2BeLikeChrist Bible Commentary - Luke Chapter 5
Commentary - Luke Chapter 5
Luke 5:1-11
Luk 5:1 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,
Luk 5:2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.
Luk 5:3 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.
Luk 5:4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
Luk 5:5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”
Luk 5:6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.
Luk 5:7 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.
Luk 5:8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
Luk 5:9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken,
Luk 5:10 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.”
Luk 5:11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
We don’t usually look at this many verses at once, but in this case I think it may be helpful.
In the last chapter, Jesus was healing sick people and teaching in the synagogues of Galilee.
Chapter 5 opens with the crowds surrounding Him as He walks by the lake of Gennesaret.
This body of water is more popularly known as the Sea of Galilee.
If you haven’t already discovered, the Sea of Galilee goes by many names:
Sea of Galilee
Sea of Tiberius
Lake of Gennesaret
Sea of Chinnereth (Kinneret)
Sea of Ginosar
Sea of Minya
A few facts:
Galilee is the lowest freshwater lake on earth.
It has a circumference of 33 miles.
It is 13 miles long.
It is 8.1 miles wide.
It has a maximum depth of 141 ft.
Jesus was walking by the sea, surrounded by crowds of people, when He came upon two fishing boats either on the shore or anchored in the shallows.
The fishermen were outside the boats cleaning their fishing nets.
Whenever you drag a net through the water you inevitably catch things you never intended to catch: sticks, rocks, seaweed, stuff other fishermen left in the sea, etc…
It would have been very common to see fishermen cleaning up their nets after a fishing trip.
Jesus got into Simon’s (Peter’s) boat and asked him to take the boat into the water just offshore.
When Simon did, Jesus taught the crowds on the shore while sitting in the boat.
When He finished teaching, Jesus told Simon to take the boat out into deeper water and let the nets out.
Simon told Jesus he and his fishing companions had been fishing all night and caught nothing, but he would do it because Jesus told him to.
When they dropped the nets, “they enclosed a large number of fish,” so many their boat and their partner’s boat began to sink under the weight.
Upon seeing the miracle, Simon Peter fell at Jesus’ feet and expressed his unworthiness to be in the company of the Lord.
“Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
We don’t know the backstory of many of the Apostles, but it could have been that Peter was living a life full of sin before following Jesus.
It’s also possible he was just a very humble man, aware of his own imperfections.
APPLICATION:
If you can’t imagine yourself making the same statement Peter made here, you might think too much of yourself!
Peter thought a sinner’s boat wasn’t a place Jesus would want to be.
But Peter wasn’t telling Jesus anything He didn’t already know.
Jesus was exactly where He wanted to be!
You can’t surprise Jesus with how sinful you are… He already knows… and He wants to be in your boat.
Jesus then called Simon to a higher purpose than fishing the waters of Galilee, He was going to make him into a fisherman for men.
Instead of a physical net, the good news of Jesus would be Simon’s tool to draw men to God.
The crowd of people standing on the shore were astonished at the miracle and the multitude of fish.
When Simon, James, and John brought their boats to shore, they “left everything and followed” Jesus.
I want to know what they did with the fish.
Did they leave all the fish on the boat?
It sounds like it!
How does a fisherman leave the catch of his life behind?
Answer: He finds a greater treasure!\
The actions of Simon, James, and John in Luke 5 exemplify the lessons taught in Jesus’ parables (parable of the treasure in the field and the parable of the pearl, Matthew 13:44-46).
Does Luke 5 contradict Matthew 4 and Mark 1?
It is easy to get this incident confused with Jesus’ meeting with Peter and Andrew at the Sea of Galilee in Matthew 4 and Mark 1.
I do not believe the account in Luke 5 is a parallel to the events at the sea in Matthew 4 and Mark 1.
The details are similar enough to confuse some people, but also different in significant ways.
Jesus met the men at the sea, told them He would make them fishers of men, and then they followed Him.
But Matthew and Mark don’t mention the miracle of the fish.
Matthew and Mark don’t mention Peter’s exclamation of his sinfulness.
In addition, Matthew and Mark place Jesus’ first meeting with the men before the healing of Simon’s mother-in-law.
Luke places Jesus meeting of the men and the miracle of the fish after the healing of Simon’s mother-in-law (Luke 4:38-39).
My understanding is that this is a different occurrence.
Jesus returned to the sea around Capernaum.
