Luke 8, Part One

Jesus’ female assistants (vs. 1-3)—Jesus wasn’t one to shun anybody. He lived in a decidedly patriarchal, male-dominated society, but readily—and equally—accepted women into His company. We are introduced here to “Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons” (v. 2), and a couple of others, including Joanna, the wife of a servant of Herod Antipas, who was the current tetrarch of Galilee. The word “tetrarch,” technically, refers to a ruler of only a fourth part of a province, but in all practicality he ruled the whole thing. Joanna, interestingly, was one of the women who came to the tomb at Christ’s resurrection. She is mentioned only by Luke, here and in Luke 24:10.  I have a note about Mary Magdalene at the end of this post.

The parable of the sower (vs. 4-18)—Matthew and Mark also record this parable of Christ, perhaps His most famous. Here are my comments from Matthew 13:

“After all the enmity and activity Jesus had endured in the previous chapter, this one starts out by saying “On the same day…” (v. 1). The Lord had the busiest life a man of His age ever lived. He told the people several parables, the first being what is commonly called the “parable of the sower. Well, I guess it’s called that because Jesus does (v. 18). A sower scattered his seed, and it fell on different types of soil. Not all ancient farmers plowed their land in strips, as modern farmers do. They would simply go out, throw their seed, and let it fall where it may. Some fell on “the wayside,” some on stony ground, some among thorns, some on good soil. Jesus explains that in verse 18-23. The different types of soil represent different types of human hearts. The seed is the word of God. The wayside is an impenetrable heart and the word never penetrates it. So “the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart” (v. 19). The stony ground has some soil, but not much: “This is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles” (vs. 20-21). The thorny ground is good soil, but it’s already occupied, so “the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful” (v. 22). This is the one so many of us need to watch out for. Interested in spiritual things, but our lives are too cluttered with the world. The fourth soil, of course, is the good ground, the good heart: “he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (v. 23). It’s instructive. Three bad types of heart, and only one good. Some self-examination would be worthwhile for us all.”

Before He explained the parable to them, His disciples asked “What does this parable mean?” (v. 9). Jesus initially tells them that only the pure in heart will understand His word (v. 10), and that, of course, was the true meaning behind the parable. One of the evidences of having truly received the word of God with an “honest and good heart” (v. 15) is that we will shine our light throughout the world (v. 16); such is one of the great duties of Christians, to be a light to the world (Matt. 5:14). Anything we try to hide will one day be revealed anyway (v. 17). Thus, “take heed how you hear” (v. 18)—make sure you keep your heart open and honest, as pure as possible. Such a heart will produce a life that will be richly rewarded. It’s interesting that Jesus not only says “take heed how you hear,” but also “take heed what you hear” (Mark 4:24). Both are essential, for certainly if our hearts are bad, such will be manifested in our lives. But if we believe error, even in sincerity, it can be costly and destructive.

Spiritual versus familial relations (vs. 19-21)—From my comments in Matthew 12:

“While He was speaking, His mother and brothers wanted to talk to Him. Jesus turns this into a wonderful spiritual lesson: “’Who is My mother and who are My brothers?’ And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, ‘Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.’” (vs. 48-50). Jesus, of course, is not denigrating physical family relations. He is simply saying that our spiritual family is, ultimately, more important than the physical. Remember: “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37). There is no condemnation here of loving father and mother; certainly not. Just don’t love them more than Jesus.”

It should be fairly obvious why the “spiritual” family is more important than the “natural” one. Our relations with our brothers and sisters in Christ will never end, while the physical family is severed by death. Hopefully, our families will all be obedient to God and be part of that eternal, spiritual bond, but tragically, that is not always the case.

Addendum on Mary Magdalene:  She has the nomenclature "Magdalene" because she was from a town called Magdala in Galilee.  There is this interesting tidbit about Magdala in Smith's Bible Dictionary:  "The Magdala, which conferred her name on Mary the Magdalene, [is] one of the numerous migdols, i.e. towers, which stood in Palestine, was probably the place of that name which is mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud as near Tiberias, and this again is probably the modern el-Mejdel, a miserable little Muslim village, of twenty huts on the water's edge at the southeast corner of the plain of Gennesareth. It is now the only inhabited place on this plain."

Smith's is pretty old, dating back to the 1860s, but has a lot of useful information.  However, whether that "miserable little Muslim village" still exists, I do not know.