Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Luke 8:56

    As for Luke 8:56, this is a conundrum. Let us see if the Holy Spirit can unravel it. 8:39 clearly states "Declare how much God has done for you," while 8:56 says "He charged them to tell no one what had happened."  There is no clear explanation in the text so it becomes a question of interpretation.
    Here is where themes and patterns becomes helpful. As a person continues to read and study the Word, reading the whole Bible again and again, certain themes and patterns emerge. We see the Holy Spirit emphasizing things over and over. One of these is the Kingdom of God. The Old Testament speaks of this in many places such as the "Davidic Covenant," ( 2 Samuel 7) particularly verses 12-16) and the vision of Daniel about the Son of Man in chapter 7, particularly verses 13-14, and 27.
     When Jesus comes preaching the Kingdom of God, (cf. Mark 1:14-15, Luke 4:42-43, Matthew 4:23 et. al) the Jews see Him as the fulfillment of those prophecies. What they do not understand is that Jesus' Kingdom is not of this world. ( John 18:36) They want to make Him an earthly king. ( John 6:15).
   The key difference between the two incidents of miraculous healing in Luke 8 is their location. The deliverance of the demon possessed man takes place in the country of the Gerasenes, a non Jewish people. They do not have the Old Testament or the prophecies therein, and are not desiring Jesus to be an earthly King. 
   In verse 40 it says that Jesus returned i.e. from the country of the Gerasenes. Now that He is back in a Jewish context, He does not want news to spread about Him, potentially sparking a confrontation with the Roman occupiers, and disrupting His true mission. Thus He tells them to keep the raising from the dead quiet.
   Granted the above is an interpretation, and could be off but it fits the situation, and reflects the reality of the Kingdom of God as a spiritual dominion rather than a geographical area.

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