Luke 8

Luke drives the point home that women played an important role in Jesus's ministry. We too should not overlook the important duties that women fulfill in ministry. Jesus loves us all and calls us all to follow Him. No one is left out. No one should be left sitting on the sidelines. And everyone should get credit for the role they play in the kingdom of God because each one of us matters to God.

Luke tells us that Jesus told the Parable of the Sower to fulfill Isaiah 6:9, but doesn't really bring the Pharisees into the picture. Luke tends to treat parables as more of Jesus's general way of teaching. Luke has the most parables of any of the gospels (24-28, depending on how strictly you define a parable), and 18 of them are unique to Luke.

The parable of the lamp has some twists to it. At first you might want to associate it with the "light of the world" from Matthew 5, but Matthew says the light will shine on others, where Luke says the light will reveal what is hidden. This light is not about you shining on others, but about you inspecting yourself. Jesus said, "Pay attention, therefore, to how you listen." And He mixes in the bit from the Parable of the Talents/Minas saying whoever has will be given more, and whoever does not have will lose everything.

What is the light? I think in both Matthew and Luke the light is referring to faith. Matthew emphasises letting your faith be a blessing and guide to others. Luke emphasises letting your faith purify and instruct you. If you have faith, you will receive much. If you do not have faith, you will lose everything.

Then Luke tells us about Jesus saying that everyone who obeys God is His family. He mentions it in the context of a crowd - implying that we are all included if we obey God.

In Luke's version of Jesus calming the storm He words things the most gently. Jesus calmed the storm and simply asked them where there faith was - whereas in Mark and Matthew He also gives them some attitude. You can see how Luke portrays Jesus in a very gentle, inclusive way - and I think Luke is where a lot of people get the notions of Jesus being a pushover come from. He certainly is not, but when people want an accomodating quote from Jesus Luke is probably where it's going to come from.

Some people use the story of the demons and the pigs as evidence that Jesus spoke to demons conversationally - and then translated that into meaning that we should speak to demons. I do not believe this to be wise. Adam and Eve proved that we are suceptible to the deception of the enemy, and we should not willingly put ourselves in a position to be deceived. Also, the demons spoke to Jesus first, and Jesus responded with a single question - not an hour long conversation. Any time Jesus is recorded as speaking to demons He tells them to "be quiet", "go", "get out", and that's it. In this one case He asked the demon's name, and that does not imply that He asked about the demon's rank, or hobbies, or favorite color. I know there are those who teach "advanced" methods of casting out demons, and even write books about demonology, but I do not believe Jesus ever called us to get to know demons better. The only thing we need to do is rebuke and cast them out in Jesus name, and they have to obey that. Everything else that we say, we should say to God.

Luke grouped that encounter nicely with the next two. Upon returning from casting out a legion of demons - no small feat - Jairus asked Him to heal his daughter. On the way the woman with the issue of blood touched Jesus and was healed by her faith - perhaps the most miraculous recorded healing. Then Jairus's daughter died, and Jesus raised her from the dead - defeating death. Three of the most powerful examples of the types of miracles Jesus performed all nicely packaged up for us in Luke.