Read or listen The Gospel of Luke, chapter 5 online (ESV, Bible Gateway)

The closeness of Jesus reveals sin - Luke 5:1-11

This episode reveals to us that there is not just a small difference of degree between man and God, but a vast gulf. Man's natural religiosity thinks that the difference between man and God is recoverable. But the closer man gets to God - or gets to it - the more obvious man's hopeless situation becomes.

We can say that a person does not become a sinner by committing sin - for a person is always already a sinner - but a person "becomes a sinner" when the closeness of Jesus reveals his sinfulness. This is one reason why many people want to flee from Jesus - just like Peter (verse 8).

“Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

Jesus' seemingly foolish advice (verse 4) had proven to be correct. From this Peter understood that Jesus was not only a great preacher, nor even just a miracle worker, but that he was also the Lord of nature. Peter understood that God himself was with him. This incident marked a turning point in Peter's life, as is indicated by the double name in chapter 8: Simon Peter. The old name Simon had been replaced by Peter - the name of the apostle.

It seems like Peter - and his brother Andrew - and John and James, the sons of Zebedee, formed a fishing company: deep-sea fishing required at least two boats. Now the fishermen of both boat companies left their old profession and became fishers of men: to raise them from death to life - no longer the other way around.

Healing of the Leper – Luke 5:12-16

Leprosy was a disease that isolated a person from society. The disease was spread through contact, so those with it were isolated from healthy people (Leviticus 13:45-46). The only contact with other people was with other lepers (Luke 17:11-12). At that time, the term leprosy was used for various skin diseases, so whenever the Bible speaks of leprosy, it is not necessarily the disease we know as leprosy.

The Law had regulations about when someone was considered healed of leprosy (Leviticus 14:1-31), but in the entire Old Testament there are only two accounts of a leper being healed: Numbers 12:10-15 (Moses' sister Miriam) and 2 Kings 5:1-14 (Naaman the Syrian, whom Jesus spoke about in the synagogue in Nazareth).

Lepers were forbidden to enter the city, but in desperation the man came to Jesus contrary to the law (verse 12, although the expression can be interpreted more broadly as "within the city limits," which included areas outside the city walls as well).

The first time after his illness, the man felt someone healthy touch him (verse 13). The man was healed immediately. Jesus sent him to the temple in Jerusalem to offer the sacrifices prescribed by the law. At the same time, the priests of the temple also received a witness that the Messianic era had begun (compare Jesus’ answer to the question of John the Baptist’s disciples in Luke 7:18-23).

At the end of the explanation in chapter four, I already told you one reason why Jesus told the healed to keep quiet about miracles. Here another reason becomes apparent: the stories of miracles caused a huge crowd to come to Jesus, and at that time all the time was in danger of being spent on healing people and there was no time left for preaching the gospel (compare Luke 4:43, Jesus' program proclamation). Today, this is also easily the case: miracles attract people to churches, not the gospel preached there. Yet, we should always remember that there is no more precious and important thing than the gospel.

Who can forgive sins? Luke 5:17-26

Jesus' beginning activity was also noticed in Jerusalem, the Jewish religious center. Clearly, the Pharisees and scribes had not come to see Jesus just out of curiosity, but also to assess the "legality" of his actions, that is, whether they were in accordance with Jewish interpretations of law or not.

The Pharisees were a lay movement, one might say a "revival movement." They were supporters and demanders of strict observance of the law. There were not many of them - according to the Jewish historian Josephus, only about 6,000 - but they were practically the religious leaders of the Jews. The Sadducees were an elite party that was isolated from the common people. The time of the ordinary priests was spent in the sacrificial services of the temple. The teachers of law were professional theologians and lawyers. They interpreted the Old Testament (religious and legal) law. Many of them were Pharisees (Luke 5:30).

