This passage was assigned in the preaching course I’m taking. It is extra to any assignment in the book:
Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon, 3rd Edition by Bryan Chapell
It’s preface is Jesus’ response to those who informed Him that his mother and brothers desired to see Him: “My mother and my brothers are those who hear (ἀκούοντες, a present participle of ἀκούω) the word of God and do (ποιοῦντες, a present participle of ποιέω) it.”
One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”
Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.) Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him. And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.
When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.
Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him [Table]. And there came a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus’ feet, he implored him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying.
As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.” And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”
While he was still speaking, someone from the ruler’s house came and said, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more.” But Jesus on hearing this answered him, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well.” And when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him, except Peter and John and James, and the father and mother of the child. And all were weeping and mourning for her, but he said, “Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. But taking her by the hand he called, saying, “Child, arise.” And her spirit returned, and she got up at once. And he directed that something should be given her to eat. And her parents were amazed, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened.
The assignment this time was to determine the Source of Sorrow (SOS), Empowering Grace (EMP), Call to Action (CTA) and Road to Christ (RTC) for each story. And then determine the same for the entire passage by the overlap of the individual stories.
On a Boat in a Storm
Jesus’ question—Where (ποῦ) is your faith?—hints at the Source of Sorrow here. The verb εστιν (is) does not occur in the NET parallel Greek text or NA28, the critical text, but only in the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text, the received text. As I considered the phrase without a verb its tone changed from an accusation—“where did your faith go”—to a gentle reminder—“where your faith? in your own seamanship or in God?”
Luke seems to have described a different storm at a later time than that described by Matthew. I’m assuming here that Matthew and Levi were the same person:
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Matthew 9:9-13 (ESV)
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Mark 2:13-17 (ESV)
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Luke 5:27-32 (ESV)
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As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
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He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
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After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
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The similarities are striking but the differences are also telling. Only Luke recorded that Levi (Matthew) was leaving everything (καταλιπὼν πάντα). And only Matthew recorded Jesus’ command to his and Matthew’s accusers: Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ These nuances make me quite comfortable with the idea that Matthew/Levi was Matthew the apostle and the author of the Gospel according to Matthew.
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Matthew 10:1-4 (ESV)
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Mark 3:13-19 (ESV)
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Luke 6:12-16 (ESV)
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And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
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And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons. He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
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In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
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Only Matthew differentiated himself as the tax collector (ὁ τελώνης). A table outlining these events follows.
The storm described in Luke was clearly after these events, while the storm described by Matthew occurred before them. This has become considerably more important to me than completing this assignment. Why?
In an expository sermon, the homiletical outline is worded in principles derived from and supported by features of the text in its context. The preacher demonstrates how the text supports these principles and then applies them to the contemporary context of the listeners.
…the finest expositors begin preparing each sermon by asking themselves the following question: What may I, with the authority of God’s Word, require of you as a result of what we discern this text means?
I don’t do this for myself studying God’s Word. I won’t do it to anyone else. I’ve already acknowledged that at my best I receive the 2nd person imperatives of Scripture—you must—“as fair warnings: what God who works in [me], both to will and to work for his good pleasure is doing,” because of who He is in his faithfulness. At my best I recognize that I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. So, I’ll consider the advantages for knowing the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom [He has] sent implicit in understanding the storms recorded by Matthew and Luke as two separate events.
The disciples began hearing and doing Jesus’ word: “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out. The storm caused them some question or doubt. It reminds me of Jesus’ parable (Mark 4:3-9 ESV):
Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Jesus explained the parable to his disciples (Mark 4:14-20 ESV):
The sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them [Table]. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold [Table].
I only recall hearing this preached in one of two ways: Either as a fait accompli, too bad, so sad, most people spend eternity in the lake of fire. Or, with an implicit application that the soil, those who hear the word, should improve themselves somehow. The latter isn’t completely off the mark if one understands that God’s soil enrichment program is Himself, through faith in Jesus Christ, in the person of his own indwelling Holy Spirit. I don’t recall ever hearing that said in a sermon, but I have an exceptionally strong religious bias against sitting down with God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit and following Him through the Bible.
Whether I see the impact of these storms as tribulation or persecution, or the cares of the world, one advantage to understanding them as two separate events is that I see Jesus working to improve the soil that is his disciples. I might even see some development in the contrast between the storm Matthew recounted and the one here in Luke’s Gospel account. A gentle reminder—“where your faith?”—is not the same as Why are you “timid, fearful, cowardly, fainthearted; miserable, wretched, worthless; deserving pity, deserving contempt?” And they were afraid, Luke wrote, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey (ὑπακούουσιν, a form of ὑπακούω) him?”
Luke and the Holy Spirit chose some interesting words here. The Greek word translated they were afraid was φοβηθέντες, a participle of φοβέω. It was the same word the rabbis chose to describe the people at Sinai (Exodus 20) in the Septuagint.