He found the partners fishing (which they probably did every day because it was their profession).
Knowing Simon and having stayed at his house, Jesus got into his boat and started preaching.
He then blessed the fishermen and the onlooking crowd with the miracle of fish.
Following the catch, He reaffirmed His call on Peter’s life to make him a fisher of men.
Some people suggest its unreasonable to think Jesus would tell Peter to follow Him a second time after already mentioning it to him in Matthew 4 and Mark 1.
But I don’t believe it is unreasonable at all.
Jesus was asking them to turn their lives upside down.
To leave their careers, follow Him, and to never live the lives they dreamed out for themselves.
If you were asking someone to make that kind of change, it is unreasonable to think you wouldn’t have to reaffirm a few things to them.
In addition, Jesus had just given them additional proof that He was someone worth following.
Having witnessed the miracle, Simon, James, and John would have had more reason than ever before to believe Jesus and follow Him. So it makes sense he would reaffirm His call on their lives.
Imagine that I came to you and said, “Follow me and I can make you rich.”
A few days later, I came back and performed a miracle.
I made $10,000 appear in my hand out of nothing.
Then I repeated my invitation, “Follow me and I can make you rich.”
It makes sense I would repeat the offer after giving you proof of my ability to keep my word.
Luke 5:12-16
Luk 5:12 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.”
Luk 5:13 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him.
Luk 5:14 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.”
Luk 5:15 But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities.
Luk 5:16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.
This appears to be the same account recorded in Matthew 8 and Mark 1.
When Jesus came down from the mountain where He preached the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) He was surrounded by crowds and approached by a man with leprosy.
Luke tells us the man was “full of leprosy.”
Leprosy usually starts in one spot in the skins and spreads slowly through the body.
So, this man’s case was very advanced.
What is Leprosy?
Leprosy is also known as Hansen’s Disease.
It is caused by a bacterial attack on the nerves.
The bacteria is slow acting and some people can be infected for years without the telltale symptoms.
The bacteria causes skin deformity and nerve damage.
If untreated, leprosy will cause hand and/or foot paralysis.
Other injuries often occur due to lack of feeling in the extremities.
Fingers and toes are commonly lost.
Loss of vision and nasal deformity are also common with advanced Hansen’s.
Treatment for leprosy was developed in the 1940s (antibiotics).
According to the Law of Moses, a person diagnosed with leprosy was considered unclean and was not allowed to associate with their “clean” countrymen.
Lev 13:3 - and the priest shall examine the diseased area on the skin of his body. And if the hair in the diseased area has turned white and the disease appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, it is a case of leprous disease. When the priest has examined him, he shall pronounce him unclean.
We don’t know what knowledge the leprose man had of Jesus, all we know is his faith in Jesus’ ability to heal him was pure and untainted by any doubts.
He approached Jesus with full confidence in His ability to heal.
“Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”
Jesus was pleased to give him the healing he requested.
Throughout His ministry, Jesus showed a willingness to bless those who showed faith in Him and who asked.
This man’s request wasn’t small, but he knew he wasn’t asking a small God.
APPLICATION:
We may have faith in Jesus’ power.
We may verbally acknowledge and believe in our hearts that Jesus has power to do anything He wants.
And maybe we have a big need, or maybe we have a dream of being used by God in a big way,
Have you ever had a big need or a big dream but you only pray about the little things?
You have big goals, but you have little prayers?
You want God to use you in big ways, but you dial back your prayers to things you think are “reasonably achievable”?
Do you take your dream of accomplishing big things in God’s kingdom, water it down, and then ask God for something less than what you hope to accomplish?
Why do we do that?
We should pray like the man with leprosy.
If you have big requests, bring them boldly to a big God!
APPLICATION:
Mark 1:41 tells us Jesus healed the man being “moved with pity.”
It is sometimes hard to have pity on someone far removed from our reality.
Sometimes, to have pity on someone we have to have some knowledge of their pain.
Isn’t it beautiful to think God isn’t so far removed from us as to be unable to sympathize with our suffering?
There would be no Jesus if the God in heaven was pitiless.
Jesus didn’t walk the earth in rigid stoicism.
God doesn’t watch over the universe in unfeeling sovereignty.
Psalm 145:8 The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
Upon healing the leprous man, Jesus told him to go present himself to the priests and make an offering for his healing.
Interestingly, even though there were no known cures for leprosy at the time, the Old Testament law gave instruction about what to do if someone was cured.
