The Authority & Compassion of Jesus – Luke 8:22-39

STUDY GUIDE

The Power & Compassion of Christ

An Orderly Account:

Encountering Jesus in the Gospel of Luke

Luke 8:22-39

THE TEXT

One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out…

INTRODUCTION:

“Is God really there? Does he care that I’m suffering?”

When Luke recorded the life of Jesus, he wrestled with the same exact questions. His gospel is full of suffering—even and especially suffering that comes to those who walk closest with Jesus.

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT:

Calming of the Storm at Sea

Setting sail from Capernaum to the eastern shore of Galilee, Jesus, as a true man who can get exhausted, falls asleep in the boat. A small hurricane explodes, threatening to sink the boat. (v. 22-23)

The disciples, some of whom were professional fisherman, wake Jesus fearing their life is about to end. Jesus awoke and rebuked (assessed a penalty) on the storm. The billows flattened. (v. 24)

Jesus then assessed a penalty on the disciples who are not more afraid of the man who calmed the storm than the storm itself. (v. 25)

Healing of the Demon-Possessed Man

Landing in the region of the Gerasene’s (Gadarenes) a man who is demonized (had) approaches Jesus. Because of the demon possession, this man is driven out of the city, stripped naked, and suffering. (v. 26-27)

Theological Overview – Demons

• Genesis 1 records God’s work of creating everything that is not God, this would include angels. At the end of the creation week (Gen. 1:31) God looked at everything he made and said it was all very good.

• Angels are:

• Created (Col. 1:16)

• Spiritual – not composed of a soul and a body.

• Rational, Moral, and Immortal – They are personal beings endowed with intelligence and will and they are not subject to death.

• Number – Hosts! (Gen. 2:1)

• Organized

• Called messengers, sons of God, spirits, watchers. Tasked by God.

• Cherubim – Guard Eden (Gen. 3:24); Stand over the Mercy Seat (Ex. 25:18)

• Seraphim – Isaiah 6:2, 6 – Antiphonal singers in the presence of God’s holy light.

• Gabriel & Michael – two named holy angels who announce God’s plans (Gabriel) and serve as valiant warriors against evil spirits (Michael)

• Some Angels are Fallen. (Holy & Unholy Angels)

• By Genesis 3, Satan shows up in the garden disguised as a serpent.

• Three NT passages (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6, Rev. 12:9) indicate that a number of the angels followed after a rebellion led by a powerful angel named Lucifer, who we typically call Satan (adversary).

• Originator of Sin (Gen. 3:1; John 8:44)

• Prince of this World (John 12:31, 14:30)

• While the holy angels continue to praise God, serve as his messengers, and minister to his saints, the unholy angels, or demons are powers of darkness, bent on cursing God, battling against his purposes of redemption, and harassing the church.

• Headline: there is an explosion of explicit demonic activity during the time of Christ and his first apostles. Whereas demons typically work behind the scenes in the OT and after the time of Christ, they come out in full force to disrupt the coming of Messiah.

• The gospels record multiple people (men and women) who are possessed, or controlled, by demons. And the ancients clearly understood demonic possession.

• Christ and the apostles cast out demons with divine authority.

• Two important questions:

• Can a Christian be demon possessed? No.

• Ought we to practice exorcisms? No. We only have an example of Christ and the apostles’ performing exorcisms. (Eph. 6:10-20; James 4:7, 8)

• Two crucial passages:

• Mark 3:23-27

• ²³ And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵ And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ²⁶ And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. ²⁷ But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.

• 1 John 3:8

• Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8)

So, what are we seeing here in Luke 8? The Son of God came to bind the strong man (Satan) and plunder his house. He came in order to dismantle and destroy the works of Satan.

1. 28-33

A demon, speaking through the body of the man, begs Christ not to destroy him. Jesus asks the demon his name, and he replied “Legion.”

He begs not to be consigned to the Abyss, also known as Tartarus/the Bottomless Pit. (2 Pet. 2:4) Christ, therefore, permits the demonic horde to enter a herd of pigs.

1. 34-37

The herdsmen spread word of the healing, the people of the region come out, see the man sitting in his right mind, and they beg Jesus to depart. They cared about the swine more than the Savior.

1. 38-39

The man Jesus healed begged to go with Jesus—but he’s commanded to return home and declare what God has done for him. He goes away declaring how much “Jesus” has done for him.

THE REALITY OF DEMONS

In 1945, C.S. Lewis wrote That Hideous Strength. One of the central arguments of the book is that because our modern, scientific cultures have stripped away their deeply Christian roots we have lost the ability of discernment when it comes to spiritual matters like angels and demons.

Demons know this and use it to their advantage. We have a generation playing with fire.

THE AUTHORITY OF CHRIST

In both stories (calming the storm and healing) Jesus wields the authority of the Creator over his creation.

Psalm 46:1-3

¹ God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. ² Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, ³ though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.

According to his humanity, Jesus Christ was asleep and doing nothing to help them. But, according to his divinity, which never sleeps, Jesus Christ wasn’t just monitoring the situation, he sovereignly ordained that it would come to pass just as it did.

God arranged the boat, the storm, and even the rest of Jesus, in order to reveal the weakness of the disciples faith that he might increase it.

God will certainly put you into circumstances which reveal your own finitude, frailty, and feeble faith.

THE COMPASSION OF CHRIST

In Mark’s account of the storm, the disciples ask the question we all ask in our troubles: “Do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mk. 5:38)

Of course he cares! He cares about storms at sea and he cares about men who are demon possessed. And the way we know that he cares is not because he calms every storm or casts out every demon.

We know he cares because there was a greater storm brewing – the storm of God’s wrath against our sin. And Jesus sank beneath the waves of judgment.

The demoniac isn’t just a real deliverance story – it’s a picture of the deliverance we all need, and Christ brings.