When the paralyzed man was suddenly in front of Jesus, it created a situation where Jesus was able to demonstrate who he really was. One of the main teachings of the Pharisees was: "The sick man cannot be healed unless his sins are forgiven" (compare John 9:2). They therefore claimed that illness was a result of sin and the prerequisite for healing was the forgiveness of sins, and this was accomplished through various required sacrifices.

Jesus did exactly as the Pharisees taught: first he forgave the sins of the paralyzed man and then he healed him. But because Jesus did not demand sacrifices or other religious formalities, the Pharisees understood that Jesus was doing something that was permitted - and possible - only to God: he forgave sins "freely."

This issue became central to the dispute between the Pharisees and Jesus. The Pharisees interpreted the signs of Jesus' divinity as blasphemy - after all, they were expecting an earthly Messiah, not a God-Messiah. If Jesus had been only a man, the Pharisees would have been right in their accusations: Jesus mocked God by pretending to be God. But because Jesus was God, he did not mock God. The Pharisees were close to the truth, but unfortunately only close.

Jesus asked a strange question: "Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk?'" This simply means that the forgiveness of sins is something invisible that happens in Heaven, whereas the "effect" of healing was something that everyone could see immediately. If the Pharisees had believed their own teachings, they would have had to admit that Jesus also forgave the man's sins, because the man was healed!

This is where Jesus uses the title "Son of Man" for the first time in the Gospel of Luke. That messianic title comes from Dan 7:13.

What are miracles?

We should not think that Jesus was the Son of God because he performed miracles. On the contrary: he performed miracles because he was the Son of God. A tree is known by its fruits!

So what is a miracle? Many want to explain the miracles of the Bible as simply the result of the ignorance of that time. They say: "Today they would be easily explained." But the miracles described in the Bible - especially the miracles of the Gospels - are above all signs: they showed that God was at work. Therefore, there is no need to look for natural explanations for miracles. They were acts of God. Some of God's acts may be understandable to human reason, some not.

Even today, it is worth remembering that miracles are not the most important thing. God wants (verse 12) to help both the physical and spiritual needs of man, but he does it in his own way. Not all the sick were healed even in the time of Jesus! God also calls us to heal both physical and spiritual "sicknesses." But it is worth always remembering the order of importance: sin is always a more serious illness than physical illness (verse 24).

Where there is forgiveness of sins, there is the kingdom of God.

Their faith

Notice in verse 20 "when he saw their faith", not "his faith". It was a question of the faith of the bearers (Mark 2:3: four men) - and probably also of the one being carried. The fact that they carried the man to Jesus showed their faith. We too can "carry" people before God by praying for them and sharing God's Word with them in various ways. In this way, our faith can produce an equally wonderful outcome: forgiveness of sins and salvation.

Calling the disciples - Luke 5:27 - 6:16

Levi Follows Jesus – Luke 5:27-32

From Damascus to Egypt there was an important road, "the Way of the Sea," which passed near Capernaum. Somewhere along that road was Levi the tax collector, where he collected customs for Herod Antipas. The Jews hated publicans. Publicans were considered traitors, since they were in the service of a foreign government; "they robbed their own people." Often they charged excessive customs fees. This was because the Romans auctioned off the right to collect customs duties on the principle of "the highest bidder wins." The Romans weren't too interested in how much tolls were actually taken, as long as they got their share. This situation tempted the tax collectors to demand too high taxes.

The call of Levi to be a disciple of Jesus is told very briefly. In Aramaic, the invitation contained a play on words: Levi - lava ("follow me"). Publicans were famous for their wealth, so Levi's decision required courage. But as the American missionary Jim Elliot said: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." We must give up everything worldly once. Only faith in Jesus retains its meaning even after death: it gives eternal life.

Luke often emphasizes that the poor accepted Jesus. Levi is an example of how wealth in itself is not an obstacle to entering the kingdom of God, but it can easily become one. Many other things, even if they are good gifts from God, can become an obstacle to entering the kingdom of God, e.g. friends, work, family, hobbies, etc.

