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Sunday, February 18, 2018

Inviting Outsiders to a Changed Life


In Luke 5 we read several dramatic scenes which bring us up close and personal with Jesus.

In the first scene, Jesus is standing beside the Sea of Galilee and “the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God” (Luke 5:1). Seeing two empty fishing boats, Jesus asks Simon if he can use his fishing boat to move away from the crowd. He then sits down and teaches the people gathered along the shore.

When he had finished teaching, Jesus tells Simon to “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Peter hesitates and explains they were out all night and caught nothing. “But because you say so, I will let down the nets” (Luke 5:4-5).

Miraculously, the men’s nets fill with so many fish they begin to break. The men signal their fishing partners to bring out a second boat. Both boats overflow with fish, and begin to sink. Feeling completely shattered Simon falls down beside Jesus and says, “Go away from me Lord, I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8).

Luke observed how all of the fishermen shared Peter’s response. “When they pulled in that catch of fish, awe overwhelmed Simon and everyone with him. It was the same with James and John Zebedee’s sons, coworkers with Simon.”

Jesus said to Simon, “There is nothing to fear. From now on you’ll be fishing for men and women.” They pulled their boats up on the beach, left them, nets and all, and followed him” (Luke 5:9-10 Message).

In scene 2 a man suffering from leprosy, a social outcast, throws himself face-down pleading with Jesus, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Moved with compassion, “Jesus put out his hand, touched him, and said, ‘I want to. Be clean.’ Then and there his skin was smooth, the leprosy gone. Jesus instructed him, ‘Don’t talk about this all over town. Just quietly present your healed self to the priest, along with the offering ordered by Moses. Your cleansed and obedient life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done’ (Luke 5:13-14, Message).

Unable to keep silent about his life-changing experience with Jesus, the man’s story spread so quickly that time and again large crowds flocked to wherever Jesus might be found, longing to hear him speak and to heal their diseases.

Before moving on to scene 3, Luke inserts an important observation into his narrative: “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Luke 5:16). Do we follow his example by praying before, during, and after our daily activities?

Thanks to Luke’s careful account, we can benefit by looking at all the ways Jesus connects with his heavenly father and how he relates to individuals and large crowds while carrying out his mission (Luke 4:18-19).

When scene 3 begins, People were coming “from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick”(Luke 5:17). One of the most memorable healings follows when four men tear the tiles off the roof of a house, so they can lower their paralyzed friend down through the roof to a soft landing in front of Jesus.

The crowd in and around the house was so dense and impenetrable, that the man’s friends exercised amazing courage and creativity to make sure their friend could be seen by Jesus. “When Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven’ (Luke 5:20). This shocked the Pharisees and teachers, who were thinking to themselves ‘Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ (Luke 5:21).

“Jesus knew exactly what they were thinking and said, ‘Why all this gossipy whispering? Which is simpler: ‘to say I forgive your sins, or to say Get up and start walking?’ Well, just so it’s clear that I’m the Son of Man and authorized to do either, or both . . . He now spoke directly to the paraplegic: ‘Get up. Take your bedroll and go home.’ Without a moment’s hesitation, he did it—got up, took his blanket, and left for home, giving glory to God all the way” (Luke 5:22-25 Message).

In scene 4 Jesus turns the social order and polite society’s expectations upside down. First, he calls Levi—a tax collector—to become one of his disciples. Immediately, Levi leaves his tax booth, and follows Jesus. Once again, someone called by Jesus leaves everything behind for an unpredictable future.

Next, Levi throws a party for a “large crowd of tax collectors and others” who were eating and drinking with him at his house. Jesus had this party scene in mind when he prayerfully selected and called Levi.

But the Pharisees and teachers of the law had other ideas, and promptly started complaining to Jesus disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” (Luke 5:30). Jesus uses this encounter to communicate his mission:

“Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I’m here inviting outsiders, not insiders—an invitation to a changed life, changed inside and out” (Luke 5:31 Message).

Scene 5 tackles the religious party’s pressing question: “Should we be Fasting and Praying, or Eating and Drinking?” The Pharisees remind Jesus that “John the Baptist’s disciples often fast and pray, as do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking” (Luke 5:33).

Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast” (Luke 5:34).

As N.T. Wright comments, “This is a party—the first of many in Luke’s gospel—and like all Jesus’ parties it is a sign of the new age. It is, for those with eyes to see, a miniature messianic banquet . . . It’s a celebration of life itself. Yes, there is a dark note to this as well: one day the bridegroom will be taken away, and then it will be time to fast once more. But it won’t be for long. Luke’s gospel ends with two Easter meals, one in Emmaus and one in the upper room. The bridegroom returns, and his risen life means that God’s new age has been well and truly launched” (Luke for Everyone, pages 64-65).

The chapter concludes with two sayings, one making the point that it’s not good to patch an old coat with new cloth . . . suggesting that you can’t “patch” the old ways with Jesus’ new approach. The second saying declares that new wine belongs in new wine skins. “You have to take the new thing whole or not at all . . . The task then is to live out the new life, the new energy, which was at the heart of Jesus’ teaching and work” (Luke for Everyone, page 65). As we review the 5 scenes Luke describes, where do we find ourselves?

Do we live according to the old rules and old ways, or are we open to letting Jesus shape our lives according to the new kingdom he is still bringing into being?

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