Editorial note: This is a transcript of an audio talk on Luke 8:1–8. It has been lightly edited by Claude AI for readability — misspellings corrected, sentences formed, and paragraphs added — while preserving the speaker’s voice, style, and content as faithfully as possible. Banter, asides, and interjections have been marked as such. Scripture quotations are highlighted in block-quote format.

Luke 8:1–8 — A Talk

Luke 8:1–3 — Jesus’s Peripatetic Ministry and Those Who Funded It

All right, we’re in Luke chapter 8 this time, so we’re going to read through to perhaps verse 8 and see how we go.

“And it came to pass afterward that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God, and the Twelve were with him.” — Luke 8:1

This in itself is interesting because he had a ministry to — he first of all started at the synagogues, which is interesting. Some of the synagogues gave him a great reception; others gave him what you might call a warm — or rather fiery — reception, where they wanted to kill him, which gives you an idea of how fanatical some religious people can be.

He also ministered in people’s houses. So we’re keeping track of where he did his ministry, and now we see it’s a peripatetic ministry — he’s walking around, he’s speaking in the villages and towns. If we want to imitate him in his earthly ministry, if we want to spread a message, we do it in various places: accepting invitations to people’s houses, to hospitality, speaking in churches, but also speaking in various towns and cities.

Of course it’s not really a done thing to speak in the marketplaces today, and the text doesn’t specify that’s where he spoke. But I suspect that would have been done, because until modern times that’s where the people were, and they would even linger there for great stretches. I expect he went to various venues. But he did this without any great infrastructure, it would seem — he sent his disciples ahead to prepare, and we find out later that he had people backing him financially. At any rate, this is what he did: he ministered in various places, going village to village, walking.

So in order to get a message out, we can’t just sit passively. We have to figure out where the people are and go and speak to them. Simple as.

But what was the nature of his message? Preaching. Now that word has a funny connotation. It’s conceived of as something that happens primarily in the church — and primarily to people who are being converted, or who are already converted. However, the word used for preaching here, as I understand it, is rather something done in proclamation — evangelism — going out to the saved and primarily the unsaved, those outside. This really calls into question our use of the word preaching as something separate from and elevated above teaching. Preaching here is the proclamation of the kingdom of God and an invitation to participate in it.

There’s a lot of mystical blather about preaching and how special it is, but ultimately it is to be teaching. And what did Jesus do but teach? — and teach very effectively, as we’ll see when we get to the parable. So let’s not overcomplicate it.

And what was the content? Showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. What was his ministry to the Pharisees and the lawyers? It was a ministry of condemnation, to those who justified themselves rather than God. He had harsh words for them. But what was his message to the people here? Glad tidings.

If you dig into the Greek, there are associations with the coming of a kingdom. A new king had arrived, and because this king had come, there are glad tidings. This is what happened at the time of Jesus’s birth, and it echoes what happened when Augustus Caesar came to the throne — glad tidings were issued throughout the empire that peace had come, that harmony had come to the world, because of Caesar Augustus. If you read the Res Gestae Divi Augusti, you’ll see how messianic his titles were, because he was a messiah — a political messiah. And of course there were political elements to Jesus, since he is the King of the Jews, the King of the world in fact.

But this isn’t what we tend to call preaching. We tend to take what happens in our church and copy-paste it onto Jesus and say, look, Jesus is preaching like we do, therefore we’re right. What is the nature of his proclamation? It’s the announcement of a king who has come, and therefore, because the king has come in all his power and glory, you should be glad.

And again — we’ve said this before — the church is quite willing to have Jesus as a priest, but rather dubious about him being king. And if he is king, then he’s a king yet to come, or perhaps a spiritual king, meaning he doesn’t really rule over the earth — not yet, at least. Once the world somehow becomes spiritual, or once he comes again, then he will rule, then he’ll be a proper king — but not really now. But it would not have been good news to the poor, to the people who heard him, had he not been proclaiming his present or imminent kingship — that the king was here and reigning now.

