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Luke 8:22-25

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Lyle Mantooth 2022-11-25 12:04:09 -05:00
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content/bible_journal/luke_8:22-25.md
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title = "Luke 8:22–25"
date = "2022-11-24"
title = "Luke 8:26–39"
date = "2022-11-25"
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### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Lk8.22-25)
### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Lk8.26-39)
After a busy day of teaching and healing people, Jesus has His disciples sail
with Him across the lake of Galilee to go to a different region. On the way, He
falls asleep. However, on the way a windstorm comes up and threatens to sink
the boat. The disciples, four of whom were professional fishermen who worked on
this lake, realize they can't do anything to save themselves, so they wake up
Jesus. Once He is awake, He tells the wind to be quiet, and it does.
After the storm, Jesus and the disciples arrive safely in the country of the
Gerasenes (or Gadarenes; different texts say different towns, and they're both
near enough to be plausible). They are met by a demon-possessed man who has
been greatly tormented. The demons know who Jesus is and are afraid of Him and
ask Him not to torment them. As an alternative, they offer to go into a nearby
herd of pigs. Jesus agrees, and the legion of demons drive the pigs mad so that
they rush into the lake and drown. This understandably freaks the pigherds out,
and they go tell everyone around what happened. The people come to see what has
happened and seeing the ex-demoniac acting like a normal, healthy person
frightens them too. They ask Jesus to leave the area, so He does. But before He
can leave, the man asks to go with Him, but Jesus sends him back to his home,
this time telling him to share freely what God has done for him.
He then asks His disciples a pointed question, "Where is your faith?" In light
of that, they didn't seem to expect Him to surely rescue them from the danger.
They woke Him in desperation, as last resort after trying everything else they
could. To be fair to the disciples, despite being close to Jesus, they were
still in the dark about His purposes and true nature. They knew He was the
Messiah, but not exactly what that meant yet. They had seen Him perform
miracles, but those have nearly all been healings so it is fair to say that
doesn't necessarily mean they should have known He could control the weather as
well. But maybe now they are starting see what had been hidden from them.
We learn from this story that demons know who Jesus is, and that He has power
and authority over them. They call Him "Son of the Most High God" (_v. 28_) and
beg Him not to send them to the abyss (_v. 31_). We also learn that mental
illness can be caused or exacerbated by demons, which is not to say all mental
illness necessarily is.
Jesus's ministry was focused on teaching His own countrymen, the Jews, so it is
a little strange that He went to this Gentile area in the first place. (Jews
wouldn't keep pigs, after all.) But He doesn't ignore Gentiles completely when
He encounters them, maintaining the idea that God's plan of salvation includes
all people. (See God's covenant with Abraham, Peter's dream, and all of Paul's
letter to the Romans.)
* * *
Let us see You as You truly are, glorious and majestic and worthy of all
praise.
Give us compassion for those in hard circumstances, and help us care for them
as You would.