The Gospel of Luke

by Pablo T. Gadenz

  32A herd of many swine was feeding there on the hillside, and they pleaded with him to allow them to enter those swine; and he let them. 33The demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. 34When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran away and reported the incident in the town and throughout the countryside. 35People came out to see what had happened and, when they approached Jesus, they discovered the man from whom the demons had come out sitting at his feet. He was clothed and in his right mind, and they were seized with fear. 36Those who witnessed it told them how the possessed man had been saved. 37The entire population of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them because they were seized with great fear. So he got into a boat and returned. 38The man from whom the demons had come out begged to remain with him, but he sent him away, saying, 39“Return home and recount what God has done for you.” The man went off and proclaimed throughout the whole town what Jesus had done for him.

  OT: Lev 11:7; Num 19:16; Deut 14:8; Isa 65:1, 4

  NT: Luke 4:33–35, 41; Acts 16:16–18, 39. // Matt 8:28–34; Mark 5:1–20

  Catechism: Jesus’ exorcisms, 550, 1673

  [8:26]

  The crossing is completed as they reach the territory of the Gerasenes.10 Jesus is now opposite Galilee, in the district of the Decapolis. The herding of unclean animals (“swine,” v. 32; see Deut 14:8) is an indicator that this is a Gentile rather than Jewish area. Though Gentiles may have previously gone to Jesus in Galilee (e.g., people from Tyre and Sidon, Luke 6:17), here it is Jesus who goes to them in Gentile land, the only such visit in Luke. This may explain the allusion to Jonah in the previous passage. Jonah was the prophet sent to Gentiles in Nineveh, as Jesus now goes to Gentiles in foreign land. Jesus’ visit is aptly described by Isaiah: “I was ready to respond to those who did not ask, / to be found by those who did not seek me. / I said: Here I am! Here I am! / To a nation that did not invoke my name” (Isa 65:1).

  [8:27–29]

  A man who is possessed by demons meets Jesus. Luke describes his terrible situation: the man does not wear clothes, does not live in a house (and so is isolated from others), and is driven about since no restraint is effective. He is possessed by an unclean spirit and lives among the tombs, an unclean place (Num 19:16). Once again Isaiah describes the situation: “Sitting in tombs . . . eating the flesh of pigs” (Isa 65:4).11 However, like others possessed by demons (Luke 4:34, 41), he perceives Jesus’ identity as son of the Most High God (1:32). In Acts, Paul and his companions will similarly be addressed by a possessed girl as “slaves of the Most High God” (Acts 16:17).

  [8:30–33]

  In response, Jesus asks the demon’s name. The reply is a Latin military word, Legion, indicating a case of possession by an army of several thousand demons—much worse than Mary Magdalene’s seven (Luke 8:2)!12 The demons negotiate with Jesus not to be sent to the abyss (literally, the “bottomless” place), understood as their place of confinement (see Rev 20:1, 3) and often associated with deep waters (Gen 7:11). Jesus allows them to enter a herd of many swine, which, when seized by the demons, rushed down the hill into the water and drowned. Despite their tactic, the demons end up in the watery abyss. Together with the previous passage, Jesus’ new exodus is unfolding, bringing salvation to his people in their crossing of the sea, but destruction to the enemy army in their drowning in the sea (see Exod 14:28–29; 15:4).

  The miracle again shows how Jesus brings liberty to those who are captive to the devil (Luke 4:18, 35), so that they might “turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God” (Acts 26:18).

  [8:34–37]

  In the exorcism’s aftermath, the people of the area and indeed the entire population are seized with fear and ask Jesus to leave. He gets back into the boat and returns to Jewish territory, completing the journey begun in the previous passage (8:22). Jesus has indeed come as a light to the Gentiles (2:32), but acceptance of him requires turning away from evil ways,13 even when this involves economic loss. Gentiles here resist Jesus, just as Gentiles will similarly resist Paul after he performs an exorcism that leads to economic loss, eventually asking him to leave their city (Acts 16:18–21, 39).