We cannot believe in the incarnation of God without believing in him as incarnate in all three of his offices: prophet, priest, and king. We must take them all together. To say that he is sovereign, and to believe in the sovereignty of God, is to believe in the sovereignty of Jesus Christ, since Jesus Christ is God. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God — the Trinity is God.

So let’s not evacuate all hope from the world. Along with the Psalms, we say with full confidence, in the present tense, that the Lord is the great King over all the earth.

“Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with loud songs of joy. For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth.” — Psalm 47:1–2

So, glad tidings. The quality of his preaching — his proclamation of the kingdom — was glad tidings. And so often preaching can be very dour and condemnatory in tone, and people leave churches because the preaching isn’t condemnatory enough! But what do we have here? Glad tidings.

People say that Spurgeon was a prince of preachers. Well, if that’s true, then Jesus is the king of kings of preachers. And what did he give the people? Glad tidings. If our preaching is dour and hopeless, hitting a sour note every time, then that tells the hearer that God is sour and dour — and that is a lie. So let’s be very careful. It’s almost as if the prevailing conception is: the dourer and sourer the preaching, the better it must be; and if it isn’t dour and sour, it’s rather suspect. That’s a serious problem.

Now, verse 2:

“And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils.” — Luke 8:2

Evil spirits again. There’s almost no mention of demon possession in the rest of the Bible, is there? Saul was troubled by a spirit — but does it say Saul was demon possessed? Well, perhaps that’s a question for the Hebrew experts. But apart from that, there is very, very little. So why this outpouring of demonic activity at this point in history?

I’ve heard it suggested that Satan was cast down sometime around the incarnation. I don’t know the specifics of that, but it is worth noting that this is the time of demon possession par excellence. And where is it found? It’s found in the synagogue. It’s found in the Holy Land. Interesting that this great mountain of demon possession is found precisely in the Holy Land. That tells a story, does it not?

And note again: certain women. We had a woman in the previous story, and we have women here. If we’re brought up in a hard patriarchalism, we might think the woman is very much secondary — perhaps seen and not heard, or perhaps neither. But here, placed front and centre by the Holy Spirit, are women.

The demon possession compounds itself: not just one devil, but seven. What is this place? What’s happening here? We should note that and ask that question.

Verse 3:

“And Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.” — Luke 8:3

What’s the story being told here? How does Jesus live? Well, on one occasion he pulled a coin from a fish’s mouth, and so on. But he lived — during his public ministry he lived by the contributions of others. So is it a shame for people to live off contributions in their ministry? Far from it. Jesus did it, and therefore it is a good thing. Jesus hallowed it, if it wasn’t already hallowed.

And who is giving? The women are giving. It’s interesting that there’s another parable of giving in which a woman is the central figure — the widow’s mite. Giving and women are closely associated in the Gospels. I wonder why that is.

Some of these women were people of substance. Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward — she’s going to have access to a substantial bank balance. And of course we know that Jesus had a treasurer. All these people had to eat; they had to stay somewhere.

There are those — perhaps in the health and wealth camp — who say that because Jesus had a treasurer and rich people gave to him, therefore he was rich. Well, I don’t think we can go that far. But we can say that he had real needs. He lived in the real world where you had to buy things. People had them in for meals, and the disciples would have been brought along too, no doubt. But there is an idea that Jesus sort of floated six feet above the ground — no. He was incarnate and subjected to all the needs we have.

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” — Hebrews 4:15

This is why he can become our great high priest — because he knows all our weaknesses and all our needs. And one of those needs is, quite simply, cash money. This brings Jesus and his incarnation closer to us, does it not? He needed money, and here’s how he got it: women, in particular, gave to him.

Now, some of them — if you’ve had seven devils cast out of you, you’re probably not at the top of the income pyramid. Your life’s probably been fairly wretched. And yet Mary Magdalene was working after this, working in something good and honest. She would, I’d suggest, be of little means. Others, like Joanna, were of great means. But is there a hierarchy in God’s reckoning — Joanna top billing, Mary Magdalene somewhere lower down? No.

And in connection with giving: there is no graduated income tax in the Bible. The poor were to give as much in percentage terms as the rich. In fact, the atonement tax was a half-shekel of silver per year, whether rich or poor — the same flat contribution.