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Masoretic Text
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Septuagint
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Exodus 20:15 (Tanakh)
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Exodus 20:18 (NET)
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Exodus 20:18 (NETS)
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Exodus 20:18 (Elpenor English)
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| And all the people perceived the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the voice of the horn, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled (וַיָּנֻ֔עוּ), and stood afar off. |
All the people were seeing the thundering and the lightning, and heard the sound of the horn, and saw the mountain smoking—and when the people saw it they trembled with fear (nûaʿ, וינעו) and kept their distance. |
And the people were perceiving the sound and the flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. Now all the people were afraid (φοβηθέντες) and stood at a distance. |
And all the people perceived the thundering, and the flashes, and the voice of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and all the people feared (φοβηθέντες) and stood afar off, |
The Greek word translated they marveled was ἐθαύμασαν, a 3rd person plural form of θαυμάζω. It was the same word the rabbis chose to describe the kings who encountered God as defender of Zion.
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Masoretic Text
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Septuagint
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Psalm 48:2-5 (Tanakh/KJV)
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Psalm 48:2-5 (NET)
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Psalm 47:3-6 (NETS)
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Psalm 47:3-6 (Elpenor English)
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| Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. |
It is lofty and pleasing to look at, a source of joy to the whole earth. Mount Zion resembles the peaks of Zaphon; it is the city of the great king. |
since he planted it well, for the enjoyment of the whole earth, Mountains of Sion, the slopes of the north, the city of the great King— |
The city of the great King is well planted [on] the mountains of Sion, with the joy of the whole earth, [on] the sides of the north. |
| God is known in her palaces for a refuge. |
God is in its fortresses; he reveals himself as its defender. |
within its bastions God is known, when he supports it, |
God is known in her palaces, when he undertakes to help her. |
| For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together. |
For look, the kings assemble; they advance together. |
because, look, the kings assembled; they came together. |
For, behold the kings of the earth were assembled, they came together. |
| They saw it, and so they marvelled (תָּמָ֑הוּ); they were troubled, and hasted away. |
As soon as they see, they are shocked (tāmah, תמהו); they are terrified, they quickly retreat. |
They, when they saw it so, were astounded (ἐθαύμασαν); they were troubled; they were shaken; |
They saw, and so they wondered (ἐθαύμασαν): they were troubled, they were moved. |
Though Jesus’ disciples may not have been ready intellectually to acknowledge Him as God in human flesh, they had already begun to respond to Him as others in the past had responded to their encounters with the living God, according to Luke’s and the Holy Spirit’s word choices. And still, I admit, I’m not exactly sure what Jesus expected from his disciples. What does faith look like when one encounters a life-threatening circumstance following the Lord?
Luke was apparently a fellow passenger and eye-witness to Paul’s faith in the storm they encountered on their way to Rome (Acts 27:21-26 ESV).
Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me (Acts 27:9, 10) and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss. Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. But we must run aground on some island.”
The most likely Scriptural precedent for the disciples’ peril in the storms was the story of Jonah fleeing from the Lord.
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Masoretic Text
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Septuagint
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Jonah 1:4-6 (Tanakh)
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Jonah 1:4-6 (NET)
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Jonah 1:4-6 (NETS)
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Jonah 1:4-6 (Elpenor English)
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| But HaShem hurled a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. |
But the Lord hurled a powerful wind on the sea. Such a violent tempest arose on the sea that the ship threatened to break up! |
And the Lord aroused a wind in the sea, and a great surge came upon the sea, and the ship was in danger of breaking up. |
And the Lord raised up a wind on the sea; and there was a great storm on the sea, and the ship was in danger of being broken. |
| And the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god; and they cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it unto them. But Jonah was gone down into the innermost parts of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep. |
The sailors were so afraid that each cried out to his own god and they flung the ship’s cargo overboard to make the ship lighter. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold below deck, had lain down, and was sound asleep. |
And the mariners were afraid and cried out, each to their god. And they heaved the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to be lightened from them. But Jonas went down into the hold of the ship and was sleeping and snoring. |
And the sailors were alarmed, and cried every one to his god, and cast out the wares that were in the ship into the sea, that it might be lightened of them. But Jonas was gone down into the hold of the ship, and was asleep, and snored. |
| So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him: ‘What meanest thou that thou sleepest? arise, call upon thy G-d, if so be that G-d will think upon us, that we perish not.’ |
The ship’s captain approached him and said, “What are you doing asleep? Get up! Cry out to your god! Perhaps your god might take notice of us so that we might not die!” |
And the captain came to him and said to him, “Why are you snoring? Get up, invoke your god in order that the god might deliver us and we not perish.” |
And the shipmaster came to him, and said to him, Why snorest thou? arise, and call upon thy God, that God may save us, and we perish not. |
Mark seems to have patterned his retelling of a story of Jesus’ disciples in a storm after the story of Jonah, recasting Jonah as Jesus and the shipmaster as Jesus’ frightened disciples (Mark 4:38 ESV):
But [Jesus] was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
The sequencing of events seems to place Mark’s account of a storm at roughly the same time as Luke’s account rather than Matthew’s, but Jesus’ responses recorded in Mark seem to collapse the two (or more) events into one (Mark 4:40 ESV):
