Story of Jesus, December 5th

Luke Chapter 5

One day when Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds were gathered to listen to him and the word of God. He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fisherman had left them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats belonging to Simon, and asked him to push it into the water. He sat down in the boat and taught the people from there.

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”

“Master,” Simon replied, “we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you said so, I’ll let down the nets again.”

This time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear. They shouted to their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.

When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me–I’m such a sinful man.” For he and all his companions were astonished at the number of fish they had caught.

Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will be catching people.”

As soon as they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Jesus.

In one of the villages, Jesus met a man with an advanced case of leprosy. When the man saw Jesus, he bowed his face to the ground, begging to be healed. “Lord, if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.”

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him. Then Jesus instructed him not to tell anyone what had happened. He said, “Go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.”

Yet the news about him spread all the more, and crowds of people came to hear him preach and to be healed of their diseases. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Another day when Jesus was preaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, were sitting nearby. It seemed that these men came from every village in all Galilee and Judea, as well as Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick.

Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him to Jesus, but they couldn’t reach him because of the crowd. So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat into the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

The Pharisees and teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who does he think he is? That’s blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!”

Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’? So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.”

Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home.”

Immediately, as everyone watched, he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and they praised God, exclaiming, “We have seen remarkable things today!”

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi, sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up, leaving everything, and followed him.

Later, Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, with Jesus as the guest of honor. Many of Levi’s fellow tax collectors and other guests were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with scum; tax collectors and sinners?”

Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy people who need a doctor, the sick do. I have not come to call those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”

They said to him, “John the Baptist’s disciples fast and pray regularly, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”

Jesus answered, “Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

Then Jesus gave them this illustration: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it to the old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment and ruined it, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out, and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.'”