Bible Commentaries
Luke 5

Verses 17-26

The Healing of the Paralytic

(Matthew 9:1-8; see Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26)

This story contains, with respect to the preceding stories of healing, several characteristic traits. The first is the stress placed not so much on the faith of the sick man himself as on that of those who brought him to Jesus (see Mark 2:3-4). These men recognized the power of Jesus, expecting everything from him. In the second place, Jesus begins by proclaiming to the paralytic the forgiveness of his sins. In so doing, he goes directly to the heart of the predicament of this man; for his worst ill was not the wasting of his physical powers but the judgment of God which rested upon him. Whether the sickness was, in this particular case, a direct consequence of sin or not, for Jesus sickness and death are ultimately the fruits of sin, for God is the God of life. With sovereign authority, but also a great gentleness ("Take heart, my son"), Jesus lifted the interdict which rested on this man and declared to him that he had found pardon at the judgment seat of God. But who could say that, save God? The reaction of the scribes was immediate: "This man is blaspheming." The attitude of Jesus can be understood only if he is "the Son of man" in the Messianic sense the heavenly Judge delegated by God to judge the actions and the thoughts of men at the last day.

Thus and this is the third important trait of this story the question already posed by all of Jesus’ teaching and deeds is precisely put: Whence comes his authority? Who is this? (Matthew 7:28; Matthew 8:27). At the same time the opposition looms which will one day condemn him as a blasphemer (vs.3; see 26:65-66). The accusation is not yet formulated, but Jesus reads the thoughts of the scribes who surround him, and these thoughts are "evil." They spring up out of envy and not from a legitimate concern for the honor of God. Jesus responds by an act. The miracle of physical healing here is like the seal of God placed on the inner change wrought in the life of this man the concrete manifestation of his pardon. The man obeyed, arose, and went home. The crowds were seized with fear and glorified God who had given such authority "to men." They did not yet know the importance of the term "Son of man" which Jesus had just used, or the unique character of his authority. But they recognized that God was at work in this man, and in that they rejoiced

Verses 27-39

Two New Causes of Conflict

(Matthew 9:9-17; see Mark 2:13-22; Luke 5:27-39)

The call of Matthew is told in few words. At the summons of Jesus, he immediately left his profession, which was a very remunerative one (see Luke 19:2; Luke 19:8). He was a publican or tax officer, a collector of duty. One bought this position, a practice which gave opportunity for much abuse. Furthermore, the tax collector was in the employ of the detested Roman authority. His profession defiled him. For these reasons, publicans were regarded as a species of outcast by strict Jews, who avoided all contact with them. Jesus not only invited a publican to follow him, he also made him one of the twelve Apostles (Matthew 10:3).

Further still, Jesus welcomed tax collectors and "sinners" (people of obviously bad life) to his table. They came spontaneously, it seems, and gathered around him and his disciples. The pious Jew, afraid of defiling himself, shunned inviting anyone to his table who did not practice the ritual laws. The Pharisees strove to constitute a community of "pure ones." Jesus thus breached all the religious and social prejudices of his time. He made friends of all these doubtful people. He accomplished the miracle that they felt themselves "at home" with him.

The Pharisees were astonished. They did not question Jesus directly, but spoke to the disciples. We see them here, full of a scandalized solicitude: "Why does your teacher. . .?" Jesus, hearing their remarks, replied: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick." It is for "the lost sheep" of Israel that he has come (Matthew 10:6; Luke 15:4-7). It is toward them that his tenderness and his love carry him. They feel this, and they come to him. There was in this no condescension on Jesus’ part, none of the self-righteousness which crushes the person to whom one speaks.

Who are the "well" in this matter? Jesus recognizes in the Pharisees men who know the Law of God. He is not necessarily speaking ironically. The citation from Hosea (vs. 13; see Hosea 6:6) expresses his profound thought. He who does not show mercy to his neighbor multiplies sacrifices and offerings in vain. Jesus had nothing to say to those who believed themselves to be righteous, but spoke rather to those who knew themselves to be poor and guilty and who had need of pardon. We find again in this teaching the dominant thought of the whole Sermon on the Mount.

In the following episode (vss. 14-17) it is no longer Jesus and the Pharisees who have words with each other, but Jesus and the disciples of John the Baptist, who speak both for themselves and for the Pharisees. The debated question is that of fasting. It is to be noted that Jesus does not deny the legitimacy of fasting but its present appropriateness. The passage is weighted with Messianic significance, for he compares his coming to a wedding. For his disciples, the dawn of the Kingdom has come. It is a day of joy! How could they fast? The day will indeed come "when the bridegroom is taken away from them." This is a veiled allusion to his approaching death. The image of the wedding may seem strange to us. It strikes its roots into the Old Testament where the love of God is compared to that of a fiancé (Jeremiah 2:2; Ezekiel 16:8). The image of a wedding is found again in relation to the royal banquet (Matthew 22:2-3). For Jesus to say that the bridegroom was there was to declare the arrival of the Messianic Age, a time of consummation and joy. And this note of joy remains the dominant one of the Apostolic Church, which awaited her Lord as a bride awaits her bridegroom (see John 3:29; Matthew 25:1; Revelation 19:6-8; Revelation 22:17).

The double parable of the Garment and the Wineskins sets forth the revolutionary element in the attitude of Jesus: the new times demand a new deportment, another style of life. The Messianic Age signifies a renewal of all things. The two images are suggestive. One does not sew the new onto the old; the fabric would tear. One does not pour new wine into old wineskins; it would burst them! Such is the dynamic of the Kingdom.

Do we know this revolutionary power of the gospel, this fresh and free manner of approaching men and of judging traditions, which gives to all things their true meaning?