He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”
A table comparing these responses in Greek and English translation follows:
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Mark 4:40 (NET Parallel Greek)
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Matthew 8:26 (NET Parallel Greek)
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Mark 4:40 (NET Parallel Greek)
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Luke 8:25 (NET Parallel Greek)
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| τί δειλοί ἐστε |
τί δειλοί ἐστε |
οὔπω ἔχετε πίστιν |
ποῦ ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν |
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Mark 4:40 (ESV)
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Matthew 8:26 (ESV)
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Mark 4:40 (ESV)
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Luke 8:25 (ESV)
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| Why are you so afraid? |
Why are you afraid |
Have you still no faith? |
Where is your faith? |
The development I think I see in Luke’s account compared to Matthew’s vanishes in Mark’s account. And the point is well-taken. I’m a fan now. I want Jesus’ disciples to improve. I don’t want the Lord’s time and effort patiently teaching them to be wasted. But I also know that self-improvement fades to insignificance in the face of death and resurrection. I know that the main difference between Paul in Acts and Peter or John in Matthew or Luke is God Himself, through faith in Jesus Christ, in the person of his own indwelling Holy Spirit. Paul confessed (Galatians 2:19-21 NET):
For through…law (διὰ νόμου) I died to the law so that I may live to God. I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside God’s grace, because if righteousness could come through…law (εἰ γὰρ διὰ νόμου δικαιοσύνη), then Christ died for nothing!
Plundering the Strong Man’s Goods
Accepting Matthew’s and Luke’s accounts of a storm as two separate events helps me see that Jesus, led by the Spirit, set out across the Sea of Galilee on two separate occasions to rescue men possessed by demons, and then He left again back across the sea.
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Matthew 8:28 (ESV)
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Luke 8:26, 27 (ESV)
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And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way [Table].
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Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs.
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Matthew 9:1 (ESV)
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Luke 8:40 (ESV)
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And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city [Table].
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Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him [Table].
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Freeing demon-possessed men doesn’t exhaust the meaning of plundering a strong man’s goods. All of us need his rescue from our father the devil. It does, however, present a vivid and dramatic demonstration.
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Matthew 12:28, 29 (ESV)
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Mark 3:27 (ESV)
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Luke 11:20-22 (ESV)
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But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house [Table].
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But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house [Table].
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But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you [Table]. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil [Table].
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And it leads me to the conclusion that there was more to these storms than, “The collision of warm water and moist warm air with cooler air, leading to condensation and storm clouds.” Satan was able to conjure a windstorm to kill Job’s children (Job 1:18b, 19 ESV):
“Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house [Table], and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you” [Table].
But Satan did nothing to Job without the Lord’s permission (Job 1:12 ESV [Table]):
And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that [Job] has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
Given that, the words recorded in Jonah are also true of the storms endured by Jesus’ disciples (Jonah 1:4a ESV):
But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea…
What about the storm Luke and Paul encountered on their way to Rome? What about the storm named Helene? I worked at a conference in Orlando last week, but my own experience of Helene is scarcely worth mentioning.
On the last day of the conference I was drenched in a brief downpour as we loaded the company van so one of the owners could get ahead of the storm on her way to Philadelphia. Being drenched, working in the heat in Orlando, is probably best described as a refreshing shower. I changed into shorts but wore the same shirt I was drenched in to dinner that evening. And being drenched caused my employer to tell me to take everyone back to the hotel in an Uber on the company card.
The next morning I flew out of Orlando about four hours earlier than originally planned, landed uneventfully in St. Louis, met briefly with friends and then drove home to Desloge under partly cloudy conditions. For the next day or so I studied Luke’s Gospel account with a gentle rain pattering on the porch outside my open sliding door. Others had different experiences. Many died.
“Here’s how Hurricane Helene brought ‘biblical devastation’ to western North Carolina in a near ‘worst-case scenario’” a CBS News headline online read. “CBS News has confirmed that at least 162 people across several states were killed by Helene. Buncombe County alone has reported more than 50 deaths, including a 7-year-old who was swept away by floodwaters with his grandparents.” Li Cohen, the credited author, explained the words “biblical devastation” in her headline.
In Buncombe County, home to Asheville, Emergency Services Assistant Director Ryan Cole told the Citizen-Times that “catastrophic devastation” didn’t accurately describe the impact the deluge had.
“It would go a little bit further and say we have biblical devastation through the county,” Cole said. “We’ve had biblical flooding here and it has been extremely significant.”
CBS News is a commercial enterprise. It makes sense, I suppose, that the implicit application in Ms. Cohen’s article, for those who have ears to hear, is to buy electric vehicles. And I suppose that I, flying to and from Orlando and driving to and from my home in an ordinary vehicle, am one of those to blame for the death of “a 7-year-old who was swept away by floodwaters with his grandparents,” according to Ms. Cohen’s informant.
As unprecedented as Helene’s impact on the region was, there is a chance it won’t be the last.
