shelves, and thorns ran through the fields. Sudden windstorms on the Sea of Galilee are caused by air rushing down from the surrounding hills. The Gerasenes lived in the Decapolis, Gentile territory east of the lake, which explains the pigs. The woman with the bleeding was ritually unclean under Leviticus 15 and would have made anyone she touched unclean. Jairus led a synagogue; his daughter at twelve stood at the edge of adulthood.

How the chapter unfolds

Verses 1 to 3 describe the traveling company and the women. Verses 4 to 15 give the parable of the sower, the reason for parables, and the explanation. Verses 16 to 18 add the lamp and the warning to listen well. Verses 19 to 21 redefine family around hearing and doing the word. Verses 22 to 25 narrate the storm. Verses 26 to 39 tell of the Gerasene demoniac, Legion, the pigs, the townspeople's fear, and the man's commission. Verses 40 to 56 interweave Jairus's plea, the healing of the bleeding woman, the news of the girl's death, and her raising.

Why this chapter matters

The parable of the sower is the parable Jesus himself explained and the one he said unlocks the others, and its four soils have been the church's basic picture of how the word is received. "Where is your faith?" on the lake, "Who touched Me?" in the crowd, and "Child, get up" at the bedside are among the Gospel's most vivid scenes and have been painted, preached, and sung for centuries. The women of verses 1 to 3 are the first named financial supporters of the Christian movement. The healed demoniac sent home to tell his story is Luke's picture of the first Gentile witness, and the woman who touched the cloak is the model of faith that reaches out in secret and is called into the open.

Interpretive tension to watch

Jesus says he speaks in parables "so that" outsiders may not understand, quoting Isaiah 6, a hard saying that readers soften as a description of what happens or take at face value as judgment. The destruction of the pigs, and the loss to their owners, sits uneasily with modern readers, as does the townspeople's request that Jesus leave. Whether the woman's healing "took power out of" Jesus without his will is a question the text raises and leaves. The girl is called "asleep" while everyone knows she is dead, and Jesus' command to tell no one contradicts the demoniac's command to tell everyone, a contrast that depends on the audience.

أسئلة لهذا الفصل

The same seed falls on four soils. Which soil describes how you have received God's word in the last year, and what would change the soil?
The healed man wants to leave with Jesus and is sent home instead. When is staying where you are the harder obedience?
Jairus is told his daughter is dead and hears, "Do not be afraid; just believe." What does it mean to believe after the worst news has arrived?

Study with context

Use this as a chapter guide, then press deeper into the text itself. The goal is to slow down observation, notice structure, and ask better questions before jumping to conclusions.