  However, there is one person who responds positively—the man from whom the demons had come out. He is completely restored, as a point-by-point comparison with his previous condition makes clear. He is no longer naked but clothed. He is no longer possessed but in his right mind. He no longer needs to be restrained but sits at Jesus’ feet like a disciple (see Luke 10:39; Acts 22:3). All these things indicate that, like the woman who stood at Jesus’ feet (Luke 7:38), this man has been saved (7:50).

  [8:38–39]

  Though the man begged to go with him, Jesus tells him to return home, thus restoring him also to his family and community. The man is instructed to recount what God has done for him. He instead goes and tells what Jesus had done for him, since for him Jesus does the work of God. The reader well understands that this is because Jesus is the Son of God (1:32, 35; 3:22; 4:41; 8:28). As with the stilling of the storm, Jesus here manifests divine power, doing what God does. And even though Jesus goes away, the news about him is proclaimed by the man, the first person besides John (3:3) and Jesus (4:18–19, 44; 8:1) to “proclaim.” In the next chapter, Jesus will send out the Twelve on a mission to “proclaim” (9:2). Here, a Gentile becomes the first missionary bringing the good news of Jesus to others.

  Jesus Heals the Woman with Hemorrhages and Raises Jairus’s Daughter (8:40–56)

  40When Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. 41And a man named Jairus, an official of the synagogue, came forward. He fell at the feet of Jesus and begged him to come to his house, 42because he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying. As he went, the crowds almost crushed him. 43And a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years, who [had spent her whole livelihood on doctors and] was unable to be cured by anyone, 44came up behind him and touched the tassel on his cloak. Immediately her bleeding stopped. 45Jesus then asked, “Who touched me?” While all were denying it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds are pushing and pressing in upon you.” 46But Jesus said, “Someone has touched me; for I know that power has gone out from me.” 47When the woman realized that she had not escaped notice, she came forward trembling. Falling down before him, she explained in the presence of all the people why she had touched him and how she had been healed immediately. 48He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

  49While he was still speaking, someone from the synagogue official’s house arrived and said, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the teacher any longer.” 50On hearing this, Jesus answered him, “Do not be afraid; just have faith and she will be saved.” 51When he arrived at the house he allowed no one to enter with him except Peter and John and James, and the child’s father and mother. 52All were weeping and mourning for her, when he said, “Do not weep any longer, for she is not dead, but sleeping.” 53And they ridiculed him, because they knew that she was dead. 54But he took her by the hand and called to her, “Child, arise!” 55Her breath returned and she immediately arose. He then directed that she should be given something to eat. 56Her parents were astounded, and he instructed them to tell no one what had happened.

  OT: Lev 15:25–30; Num 5:2–3; 15:38–40; 1 Kings 17:17–24; 2 Kings 4:30–37

  NT: Luke 5:13; 6:19; 7:13–14, 50; Acts 9:39–42; 19:11–12. // Matt 9:18–26; Mark 5:21–43

  Catechism: power from Christ, 695, 1116, 1504; faith and miracles, 548; pledge of the resurrection, 994; prayer of faith, 2616

  Two miracles now unfold in sandwich fashion, as one story falls in the middle of the other. Various details also link the two miracles, both of which teach the necessity and power of faith.

  [8:40–42]

  Upon Jesus’ return from the eastern side of the lake, he is welcomed by the crowd. Jairus, an official of the synagogue, perhaps fro
m Capernaum, humbly approaches Jesus, falling at his feet (7:38). Jairus (Mark 5:22) is one of the few petitioners for a miracle who are named, possibly indicating that he was well known in the early Church and handed on his eyewitness account of this event.14 Like the Jewish elders sent by the centurion who urged Jesus to come (Luke 7:4), Jairus also begged him to come to his house. His daughter, who is about twelve, is dying. She is his only daughter, like the “only son” of the widow of Nain who had died (7:12). Jesus goes with Jairus, but the crowds are pressing upon him.

