The Savior for All: He Frees the Man No One Could Bind
Luke 8 holds four scenes that show the Savior's authority over everything that holds people in bondage.
He teaches the parable of the sower — the Word that frees the soul.
He commands the storm — and the wind and waves obey.
He delivers a demon-possessed man whom no chains could hold.
He heals a chronically bleeding woman and raises a little girl from the dead.
In each, the Savior for All breaks chains the world could not break. He frees what cannot free itself.
Companions on the journey
As He proceeds through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the Kingdom of God, the twelve are with Him — and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out; Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's household manager; Susanna; and many others, who provided for them out of their means.
Luke alone records this detail. The Savior for All travels with women who fund the mission and walk alongside the disciples. The Gospel is supported by people the world ignored — and Luke names them on record forever.
The parable of the sower
A great crowd gathers. People come to Him from town after town. He says in a parable:
"A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold."
He calls out: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
When the disciples ask the meaning, He explains. The seed is the Word of God.
- The path: those who hear, but the devil snatches it away.
- The rock: those who hear with joy, but have no root; they fall away in time of testing.
- The thorns: those who hear but are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life.
- The good soil: those who hear the Word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.
The Word of God is the seed that grows the Savior's Kingdom. And the soil of the human heart is the variable.
A lamp not hidden
"No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed."
A lamp is placed on a stand. The truth is meant to be seen. Nothing is hidden that will not be revealed.
"Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away."
The way we hear the Word determines whether we grow or wither.
His true family
His mother and brothers come, but cannot reach Him because of the crowd. He is told.
He answers:
"My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it."
The Savior for All redefines family. Not by blood — by hearing and doing.
The storm
On one of those days, He gets into a boat with His disciples:
"Let us go across to the other side of the lake."
As they sail, He falls asleep. A windstorm comes down on the lake; the boat is filling, and they are in danger.
They go and wake Him:
"Master, Master, we are perishing!"
He awakes, rebukes the wind and the raging waves. They cease, and there is a calm.
"Where is your faith?"
They are afraid and they marvel:
"Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?"
The Savior for All sleeps in your boat. The storm cannot drown the boat that carries the Christ. The same voice that taught the Word commands the wind.
The man no chains could hold
They arrive at the country of the Gerasenes, opposite Galilee. A man from the city meets Him — a man with demons. For a long time he has worn no clothes. He has not lived in a house, but among the tombs.
When he sees Jesus, he cries out and falls down before Him:
"What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me."
Jesus commands the unclean spirit to come out. Many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.
"What is your name?"
"Legion" — for many demons had entered him.
They beg Jesus not to command them to depart into the abyss. A herd of pigs is feeding there. They beg to enter the pigs. He gives permission. The demons come out and enter the pigs, and the herd rushes down the steep bank into the lake and drowns.
The herdsmen flee and tell it in the city. People come to see. They find the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.
They are afraid. The people ask Jesus to depart from them, for they are seized with great fear.
The man begs to go with Him. Jesus sends him away:
"Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you."
He goes through the whole city, proclaiming how much Jesus had done for him.
The Savior for All did not give up on the man among the tombs. He sent him back as the first missionary to a Gentile region.
A daughter healed, a daughter raised
When Jesus returns, the crowd welcomes Him. A man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, comes and falls at His feet, imploring Him to come to his house — his only daughter, about twelve years of age, is dying.
As Jesus goes, the people press around Him. A woman who has had a discharge of blood for twelve years, who has spent all her living on physicians and could not be healed by anyone, comes up behind Him and touches the fringe of His garment. Immediately her discharge stops.
Jesus says: "Who was it that touched me?"
When all deny it, Peter says: "Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!"
"Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me."
When the woman sees she is not hidden, she comes trembling and falling down before Him. She declares in the presence of all the people why she had touched Him, and how she had been immediately healed.
"Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace."
He calls her daughter. The unclean woman becomes a daughter.
"Do not fear; only believe"
While He is still speaking, someone comes from the ruler's house and says:
"Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more."
Jesus hears it. He says to Jairus:
"Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well."
When He comes to the house, He allows no one to enter with Him except Peter, John, James, and the father and mother of the child. All are weeping and mourning for her, but He says: "Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping."
They laugh at Him.
He takes her by the hand and calls:
"Child, arise."
Her spirit returns. She gets up at once. He directs that something should be given her to eat.
Her parents are amazed. He charges them to tell no one what had happened.
The Savior for All has authority over every chain — the storm, the demon, the disease, even death itself. No grief is final where Christ is present. No bondage is permanent. The Word is being sown, the storm is being stilled, the demon is being driven out, and the dead are being raised — all by the same Savior.
Closing prayer
Father, thank You that Your Savior breaks every chain — the bondage of the man among the tombs, the years of bleeding no doctor could cure, the death of a little girl. Sow Your Word deeply in our hearts and let it bear fruit a hundredfold. Speak peace to our storms. Send us, like the Gerasene, home to declare how much You have done. In Jesus' name, amen.
