Luke 8:16

Jesus said in Luke 8:16-18, “No man, when he has lighted a candle, covers it with a vessel, or puts it under a bed; but sets it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light. For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad. Take heed therefore how you hear: for whosoever has, to him shall be given; and whosoever has not, from him shall be taken even that which he seems to have.” This teaching that Jesus gave that you might call the parable of the lighted candle is closely associated with the parable of the sower that Jesus had just given in Luke chapter eight. The parable of the sower is all about people being able to bear fruit in their lives, and the things that happen that can keep a seed from growing and eventually bearing fruit.

The parable of the lighted candle is all about bearing fruit also. It’s about a believer having an influence on the world around him or her. If you are a witness in this world, then you will bear fruit and you will accomplish the things that God has called you to do. What do you need to do to be a witness in the world? One important thing is that you need to remember the parable of the lighted candle. Jesus said that no one lights a candle and puts it under a basket. When someone lights a candle, they put it on a candlestick so that it will give light to everyone in the room.

Jesus is the great Light, and because we have believed in Him, His light will shine through us to a lost world that sits in darkness. There is one important condition to making sure that your light really does shine: don’t hide it. It’s that simple. Just permit and allow your light to shine. “Let your light shine.” Some people try to hide their light because they are afraid of persecution. Those who hide their light will not be the witnesses that they otherwise could be.

Letting your light shine is just a matter of being honest with the world. The truth is that you believe the truth, and therefore you let others know the truth about you and what you believe. You understand the importance of truth. No one should try to hide the truth. That would be a foolish thing to do anyway because the truth has a way of coming out. Don’t ever try to hide the truth about anything. Jesus said, “For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither anything hid that shall not be known and come abroad.” Truth has a way of always coming to the surface like air bubbles under the water. Some people have ruined themselves because they thought they could hide something, but they were wrong and the truth eventually came out. Christians above all else should understand the importance of truth, and the power of truth, and the eventual conquest of truth; and they should make sure that they do what Jesus said and that their candle is set on a candlestick.

The truth is a wonderful and valuable commodity. The truth comes from God. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, but by me.” God is the truth giver. If you know something that is true, you only know it because God has revealed it to you. If God has given you some great truth, then God has given it to you to act on it and to pass it on to others. If you do not, then He might take away that which He has given. That’s what Jesus meant in Luke 8:18 when He said, “Take heed therefore how you hear: for whosoever has, to him shall be given; and whosoever has not shall be taken even that which he has.” On the other hand, if God reveals something to you, and you receive it and act on it and go with it, then God will give you even more from His unending supply of spiritual riches.

The Bible says in Luke 8:19-21, “Then came to him his mother and his brothers, and could not come at him for the press. And it was told him by certain which said, Thy mother and thy brothers stand without, desiring to see thee. And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brothers are these which hear the word of God, and do it.” There came a time in the life of Jesus of Nazareth that He left the household of His mother and step-father. Once he left their household, things changed. His relationship with his mother became different than it had been before. From that time forward He made His own decisions independently. That’s the normal way of life for all human beings when they become adults. Jesus used this occasion of expressing His independence to teach another spiritual lesson. Of course, He was more than just any other man going out to find His way in the world. He was the Savior of the world on His way to the cross of Calvary, and He was making it clear that everyone could come to have a personal relationship with Him. Some people think that the most important relationships in life are family relationships. That’s not true. The most important relationship of all is your relationship with God through Christ.

Concerning this close, personal, and meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ, Jesus described those who have it by saying in Luke 8:21 that the closest to Jesus are made up of, “these who hear the word of God, and do it.” There are many people who are diligent enough to go and hear the word, but who do not make near enough effort or near enough commitment to put into practice what they have heard. Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. It does no good to hear unless you take that which you have heard and put it into practice. Don’t ask God for the blessing of hearing His Word, unless you intend to keep His Word.

The next incident recorded in the Gospel of Luke concerning the disciples and Christ has a great application to our lives even today. It says in Luke 8:22-25, “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. But as soon as they sailed he fell asleep; and there came down a storm of wind on the lake. And they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging water: and they ceased, and there was a calm. 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 commands even the winds and water, and they obey him.

