Scripture
Jesus began his public ministry in the northern part of Israel, in the region known as Galilee. Some Bible scholars say that his ministry in this region lasted about 16 months.
The Gospel writers did not record everything about Jesus’ ministry. In fact, Jesus’ ministry was so extensive that the Apostle John wrote at the end of his Gospel in John 21:25, “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”
And so the Gospel writers carefully selected certain events in order to follow particular themes or to emphasize key aspects of Jesus’ ministry. In today’s verses, Luke gives us a short summary of the ministry of Jesus toward the end of his time in the region of Galilee.
Let’s read about a short summary of the ministry of Jesus in Luke 8:1-3:
1 Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means. (Luke 8:1-3)
Introduction
He was a big man, six foot four or more, at one time over 300 pounds, wearing size 16–D shoes laced halfway up his calves. He had a big voice. Metropolitan opera people invited him to New York to sing. He had big talents. The world’s largest seminary invited him to teach. Conference centers waited for him to come and direct games and music, as well as teach. The largest religious publishing house in Protestantism hired him as a worldwide consultant.
But Sibley Burnett ignored all that.
He lived by his favorite phrase, “A man is biggest of all when he stoops to help a child.”
So he relinquished his dream to sing opera in New York. He gave up his goal of seminary teaching. He limited his conferences.
He devoted himself to one thing – teaching children and teaching people how to teach children.
To do this, he made another commitment, a commitment to God’s Word. His worn-out Bible has notes he made in the margin of nearly every page.
At his retirement, churches and church groups around the nation honored him with dinners and plaques and praise. But the happiest days of his life came when he stood before a Vacation Bible School full of children, told them how much Jesus loved them, and greeted them as they came to say they wanted to live for Jesus.
Sibley Burnett had a passion for ministry. He learned this from Jesus, who had a similar passion for ministry. Like Burnett, Jesus wanted to reach every person possible with the good news of the gospel of God’s grace.
Luke gave a short summary of Jesus’ ministry in Luke 8:1-3.
Lesson
An analysis of the short summary of Jesus’ ministry in Luke 8:1-3 will teach us some key principles for ministry.
Let’s use the following outline:
1. The Places of Jesus’ Ministry (8:1a)
2. The Proclamation of Jesus’ Ministry (8:1b)
3. The People of Jesus’ Ministry (8:1c-3)
I. The Places of Jesus’ Ministry (8:1a)
First, let’s look at the places of Jesus’ ministry.
Luke’s orderly account (1:3) does not always give the exact locations of Jesus’ ministry. For example, in chapter 7, Jesus healed a centurion’s servant in Capernaum (7:1), he raised a widow’s son in Nain (7:11), and he had a meal in Simon the Pharisee’s house in an unnamed location (7:36).
Jesus was fulfilling God’s purpose for his ministry, when he said to the people of Capernaum in Luke 4:43, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.”
And so Luke stated in Luke 8:1a, “Soon afterward he [i.e., Jesus] went on through cities and villages.” What follows in the rest of chapter 8 and beyond are examples of how Jesus preached the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well. Jesus had an urgency about proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God to everyone.
One of my favorite preachers is George Whitefield. He was born in Gloucester, England in 1714 and died at the young age of 55 in Newburyport, Massachusetts in 1770. Whitefield was ordained to the Gospel Ministry in 1736. He proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God in such a powerful way that he was eventually not allowed to preach in the pulpits of the Church of England. That did not deter him, and so he started preaching in the fields and open air. His biographer notes that:
Open-air preaching is now so commonplace that it is difficult to realize how outlandish it seemed then . . .. Public opinion confined the clergyman to a narrow area of activity, and though this might include such things as drunkenness and gambling, it left no room for evangelistic fervor.
Whitefield preached wherever and whenever he could. He preached extensively in Great Britain and also in America. Dallimore speaks of Whitefield’s “thirty or forty thousand sermons, and if we include all his discourses – both the preaching and the exhorting – since he spoke something like a thousand times a year for some thirty years, this latter figure is probably more nearly correct.” That is an average of more than 3 sermons every single day of his 34-year ministry!
Whitefield, like Jesus, had a remarkable urgency about proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God to as many as would listen. He wanted as many people as possible to hear the good news.
