Luke 8: Hearing God's Word

LUKE 8: HEARING GOD’S WORD – 8:1 – 21

In 8:1 – 3 Luke gives us a brief summary of Jesus’ movements after the incidents previously reported: Jesus travelled about preaching the ‘good news of the kingdom of God.’ He was accompanied by ‘the Twelve’, and by a number of women who had been healed by him, and who helped to financially support Jesus and the apostles. Verse 4 indicates that the Parable of the Sower was addressed to a large crowd from multiple towns.

We have seen in previous chapters in Luke the significance that Jesus gave to our response to his words. Now in chapter 8 our human response to the word of God/Jesus is again in focus.

A. THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER – 8:1 – 15

This is a well-know parable found in Matthew, Mark and Luke. We are perhaps so familiar with it that we don’t think about it much, and in that lies a danger, for it is very easy to misinterpret it, to filter it through the lens of our presuppositions, rather than actually listen to what Jesus is saying.

Fortunately, for this parable, Jesus gave his disciples the interpretation (verses 11 – 15).

Read the parable and its meaning (8:5 – 8 and 11 – 15). Answer these questions:
What is ‘the seed’? (See also Matthew 13:19)

For some people, what does the enemy do to the word they have heard?

What is the end result?

Which people seem to accept the word gladly, but have not thought through how that will affect them?

What is the end result?

Which people are so busy and distracted by their lives that although they are not opposed to the word they don’t really have the time or the inclination to give it serious thought?

What is the result?

What is different about the final group’s response to the word? (Read Matthew 13:23 for extra information.)

What is the result?

Suggest what is meant by ‘producing a crop’.

If we understand this parable to be about who is saved and who is not, we are faced with two options:

[1] That only the first soil type people are not saved.

Or: [2] That only the last soil type people are saved.

If we choose the first, we are left with the problem that the second and third type, were once saved, but lost their salvation. But the Bible does not seem to permit this conclusion.

If we choose the second, we have to accept the truth that some people respond to the word of God with what we might call superficial, or even ‘fake’, faith – but they had never really understood and believed the word of God they appeared to embrace.

Read these texts. How do they help you to discern which of the two above options are supported by Scripture?
John 2:23 – 25

John 6:60 – 71

John 8:30, 31 (read through to the end of the chapter if you have time)

1John 2:18 – 19

With these verses in mind, consider what Helmut Thielicke wrote about each of the four types of response:

The path people: ‘In our hearts there are still many other thoughts and desires which keep pulling us into their wake and prevent us from pausing to hear God’s call. In every one of us there are definite thought forces which are seeking to dominate us and making a tremendously vigorous totalitarian claim upon our hearts. I am thinking, for example, of our ambition, of everything connected with the word “sex”, our urge to power, our desire for recognition and prestige. … The devout of all times have been aware of these sources of domineering appeal and have therefore mobilized other forces against them. Above all, they meditated upon the Scriptures and prayed. But how the great ones in the kingdom of God did that! For them every reading of the Bible was a battle and every prayer a sword stroke. …

The rocky soil people: ‘At first when they receive the Word they are enthusiastic. They are not just bare rocks; there is at least a thin layer of soil in which the Word germinates…. These people have been touched; perhaps they even talk about being “converted” … In most such cases it was a kind of emotional Christianity … there is nothing more disintegrating than people who have been merely “brushed” by Christianity, people who have been sown with a thousand seeds but in whose lives there is no depth and no rootage. Therefore, they fall when the first whirlwind comes along. It is the half-Christians who always flop in the face of the first catastrophe that happens, because their dry intellectuality and their superficial emotionalism do not stand the test. So even that which they think they have is taken away from them. This is the wood from which anti-christians too are cut. They are almost always former half-Christians.’

The thorns people: ‘When we cannot believe, there is something in the background of our life which is not in order. And it is to this background that Jesus points when he speaks of ‘the cares and riches and pleasures of life.” All three indicate that I am not prepared to part with some very definite things and that these dependencies then obscure my vision … The chain of doubt and faithlessness to which we are shackled consists of many links. But these links are not intellectual reasons, but sins, dependencies, and secret bondages. These are what prevent us from finding peace and block full surrender. These are the thorns that prevent the seed from producing fruit.’

The good soil people: ‘These are the people who not only “hear” but also “hold fast” to the Word. Hearing is easy. But to hold on to the Word and budget one’s life upon it, this is the great test. … Never will I get into the clear with God and never will I have peace, if I only hear and go on hearing, if I reflect and do nothing but go on reflecting upon it. God must be obeyed if he is to be understood. I must reckon with God – reckon with him and his promises in utter realism – if you want to bring him into your life. God is known only when the chips are down. You think, you can “cerebrate,” about God only on your knees. Anybody who shies away from repentance, from bowing down, from dying, is slamming the door upon God.’ [p54-59,The Waiting Father, James Clarke, 1966]

A.1 The nature of true faith
The parable of the sower helps us to understand the kind of response to his word, the kind of faith, that Jesus is looking for.