“The rapid intensification of Helene over the Gulf, the amount of moisture available in its surrounding environment, and its manifestation as locally heavy — and in some cases, historically unheard of — rainfall amounts are all known side effects of a warmer atmosphere,” the [North Carolina State climate] office said.
Last year was already the warmest humans had ever recorded and 2024 has seen countless heat records. The continued use of fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases that are trapping heat within the atmosphere, increasing average temperatures that fuel extreme weather events like Helene.
As I sit here now grappling with my own reactions to our different experiences of Helene, the first explanation that comes to mind is geographical. Missouri wasn’t particularly harmed by this storm. I was never in any real danger in Orlando. I suspected that while I was still there. Having lived in Kissimmee I told my sister, alarmed for my safety by news reports, that “most hurricanes in the Orlando area are windy rainstorms with a really good press agent.”
As I consider that “7-year-old who was swept away by floodwaters with his grandparents,” I hear my religious beliefs screaming like some angry child: “If those dead people didn’t go to the right church, or do the right things, or believe or say the right things about Jesus, they will burn in the lake of fire for all eternity!” But even in the midst of that cacophany, I hear Jesus’ calm voice (Luke 20:38 ESV):
Now (δὲ) he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.
These were not just words Jesus spoke. This is the confidence Jesus lived. Consider his response to those mourning Jairus’ dead daughter (Luke 8:52-55 ESV):
And all were weeping and mourning for her, but he said, “Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. But taking her by the hand he called, saying, “Child, arise.” And her spirit returned, and she got up at once.
It is the same calm voice who said (Matthew 11:27-30 ESV):
All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses (βούληται, a form of βούλομαι) to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls [Table]. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Again, these are more than mere words. His welcome was apparent in almost everything He did (Luke 8:40-42a ESV).
Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him [Table]. And there came a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus’ feet, he implored him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying.
The very next words in Luke’s Gospel account are: As Jesus went… And that same calm voice said (John 6:44, 45 ESV):
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day [Table]. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—[Table]
This is the backstory as it were, what was actually going on within the woman who was healed by touching Jesus’ garment, and how she was drawn to Jesus (Luke 8:42b-44 ESV).
As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased.
Jesus was aware that something had happened between God and someone—for I perceive that power has gone out from me—but He seems to have been uncertain who that someone was until she confessed (Luke 8:47, 48 ESV).
And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well (σέσωκεν, a form of σώζω); go in peace.”
Mark elaborated some about this woman (Mark 5:27, 28 ESV):
She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well (σωθήσομαι, another form of σώζω).”
But this elaboration seems to focus my attention too much on the circumstance of her faith—She had heard the reports about Jesus—and its content—If I touch even his garments—rather than the object and source of her faith; namely, Jesus Christ and the only true God who, according to Jesus, drew her to Him. This drawing leads me back again to that same calm voice (John 12:31, 32 ESV):
Now (νῦν) is the judgment of this world; now (νῦν) will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.
Hearing his calm voice, with his steady hand on the tiller of my life, I have hope that though I didn’t know that “7-year-old who was swept away by floodwaters” or “his grandparents,” there is yet a time when we may meet (not because I know their faith but because I know the faithfulness of my God) and we will share a common story much like Paul outlined for Titus (Titus 3:3-7 ESV).
For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved (ἔσωσεν, another form of σώζω) us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit [Table], whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life [Table].
The postscript to Luke 8:22-56 is (Luke 9:1, 2 ESV):
And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.
According to a note (32) in the NET, Jesus quoted from Hosea 6:6 in Matthew 9:13. A table comparing the Greek of Jesus’ quotation with that of the Septuagint follows.
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Matthew 9:13b (NET Parallel Greek)
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Hosea 6:6a (Septuagint BLB) Table
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Hosea 6:6a (Septuagint Elpenor)
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| ἔλεος θέλω καὶ οὐ θυσίαν |
ἔλεος θέλω καὶ οὐ θυσίαν |
ἔλεος θέλω καὶ οὐ θυσίαν |
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Matthew 9:13b (NET)
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Hosea 6:6a (NETS)
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Hosea 6:6a (English Elpenor)
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| I want mercy and not sacrifice |
I want mercy and not sacrifice |
I will [have] mercy rather than sacrifice |
Tables comparing Exodus 20:18 (20:15); Psalm 48:2; 48:3; 48:4; 48:5; Jonah 1:4; 1:5 and 1:6 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and comparing the Greek of Exodus 20:18; Psalm 48:2 (47:3); 48:3 (47:4); 48:4 (47:5); 48:5 (47:6); Jonah 1:4; 1:5 and 1:6 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor), and tables comparing Luke 8:22; 8:24-27; 8:29-35; 8:37, 38; 8:41; 8:43; 8:45-52; 8:54; Matthew 9:9; 9:11-13; Mark 2:15-17; Luke 5:28-31; Matthew 10:3, 4; Mark 3:14-16; 3:18, 19; Luke 6:12; 6:14-16; Mark 4:3-6; 4:8-9; 4:16-19; Acts 27:21-23; Mark 4:38; 4:40; 5:28 and Luke 9:1, 2 in the KJV and NET follow.