You can read these instructions in Leviticus 14.
The miracle brought Jesus a lot of attention and “great crowds” started gathering to listen to Him teach and heal the sick.
It is interesting that Luke takes the time to mention Jesus’ tendency to withdraw from the crowds to pray.
This detail is included in almost all (if not all) gospels.
It must be an important detail and an example worth following.
You can’t help other people spiritually if your personal relationship with God isn’t in good shape.
The Parallels between Leprosy and Sin in the Old Testament:
There are a lot of similarities between the way leprosy and sin are presented in the Bible.
I want to highlight a few to give you an idea:
Those with leprosy in the Old Testament were considered unclean and removed from the camp.
Sin defiles us and separates us from the presence of God.
Leprosy was contagious and a leper risked infecting others.
Our sin and the consequences of our sins can infect the lives of others.
Many suffer as a result of sin infected hearts around them.
If a person was found to have even one spot of leprosy on their body, they were pronounced unclean and removed from the uninflected.
Just one sin is enough to render a person unclean and unfit for the presence of a pure and holy God.
Leprosy starts small, but eventually infects the whole body.
Sin began in the heart of one man and woman and has spread across the human race.
Sin may start small in an individual’s life but has the destructive power to destroy the body and soul.
There was no medication or man-made remedy for leprosy during the Bible times.
There was no medication or man-made remedy for sin during the Bible times or modern times.
The Old Testament priests were given instructions in the Law how to identify leprosy, but not how to cure it.
The Old Testament Law made it possible to identify sin but did not give a solution to fix it once it occurred.
If a leper was healed by God, he/she was to be sprinkled with blood (Leviticus 14:6-7).
Healing from sin comes by the sprinkling of Jesus’ blood (1 Peter 1:2; Hebrews 12:24).
APPLICATION:
You’ll notice from the text that Jesus’ healing power was immediate!
We don’t know how long this man had suffered, but leprosy was a disease that would have caused the inflicted pain every day.
Not to mention the newly infected would have to face the horrors of their future every time they returned to the leper colony and saw those with more advanced cases.
Imagine this man, perhaps enduring years of pain and anxiety.
He came to Jesus and was healed in an instant.
I am not yet old, but I have begun to notice the slight signals of aging.
I have pain after going to gym.
I have a bit less hair.
Certain things just don’t work as well as they once did.
I can’t imagine what it will be like in 60 years.
I wish my body would grow younger instead of older.
Physically speaking, I’m not looking forward to what is ahead.
But it is a sweet thought and hope to me that when I’ve gotten old and tired of my confinement in a broken-down body, after I’ve endured years of pain and frustration and handicap… In an instant, Jesus will make me new again.
Luke 5:17-19
Luk 5:17 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.
Luk 5:18 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,
Luk 5:19 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.
We aren’t told the location of this miracle in Luke’s gospel, but from Matthew’s writing it appears to have been in Capernaum.
Mat 9:1 And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city.
Capernaum was considered home (Mark 2:1).
Mar 2:1 And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home.
On this particular day, many of the Jewish religious leaders from the region had gathered to hear Jesus.
A paralyzed, bed-bound man was brought to the home where Jesus was staying.
But the four men carrying the bed were unable to get to Jesus because of the crowd surrounding the house.
Mark tells us “there was no more room, not even at the door” (Mark 2:2).
Being unwavering in their determination to get healing for their bedbound friend, the 4 men took the man, bed and all, up on the roof.
They proceeded to take the roof apart and then lower their friend’s bed down through the hole they made.
This may be hard for a modern reader to picture.
If you were going to send someone down through the roof of a modern house you would need to scale the side of the structure, tear off the shingles, cut through the wood frame with your hacksaw, and then destroy the drywall ceiling while navigating electrical dangers.
But 1st century homes were a little different.
They were usually made of a combination of stone, mortar, and earth and had flat roofs with a stairway on the side of the house allowing easy access (no shaky ladder required).
Their roofs were used for all kinds of things:
Drying fruits
Hanging Laundry
Sleeping
Relaxing
Praying
When the Lord called Peter to go to Cornelius’ house he was up on the housetop (Acts 10:9).
The ancient roof was a functional part of the home.
You can imagine the commotion they must have made as they “made an opening” in the roof, not to mention the ridiculing eyes of those who thought they were rude for interrupting Jesus.
