When Jesus challenges your world as you know it

Did you know Jesus was a traveling evangelist? 

“He went through every city and village preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God” (Luke 8:1 NKJV). 

I want to walk with Jesus through this one chapter in the Bible and I want to invite you to come along. It has challenged what I know of my familiar world and I think it might do the same for you.Today I was confronted by how fixed my knowledge of my familiar world is. There are certain truths that are undeniable. There is no point getting into an argument over them. The laws of nature has fixed them and the boundaries can not shift. That is until Jesus walks into the picture. He challenges every fixed beacon I know. I took a slow journey through Luke 8 today and discovered a new way of knowing. Let me show you how gently Jesus introduced this challenge to my known world, and yours!Verses 2 and 3 almost escaped my noticed. It is all about the women who accompanied Jesus on His travels. Not knowing these women personally, I was largely uninterested in their names and stories, until something odd caught my eye. Right at the end of the third verse it says that these women kept Jesus and His disciples using their own resources. It was a fixed knowledge in my mind that in Biblical times men provided for women and that making a living was a struggle for a woman in a male dominated society. Yet, right in these opening verses my knowledge is challenged. Not only did these women manage to provide for themselves, but they were even able to provide for Jesus and 12 more men! Does this challenge your concept of Jesus as the provider? God could have arranged it so that some more men accompanied Jesus and His disciples and that these men would provide for them and keep them. But God chose to use women. And by doing that He challenged the known social-financial custom of the time. This was but the start of the challenges in this chapter, as I was soon to learn.Jesus then addresses a large gathering of people and He tells them the familiar story of the sower who sowed seeds that fell on different surfaces. When finishing His story, He concludes with these odd words that seemingly has nothing to do with the story in itself: 

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear! (v8b). 

Closer inspection will prove that these words in actual fact summarized the whole intent and message of the story. This becomes clear when Jesus’ disciples ask Him about the meaning of the parable/story. Jesus tells them that people will see without comprehending what they are looking at, and hear without understanding the meaning of the words. This is the summary of the story. He then expands on His explanation.The seed is God’s word. It is therefore knowledge; something that has to be heard and understood, just as Jesus has made clear in His summary. Some people hear this word of God, but before it can have any effect, the devil comes and takes it away from them. Seems unfair, doesn’t it? As if this is something beyond their control. Hang on, Jesus comes back to this later in the chapter, and so will I.Then there are those people who hear the word of God, accept it, rejoice in it, but never allow it to take root in their lives. When the next fun thing comes their way, the Biblical word is temptation, they discard the old joy in exchange for a new thrill. Why do I call temptation a thrill? I don’t know about you, but things that I loathe have never tempted me!Then there is the next group. You must allow me to spend some time on this parable, as it is key to understanding the rest of the chapter. This group hears the word of God. It takes root in their lives and it grows. The problem is that, along with the word of God, they are also cultivating other things. They are taking care of their lives, growing rich, working fun factors into it. These are normal, everyday, run of the mill people. You and me, in other words. We are contributing to a pension fund, saving for tertiary school fees for the kids, taking care of medical insurance, making house payments, saving for a holiday, etc. This should not be a problem, unless ... it chokes the word of God out of your life. Did God call you to pay bills? I told you I wanted you to take a walk with Jesus that would challenge your known world. Are you beginning to see that it might just do that? Do you have ears that will hear and eyes that will see, or is it going to be too uncomfortable? Do not decide yet. Stay, and complete the journey with me.Lastly, there were those people who heard God’s word, accepted it, believed it, and did not allow Satan, temptation, or everyday life to take anything away from it. They lived the lives that bore abundant fruit.Now that Jesus had shared this story, He gives another word of warning. You have been given a lamp. Do not try to hide it away. You should give it a stand so it can illuminate into all the dark recesses. Trying to hide from the truth is futile, in any way. All hidden things will be revealed. It is inevitable. And again, He entreats that we should really HEAR Him. Then He adds that if we do hear, we will gain more than we have, and if we don’t, what we do have will be lost to us. The best saving plan is not in policies and insurance; it is in Jesus.Now you want to argue that you have family responsibilities, don’t you? Interesting that Jesus foresaw this as well. The chapter contains this seemingly unrelated anecdote at this stage (v 19-21), where Jesus’ ministry is interrupted by an announcement that His mother and brothers have come over to see Him. He dismisses them! Jesus focused on what God told Him to do, acknowledging a familial circle that God saw and man could not recognize. Again, challenging everyone’s known world! Now let’s talk about your source of income.Jesus then got into a boat with His disciples and they set out for a distant shore. This was the safe thing to do. After all, Jesus had called at least four disciples who were experienced fishermen by trade. If anyone could get them safely across the lake, it would be these guys. This can be compared to Jesus meeting you at the workplace. You are on familiar ground. As Jesus walks into your office, you tell Him to take a seat, relax, enjoy a cup of coffee. You have things under control. You KNOW what you are doing. Then the storm hits. Waves threaten to envelop you. The boat takes on water and is threatening to sink. Time to wake the carpenter? The boat is not leaking and in need of repair. This requires something outside of your familiar world, outside your knowledge. It requires faith. We don’t ‘wake’ Jesus in a crisis because He is a carpenter. We call on Jesus because where we run out of knowledge and experience, we have to rely on faith. Jesus wakes up, speaks to the storm and the crisis is averted. I told you this would challenge the laws of nature! Don’t wait for the storm to finally hear and understand God’s word. Accept it today, so that you are accustomed to it by the time the storm arrives.When they reach their destination, Jesus disembarks and is confronted by a man completely possessed by demons. These demons made up his familiar world. He has had them for a long time. In town, they had become accustomed to him running around naked and living in the graveyard. All attempts at restraining him had met with futility. This man was the boogeyman of the town. I can just imagine that children were warned not to go near the cemetery. Men spoke in awe of his superhuman strength and women shied away from his indecent sexual harassment, as he flashed them. He conducted a regular reign of terror! Until Jesus showed up.Remember those guys who heard the word of God, but the devil stole it from them? This bloke represents them! Jesus told the demons to leave the man and they responded that they would have nothing to do with Jesus, in the singular voice, as if speaking for the man they had possessed. Jesus then addresses the man, asking him what his name is. Again, they answer on behalf of the man, stealing God’s word from this man. They identify him as Legion, meaning plenty. This man has lost his own identity. He had become what Satan/the demons dictated to him. Yet, He has not disappeared to a place where Jesus could not meet him. Jesus simply rid him of his burden and drove those self-destructive demons out. Then, when there was no devil left to steal God’s word from the man, Jesus again spoke to him and gave him a purpose in life: 

“Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.” (v 39).

In the meantime, however, not only this man’s familiar world, but that of the whole town had been shaken. They came out in great numbers to see what had happened. They were met by Someone who had such great authority and power that He had manged to tame their biggest threat. One would think they would welcome such a Person. Yet it was so completely unfamiliar to them that they chose to shun Jesus instead. If He could bind their strong man, what did they not have to fear from Him? Their familiar world and knowledge did not make room for this new knowledge. We learn that Jesus later returned to this region and that on His second visit He was welcomed by the people. This man, on his god-given mission, had managed to bring a whole region around to accepting Jesus. He was able to change people’s known world once he accepted Jesus in faith. The second time around, when Jesus spoke to him, he heard and understood God’s word and it bore lots of fruit!From verse 40 on, we have two more encounters where people’s known worlds are challenged. The journey starts where a renowned church leader seeks Jesus out in desperation. His 12 year old daughter is desperately ill and on the verge of dying. At this stage the religious institute of the time, was constantly challenging the things Jesus said and did. They had Him under surveillance and was waiting to pounce whenever He made a misstep. Yet, in his desperation, this man is willing to risk his career and people’s regard of him to make one last ditch effort to save his little girl’s life! Jesus does not go into a long religious argument with the man, trying to win him over to His cause. He does not hold his past or his beliefs against him. Jesus only sees a desperate father who believes, however faltering and frail as his faith might be. And Jesus changes His itinerary to go to His opposition’s house.On the way, in the midst of a great throng of people, Jesus stops to ask who has touched Him. This seems a ridiculous question to ask. People are bumping and shoving and the road is packed. Peter, always the first to speak, politely points this out to Jesus. Remember the passage about having eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear? Jesus now confronts us with another sense that fails to respond to God; touch. Many have touched Jesus and came away unchanged. Yet one woman touched Jesus in faith and it changed her whole known world. For twelve years she became intimately familiar with sickness. This had cost her everything she owned. She had spent her whole livelihood on doctors and they could affect no change. In desperation, she turned to Jesus, touched the hem of His clothes and it changed her life! Many touched Jesus. One believed in Him!After this interruption, Jesus proceeds on His way to the sick girl, but before He can do so, word arrives that is too late. The child has died. Do not trouble the Teacher any longer. This is a lost case. Are you a lost case. Have you died? Should God not trouble with you any more? Jesus is not swayed by arguments of death. There is human knowledge and then there is what God knows. You may be familiar with death, but God knows LIFE. Jesus proceeds on His journey and reaches the man’s house. He takes a select group into the room with Him. But not before He is scorned by those who came to mourn a death. This is their familiar world. They know and understand death. They laugh at Jesus’ denial of the facts. But they do not know that God’s word is truer than the laws of nature. If God speaks life, nature loses its grip on death!Jesus enters the room, He TOUCHES the child, He SPEAKS to her and she HEARS. And then she lives. Awaken your senses to God’s voice in your life today and allow Him to change your familiar world with a new knowledge. All you need is faith.

Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy the books here:
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