Luke Chapter Five
The First Disciples Chosen
5:1 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
Luke describes a large crowd that had gathered to listen to Jesus speak the word of God along the shore of lake Gennesaret (Sea of Galilee),[1] probably near Capernaum (Simon Peter’s hometown). As the crowd grew, they began to press in on Jesus. Seeing two fishing boats on the shore with their crew away cleaning their nets, Jesus got into one of the boats, and asked Simon, the boat’s owner, to move the boat just a little distance off the shore. Jesus then sat down and taught the people from the boat.
5:4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.
When Jesus concluded His teaching, He asked Simon to go out into the deep waters and drop the nets for a catch. Simon quickly quipped back that they had been out all night and didn’t catch a single fish. But out of respect, Simon said he would do as he was asked. When he did, they encountered more fish than the nets could handle. They signaled the other boat to come and help them. Soon both boats were so full of fish that they began to sink.
5: 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11 And when they had d brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
Luke now appends ‘Peter’ to Simon’s name, a name that will be given to him later by Jesus[2]. Recognizing that this enormous catch of fish was not normal and could only be explained as being supernatural, Simon fell down before Jesus. By calling Him ‘Lord’, Simon understood that Jesus was in some manner sent by God. He told Jesus to depart from him for he was a sinful man. Jesus replied, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”
All of the fishermen that participated (Simon, James, and John) were astonished at the number of fish caught. As ‘seasoned’ fishermen they would have recognized quickly that this was something extremely unusual and was undoubtedly granted by God. So when Jesus asked them to follow Him, they left everything behind to follow Him.
A Leper Cleansed
[Text parallels Matthew 8:2-4 and Mark 1:40-45]
5:12 While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 13 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. 14 And he charged him to tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” 15 But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. 16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.
None of the gospel writers record where this event takes place, here Luke simply states it was in one of the cities (they are still in the Galilee region). A leper sees and recognizes Jesus, he asks Him if He is willing to heal him and Jesus said He was indeed willing. With just the words, “Be clean,” (Greek ‘katharisthēti’,[3] to cleanse, make clean) the leprosy was gone.[4] Jesus instructed him to show himself to a priest and make an offering for his cleansing as required by the law (see Leviticus chapter 14). He also told the man to not tell anyone about the cleansing. Luke adds that the news about Jesus’ healing and preaching spread even further as large crowds continued to gather to listen to Jesus and be healed. Luke also records that Jesus would regularly withdraw from the crowds and find a desolate place to pray.
A Paralytic Healed
[Text parallels Matthew 9:1-8 and Mark 2:1-12]
5:17 On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal.
One of the days Jesus was teaching in Capernaum (see Mark 2:1), a large contingent of Pharisees and teachers of the law (scribes, see verse 21 below) had come from all around Galilee and Judea. Luke makes a special note that some were from Jerusalem, possibly inferring high-ranking leaders.
The last sentence of this verse is widely interpreted. Some believe that the word ‘Lord’ refers to the ‘divine’ Jesus which gave the ‘human’ Jesus power to heal, a concept not supported elsewhere in the Bible. If the word ‘Lord’ is considered to be like the tetragrammaton found in the Old Testament,[5] rendering YHWH (the name of God) as ‘LORD’, the word ‘Lord’ here would then represent God the Father, who gave Jesus the power to heal, likely through the Holy Spirit just as Luke has previously noted (see Luke 4:1).
5:18 And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, 19 but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. 20 And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” 25 And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. 26 And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”
A paralyzed man was brought to Jesus in a rather unusual way, having four men carrying him lying on a bed (see Mark 2:3). Unable to reach Jesus due to the crowd, they decided to bring the man up on the roof and lower him down before Jesus.[6] When Jesus saw the man and the effort taken to bring the man to Him, He could see that they each had faith that He could heal the man. However, before healing, Jesus proclaims to the man that his sins were forgiven (none of the gospel accounts of this event state why Jesus began with this statement, some believe that the man may have been burdened with the guilt of past sins, but likely to prompt the following question).[7] The scribes and Pharisees immediately begin to question Jesus’ authority by asking, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” In their minds Jesus just overstepped His authority and was guilty of calling Himself God. Jesus perceiving what they were saying and thinking, asked them why they were questioning and offers a demonstration that will establish not only the fact that He has the authority to forgive sins, He is indeed God. He asks them which is easier, to say “Your sins are forgiven,” or “Rise up and walk?” He then announced, so that everyone there can see that He does have the authority to forgive sins, turned to the man on the bed and said, “Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” The man got up and did what Jesus said and glorified God on the way home. The crowd was amazed by what they saw and heard, being filled with awe they glorified God as they recognized that they just witnessed something extraordinary (undeniably supernatural).
