§19 More Acts of Power (Luke 8:26–56)
Before moving into chap. 9, where Jesus begins his preparations for his journey to Jerusalem (which begins in 9:51), Luke furnishes three more examples of Jesus’ healing ministry in Galilee, all of which have been taken from Mark. They are the exorcism (and healing) of the demon-possessed man from Gerasa (vv. 26–39); the raising of Jairus’ daughter (vv. 40–42, 49–56); and the healing of the woman with the hemorrhage (vv. 43–48). In the Lucan context these miracles, together with the preceding episode (the stilling of the storm, vv. 22–25), represent all four types of Jesus’ miracles: (1) exorcism, (2) healing, (3) resuscitation, and (4) nature miracle. In view of the transitional nature of Luke 9 (see commentary on 9:1–9), it may be that Luke provides his readers with this sampling of miracles as a way of rounding off Jesus’ Galilean ministry.
8:26–39 / Like Matthew (8:28–34), Luke has abbreviated this story, which he has taken from Mark 5:1–20. Like Mark, however, Luke describes only one demon-possessed man and not two, as does Matthew (8:28). This story is certainly the strangest episode in the Synoptic tradition (with the possible exception of Matt. 27:52–53). The setting, the principal characters, and the grotesque outcome create an eerie atmosphere. Jesus and his disciples enter the predominantly Gentile region of the Gerasenes (see note below), where they are encountered by a demon-possessed man (probably a Gentile) who was unclothed and who lived in the tombs. With a graphic description of this miserable person, Luke relates that even though the man had been kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places. Mark adds that he used to cry out and cut himself with stones (5:5).
When this tormented person saw Jesus he fell at his feet and cried out in the voice(s) of the demon(s). His recognition of Jesus as Son of the Most High God is reminiscent of the demonic cries in Luke 4:34, 41. When Jesus asked his name, he answered, “Legion” (see note below), which would suggest that this time Jesus had taken on a whole army of demons. Up to this point Jesus has cast out individual demons, but here was the opportunity to demonstrate his power over a demonic army, whose collective power would have been viewed as awesome and extremely dangerous. Why Jesus gave them permission to enter the pigs, instead of consigning them to the Abyss is uncertain (see note below). It could be that since the day of judgment had not yet actually arrived, as the demons apparently thought (at which time demons would be consigned to hell, or the “Abyss”), the demons’ fear, as expressed in v. 31, was premature. Nevertheless, Jesus does send them into a nearby herd of swine with the result that they stampede into the Gennesaret Lake (see note below) and so are destroyed in a manner that may very well foreshadow the final day of judgment when demons will be cast into the Abyss (for a similar suggestion see Ellis, p. 129).
The man, now dressed and in his right mind, was sitting at Jesus’ feet (a phrase not found in Mark’s account) as an indication of his faith and discipleship (so Fitzmyer, p. 739). As a disciple he wishes to go with Jesus, but Jesus sent him away to tell how much God has done for him. The conclusion of this episode foreshadows the church’s missionary outreach to Gentiles in the Book of Acts.
8:40–56 / The stories of the resuscitation of Jairus’ daughter and the healing of the woman with the hemorrhage are also derived from Mark (5:21–43). As often is the case, Luke has abbreviated his Marcan material. (Matthew’s version is the briefest; 9:18–25.) The emphasis of both of these episodes is the need to have faith in Jesus. In view of what Jesus has just accomplished on the lake (vv. 22–25) and among the Gerasene people (vv. 26–39), the need to have faith in him becomes all the more compelling. The two stories are linked by the reference to twelve years v. 42, 43), the age of Jairus’ daughter and the length of time that the woman had suffered. The resuscitation of Jairus’ daughter is a counterpart to the earlier resuscitation of the widow’s son (7:11–17). Jesus has raised the only son of a woman and now he will raise the only daughter of a man.
