The Numbers in Nine

The ninth chapter of the gospel of Luke is a chapter of numbers. Let us list and consider these numbers. There were the twelve disciples, the two coats, the five loaves and two fishes, and the five thousand men – a number we should keep in mind whenever we read about 'multitudes' or 'throngs'. Then there was the number fifty; Jesus had his disciples manage the crowd, seating them in groups of that number with space enough between for the disciples to move freely. Finally, there were the twelve baskets.

Twelve is used twice, being concerned firstly with a connection to Jesus and secondly to the evidence of miracles – and not the first miracle of that day for Christ had been healing people all day. We see an unmistakable link between the twelve who belonged to Christ and the twelve that proved the miraculous power of the divine.

Two is used twice, firstly as advice not to overstock, but to allow for whatsoever might happen and secondly for the pitifully insufficient amount of fish in the face of such monumental need. There is a link here, as well. The meaning to be derived from either is not to control the miraculous but to allow for it, to serve it if need be.

We come to the five, the five thousand, and the fifty. In the tradition of Jewish numerology, known as gematria, five is the number of protection and grace, fifty is the number for the jubilee, meaning atonement, liberty, and freedom. Five thousand is not especially Jewish, in regard to their gematria, but one may see a vague reference to the plate mail that contained five thousand shekels of brass. Such a reference might also put protection in mind.

Five thousand has no numerological meaning, per se, however, one thousand symbolizes the multitude. Five thousand might then stand for grace to the multitude. Doubtless, Jesus' multitude was larger than the men who were numbered. There were also women and children. To help the reader get his or her head around such a number, the Shrine Auditorium, and Expo Hall, in Los Angeles, California, has a seating capacity of some 6,300 individuals. In terms of required space, it uses 54,000 square feet.

The number five, in some form or other, is used three times between verses one and seventeen. Jewish gematria, while it may not include five thousand, does concern itself with the number 555. Their word for it translates as 'an eagle' and specifies a swift attack. From the Greek, we derive the meaning 'discernment of spirits'. Another Greek word that adds up to 555 can mean 'desire', which might reference, for our purposes, the multitude that Jesus fed – but it can also mean 'sacrifice'.

A final interesting aside about the gematria meaning of 'an eagle' – Israel's 1970's fighter jet, Nesher (Eagle), was replaced by the American-made F-15 Eagle.

Maintaining Our Focus

It must be obvious, for those who've read my recent studies, that I've wandered somewhat afield of the topic of parables. Indeed, that was my original point of embarkation, but I feel we must maintain our focus wherever we turn our attention, for definition is essential to any scripture that is normally raced past without due contemplation.

And so, I continue, arriving now at the ninth chapter of Luke. If a man recites the numbers one through three and having just finished the first number of the three, we may not apply the word 'then' to his recitation of the last numeral. If we say, “He said one, then he said . . .”, we must apply the word then to the next numeral in line.

'Then' is defined thus: next in order of time; next in order of place. Chapter nine of Luke begins with the word 'then'. We must stop long enough to ask ourselves what this beginning follows. Jesus had just returned from the Decapolis to find the crowd patiently awaiting his return. This should indicate to us that Jesus sailed back to the place from which he had departed – the place where he healed the woman with the issue of blood and raised the only daughter Jairus.

From the city of Nain in the lower Galilee, Jesus had set about to go, as it says in Luke 8:1, “throughout every city and village.” His journey took him from the lower Galilee to a place on the coast of the lake from which he could sail across to the Decapolis and then back again. Most have Jesus sailing north to south and back again. I rather think the narrative keeps him in the lower Galilee. My own thought is that Jesus sailed across from Tiberius, or that general area, and back again.

We come to the word 'then' at the beginning of chapter nine. What better place to bring up Herod than in his own capitol city. It seems altogether reasonable that if Jesus and his disciples were in Tiberius, and people were being healed, word would get around quickly. Luke 9:9 seems very much like a clue, “And Herod said, John I have beheaded: but who is this, of whom I hear such things? And he desired to see him.” Tiberius was closer to John's stomping grounds along the Jordan than was Capernaum.

It is in this ninth chapter that we find Jesus sending out the twelve to preach and heal in the surrounding cities and towns. One thing we do not often stop to think is this: those twelve disciples were out there doing the same sort of things as Jesus had been doing. They were healing people – performing miracles. And they must have done well for when they returned, in verse 10, they were pleased enough with their first solo flight to tell their Master “all that they had done.”

Very little information is given to the seeker. We are told nothing of where the disciples went or what they did. We can infer from their manner of return that Jesus did not go with them. But, how long were they gone, and what did Jesus do in their absence? If, as I am inclined to think, Jesus was still in the lower Galilee, then he was just a hop, skip and a jump away from Magdala, the home of Mary – which was not that far from the town of Cana, where Jesus attended a certain wedding.

