Luke 5:27-39

Butler's Comments

SECTION 3

Converting Men (Luke 5:27-39)

27 After this he went out, and saw a tax collector, named Levi, sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, Follow me. 28And he left everything, and rose and followed him.

29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house; and there was a large company of tax collectors and others sitting at table with them. 30And the Pharisees and their scribes murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? 31And Jesus answered them, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; 32I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

33 And they said to him, The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink. 34And Jesus said to them, Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. 36He told them a parable also: No one tears a piece from an old garment; if he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39And no one after drinking old wine desires new; for he says, -The old is good.-'

Luke 5:27-28 From Secondary Pursuits: Mark indicates Jesus went out from the inner city to a place beside the sea (Mark 2:13) and taught the people gathered about Him. As Jesus passed on along the busy boat docks of the city He saw a man called Levi (which means, companion). His other name was Matthew (which means, gift). This Levi was a tax-collector (Gr. telones from telos, meaning toll, custom or tax); tax-collectors were called publicans from Latin publicanus. We know the following things about Levi: (a) His father's name was Alphaeus; (b) he was undoubtedly skilled in writing and keeping records; (c) he was apparently well versed in the Old Testament for he quotes more from it than any other gospel writer; (d) he left a lucrative position to follow Jesus; (e) he must have been a man of deep spiritual convictions to have such concern for his former colleagues.

The typical publican of that day may be characterized as: (a) self-centered, Matthew 5:46-47; (b) heathenish, Matthew 18:17; Matthew 11:19; Matthew 21:31; (c) mercenary, Luke 19:2; Luke 19:8; (d) yet, more able to repent than the Pharisees, Luke 7:29-30; Luke 18:9-14; Luke 19:8. Levi probably did not fit this picture in all its aspects. He does not seem to be self-centered or mercenary. Most publicans were hated by all the Jews because they collected taxes for the despised Roman conquerors. Furthermore, the Romans had a system of farming-out taxes. Rome stipulated a fixed amount of taxes they wished to receive from conquered provinces. The collectors were to insure that amount; all they could collect above that amount they could keep as salary. Many tax-collectors became adept at fraud, extortion and manipulation, and some became very rich. The Jews considered them as traitors and heathen; not fit to be included in the covenant with Jehovah, and classed with the worst of sinners.

The Lord called Levi to change his occupation to the highest of all callingsan evangelist of the gospel of Jesus Christ. While it is not stated, we may assume that Levi had prior knowledge of Jesus: (a) no one followed Jesus blindly; (b) Jesus had conducted an extensive ministry of teaching and working miracles in the city of Capernaum prior to His call to Levi; (c) Levi may have already had business contacts with the fishermen-apostles who would have told him about Jesus. The Lord had a special mission for this man who had special training. Levi, skilled and experienced at record-keeping, gave the world its most influential and enduring place of historical recorda biography of the life of the Incarnate God, Jesus Christ. Levi was converted. He immediately left all, put his trust in Jesus and followed Him. Levi committed himself to the proposition of Jesus, Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these (necessities) things will be added to you.

Luke 5:29-32 From Sin: This was a turning point in Levi's life. He felt satisfied he had found Someone who could lead him to Life with a capital L. He believed he had found the Messiah who would fill his empty life with truth, love and holy comradeship which his forefathers and the prophets had so longed for, Now Levi wanted his associates and friends to know this Jesus also. Ultimately, this is the only real way to follow Jesus!

Levi was a man of considerable financial means, so he held a huge reception (megale, Gr. for great; douchefrom dechomai, to receive) for Jesus in his own home. There was a huge crowd (Gr. ochlos, multitude; polus, much) of tax-collectors and other people at Levi's for this reception-supper. They were all reclining (Gr. katakeimenoi), probably on the Roman triclinium type couches. The triclinium was wide enough for three people. They rested their head on their left hand (the left elbow resting on the couch) and fed themselves with their right hand. Eating utensils such as we know today were possessed only by the well-to-do and rich. There were no forks; only knives, spoons, drinking goblets or cups and an individual dish for each diner. In the homes of the common people diners took a piece of flat Jewish bread and dipped it into the food in their individual dishes, or, in some cases where there were no individual dishes, the diners, one at a time, dipped a morsel of bread into the one main dish of food on the table. No one ever ate standing up. Jewish tradition says, Eating or drinking upright upsets a man's whole body. In ordinary meals it was permissible to put one's hand into the common dish, but never to put it in at the same time as another guestthat would be extremely rude according to the apocryphal book Ecclesiasticus. An ordinary meal, in a moderately well-to-do home, would have consisted of fish or kid, vegetables (particularly onions), and cakes, with local wine to wash it all down. We do not know what Levi had served. It may have been more sumptuous than that. Whatever the meal, the real purpose of Levi was to introduce his friends to this miracle-working Teacher who spoke with the authority of God.

