Luke 5:27-6:11: Jesus Calls Levi, Continues To Heal, And Begins
To Have Conflict After Conflict With The Pharisees”
By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study, we looked
at the first 26 verses of chapter 5.
1.1.1. We saw how that Jesus now began to call His first disciples to Himself.
1.1.2. We saw then that Jesus healed a leper.
1.1.3. Then, we saw that Jesus healed a paralytic on his bed who was brought
to Him by some of the man’s friends who lowered the man to Jesus down through a
roof on a housetop.
1.2.
In our study today, we are
going to look at chapter 5 verse 27 through chapter 6 verse 11.
1.2.1. Jesus will call a tax gatherer named Levi to leave all behind and come
and follow Him.
1.2.2. We have seen that the Pharisees had created so many of their own
traditions and rules, however Jesus did not submit Himself to these. We will see in our study that now Jesus is on
a straight course of conflict with the Pharisaic leaders in
1.2.3. Throughout our study in the gospels, we see that Jesus is not a
legalistic law keep but rather that He is interested in reaching out to the
lost of this world who do not know God with His love.
1.2.4. Jesus was a master of friendship evangelism.
1.2.5. We will see in our study:
1.2.5.1. The calling of Levi to follow Jesus.
1.2.5.2. Jesus defends why His disciples don’t fast.
1.2.5.3. Jesus explains that you cannot mix the old covenant living with the new
covenant.
1.2.5.3.1.
You should shouldn’t sow old
pieces of material together with new.
1.2.5.3.2.
You shouldn’t attempt to
pour new wine into old wineskins.
1.2.5.4. Jesus defends His disciples for rubbing grain in their hand and eating
it on the Sabbath.
1.2.5.5. Jesus heals a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath.
2. VS 5:17-22 - “27 After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in
the tax booth, and He said to him, “ Follow Me.” 28 And he left
everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him. 29 And
Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of
tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with
them. 30 The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at
His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and
sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered and said to them, “ It is not
those who are well who need a physician , but those who are sick . 32 “I
have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance .”” - Jesus calls Levi to follow
Him
2.1.
In these verses, we see
Jesus calling a man to follow Him who was a tax gatherer and named ‘Levi.’ This man is the same man that ‘Matthew’
in Matt. 9:9, identifies as being
himself. It is probable that at this
time Jesus renamed ‘Levi’ to be ‘Matthew.’
2.2.
Levi is the only one of the
12 that Jesus called who is called a tax gatherer.
2.3.
Luke tells us that this man
Levi was a ‘tax gatherer’ however the Greek word “telonais” used
for this tells us that this man was “not a chief tax gatherer” (such as
was the man Zacchaeus whom Jesus also called to salvation) but just a regular
one. Luke notes here also that Levi was
‘sitting in the tax booth’ which tells us that he collected taxes from
people as they traveled by on the roadway going from city to city.
2.4.
As we have mentioned
previously in our study of Luke, tax gatherers were the outcast of society
since there was so much corruption committed by them would exact much more for
taxes than was fair and ethical.
However, we see in these verses that even though people hated tax
gatherers above all men that Jesus saw them as sinners from whom He came to die
and bring salvation. Jesus reaches out
to this man with His love and compassion as an example of the way He reaches
out with His love and salvation to all sinners (which means all men) regardless
of their unworthiness.
2.5.
This calling of Levi was
again a calling to follow Jesus not just as a disciple but “vocationally.” We have to assume from the events in this
story that Levi was already familiar with Jesus and His ministry and probably
even that Levi had had already been a follower of Jesus prior to this event,
for when Jesus calls Levi he immediately leaves everything in his life behind
in order to follow Jesus.
2.6.
This calling of Levi leads
Jesus to his first direct confrontation with the Pharisees. We saw from our last story that there were
Pharisees and teachers of the law from every community in Galilee and
2.7.
As was mentioned, what we
have begun to see in Jesus’ ministry is the fact that He is on a direct course
to clash with the religious leaders in
2.7.1. In our day, 2,000 years after the events of our story, Christian
denominations and sects have likewise created their own traditions which they
follow religiously when in many cases those traditions contradict the clear
teaching of God’s word. As a for
instance, the Catholic Church has a direct parallel to these Pharisees and
scribes in that they place the traditions of the church and the words of the
popes (which they claim are inspired of God) above the scriptures when a
contradiction is pointed out. Plus, the
words spoken by popes often contradict previous words by popes. Don’t get me wrong, we love Catholics,
however doing this kind of thing is just wrong.
It is just as much the tendency over time for all denominations to
follow the traditions which they create, even if and when they go against what
the Bible teaches..