He was not that far from where his family lived. He could have visited home for awhile. So little information – so much imagination. It was alluded to that Herod wanted to meet him. What if he did? Herod certainly had the pull to have a man brought to his palace. Herod had listened to John. Perhaps he wanted to hear what Jesus had to say. Or, perhaps Herod perceived a threat. A conversation between the two would have developed the opinions of each for the other. We find that later, in chapter 13 of Luke, Jesus has, in fact, quite a negative opinion of Herod, calling him a 'fox'.

Fox, as an expression, implies wiliness, trickery, and deceit. These are traits one might determine of another through conversation and interaction. Consider the exchange found in Luke 13:31-32. “Certain” of the Pharisees came to warn Jesus that Herod was plotting to kill him. That was nice of them, but it also brings up the question of Jesus' relationship to the order of the Pharisees. Jesus told them to go back to the Tetrarch and tell him that on the third day he would be “perfected”. One has to stop and wonder what Jesus intended to convey with that word – and why. Herod was Jewish, therefore moved by Jewish custom and religious thought. Although Herod had John killed, we perceive from scripture that Herod, reluctant to execute the prophet, respected and feared the man.

For a Jewish leader, alone between Rome and his own people, yet still connected to his Jewish heritage and culture, what pertinence might the concept of a prophet being 'perfected', or reaching his goal, have. How might have Herod learned of Jesus' goal but through conversation? It is said that when Jesus was sent to Herod by Pilate, Herod desired to see a miracle. Had Herod tried to get a miracle out Jesus way back in chapter nine – perhaps by craft or trickery?

So, was Jesus brave enough to enter Tiberius, the home of Herod, who murdered his cousin John? After his disciples told him all that they had done, Jesus took them to a desert place that belonged to the city called Bethsaida, possibly Bethsaida Julias. Seems rather like a former city gone to ruin, a place where animals grazed. Many argue that it is a location near where the Jordan flows into the lake, and it may be where the baptisms took place. Many also think this is where the five thousand were fed.

As to that, when I explore that number in my next study, I will look also at all the numbers of this chapter.

Picture What You Read

Our habit: read and move on. We read too quickly for our own good. I suggest we slow down. It is common for me to read a sentence two or three times. I'm a very slow reader – I linger. I ask questions. I count alternate possibilities. I form a picture in my mind. One does not seek truth by zipping through a text.

We study Luke 8:40-56. Here, I will ask the reader to slow down and picture what you read. For instance, the crowd that Jesus left behind when he crossed over to the Decapolis waited patiently for his return and received him back with gladness. What should that tell us? Obviously, after the healing of the possessed man, Jesus and those with him could simply have walked down the coast to another town.

When you stop to think about it, it is as if Jesus told them, “wait here, I'll be right back.” Certainly, there are occasions where Jesus traveled by ship and the multitudes ran down the coast to meet him where he stopped. Yet, these did not anticipate his next departure, rather, they stayed in one place and waited patiently.

Now, the story that follows in these verses occurs solely within the parameters of Jesus' walk to Jairus' house. Two miracles occur. That may be enough information to build a sermon around one's predisposition, but there is a bigger picture. There are details which those who zip through fail to see.

Jairus was a ruler of the local Synagogue, a married man with a twelve-year-old daughter. It was his only child. What should that tell us? Had Jairus been married long, a twelve-year-old would have perhaps been the youngest of many children. I see a possibility that Jairus was a young man, and the twelve-year-old was his first child. Otherwise, it is possible that the family had lost children to disease or in childbirth.

This particular leader of the Synagogue made a public display of his desperation. An older leader might have tripped over his pride. As we, the seekers, are forced to move forward without the benefit of sufficient facts, it is the imagination that fills in the blanks. We are not told, at this point in the text, whether Jairus walked with Jesus or ran ahead to be with his daughter. We are told this: “But as he (Jesus) went the people thronged him.”

Anyone who has been in the middle of a large crowd knows that there is a level of noise that is pervasive. One must speak loudly to be heard above the normal susurrus of the crowd. That crowd noise, even whispered, is the result of people talking to and listening to one another. How does one get the attention of a crowd? How does one stop such a self-absorbed movement?

One could throw up their hands and yell, “Hey!” Someone had touched Jesus, and he wanted to know who. His disciples did not have to explain much – it was obvious – but they said to him, 'look around, we're all bumping into each other.' It was a woman with a twelve-year issue of blood (at which point, we must wonder why a double dose of the number 12.)

Jesus had stopped an entire multitude. He had gotten their attention. I imagine there was not so much as a whisper as they listened for what he might say next. Jesus spoke, the disciples answered, the crowd took a step back Just in case the Rabbi was angry (who knows – maybe one of them had accidentally stepped on the heel of his sandal.) The woman, with nowhere to hide, stepped forward and confessed.