In life nothing happens by accident, because God plans all things well. He knows the end from the beginning. He uses all things to guide lives and to touch hearts and to teach lessons that He wants us to learn. It was true two thousand years ago when He walked the earth, and it’s true today. When Jesus and the disciples got into the boat and launched out into the Sea of Galilee, it was no accident that a great storm arose. God wanted to test the faith of the disciples and to teach them a valuable spiritual lesson.

The mighty power of Christ was revealed when He stilled the storm and calmed the waves. The lack of faith of the disciples was also revealed. Instead of faith, they had fear. In difficult situations you will have one or the other. A person who has the right kind of faith in the Almighty God and in Jesus Christ His Son can face any trial and any storm that life may bring their way. There will be storms in life. There will be difficult times. There will be trials. But you can overcome them all through faith. “This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.”

At this point in the lives of the disciples they were weak in faith. Of course, the day eventually came when they were strong. Eleven of the twelve would eventually face persecutions and hardships that they were able to overcome by faith. They grew in faith because of their experiences with Jesus like the one here on the Sea of Galilee. If you keep walking with God, you also will grow in faith until you get to the point where you will be able to face the storms of life and withstand them until you stand on the golden shore of eternal peace.

When the disciples saw what Jesus did in calming the waves and the storm, they did what we do now as we think about that incident. They marveled at Christ and they said, “What manner of man is this! For he commands even the winds and water, and they obey him.” We know what manner of man he is. He is the God-man. He is God in the flesh. Of course, the winds and the waves obeyed Him: He created them.

Jesus showed His power over nature. He also showed His power over human nature. In the next incident in Luke chapter eight Jesus showed that even the worst cases of human misbehavior He is able to cure. It would be best to become a Christian as a young child and to spend your childhood learning more and more about God, so that when you became an adult you would be fully prepared to live a life for Him. But even though it does not happen that way for some people, there is always hope because of the power of Christ over human nature. God can change the nature of the worse person, no matter how old they are or how bad they have become. There is no power over human behavior like the power of the gospel of Christ. In the case of the maniac of Gadara we are shown the power of Christ to change a human life.

The Bible says in Luke 8:26-39, “And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils for a long time, and wore no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What I have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. (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 with fetters; and he broke the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.) And Jesus asked him, saying, What is your name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him. And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. And there was there a herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would permit them to enter into them. And he permitted them. 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 they that fed them saw what was done, they fled, and went and told it in the city and in the country. 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. They also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed. 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. Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him: but Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to thine own house, and show how great things God has done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had one for him.”

The maniac of Gadara had extreme, unsociable, violent, and self-destructive behavior. The reason for his behavior is made very clear for us. He was inhabited by demons. There are demons in the world. These demons have the power to enter some human beings and some animals and cause weird and violent behavior. Of course, the demons have no power against Christ. This man was changed and freed of his demons by his contact with Jesus. Luke 8:28 says, “When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him.” Luke 8:35 says that they “found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind.”

Even though Jesus saved this man and cast the devils out of him and straightened his life out, many people of that town did not want Jesus to stay in their midst. It says in Luke 8:37, “Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them.” It still works like that. The gospel of Jesus Christ is presented to everyone, and here and there a conversion takes place. Someone gets converted to Jesus Christ. Someone who perhaps had a horrible life of sin is miraculously changed and brought into their right mind through contact with Jesus. You would think that when other people saw such a transformation that they would also want to be saved.

But some people are so caught up in their own selfish pursuits that they are afraid of making a commitment to Christ. There are people who are afraid of change. Perhaps they are afraid that they will lose something that they know they should not be doing. Luke 8:37 says that “they were taken with great fear.” It takes a certain amount of courage and bravery to receive Christ and commit yourself to Him because we all know what the attitude of the world will be to that.

If you receive Christ, you will know the same freedom from the power of evil that the maniac of Gadara came to experience. And you will then have reason to do what he did, and the Bible says in Luke 8:39 that he “published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him.”

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