Luke 8:22-56
Beginning in Luke 8:22 we read, “On a certain day . . . He went into a ship,” and He fell asleep. In Psalm 127:2 we also read, “So He giveth His beloved sleep.” Now if the disciples had been wise, they would have directed their intent and worshipping gaze at their sleeping Master. They would have said, “Let winds and waves arise; He has said, Let us go to the other side, and that is the pledge of safety.” They might have gone to sleep with their Master, but instead, they look at the rising waves and cry, “Master, we perish.”
Are you often, in providence, called into company with a “sleeping Jesus”? He does not always manifest Himself at your side. Nevertheless, He has said, “Let us go over unto the other side.” His thought is on the end of the journey. Then, when the Lord makes good all that He had promised, they reap astonishment where they should have reaped worshipping admiration. Have you not often found it so? How often He comes down to your level, when you cannot reach His elevation! The result is a poor experience instead of a bright and sunny experience. If He cannot take you up on the wings of faith to His elevation, He will come down and save you to the end, though He will show you what you have lost.
Now beginning in verse 26 we get three cases together: Jesus in Gadara, Jesus in the crowd, and Jesus at the bedside. It is a series of victories. First we see Him in Gadara. Here the strength of Satan is displayed. Here Jesus did not wait on faith, for He came to destroy the works of the devil, and He would destroy them.
In the case of the poor woman in the crowd, He waits for and upon faith. But with this poor captive of Satan, nothing else could meet his desperate need. Human power must leave him as it found him. The Lord delivers him, and deliverance in His hand is as perfect as captivity in Satan’s. And more, his restoration is more than mere restoration. That would never describe the ways of God. With Him it is a bringing forth of fresh glories from ruins. Not only was Legion cast out, but the man was impregnated with this principle, that he would be with Jesus for eternity. Yes, and more at His bidding would go to the ends of the earth. Is that merely restoration? What would not one give for such a mind as that! To have found a home in His presence and yet, if it be His blessed will, to go anywhere in His service!
Then, as He passed on, a poor woman touched Him in the crowd. He was touched by thousands, but the virtue that was in Him waited on faith. The moment faith commanded, virtue went forth. Now, have you not more in Christ than a healer? This poor woman had. She did not know when she came up that she had a title to Himself. So she modestly retreated as a debtor. Very right that a debtor should carry herself with humility. But oh! Christ is more to you and me than that! The Healer puts Himself into relationship. When He inquired after her, she began to tremble. Her faith had measured her title to touch Him, but she was not prepared when He called her to look at Him face to face—not until He had said, “Daughter, be of good comfort.”
There is no spirit of liberty in our souls if we do not know relationship. Nature cannot trust God, but the blessed way of God is to show me that I have an interest in Himself, as well as in the saving virtue that is in Him. We have relationship now—it does not wait for glory. In spirit I walk in the family mansion now, as soon I shall personally in the glory. The woman left Him, not only with a healed body, but with a calm and satisfied spirit.
And finally we get to the house of Jairus. There the Lord meets the power of death in fresh victory. The poor damsel is delivered from the bands of death, as the man was delivered from the bands of Satan and the woman from the bands of corruption. Oh! let us acquaint ourselves with Him and say, “Christ for me, Christ for me!”
J. G. Bellett (adapted from Notes on the Gospel of Luke)