Had Jairus been present on the march to his house, he would have had to wait patiently for these events to unfold – all while his little girl lay dying at home. Had I been Jairus, and knowing Jesus agreed to come, I think I would have run back home. However, Jairus did walk with, he did wait while the events unfolded. He did not know that his only child had already died.

The walk to his house might not have been that far. Towns were small in those days. Two things slowed the march, they were the woman with the issue and the crowd. Even as Jesus spoke to the woman, someone came to Jairus to tell him the sad news. Before we move on to that, let us finish with the woman.

The whole account: stopping the crowd, getting their attention, asking who touched him, disciples answering, the woman confessing, and Jesus' response – that all may have taken no more than fifteen minutes. There are two points to consider, and they are related. The first is that Jesus told the woman it was her own faith that had healed her, and yet, (point two:) Jesus claimed to have perceived virtue leaving his person.

We must consider the connection between a faith-based decision and the divine response. They go hand in hand it seems. We must also consider the woman's desperation as parallel to the desperation of Jairus. Finally, let us also consider the physical effect on Jesus. All that depletion of virtue might have left Jesus weak and exhausted. At some future point, the seeker of truth will need to ponder the exact nature of virtue as it seems to be a real quality shared between the physical and spiritual identity.

Now, even after Jairus had been told of the death of his daughter, Jesus insisted they have faith. The woman with the issue had faith and was healed – not only had Jesus made a point of it to the crowd, but Jairus himself heard the same words. He was a witness that the woman's faith had made her whole. In this, we should be warned that none of us may approach an expectation on this order without the corresponding faith.

At the house of Jairus, Jesus allowed no one to go in with him except “Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the mother of the maiden.” Two points assert themselves: first is the list of disciples and second is the location of the mother. This list of disciples seems to be the standard fare. Peter, James, and John are the same three disciples that witnessed the transfiguration and closest to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

If the two faith-related issues involved in these verses are a cue, then we must consider this trio of disciples in the light of faith. Perhaps, while the other disciples administered the everyday operations of Jesus' ministry, Jesus relied more on the trio for faith and spiritual bolstering. We might consider them as his prayer warriors. Their station might have been somewhat akin to that of the men who held up Moses' arms while he divided the sea.

As to the mother of the maiden, we ask why she was not inside weeping over her lost daughter? That she was standing outside the house, and thus able to be allowed in with the rest, seems somewhat less distraught and tragic. Had she come out to meet them at the door? Was she one of those who had come to Jairus with the news? It is a small point, I agree, and you might wonder why I even bring it up. What is a seeker to do with such a small detail? For me, it paints the picture more vividly in the hues of human nature and adds to the veracity of the account.

Six people enter, Jesus, Peter, James, John, and the parents. There are people present in the room where the body lies. Relatives, perhaps, and friends of the family. Professional mourners, I expect. All of them were familiar with death. Others had died, they had gone to comfort other families and other friends. In those days, death was to be expected – more so than in our modern era of medicine.

So, when Jesus claimed the girl only slept, “they laughed him to scorn.” That is some pretty severe laughing, and bitter ridicule. Obviously, the disciples did not laugh – they had already seen him raise the dead. I would not imagine that the parents laughed as their hope for remedy was too dire. Here, we see more of the authority of Jesus – the same authority that stopped the crowd and commanded their immediate attention.

He, the girl, her parents in a tearful embrace, and with his three stalwart companions by his side, Jesus took the hand of the girl and brought her back. Let us go further than most and see the things that others overlook. Jesus was in the habit of being spot-on. He told it like it was. One thing we find in this account, as compared to other dead being raised, Is what Jesus tells the parents. He tells them to feed her. We do not often see that in an account of Jesus raising the dead – and he had said that she only slept. His words are rather like those of a Doctor.

Perhaps the girl had a condition that only looked like death. But, Jesus told the parents one other thing, and it is most curious. He told them to tell no one. Obviously, that didn't happen, but, why would he say such a thing? As soon as the girl came out of the house, it would be known. Jesus had just ejected those who had laughed him to scorn because they knew the girl was dead. They stood outside speaking with people in the crowd.

And the crowd, based on the reputation of the Rabbi, would certainly be expecting something of the kind. We know that Jesus said similar things to others – but, what was it Jesus thought to hide? Unless – such words were reverse psychology. All had heard his words regarding faith. I suppose he preferred that the facts not be reported where they might hinder the growth of faith.

Pigs and Devils

On the shore of Lake Gennesaret, below Mount Hermon, in the city of Hippos, or possibly a town slightly to the north in the Decapolis, Jesus stepped off the ship. He had just calmed the wind and sea. There, he was met by a man possessed of devils. A similar account in the Gospel of Matthew speaks of two possessed men.