Read through both the parable and its interpretation again. Answer these questions:
Is true faith superficial or deep?

Is true faith temporary or enduring?

Is true faith spontaneous or based on understanding?

Does true faith hang on or give up?

Is true faith single-hearted or two-faced?

Is true faith passive or active?

Is true faith focused on God or dependent on personal comfort?

A.2 A lamp on a stand – Luke 8:16 – 18
Jesus added these few words onto his explanation of the parable. Verse 18 very clearly connects them to the parable: ‘consider carefully how you listen’. The parable is all about how we listen to the word of God/word of Jesus. The word of God, the words of Jesus, the gospel, the message of the kingdom is the ‘lamp’. Everything that Jesus has been teaching up to this point, and all that he will teach beyond this point, is the light. Indeed, he himself is ‘the light’.

Consider these verses. What or who is identified as ‘light’?
Psalm 27:1

Psalm 119:105

Isaiah 9:2, 6

Isaiah 42:6; 49:6

Luke 1:78, 79

John 1:7 – 9

John 3:19

John 8:12; 12:46

2Corinthians 4:6

1John 1:5 – 7

1John 2:8 – 11

From these verses we understand that God, God’s word, Jesus Christ and his teaching are ‘light’ or ‘the light’. Jesus has come from God to make God known – to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. To bring out in the open the grand, glorious plan of salvation, determined by God before the creation of the world, and now revealed (1Corinthians 2:6 – 16), now made known in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is the radiance, the out-shining of God’s glory, the exact representation of God’s being (Hebrews 1:3).

How should we respond to Jesus and his teaching, how should we respond to ‘the light’? Jesus urges us ‘consider carefully how you listen.’ And in these words challenges us to take to heart the parable of the sower that he told the whole crowd, and has just explained to the Twelve. How we respond to his teaching is of critical importance. Not only does it determine the big picture – our relationship with God, our eternal destiny, it also impacts our on-going responses to Jesus Christ and his teaching – ‘whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him’ – Luke 8:18.

A.3 The disciples’ question – Luke 8:9 – 10
Jesus ended his parable by calling out ‘He who has ears to hear, let him hear’ – Luke 8:8

Unless there was a deaf person in the crowd, we can conclude that this large crowd of people physically heard Jesus’ teaching. But, as the parable makes clear, not everyone who hears the words actually understands their meaning and their application, or even wants to understand. Even the disciples wanted to know what it meant – 8:9. Matthew tells us that they also asked Jesus ‘Why do you speak to the people in parables?’ If they did not understand the parable, how can Jesus expect the crowd to understand?

Jesus’ answer to their question has a disturbing quality about it. All three of the synoptic gospels report Jesus’ answer, which includes reference to Isaiah 6. (John also applies Isaiah 6 to people’s lack of response to Jesus.)

Read these verses, and think carefully about what they are saying:
Isaiah 6:9, 10

Matthew 13:11 – 15

Mark 4:11 – 12

Luke 8:10

John 12:37 – 41 (John’s comment at the end of Jesus’ public ministry)

Jesus’ words are quite startling: that knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom is given to the disciples, but deliberately kept from the crowds. That the same message that brings knowledge of God to some also exposes the ignorance and unbelief of others. The message that saves some also condemns others. And here we are again reminded that our salvation, which includes our knowledge of God, is all of grace: it is all sheer gift. Jesus told the disciples: ‘The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you ...’ Given. Not worked out for ourselves by ourselves. But given.

How do these verses affirm the gift/grace nature of our knowledge of God’s truth and God’s kingdom?
Matthew 11:25 – 27; Luke 10:21, 22

John 17:6a

John 17:8

2Corinthians 4:6

Ephesians 1:18 -19a

Ephesians 3:16 – 19

The fact that you or I have actually understood the message of Christ, the gospel, and believed, is evidence that God has been at work, that God has opened our eyes and ears and softened our hearts. Christ has put the light before us. He challenges us ‘consider carefully how you listen’, because listening and understanding is the stepping stone to being shown more truth. Failing to listen with understanding means that even what we have heard will be taken away from us (8:18).

A.4 Jesus’ mother and brothers – Luke 8:19 – 21
When Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, Jesus used this to push home one more statement about the parable he has just told: ‘My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice’ – verse 21. A right hearing of his word is evident in its on-going impact, because his word is both life-giving and life-changing.