Jesus is approached by a man named Jairus (see note below). Like the demon-possessed man in v. 28, he came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house and heal his only daughter who was dying. While going to his home, Jesus is delayed in the throng of people by the touch of the woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. At the moment that she touched the edge of his cloak she was healed, for power had gone out of Jesus (see also Luke 4:14; 5:17). Jesus asks, “Who touched me?” in order to bring the woman forward so that he might make the pronouncement: “Your faith has healed you. Go in peace” (lit. “Your faith has saved you”; see note below).
Meanwhile, a messenger came from the house of Jairus informing them that his daughter is dead. To Jairus all hope was now apparently lost; Jesus was too late (cf. the similar episode in John 11, esp. v. 21). But Jesus assures him with the same words spoken to the woman only moments before: “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed” (lit. “she will be saved”). When he entered the house and described the girl as not dead but asleep, he may have been hinting at the resurrection (so Fitzmyer, p. 749; cf. John 11:23–24). Because the mourners misunderstand his reference to “sleep” (cf. John 11:11–14), they laughed at him, knowing that she really was dead. But with the command, “My child, get up!” Jesus restores her life and silences his mockers.
In these two miracles we see a touch of irony. Whereas the woman with the hemorrhage would have been regarded as ritually “unclean” (Lev. 15:25–30), and so out of place at the synagogue, Jairus, an official of the local synagogue, who would have been regarded as ritually “clean,” also needed the ministry of Jesus. These episodes graphically illustrate humankind’s universal need for Jesus.
8:26–39 / This story of the healing of a demon-possessed person has raised many questions. The most problematic have to do with why Jesus would accommodate the demons’ wish in the first place, why he would send the demons into the herd of swine, and why the herd stampeded into the lake. It has been suggested that the demons (whether real or imagined) were mistakenly thought to have entered the swine; that the swine stampeded when frightened by the loud cries of the tormented man. But this explanation and others like it are hardly plausible. The fact of the matter is that we really do not know just exactly what happened. What adds to the difficulty is that many mental illnesses were (mis)interpreted as being brought on by demon possession or some other form of demon influence. Beliefs about leprosy may provide an analogy. Virtually every serious skin disorder was thought to be leprosy, when in reality actual cases of leprosy were much smaller in number. So it was with respect to mental illness or epilepsy. It was usually assumed that the demonic world had something to do with it. Thus, many of the so-called exorcisms may have had absolutely nothing to do with demons.
8:26 / Gerasa: Some mss. read “Gadara,” others “Gergesa.” On the significance of these variant readings see the note on v. 33 below.
8:27 / The demoniac’s behavior matches that of what the rabbis regarded characteristic of the insane: “Our rabbis taught: ‘Who is considered to be an imbecile? He who goes out alone at night, and he who spends the night on a cemetery, and he that tears his garments’ ” (Lachs, p. 164).
8:30 / Legion: A Greek form of the Latin legio. The picture is that of an army, emphasizing power and fierceness.
8:31 / Abyss: It was believed that at the final judgment Satan (the devil) and all demons would be gathered up and cast into a bottomless abyss (see Rev. 20:3; 1 Enoch 16:1; Jub. 10:5–11). Water, into which the swine plunged, was often associated with the Abyss (see Ellis, pp. 128–29). Note also that it was believed that demons sought “waterless places” (Luke 11:24).
8:32 / That a whole herd of swine (Mark 5:13 tells us that there were 2,000 in all) would be destroyed would scarcely be a cause for concern among Jews for whom the animal was unclean and forbidden (Lev. 11:7; Deut. 14:8). Naturally enough, however, the local (Gentile) residents were upset (v. 37).