The possessed man in the Gospel of Luke, 8:27-38, wore no clothes. He ran wild where the dead were interred. Men had often tried to restrain him, but he had always broken free of his bonds. In today's Western culture, that man might go unnoticed, or even find acceptance. Make no mistake, however, we are reading an account of actual demonic possession. It is described for us in black and white, so, let us examine that description.

The expression “unclean spirit” can be interpreted as 'unclean mind' speaking more of moral abandon than violence or evil intent. Unclean is also a word used in connection with Jewish ceremonial acceptance. For an example, touching a dead body made one ceremonially unclean. The fact that it is said “ for oftentimes it had caught him” denotes a state that was not consistent. Sometimes on and sometimes off might be an apt description of his condition. That the town folk attempted to restrain him, lends itself to several interpretations.

It could be that when the man found himself in his altered state, that he would hurt himself and that might be one reason he was constrained. He could have occasionally hurt others. While that area is normally considered to have been more Greek and Roman than Jewish, it still might have been possible that his state of wild moral abandon was seen as offensive. It might have been that the town folk simply wanted to shut him away from their women and children. It might also have been that his altered state somehow affected their livelihoods. They were hard working gentile swine herders after all.

One of the most important descriptions of his possessed state, however, was the fact that he could speak and reason. When He met Jesus on the shore, Jesus commanded the unclean spirit to remove itself. The man was in one of his possessed states. Yet, even being possessed as he was, he fell to his knees, reasoning and pleading with Jesus in a knowledgeable fashion.

Here is a startling fact: the history of mankind is the history of possession. Man has either been found in his right mind or in his wrong mind. When I say 'mind' you should understand by now that I mean 'spirit'. The spirit, or mind, is non-corporeal, yet, it does its best in connection to a physical vehicle. In the Biblical creation story, we find the physical vehicle (Adam) being enhanced with a spirit (mind) after which he was identified as a 'living soul'.

It may be said that the spirit 'needs' even 'craves' a connection with a physical host. Here, I would remind the reader, in defense of my statement, that Jesus explained that connection in this way in Matthew 12:43, “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walks through dry places, seeking rest, and finding none.” Every spirit needs a home. So sometimes, when the bad spirits find a place that is 'swept', they move all their buddies in with them. Then, to the 'imminent rueage' of a quiet community, these devils begin to party like there is no tomorrow.

So Jesus takes a moment to talk to this guy. He addresses the spirit inside, who names himself Legion because there were many of them. Rather smacks of schizophrenia. Jesus and Legion come to an understanding, in other words, they strike a bargain. They have to come out of the man, but Jesus won't drive them out entirely. Instead, he will allow the spirits (minds) to possess nearby pigs. Every spirit craves a vehicle.

But – was this cunning on the part of the Son of God? Did he know the vehicles would reject the sudden introduction of alien minds? Did he know the brains and bodies would react violently? Or – did Jesus, at that point deliberately drive the pigs into the lake? Here's the thing: the pigs didn't run in circles, and they didn't run in odd directions. As one, the all ran in one direction: down the slope and into the lake. Whether the pigs panicked or the Lord drove them to their deaths, the result was the same. Legion lost his home and was forced to walk through dry places seeking rest and finding none.

Now, the villagers lost their living in this exchange. If they had lost their livelihoods to a normal circumstance, they would have come out in anger rather than fear, but fear the Lord they did, because they knew the man who had been possessed. They had tried and failed to constrain him, yet, here he sat at the feet of a powerful Rabbi whose exploits preceded him. All they could do was ask him to leave and cause no more grief. This man could have lived anywhere, and Jesus could have found a possessed man to save anywhere else. Jesus, for that matter, could have sent the unclean Legion into the birds flying above, but he didn't. He destroyed a herd of nasty pigs. Is there a message in that?

In verse 31, Legion asked that they not be commanded to “go out into the deep.” Yet, when they entered the pigs, the herd ran into the lake and were drowned. We might think of the lake as 'the deep', but on another hand altogether, the deep spoken of in verse 31 might be the definition of the 'dry places' devils seek to avoid. I can imagine the deep as a great void (Luke 16:26) that is neither here nor there. It might be a dark and featureless hell where any spirit (mind) would find great difficulty navigating. We might think of that 'deep' as a bottomless pit or even a lake of burning fiery torment.

How does a spirit navigate such a deep? Indeed, all navigation there may be no more than an attempt to escape. How does one walk without feet or grasp without fingers? How does anyone navigate without a vehicle? We have a saying which may well come from that hellish void, and it goes like this: 'I feel for you; I just can't reach you.'