There were Pharisees and scribes there. We do not know they were in Levi's house when they grumbled at the disciples of Jesus. They could have been. It is doubtful that Levi had invited them. But in Palestine then, it was customary for spectators to gather, uninvited inside the larger homes just to watch the goings-on at one of the huge feasts of the well-to-do. It was a form of entertainment. More likely, however, the Pharisees heard about the feast and attacked Jesus-' disciples after the feast was over somewhere other than in Levi's house. No self-respecting Pharisee would ever defile himself by entering a publican's house. This was the main point of their attack upon Jesus and His disciples. To the Pharisees a publican was no better than a Gentile or a Samaritan. In those days to dine indicated not simply hospitality and friendship, but brotherhood. When a person was invited to dine and did so, people assumed that the host and guest were in agreement religiously, politically and socially (cf. 2 John 1:9-11, etc.). Pharisees considered tax-collectors and sinners anathema (cf. Luke 18:11; Matthew 18:17). Thus the Pharisees assumed Jesus was condoning sin and had defiled Himself by such intimate association with Levi. Jesus ate with a publicanJesus had joined in brotherhood with a publican. Rabbis only associated with righteous people. To the Pharisees it was not a question of the needs of the publican to know the truth and be brought to repentance; their highest priority was themselvesthe keeping of themselves traditionally pure by not associating with sinners. There were no such instructions in the Law of Moses. To bring a sinner to a knowledge of God's revealed will so that sinner will repent, is the highest form of loveand love is the fulfillment of the law.

The Pharisees murmured. The Greek word is egonguzon which means to grumble, mumble, or murmur indignantly in a low tone. It is onomatopoetic; i.e., when the word is pronounced it sounds like the thing it is describing. It is like the English word gong. Jesus-' answer is a masterpiece. It is subtle enough not to enrage while at the same time it contains enough sarcasm that it cannot be shrugged off without having felt the sting of rebuke. Pharisees considered themselves learned teachers of the Law and publicans as unlearned heathen. Pharisees and rabbis looked upon the Law as medicine for the soul and themselves as blameless before the Law; therefore, in need of no repentance. Publicans were, to Pharisees, spiritually illin fact, terminally ill. Jesus said, Those who are well do not need a doctor; those who are ill do! Where else would you expect to find a physician than among the ill? Those who do not believe themselves to be ill will not seek a physician. Jesus came to save or heal those who recognize they are ill and need His healing. Publicans know they are sinners and want help (Luke 18:13; Luke 7:29); Pharisees do not acknowledge they are sinners (although they are) and do not want help (Luke 18:11-12; Luke 7:30; John 9:39-41). That is why Jesus ate with publicans and sinners! If we are to bring people to Jesus for salvation, we must find those who will acknowledge they are sinners. Those who think they can be saved by themselves or someone other than Jesus are like the Pharisees. There is only one way to find sinnersbefriend them, associate with them, and introduce them to Jesus. Befriending sinners does not mean we condone their sin. Eating with sinners and associating with them in certain situations does not mean we will be defiled. The apostle Paul knew Christians would be forced in certain situations of everyday life to associate with sinners (1 Corinthians 5:9-10), otherwise Christians would have to leave this world altogether. Thousands of sinners want to know Jesus. If Christians withdraw into little monastic clubs and mingle only with one another, how shall these thousands ever be introduced to Jesus?

Luke 5:33-39 From Self-Righteousness: A monastic attitude tends to produce self-righteousness. Self-righteousness feeds on legalism. This is the point of the next encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees. And it is all connected to the graciousness of Jesus toward Levi as contrasted with the self-righteous bigotry of the Pharisees toward publicans. This is not really a renunciation of the law of God; it is a disavowal of legalism and Pharisaic traditions. Jesus never renounced the Law; He came not to destroy it but to fulfill it.