Jesus Calls Levi to Follow Him
[Text parallels Matthew 9:9-13 and Mark 2:13-17]
5:27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
Jesus comes up to a tax collector named Levi who was sitting at a tax booth and tells Levi to follow Him. Levi then left everything and began to follow Jesus.
5:29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."
Possibly later that same day, Levi prepares a great feast for Jesus and His disciples at his house. Invited also were a number of other tax collectors and sinners.[8] They were all reclining at the same table with Jesus, who was still being followed by the Pharisees and scribes. Seeing Jesus eating with these people, the Pharisees and scribes ‘grumbled’ (Greek ‘egongyzon’,[9] an onomatopoeic word derived from the sound made while muttering under one’s breath) to Jesus’ disciples asking them, why do they eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? Jesus answered them that those who are healthy have no need to see the doctor, but those that are sick do need to see the doctor. He further explains, He did not come to call the righteous, instead He came to call sinners to repentance. Something every Christian needs to be mindful of, as they need to be willing to go where God wants them to go, including witnessing to people who might be classified as blatant sinners.
Jesus Asked Why His Disciples are Not Fasting
[Text parallels Matthew 9:14-17 and Mark 2:18-22]
5:33 And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” 34 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” 36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’ ”
Luke appears to be implying that the Pharisees and scribes ask this question, inquiring why Jesus’ disciples do not fast. Matthew records this question being asked by John’s disciples (see Matthew 9:14), while Mark identifies those asking as being an unidentified group of people. Whether this is one event or three separate events, Jesus explains using the same illustrations.
By referring to Himself as the bridegroom, He is pointing out that while He is present with His disciples, there is no need for them to seek Him in prayer and fasting. But after the bridegroom departs, that will be the time for prayer and fasting. Understanding that the one of the main roles of fasting with prayer would have been to ask for the Messiah to come, He was saying that since He was there, fasting was temporarily no longer required. But now after returning to heaven we once again await for Him and should be pleading for His return to earth with fasting and prayer.
In the second illustration, Jesus offers a quick lesson on which wineskin should be used for new wine and which one to be used for old wine. He then associates the lesson to Him fulfilling the law given to Moses, a new approach where God, not man, provides everything for mankind's salvation.[10] The content of verse 39 is not seen in any of the other accounts of this event. It reads, “And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’ ” This verse highlights a problem that Jesus had to constantly fight, and is still an issue for churches and Christians today. Perhaps summarized as “people like tradition,” or maybe we can say, “no one likes change,” it emphasizes that it is difficult to get people to accept something different. That includes how one views salvation.
False religion deadens the spiritual senses. Far enough into the drinking experience, the drinker does not care about the taste of the wine. It is one of the chief ways that the “god of this world [blinds] the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:4). Like wine drinkers sloshing their familiar drink, people stubbornly cling to their comfortable religious traditions, and have little or no interest in the new, fresh saving truth of the gospel.
For those unwilling to leave their false religions and embrace the gospel, there is no hope of salvation (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). The church’s goal is not to make unbelievers comfortable in their false religious systems or to help them assimilate Jesus into those systems. The commission the Lord gave to the church is to “go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:19–20).[11]
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[1] See commentary under Matthew 4:18-20.
[2] See commentary under Matthew 16:18.
[3] Strong’s Greek 2511.
[4] See commentary under Matthew 8:1-4 regarding touching a leper. See also Considerations under the same section “Leprosy.”
[5] See Considerations under Matthew 1:22-25 “Tetragrammaton.”
[6] See commentary under Mark 2:1-4.
[7] See also commentary under Mark 2:5-9.
[8] See commentary under Mark 2:15-17.
[9] Strong’s Greek 1111.
[10] See commentry under Matthew 9:14-17.
[11] MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2009). Luke 1–5 (pp. 342–343). Chicago: Moody Publishers.