Luke 8

http://www.esvbible.org/Luke+8/

Jesus travels around with the twelve and many others. Among them, there are many women who Jesus has cured. Mary Magdalene; Joanna, the wife of Herod's manager, and Susanna, who has nothing else written about her. This is a big deal because women at the time had very low status, but everyone matters to Jesus because He looks first and foremost at the heart. Then, Jesus tells on of His parables. He talks of a farmer who throws seed. Some of it lands on the path where birds eat it, some of it lands in the rocks where it can't take root, some of it lands among weeds that choke it out, and some falls on good soil and reaps a hundred times what is sown. Jesus calls a lot of attention to this because He tells all who can hear with their ears to hear this. The disciples don't quite understand what Jesus is talking about in His parable, so He breaks it down for them. The seed is the word of God. The seed on the path represents those who hear the Word, but the devil comes and takes it away before they are saved. The seed in the rocks represents the people who hear the Word but take no root in Jesus , so when the testing comes, they fall away. The seed in the roots represents those who hear the Word and believe but let life's worries choke their faith away. The seed on the good soil represent those who hear the Word, retain it, and through perseverance produce a crop.

Jesus talks about putting a lamp on a stand to reveal what is hidden. He speaks of Judgement Day when everything will be revealed, no matter how well you hide it, Jesus knows where it is. We must be careful that our teaching are in the Truth. To have faith and neglect it is to lose it.

Jesus' mother and brothers come to see Him, but there is such a crowd around Jesus that they cannot see Him. Someone in the crowd tells Him, and He responds by saying anyone who takes His Word and puts it into practice is His mother or brother.

Jesus and His disciples cross a lake in a boat. Jesus falls asleep on the journey before a huge storm hits. The boat looks like it will be overtaken, and the disciples wake Jesus up because they are afraid. Jesus, and I like the wording Luke uses, rebukes the storm. Then, He turns to the disciples and asks where their faith is. They have seem to forgotten who they follow. Often times, we forget who we follow, and Jesus has to take control and ask us where our faith is. The disciples respond by asking each other who Jesus can be that even the winds obey Him. I think this is where they start to get the power of the one they serve. They seem to understand for the first time what all of Jesus' teachings apex to.

Jesus went to the town across the lake from Galilee. When He stepped out of the boat, a demon possessed man was waiting for Him. The man had not worn clothes or lived in a house for a long time. Instead, he lived in the tombs. His name as legion. The demons asked what Jesus, the Son of God, wanted with them. Even the demons know who Jesus is. Admitting who He is does not get you salvation. You have to place your sole faith in Him. Jesus commanded the demons to leave multiple times, but they seized the man, begging Jesus not to send them to the abyss. Sometimes, our sins or demons or habits resist Jesus, but He is stronger, and He has more power, so He will drive them away. They asked Him instead to go to the herd of pigs nearby. Jesus allowed them, and the herd ran into the lake and drowned. When the pig herders saw this, they told the towns people. The towns people found the formerly demon possessed man dressed and in his right mind sitting at Jesus' feet. The towns people feared Jesus because of this and sent Him away. So Jesus got in a boat and left. The people witnessed a miracle as demons were driven from a man, but instead of being pleased and finding hope in Jesus, they feared Him. There are times when some people fear change so much that they even reject the good change such as Jesus coming to heal them. The man wants to go a Ross the lake with Jesus, but Jesus sends him home to tell people about what God has done for him. God has a plan for how to use each of His followers, and sometimes His plan differs from ours.

A synagogue leader named Jairus came to Jesus and asked Him to heal his daughter. As Jesus was on His way to Jairus's house, the crowds pressed tight against Him. Here, we have a story within a story. The original story gets interrupted for a few verses. In this way, God causes interruptions in our lives to do big things. Also, we can never be so much of an interruption to Jesus that His will is not done or that He misses out on an opportunity to do a good work. There is a woman in the crowd who has suffered chronic bleeding for twelve years. She reached out and touched the edge of Jesus' cloak and was healed. Jesus stopped in the middle of all of this and demanded to know who touched Him. The woman eventually realized she could not hide and stepped forward. She told what happened to her. No doctors could heal this woman. She was a reject from society because anyone who touched her would become dirty. Yet when she touched Jesus, He was clean enough for both of them. She brought her issue to Jesus even though it had been going on for twelve years. He instantly cured it. He was aware of the change. He this story ends and we pick the Jairus story back up. A servant comes from his house to tell him the daughter is dead.  Jesus goes on anyway. He tells the mourners outside the house not to mourn for the girl because she is only asleep. The people laugh at Him. When He goes inside, He only allows Peter, John, James, and the girl's parents inside. He touches her hand and tells her to wake up, and she does. Jesus goes after what seems like a hopeless cause and brings back the hope and life. When He talks to the mourners, they think He's crazy because what He tells the doesn't make sense to them. So often Jesus tells us He can make a difference in our lives and we write Him off before we give Him a chance, and more often then not, He'll prove us wrong.