8:33 / Since Gerasa (v. 26) is more than thirty miles from Gennesaret Lake, the pigs’ stampede would have been a long one. Fitzmyer (p. 736) remarks humorously: “The stampede of the pigs from Gerasa to the Lake would have made them the most energetic herd in history!” No doubt sensing this difficulty some early Christian scribes wrote “Gadara” instead, a town only a few miles from the lake (but still making for a long stampede!). Following Origen’s suggestion (mid-second century), other Christian scribes wrote “Gergesa,” a town that actually borders the lake. (Origen himself, however, knew of no mss. that actually read “Gergesa.”) Ellis (p. 128) suggests that the episode actually occurred in Kersa, a town on the Eastern shore of the lake where nearby there is a steep bank, but that the name became confused with the similar sounding Gerasa. This may be the case. All that Luke says, however, is that Jesus and his disciples entered “the region of the Gerasenes” (see v. 26) not necessarily the town of Gerasa itself. This seems to be indicated by v. 26, which says that the demon-possessed man had been driven into the “wilderness” (and thus out of town) and had met Jesus near the “shore.” It is quite possible that this “region” was understood to extend to the very edge of the Gennesaret Lake.
8:37 / Talbert (p. 98) thinks that the people wanted Jesus to leave because of the (economic) loss of the herd. That is unlikely, and, in any case, Luke himself adds that the people asked Jesus to leave “because they were overcome with fear” (cf. Mark 5:17).
8:40 / when Jesus returned: Jesus returned to Galilee, Jewish territory, on the west side of Gennesaret Lake.
8:41 / a ruler of the synagogue: Ellis (p. 130) calls this person a “synagogue president” and notes that “he is to be distinguished from a civic official and from a Sanhedrin member.”
8:43 / subject to bleeding for twelve years: According to Lev. 15:19–30 the woman would have been considered unclean, and all that she touched would be unclean (Tiede, p. 175).
The clause, and she had spent all she had on doctors (read only in a footnote in the NIV), is not found in the most important mss. That Luke “the physician” would not wish to repeat it seems understandable. Even if it is authentic, however, Luke’s omission of Mark’s caustic remark, “and had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors … yet instead of getting better she grew worse” (Mark 5:26), probably was motivated by his desire to deflect criticism from his medical colleagues.
8:44 / the edge of his cloak: Lachs (p. 172) notes that Jewish men of Jesus’ time wore fringes at the corners of their garments (Num. 15:38–40). It was believed that the fringe of a holy man possessed magical powers (see b. Ta‘anit 23b).
8:48 / Daughter: “An affectionate term is used to reassure her that she is now to be recognized as part of Israel” (Fitzmyer, p. 747; Tiede, p. 176). Her “uncleanness” has been removed; she is no longer an outcast. See also Jesus’ statement to Zacchaeus in 19:9.
your faith has healed you: Lit. “Your faith has saved you.” For Luke faith is the basis and requirement for forgiveness of sins (see 5:20) and salvation (physical or otherwise, see 7:50; 17:19; 18:42).
Go in peace: An OT expression of farewell (from Hebrew šālôm); see 1 Sam. 1:17; cf. Luke 2:29. In the present context, in which a person has just been healed, it is particularly appropriate, for the šālôm also connotes the sense of wholeness. See note on 10:5 below.
8:51 / Peter, John and James: This is the first time in Luke these three disciples are singled out from the rest of Jesus’ followers. See Luke 9:28; Acts 1:13; Gal. 2:9.
8:52 / “She is not dead but asleep”: Jesus was not suggesting that the young girl only appeared to be dead. His was not a remarkable medical diagnosis, but an authoritative word of assurance: God can restore life as easily as one might awaken a sleeper.
8:53 / They laughed at him: That is, they ridiculed Jesus. If Jesus was supposed to be a great teacher and healer, then how is it that he cannot recognize death when he sees it?
8:55 / Her spirit returned: The Greek may only mean that the girl’s “breath” returned (Fitzmyer, p. 749). The episode parallels the resuscitation stories in the ministries of Elijah (1 Kgs. 17:17–24) and Elisha (2 Kgs. 4:32–37).
8:56 / not to tell anyone: Luke has carried over this prohibition from Mark 5:43.