On the night that Whitefield died in Newburyport, MA, he was in the home of the Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Jonathan Parsons. He was extremely ill with asthma. About two in the morning he woke up. His young assistant, Richard Smith, asked Whitefield how he felt, for he seemed to pant for breath. He told Smith, “My asthma is coming on me again.”
A short while later he said, “I cannot breath, but I hope I shall be better by and by; a good pulpit sweat today may give me relief. I shall be better after preaching.”
Smith said that he wished Whitefield would not preach so often. Whitefield replied, “I had rather wear out than rust out.”
George Whitefield is admittedly amazing. But he, like Jesus, was urgent about reaching unsaved people.
The principle is this: Jesus was urgent about proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.
Do you and I have an urgency about proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God to family, friends, and neighbors?
II. The Proclamation of Jesus’ Ministry (8:1b)
Second, notice the proclamation of Jesus’ ministry.
Luke went on to say in verse 8b, “Soon afterward he [i.e., Jesus] went on through cities and villages proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.”
Jesus’ message was about the good news of the kingdom of God. He did not preach health, wealth, self-improvement, liberalism, and so on. No. He preached the good news of the kingdom of God.
This is now the fourth time in Luke’s Gospel that he mentions the kingdom of God. Luke in fact mentions the kingdom of God 32 times in his Gospel, more than any of the other Gospel authors.
Let me remind you of three basic facts about the kingdom of God that I have mentioned in a previous message.
First, let me define of the kingdom of God. There are many definitions of the kingdom of God. I like the definition given by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, because it is short and simple. Dr. Lloyd-Jones says that the kingdom of God “is best defined as the rule of God. The kingdom of God is present wherever God is reigning.” In other words, the kingdom of God does not refer to a geographic territory but rather to a relationship.
Second, entry into the kingdom of God is vitally important. When people are invited to enter the kingdom of God, they should do so immediately and not make excuses for delaying entrance into the kingdom. Jesus said to a man, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:59-62).
Finally, childlike trust is the condition of entry into the kingdom of God. Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it” (Luke 18:17). Simply put, one must submit to the rule of God like a little child lovingly submits to his parent. Entry into the kingdom of God is the simple act of submitting to the rule of God and following him in every area of our lives. It is believing that Jesus is indeed the King of kings and Lord of lords who paid the penalty for all our sins, who forgives us, and calls us to repent of our sins and follow him. Jesus is saying that it is not complicated. Even a child can trust God and turn from sin.
The principle here is this: Jesus invited everyone to enter into the kingdom of God.
So, are you a citizen of the kingdom of God?
III. The People of Jesus’ Ministry (8:1c-3)
And third, let’s look at the people of Jesus’ ministry.
Luke lists two groups of people who supported Jesus’ ministry. There were undoubtedly others who supported his ministry. But at this point toward the end of Jesus’ Galilean Ministry, Luke lists the following two groups who supported Jesus’ ministry.
A. The Disciples Supported Jesus’ Ministry (8:1c)
First, the disciples supported Jesus’ ministry.
Luke said at the end of verse 8c, “And the twelve were with him.”
These twelve are of course those whom Jesus selected after a night of prayer and named “apostles” (6:12-16). Jesus was teaching and training and equipping them for the ministry that they were going to do after his death, resurrection and ascension. God was calling them to what we might call “full-time” or “vocational” ministry.
We don’t know the previous vocations of all the apostles. However, we do know that Peter, James and John were partners in a fishing business before Jesus called them to his service. Luke told us that “they left everything and followed him” (5:11). Levi, also known as Matthew, was a wealthy tax collector when Jesus called him to service. “And leaving everything,” Luke said, “[Levi] rose and followed him” (5:28). It does not seem that the apostles were bi-vocational. They were full-time apostles, following Jesus and learning from him before he sent them out as his messengers.
The disciples supported Jesus by helping him and learning from him.
However, the question is also raised, “How were the physical and material needs, such as food and clothing and shelter, provided for Jesus and the apostles?”
This is where the second support group comes in to play.
B. The Women Supported Jesus’ Ministry (8:2-3)
And second, the women supported Jesus’ ministry.
