Luke 5, Miracles, Disciples, Wineskins

Jesus has begun to preach in the region of Galilee, near the town of Capernaum.

Luke 5 : 1-11, Jesus calls Peter, James and John
One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch."

Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets." When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners.

Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

The Lake of Gennesaret is also called the Sea of Galilee.

Jesus will speak from boats on a regular basis.  It may have been a convenient way to speak to a large crowd and may also have reflected the type of people he was trying to reach, people who lived off the lake?

The words Jesus spoke from the boat are not recorded by Luke.  Presumably Jesus spoke a number of different messages that were repeated later.

From Peter's reaction, this experience is miraculous, dramatic, and evidence of the Messiah. Peter's first reaction is fear (agreed!) and recognition of his unworthiness (very natural!) But Jesus seems unconcerned about the sinfulness of Simon Peter.

It is not clear why Jesus chooses these three men.  We know little about them, except Jesus has already healed Simon's mother-in-law.

Luke 5 : 12-16, Jesus heals a man of leprosy & then retreats to pray
While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" And immediately the leprosy left him. 

Then Jesus ordered him, "Don't tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them."

Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Jesus tells the man to go to a priest so that he can complete the Judaic requirements for completing the healing and returning to society.

Why does Jesus tell the man not to tell anyone?

If Jesus is God, why does he have to pray?

Luke 5 : 17-26, Jesus forgives the paralytic
One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."

The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, "Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, "Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, `Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, `Get up and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." He said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home."

Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, "We have seen remarkable things today."

The house, in the desert climate, was probably quite open, and it would be easy for Jesus to be mobbed by a large crowd.  But people often slept on the roofs in the heat. Once on the roof, one could then remove slabs from the rooftop to lower the man down. That would be an easier (and creative) way to reach a man mobbed by a crowd.

What is said about the faith of the paralytic? about the faith of his friends? (Is there a difference?)

The men ask Jesus to heal their friend; he instead forgives his sins. Then when challenged about that statement, he heals the man. Jesus appears to be deliberately contrary here, not following the demands or expectations of the crowd.

Luke 5: 27-32, Jesus calls the tax collector
After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.

Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and `sinners'?"

Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

Jesus picks a tax collector (representative of Rome) to follow him. We are given no explanation for this, but Levi responds with enthusiasm, dropping what he is doing and following Jesus, then later hosting a banquet. At Levi's banquet are, of course, others like him, other tax collectors and their friends. As tax collectors have sold out to the dominating Roman empire, this is a dirty, sinful group.

What do the Pharisees think of Jesus' lifestyle?  How does Jesus respond to this criticism? Why would Luke have been particularly attracted by the answer of Jesus?

Luke 5: 33-39, New wineskins
They said to him, "John's disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking."

Jesus answered, "Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast."

He told them this parable: "No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, `The old is better.'"

The Pharisees continue to complain about Jesus.  No matter what he does, they are upset.

Why is fasting attractive? (Are there legitimate reasons for fasting?  What are they? How/why does one fast?)

In this story, Jesus is clearly the messianic bridegroom who explains that yes, there will be a time of distress and fasting.

In the time of Christ, wine was made by putting the juice from crushed grapes into a flexible bag (a wineskin) and letting the mixture sit and ferment.  As the alcohol was produced, the carbon dioxide byproduct stretched the wineskin.  Once the wineskin was stretched, it could not be used again since a second round of fermentation would burst the now brittle fabric. The "new wineskins" Jesus is preaching is a reformation of Judaism, confronting the commonly accepted teachings of the legalistic Pharisees.

For further thought: Throughout this chapter, Jesus is constantly challenging the status quo. He makes things "New"; he reacts to the society of that day as if he were a divine outsider, making changes, lifting up the hurt and marginalized, creating "new wineskins". Is this consistent with the actions of his followers today?