THE RETURNS OF LOVE

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on May 13, 2020 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: May 13, 2020 from Luke 8:1-3

Theme: Jesus lovingly allows Himself to be served by the grateful love of those He saves

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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We come this morning to a very brief passage in the Gospel of Luke. It’s a passage that is found tucked between some other, more well-known passages. We find it right after the story of our Lord’s encounter with the woman who was a forgiven sinner in Chapter 7, and before the parable of the sower who went out to sow seeds in Chapter 8. Luke’s Gospel is the only one that reports the information we find in it. And at first appearance, it seems to tell us nothing more than about our Lord’s travels—and about those who traveled along with Him.

Luke 8:1-3 tells us;

Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him, and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities—Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance (Luke 8:1-3).

But as we have learned along the way in our study of God’s word, we should never rush past any of those seemingly ‘brief’ passages that the Holy Spirit has seen fit to preserve for us. If we look closely in them, we will always find some rich spiritual blessings hidden in them.

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From a practical standpoint, this passage answers a question that we might have had about the Lord Jesus’ three-and-a-half-year-long earthly ministry: how were He and His disciples provided for in it all? After all, our Lord had worked in His youth as a carpenter—probably in His adopted father’s business. Perhaps it was how He provided for His mother up until the time when His younger half-brothers were able to take care of her. But He had given all of that up in order to devote Himself fully to the work of His earthly ministry. And what’s more, His disciples had left their vocations to follow Him. In going out to minister, He had no place to lay His head. He had once even had to ask to borrow a denarius in order to ask the people whose inscription was on it. Where did the support for Himself and His disciples come from?

Well; in this passage, we find the answer. He was provided for by the support of those to whom He had ministered in love. And just think of what a marvelous thing that is. He who had the power to turned stones into bread if He had chosen to—He who had the ability to multiply fish and loaves to feed a multitude—He who could tell Peter to catch a fish with a coin in its mouth—had humbled Himself so much as to be supported and provided for by those who had been saved and ministered to by Him.

Think of the things He once taught His followers—those who would go out into the world and serve His kingdom. He told them;

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:31-33).

He told them;

“Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food” (Matthew 10:9-10).

He told them;

“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life” (Matthew 19:29).

He didn’t just teach those words. He Himself experienced the things that He said in them. And in His case, the provision He humbled Himself to receive had special significance. It meant that He—as God in human flesh—received the loving support of those who He had loved and cared for. There was, in His doing so, a wondrous exchange between the Redeemer and the redeemed—between the Savior and the saved—between the Shepherd and His sheep.

In this brief passage, then, we see a wonderful truth about our Lord—that the Son of God, in love, allows Himself to be served by the grateful love of those He saves.

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Now; this passage is in the context of our Lord’s busy ministry. He was lovingly serving people—and people were being saved and transformed by Him. We saw this, of course, in the previous passage; where He was loved and gratefully thanked by “the woman in the city who was a sinner”. We’re told that she demonstrated that she loved Him much because she had been forgiven much by Him. She gave back to the One who had saved her.

And so, Jesus went from there to other acts of service. Luke tells, in verse 1, “Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village …” And in these words, we see…

1. THE PLACES OF HIS MINISTRY.

We’re told that He went through “every city and village”. And we can understand this to mean that He went to every city and village along the coast of the Sea of Galilee. He had been in Capernaum. Folks were coming from everywhere to be healed by Him there. But even though Capernaum had become known as ‘His town’, He didn’t stay there exclusively. In Luke 4:42-44, after the story of the long evening He spent healing people, we’re told;

Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them; but He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.” And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee (Luke 4:42-44).

And so, we read here that He went out to “every city and village”. The wording in the original language suggests that it was an orderly tour of one city after another. And it uses a form of the verb to suggest that it was a slow and careful tour—on in which He was traveling according to each city and village with time spent in every one. He lingered long enough to minister into people’s lives. There must have been many stories—not recorded for us in the Bible—of life-changing encounters with the Savior. Matthew 9:35 tells us;

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people (Matthew 9:35).

But notice what Luke specifically highlights as …

2. THE WORK OF HIS MINISTRY.

Verse 1 tells us that He went sequentially to all these cities and villages, “preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God”. We can be sure that He performed miracles; but as wonderful as those miracles may have been, we’re told here that His main work was that of a teaching ministry. He was “preaching”—which meant that he “proclaimed” truth with authority. And He was also “bringing the glad tidings” of the kingdom—which, in the original language, is the same word as the one from which we get the word “evangelize”. He proclaimed the good news.

Do you remember the story of what happened when He came to His hometown of Nazareth? He was in the synagogue; and He was handed the scroll of the Book of Isaiah and read:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:18-20).

That’s what He was doing in all these cities. And those who were with Him saw it; and were blessed by it all.

