Luke 8:1 Commentary and Bible Study

(Synoptics: Luke 8:1-3)The Lord Jesus Christ had told his disciples at the start of his first Galilean ministry, ‘I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent’ (Luke 4:43), and he was careful to carry out this commission given him by his heavenly Father. ‘He went throughout every city and village’, visiting the small population centres as well as the large. The twelve were with him – the full number of them now. Their training required that they follow him closely and learn at every opportunity. Those who desire to serve him must spend time with him, studying his word, to deepen their understanding of his doctrine. They were witnesses to his message and his miracles, and students who would soon be sent out to preach the same message themselves. Others were no doubt with them: those who Peter refers to as, ‘men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us’ (Acts 1:21). They studied him closely, the greatest preacher who ever walked the earth, the one who uttered ‘things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world’ (Matthew 13:35). They had no desire to be anywhere other than with their Lord, for there was nowhere else that they could gain such spiritual advantage. They knew him to be that which was from the beginning, which they had heard, which they had seen with our eyes, which they had looked upon, and their hands had handled, of the Word of life’ (1 John 1:1). His message was what we are told elsewhere that he preached: the gospel of salvation, the terms and conditions of salvation, the need for repentance and faith, the parables of the kingdom, as well as instruction to his disciples on how to live as believers. They listened; they stored up his words and phrases in their memories; and they rejoiced that they were alive at such a time and given such wonderful revelations.Of course it is good news. This is news of the goodness of God and his readiness to save our souls. This is news about how life, this present life, for any one of us, can be transformed. And we can know the handiwork of God in our lives. It's news about receiving spiritual life and sensitivity. It's news about being reconciled with God so that we can know him and pray to him and understand him. It's news about heaven and receiving eternal life. How could there be any better news? All we've ever done, all the sins we've committed, all our rebellion, everything which is foul and horrible and offensive to God, freely forgiven, and in its place new life and a walk with God, with Christ, and eternal life hereafter.‘And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities.’ Those who are conscious of receiving the greatest blessings from God serve the most. It was another case of those who are forgiven most, loving the most. Mary Magdalene had been in a desperate state, possessed by seven demons, and yet she was now raised to a position of the great privilege, forwarding the cause of the gospel. Her devotion to Christ and her love for him was later further rewarded as she was the first to see him risen from the dead (Mark 16:9). The list of women named here is introduced by the statement that they were ‘certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities’, and this applies to all in the list. Susannah is not mentioned again in Scripture, but Joanna the wife of Chuza herod's steward is surely the same Joanna that went with the other women to the sepulchre to anoint the body of the Lord, but found the tomb empty. Her love and sense of how much he had done for her would not allow her to leave him in spite of her grief at that time. This band of women seem to have accompanied the Lord Jesus from this time onwards, which accounts for their being in Jerusalem at the time of his death.