2.8.
Not only did Levi invite
fellow tax gatherers to this banquet, he also invited some Pharisees.
2.9.
At the banquet, we see that
the Pharisees were grumbling against the disciples because they ate and drank
with ‘tax gatherers and sinners.’
The ‘sinners’ here may have referred to Gentiles who were invited
to this banquet. In the religion of the
Pharisees the emphasis was always upon “separation” from sinners (their
very name “Pharisee” means “separation”). They had no desire nor understanding of the
importance of reaching out to people who were considered notorious sinners in
order to win them to the Lord and to righteousness. They saw such men as being so repugnant that
all they wanted to do was to get as far away from them as possible. However, we see in the gospels that Jesus
because of His love and compassion was especially drawn to notorious sinners.
2.9.1. Many years ago when I was in Bible college there was a young man who
felt called to the ministry as a pastor.
This guy was a friend of mine and I enjoyed being with him except for
one thing. He had a great dislike of
people who lived in particularly sinful lifestyles. He too wanted just to stay as far away from
such people as he could. This is not the
attitude that Christians should have, let alone pastors. If Jesus because of His love and compassion
for people reached out to sinful people, then this is our calling also as
Christians. We need to ask God for the
love for people that Jesus has.
2.9.2. I have often felt that many times church people who are desirous of
seeing lost people come to the Lord have a preference in the type of person
that they would like to see come to the church and get saved. Churches often try to reach out to people who
more affluent than the average person in society, and yet these people are
usually the hardest to win to the Lord.
However, there are many people who are society’s rejects wandering
around and these people are much more receptive to the message of the gospel. One pastor called this group of people “the
whodathunkits.” I believe that the
church ought to fish where the fishing is best and thus reap the greatest
harvest of souls, and thus looking for and reaching out to “whodathunkits” is a
wise thing to do.
2.10.
By saying that He did not
come to call the ‘righteous’ but rather ‘sinners,’ Jesus was not
implying that the Pharisees were truly righteous, rather He was referring to
the fact that this is the way that they thought about themselves. They thought that they were righteous. In reality we are all sinners. Chik the Calvary Chapel pastor in Saint Paul,
MN bought t-shirts for his bookstore that simply say on them, “sinner.” This is a title that we as Christians need to
embrace. We are and will always be
sinners saved by the grace of God. The
apostle Paul even referred to himself as the chief of sinners.
2.11.
Jesus confronts these
Pharisees who have been harassing His disciples, and He does so by justifying
His ministry by stating that it is those who are sick who come to a physician
for healing. Jesus of course equates
Himself to being “the physician.”
2.12.
Jesus is also saying to
these Pharisees that it is those who realize their need and that they are
spiritually bankrupt or ‘sick’ who will see their need for His healing touch
of restoration to fellowship with the Lord.
As long as a person is satisfied with his situation in life, for
whatever reason, he will not look for something else. It is the very religiosity of these Pharisees
that is acting like a vaccination to protect them from the true spirituality
that a man or woman can have through coming to know Christ as his/her personal
Lord and Savior.
2.12.1.
Warren Wiersbe writes, “Sin
is like a disease: it starts in a small
and hidden way; it grows secretly; it saps our strength; and if it is not cured, it kills.” Jesus is the physician who heals men and
women of their sin if they will but realize their need to be healed and come in
faith to Jesus who paid the price for their cure upon the cross of
2.13.
There is an interesting
parable found in Luke 18:9-14 which teaches that a repentant tax collector will
be accepted over an unrepentant Pharisee, “9 And He also told
this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous,
and viewed others with contempt: 10 “ Two men went up into the
temple to pray , one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector . 11 “The
Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself : ‘ God , I thank You that I am
not like other people : swindlers , unjust , adulterers , or even like this tax
collector . 12 ‘I fast twice a week ; I pay tithes of all that I get
.’ 13 “But the tax collector , standing some distance away , was
even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven , but was beating his breast ,
saying , ‘ God , be merciful to me, the sinner !’ 14 “I tell you,
this man went to his house justified rather than the other ; for everyone who
exalts himself will be humbled , but he who humbles himself will be exalted .””
2.14.
Levi shows that he has true
faith not only by leaving everything behind to follow Jesus but also by this
party which he throws. Levi throws a
banquet in honor of Jesus, His newly found Lord. This banquet was an opportunity to introduce
all of his friends to Jesus, its all about Jesus. To this party come many of Levi’s tax
gatherer friends, other notorious sinners in
2.15.