APPLICATION:
I imagine there were some people in the crowd who were annoyed with these guys.
Perhaps the homeowners were mad at them.
But they didn’t care, they needed to get to Jesus.
We should have the same determination to get to Jesus and to help others get to Jesus.
We need to do whatever it takes, no matter who looks down on us, or who is annoyed with us, to get to the Savior who can help us.
APPLICATION:
Do you think Jesus was interrupted by this man? Do you think He was caught mid-sentence when He was trying to articulate an important point? Do you think He found it inconvenient?
Probably not!
Jesus knew ahead of time the man was coming through the roof and He knew exactly when the dust from the ceiling was going to start falling on His head.
I’m certain, Jesus had said all He intended to say by the time the paralytic descended to see Him.
Jesus had taught them with His words and was about to teach them with His actions.
Sometimes, when things don’t turn out as we expect, we have a tendency to think we are experiencing an interruption in God’s plan for our lives.
But I don’t think we should think that way.
God is never interrupted.
Our plan may be interrupted, but God’s plan is most definitely still on schedule.
We need to realize God’s timing may not align with ours.
Why?
Perhaps we need to stay in a particular set of circumstances longer than we anticipated because God still has something to teach us.
Perhaps we won’t get to stay in a particular set of circumstances as long as we hope because God has something new to teach us elsewhere.
What appear as interruptions to us may be important parts of God’s providential plan.
Luke 5:20-26
Luk 5:20 And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
Luk 5:21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Luk 5:22 When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts?
Luk 5:23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?
Luk 5:24 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.”
Luk 5:25 And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God.
Luk 5:26 And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”
If the crowd was annoyed, Jesus wasn’t.
He welcomed the man descending through the sunlit hole and said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
As we discussed in the Matthew 9 and Mark 2 studies, that probably wasn’t what the man really came to hear.
He came for a physical healing.
Jesus spoke of a spiritual healing.
Jesus took this opportunity to teach the people a lesson.
We see Jesus’ priorities being communicated here.
He didn’t come to earth just to heal oppressive diseases and physical maladies, He came to save men from their ultimate oppressor, Satan and sin.
Which is why He spoke to the man about forgiven sin.
APPLICATION:
We should mimic this example.
We may have the ability to help someone with a physical need.
While doing that, we should use it as an opportunity to speak about spiritual needs.
Here, Jesus was giving out a temporal blessing to lead into conversation about the eternal.
When churches and Christians think about charity/benevolence they should be thinking the same way.
When the scribes and Pharisees heard Jesus announce this man’s sins forgiven, they were offended and accused Jesus of blasphemy (disrespecting God) in their hearts.
They thought Jesus had spoken out of line because only God could forgive sins.
They were partially right and partially wrong.
What they got right was that God was the only one who could forgive sins.
Sin is an offense to God and only the offended party can extend forgiveness for the offense.
But they were wrong about Jesus’ committing blasphemy.
Why? Jesus was about to show them, and in the process, unmistakably claim to be God.
Jesus asked the scribes, “which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?”
Technically, anyone could walk around claiming to forgive sins (forgiveness of sins is an unobservable spiritual reality).
Anyone can say anything they want, but it doesn’t make it true.
What proof did Jesus have?
In order to prove His ability to forgive sins, He was prepared to present miraculous evidence.
He proceeded to heal the legs of the paralytic man in front of the crowd and they all observe as the man picked up his bed and walked out of the house.
Jesus’ miracles proved two things, (1) He had not blasphemed God, (2) He had the power to forgive sins because He was God.
The Pharisees acknowledged a man would be unable to perform miraculous signs without the power of God.
John 3:2 – Rabbi we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.
Jesus would not have been able to heal a man with the power of God if He had just blasphemed God.
If God’s power still rested on Jesus after claiming He could forgive sins, He must really have had the power to forgive sins.
And the Pharisees had already mentally acknowledged that only God could forgive sins.
Can you imagine having Jesus read your mind, create an argument against what you were thinking, and then present it directly to your face?
That would be hard to forget!
Why didn’t the Pharisees and scribes accept this argument?
They were biased against it.
They attempted to find a way around it by attributing Jesus’ power to the devil (we will discuss this more in Luke 11:14-23).
The crowd was stunned when they saw the man get up and walk away.
Many of them may have known the man (Capernaum wasn’t a huge place; most historians suggest a population between 1,000-2,000 people).
