Luke 8:1-5

Luke 8:1 (KJB)
And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him,

The opposition of the Pharisees did not stop Jesus one bit, in fact if you look at this verse, Jesus really increased His ministry along with the increase in miracles. What is a miracle to us, is a normal day’s activity for the Lord Jesus Christ because when He is on the scene, diseases and the devils must flee. Jesus not only went to the main cities but he also went to the smaller villages which teaches us that we should not neglect areas of smaller ministry because the souls in those areas are just as important as those in the big city. When Jesus was ministering in Nazareth, He could do no miracles because there was rampant unbelief but here in the region of Galilee, He was accepted by the people and their faith in Him was alive and that is why the miracles were able to be done. I am sure the common people did not listen to the Pharisees either, especially those who were healed. They knew Jesus was of God and not Satan.

Luke 8:2 (KJB)
And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,

Not only did the twelve disciples accompany Jesus in His ministry, there were some women who had also become part of the group. One was Mary Magdalene who was called that because she was from the village of Magdala which was on the southwestern coast of the Sea of Galilee. There were other women in the group who were also delivered from possession by devils and infirmities who when healed chose to help out with the ministry. There is no biblical evidence that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute or even had bad moral character. Maybe her actions were dictated by the indwelling devils and people then made up stories about her.

Luke 8:3 (KJB)
And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.

There was Joanna who was the wife of Chuza who worked in the court of Herod as some type of administrator. Then there was Susanna. It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna who went to the tomb of Jesus to anoint His body. There are no other details in the Scriptures concerning these women who ministered to the physical needs of the ministry. The verse also states that there were many others who also gave of their substance to the ministry of Jesus.

Luke 8:4 (KJB)
And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable:

Jesus then began to address the crowd but instead of using a direct approach in teaching, He uses parables to teach this crowd. Since the crowd would have been familiar with the agrarian culture, Jesus begins to tell parables which are taken from that life. A parable is something which is placed beside something, in other words, it is a method of comparison. The parables of Jesus came to be known as earthly stories with heavenly meanings. Since there were many people here, Jesus begins the parable by speaking generically about a sower who had gone forth to sow seed. It does not matter what type of seed for the purpose of the parable

Luke 8:5 (KJB)
A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.

There were paths which separated the different fields and these paths would have hardened soil because of all the traffic which they endured. The dirt would be packed down making it seem like it was a tempered brick. So as the sower was sowing the seed on the soil, some of those seeds would have fallen on the paths and because they were so hard, the seed would not fall into the ground but stayed on top and would be easy prey for the birds. When they spotted the seeds on the path, they would swoop down and eat them. The word “devour” in the Greek carries with it the meaning of “consume.” To consume something causes it to disappear. So the seeds would have completely disappeared after the birds had consumed them.

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