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Exodus 20:15 (Tanakh)
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Exodus 20:18 (KJV)
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Exodus 20:18 (NET)
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| And all the people perceived the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the voice of the horn, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled, and stood afar off. |
And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. |
All the people were seeing the thundering and the lightning, and heard the sound of the horn, and saw the mountain smoking—and when the people saw it they trembled with fear and kept their distance. |
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Exodus 20:18 (BLB Septuagint)
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Exodus 20:18 (Elpenor Septuagint)
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| καὶ πᾶς ὁ λαὸς ἑώρα τὴν φωνὴν καὶ τὰς λαμπάδας καὶ τὴν φωνὴν τῆς σάλπιγγος καὶ τὸ ὄρος τὸ καπνίζον φοβηθέντες δὲ πᾶς ὁ λαὸς ἔστησαν μακρόθεν |
Καὶ πᾶς ὁ λαὸς ἑώρα τὴν φωνὴν καὶ τὰς λαμπάδας καὶ τὴν φωνὴν τῆς σάλπιγγος καὶ τὸ ὄρος τὸ καπνίζον· φοβηθέντες δὲ πᾶς ὁ λαὸς ἔστησαν μακρόθεν |
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Exodus 20:18 (NETS)
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Exodus 20:18 (Elpenor English)
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| And the people were perceiving the sound and the flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. Now all the people were afraid and stood at a distance. |
And all the people perceived the thundering, and the flashes, and the voice of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and all the people feared and stood afar off, |
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Psalm 48:2 (Tanakh)
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Psalm 48:2 (KJV)
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Psalm 48:2 (NET)
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| Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. |
Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. |
It is lofty and pleasing to look at, a source of joy to the whole earth. Mount Zion resembles the peaks of Zaphon; it is the city of the great king. |
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Psalm 48:5 (Tanakh)
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Psalm 48:5 (KJV)
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Psalm 48:5 (NET)
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| They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away. |
They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away. |
As soon as they see, they are shocked; they are terrified, they quickly retreat. |
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Jonah 1:4 (Tanakh)
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Jonah 1:4 (KJV)
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Jonah 1:4 (NET)
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| But HaShem hurled a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. |
But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. |
But the Lord hurled a powerful wind on the sea. Such a violent tempest arose on the sea that the ship threatened to break up! |
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Jonah 1:5 (Tanakh)
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Jonah 1:5 (KJV)
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Jonah 1:5 (NET)
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| And the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god; and they cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it unto them. But Jonah was gone down into the innermost parts of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep. |
Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep. |
The sailors were so afraid that each cried out to his own god and they flung the ship’s cargo overboard to make the ship lighter. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold below deck, had lain down, and was sound asleep. |
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Jonah 1:5 (BLB Septuagint)
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Jonah 1:5 (Elpenor Septuagint)
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| καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν οἱ ναυτικοὶ καὶ ἀνεβόων ἕκαστος πρὸς τὸν θεὸν αὐτῶν καὶ ἐκβολὴν ἐποιήσαντο τῶν σκευῶν τῶν ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν τοῦ κουφισθῆναι ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν Ιωνας δὲ κατέβη εἰς τὴν κοίλην τοῦ πλοίου καὶ ἐκάθευδεν καὶ ἔρρεγχεν |
καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν οἱ ναυτικοὶ καὶ ἀνεβόησαν ἕκαστος πρὸς τὸν θεὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐκβολὴν ἐποιήσαντο τῶν σκευῶν τῶν ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν τοῦ κουφισθῆναι ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν. ᾿Ιωνᾶς δὲ κατέβη εἰς τὴν κοίλην τοῦ πλοίου καὶ ἐκάθευδε καὶ ἔρρεγχε |
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Jonah 1:5 (NETS)
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Jonah 1:5 (Elpenor English)
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| And the mariners were afraid and cried out, each to their god. And they heaved the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to be lightened from them. But Jonas went down into the hold of the ship and was sleeping and snoring. |
And the sailors were alarmed, and cried every one to his god, and cast out the wares that were in the ship into the sea, that it might be lightened of them. But Jonas was gone down into the hold of the ship, and was asleep, and snored. |
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Jonah 1:6 (Tanakh)
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Jonah 1:6 (KJV)
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Jonah 1:6 (NET)
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| So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him: ‘What meanest thou that thou sleepest? arise, call upon thy G-d, if so be that G-d will think upon us, that we perish not.’ |
So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not. |
The ship’s captain approached him and said, “What are you doing asleep? Get up! Cry out to your god! Perhaps your god might take notice of us so that we might not die!” |
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Jonah 1:6 (BLB Septuagint)
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Jonah 1:6 (Elpenor Septuagint)
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| καὶ προσῆλθεν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ πρωρεὺς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ τί σὺ ῥέγχεις ἀνάστα καὶ ἐπικαλοῦ τὸν θεόν σου ὅπως διασώσῃ ὁ θεὸς ἡμᾶς καὶ μὴ ἀπολώμεθα |
καὶ προσῆλθε πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ πρωρεὺς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· τί σὺ ῥέγχεις; ἀνάστα καὶ ἐπικαλοῦ τὸν Θεόν σου, ὅπως διασώσῃ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμᾶς καὶ οὐ μὴ ἀπολώμεθα |
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Jonah 1:6 (NETS)
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Jonah 1:6 (Elpenor English)
