The sower and the Lord of the storm: hearing the word and meeting its power

Luke, traditionally the physician and companion of Paul (Colossians 4:14), wrote this Gospel and Acts for Theophilus and other Greek-speaking readers, to give an orderly account that would assure them of what they had been taught (Luke 1:1-4). The date is debated, between the early 60s AD and about AD 80 to 90. In chapter 8 Luke is following Mark closely. Mark 4:1 to 5:43 contains the parable of the sower, the stilling of the storm, the Gerasene demoniac, Jairus and the woman, in nearly the same order, and Luke has the same sequence of events. Most scholars explain this by Markan priority: Luke used Mark. Those who defend Matthew's priority, or the Griesbach view that Mark used both Matthew and Luke, explain it the other way. Matthew places the same events in different order in chapters 8, 9 and 13. Luke tends to shorten Mark's narratives and to omit some details, while adding his own interest in women and in the hearing of the word.

The setting is the Galilean ministry. Galilee was under Herod Antipas, whose steward Chuza's wife Joanna is named in 8:3. The Sea of Galilee was prone to sudden storms because cold air falls from the surrounding hills onto the warm lake. The eastern shore was largely Gentile, part of the region of the Decapolis, ten Greek cities. Jewish law regarded tombs, pigs and a woman with a bodily discharge as sources of ritual uncleanness, and each shapes the chapter.

Luke 8 has two halves.

• The first is about hearing the word: the sower, the lamp and the true family are all defined by hearing and doing.
• The second is about the power of the word: the storm, the demoniac, the woman and the girl. The movement is from the word spoken to the word enacted. Jesus' parable is explained in terms of how people receive the word of God, and then the miracles show that the same word has power over nature, demons, disease and death.

Parables are short stories that draw on everyday life to teach about the kingdom. They should be read for their main point, and not every detail needs a hidden meaning. The sower is unusual in that Jesus himself gives an allegorical interpretation, so each soil does have a counterpart. The parable is traditionally called the Parable of the Sower, though some interpreters prefer 'the soils' since the focus is on how the seed is received. Jesus explains the purpose of parables by quoting Isaiah 6:9, which speaks of seeing without perceiving. The context in Isaiah is one of judgment on a hardened people, and Jesus says that those who have been given the secrets of the kingdom understand and others do not.

In the miracle narratives, the sequence of storm, demons, disease and death sets up a progression: Jesus' authority extends over every power that threatens human life. The two stories at the end are interwoven. Jairus's request comes first, the woman's healing interrupts, and the news of the girl's death arrives during the interruption. Luke's twelve years for both the girl and the woman's illness ties the stories together.

Verses 1–3

Jesus travels through towns and villages preaching the good news of the kingdom of God, with the Twelve and with some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had come out, Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their own resources. Luke alone tells this at the start of the traveling ministry, and it shows that women were disciples and patrons.

Verses 4–15

A large crowd gathers and Jesus tells of a sower whose seed falls in four places. Some falls on the path and is trampled and eaten by birds. Some falls on rock and withers for lack of moisture. Some falls among thorns that grow up and choke it. Some falls on good soil and yields a hundredfold. He ends with a call to hear. Asked what it means, Jesus says that to the disciples it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but to others it comes in parables, so that seeing they may not see and hearing they may not understand, which draws on Isaiah 6:9. He explains that the seed is the word of God. The path is those who hear and then the devil takes the word away. The rock is those who receive it with joy but have no root and fall away under testing. The thorns are those choked by cares, riches and pleasures. The good soil is those who hear with an honest and good heart, hold it fast and bear fruit with patience.

Verses 16–18

No one lights a lamp and hides it. What is hidden will be revealed. Jesus tells them to take care how they listen, for whoever has will be given more, and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away.

Verses 19–21

His mother and brothers cannot reach him because of the crowd. Jesus replies that his mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it. Mark 3:31-35 places this scene earlier and with an edge of tension; Luke places it after the parable and makes it a statement about hearing and doing.

Verses 22–25

Jesus tells the disciples to cross to the other side of the lake. He falls asleep, and a squall comes down so that the boat is filling and they are in danger. They wake him, saying Master, Master, we are perishing. He rebukes the wind and the raging waves, and they cease and there is calm. He asks, Where is your faith? They are afraid and amazed and ask one another who this is, since he commands even the winds and water and they obey him. The question is the one Luke has been building toward.