Luke 5:27-28
Luk 5:27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.”
Luk 5:28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
Jesus continued on His way through Capernaum and there found Matthew (also called Levi, Mark 2:14) sitting at a tax booth.
Matthew was a tax collector who worked for the Roman government to collect tax money from his fellow Jews.
Jewish Tax Collectors in the 1st Century:
The Jews hated many of the tax collectors.
This was true for the obvious reason (nobody likes giving their money to the government or seeing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) show up at their door).
But it was also true because many of these tax collectors were Jewish sell-outs. They were Jews who worked for the ruling Romans.
In a way, they were turning their back on their people and their people’s dream of independence and working for the enemy.
In addition to these reasons, tax collectors were notorious for being thieves.
To illustrate, the Romans might issue a tax of 5 dollars.
The tax collector would tell his fellow Jews the Romans wanted 7 dollars.
He would collect the money, give 5 dollars to Rome, and keep the extra 2 dollars for himself.
Many became wealthy through dishonesty.
Imagine the response of the other Apostles when the Lord stopped at this tax booth and asked Matthew to follow Him.
Many of Jesus’ followers probably couldn’t believe He would go up to someone like this and ask him to follow Him.
It was likely an ego check for some of them!
Initially, the Apostles probably thought they were pretty special because the Messiah had selected them to join Him, but now Jesus had selecting Matthew who everyone considered despicable.
Have you ever been chosen for a team thinking it was an exclusive privilege, only to find out after the rest of the team members were recruited that the team wasn’t that exclusive after all?
The Apostles may have felt that way.
Jesus was putting all of these men on the same level, which may have been hard for some of them to swallow.
They could have quit following Jesus in offense.
“If you are going to pair me up with this guy, I’m out of here!”
But to their credit they didn’t.
What was important for them to realize was that they all needed Jesus just as badly as the sinful tax collector.
After calling Matthew to follow Him, Jesus was invited to a feast in Matthew’s house (Luke 5:29).
The text says the other guest were a combination of “tax collectors and sinners” (Mat 9:10).
While they were eating, the Pharisees peaked their heads through the door or window and judged Jesus.
They asked His disciples, “If this man is really the Messiah of Israel, why is He spending time with the rabble of this town” (paraphrase).
They probably thought the Messiah would spend His time with them because they were the religious “elite.”
Jesus told them He allotted time to the sinners because those who are healthy don’t need the doctor.
Sick people need the doctor.
The “sinners” in Levi’s house were certainly sin-sick.
That wasn’t to say the Pharisees were spiritually healthy. The Pharisees’ problem was that they were too arrogant to recognize their ailment and seek help. Their pride blinded them to the fact that they needed Jesus as badly as all the other sinners.
If a medical patient refuses to accept they are sick, a doctor can’t do much for them.
If a patient is willing to accept their condition, the doctor can help.
The Pharisees couldn’t open their mind to the possibility they were sin-sick.
Jesus planned to spend His time with those who would accept His help.
Later on, in His ministry, Jesus told a parable that illustrated this point very well.
Two men went into the Temple to pray, one was a tax collector and the other a Pharisee.
The Pharisee prayed:
“Lord, thank you for not making me like this tax collector over here!”
“I don’t commit adultery.”
“I don’t steal.”
“I’m not an extortioner.”
“Thank you for making me such a good person!”
The tax collector prayed:
“Lord, have mercy on me because I am a sinner”
He wouldn’t even lift his eyes up to heaven because he was ashamed of his sin.
Two men, but with very different perceptions about how badly they needed God’s help.
Jesus said, it was the tax collector who went away justified.
APPLICATION:
I think it is human nature to play the comparison game with sin.
“Well, I’m not perfect, but I don’t sin as bad as that guy.”
Morally elevating ourselves compared to others causes us to forget the most important thing we all need to remember… We’ve all sinned, and we all need the Doctor.
No one, no matter how morally upright they think they’ve been, can escape the consequences of sin without Jesus.
A repented murderer/pedophile/drug dealer/(insert the worst sin you can think of here) covered by the blood of Christ will be better off on Judgement Day than a “good person” who saw no need for Jesus in their life.
That is how inadequate we are to save ourselves and how adequate Christ is to save the broken.
Luke 5:33-39
Luk 5:33 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.”
Luk 5:34 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?
Luk 5:35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”
Luk 5:36 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.
Luk 5:37 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.
Luk 5:38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.