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| And the captain came to him and said to him, “Why are you snoring? Get up, invoke your god in order that the god might deliver us and we not perish.” |
And the shipmaster came to him, and said to him, Why snorest οὐ thou? arise, and call upon thy God, that God may save us, and we perish not. |
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Luke 8:22 (NET)
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Luke 8:22 (KJV)
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| One day Jesus got into a boat with his disciples and said to them, “Let’s go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, |
Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. |
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Luke 8:22 (NET Parallel Greek)
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Luke 8:22 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)
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Luke 8:22 (Byzantine Majority Text)
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| Ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν μιᾷ τῶν ἡμερῶν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐνέβη εἰς πλοῖον καὶ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτούς· διέλθωμεν εἰς τὸ πέραν τῆς λίμνης, καὶ ἀνήχθησαν |
και εγενετο εν μια των ημερων και αυτος ενεβη εις πλοιον και οι μαθηται αυτου και ειπεν προς αυτους διελθωμεν εις το περαν της λιμνης και ανηχθησαν |
και εγενετο εν μια των ημερων και αυτος ενεβη εις πλοιον και οι μαθηται αυτου και ειπεν προς αυτους διελθωμεν εις το περαν της λιμνης και ανηχθησαν |
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Luke 8:24-27 (NET)
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Luke 8:24-27 (KJV)
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| They came and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are about to die!” So he got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they died down, and it was calm. |
And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm. |
| Then he said to them, “Where is your faith?” But they were afraid and amazed, saying to one another, “Who then is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him!” |
And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him. |
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Luke 8:25 (NET Parallel Greek)
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Luke 8:25 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)
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Luke 8:25 (Byzantine Majority Text)
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| εἶπεν δὲ αὐτοῖς· ποῦ ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν; φοβηθέντες δὲ ἐθαύμασαν λέγοντες πρὸς ἀλλήλους· τίς ἄρα οὗτος ἐστιν ὅτι καὶ τοῖς ἀνέμοις ἐπιτάσσει καὶ τῷ ὕδατι, καὶ ὑπακούουσιν αὐτῷ |
ειπεν δε αυτοις που εστιν η πιστις υμων φοβηθεντες δε εθαυμασαν λεγοντες προς αλληλους τις αρα ουτος εστιν οτι και τοις ανεμοις επιτασσει και τω υδατι και υπακουουσιν αυτω |
ειπεν δε αυτοις που εστιν η πιστις υμων φοβηθεντες δε εθαυμασαν λεγοντες προς αλληλους τις αρα ουτος εστιν οτι και τοις ανεμοις επιτασσει και τω υδατι και υπακουουσιν αυτω |
| So they sailed over to the region of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. |
And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. |
| As Jesus stepped ashore, a certain man from the town met him who was possessed by demons. For a long time this man had worn no clothes and had not lived in a house, but among the tombs. |
And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. |
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Luke 8:29-35 (NET)
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Luke 8:29-35 (KJV)
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| For Jesus had started commanding the evil spirit to come out of the man. (For it had seized him many times, so he would be bound with chains and shackles and kept under guard. But he would break the restraints and be driven by the demon into deserted places.) |
(For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.) |
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Luke 8:29 (NET Parallel Greek)
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Luke 8:29 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)
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Luke 8:29 (Byzantine Majority Text)
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| |παρήγγελλεν| γὰρ τῷ πνεύματι τῷ ἀκαθάρτῳ ἐξελθεῖν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου. (πολλοῖς γὰρ χρόνοις συνηρπάκει αὐτὸν καὶ ἐδεσμεύετο ἁλύσεσιν καὶ πέδαις φυλασσόμενος καὶ διαρρήσσων τὰ δεσμὰ ἠλαύνετο |ὑπὸ| τοῦ δαιμονίου εἰς τὰς ἐρήμους) |
παρηγγελλεν γαρ τω πνευματι τω ακαθαρτω εξελθειν απο του ανθρωπου πολλοις γαρ χρονοις συνηρπακει αυτον και εδεσμειτο αλυσεσιν και πεδαις φυλασσομενος και διαρρησσων τα δεσμα ηλαυνετο υπο του δαιμονος εις τας ερημους |
παρηγγειλεν γαρ τω πνευματι τω ακαθαρτω εξελθειν απο του ανθρωπου πολλοις γαρ χρονοις συνηρπακει αυτον και εδεσμειτο αλυσεσιν και πεδαις φυλασσομενος και διαρρησσων τα δεσμα ηλαυνετο υπο του δαιμονος εις τας ερημους |
| Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion,” because many demons had entered him. |
And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him. |
| And they began to beg him not to order them to depart into the abyss. |
And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. |
| Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and the demonic spirits begged Jesus to let them go into them. He gave them permission. |
And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them. |
| So the demons came out of the man and went into the pigs, and the herd of pigs rushed down the steep slope into the lake and drowned. |
Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked. |
| When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they ran off and spread the news in the town and countryside. |
When they that fed them saw what was done, they fled, and went and told it in the city and in the country. |
| So the people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus. They found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. |
Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. |
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Luke 8:35 (NET Parallel Greek)
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Luke 8:35 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)
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Luke 8:35 (Byzantine Majority Text)
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| ἐξῆλθον δὲ ἰδεῖν τὸ γεγονὸς καὶ ἦλθον πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν καὶ εὗρον καθήμενον τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἀφ᾿ οὗ τὰ δαιμόνια ἐξῆλθεν ἱματισμένον καὶ σωφρονοῦντα παρὰ τοὺς πόδας |τοῦ| Ἰησοῦ, καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν |
εξηλθον δε ιδειν το γεγονος και ηλθον προς τον ιησουν και ευρον καθημενον τον ανθρωπον αφ ου τα δαιμονια εξεληλυθει ιματισμενον και σωφρονουντα παρα τους ποδας του ιησου και εφοβηθησαν |
εξηλθον δε ιδειν το γεγονος και ηλθον προς τον ιησουν και ευρον καθημενον τον ανθρωπον αφ ου τα δαιμονια εξεληλυθει ιματισμενον και σωφρονουντα παρα τους ποδας του ιησου και εφοβηθησαν |
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Luke 8:37, 38 (NET)
