Welcome to day 5, Chapter 5! This chapter packed in a lot of stuff, so apologies in advance for the longer-analysis. As I read through this chapter, I found myself focusing on four themes. So I apologize in advance, because this one is going to be a bit long. But it is important to talk through these items. What I found was themes on:
- “Follow Me”
- Jesus’s Power to Heal
- Jesus’s Power to Forgive Sin
- The Old vs The New
“Follow Me”
There are a number of important things we can learn from this simple account of the calling of Peter and others. Some things that come to mind relate to:
- Yielding our possessions to the Lord will allow us to see how He can use them for His glory. Peter did this by allowing Jesus use his boat as a pulpit to teach the multitude. This allowed him to be rewarded with such a great catch of fish.
- The secret to success… being guided by the Lord. Peter and company had “toiled all night and took nothing.” But at the direction of the Lord, they were able to take in a great catch “so that they began to sink.”
- Their nets were filled “deep” waters. We too need to stop hanging out by the sea shore and launch out into the deep. Faith has deep waters, but so does suffering, sorrow, and loss. It is in the difficult times of life that our faith is tested, strengthened and grows.
- Having a correct attitude about sin. Peter humbly and meekly responds to his sin in repentance and has the correct attitude. We too need ot have this attitude towards our own sin and respond to it how God would want us to respond, with repentance.
- Peter was pulled into the work of the Lord while engaged in traditional employment. If you are waiting for guidance, do what your hand finds to do and do it with all your might. Do all things for the glory of the Lord (Phil)). A rudder can only guide a ship while it is in motion. Turning the wheel while the boat is docked is of no good. So it is with us, God will guide us as we are in motion.
Looking later at the calling of Levi, we see a similar situation. If you didn’t know, but a publican was a tax collector. And in the Roman context, a tax collector would have been allowed to extort money from the people. This was a common practice and is why the Jews rejected them. If you became a tax collector, you were outcast from normal Jewish society and could only talk with other tax collectors and “sinners” (a common euphuism for prostitutes).
Peter, James, and John were called into the service of the Lord on the day they took in their biggest catch. They had so much riding on this one decision. The men could have easily stayed with the catch and took in a huge prophet. The same goes for Levi. He was a well-off, successful man in hsi career. Instead of choosing what the world had to offer them, they chose to accept Jesus’s invitation of “Follow me.”
This is so simple, but so important to us in our walk with the Lord. If these men had stayed behind, we probably wouldn’t have had this account in our Bible’s today, or this would have been the only time we heard about these men. So to with us. If we don’t follow the Lord, our account, our testimony, or work, will be in vein and will be lost in eternity.
Jesus’s Power to Heal
As we read through Luke, the doctor in him comes out as he describes the aliments of others. For example, Luke mentions that the leper was “full of leporsy.” which means it was an advanced case and seemed hopeless. The man comes to Jesus with no doubt. He says to Jesus; “You can make me clean.” He was coming to Christ and expressing that he had no right to be healed, but he was trusting in the mercy and grace of Jesus to do the healing. Then, in an instant, with one touch, likely the first human touch this man had felt in YEARS, he is completly healed.
Jesus charges this man to tell no one, but to go to the priest and present the offer prescribed by Moses (Lev. 14:4). Remember back to Luke 4:25-27, when Jesus mentioned the healing of the Gentile, Naaman. According to the Jews, the healing of a Jew from this disease was considered to be one of three Messianic miracles. That is a miracle that only the Messiah could accomplish. What made this a Messianic Miracle was that no one had ever done such a thing. Upon the healing of a leper, the Jews would start an 8-week investigation. This would have been a testimony to all the priests that the Messiah was in their presence. However their hearts were blinded in unbelief.
Jesus’s Power to Forgive Sin
I love the account of Jesus healing hte paralytic. Here is this man who has never waleked and his frinds find that the best method to getting him to Jesus was to rip off the roof. Then, Jesus taking notice of the faith that would go to such lenghts to bring this man to His attention, what does He do? He heals the guy right away….NO! He simply says to him “Man your sins are forgiven” (Luke 5:20). This is unprecendented! The Pharisees and scribes know that only God can forgive sin. What Jesus has just done is CLAIM TO BE GOD! If he can’t back this up, that is blasphemy. Because anyone can just say words like “your sins are forgiven.” There’s no way to prove that someone one actually has the “power” to forgive. Those are just words that anybody can say. Some people and religions get so tripped up in thinking that the religious leaders can “absolve” or forgive someone of their sins. The scribes and Pharisees ask the right question “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Lk. 5:21). If your religion says that you have to go to a man to recieve forgiveness of your sins, then they need to pick up their Bible and read what it actually says…
Jesus then proceeds to prove to them that He has the power to forvie the man’s sins by telling him to “Rise and walk.” And that is exactly what the man did next. Jesus did the harder to prove the easier… In other words Jesus put his money where His mouth is.
This begins the observation phase of the Pharisaic investigation of Jesus. The decision at hand, to accept or reject Jesus as the Messiah. The Pharisees will go back to Jerusalem and report back the things that they heard and saw. From this report, they will begin the second stage of their investigation into if Jesus is the Messiah or not. From now, until Israel rejects Him, Jesus will always have a Pharisee following him and asking questions. We see this begin in the next section with the call of Levi and the questioning over fasting. knowing the process of investigation will build a framework that explains Jesus’s actions in coming passages.
The Old vs The New
Luke chapter 5 wraps up with the Pharisees moving into the second phase of their process of investigation Jesus as the Messiah. They begin to openly question Him. Jesus will answer the Pharisees with a few parables. These parables are ushering in a new dispensation to the overall plan God has for the world.
The First Parable
In Luke 5:56, Jesus brings the point of not mixing garments. The new garment is a picture of the dispensation of Grace that is coming into play. The old garment refers to the dispensation of the Mosaic Law. The tow are incompatible, and any attempt to mix law and grace will result in the ruin of both. Jesus is not going to bolt on Christianity to Judaism, but Christianity is the fulfillment of the Mosaic Law and the next logical progression. The Law still tells us about God’s nature and His plan for the fulfillment and forgiveness of sins.
The Second Parable
Luke 5:37-38 brings in the next parable about putting “new wine into old wineskins.” The fermentation process creates pressure on the skins. The old wineskins are not able to bear this and will burst, causing one to loose the wine that they put in it. The Oral Traditions, rituals, prescribed scarifies etc. of Judaism were too rigid to hold the joy coming with the new dispensation of Grace. This is portrayed in the excitement seen in Levi when he is called to be a disciple of Jesus. The old wineskins are a picture of the formalism of the Pharisees which cannot hold.
The Third Parable
The final parable, in Luke 5:39, pictures the natural reluctance of men. It shows how man has a hard time leaving the “old way” of doing things for the “new way”. That is, religion and all the rules and regulations that come with it, instead of the grace of the New Covenant. I like this quote from John Darby:
A man accustomed to forms, human arrangements, father’s religion, etc., never likes the new principle and power of the kingdom.
J.N. Darby
This warning stands to us today. We need to carefully evaluate the religions of today and rightly divide the Word of Truth. If any religion goes contrary to the Bible, then we, need to be willing and open to leaving the old traditions for the newness of grace. There is a hope found in Jesus Christ that no religion of man can fulfill.
Reflection…
Reflecting on this chapter, the overarching theme is on following Jesus. He is the one with the power to heal our wounds and forgive us of our sins. No religion, “religious act”, sacrament or other human can do that for us. Let us turn our eyes and hearts towards Jesus Christ.
