Luke Chapter 5

(Luke 5:1 NASB)  Now it came about that while the multitude were pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret;
(Luke 5:2 NASB)  and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them, and were washing their nets.

Luke 5:2:      The multitudes were pressing Him because they wanted to hear the Word of Elohim.  The wording of this is very interesting.  How did they know that His Word was the Word of Elohim?  They knew this because He had already proven that He is the Prophet promised by Elohim in Deut 18:15-19 when He was tempted in the wilderness in the previous chapter.

 

(Luke 5:3 NASB)  And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the multitudes from the boat.
(Luke 5:4 NASB)  And when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”
(Luke 5:5 NASB)  And Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but at Your bidding I will let down the nets.”

Luke 5:5:      Yeshua was so crowded by the people by the waterfront wanting to learn the Word of Elohim that He got in Peter’s boat and had Peter go out from the land so He could teach them.  When He finished teaching the people, He decided to teach Peter an object lesson.  He told Peter to go out to the deep part of the Sea of Galilee and put their nets out.  Peter was hesitant.  He was a real fisherman and he knows that when it comes to fishing, if you are having a bad day, you cannot turn it into a good day.  It is best to just go home.  But Peter did as Yeshua told him.

 

(Luke 5:6 NASB)  And when they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish; and their nets began to break;
(Luke 5:7 NASB)  and they signaled to their partners in the other boat, for them to come and help them. And they came, and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink.

Luke 5:7:      They caught so many fish in one load that it was making two boats sink.

 

(Luke 5:8 NASB)  But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”
(Luke 5:9 NASB)  For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken;
(Luke 5:10 NASB)  and so also James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.”

Luke 5:10:      The men were astounded at the amount of fish that were caught.  Yeshua told them that from now on they would be catching men.  What does this mean?  First of all, it does not mean that they will be coercing men to accept Jesus into their hearts.  It means they were to go forth spreading the Gospel of “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”  The net they were to use is this message.  This message combines the beauty of following Torah along with the redemption that comes through Messiah.
Secondly, they weren’t the ones making the fish go into the net.  Just as in this fishing trip, it is Elohim that causes men to follow Him.  It is not man’s effort (John 6:44).

 

(Luke 5:11 NASB)  And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.
(Luke 5:12 NASB)  And it came about that while He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man full of leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

Luke 5:12:      This man was full of leprosy.  There were very, very few instances recorded in Scripture of an Israelite being cured of leprosy up to this point (Miriam amd Moses).  This man recognized Yeshua for who He is and fell on his face and asked to be made clean.  The way he asks is interesting also.  He did not ask to be healed, but he asked to be made clean.

 

(Luke 5:13 NASB)  And He stretched out His hand, and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately the leprosy left him.
(Luke 5:14 NASB)  And 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 commanded, for a testimony to them.”

Luke 5:14:      Yeshua said He was willing and commanded that he be cleansed and the leprosy left him.  Yeshua then told him to go to the priest.  This is according to Torah (Lev. 14:1-14, Deut. 24:6).  This would be a testimony to the priests that Elohim was present since apparently only Elohim could make a man clean from tsara’at (leprosy).

 

(Luke 5:15 NASB)  But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and great multitudes were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses.
(Luke 5:16 NASB)  But He Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.

Luke 5:16:      While Yeshua is a revelation of the Father’s Word in the flesh, He took on weaknesses and frailties in becoming a man.  There were times when He was weary from the constant pleas of the people and had to be alone with His Father.

 

(Luke 5:17 NASB)  And it came about one day that He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing.
(Luke 5:18 NASB)  And behold, some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in, and to set him down in front of Him.

Luke 5:18:      In this passage, the word “present” in verse 17 is not in the original text.  The verse is saying, “the power of Yahweh was for Him to perform healing.”  That was His purpose at that time.
Some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed.  Yeshua is going to use this man as another object lesson.

 

(Luke 5:19 NASB)  And not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, right in the center, in front of Jesus.

Luke 5:19:      Once again, notice the crowds that were following Yeshua.  They could not get to Him so they went to the roof of the house He was at, took some tiles off, and lowered him down to Yeshua.

 

(Luke 5:20 NASB)  And seeing their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.”
(Luke 5:21 NASB)  And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?”

Luke 5:21:      The Pharisees were not wrong in saying, “Who can forgive sins but Elohim alone?”  This is spoken of in Torah (Ex. 34:6-7) and the Tanakh (Psalm 32:5, 51:1-4, 130:3-4, Isa. 43:25, 44:21-22).
Since our sins are against Him, who but the Father in the flesh can forgive those sins?

 

(Luke 5:22 NASB)  But Jesus, aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts?
(Luke 5:23 NASB)  “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?
(Luke 5:24 NASB)  “But in order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”– He said to the paralytic– “I say to you, rise, and take up your stretcher and go home.”

Luke 5:24:      Yeshua is displaying His identity.  He is saying, “It is just as easy for me to say “Your sins have been forgiven,” as it is for me to say, “Rise and walk.”  Whether it is miraculous healing or forgiveness of sin, Yeshua can do either since He is His Father’s Word made flesh.
Yeshua calls Himself the Son of Man.  While that is a designation with multiple meanings, He is letting them know that He is the One who will usher in the Kingdom (Dan. 7:13-14).

 

(Luke 5:25 NASB)  And at once he rose up before them, and took up what he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God.
(Luke 5:26 NASB)  And they were all seized with astonishment and began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

Luke 5:26:      They were filled with fear at what He had done.  This was prophesied in the Tanakh (Jer. 33:9, Hosea 3:5)

 

(Luke 5:27 NASB)  And after that He went out, and noticed a tax-gatherer named Levi, sitting in the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me.”
(Luke 5:28 NASB)  And he left everything behind, and rose and began to follow Him.
(Luke 5:29 NASB)  And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax-gatherers and other people who were reclining at the table with them.

Luke 5:29:      Tax gatherers were despised by the Jewish people.  They collected taxes from the people for the Roman government and often kept a lot of it for themselves.

 

(Luke 5:30 NASB)  And the Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax-gatherers and sinners?”
(Luke 5:31 NASB)  And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick.
(Luke 5:32 NASB)  “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

Luke 5:32:      The Pharisees saw themselves as perfect and not in need of redemption.  Yeshua points out that this group sees that they need forgiveness and He wants to grant it to those who ask for it.

 

(Luke 5:33 NASB)  And they said to Him, “The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers; the disciples of the Pharisees also do the same; but Yours eat and drink.”
(Luke 5:34 NASB)  And Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you?
(Luke 5:35 NASB)  “But the days will come; and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.”

Luke 5:35:      Yeshua is saying that those who are following Him know who He is.  The other groups do not see Him as Messiah.

 

(Luke 5:36 NASB)  And He was also telling them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old.
(Luke 5:37 NASB)  “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined.
(Luke 5:38 NASB)  “But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.

Luke 5:38:      Yeshua is telling them that His Father’s Word cannot be mixed with man’s teaching (Lev. 19:19, Deut. 4:2, 12:32).  The Pharisees were combining their traditions with the Torah of Elohim.
This passage has nothing to do with doing away with the Old Testament as some claim.  The last verse in this chapter is a direct testimony to that fact.

 

(Luke 5:39 NASB)  “And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good enough.'”

Luke 5:39:      The NKJV seems to have a more genuine wording: (Luke 5:39 NKJV)  “And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.'”