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Luke 8:37, 38 (KJV)
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| Then all the people of the Gerasenes and the surrounding region asked Jesus to leave them alone, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and left. |
Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear: and he went up into the ship, and returned back again. |
| The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, |
Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him: but Jesus sent him away, saying, |
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Luke 8:41 (NET)
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Luke 8:41 (KJV)
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| Then a man named Jairus, who was a leader of the synagogue, came up. Falling at Jesus’ feet, he pleaded with him to come to his house, |
And, behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at Jesus’ feet, and besought him that he would come into his house: |
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Luke 8:43 (NET)
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Luke 8:43 (KJV)
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| Now a woman was there who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years but could not be healed by anyone. |
And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, |
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Luke 8:45-52 (NET)
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Luke 8:45-52 (KJV)
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| Then Jesus asked, “Who was it who touched me?” When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds are surrounding you and pressing against you!” |
And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? |
| But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I know that power has gone out from me.” |
And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. |
| When the woman saw that she could not escape notice, she came trembling and fell down before him. In the presence of all the people, she explained why she had touched him and how she had been immediately healed. |
And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. |
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Luke 8:47 (NET Parallel Greek)
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Luke 8:47 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)
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Luke 8:47 (Byzantine Majority Text)
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| ἰδοῦσα δὲ ἡ γυνὴ ὅτι οὐκ ἔλαθεν, τρέμουσα ἦλθεν καὶ προσπεσοῦσα αὐτῷ δι᾿ ἣν αἰτίαν ἥψατο αὐτοῦ ἀπήγγειλεν ἐνώπιον παντὸς τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ ὡς ἰάθη παραχρῆμα |
ιδουσα δε η γυνη οτι ουκ ελαθεν τρεμουσα ηλθεν και προσπεσουσα αυτω δι ην αιτιαν ηψατο αυτου απηγγειλεν αυτω ενωπιον παντος του λαου και ως ιαθη παραχρημα |
ιδουσα δε η γυνη οτι ουκ ελαθεν τρεμουσα ηλθεν και προσπεσουσα αυτω δι ην αιτιαν ηψατο αυτου απηγγειλεν αυτω ενωπιον παντος του λαου και ως ιαθη παραχρημα |
| Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace.” |
And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace. |
| While he was still speaking, someone from the synagogue leader’s house came and said, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the teacher any longer.” |
While he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master. |
| But when Jesus heard this, he told him, “Do not be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.” |
But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole. |
| Now when he came to the house, Jesus did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John, and James, and the child’s father and mother. |
And when he came into the house, he suffered no man to go in, save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the mother of the maiden. |
| Now they were all wailing and mourning for her, but he said, “Stop your weeping; she is not dead but asleep!” |
And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth. |
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Luke 8:54 (NET)
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Luke 8:54 (KJV)
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| But Jesus gently took her by the hand and said, “Child, get up.” |
And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise. |
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Matthew 9:9 (NET)
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Matthew 9:9 (KJV)
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| As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax booth. “Follow me,” he said to him. So he got up and followed him. |
And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. |
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Matthew 9:11-13 (NET)
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Matthew 9:11-13 (KJV)
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| When the Pharisees saw this they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” |
And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? |
| When Jesus heard this he said, “Those who are healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do. |
But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. |
| Go and learn what this saying means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” |
But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. |
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Mark 2:15-17 (NET)
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Mark 2:15-17 (KJV)
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| As Jesus was having a meal in Levi’s home, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. |
And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. |
| When the experts in the law and the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” |
And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? |
| When Jesus heard this he said to them, “Those who are healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” |
When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. |
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Luke 5:28-31 (NET)
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Luke 5:28-31 (KJV)
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| And he got up and followed him, leaving everything behind. |
And he left all, rose up, and followed him. |
| Then Levi gave a great banquet in his house for Jesus, and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others sitting at the table with them. |
And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them. |
| But the Pharisees and their experts in the law complained to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” |
But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? |
| Jesus answered them, “Those who are well don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do. |
And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. |
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Matthew 10:3, 4 (NET)
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Matthew 10:3, 4 (KJV)
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| Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; |
Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; |
| Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. |
Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. |
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Mark 3:14-16 (NET)
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Mark 3:14-16 (KJV)
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| He appointed 12 so that they would be with him and he could send them to preach |
And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, |
| and to have authority to cast out demons. |
And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils: |
| To Simon he gave the name Peter; |
And Simon he surnamed Peter; |
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Mark 3:18, 19 (NET)
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Mark 3:18, 19 (KJV)
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| and Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, |
And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite, |
| and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. (20a) Now Jesus went home |
And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him: and they went into an house. |
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Luke 6:12 (NET)
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Luke 6:12 (KJV)
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| Now it was during this time that Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and he spent all night in prayer to God. |
And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. |
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Luke 6:14-16 (NET)
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Luke 6:14-16 (KJV)
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| Simon (whom he named Peter), and his brother Andrew; and James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, |
Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, |
| Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, |
Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, |
| Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. |
And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor. |
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Mark 4:3-6 (NET)
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Mark 4:3-6 (KJV)
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| “Listen! A sower went out to sow. |
Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: |
| And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. |
And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. |
| Other seed fell on rocky ground where it did not have much soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep. |
And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: |
| When the sun came up it was scorched, and because it did not have sufficient root, it withered. |
But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. |
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Mark 4:8, 9 (NET)
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Mark 4:8, 9 (KJV)
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| But other seed fell on good soil and produced grain, sprouting and growing; some yielded thirty times as much, some sixty, and some a hundred times.” |
And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. |
| And he said, “Whoever has ears to hear had better listen!” |
And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. |
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Mark 4:16-19 (NET)
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Mark 4:16-19 (KJV)
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| These are the ones sown on rocky ground: As soon as they hear the word, they receive it with joy. |
And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; |
| But they have no root in themselves and do not endure. Then, when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they fall away. |
And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended. |
| Others are the ones sown among thorns: They are those who hear the word, |
And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, |
| but worldly cares, the seductiveness of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it produces nothing. |
And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. |
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Acts 27:21-23 (NET)
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Acts 27:21-23 (KJV)
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| Since many of them had no desire to eat, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not put out to sea from Crete, thus avoiding this damage and loss. |
But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. |
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Acts 27:21 (NET Parallel Greek)
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Acts 27:21 (Stephanus Textus Receptus)
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Acts 27:21 (Byzantine Majority Text)
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| Πολλῆς τε ἀσιτίας ὑπαρχούσης τότε σταθεὶς ὁ Παῦλος ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῶν εἶπεν· ἔδει μέν, ὦ ἄνδρες, πειθαρχήσαντας μοι μὴ ἀνάγεσθαι ἀπὸ τῆς Κρήτης κερδῆσαι τε τὴν ὕβριν ταύτην καὶ τὴν ζημίαν |
πολλης δε ασιτιας υπαρχουσης τοτε σταθεις ο παυλος εν μεσω αυτων ειπεν εδει μεν ω ανδρες πειθαρχησαντας μοι μη αναγεσθαι απο της κρητης κερδησαι τε την υβριν ταυτην και την ζημιαν |
πολλης δε ασιτιας υπαρχουσης τοτε σταθεις ο παυλος εν μεσω αυτων ειπεν εδει μεν ω ανδρες πειθαρχησαντας μοι μη αναγεσθαι απο της κρητης κερδησαι τε την υβριν ταυτην και την ζημιαν |
| And now I advise you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only the ship will be lost. |
And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship. |
| For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve came to me |
For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, |
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Mark 4:38 (NET)
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Mark 4:38 (KJV)
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| But he was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. They woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to die?” |
And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? |
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Mark 4:40 (NET)
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Mark 4:40 (KJV)
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| And he said to them, “Why are you cowardly? Do you still not have faith?” |
And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? |
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Mark 5:28 (NET)
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Mark 5:28 (KJV)
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| for she kept saying, “If only I touch his clothes, I will be healed.” |
For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. |
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Luke 9:1, 2 (NET)
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Luke 9:1, 2 (KJV)
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| After Jesus called the twelve together, he gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, |
Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. |
| and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. |
And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. |
