Hello everybody and welcome in to episode 187 of the Bible 2021 podcast. We are reading Luke 8 today and our focus is on What About Jesus Terrified His Disciples? We are a daily 10 minute podcast, where we will dig in to the truth of the Word of God by reading one Bible chapter a day and discussing it. Welcome to new listeners in Baghdad, Iraq, parts unknown, Iran, Al Asimah, Kuwait, Maharashtra, India, Saltillo, Mexico, Abilene, Texas, Little Rock, Arkansas, Dallas Texas, and Greenville, South Carolina. Thanks for listening! Our goal is to encourage DAILY Bible reading, so you can jump in at any time and join with us. We want to invite as many people as possible to join us in daily Bible reading, so help spread the word and share the podcast! Don’t forget about our web-page, Bible2021.com – contact page, show notes, transcript and more– Click here for our Bible 2021 reading plan\
Luke 8 is another absolutely loaded chapter. We have a shorter version of what I believe to be Jesus’ most important parable, the Parable of the Sower, plus an explanation of that parable, plus an explanation of why Jesus taught in parables, as well as a notation about all of the women that travelled with Jesus and took care of the disciples, and Jesus’ teaching about not hiding your light, as well as Him calming a raging storm, and Jesus driving out a Legion of demons into a herd of pigs, and…if that isn’t enough, I’m not even done. We also have Jesus raising a synagogue leaders’ daughter from the dead AND Him healing a woman with an internal bleeding issue, who simply touched the edge of His garment. So many possible things to focus on, and only approximately ten minutes to do so – what can we do?!
In a lot of ways, Jesus is tough to pin down and put into a neat sort of category. Lot’s of people have this view of Jesus that He is kind, almost cuddly – the kind of person that scolds people for not letting kids come to Him. And, of course, that would be true – Jesus really did force His disciples to let children come to Him. He was incredibly meek and mild…but, though true, that is not the entire story at all. Jesus also has the kind of sheer power that would cause a legion of demons to cower, fall down and beg. Imagine that! One demon, in Acts 18, is sufficiently powerful to beat the clothes off of seven Jewish wannabe exorcists, and yet in Luke 8 we see Jesus faced with an army unit of demons, and they grovel and tremble at His feet. The disciples were no doubt impressed by this, but apparently not terrified. Something does happen in this chapter, however, that does terrify them. What could it be? Let’s read and find out!
We’ve talked before about how Luke, the historian, was not one to exaggerate. Notice how Matthew and Mark discuss Jesus calming the sea, vs. how Luke does:
26 He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. Matthew 8:26
39 He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 Then he said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Mark 4:39-40
24 They came and woke him up, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to die!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves. So they ceased, and there was a calm Luke 8:24
Did you hear the difference? Matthew and Mark say the ocean was GREATLY calm – the Greek is MEGA – MEGA calm. Luke just tells us there was a “calm.” Both are accurate, of course, Luke just seems to write with the impassive and fairly neutral tone of the historian. Luke also tells us the disciples were, “fearful and amazed,” after Jesus rebuked the storm, which does sound strong, but Matthew adds that the disciples were TERRIFIED. Imagine that: These guys were seasoned sailors, and it was not an overreaction when they asked Jesus (who had been napping up until this point), whether He cared that they were about to die. They were scared and shook by that storm, life flashing in front of their eyes! But, what was their reaction upon seeing Jesus save them, and making the sea go from deadly storm to mega calm? Did they rejoice? Maybe…but their main reaction was terror – they were terrified. They had seen Jesus raise the dead, heal the sick, cure the leper, cast out demons and open blind eyes. They had seen His compassion and His power, but they had never seen anything like this, and it shook them to their core. WHO IS THIS, they cried, THAT EVEN THE WINDS AND THE WAVES OBEY HIM? They knew that only God Himself could control the seas, and, I believe in this moment, that they realized that they were looking at Emmanuel – God with us, God in the flesh…and it utterly terrified them. Who is this that even the winds and the waves obey Him? It is Jesus, God Himself, come in the flesh, to set humanity free by His death on the cross.
Bible Memory verses for the month of July: 47 “I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them: 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the river crashed against that house and couldn’t shake it, because it was well built.” Luke 6:47-48
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