Jesus was the master evangelist
of all times. We in the church ought to
consider how that Jesus was always seeking to reach out to the lost in this
world, and in the most natural of manner He befriended sinners and then
demonstrated to them the love of God.
3. VS 5:33-35 - “33 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.” 34 And Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the
attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? 35
“ But the days will come ; and when the bridegroom is taken away
from them, then they will fast in those days .”” - The Pharisees next question
Jesus about why His disciples do not fast as they and the disciples of John the
Baptist do
3.1.
After Jesus responds to the
Pharisees criticism of Him that He hung around with sinners by saying that it
is those who are sick that need a physician, they fire back a response to
Him. They complain that His disciples
don’t fast as per the tradition of the Pharisees, and even the disciples of
John the Baptist. They wondered how
Jesus could think He was so spiritual if He didn’t follow their protocol of
regular fasting?
3.2.
Again, these Pharisees are
critical of Jesus because of the fact that he doesn’t fit into their mold that
they believe defines true spirituality.
3.3.
Fasting was a huge part of a
Pharisees life. The Old Testament taught
that a yearly fast was to be performed on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus
16:29-34; 23:26-32; Numbers 29:7-11). At
other times and seasons some in the Old Testament era would fast. However, the Pharisees took fasting to
another level all together as they fasted weekly and they saw fasting as a
spiritual discipline that placed them in a higher echelon than the average person
in Israel.
3.4.
Evidently, John the Baptist
had taught his disciples also to regularly fast. This is another instance of John the Baptist
being shown to belong to the old order of the old covenant and economy of the
Law in
3.5.
Jesus tells these Pharisees
however that this period of time when He, the ‘bridegroom,’ is with His
disciples is a time of joy and celebration in anticipation of the marriage
ceremony itself, and for this reason it is not necessary for His disciples to
fast at this time. There is a sense of
sorrow in fasting that is not befitting a wedding party.
3.6.
Jesus tells these Pharisees
though that there will come a day when His disciples will in fact fast. This will occur after His death upon the
cross and He is ‘taken away from them.’
3.7.
In the book of Acts we see
instances where the church did in fact fast (Acts 13:1-3; 14:23).
Likewise, Paul may have alluded to fasting to the Corinthians in 1 Cor.
7:5; 2 Cor. 6:5; 11:27.
3.8.
It is important though to realize
that the New Testament does not teach that regular fasting is a discipline that
is a gateway to true spirituality.
Though valuable at times its continual practice is not required nor
exhorted.
4. VS 5:36-39 - “36 And He was also telling them a parable: “ No one tears a piece of cloth
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 . 37 “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 . 38 “But
new wine must be put into fresh wineskins . 39 “And no one , after
drinking old wine wishes for new ; for he says , ‘The old is good enough
.’ ”” - Jesus teaches two parables to illustrate the
truth that the way of spirituality that He is bringing to mankind cannot be
mixed with or be a part of Judaism
4.1.
The two parables:
4.1.1. Parable of “sowing together old and new garments.”
4.1.1.1. New material has not shrunken after many washings and is much more
pliable than old material which becomes weak and brittle. Therefore it is foolish to patch an old
garment with a new piece of cloth or a new garment with an old piece of
cloth. This will just cause the two
pieces of cloth to soon tear away from each other and the garment be ruined.
4.1.2. Parable of “new wine in old wineskins.”
4.1.2.1. New wine is wine that has not completed its fermentation process. During the fermentation process it will
expand significantly. Therefore, an old
wineskin that has already been stretched to the maximum and is now getting
brittle will burst if new wine is placed in it because the wine will begin to
expand.
4.2.
The point in these parables
is that the lifestyle Jesus is teaching to His disciples, that of living by
grace and the leading and empowerment of the Holy Spirit, cannot be mixed with
living according to the exacting keeping of laws, rules, and regulations, as
the Pharisees practiced. A person has to
choose between living either one way or the other because an attempt to mix the
two results in keeping neither. They are
mutually exclusive. You cannot live as a
Pharisee and also like Jesus taught us to live.
4.3.
I have known some Christians
who have made the mistake of believing that after coming to have faith in
Christ that they should go to an old church which is spiritually dead and
living according to its traditions which it places ahead of the truth taught in
God’s word, because they will be able to change the institution. However, they cannot change an institution,
rather it is the case that if they stay in that church long enough they will be
changed by the institution. Every single
one I have known who have remained in one of these dead churches has languished
spiritually until they eventually realized that the Lord was calling them as
new wine to find a new wineskin (church) which will be a good environment for
their spiritual growth. This is what a
plant needs to be healthy, the best soil and environment for growth. It is also what a Christian needs for healthy
spiritual growth. However, unfortunately
many Christians become content with a stunted growth.
