Luke 8:4 - Meaning and Application

The previous section described Christ’s hard work in preaching (Luke 8:1). This section begins with the people’s eagerness to hear him (Luke 8:4). He went through every city to preach, so many might have stayed home and waited for him to come to them. But some came to him from every city. They did not wait for him to reach them, and they did not think they had heard enough when he left. They met him as he came near and followed him as he moved on. Even so, Jesus did not stop going to the cities just because some people came to him. Many still lacked the zeal to bring him to others, so in his great kindness he went to them. He is found by those who did not seek him (Isaiah 65:1).

There was, it seems, a huge crowd, a great many people gathered together. There was abundant “fish” for his net, and he was as ready and willing to teach as they were to be taught. In these verses we have necessary and valuable rules and warnings for hearing the word, shown in the parable of the sower, along with Christ’s explanation and application of it. We have already seen this parable twice in more detail elsewhere.

When Christ gave this parable, the disciples wanted to know what it meant (Luke 8:9). They asked, “What might this parable be?” We should also deeply desire to know the full meaning of the word we hear, so we are neither confused nor lacking in our understanding.

Christ also made them aware of the great blessing they had in being able to learn the meaning of his word, while others could not: “To you it has been given” (Luke 8:10). Those who would learn from Christ must think carefully about what a privilege it is to be taught by him. It is a special blessing to be led into light like this, while others remain in darkness. We are happy, and forever indebted to free grace, if the same thing that is only a parable to others, which merely amuses them, becomes plain truth to us, bringing light, direction, and change.

From the parable itself and its explanation, we should notice several things. The human heart is like soil for God’s word. It can receive the seed and produce fruit, but unless the seed is sown there, it will produce nothing worthwhile. We must therefore care about bringing the seed and the soil together. What good is the seed in Scripture if it is never sown? And what good is the soil of our own hearts if it is never planted with that seed?

The success of the sowing depends greatly on the kind of soil. As the soil is, so is the response to the seed. God’s word is to us a savor of life leading to life, or of death leading to death, according to how we receive it.

The devil is a sly and bitter enemy. He makes it his work to keep us from benefiting from God’s word. He takes the word out of careless hearers’ hearts, so they may not believe and be saved (Luke 8:12). This teaches us, first, that we cannot be saved unless we believe. The gospel word will not save us unless it is joined with faith. Second, it shows that the devil does everything he can to keep us from believing. He tries to keep us from believing what we read or hear. If we notice it for a moment, he works to make us forget it again and let it slip away (Hebrews 2:1). If we remember it, he stirs up prejudice against it or distracts us with something else. All this is done so that we will not believe and be saved, and so that he may keep us from believing and rejoicing, while he himself believes and trembles.

Where God’s word is heard carelessly, it is often treated with contempt as well. The parable says the seed that fell by the roadside was trampled down (Luke 8:5). Those who deliberately shut their ears against the word in effect trample it underfoot. They despise the Lord’s command.

Those on whom the word makes some impression, but not a deep or lasting one, will show their hypocrisy in a time of testing, like seed on rocky ground where it has no root (Luke 8:13). For a while they believe, but only for a short time. Their profession promises something, but when temptation comes they fall away from their good beginnings. Whether the temptation comes through the world’s praise or its threats, they are easily overcome.

The pleasures of this life are just as dangerous as thorns that choke the good seed of the word. This is added here (Luke 8:14), though it is not in the other Gospel accounts. Those who are not trapped by the cares of this life or deceived by riches, and who even boast that they are beyond them, may still be kept from heaven by a chosen laziness and a love of comfort and pleasure. Even lawful pleasures can ruin the soul if they are enjoyed too much and loved too deeply.

It is not enough for fruit to appear. It must come to full ripeness. If it does not, it is as if there were no fruit at all. What Matthew and Mark call unfruitful, Luke describes here as bringing no fruit to perfection. A work is not truly done if it does not continue to the end.

The good ground that produces good fruit is an honest and good heart, one well prepared to receive instruction and command (Luke 8:15). It is a heart free from sinful corruption and firmly set toward God and duty. It is an upright heart, a tender heart, and a heart that trembles at the word. Such a heart hears the word, understands it, receives it, and keeps it. Matthew says it understands it, Mark says it receives it, and Luke says it keeps it. The soil not only receives the seed, it holds it. The stomach not only receives food or medicine, it keeps it.

Where the word is well kept, fruit is brought forth with patience. Luke adds this too. There must be patience in suffering and patience in waiting. We need patience to endure the trouble and persecution that may come because of the word. We also need patience to keep going in doing good until the end.

In light of all this, we must take care how we hear (Luke 8:18). We must watch out for anything that keeps us from benefiting from the word. We should guard our hearts while hearing, so they do not mislead us. We should be careful not to hear carelessly or only half-heartedly. We should also guard against any prejudice toward the word we hear. And after hearing, we must watch our spirits closely, so we do not lose what we have gained.

He then gives needed instruction to those appointed to preach the word, and also to those who have heard it. Those who have received the gift must use it in service to others.

Ministers who have been trusted with the gospel, and believers who have grown through the word and are now fit to help others, should see themselves as lit candles. Ministers must spread their light through serious and public preaching, and Christians should do so in kind, familiar conversation, because a candle should not be covered with a container or placed under a bed (Luke 8:16). Ministers and Christians are meant to be lights in the world, holding out the word of life. Their light should shine before people. They should not only be good, but also do good.

We should expect that what is now done in secret, and from hidden motives, will soon be brought into the open and made known (Luke 8:17). What has been entrusted to you in secret should be made known by you, because your Master did not give you gifts to bury, but to use. Let what is now hidden be made known, because if you do not reveal it, it will be revealed against you, as proof of your unfaithfulness.

The gifts we have will either remain with us or be taken away, depending on whether we use them for God’s glory and for the good of our brothers and sisters. “Whoever has, to him more will be given” (Luke 8:18). The person who has gifts and uses them well will receive more. The person who buries his talent will lose it. In Mark, it says, “From him who has not, even what he has will be taken away,” and in Luke, “even what he seems to have” will be taken away. This means that grace that is lost was only seeming grace, never true grace. People only seem to have what they do not use, and mere outward religion will be lost and forfeited. “They went out from us, but they were not of us” (1 John 2:19). Let us make sure that we have grace in sincerity, the true root of the matter within us. That is a good part that will never be taken away from those who truly have it.

There is also great encouragement for those who show themselves faithful hearers of the word by doing the work it requires. This appears in Christ’s special care for his disciples, when he placed them even above his nearest relatives (Luke 8:19-21), a story we have seen before. Notice, first, how the crowd pressed around Christ. So many people were gathered that there was no easy way to get near him, and yet they would not let the crowd push them away from his teaching.

Some of his closest relatives cared least about hearing him preach. Instead of coming in and taking a place, as they could have done if they had arrived in time and wanted to hear him, they stood outside, wanting to see him. Probably, out of a foolish concern that he might wear himself out by speaking too much, they meant only to interrupt him and make him stop.

Jesus preferred to stay at his work rather than leave it to visit with his friends. He would not stop preaching to speak with his mother and brothers, because doing the Father’s work was his delight. Christ is pleased to call those his nearest and dearest relations who hear God’s word and do it. They are closer to him than even his mother and brothers.