Introduction
Luke chapter 5 presents a series of key events that establish Jesus’s authority as both teacher and healer while calling His first disciples into deeper commitment. The chapter opens with Jesus teaching from Simon Peter’s boat at the Lake of Gennesaret. Afterward, He instructs Simon to cast his nets into deep water, resulting in a miraculous catch so large that the nets nearly break. Overwhelmed by this display of divine power, Simon Peter falls at Jesus’s feet, confessing his sinfulness. Jesus responds by calling Simon, along with James and John, to become fishers of men, and they leave everything to follow Him.
Next, Jesus heals a man with leprosy through a simple touch and word, demonstrating His compassion and power over disease, while instructing the man to follow the requirements of the Law of Moses regarding cleansing. Despite Jesus’s instructions for discretion, His fame spreads rapidly, and He withdraws to pray, showing the importance of communion with the Father amid growing ministry demands.
The chapter continues with the healing of a paralyzed man who is lowered through a roof by his friends. Jesus first forgives the man’s sins, a bold claim that provokes accusations of blasphemy from the religious leaders, since only God has authority to forgive sin. Jesus then heals the man physically as proof of His authority to forgive spiritually, silencing His critics and amazing the crowd.
Jesus proceeds to call Levi, a tax collector, to follow Him. Levi’s response is another dramatic wholehearted commitment: he leaves his profession and hosts a feast attended by tax collectors and other social outcasts. When the religious leaders criticize Jesus for associating with sinners, He explains that His mission is precisely to seek and restore sinners, not those who consider themselves already righteous.
The chapter closes with a discussion about fasting. When questioned why His disciples do not fast like John’s disciples and the Pharisees, Jesus uses the image of a wedding, explaining that His presence with the disciples is a time of celebration, not mourning. He also uses illustrations about patching old garments and putting new wine into new wineskins, teaching that His new covenant of grace requires new structures and cannot simply be forced into old religious frameworks.
Chapter 5 (BBE)
1 Now it came about that while the people came pushing to be near him, and to have knowledge of the word of God, he was by a wide stretch of water named Gennesaret;
2 And he saw two boats by the edge of the water, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.
3 And he got into one of the boats, the property of Simon, and made a request to him to go a little way out from the land. And being seated he gave the people teaching from the boat.
4 And when his talk was ended, he said to Simon, Go out into deep water, and let down your nets for fish.
5 And Simon, answering, said, Master, we were working all night and we took nothing: but at your word I will let down the nets.
6 And when they had done this, they got such a great number of fish that it seemed as if their nets would be broken;
7 And they made signs to their friends in the other boat to come to their help. And they came, and the two boats were so full that they were going down.
8 But Simon, when he saw it, went down at the knees of Jesus and said, Go away from me, O Lord, for I am a sinner.
9 For he was full of wonder and so were all those who were with him, at the number of fish which they had taken;
10 And so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were working with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, Have no fear; from this time forward you will be a fisher of men.
11 And when they had got their boats to the land, they gave up everything and went after him.
12 And it came about that while he was in one of the towns, there was a leper there: and when he saw Jesus he went down on his face in prayer to him, saying, Lord, if it is your pleasure, you have power to make me clean.
13 And he put out his hand to him and said, It is my pleasure; be clean. And straight away his disease went from him.
14 And he gave him orders: Say nothing to any man, but let the priest see you and give an offering so that you may be made clean, as the law of Moses says, and for a witness to them.
15 But news of him went out all the more, in every direction, and great numbers of people came together to give hearing to his words and to be made well from their diseases.
16 But he went away by himself to a waste place for prayer.
17 And it came about that on one of these days he was teaching; and some Pharisees and teachers of the law were seated there, who had come from every town of Galilee and Judaea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was with him, to make those who were ill free from their diseases.
18 And some men had with them, on a bed, a man who was ill, without power of moving; and they made attempts to get him in and put him before Jesus.
19 And because of the mass of people, there was no way to get him in; so they went up on the top of the house and let him down through the roof, on his bed, into the middle in front of Jesus.
20 And seeing their faith he said, Man, you have forgiveness for your sins.
21 And the scribes and Pharisees were having an argument, saying, Who is this, who has no respect for God? who is able to give forgiveness for sins, but God only?
22 But Jesus, who had knowledge of their thoughts, said to them, Why are you reasoning in your hearts?
23 Which is the simpler: to say, You have forgiveness for your sins; or to say, Get up and go?
24 But so that you may see that on earth the Son of man has authority for the forgiveness of sins, (he said to the man who was ill,) I say to you, Get up, and take up your bed, and go into your house.
25 And straight away he got up before them, and took up his bed and went away to his house giving praise to God.
26 And wonder overcame them all, and they gave glory to God; and they were full of fear, saying, We have seen strange things today.
27 And after these things he went out, and saw Levi, a tax-farmer, seated at the place where taxes were taken, and said to him, Come after me.
28 And giving up his business, he got up and went after him.
29 And Levi made a great feast for him in his house: and a great number of tax-farmers and others were seated at table with them.
30 And the Pharisees and their scribes made protests against his disciples, saying, Why do you take food and drink with tax-farmers and sinners?
31 And Jesus, answering, said to them, Those who are well have no need of a medical man, but those who are ill.
32 I have come, not to get the upright, but sinners, so that they may be turned from their sins.
33 And they said to him, The disciples of John frequently go without food, and make prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees; but your disciples take food and drink.
34 And Jesus said, Will you make the friends of the bridegroom go without food while the bridegroom is with them?
35 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then will they go without food.
36 And he said to them, in a story, No man takes a bit of a new coat and puts it on to an old one; if he does, the new coat is spoiled, and it will not go well with the old.
37 And no man puts new wine into old wine-skins, for fear that the skins will be burst by the new wine, and the wine be let out, and the skins come to destruction.
38 But new wine has to be put into new wine-skins.
39 And no man having taken old wine, has any desire for new wine, for he says, The old is better.
Important Verses
Luke 5:8 Simon Peter’s confession of unworthiness in the presence of divine power reflects the appropriate human response to encountering the holiness of God, a moment that precedes his call to discipleship.
Luke 5:10 11 Jesus’s call to become “fishers of men” and the disciples’ immediate response of leaving everything demonstrates the radical nature of following Christ.
Luke 5:20 24 This episode reveals Jesus’s authority to forgive sins, a claim that only God can rightfully make, thereby affirming His divine identity and authority as the Son of Man.
Luke 5:31 32 Jesus’s statement about coming for sinners rather than the righteous summarizes the heart of His redemptive mission and challenges self-righteous attitudes.
Luke 5:36 39 The parables of the garment and the wineskins illustrate that the new covenant Jesus brings cannot be confined within the old religious