4.3.1. Are you growing in your spiritual walk with Christ? If you are a Christian you should also be
growing.
5. VS 6:1-5 - “1 Now it happened that He was passing through some grainfields on a
Sabbath; and His disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in
their hands, and eating the grain. 2 But some of the
Pharisees said, “Why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 3 And
Jesus answering them said, “Have you not even read what David did when he was
hungry , he and those who were with him, 4 how he entered the house
of God , and took and ate the consecrated bread which is not lawful for any to
eat except the priests alone , and gave it to his companions ?” 5 And
He was saying to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath .”” - The Pharisees accuse Jesus’
disciples of violating the Sabbath law by working because they pick some wheat
in a field, rub it in their hands to get out the grain, and eat it
5.1.
The Pharisees though thought that Jesus’ disciples had broken the
Sabbath Law found in Exodus 20:8-11 by eating of this grain in this way, “8
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 “Six days you shall
labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of
the Lord your God; in it you
shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your
female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. 11 “For
in six days the Lord made the
heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the
seventh day; therefore the Lord
blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”
5.2.
Jesus’ disciples were not
breaking the Law of Moses however, for in Deuteronomy 23:25 we read that it was allowed to go to your neighbors
field and pluck some of his grain with your hand, “25 “When you
enter your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your
hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor’s standing grain.”
5.3.
Jesus’ disciples hadn’t
broken the Law of Moses, they had broken the laws that the Pharisees had added
to the Law of Moses. Darrell Bock writes
the following, “The Mishnah dedicates a whole unit to listing what is not allowed
in terms of Sabbath activity…These regulations are “the forty save one,” as the
Mishnah puts it, and prohibit thirty nine tasks on the day of rest…According o
this detailed and specific list, the disciples were reaping, threshing,
winnowing, and preparing food—a quadruple violation! In an interesting twist, later Judaism would
not have had a problem with their action as long as a tool was not used to
prepare the food.”
5.4.
Jesus goes to the Word of
God to confront the assertions of the Pharisees concerning His disciples. He refers to a story well known to them
concerning one of their great heroes, King David.
5.4.1. Jesus chides these Pharisees first of all for not paying attention to
the scriptures when He says, ‘Have you not read?’
5.4.2. The events referred to are found in 1 Sam. 21:1-7. In that story, David and his men as they were
fleeing from King Saul and his army went to the priests at Nob and asked them
for bread since they were very hungry.
The priests then gave to David and his men some of the 12 loaves of
consecrated bread (1 for each tribe) that were to always be kept in the
5.4.2.1. According to Rengsdorf rabbinic tradition held that David and his men
had come to these priests on the Sabbath requesting bread from them. The scripture does not tell us what day this
event occurred, however if it was on the Sabbath then this story is even more
applicable to Jesus’ application of it to that of His disciples rubbing in
their hands the grain and eating it on the Sabbath.
5.4.2.2. Since God’s word does not condemn David or his men in any way for
eating this consecrated bread from the tabernacle then they must not have
broken God’s Law in doing so.
5.4.2.3. The Pharisees knew full well then that if they condemned Jesus for the
actions of His disciples in eating this grain then they would also be
condemning their revered King David.
Jesus again has backed the Pharisees into a corner further infuriating
and confounding them!
5.5.
Jesus finishes His defense
to the Pharisees by telling them that ‘the son of man is Lord of the Sabbath.’ Using this obscure Old Testament title of ‘son
of man’ (Dan. 7:13) in reference to Himself again, Jesus is in effect
claiming to be God in this statement.
The Sabbath was instituted by the Lord on the seventh day after creation
in order for Him to rest from His works.
Jesus then could only be ‘the Lord of the Sabbath’ if He were
Jehovah God.
5.6.
Being ‘Lord of the
Sabbath’ Jesus has full authority to interpret what is and what is not a
breaking of the Sabbath Law.
5.7.
Matthew, in his account of
this story in Matt. 12:7-8 writes, “7 “But if you had
known what this means , ‘ I desire
compassion , and not a sacrifice ,’ you would not
have condemned the innocent . 8 “For the Son of Man is Lord of the
Sabbath.””
5.8.
Mark, in his account of this
story in Mark. 2:27-28 brings out the fact that the Sabbath was meant to be a
blessing and a help to man not to enslave him, “27 Jesus said to
them, “ The Sabbath was made for man , and not man for the Sabbath . 28 “
So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.””
