Because of the size of the crowd that had assembled around Jesus, His family could not come near and someone told Him, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You” (8:20). When Jesus heard this he responded by saying, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it” (8:21). Christ was not denying His earthly family, but instead using this statement as an opportunity to teach a spiritual truth by revealing that all those who follow in His ways are His family (see Mark 3:31-35).
Following Luke’s documentation of these things, he writes concerning four miracles Jesus performed. In the first miracle, Jesus and His disciples get into a boat and begin to cross over to the other side of the lake until a very large windstorm begins filling their boat with water (8:22-23). In fear for their lives, the disciples awake Jesus, who is sleeping, and He commands the winds and the waves to stop (8:24). After the storm calmed at His spoken word, He turns to the disciples and asks, “Where is your faith?” (8:25a) Although Luke does not record a verbal response to Jesus’ question, he does mention that they “…marveled, saying to one another, ‘Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!’” (8:25b). This miracle evidenced Jesus’ power over the natural realm.
The next miracle takes place in the country of the Gadarenes when Jesus encounters a demon-possessed man (8:26-31). Matthew’s gospel mentions that there were actually two demon-possessed men, but Luke focuses on the one who was more vocal (Matthew 8:28-34). Jesus casts out the demons of these men and sends the evil spirits to inhabit a herd of swine, which “ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned” (8:32-33). The men who owned the swine observed what had happened and became fearful (8:34-36). When Jesus’ works were told in the surrounding region, the people became frightened and asked Him to depart from their city (8:37-40). This miracle demonstrated Jesus’ power over the spiritual realm.
The last two miracles took place in conjunction with each other. A man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue, came to Jesus asking Him to come to his house and heal his twelve year-old daughter who was dying (8:41-42a); however, as Jesus was making His way to Jairus’ house the “multitudes thronged Him” (8:42b). A woman with a serious physical condition was in the crowd surrounding Jesus and she got close enough to touch Jesus’ clothes and was immediately healed of her disease (8:43-48). Matthew writes that this woman had such great faith that she knew even touching Jesus’ clothes could make her well again (Matthew 9:21). This miracle proves Jesus’ power over the physical realm. Jesus’ supernatural work in this woman was short-lived because as He was speaking to her, “…someone came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him [Jairus], ‘Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the Teacher’” (8:49). Jesus immediately responded to this news saying, “Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well” (8:50). Upon His arrival at the house, Jesus went in to see the lifeless girl and said, “Little girl, arise” (8:51-54) and upon hearing these words the girl’s “spirit returned, and she arose immediately” (8:55). This miracle revealed Jesus’ power over life and death. When we consider all four of these miracles, we must either be convinced that Jesus is the Son of God and has power over all things or we must believe that the Bible is a lie and cannot be trusted. Which do you believe?
Dear God, help me believe that You have the power to do all things and may I act upon what I believe.
