Luke 5

Luke 5 JESUS CALLS THE FIRST DISCIPLES – LUKE 5:1-11 LAKE OF GENNESARET – This body of water goes by many names. Numbers 34:11 and Joshua 12:3 call it the Sea of Chinnereth, Luke calls it the Lake of Gennesaret, and most people know it as the Sea of Galilee (John 6:1). JESUS IS TEACHING – Luke makes it a point to show that Jesus is teaching and that Peter and his friends are there while Jesus is teaching. It is good to recognize just how important of a calling this was. Jesus calls Peter, James, and John. All three are fishermen and these three seem to make up Jesus’ closest friends, His inner circle. PETER’S RESPONSE – Notice Peter’s response here. Peter doesn’t seem worthy. Peter a Jew, Peter a leader of the early Church. When he first encounters Jesus he doesn’t seem worthy. Again, for a Gentile audience that might feel unworthy to be loved by the God of the Jews, it is a big deal when they can see that they relate with Peter. That Peter’s first response was one of unworthiness. Peter’s second response is complete obedience. This is the ideal pattern. Recognizing God’s worth and that He is deserving of glory, and falling into complete obedience. Verse 11 says that these three men left everything and followed Jesus. JESUS CLEANSES THE LEPER – LUKE 5:12-16 LEPROSY – When we hear leprosy we immediately jump to modern day leprosy. Why wouldn’t we? It only makes sense. But the reality of it is this word could have meant a variety of different diseases from psoriasis all the way to what we consider modern day leprosy. It is hard to be sure exactly what the skin condition is unless we are given more information. What we do know is that this man is at the end of his emotional rope. He falls on his face begging Jesus for help. Notice His words, “Lord, if you will.” He knew that God could, but he also knew that God might not. You might have heard that if you just “have enough faith” God WILL heal you. It is true that God CAN heal you, but that does not mean that God will definitely heal all of our physical ailments in this life. He has done what is necessary to restore us from sin and He will give us glorified bodies in eternity. But right now, He can but that doesn’t always mean that He will. WHY NOT? – That typically leads to, “why not?” If God can, then why won’t He? This is an impossible question to really fully answer. God knows things we don’t, He sees things we can’t, He understands things that we will never understand. God is a good God, who is in control, and we have to trust His good and perfect will. NOTES Luke 5 JESUS TOLD HIM NOT TO TELL ANYONE – Why did Jesus do this? In chapter 4 we see Jesus silencing demons and now He is telling people not to spread the good news of Him being a miracle worker. Look at verse 15. “great crowds gathered to hear him and be healed.” Jesus came to teach, He came to train up His disciples and He came to be a sacrifice. The healing is to enable the teaching, it is not His primary focus. It would be the primary focus of the great crowds though. They just wanted miracles. Jesus wasn’t trying to gather crowds, He wasn’t trying to just grow numbers, because these things were in fact hindrances to His main mission. He came to make God known and if people were just seeking miracles were the really growing to know God more? PRAYER – Notice all of the times in the Gospels that Jesus withdraws to pray. How can we expect to do life without prayer when we see that it was the cornerstone of Jesus’ life and of the life of His disciples. JESUS HEALS A PARALYTIC – LUKE 5:17-26 POWER – Luke makes it a point here, as we see throughout his second book “Acts,” to focus on the power that Jesus uses to do miracles. Verse 17, the power of the Lord was with Him to heal. He does miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that God empowers His Church with. YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN – Big deal. Jesus is not just a powerful miracle worker, He is God. He does not just heal, He forgives sins. The Pharisees think this is blasphemy, but Jesus calls them out on it. Which is easier to say is different than which is easier to do. It is easier to heal someone than to forgive their sins. Only God can forgive sins because sins are against God. I can’t forgive someone for what they did to you, only you can. But it is easier to say that, “your sins are forgiven,” because what physical proof is there. That is why Jesus paired forgiving sins with miracles. The Miracles should God’s power externally to evidence that He had power over sins. THEY GLORIFIED GOD – That is the result. God gets glory. In all things that we do we should ask one simple question, “how can I give God maximum glory?” JESUS CALLS LEVI – LUKE 5:27-32 LEVI’S RESPONSE – We saw a fisherman leave everything and follow Jesus. Now we see a tax collector leave everything. Again, someone that the Gentiles can relate to. If God loves even tax collectors, surely He must love me. NOTES Luke 5 TABLE – Luke shows Jesus and His disciples sitting “at table” more often than the other Gospel writers combined. Why? COMMENTARY Among the Jews, the priests had to live in a higher state of purity than others for six weeks during the year (before and during their temple service). This concern for ritual purity meant that they could not eat with other Jews, who for many reasons were often ritually unclean. The Pharisees, although for the most part non-priests, chose to live in a state of priestly purity year round, and therefore avoided table fellowship with those not living up to their standards. Luke, College Press NIV, 1995 We see Jesus eat with crowds, women, His disciples, Pharisees, and tax collectors. Where Pharisees practiced extreme exclusivism, Jesus practiced radical inclusiveness. A QUESTION ABOUT FASTING – LUKE 5:33-39 FASTING – Jesus’ disciples are not fasting, but this does not mean that they do not fast. We see fasting practiced in Acts (Luke’s second book) on a few occasions (Acts 13:3; 14:23). Jesus is simply saying that there is no need to fast while He is here. He is the one they have been waiting for. They will have time to fast when He is gone. The real point that Jesus is making here is that the Pharisees have been so stuck in their ritual that it is not about ritual. It is about drawing nearer to God. Fasting should and does draw us nearer to God. If it becomes just a ritual, then something is missing. NOTES