Sermon Title: Jesus: The Compassionate King
Scripture Reading: Hebrews 12:1-17
This major unit in Luke (8:4-9:17) is broken into two sections: 8:4-21 and 8:22-9:17. The first unit is a call to faith: “Take heed therefore how you hear” (Luke 8:18). The second unit is designed to display the basis for belief, which is Jesus’ power and authority over all areas of life: He stills a storm (8:22-25), exorcises demons (8:26-39), heals a woman with an issue of blood (8:42b-48), resurrects a dead child (8:40-42a, 49-56), and provides food for the multitude (9:10-17). In summary, Jesus shows His power and authority over nature, demonic spirits, disease, delay, and death deems him trustworthy.
Last week we studied one facet of Jesus’ power: His power over nature. The point of our passage last week was as follows: Jesus’ power and authority shows that He can be trusted.
The point of our passage this week is as follows: In the storm, Jesus revealed that He is even more dangerous, unpredictable, and powerful as an earthquake on water. This week we see Jesus moving away from impersonal wind and waves to relieve the suffering of man. Although Jesus is inconceivably powerful and totally unpredictable, His compassion is immeasurable.
Review
From Tim Keller’s “The King’s Cross”:
"Mark has deliberately laid out this account using language that is parallel, almost identical, to the language of the famous Old Testament account of Jonah.
Both Jesus and Jonah were in a boat, and both boats were overtaken by a storm—the descriptions of the storm are almost identical.
Both Jesus and Jonah were asleep.
In both stories the sailors woke up the sleeper and said, “We’re going to die.”
And in both cases there was a miraculous divine intervention and the sea was calmed.
Further, in both stories the sailors then become even more terrified than they were before the storm was calmed.
Two almost identical stories—with just one difference.
In the midst of the storm, Jonah said to the sailors, in effect: “There’s only one thing to do. If I perish, you survive. If I die, you will live” (Jonah 1:12). And they threw him into the sea.
Which doesn’t happen in Mark’s story.
Or does it?
I think Mark is showing that the stories aren’t actually different when you stand back a bit and look at it with the rest of the story of Jesus in view.
In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says, “One greater than Jonah is here,” and he’s referring to himself: I’m the true Jonah. He meant this:
Someday I’m going to calm all storms, still all waves.
I’m going to destroy destruction, break brokenness, and kill death.
How can he do that?
He can only do it because when he was on the cross he was thrown—willingly, like Jonah—into the ultimate storm, under the ultimate
waves, the waves of sin and death.
Jesus was thrown into the only storm that can actually sink us—the storm of eternal justice, of what we owe for our wrongdoing. That storm wasn’t calmed—not until it swept him away.
If the sight of Jesus bowing his head into that ultimate storm is burned into the core of your being, you will never say, “God, don’t you care?”
And if you know that he did not abandon you in that ultimate storm, what makes you think he would abandon you in much smaller storms you’re experiencing right now?
And, someday, of course, he will return and still all storms for eternity.
If you let that penetrate to the very center of your being, you will know he loves you. You will know he cares. And then you will have the power to handle anything in life with poise."
God is not safe. God is not manageable. God is not predictable. However, as we will see this morning, God is compassionate and involved.
The point of our passage this week is as follows: In the storm, Jesus revealed that He is even more dangerous, unpredictable, and powerful as an earthquake on water. This week we see Jesus moving away from impersonal wind and waves to reveal His compassion in relieving the suffering of man.
Introduction
Along with the story about the storm, all three synoptic authors record the stories of the Gadarene demoniac, the woman with the issue of blood, and Jairus’s daughter.
The Demoniac: Jesus is compassionate in the dungeon (Luke 8:26-39)
v. 26: There is only one recorded instance of demonic activity in the Old Testament along with a few allusions to demons; (e.g., Leviticus 17:7; Deuteronomy 32:17; Psalm 106:37), Genesis 6:1-4, where demon-possessed men cohabitated with women (cf. 2 Peter 2:4-5; Jude 6). Outside of the gospels and Acts, there are no references to demon possession in the New Testament.1
v. 27: The very word, demoniac, describes a man possessed by a demon and therefore, acting like a maniac. Luke tells us he had not worn clothes in a long time. Mark tells us that he was constantly cutting his body with sharp stones (Mark 5:5). Matthew tells us this violence was often directed at others (Matthew 8:28).
v. 28: Like the demoniac of 4:34, “Let us alone! What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are – the Holy One of God!”, this one knew who Jesus was (contrast to the disciples in v. 25). Can you imagine the mystery of this demoniac? Verse 30 informs us that the “spokesman” for the demon referred to himself as “legion” because “many demons had entered him.” It is likely the demon was alluding to a huge number when he said “legion” because a legion had about six thousand soldiers.
v. 29: Emphasize how this represents (although we do not believe demons can possess regenerate people) the daily struggle we face against sin.
v. 30: discussed in v. 28 above
vv. 31-32: The demons immediately concede. The place of confinement for evil spirits (Revelation 20:1-3).
vv. 33-34: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. Peter said to him, ‘Lord I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death’” (Luke 22:31-33).
“Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. For the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41).
v. 35-37: “Frightened” comes from the Greek word phobeo, which refers to extreme fear (the related noun phobos is the root of the English word “phobia.”
Remember the consistency with the disciple’s fear after Jesus calmed the storm? Why the fear following such a miraculous deed? Why were they more terrified in the calm than they were in the storm? Because Jesus was as unmanageable as the storm itself. The storm has immense power – they couldn’t control it. Jesus had infinitely more power, so they had even less control over him. [2]
For those of you who understand what I am talking about, the train of thought goes something like this: Yes, I understand I have no control over the most difficult circumstances in my life. However, I have less control over the God who is sovereign over them and because God is sovereign over all things, my inability to manage him makes me afraid.
v. 38-39: “Since he knew enough to be saved, he knew enough to be a missionary. The priority for him was not further training, since he was the lone witness to the gospel in that region. Here is an example of God’s grace in the face of man’s rejection. Though they totally rejected Jesus, Jesus did not reject them, but left a missionary in their midst” (John MacArthur). [1]
How lonely must this man’s life have been?
A Dying Daughter and a Desperate Woman: Jesus is compassionate in disasterous nature, demonic spirits, disease, delay, and death.
Disease, Delay, and Death (Luke 8:40-56)
Remember, here is what we are trying to show here: Because Jesus was sent to reveal the character of God to us, we learn about what God is like by observing Jesus. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16).
He was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). As He observed the outpouring of sorrow over the death of Lazarus, “He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled” (John 11:33) and wept (v. 35). Jesus knew all along that He would raise Lazarus from the dead. However, Jesus was still grieved to tears over the ruinous effects of sin and suffering in the world.
The only thing that truly gets us up in the morning is the promise of a new heaven and a new earth from which disease, death, sorrow, and suffering will be forever banished (Revelation 21:1-5; Isaiah 65:17; 66:22).
vv. 40-43: Here we find two very contrasting souls. One was a man, the other a woman. One was rich, the other poor. One was a respected leader entrenched in society, one was an unclean outcast. But the principle transcends, “God gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5; James 4:6).
According to Leviticus 15:25, this woman’s condition would have rendered her ceremonially unclean, placing her in the social status of a leper.
Of all the impressive miracles He could have done to prove that He was God, Jesus chose to do those that relieved people’s suffering. Instead of flying off the pinnacle of the temple, He rescued His terrified disciples from a life-threatening storm. Instead of instantly creating a cow or a horse, He created food for thousands of hungry people. Instead of lifting up a mountain and casting it into the sea, He healed the sick and rasied the dead. His choice of miracles revealed not only Jesus’ deity, but also His divine compassion. [1]
v. 42b-48: Imagine the curiosity and panic the crowd, the disciples, and Jairus felt during this exchange between the woman and Jesus. When Jairus met Jesus he told Him that his daughter was almost dead.
v. 44: In the Old Testament the Lord commanded the men to have tassels on the four corners of their garments (Deuteronomy 22:12). The Greek verb translated touched is more accurately translated “clutched.”
v. 45-47: At first glance, this passage can be very confusing. What does it mean that Jesus felt power go out of Him, yet did not know who touched Him? How is it that Jesus can read the thoughts of the disciples and Pharisees, yet does not know who touched Him? Let me remind you of when we discussed the hypostatic union and the mediation by the Holy Spirit of Jesus incommunicable attributes.
v. 48-55: Imagine if Jairus knew of the centurion’s encounter with Jesus? Imagine the anxiety during all this. The woman with a chronic condition is getting attention instead of the little girl who has an acute condition. Jesus chooses to stop and talk with a woman who has just been healed. This makes no sense. It is absolutely irrational. In fact, it’s worse that than: It’s malpractice. If these two were in the same emergency room, any doctor who treated the woman first and let the little girl die would be sued. And Jesus is behaving like such a reckless doctor. Jairus and the disciples must be thinking, “What are you doing? Don’t you understand the situation? Hurry, or it will be too late. The little girl needs help from you now, Jesus. Hurry, Jesus, hurry. [2]
But precisely because of the delay both Jairus and the woman get far more than they asked for. Be aware that when you go to Jesus for help, you will both give to and get from him far more than you bargained for. Be patient, because the deal often doesn’t work out the way you expected. We have such delusions of grandeur that our self-righteousness and arrogance sometimes have to be knocked out of our heart’s by God’s delays. [2]
“Trust me, trust me,” Jesus continues to reiterate.
“Daughter” could be translated “Honey.” Jesus is only recorded saying this strong word of endearment once ever.
v. 56: “Amazed” translates a form of the verb which literally means “to stand outside oneself,” and is translated “He has lost His senses” in Mark 3:21. This “miracle induced fear” has been a consistent thread through this section in the storm (v. 25), the people of Gadara (v. 37), and the woman healed of her disease (v. 47).
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