Verses 26–39

In the country of the Gerasenes, opposite Galilee, a man possessed by demons meets Jesus. He has worn no clothes for a long time and lives among the tombs. He falls before Jesus, calls him Son of the Most High God and begs not to be tormented. Jesus asks his name, and he says Legion, because many demons had entered him. A Roman legion had about five thousand or six thousand soldiers, so the name means a great number, not an exact figure. The demons beg not to be sent into the abyss and ask to enter a herd of pigs. Jesus allows it, and the pigs rush down the steep bank into the lake and drown. The herdsmen tell the town, and the people find the man sitting at Jesus' feet, clothed and in his right mind. They are afraid and ask Jesus to leave. The man begs to go with him, but Jesus sends him home to tell how much God has done for him. He goes and proclaims throughout the town how much Jesus had done for him. Manuscripts vary between Gerasenes, Gadarenes (as in Matthew 8:28) and Gergesenes; most editors print Gerasenes in Luke. Matthew speaks of two men where Mark and Luke speak of one.

Verses 40–56

Jairus, a synagogue ruler, falls at Jesus' feet and begs him to come to his only daughter, about twelve years old, who is dying. On the way, a woman who had suffered bleeding for twelve years and could not be healed touches the fringe of his cloak, and the bleeding stops. Jesus asks who touched him, for power has gone out from him. She comes trembling and tells her story. He calls her daughter and says her faith has made her well. Then word comes that the girl has died. Jesus tells Jairus not to fear, only believe. At the house he sends the mourners out, takes the girl by the hand and says, Child, arise. Her spirit returns, she rises at once, and Jesus orders that she be given something to eat. Her parents are astonished and he commands them to tell no one.

Luke 8 teaches that the word of God is received in different ways and that the result is seen in fruit. The theme of hearing is among the oldest in Scripture. The Shema begins with a call to hear (Deuteronomy 6:4), and the prophets lament that Israel has ears and does not hear (Isaiah 6:9-10; Jeremiah 5:21). Jesus joins this to his own message: the word must be held in an honest and good heart and borne with patience.

The chapter also teaches the sovereignty of God over creation and evil. The Old Testament presents the Lord as the one who rules the sea (Psalm 65:7; 89:9; 107:23-30). The powers of evil are real and defeated by the Son of God, and the demons themselves recognize his rank. Faith in this chapter is shown to be both necessary and imperfect. The disciples have too little, Jairus is told to believe, and the woman's faith is described as the means of her healing. Jesus' question about where their faith is calls them to trust the one in the boat.

The resurrection of the girl and the cleansing of the woman reveal that Jesus' power overcomes uncleanness and death. Death and uncleanness spread by touch in the law (Leviticus 15:25-27; Numbers 19:11-13), but with Jesus the flow runs the other way: life and cleansing pass to the one he touches. This anticipates the victory over death announced at Easter.

Mostly this chapter is direct revelation: Jesus does what Scripture says only God does. When he stills the storm with a word, he is doing what the Psalms attribute to the LORD: he calms the roar of the seas and quiets the waves (Psalm 65:7; 107:29). The disciples' question, Who is this?, is the Gospel's question. The reader who knows the Psalms hears the answer. A contrast with Jonah, who slept in a storm that was his fault and had to be thrown into the sea to save the ship, shows that Jesus is a greater figure than the prophet (Jonah 1; Luke 11:30-32).

The demons call him Son of the Most High God, which Luke has already told the reader is true (1:32, 35). They know his identity, and Jesus' sovereignty over them shows that the kingdom has come. A quiet fulfillment appears in 8:39: Jesus tells the healed man to report how much God has done, and the man tells everyone how much Jesus had done, and Luke lets the two stand side by side. Jesus is not merely God's agent. What he does is what God does.

The raising of the girl and the healing of the woman show Jesus as the source of life. He speaks to the dead girl and she rises, and he himself will be raised (24:6-7). The Old Testament parallel is Elijah and Elisha, who raised children (1 Kings 17; 2 Kings 4), but Jesus does so with a command, without prayer or ritual.