“The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give the LORD’s offering to make atonement for your lives.” — Exodus 30:15

The point is: they ministered to him of their substance. What is ministry? It is serving people with what you have — your talents, your resources — to meet their needs. And giving money is a ministry. That’s interesting and encouraging. A proper ministry always serves people and serves God in serving those people. So think of all the needs there are in the world, think of what your talents are, and try to match them up. And they were blessed in giving.

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” — Acts 20:35

Luke 8:4 — The Audience Grows

“And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable.” — Luke 8:4

So, having gone from city to city and village to village, he has made a name for himself. People are becoming aware of him. Then, at another venue — maybe a natural amphitheatre, something like the setting of the Sermon on the Mount — he is able to speak to bigger crowds.

The more you do individual work building up your reputation, the more your influence will grow. If you are a speaker, you should be speaking where the people are, and if you are good at it, as a natural consequence your audience will grow. And of course he was not just a speaker but a healer. That should make us think about those who work in service industries — a chiropractor, a physiotherapist. As you successfully heal people, more people will want to knock on your door.

A good name is worth something very real and material.

“A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favour is better than silver or gold.” — Proverbs 22:1

And of course Jesus wasn’t charging — he was freed up from that by the giving of others. But the principle holds as something close to a law: if you do something successfully, and you keep doing it successfully, and especially if you’re moving around and growing a reputation, people will put themselves out to come to you. So if you’re in a service industry or producing something — produce it well, keep on producing it well, meeting people’s needs. Your business will grow.

Luke 8:5–8 — The Parable of the Sower

Jesus capitalises on this assembled audience by speaking to them by a parable. Now, Jesus is the norming norm of preaching. So what should we expect — three alliterated points? A doctrinal treatise on infralapsarianism and its relationship to transubstantiation or consubstantiation?

[Banter/interjection] Is this what we get? No.

How does he address the people? This is of direct relevance to anyone who wants to teach — not a time-server or a placeholder, but someone whose passion is to teach and to communicate. And that should include ministers who call themselves preachers. So what does he say?

“A sower went out to sow his seed.” — Luke 8:5a

Call it earthy. Call it agricultural. Very much of the earth.

In your head, you’re already picturing it. Come on — admit it, you are. You’re seeing a man broadcasting seed across a field. He’s already gotten into your mind. You’re conjuring up images. What artistry. He’s straight into it — boom. A sower went out to sow his seed. How simple is that? Is anybody struggling with the vocabulary? And now I’m thinking — I’ve got a picture of the man with a folded piece of cloth across his front, reaching his dominant hand in, drawing out seed, casting it forth. He’s broadcasting it. He’s walking, covering a particular area.

“And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.” — Luke 8:5b

You can see the footsteps trampling it. You can see the birds coming in. He’s already in your mind.

“And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.” — Luke 8:6

Did you see it grow in your mind’s eye? Did you see it wither? This is a master teacher. He knows that we are of the earth, and we will never be fully separated from the world of sowing and soil. He’s very much in your mind already. We should do what we can to imitate him.

“And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.” — Luke 8:7

What does your thorn look like? A Scottish thistle? Something else? But you know there’s a thorn in there somewhere in your mind. And you’re probably running a slow-motion reel of it choking the young plant.

Four pictures so far: wayside, fowls, rock, thorns. And with each one, a simple, vivid image painted in just a few words. And then:

“And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit a hundredfold.” — Luke 8:8a

Wow. A hundredfold. What a picture. What richness.

The Application: Faith, Work, and the Marketplace

So what is he saying? One application — and I’m fully aware that his own interpretation will follow and that it differs from what I’m about to say, but the reason I can apply it this way is that the principle is already established by Jesus himself in choosing the so-called physical to illustrate the so-called spiritual.

He’s saying: in life, you’re going to work. You work, and you work, and you work. And four times out of five, by some pretty striking statistics —

[Aside] I’m thinking immediately of the Pareto principle. The 80/20 principle. That’s stunning. Never thought of it before in this connection. Perhaps nobody has. 80% of your increase comes from 20% of your effort.

