The Gospel According to Luke – Chapter 5

In Luke
4:31 Jesus teaches at the synagogue in Capernaum on the
Sabbath. For the first time, Jesus publicly commands an unclean
spirit to listen to Him, and instantly it comes out of the man. This
very important event along with the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law
are the first episodes that bring Jesus into the public eye as a
healer and miracle-worker. These form a turning point Jesus’
ministry, for He is now unable to travel anywhere without large
crowds following Him.

In Chapter 5, Luke opens
with the catching of a multitude of fishes and Peter’s confession on
the Sea of Galilee where, amidst a tremendous haul of
flopping fish, Peter becomes convicted, kneels down and asks Jesus to
leave the boat (without realizing that there is no place to go). John’s
Gospel tells us that Jesus knows Peter before this event, but
Luke here highlights the moment where Jesus first breaks through to
the man who would become the Rock.

In verse 12, Jesus heals a
man with leprosy, an event which compels "great multitudes
gathered to hear and to be healed of their infirmities. But he
withdrew to the wilderness and prayed." Because the recipients
of Jesus’ miracles do not heed his words to "tell no one,"
the crowds that follow Him become increasingly burdensome.

The healing of the paralytic is the dramatic moment that turns the
Pharisees against Jesus. Luke says "the
power of the Lord was with him to heal," a subtle reminder that
Jesus did not even do miracles unless they were in accord with the
will of the Father (v. 17). The room being full of dignitaries and
scholars, earnest men creatively carry a paralytic up to the roof,
seeking to bring him in through it and lay him before Jesus. One
must note that Jesus "saw their faith," the faith of the
majority in the crowd, before saying, "Man, your sins are
forgiven you." Because God alone can forgive sins, this miracle
forces all to decide whether He is God’s chosen one or a blasphemer.

Luke then describes the
call of Levi the tax collector, commanding him to "follow me"
(v. 27). The Pharisees and scribes murmur at this, and Jesus
responds, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but
those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance" (v. 31-32). His indictment of their
maligned form of religion truth brings to mind the words of Fulton
Sheen, "those who deny the disease make the cure impossible."

We close with the incident
of verse 33, when they question "the disciples of John fast
often and offer prayers, and so the disciples of the Pharisees, but
yours eat and drink."

And Jesus said to them,
"Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with
them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from
them, and then they will fast in those days." He told them a
parable also: "No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts
it upon an old garment; if he does, he will tear the new, and the
piece from the new will not match the old. 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. But new wine
must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine
desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good…’" (36-39)

Jesus makes it clear that He has not come to fit inside ordinary Judaism,
but to transform the establishment entirely in accord with the
Father’s will. All too often, those who are the most invested in
traditional ways are the most unwilling to give up their old wine and
accept God’s challenging
invitation to new wine.

As we read of Jesus coming
into Galilee, we must digest these verses and examine where we stand
with God, asking Him what we must to do follow Him. We must be like Levi,
a man undoubtedly engrossed in the world who left everything to follow
Him. Will we be among those religious that don’t leave their
comfortable lifestyle to follow Him, or will we respond to Jesus in a
credible way and amend our lives?