Luke 5

1 – 3

One day Jesus was standing beside Lake Galilee. Many people were pressing all around him. They wanted to hear the word of God. Jesus saw two boats at the shore of the lake. The fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. Jesus got into one of the boats, the one which belonged to Simon. Jesus asked Simon to push off a little from the land. Then Jesus sat down in the boat and continued to teach the people on the shore.

Jesus sat in the boat so that people could hear Him better. Also, if people were always touching Him to be healed they would never learn the things that He was teaching. So healing is important but learning the Bible is even more important because it shows you how to live in healing.

4 – 7

When Jesus had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Take the boat into deep water. If you will put your nets in the water, you will catch some fish.”

Simon answered, “Master, we worked hard all night trying to catch fish, but we caught nothing. But you say to put the nets in the water; so I will.” The fishermen did as Jesus told them. And they caught so many fish that the nets began to break.

They called to their friends in the other boat to come and help them. The friends came, and both boats were filled so full that they were almost sinking.

We should not argue about what God tells us to do. Peter forgot about this day and Jesus helped him to remember later when Peter was living in a dark place and had given up on ministry. John 21:6

8 – 11

The fishermen were all amazed at the many fish they caught. When Simon Peter saw what had happened, he bowed down before Jesus and said, “Go away from me, Lord. I am a sinful man!” James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were amazed too. James and John were Simon’s partners.

Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will be fishermen for men.” When the men brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed Jesus.

They must have come from a family that had money because they had servants. They had just caught more fish than they had ever caught and could make a lot of money but they left everything to follow Jesus!

12. One time Jesus was in a town where a very sick man lived. The man was covered with a harmful skin disease. When he saw Jesus, he bowed before Jesus and begged him, “Lord, heal me. I know you can if you want to.”

This man is saying that it is ok with him if Jesus does not heal him. This is what God is looking for when we ask Him something. We need to say, “You know what is best Lord. All I am asking is that You do what You know is best. Anything You want to do with me is ok with me!”

13 – 14

Jesus said, “I want to. Be healed!” And Jesus touched the man. Immediately the disease disappeared. Then Jesus said, “Do not tell anyone about what happened. But go show yourself to the priest. And offer a gift to God for your healing as Moses commanded. This will prove to everyone that you are healed.”

The Old Testament said that if a man was healed of leprosy he should go and show himself to the priest. Jesus wanted this man to be a witness to the Jewish priests. They would remember that the Old Testament said the Messiah would heal.

15 – 17

But the news about Jesus was spreading more and more. Many people came to hear Jesus and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often slipped away to other places to be alone so that He could pray.

One day Jesus was teaching the people. The Pharisees and teachers of the law were there, too. They had come from every town in Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was there to heal people.

It seems too easy to us but the power we need comes from just talking to God in prayer. God comes down to earth when we take the time to do this! Psalm 22:3

18 – 20

There was a man who was paralyzed. Some men were carrying him on a mat. They tried to bring him in and put him down before Jesus.

But because there were so many people [at Peter’s house], they could not find a way to Jesus. So the men went up on the roof and made a hole in the ceiling. They lowered the mat so that the paralyzed man was lying right before Jesus. Jesus saw that these men believed. So he said to the sick man, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

These men only wanted their friend to be healed. They did not think that their friend needed to give his life to Jesus. Sometimes when we are helping people we need to ask them first if they believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that His death on the cross paid the price for their sins, and that He rose from the dead to give us new life.

People come to us with many problems, but the first thing is to bring them to Christ and many of these problems will go away! What is more important, seeing a miracle or seeing someone give their life to Jesus?

21. The Jewish teachers of the law and the Pharisees thought to themselves, “Who is this man? He is saying things that are against God! Only God can forgive sins.”

The original language here can show that there were listening to imaginations. Stay with the truth and do not follow imaginations that are put into your mind!

22 – 24

But Jesus knew what they were thinking. He said, “Why do you have thoughts like that in your hearts? Which is easier: to tell this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to tell him, ‘Stand up and walk’?

But I will prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, stand up! Take your mat and go home.”

We are waiting for Christ to do something but sometimes He gives us a
project.

25 – 26

Then the man stood up before the people there. He picked up his mat and went home, praising God. 26 All the people were fully amazed and began to praise God. They were filled with much respect and said, “Today we have seen strange things!”

The devil says that the things of God are strange but it is the things of the devil that are not normal! See 1 Peter 4:12.

27 – 28

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi [Matthew] sitting in the tax office. Jesus said to him, “Follow me!” Matthew got up, left everything, and followed Jesus.

The people hated tax collectors. They were not allowed in the Temple. The Pharisees would not let their robes touch them as they walked past. They would say that Matthew had turned against his own people. Matthew was tired of this life and left everything to follow Jesus.

29 – 30

Then Matthew gave a big dinner for Jesus. The dinner was at Matthew’s house. At the table there were many tax collectors and other people, too. But the Pharisees and the men who taught the Law for the Pharisees began to complain to the followers of Jesus. They said, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”

A famous man who did not believe in God said that he could not understand Christians. He said. “If I thought that my friends were going to be in hell forever I would never stop trying to save them. If Christians really believe this, then why are they not telling everybody?” Matthew wanted all of his only friends to meet Jesus.

31 - 33

Jesus answered them, “Healthy people do not need a doctor. It is the sick who need a doctor. I have not come to invite good people. I have come to invite sinners to change their hearts and lives!”

They said to Jesus, “John’s followers often give up eating and pray, just as the Pharisees do. But your followers eat and drink all the time.”

The Jewish teachers were hoping that Jesus would mix together his teaching with their teachings. They wanted everybody to think that they were very spiritual.

34 – 35

Jesus said to them, “When there is a wedding, you cannot make the friends of the bridegroom give up eating while He is still with them. But the time will come when He will be taken away from them. Then His friends will give up eating.”

Sometimes we go without eating to show God that we want to be weak so that He can be strong in our lives. We do not let anybody know that we are doing this. It does not matter if you just skip a meal, or only drink juice for a day, or eat nothing -what matters is that you are showing God that you need His help and you want to hear from Him.

36 – 39

Jesus told them this story: “No one takes cloth off a new coat to cover a hole in an old coat. If he does, he ruins the new coat, and the cloth from the new coat will not be the same as the old cloth. People never pour new wine into old leather bags for holding wine.

If they do, the new wine will break the bags, and the wine will spill out. Then the leather bags for holding wine will be ruined. People always put new wine into new leather bags. No one after drinking old wine wants new wine because he says, ‘The old wine is better.’”

Jesus is saying that you will need new ways because the teaching He gives you will grow so much that you will need room to stretch your thinking.