  [8:43–44]

  The sandwiched miracle story now begins as a woman afflicted with hemorrhages approaches. Her condition has lasted twelve years, the same as the age of Jairus’s daughter. Besides the physical suffering, it also renders her perpetually “unclean” (Lev 15:25), separating her from the community (Num 5:2).15 Believing that Jesus can heal her, she courageously but stealthily approached from behind, and touched the tassel on his cloak. In obedience to the Mosaic law, Jesus, like other Jewish men, wore tassels on the corners of his garments as a reminder to do “all the commandments” and “be holy” to God (Num 15:38–40). Her plan works, as she is healed immediately.

  [8:45–46]

  However, Jesus asks a question—Who touched me?—in order to have a personal encounter with the person healed. Addressing Jesus as Master once again (Luke 5:5), Peter thinks Jesus’ question is unreasonable because the people in the surrounding crowds are bumping into them. Jesus therefore explains that power went out from him when he was touched (see 6:19). This power has previously been identified as the “power of the Spirit” and the “power of the Lord” (4:14; 5:17). Because of this power, the touch both physically heals her and renders her ritually clean. Moreover, Jesus is not made unclean by the touch (see Lev 15:19). It is rather his holiness that is contagious (see comment on Luke 5:13–14).

  [8:47]

  Having been discovered, the woman comes forth trembling, falling down before Jesus, as Jairus did (8:41). Words of Isaiah aptly describe her: “This is the one whom I approve: / the afflicted one, crushed in spirit, / who trembles at my word” (Isa 66:2 [emphasis added]).

  [8:48]

  Jesus calls her Daughter, recalling Jairus’s daughter—yet another link helping the reader understand the two miracles together. He lets her go with the same consoling words he spoke to the woman whose sins he forgave (Luke 7:50): your faith has saved you; go in peace. Though the word “save” here points to her physical healing (the verb, sōzō, can mean both “save” and “heal”), the phrase in general emphasizes the connection between faith and salvation. Jesus will again repeat the exact phrase “your faith has saved you” in later healing miracles (17:19; 18:42).

  [8:49–50]

  The story shifts back to the daughter of Jairus, with the news that she is dead. Jesus gives reassurance: do not be afraid (see 5:10). He also instructs Jairus with words echoing what he just told the woman: have faith and she will be saved. Thus again the connection is made, which applies to all readers: have faith and you will be saved (see Rom 10:9).

  [8:51–53]

  At the house, Jesus takes inside the girl’s parents and three of the apostles, Peter and John and James, who form an inner circle among the Twelve (see Luke 9:28). He tells the people who are weeping and mourning outside: Do not weep. He similarly told the widow of Nain not to weep before he raised her son (7:13). He will tell the same thing to the women of Jerusalem who are mourning over his imminent death (23:27–28). Although he is ridiculed, he explains that the girl is not dead, but sleeping (see John 11:11–14). On the practical level, this explanation prepares for his injunction to secrecy (Luke 8:56).

  [8:54–55]

  Touching her by the hand, he calls her to arise. The girl’s spirit or breath returned16 and she arose. The miracle happens immediately, yet another link to the woman’s healing (vv. 44, 47). Moreover, as with earlier healings (4:39; 5:23–25; 6:8; 7:14), the two verbs translated as “arise” (egeirō) and “arose” (anistēmi) are later used to describe Jesus’ resurrection (24:6–7, 34, 46). He also directs that the girl be given something to eat, an indication that she has returned to ordinary human life. In his appearance to the disciples in Jerusalem, Jesus will similarly ask for something to eat (24:41), not however because he needs food, but as proof of the reality of his risen body. At his resurrection, Jesus passes to a glorified existence in which he dies no more.

  [8:56]

  The miracle concludes with the instruction to tell no one what had happened—echoing his command to the healed leper (5:14). After Peter’s confession, Jesus will similarly direct his disciples not to tell anyone that he is the Messiah (9:21). Beyond miracles and titles, the full truth about Jesus and his mission first needs to be revealed.

  The four consecutive miracle stories repeatedly emphasize the importance of faith and show Jesus’ great power over nature, evil, sickness, and death. His power over death looks ahead to his own resurrection. As he was sleeping but then arose to calm the storm, and as he raised the “sleeping” girl, so too will he rise from the sleep of death, so that all those who have faith in him may be saved and share in his resurrection.