Both Matthew and Mark indicate that John the Baptist's disciples joined the Pharisees in carping at Jesus in this instance. John the Baptist was probably already in prison by Herod's decree. These disciples of John were apparently part of the crowd of uninvited spectators at Levi's house or had been seduced by the Pharisees to join in attacking Jesus because of His innovative religious behavior. Had John been free he would not even have attended such an affair. He lived the life of an ascetic for the purpose of God, not to promote his own self-righteousness in the legalistic way of the Pharisees. The Pharisees, on the other hand, lived outwardly austere and ascetic to justify themselves in their legalism. The Pharisees fasted often and prayed oftenpublicly. They withdrew into a modified form of monasticism so they would appear to be righteous, unable to tolerate sinners.
Where did the idea of fasting originate? Its origin is spiritual, not dietary. The commandment of the Law was that the Hebrew worshiper should -innah (Hebrew for afflict) the soul (Leviticus 16:29-34; Leviticus 23:26-32; Numbers 29:7, etc.). There was really no specific instruction concerning abstinence in the original commandment. The Hebrew word tzum is translated fast, but this word is not used in the first 6 books of the Old Testament. Apparently the instruction in the Pentateuch to afflict the soul came to be interpreted to mean abstain from food and other things. The instructors in the Pentateuch said the Hebrew was to afflict his soul only on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) which occurred once a year in October. The Pharisees fasted twice each week, on Mondays and Thursdays, as well as on other special occasions. The Pharisees made a point to do their fasting publicly going to great lengths to exhibit penitence. They put dust and ashes on their heads; they wore sackcloth next to their skin; they allowed their hair and beards to go unkempt; Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:16) they disfigured their faces (Gr. aphanizousin) with gloom (Gr. skuthropos, sadness, sullenness, moroseness); and, of course, they abstained from food. Jesus-' answer is not intended to preclude fasting altogether. Jesus fasted (Matthew 4:2). Jesus also said, When you fast.. (Matthew 6:17), indicating there would be times when a Christian might wish to fast. Fasting (or, afflicting the soul) might be in order in times of spiritual depression, penitence or mourning. But it should be a spontaneous expression, not faked or pretended. And it cannot be legalistically and arbitrarily regulated by human traditions. These are the two main points of Jesus-' answer. There is a time for fasting and there is a time for feasting; a wedding is a place to feast, not fast! The Messiah had comeit was a time to rejoice and come to God's feast (as the O.T. Prophets predicted, Isaiah 25:6 ff; Isaiah 55:1 ff; Isaiah 61:1 ff). John the Baptist himself had confirmed that Jesus was The Bridegroom. The children of the bridechamber certainly should not fast or mourn while the Bridegroom was with them. When the Bridegroom was slain would be the time for mourning; and that would come soon enough. But even that mourning would last only a short time for the Bridegroom would be raised from the dead and then joy would return to the disciples.

But the Pharisees refused to acknowledge that the Messiah had come. They refused to accept the announcement that God's promises of salvation by grace were present in Jesus. They preferred to continue seeking justification through their legalistic traditions. This is the point of the parables Jesus uses here. Obviously, the new garment and the new Wine is the Christian revelation of salvation by grace and the old garment and old wineskins represent the old system to which the Jews were clinging for salvation; the Law of Moses, especially as it was traditionally interpreted and practiced for the purposes of self-justification. The promise of God for salvation was never intended to be limited in its appropriation to a set of rules and traditions. God's salvation has always been by grace, through faith (Romans 5:2). The promise, made to Abraham when he was a Gentile, was to be appropriated through faith, and the Law which came 430 years later did not annul the promise or the means of appropriation. The Law was not against salvation by grace through faith. In fact, the Law was given to intensify man's realization that his only hope of salvation was by grace through faith. This is more precisely taught in Romans, Chapter s 3 through 8, and Galatians, Chapter s 3 through 5. It was not the Law itself that condemned man. Man was condemned by his perversion of the Law. Man took God's Law and arrogantly declared that he needed no grace from God, no faith in God, for he could, by adding his own interpretations and traditions to it, keep it in such an absolute and perfect way, God would owe him salvation. Man perverted the Law into a system of self-justification. His faith was in himself and his systemnot in the Lawgiver, God.