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1 Soon after this Jesus went around the towns and villages announcing the good news of God's kingdom. The twelve disciples went with him, 2 along with a number of women who had been healed from evil spirits and sickness: Mary called Magdalene from whom he had cast out seven demons; 3 Joanna, the wife of Herod's manager Chuza; Susanna; and many more who provided support from their personal resources. 4 Once when a large crowd of people gathered, coming from many towns to see him, Jesus spoke to them, using a story as an illustration. 5 “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he scattered the seed, some fell on the road where people trampled on it and birds ate it up. 6 Some fell on stony ground, and once the seeds had sprouted they withered for lack of moisture. 7 Some seeds fell among thorns and as they both grew the thorns choked the plants. 8 Some seeds fell on good earth and after they grew they produced a harvest one hundred times more than what had been sown.” After he told them this, he called out, “If you have ears, then listen!” 9 But his disciples asked him, “What does this illustration mean?” 10 Jesus replied, “You've been given insights into the mysteries of God's kingdom, but the rest are given illustrations so that, ‘Even though they see, they don't really see; and even though they hear, they don't really understand.’ 11 This is the meaning of the illustration: The seed is God's word. 12 The seeds that fall on the road are those who hear the message, but then the devil comes and steals away the truth from their minds so they won't trust in God and be saved. 13 The seeds that fall on the stony ground are those who hear and welcome the message with joy but don't have any roots. They trust for a while but when difficult times come they give up. 14 The seeds that fall among thorns are those who hear the message but it's choked out by life's distractions—worries, wealth, pleasure—so they don't produce anything. 15 The seeds sown on good earth are those who are honest and do what is right. They hear the message of truth, hold on to it, and through their perseverance produce a good harvest. 16 You don't light a lamp and then cover it with a bucket, or hide it under a bed. No, you put it on a stand, so that anyone who comes in can see the light. 17 For there's nothing hidden that won't be revealed; there's nothing secret that won't become known and obvious. 18 So pay attention how you ‘hear.’ To those who have received, more will be given; from those who don't receive, even what they think they have will be taken away!” 19 Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived, but they couldn't get through the crowd to see him. 20 Jesus was told, “Your mother and your brothers are outside. They want to see you.” 21 “My mother and my brothers are those who hear God's word, and do what it says,” Jesus replied. 22 One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let's cross over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set off. 23 As they were sailing, Jesus fell asleep, and a storm came down on the lake. The boat began filling with water and they were in danger of sinking. 24 They went over to Jesus and woke him up. “Master, master, we're going to drown!” they said. Jesus woke up and commanded the wind and the rough waves to stop. They stopped, and all was calm. 25 “Where is your trust?” he asked them. Terrified and amazed, they said to each other, “So who is this? He gives commands to the winds and the water, and they obey him!” 26 They sailed across to the Gerasene region that lies opposite Galilee. 27 When Jesus stepped out of the boat onto the shore, a demon-possessed man from the town came to meet him. For a long time he hadn't worn any clothes or lived in a house. He lived in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus he screamed, fell down at Jesus' feet, and asked in a loud voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Please don't torture me, I beg you!” 29 For Jesus had already commanded the evil spirit to leave the man. It had often seized him, and despite being tied down with chains and shackles, and placed under guard, he would break the chains apart and would be driven by the demon into the desert areas. 30 “What is your name?” Jesus asked him. “Legion,” he replied, for many demons had entered him. 31 They begged Jesus not to order them to go into the Abyss. 32 There was a large herd of pigs feeding on the nearby hillside, and the demons begged him to be allowed to go into the pigs. Jesus gave them permission, 33 so the demons left the man and entered the pigs. The herd rushed down the steep slope into the lake and drowned. 34 When the pig-keepers saw what had happened they ran off and spread the news through the town and the countryside. 35 The people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus they found the man freed from the demons. He was sitting there at Jesus' feet, wearing clothes and in his right mind; and they became scared. 36 Those who had seen what happened explained how the demon-possessed man had been healed. 37 Then all the people from the Gerasene region asked Jesus to leave because they were overwhelmed by fear. So he got into the boat and went back. 38 The man who had been freed from the demons begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away. 39 “Go back home, and tell people all that God has done for you,” Jesus told him. So he went away, telling the whole town all that Jesus had done for him. 40 A crowd of people was there to welcome Jesus when he returned, all eagerly expecting him. 41 One was a man called Jairus, a synagogue leader, who came and fell at Jesus' feet. He pleaded with Jesus to come to his home 42 because his only daughter was dying. She was about twelve years old. While Jesus was on his way there, people were crowding around him. 43 In the crowd was a woman who had suffered with bleeding for twelve years. She had spent all she had on doctors, but none of them had been able to help her. 44 She approached Jesus from behind and touched the hem of his cloak. Immediately the bleeding stopped. 45 “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. Everybody around denied doing so. “But Master,” said Peter, “there are people crowding around you, and they keep pushing up against you.” 46 “Someone touched me,” Jesus replied. “I know because power went out from me.” 47 When the woman realized she couldn't go unnoticed, she came forward, trembling, and fell down before him. Right in front of everybody she explained the reason why she had touched Jesus, and that she'd been cured immediately. 48 Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your trust has healed you, go in peace.” 49 While he was still speaking, someone came from the home of the synagogue leader to tell him, “Your daughter's dead. You don't need to bother the Teacher any longer.” 50 But when he heard this, Jesus told Jairus, “Don't be afraid. If you trust, she will be healed.” 51 When Jesus arrived at the house he didn't allow anyone else to go in except Peter, John, and James, and the girl's father and mother. 52 All the people there were crying and mourning for her. “Don't cry,” Jesus told them. “She's not dead, she's just sleeping.” 53 They laughed at him, because they knew that she was dead. 54 But Jesus took her by the hand, and said in a loud voice, “My child, get up!” 55 She came back to life, and she got up at once. Jesus told them to give her something to eat. 56 Her parents were astonished at what had happened, but Jesus instructed them not to tell anyone about it.