Daily Bible Reading (Thursday, March 9th)

6

Luke 5 (ESV)

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

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, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 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. 4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 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. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 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.”[a] 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

Jesus Cleanses a Leper

12 While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy.[b] And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 13 And Jesus[c] stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. 14 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.” 15 But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. 16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

17 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.[d] 18 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, 19 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. 20 And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 24 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.” 25 And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. 26 And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

Jesus Calls Levi

27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

29 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. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

A Question About Fasting

33 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.” 34 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” 36 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. 37 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. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”[e]

Footnotes

a. Luke 5:10 The Greek word anthropoi refers here to both men and women
b. Luke 5:12 Leprosy was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13
c. Luke 5:13 Greek he
d. Luke 5:17 Some manuscripts was present to heal them
e. Luke 5:39 Some manuscripts better

6 Comments

Thank you Pastor Blakey, and you are absolutely right! I think if Jesus said "follow me" to any human, they would immediately do so. Is it implied that Jesus shared the gospel, or did He really only say "Follow Me"?

I love this chapter! So many great accounts of Jesus' ministry. I particularly like verses 8-10. Peter's response to Jesus is what we need to say as well. But I am drawn to Jesus' response telling Peter that he would be catching men. That is what we are called to do. If I have a proper reverence for Christ then I will be compelled to tell others and not just throw the net out, but pull it in and not be satisfied until there are some men in the net!

Josiah - We don't need to assume that Matthew was somehow prepared to respond to Christ. I am one example of many who got up and followed Christ the first time I heard the gospel. That is a testimony to how powerful the gospel is!

I really like how Luke's gospel describes the calling of James, Simon Peter, and John. He gives a more reasonable explanation for why they decided to follow Jesus. Jesus once again demonstrates His infinite wisdom as shown by His response to the Pharisees in verses 31-39. He made fools out of them once again. I wonder what made Matthew decide to follow Jesus? I think Jesus watered the seed that had previously been planted in Matthew. Do any of you know of Matthew's back-round other than his occupation?

Amazing power, amazing healer! Verses 12 & 13 caught my attention. I would imagine that leprosy is a serious debilitating disease. Of course I've never seen it. AIDS is pretty bad, real bad. Sin is the worst...But this man was in desperation It seems to me. I'm amazed at his faith by his comment, " Lord if you will you can make me clean." Leaves it all in accordance to the authority of Christ. My prayer when praying for others who I assume are lost or in unbelief is always to grant them repentance and faith. For it is only God and God alone who says, "I will, be clean."

Thanks be to God!

I always forget the meaning of the parables about the old cloth and wineskins, so I had to look it up. This is a good commentary, from gotquestions.org: 'These two parables illustrate the fact that you can’t mix old religious rituals with new faith in Jesus. Jesus’ disciples were not fasting along with the Pharisees and John’s disciples because they were now under the new covenant of grace and faith in Christ. As mentioned earlier, Jesus fulfilled the law; therefore, there is no longer any need to continue with the old rituals. Jesus cannot be added to a works-based religion. In the case of the Pharisees, they were consumed with their own self-righteousness, and faith in Jesus cannot be combined with self-righteous rituals.' https://www.gotquestions.org/parable-feast-cloth-wineskin.html

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