Luke said in verses 2-3 that not only were the apostles with Jesus, but also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.
In addition to the apostles, a group of women traveled with Jesus and supported his ministry. Many of the women had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities. Interestingly, an itinerant ministry like Jesus’ ministry was common in those days. Support from women for such ministries was also common. But, what was very uncommon was for women to travel with a rabbi.
Luke, of all the Gospel writers, stresses Jesus’ tender and profound regard for women. Luke mentions Jesus’ interaction with the following women: Peter’s mother-in-law (4:38-39), the widow of Nain (7:11-17), the sinful woman (7:36-50), the supporting women (8:1-3), the hemorrhaging woman (8:43-48), Martha and Mary (10:38-42), the crippled woman (13:10-17), the parable of the woman with the lost coin (15:8-10), the parable of the widow and the unjust judge (18:1-8), the widow and her mite (21:1-4), the women at the crucifixion (23:49, 55-56), the women at the tomb (24:10-11), and the report of the women at the tomb (24:22-24).
Luke singled out three women for special mention who supported Jesus.
The first woman who supported Jesus is Mary, called Magdalene; that is, Mary of Magdala. Magdala is located on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee between Capernaum (in the north) and Tiberius (in the south).
Luke said that seven demons had gone out from Mary. The item about the seven demons that had been expelled from Mary Magdalene has led to the wholly unjustifiable conclusion that she was at one time a very bad woman, a terribly immoral person. But there is not even an inkling of proof for the supposition that demon-possession and immorality go hand in hand. Weird mental and/or physical behaviors are, indeed, often associated with demon-possession (Luke 4:33, 34; 8:27–29; 9:37–43, and parallels), but not immorality.
After Jesus delivered Mary Magdalene of seven demons, she served Jesus the rest of her life. She figures very prominently in all four Passion accounts. She was one of the women who later watched the crucifixion of Jesus (Matthew 27:55, 56; Mark 15:40; John 19:25), saw where his body was laid (Matt. 27:61; Mark 15:47; Luke 23:55), and very early Sunday morning started out from her home to anoint the body of Jesus (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1; Luke 24:10), and was the first person to see the resurrected Jesus (John 20:1–18; see also Mark 16:9).
The second woman who supported Jesus is Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager. Jesus’ proclamation of the good news of the kingdom of God had reached into the palace of the powerful Herod. Chuza served as an extremely important administrative official, known as an epitropos, in Herod’s household.
The principle here is that the gospel is able to change the lives of everyone. The gospel is not only for those who have evil spirits and infirmities, but it is necessary for those in high places as well. All people need the gospel.
Joanna was also one of the first women at the tomb of Jesus on the day of his resurrection and heard the angel say, “He is not here, he has risen” (Luke 24:6, 10).
And the third woman who supported Jesus is Susanna. About Susanna, mentioned only here in Luke 8:3, nothing further is known. Her name should not be forgotten, however. Her deeds of kindness toward her Lord and his disciples were pure and fragrant and accordingly resemble a beautiful “lily” (the meaning of her name).
Luke mentioned that there were many others who provided for Jesus and the apostles out of their means. The Greek for “who” is feminine, meaning that there were many other women who supported Jesus and the apostles.
I want you to notice that the early financial supporters of Jesus’ ministry were women. Someone has said this was the first women’s missionary society.
The principle is that women were vitally involved in advancing the gospel.
How about you? Are you vitally involved in advancing the gospel?
Conclusion
John Kramp once said, “If someone in our family was missing, we would pay whatever was required. At that point money would not be the concern. What we needed, we would get. Time would not be an issue either. We would spend the time necessary to complete the search. Our only focus would be to find the one who was lost . . .. Only in spiritual search and rescue do we alter these expectations. We want evangelism that does not demand time and church outreach that does not cost money.”
Jesus calls a few to labor “full-time” in ministry. Those are the pastors and missionaries and so on.
However, Jesus calls all of us to use our resources to support the advance of the gospel. It takes time and money to reach people with the good news of the kingdom of God. Every one of us has a role to play. Use your time, use your gifts, use your resources, and use your opportunities to advance the good news of the kingdom of God. Amen.