But it’s even more radical here: four times out of five, what harvest has there been? None. Four fifths of his effort, it appeared to work in some cases and then withered to nothing. Are we willing to accept the words of Jesus here? Are we willing to say, Amen, Lord, I know that I’m going to work and four times out of five it’s not going to pay off? Are you willing to throw your seed? He had to pay for that seed. He paid in the sweat of his brow to broadcast it. Are you willing to do four out of five things and have them come to nothing? Your investment not rewarded four times out of five?

Think of the investment of capital — the seed. Maybe you’ve earned it by putting aside seed from the previous season. That’s painstaking work, no doubt. Storing it up, losing a percentage to rats or worse. And then you’re throwing out your seed corn, knowing that this crop has to come good or you cannot feed your family. So in faith and work, the entrepreneur — the farmer in particular — has to trust that something’s going to happen.

But four times out of five, his investment is a total loss. And you might say: You are wasting your time. This is, of course, one of the most famous parables of Jesus. And have you ever heard it applied to the marketplace? But this is the marketplace. This is the centre of industry. I heard statistics that 40,000 American jobs rely on the steel industry alone. Agriculture supports other sectors. So tell me this parable has no economic ramifications today. Tell me it doesn’t.

And if you say that only missionaries need to have faith — have you met a farmer? Have you seen what farmers have to go through? This is the picture Jesus chooses to describe the kingdom. So should so-called spiritual things be separated from earthly things? He’s taking a picture from work, from the investment of time and labour, and saying: this is what the kingdom of God looks like. He goes straight to the world of work. Because the dichotomy is not between spiritual and physical — it’s between good and evil. And these things are good things, joined together. They all equally come from the mind of God.

What about this fifth point? Only one time out of five — something like the Pareto principle — does he see success. One out of five. Doesn’t seem like a lot. Seems like you’ve wasted four fifths of your seed corn.

But is that true? No. It is not in the least bit true.

“And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit a hundredfold.” — Luke 8:8a

Yes, he lost four fifths. But what has he gained? He had to go through loss after loss after loss after loss. But when it worked — how did it work? A hundredfold. He stepped through defeat, defeat, defeat, defeat — and he sowed in faith — and he got back more than he ever lost. That’s the thing: he just kept on working in faith, and he got back a hundredfold.

Now, if you know your Bible, you’ll be thinking of other instances of sowing. You’ll be thinking of Isaac.

“And Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year a hundredfold; and the LORD blessed him.” — Genesis 26:12

Isaac was blessed by the Lord in a foreign land where he was entirely at the mercy of Abimelech.

[Banter/interjection — speaker digresses briefly about Isaac and his wife Rebekah: “he was sporting with his wife, which I recommend, which I’m sure your wives would recommend too. Anyway, anyway.”]

He was cast out of the city because of envy. But when he was out of the city, he turned his hand to farming — the first instance of arable farming mentioned among the patriarchs, as far as I’m aware. And he, during a time of drought, sowed and received back a hundredfold. The parable has this story in mind, among others.

What a lesson for us. There are, I’m sure, hundreds of other angles to take on it. But this one — the encouragement to those in the marketplace — is tremendous. Will this work? Think of Thomas Edison: experiment after experiment. He said he’d found 5,000 ways in which a light bulb does not work. And eventually he got it, and it was rewarded handsomely.

“And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” — Luke 8:8b

Of course, the Lord’s own interpretation of the parable will follow in the text. And his interpretation differs from the marketplace application I’ve been making — but the reason that application stands is that the very principle of using the physical to illuminate the spiritual was established by Jesus himself in his choice of metaphor.

So I hope you find that useful. How important money and the marketplace are in the life of the believer — by God’s ordination, in God’s good world. Let’s be encouraged to sow, and not to sow sparingly.

“But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” — 2 Corinthians 9:6

Had the sower sowed sparingly, he might have landed on soil type one, two, three, or four — and got nothing. But he did not sow sparingly. He went right to the end, to that fifth type of soil. And what was the result? He was faithful, he obeyed the counsel of scripture, and he ended up reaping a hundredfold.

That should be an encouragement to us all to persist in doing good.

All right. God bless you.

Scriptures Referenced