Lu-ca 8

Women who traveled with Jesus

¹Soon afterward Jesus went on through one town and village after another, preaching and announcing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, ²and so were some women who had been healed of evil spirits and diseases: Mary, called Magdalene, out of whom seven demons had gone; ³Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza; Susanna; and many others. These women were using their own resources to provide for them.^a

Seed scattered on four kinds of ground

⁴A large crowd was gathering, and people from town after town kept coming to him. He told them a parable: ⁵“A sower went out to scatter his seed. As he sowed, some of the seed dropped beside the road, where it was stepped on, and the birds swallowed it up. ⁶Other seed fell on the rock, and as soon as it sprouted it shriveled, because the ground held no moisture. ⁷Other seed landed among thornbushes, which sprang up with it and smothered it. ⁸And other seed dropped into good soil, sprang up, and produced a hundredfold harvest.” As he said this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear should listen!”

Why Jesus speaks in parables

⁹His disciples asked him what this parable meant. ¹⁰He said, “You have been allowed to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but the others receive them in parables, so that they look but do not see, and listen but do not understand.^b

¹¹This is what the parable means: the seed is the word of God. ¹²Those beside the road are people who have heard, but then the devil comes and snatches the word out of their hearts, to keep them from believing and being saved. ¹³Those on the rock are people who welcome the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a season, and when testing comes, they turn away. ¹⁴As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are people who hear, but as they go through life, the worries, wealth and pleasures of living choke them, so that their fruit never ripens. ¹⁵As for the seed in the good soil, these are people with a good and upright heart. They hear the word, hold on to it, and through endurance bear fruit.

A lamp set where it can be seen

¹⁶Nobody who has lit a lamp then covers it with a bowl or tucks it under a bed. A lamp goes on a lampstand, where those who enter can see its light. ¹⁷Whatever is hidden will be shown plainly, and whatever is kept secret will surely be known and brought to light. ¹⁸So pay attention to how you listen. Those who have will receive more. Those who do not have will lose even what they seem to have.”

Those who hear and do God’s word

¹⁹His mother and his brothers came to him, but the crowd kept them from getting to him. ²⁰Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, and they want to see you.” ²¹But he answered them, “Those who hear the word of God and do what it says are my mother and my brothers.”

Jesus commands the wind and the water

²²One day Jesus got into a boat with his disciples and said to them, “Let us cross over to the far side of the lake.” So they put out from shore. ²³While they were sailing, he fell asleep. A fierce windstorm swept down on the lake. Water was filling the boat, and they were in danger. ²⁴They went and roused him, crying out, “Master, Master, we are lost!” He stood up and gave a stern order to the wind and the churning water. They stopped, and the lake became calm. ²⁵Then he asked them, “Where is your faith?” Filled with fear and wonder, they asked one another, “Who is this, then, that the winds and the water obey when he gives the order?” ²⁶They put in at the land of the Gerasenes, on the shore facing Galilee.^{c 27}As Jesus stepped onto the shore, a man from the town came toward him. He had demons in him, and for a long time he had gone without clothes and had lived, not in a house, but among the tombs. ²⁸When the man saw Jesus, he screamed and threw himself down before him. In a loud voice he said, “What business do you have with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me!” ²⁹For he had been ordering the unclean spirit to leave the man. Again and again it had taken hold of him. People kept him under guard and bound him with chains and fetters, but he would break the bonds, and the demon would drive him out into the wilderness. ³⁰Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for a great number of demons had entered him. ³¹The demons kept pleading with him not to command them to depart into the abyss.

³²Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the mountainside. The demons begged him for permission to enter those pigs, and he allowed them to. ³³The demons left the man and went into the pigs. Then the whole herd stampeded down the cliff into the lake and drowned.

³⁴When the herders saw what had happened, they ran off and spread the news in the town and on the farms. ³⁵People came out to see what had taken place. When they reached Jesus, they found the man whom the demons had left sitting at the feet of Jesus, wearing clothes and thinking clearly. And they were frightened. ³⁶Those who had seen it told them how the man who had been under the power of demons had been made well. ³⁷Then the whole population of the Gerasene region asked him to leave them, because a great fear had taken hold of them. So he got into the boat and went back.^{d 38}The man the demons had left kept begging to go with him, but Jesus sent him away and said, ³⁹“Go back home and tell the story of everything God has done for you.” He went away and made known throughout the whole town everything Jesus had done for him.

A dying girl and a woman who touched Jesus

⁴⁰When Jesus came back across the lake, the people gave him a warm welcome, for they had all been waiting for him. ⁴¹Then a man named Jairus came. He was a ruler of the synagogue. Throwing himself down at the feet of Jesus, he begged him to come to his home, ⁴²because his only child, a daughter about twelve years old, lay dying.

As he made his way there, the crowds were jammed tightly around him. ⁴³Among them was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. She had spent everything she had on doctors, but none of them could cure her. ⁴⁴Coming up behind Jesus, she touched the tassel on his cloak, and her bleeding stopped at once.^{e 45}Jesus asked, “Who touched me?” Everyone denied it, and Peter said, “Master, the crowds are hemming you in and pushing against you!”^{f 46}But Jesus said, “Someone did touch me. I felt power go out from me.” ⁴⁷Realizing that she had been found out, the woman came forward, shaking, and threw herself down before him. With all the people listening, she explained her reason for touching him and told how she had been healed on the spot. ⁴⁸Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”^g

⁴⁹Jesus was still speaking when a messenger arrived from the synagogue ruler’s house with the news, “Your daughter has died. There is no need to trouble the Teacher any further.” ⁵⁰But Jesus heard it and answered Jairus, “Do not give way to fear. Only believe, and she will be made well.” ⁵¹Arriving at the house, he allowed only Peter, John and James, and the girl’s father and mother, to go in with him. ⁵²Everyone was crying and wailing for her. But he told them, “Do not weep. She has not died. She is sleeping.” ⁵³They ridiculed him, since they knew that she had died. ⁵⁴But he took hold of her hand and called, “Child, get up!”^{h 55}Her spirit came back to her, and she rose at once, and he gave orders that she be given food. ⁵⁶Her parents were beside themselves with amazement. But he charged them to keep what had happened to themselves.