If leprosy is symbolic of the uncleanness of sin, paralysis is a representation of sin’s impotence and pain.

We don’t know where Jesus was teaching on this day, but a lot of persons had traveled to hear him because the record says they came from all over the area. Even the self-important Pharisees and teachers of the law thought hearing Jesus in person was critical enough to make the trip all the way from Jerusalem.

Crowd or no crowd, this paralytic and his friends were not to be denied. After all the uproar about the roof, Jesus said something surprising to the paralyzed man: “Your sins are forgiven you.” The man had not asked out loud, but Jesus saw his heart. Perhaps a high-risk lifestyle had resulted in the accident or disease that produced the paralysis. Genuinely repentant, the man longed for spiritual and moral reinstatement as well as physical restoration. Jesus meets him at this point of need.

“Well,” thought Jesus’ intellectual hearers, “that’s easy. Just play God. Declare the man forgiven. Big deal.”  Knowing what they were thinking, Jesus said, “All right. We’ll prove divine power with something even you can see.” To the man he says, “…take your mat and go home” (v. 24). The man, bless him, jumped up and went home, “praising God” (v. 25).

Both forgiving sins and healing physically required divine power. Jesus had what it took.

Read Luke 5:12-16

Leprosy is a symbol for sin in the Bible.

People regarded leprosy as so loathsome that the leper had to cry “unclean” everywhere he went. Nobody would touch him. Imagine never shaking hands, never getting a friendly hug, having to warn your children not to come close to you. The leper was hopeless, reckoned by family and friends as a dead person. If something so corrupting and isolating is God’s emblem for sin, what does this tell us about God’s attitude toward sin?

Why was this man healed? For the same reason Jesus heals us of our sins when we come to Him in repentance. Because he asked. How often do we miss Jesus’ blessing because we do not ask? Notice the pathetic sufferer’s humble trust, his pitiful cry. Yet he comes with total faith. “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean,” he said (v. 12). The loveliest words that poor soul had ever heard must have been Jesus’ statement, “I am willing. Be clean!”

When Jesus touched him, it was probably the first touch from another human he had experienced in years. Jesus’ sympathy and touch, the word of command, the instant cure. Our hearts leap in joy.

Jesus tells the cleansed man to go show himself to the priest. Why? For the same reason we are to witness to others of our salvation? It is testimony to the divine power of Christ.

Read Luke 5:1-11

Matthew and Luke both recount Jesus’ calling of His first four disciples, Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, and the other two brothers, James and John (Matt. 4:18-22; Luke 5:1-11).

Matthew makes it sound as if Jesus called them out of the blue. Luke recounts what looks more like an evangelism process. All four men probably heard Jesus teaching in the Capernaum synagogue. They saw Him cast the demon out of the man, heal Peter’s sick mother-in-law, and lay gentle healing hands individually on numerous sick persons. Nobody was lost in the crowd with this fellow.

On the strength of this acquaintance, Jesus asks a favor of Peter, the use of his boat (5:3). More teaching followed. When Jesus suggests that the men go fishing again, Peter clearly thinks it a fool’s errand. But the miraculous catch of fish triggers conviction and repentance in Peter (5:8).

In Luke 5:5 when Jesus suggests that they go fishing again after a fruitless night, Peter calls Jesus “Master,” i.e., “rabbi,” or “teacher.” After the miracle of catching so many fish the nets were breaking and the boats sinking under the load, Peter falls to his knees before Jesus and addresses Him as Lord, Adonai, a name for God. He worships in full repentance (5:8).

Then comes Jesus’ call to Peter and the others (5:10), which is evidently the event reported by Matthew in Matt. 4:18-20. They accept.

That was good progress for one day, don’t you think?

Read Luke 5:1-11

Would you have been as agreeable as Peter?

Jesus borrowed Peter’s boat. The crowd gathered on the sloping shore line, looking down on Jesus speaking from the boat. It created a natural amphitheater.

When Jesus finished speaking, He made an odd request of Peter. “Put out into deep water,” He said, “and let down the nets for a catch” (v. 4).

Peter’s reply was logical. “We’ve fished all night, and have caught nothing.” He might have added that it would be useless to try again in broad daylight after a futile night.

But, to be nice to Jesus, who had healed his mother-in-law, Peter said, “OK, we’ll do it, just to please you.” He probably thought, “And we’ll have to clean these nets all over again with no fish to show for the trouble.”

The rest, as we say, is history. They caught so many fish the nets were breaking, the boats sinking under the load.
Why did Jesus do it? To help Peter pay the bills that week? Or was it the final piece in Peter’s personal puzzle? He had seen the healings; he had heard the great teaching. Now Peter comes to the end of himself: I’m a sinner in need of God’s redemption.

Jesus’ call to Peter rings down the centuries to all of Christ’s followers: “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men” (v. 10).

Read Luke 4:38-44

Did you ever have a high fever?

Maybe you swallowed some antibiotic pills or maybe you had to let your body fight its own battle until the infection ran its course. In either case, the fever bounced down slowly. It was days before your full strength returned.

Simon Peter’s mother-in-law had no pills to take. She must have felt really sick to stay at home when Jesus was in town.  They asked Jesus if he would come to the house to help her. Just a woman, you know, but maybe He would help. This is the first mention of Simon Peter by Luke. Perhaps Peter reasoned that if Jesus could cast out demons, He could help his sick in-law.

The woman must have been amazed to see Jesus come right in and bend over her. The fever disappeared. Wonder of wonders, her strength returned instantly. No convalescence was necessary. She hopped up, good as new, and helped get supper on the table. If Jesus wanted seconds on something, you can bet who jumped to get it.

The word spread. Loving, concerned persons brought their sick to Jesus. Notice that He didn’t wave over the crowd and cry, “Be healed, all of you.” No, Jesus laid His gentle hands on each one individually (v. 40).

He still does that. He sees each of us as a precious, unique creation of God.