Luk 5:39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”
At this point, John, Zechariah and Elizabeth’s son, had been arrested and thrown in prison by Herod.
Although absent from Luke’s account, Matthew tells us this question about fasting was posed to Jesus by some of John’s disciples (Mat 9:14).
In the Old Testament, fasting was commanded on the Day of Atonement, but many of the Jews practiced additional religious fasting.
According to these disciples, both the followers of John and the Pharisees participated in voluntary fasting.
These men wanted to know why Jesus didn’t teach His disciples to fast.
To understand Jesus’ response, it is important to understand a little bit about fasting. Why was it done? When was it done?
Fasting and prayer were often coupled together (as seen in verse 33).
Fasting was often done when a big decision was to be made, a person was seeking the guidance of God, or during times of trial and sorrow.
Jesus used an illustration that appears several times in the Scriptures, Him as a bridegroom and His followers as a bride.
Jesus appears to be saying, “This is not a time for My followers to fast and be sorrowful, God, the Messiah is here to bring salvation to the world (a time of rejoicing).
“And if My disciples need guidance of any kind, they can come directly to Me and ask.”
“There is no need to seek blessing or direction through fasting at present.”
A day would come when Jesus would return to heaven and then there would be times when Jesus’ followers would fast (see Acts 13:2; 14:23).
Jesus then presented two illustrations:
You don’t put a new piece of cloth on an old garment.
Why?
Have you ever bought a new sweater at the store, it fits great, you wear it one time and love it, but then you put it in the washer, and it shrinks 3 sizes?
In contrast, your old sweater, the one you’ve had for 7.5 years, it doesn’t shrink anymore, it completed that process a long time ago.
This shrinking phenomenon is the reason you don’t use a new piece of cloth to patch up an old garment
Let’s say you use a new piece of cloth to patch up an old piece of clothing.
What will happen when the garment is washed for the first time
Answer: the patch of new cloth will shrink, the old garment will not shrink, and the threads will tear and make the original hole even bigger.
You don’t put new wine in old wineskins.
This is a bit more difficult for modern readers to understand (unless you work at a vineyard).
This illustration involves the principles of fermentation.
In the 1st Century, grape farmers took their fresh grape juice and put it into a wineskin (usually made of animal hides).
You don’t put new wine (new grape juice) into an old wineskin.
Why?
The answer is similar to Jesus’ first illustration.
New grape juice expands as it ferments.
But an old wineskin is no longer flexible and pliable, and it will not expand with the juice.
So, if you put new juice into an old wineskin, the new wine will expand so much it will burst the old skin and all your juice will leak out.
But if you put new juice into a new wineskin, that new skin is flexible enough to expand as the fermentation process takes place.
Now that we understand the pictures Jesus was describing, we can begin to understand what He was trying to communicate.
Before we take a shot at the interpretation, I should say, I find the interpretation of these parables a bit challenging.
I think what Jesus was trying to communicate here was that His teaching, the new covenant He was delivering, was not going to be just a patched-up version of the Old Law of the Jews.
If they tried to interpret it as nothing more than the old traditions patched up with some new principles, they were going to miss the point.
This was a really important point because many of the Jews tried very hard to hold on to the Old Law even as they adopted the message of Christ.
These two contrary elements couldn’t work together.
Under the Old Law (Law of Moses) a person was justified by their works.
But everyone was a sinner.
So, no one was justified.
Under the New Law (Law of Christ) a person is justified based on the righteousness of Jesus and His sacrifice for them.
Justification in the Old Law and the New Law don’t mix and by using these illustrations Jesus was trying to communicate that fact to them.
The New Covenant cannot be contained in the same rituals and practices of the Old.
Jesus’ statement in verse 39 is not in Matthew’s account.
“And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”
Typically, older wine is considered better.
People prefer the taste.
But why did Jesus bring this up?
I think He was making a statement about preference.
Once you’ve tasted the better option, you won’t choose the lesser of the two.
I believe the idea here is that, in listening to Jesus’ message about the Kingdom of God, the disciples had tasted something better than the Old Testament Law and the rigid practices of its practioners.
Having tasted the better of the two systems, they would not want to return to the system of their ancestors.
Jesus’ new way was better in every way (which is the message of the book of Hebrews).
Even though their initial question was only about fasting, it seems Jesus was giving them a broader principle with which to evaluate all of the questions they had about His ministry and teaching.