  1. Matt 27:56, 61; 28:1; Mark 15:40, 47; 16:1, 9; John 19:25; 20:1, 18.

  2. Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006), 131.

  3. Luke 9:2; 10:1, 9; 24:47; Acts 4:31; 8:4, 14, 25; 11:1; 13:5, 46; 15:35; 17:13; 18:11.

  4. The biblical precedent is Isaac’s “hundredfold” yield (Gen 26:12), which was recounted in other Jewish literature: Jubilees 24.15; Philo, On the Change of Names 1.268.

  5. At the end of Acts, Paul similarly quotes Isaiah to explain the divided reception his preaching receives (Acts 28:24–27, citing Isa 6:9–10).

  6. The Roman Pontifical, Ordination of Deacons (Vatican City: Vox Clara Committee, 2012), 120.

  7. In the †Septuagint, the term adelphos is used not only for “brother” but also for extended family members such as a cousin (1 Chron 23:21–22) and a nephew (Gen 13:8). The Catholic Church similarly understands the New Testament references to Jesus’ brothers. They are not children of Mary, who remained a virgin, but other close relatives of Jesus such as cousins or children of Joseph by a prior marriage. See Catechism 500.

  8. Tertullian, Concerning Baptism 12, sees the boat in the storm as representing the Church, buffeted by the waves of trials and persecutions but protected by Jesus.

  9. The comparison to Jonah becomes explicit later, when Jesus speaks of “the sign of Jonah” and claims to be “greater than Jonah” (Luke 11:29–30, 32).

  10. The Greek manuscripts have three readings for the location of this event near the lake. “Gerasenes” is better attested here and in Mark 5:1, but “Gadarenes” in Matt 8:28. Gerasa and Gadara were cities in the Decapolis, but the first (Jerash) is more than thirty miles from the lake and the second (Umm Qais) is about five miles away. The evangelists may be referring to the location only in a general way (e.g., “territory,” Luke 8:26). However, a local tradition of a site near the lake (Kursi) has led some scholars, from Origen in the third century till the present day, to opt for “Gergesenes” as the original reading. Scribes unfamiliar with the geography may have changed the text because the other cities were better known.

  11. The previous verse in the †Septuagint also mentions demons (Isa 65:3 LXX).

  12. Some scholars (e.g., Gerd Theissen, The Gospels in Context: Social and Political History in the Synoptic Tradition, trans. Linda M. Maloney [Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991], 109–11) also interpret the term “Legion” as a reference to Roman soldiers, who protected the cities of the Decapolis. In particular, the tenth Roman legion, which was stationed in Syria and put down the Jewish revolt in AD 66–73, had an image of a boar on its standards.

  13. The pigs may indicate pagan sacrifices (see 2 Macc 6:18–21). For example, the Romans sacrificed pigs in their religious rites at tombs (Cicero, On the Laws 2.57).

  14. Ba
uckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, 53–55.

  15. 11Q19 (Templea) XLVIII 14–17.

  16. This phrase may recall 1 Kings 17:21, where Elijah prays that the widow’s son’s life breath may return. Jesus’ earlier raising of the widow’s son at Nain alludes to the same passage.

  The Messiah and Suffering Son of Man

  Luke 9:1–50

  Jesus now begins to give the Twelve a share in his mission of healing and teaching. Moreover, his spreading fame again raises the question of his identity, even with Herod. After miraculously feeding five thousand, Jesus poses this question to his disciples, and Peter makes his confession that Jesus is the Messiah. This marks a turning point in the Gospel, as Jesus begins to announce that as the Son of Man, he must suffer and be killed. Those who wish to follow him must likewise take up their cross. The disciples struggle to understand this new dimension of his and their mission. Three of them—Peter, John, and James—are privileged to witness the transfiguration to help them realize that the suffering Son of Man is also the glorious Son of God. When the Galilean ministry (4:14–9:50) comes to an end, Jesus will begin the journey to Jerusalem.