And so, notice further …

3. THE COMPANIONS OF HIS MINISTRY

We’re told in verse 1, “And the twelve were with Him,” These were His twelve apostles. They had heard all that He taught. They had seen all the miracles He performed. They were the ones who would be His appointed witnesses in this world. But others were also with Him. We go on in verse 2 to read, “and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities—“ They also traveled along with Him.

We often see paintings and etchings of Jesus traveling and ministering with His twelve disciples. But there’s a sense in which those pictures aren’t entirely accurate. They rarely feature the women whose lives He had lovingly transformed; who also lovingly and faithfully traveled in His team as He ministered. But they most certainly were there, along with the twelve.

Think of the remarkable women who followed along in the group. First, we’re told in verse 2 of Mary called Magdalene …” Her name Magdalene is taken from the town in which she had lived. Magdala was a fishing village along the western shore of the Sea of Galilee—just south of Capernaum. Did you know that, for years, archeologists didn’t know where this city was? It has only recently been rediscovered. But notice what else we’re told about her; that she was a woman “out of whom had come seven demons …” No wonder she followed Jesus so faithfully!

A sad tradition has developed around Mary; that she had been an immoral woman in an immoral line of work. Some have even thought that she was the woman who was the sinner in Chapter 7. But there’s no reason to think this. We’re not told that she had been living an immoral life. We’re certainly told that she had seven demons though—which would have been very bad. And Jesus had cast them out of her. And just think of the devotion she showed to Him from them on. Did you know that Mary was one of the women who was watching as He was crucified? She also watched, after He had been taken down from the cross, to see where it was that He had been buried. She was among those women who came early to the tomb to discover that His body was gone. She had followed Him faithfully all the way to the very end. And most wonderful of all, she was the first person on earth to have met the Lord Jesus after He had been risen from the dead. She was a very grateful follower—one of those who went along with Him and served Him.

Verse 3 goes on to tell us of another, “Joanna the wife of Chuza, …” And we’re told this amazing fact about her husband Chuza; that he was “Herod’s steward …” That means that she was the wife of the personal household manager or personal chief of staff of Herod Antipas—the tetrarch over Galilee. How it was that she encountered the Lord Jesus—and how He had changed her life—isn’t told to us. But her presence in the team illustrates to us the power of the Lord Jesus to transform even those in high and powerful places. We should never think that anyone—high up or down low on the social ladder—is out of the reach of His love, or could not love Him in return.

We’re also told in verse 3 of how another woman followed Him whose name was “Susanna …” We’re not told anything else about her. But it must be that those who read Luke’s Gospel knew who she was; because all that Luke had to do was mention her name. She will forever be remembered in God’s word as a woman who followed and served Jesus. Can you think of a better honor than that?

And finally, we’re told that “many others …”—that is, many other women—followed and served Him. He had transformed their lives in some way; casting out unclean spirits from them or delivering them from some manner of infirmity. And as He loved them, they loved Him in return. There had been some people along the way who were invited to follow Him, but who didn’t. These did!

And notice finally …

4. THE SUPPORT OF HIS MINISTRY.

It came from these who became a part of this group. After mentioning these women, Luke tells us that these were they “who provided for Him from their substance”. In the original language, the “they” is very specifically a reference to the women who followed Him. In love, they supported the work of Him who had transformed their lives.

And in love, He received and depended upon that support.

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Do you remember the story of another woman who once served Jesus? It’s the one about the Samaritan woman that He met by the well.

After a long, hot morning of travel, He came to rest at Jacob’s well. And a woman came out to draw water. You remember her, don’t you? As Jesus spoke to her, He revealed that He knew all about her. She had lived a rough life. She’d been married and divorced four times; and the man that she was now with was not her husband. She may have been shunned a bit by the other women in town—which may be why she came to the well all alone. And what’s more, she was a Samaritan—who was a race of people despised by the Jewish people. And yet, Jesus showed tender love toward her; and He talked with her, and eventually saved her. For many of us, it’s among our most favorite stories in the Gospels about how Jesus can transform someone who believes on Him.

And do you remember the remarkable way it all started? It all began when she came out to draw water and Jesus said, “Give me a drink” (John 4:7). He asked her to serve Him; and it caught her attention—and transformed her life. As He revealed more and more to her of who He was, she ran off afterward and brought her whole home-town out to meet Him and to be saved by Him. What a wonderful picture of ‘the returns of love’ that we experience with our Lord!

Have you been transformed by Him? Have you experienced His love? If so, you’ll want to love Him and serve Him in return. And the wonderful thing is that Jesus, in love, allows Himself and His kingdom to be served by the grateful love of those He saves.

As His grateful redeemed ones, may He be blessed by our love and service to His cause!

EA