The publicans were considered sinners (verse 30) also because they had to do their work on the Sabbath as well, and in their work they had to handle animals and things that were unclean to the Jews. That's why the observers of Jesus resented Jesus and the disciples going to the meal organized by Levi. Jesus responded to the criticism by showing that the idea that a doctor would not have anything to do with the sick was absurd. Likewise, Jesus - the healer of sinners - must be with sinners.

Interesting details

This study guide to the Gospel of Luke will focus on the main points, but here are a few details that demonstrate that a careful reader of the Bible can find a lot in even a short passage.

In verse 31, Luke has changed the Greek word for "healthy" used by Mark and Matthew to another. The word used by Matthew and Mark actually means "strong," whereas Luke's "hygianoon" is a medical term that specifically means healthy. Many times elsewhere, Luke also uses words familiar from the medical world of that time. They are an indication that the author was doctor Luukas.

In verse 32 Jesus says: "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." He clearly does not mean coming from Nazareth to Capernaum, but coming as a man. Here, then, there is a reference to Jesus' pre-existence, which is clearly presented in John 1:1-18 and Phil 2:5-11. The writers of the Bible do not always say everything clearly, "pointing with the finger", but the message can be said indirectly.

Wedding guests do not fast – Luke 5:33-35

When we read Luke, we get the impression that what is told here happened immediately after the previous incident, perhaps even at Levi's dinner. But Mark (Mark 2:18) shows that this story is from another context. From this we can learn two things:
1. Luke was not interested in chronology.
2. Many times the Gospel writers had to leave out a lot of material (compare John 21:25). Unfortunately, it is often difficult for us to notice these "gaps".

The Law of Moses required only one fasting day per year: the Great Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:29-31).

After the exile, it had become customary in Judaism to fast twice a week (compare Luke 18:17): on Thursday (when Moses ascended Mount Sinai) and on Monday (when Moses descended). If one did not fast, one did not break the law. But if you wanted to show you were a good Jew, you had to fast.

Jesus' answer was surprising. The wedding guests had to break the Jewish fasting customs because the wedding lasted a week, and none of the wedding guests were fasting at that time. So there were exceptional situations that prevented fasting. Jesus' answer also had a salvation history perspective: the Jews considered Israel to be the bride of God. If Israel's bridegroom had come, then Jesus was God. Once again, Jesus revealed his divinity. But the opponents of Jesus did not want to attend the wedding, but they wanted to fast. They wanted to stay outside the new covenant.

What is fasting?

Today, when we talk about fasting, we often talk about losing weight. But for the Jews, fasting is a sign of repentance for sin. It is therefore understandable that the disciples of John the Baptist were diligent fasters (verse 33). The essence of Christian fasting is the idea of ​​putting away all unnecessary things so that we can focus on what is essential.

The days will come...

"The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”
(Luke 5:35)

Verse 35 is the first clear announcement in Luke's Gospel of how Jesus' public activity would end (compare Luke 2:34-35). "The taking away of the bridegroom" is a clear reference to the death of the Messiah. The fact that the matter is expressed in the passive means that God is working here (like elsewhere). The will of God led Jesus to the cross.

Three wrong ways - Luke 5:36-39

This parable is easy to understand if you think about two beliefs - "the way of the law" and "the way of grace" - and how they are combined. Jesus presents three wrong ways of combining the two.

1. The first wrong way is to take a little new and a little old (verse 36). This is done by those who think that the gospel is just a new set of laws to replace the old ones.

2. Another wrong way is to try to take both the whole old faith and the whole new faith (verse 37). The skin was usually a whole goatskin sewn together as a "container." The old skin was a hardened "skin" that could not stretch when the new wine was fermented. The gospel is not a complement to the law either. It is something entirely new.

3. The third wrong way is to reject the new (verse 39). There is a lot of "resistance to change" in us, because it is easier to stick with the old than to try the new.

The only right way is to turn to walk a completely new path: to live by grace alone (verse 38).

"For freedom Christ has set us free;
stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.
You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.
For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love."
(Gal. 5:1-6)