TAWG - December 24, 2024 - Luke 8:16-25
December 24, 2024

Luke 8:16-25

8:16 | The light of a lamp serve to illuminate that which would otherwise remain in darkness. Jesus’ teaching served the same function: to illuminate what otherwise would remain in spiritual darkness.

8:17 | The day will come when God’s wisdom will become evident to all. The truths that seemed secret and hidden in Jesus’ parables eventually will be transparent to everyone (John 8:12; 1 Cor. 4:5; Col. 1:26).

8:18 | If people choose to meditate deeply on His words, along with a settled determination to put them into practice, then God will open their minds to even more of His truth. But if they listen only to be entertained or to find fault – giving only careless attention to it – then even what they think they understand will be taken from them.

8:19-20 | Luke does not explain why Jesus’ family members came to see Him, but Mark reports that they feared He had lost His mind (Mark 3:21) and had come to take Him home. Before the Resurrection, Jesus’ half-brothers did not believe that He was the Messiah (John 7:5); the Bible does not reveal what His mother, Mary, thought. Luke includes this incident to set up the comments that follow.

8:21 | Jesus did not intend to humiliate His family through these remarks but to let the crowd know that anyone can have access to Him through obedient faith. Human pedigree may have certain advantages in some cases, but only faith-empowered obedience matters in a person’s relationship with God.

8:22-56 | The rest of the chapter records Jesus’ lordship over storms, demons, disease, and death. In Jewish though, control over nature was the purview of God alone. Yet while the elements are quick to obey Him, people often hesitate or refuse. Jesus brings calm to any storm-tossed life when a person trusts Him completely.

8:25 | By this point, the disciples had observed enough to know that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. But clearly, they had not yet grasped the ramifications of Jesus’ identity (Where is your faith?).