Chapter BY Chapter

Luke 5 – The Good News Message

​

This passage is as follows:

 

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, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.  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.  And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”  And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!  But at your word I will let down the nets.”  And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.  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.  But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”  For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 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.”  And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

 

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.”  And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him.  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.”  But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities.  But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

​

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.  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, 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.  And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”  And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?”  When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?  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.”  And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God.  And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

 

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth.  And he said to him, “Follow me.”  And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

 

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.  And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”  And Jesus answered them, “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.”

 

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.”  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 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.  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.’”

 

(End of passage)

 

In chapter 4, we saw that Jesus was tempted of the devil, much in the ways that we are tempted.  Yet, Jesus did not sin.  It mentioned that Jesus preached the good news from Galilee all the way down to Judea.  While he was at Nazareth, his home town, he was not accepted as Messiah as he claimed.  Yet, whenever he cast out demons, they said, “I know who you are – the Holy One of God,” or they said, “You are the son of God!”  Jesus healed everyone that was brought to him and believed that he could heal them.  The people in Capernaum didn’t want Jesus to leave them, and almost prevented him from leaving, but Jesus convinced them that he must preach the good news in other towns as well.

 

Before Jesus leaves, it might be a good idea if he has some disciples to help him out.  So, let’s see how he gets his first 3 disciples.

 

Verses 1-11,

 

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, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.  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.  And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”  And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!  But at your word I will let down the nets.”  And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.  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.  But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”  For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 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.”  And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

​

Now this story seems to be a little different in the other gospels.  Luke calls this the sea of Gennesaret, while the other gospels call this the sea of Galilee.  Gennesaret was the Greek name for this sea.  This tells us that Luke is writing his gospel for the Greeks or Gentiles.  The other gospels do not tell about catching 2 boats full of fish at this time, or that Jesus sat in one of the boats and taught.  Mark simply says that Jesus was walking by and said to Peter and Andrew, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”  The gospel according to John has Peter and Andrew following Jesus right after his baptism.  Are these contradictions?  These are not contradictions.  There is no reason why Peter and Andrew could not have followed Jesus from his baptism and then received a fuller calling later.  There is also no reason why Luke could not have written the more detailed account of Peter’s calling with the story about the catch of fish, and the others wrote the condensed version.  Peter receives 3 distinct callings.  First, he becomes a follower of Jesus right after the baptism of Jesus.  Second, he becomes an evangelist after the big catch of fish.  Third, he becomes an apostle in Matthew 10:1-4, when Jesus gave him authority to heal and cast out evil spirits.  If you are a follower of Jesus, are you automatically an evangelist?  If you are a follower of Jesus, are you automatically an apostle?  You can be just a follower and do some evangelism.  You can be just a follower and someone gets healed when you pray for them.  The 12 disciples held the position of evangelists.  They were commissioned and sent to be the first proponents of preaching the gospel.  The 12 disciples of Jesus were also commissioned to be special apostles.  Nearly everyone they prayed for to be healed was healed.  Should we do the work of an evangelist?  Certainly.  Should we do the work of an apostle?  Certainly.  Some of us may have other gifts of the spirit, which we do more of such as teaching, comforting, prophesying, leading, administrating.

​

Now there are two things that stand out in this passage that is different than the other similar passages of this calling.  First, we note that Jesus tells them to put their nets out into the deep and that they have partners in the “other” boat.  These two facts tell us that they are drag netting.  Peter says that they have been fishing all night and caught nothing.  This makes it seem as though the sea was all fished out since drag netting pulls in anything and everything.  Secondly, when Peter sees the catch that happened at the direction of Jesus, he falls down and says to Jesus, “Depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”  So how does Jesus react to this?  Does Jesus say, “Get out of here, ya filthy animal?  Rat-tat-tat!”  No!  Jesus forgives Peter of his sin and says, “Do not be afraid.  From now on you will be catching men.”  So the men finally pull in this huge haul of fish that almost sank two boat, and what do they do?  They leave it all there to go and follow Jesus.

​

Let’s see what they encounter next.

 

Verses 12-16,

 

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.”  And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him.  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.”  But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities.  But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

​

What is the significance of this paragraph?

1. Jesus could heal at will.

2. Jesus only needed to say a command and the leper was immediately healed.

3. Jesus told the leper to tell no one, but go to the priests as a “proof” to them.

4. Instead the report of Jesus went abroad even more.

5. The proof given to the priests may be the reason the report of Jesus went abroad even more.

 

Now if the news was spread by the priests, what would one expect could happen after that?  Let’s see what happens next.

 

Verses 17-26,

 

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.  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, 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.  And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”  And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?”  When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?  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.”  And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God.  And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

 

So, the priests received proof of Jesus’ healing a leper and now even the Pharisees and teachers of the law are coming to hear Jesus from every village in Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem.  As usual, there is a great crowd and some people bringing a paralytic can’t get in the house to bring him to Jesus.  So they take out some tiles on the roof and let the man down before Jesus.  Most likely these were clay roof tiles.  Here are some pictures of some 1st century roof tiles.