6. VS 6:6-11 - “6 On another Sabbath He entered the synagogue and was teaching; and there
was a man there whose right hand was withered. 7 The scribes and the
Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath,
so that they might find reason to accuse Him. 8 But He knew
what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, “ Get
up and come forward !” And he got up and came forward. 9 And Jesus
said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath
, to save a life or to destroy it?” 10 After looking around at them
all, He said to him, “ Stretch out your hand !” And he did so; and his
hand was restored. 11 But they themselves were filled with rage, and
discussed together what they might do to Jesus.” - Jesus heals a man with a withered hand on the
Sabbath which again causes the Pharisees in attendance to stumble and be angry
with Him
6.1.
We see here in this story
that on this Sabbath that the Pharisees that were in the synagogue and were
watching Jesus like a hawk to see if He would heal someone on the Sabbath. They felt that the Sabbath Law was broken by
Jesus healing someone. However, how
could Jesus have broken the Law by healing?
It wasn’t doing work on the Sabbath to heal. In the first place, all Jesus did to heal
someone was to speak a word to them.
6.2.
Jesus wasn’t going to
withhold doing a good work for someone such as healing them, just because the
Pharisees thought that to do so would be to break their own manmade laws and
notions.
6.3.
Jesus knew what the
Pharisees were thinking as they were watching to see if He would heal on the
Sabbath. He took the opportunity to
speak to how the Sabbath Law was really to be carried out. The Sabbath Law was not created by the Lord
to keep people from doing good deeds on the Sabbath. It’s a good thing to do good deeds any day of
the week. The Sabbath Law was created to
cause men to not work at their jobs 7 days a week and thus have no room in
their lives to come together for corporate worship of the Lord. It was meant to be a single day every week
that was to be designated just for the Lord and so that all of God’s people
could come together on that day. It was
also meant to give people rest so that they wouldn’t be over fatigued by
constant working.
6.3.1. By the way, the Sabbath is not Sunday it is Saturday. In the New Testament era the church began to
meet corporately on Sundays because this was the day that the Lord rose from
the dead and also because the Lord on the first two Sundays after His
resurrection came and appeared to His disciples. Sunday is known as “The Lord’s Day”
not the Jewish Sabbath.
6.4.
This is an interesting story
of faith. Jesus asks this man to do the
very thing that he is not able to do having a withered hand, to stretch it
out. Faith in God and His word enables
God’s people to do things that they could not do on their own. Our abilities become His ability. Our weaknesses become His opportunity. If we will just look to Him He will supply
His strength to us. In Philippians 4:13
the apostle Paul wrote, “13 I can do all things through Him who
strengthens me.”
6.5.
In Mark 3:6 and Matt. 12:14
we read that after the events of this day that the Pharisees began planning
ways in which they might be able to put Jesus to death. The Pharisees even joined with the Herodians
(fans of Herod) in a plot to kill Jesus at this time.
7. CONCLUSIONS:
7.1.1. We haven seen in our study:
7.1.1.1. The calling of Levi to follow Jesus.
7.1.1.2. Jesus defend why His disciples don’t fast.
7.1.1.3. Jesus explain that you cannot mix the old covenant living with the new
covenant.
7.1.1.3.1.
You should shouldn’t sow old
pieces of material together with new.
7.1.1.3.2.
You shouldn’t attempt to
pour new wine into old wineskins.
7.1.1.4. Jesus defend His disciples for rubbing grain in their hand and eating
it on the Sabbath.
7.1.1.5. Jesus heals a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath.
7.2.
It is wonderful to see how
that Jesus didn’t follow the traditions and practices of the dead religion that
existed in His day. He didn’t bow to the
pressure to conform because He knew that living as a Pharisee, living by the
Law of Moses, didn’t bring life, and He told us, “I have come that you might
have life and have it abundantly.”
Warren Wiersbe writes, “Unlike the galling yoke of the Law, the yoke
that Jesus gives is “well-fitting,” and His “burden is light.” When the sinner trusts the Saviour, he has
peace with God because his sins are forgiven and he is reconciled to God (
7.3.
Today, lets commit ourselves
to submitting to the yoke not of religion, not of rules and regulations, not of
a list of do’s and don’ts, but the yoke of Jesus. That yoke that is easy and light, not a
burden upon us, for Jesus tells us, “You shall know the truth and the truth
shall set you free.” That freedom is
not license to commit sin, but the freedom of yielding our lives completely in
obedience to the Lord of Life as our Master, the one who makes every child of
His to be an “overwhelming conqueror” through Him. It is the freedom of no longer being a slave
of sin but a slave of righteousness through a walk that is in the power of the
Holy Spirit. Lets yield our lives to
Jesus, not to religion and religiosity, to a person, not just a dogma.