The New Testament with Commentary Luke 5

By the sea

1 Now it happened, as He had come along the Lake of Genesaret, that the multitude crowded Him to hear the Word of God; 2 He saw two boats standing by the lake (the fishermen were out of them, washing their nets). 3 So He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little from the land.* Sitting down He began to teach the crowds from the boat.

A miraculous catch

4 When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And in answer Simon said to Him, “Master, we have worked hard the whole night and caught nothing, but based on your word I will let down the net.”† 6 When they had done this, they caught such a large number of fish that their net began to tear. 7 So they signaled to their partners who were in the other boat to come help them; they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 Upon experiencing this Simon Peter fell at Jesus' knees,‡ saying, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”§ 9 Because astonishment gripped him and all who were with him at the haul of fish which they had caught; 10 yes, this included James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don't be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” 11 Pulling the boats up on the shore, they left it all* and followed Him.

The hinge: proof, evaluation, rejection

A leper—the proof

12 Now it happened, while He was in one of the towns—a man full of leprosy! Upon seeing Jesus he fell on his face and begged Him, saying, “Lord, if you want to, you can cleanse me!” 13 So He extended His hand and touched him, saying, “I want to; be cleansed!”† Immediately the leprosy left him. 14 Then He ordered him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing just as Moses prescribed, as a testimony to them.”‡

15 However the news about Him spread all the more, and large crowds kept gathering to hear and to be healed by Him of their sicknesses. 16 So He Himself would withdraw into deserted places and pray.§

An examining council—the evaluation

17 Now it happened on a certain day that He was teaching, and there were Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee, and from Judea and Jerusalem, sitting there—and the power of the Lord was there to heal them.*

“Your sins are forgiven”

18 And then, some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a cot, and tried to take him in and place him before Him. 19 When they could not find how to do it, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him with the cot through the tiling into the center, in front of Jesus. 20 Seeing their faith He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you!”†

A ‘discussion’ ensues

21 So the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying: “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”‡ 22 But Jesus perceived their reasonings and reacted by saying to them: “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? 23 Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you’, or to say, ‘Get up and walk!’?§ 24 But that you may know that the Son of the Man* has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralyzed man: “I say to you, get up! Take your cot and go to your house.”

God is glorified

25 Immediately he stood up in front of them, took up what he had been lying on, and set out to his own house glorifying God. 26 Amazement gripped them all and they kept glorifying God; they were also filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”†

Enter Levi (Matthew)

27 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office; and He said to him, “Follow me!” 28 So leaving everything he got up and followed Him.‡ 29 Then Levi made a great banquet for Him at his house; and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining with them.

The Pharisees have a problem

30 Well the scribes and Pharisees complained about them to His disciples, saying, “How can you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?!” 31 So Jesus reacted and said to them: “Those who are healthy have no need of a physician, just those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call righteous people to repentance, just sinners.”

33 Then they said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but yours keep eating and drinking?” 34 So He said to them: “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 But days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then, in those days, they will fast.”

New wine X old wineskins

36 Then He also told them a parable: “No one puts a patch from a new garment on an old one; otherwise, both the new makes a tear and that from the new does not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst those skins and will itself be spilled and the skins wasted. 38 Rather, new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.§ 39 Further, no one having drunk old wine immediately desires new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’ ”

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*5:3 Peter had already spent time with Jesus, so this was natural.

†5:5 Peter was the professional here, and figured he knew better than Jesus, but he does obey. However, Jesus had said to let down ‘nets’ (pl), but Peter let down only one. 2% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, read ‘nets’, to be followed by most modern versions. (Actually, Jesus put ‘let down’ in the plural, so there was at least one other in the boat, unless it was really His intention that both boats should go out.)

‡5:8 Jesus was still sitting in the boat, only now surrounded by fish, probably up to His knees.

§5:8 Do you find Peter's reaction to be curious? No doubt he felt pretty ‘small’ at that point.

*5:11 The hired men took care of the fish, etc. No doubt most of the crowd had stayed to watch, so getting rid of the fish probably was not a problem.

†5:13 “I want to”—beautiful! To actually touch a leper was unheard of, but of course Jesus had no fear of contamination.

‡5:14 As a testimony about what? This would be the first time in the life of the priest that anyone had done this, because lepers did not get better. Who but the Messiah could heal leprosy? That they got the point is indicated by the examining council that is described in verse 17 below.

§5:16 He made sure that He kept in touch with the Father.

*5:17 The eclectic text currently in vogue makes a mess of this statement by changing ‘them’ to ‘him’, following about 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality. ‘Him’ is in the accusative case, as is ‘them’, and is thus the direct object of the verb ‘to heal’. The modern versions that follow the 1% render ‘present with Him to heal’, or some such thing, which the text does not say.

†5:20 Those men were really determined, but they wanted healing, not forgiveness of sins; however, Jesus had His own agenda.

‡5:21 Their theology was not all that bad; they just did not recognize Jesus as God.

§5:23 “Your sins are forgiven” is easier to say, because no one can see if it happened or not. If you say, “Get up and walk!” and he does not, it makes you look stupid.

*5:24 That is what the Text says, “the Son of the Man”, which appears to be a phrase coined by the Lord Jesus to refer to Himself; the phrase does not make very good sense in English, at first glance, but if “the man” refers to pristine Adam and “the son” to an only pristine descendant, it makes great sense. It seems to indicate a perfect human prototype, like Adam was before the fall—the human side of the God-man.

†5:26 Their initial reaction was favorable, but then Jesus went and ate with tax collectors, and that was too much for them.

‡5:28 Wow! Evidently he really did, turning his responsibilities over to his colleagues. Because tax collectors were ostracized by the people, they probably wanted to join the crowds following Jesus, but felt excluded. So a direct invitation to Matthew was all he wanted.

§5:38 I take it that the Lord is saying that a church that has become an ‘old wineskin’ cannot be renewed—any attempt to introduce ‘new wine’ will only result in division and bitterness. Bearers of ‘new wine’ should just start a new congregation. The truth stated in verse 39 is one of the factors. Less than 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “and both are preserved” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).