Jesus came to fulfill the old system; He did not come to patch it up. To make the new a patch on the old would never work. Cloth in Jesus-' day was not sanforized. A patch of new cloth on old, when washed, would shrink and tear itself away from the old. New, unfermented wine put in old, brittle and dried out wineskins, would form gases as it fermented and would soon burst the old skins. The proper thing to do is put new wine in new skins; when the new wine forms gases, the new skins stretch to meet the situation.
The new era of grace ushered in by Christ and His fulfillment of the old cannot be contained in the forms of the old Law and especially in the traditions of the Pharisees, Systems of Law and Tradition must, by their very nature, be constructed to fit times and cultures. Salvation by grace through faith fits all times and cultures. The Christian dispensation of God's grace calls for new and expanding ways to express itself. It must be able to transcend human cultures. It must divorce the spirit of man from its tendency to cling to the seen and direct it to the unseen, It must be able to strip the spirit of man of its tendency to arrogance and self-justification through a system and direct it to trust the absolute faithfulness of a Person. Man must be freed from the penalty of guilt in failing to perfectly obey the Law of God and his own perversions of that Law, so he can enter a covenant relationship with the God of grace by faith. That is what Jesus accomplished for man! That is why Christianity is not simply a patch-up-job on legalism; that is why Christianity cannot be restricted into some humanly legalistic wineskin. Once a man believes in Christ, accepts His new covenant terms and is immersed in water, he is justified by the grace of God and he is forgiven all penalties and is free to grow in his expression of faith and love toward God as he allows himself to be motivated and guided by the Spirit of God through the New Covenant scriptures. Such a person is born againa citizen of the kingdom of God. Never again does he need to seek to justify himself before God; never again can anyone else bind him to a system of legalism. Only the individual through distrust in God and His word, enslaves himself again to legalism.

Now this is the point of Jesus-' last illustration here (Luke 5:39). Jesus ends this discussion of conversion on a sad note. It will be very difficult for most men to give up the old way of self-justification and accept the new justification by grace through faith. Pride, the mother of all sins, is not easy to surrender. Pharisees (those of Jesus-' day and those of all ages) satisfy themselves with old wine (self-righteousness through human legalism). The old is pleasant, so why even try the new? Human legalism is a form of idolatry. The Pharisees made void the word of God by their traditions and legalism and thus these became their god. The man who makes his own god can manipulate it. Human legalism can be manipulated to serve man's pride and other fleshly lusts. It is not easy to surrender in faith to the Personal God who cannot be manipulated. Jesus found it easier to convert Levi, who had probably not been too concerned with self-justification, than to convert the Pharisees whose self-righteousness closed their hearts to the grace of Christ. As one man has said, How often does the good become the enemy of the best!The idea of self-justification is intoxicating and exhilarating to the proud heart of man.

Keeping the commandments of Christ because we believe, trust and love Him is not legalism. Legalism is an attitude, not an action. Legalism is the proud heart of man thinking he can keep the law of God perfectly and not incur guilt and so earn his salvation by self-righteousness. Legalism does not depend upon the imputed righteousness of Christ but upon self-attained merit. Trying to obey the commandments of Christ because one believes and accepts His salvation as a gift is not legalism, but love.

STUDY STIMULATORS:

1.

How would you characterize the lake of Gennesaret? What part did it have to play in Jesus-' ministry?

2.

What do you think of Jesus selecting fishermen to become apostles? How do men usually go about choosing their leaders (cf. 1 Samuel 8:5; 1 Samuel 8:19-20; 1 Samuel 9:1-2)?

3.

Did Jesus expect these fishermen to follow Him on some immediate, emotional whim? Does Jesus ever expect anyone to follow Him on that basis? How do you know?

4.

Why was the miracle of the great catch of fish so impressive to Peter?

5.

Describe the social circumstances of having leprosy in Jesus-' day.

6.

What was leprosy? What religious function did it have?

7.

What did Jesus signify when He cleansed this leper?

8.

What is a Pharisee? Where did they come from? Why were they following Jesus?

9.

What was paralysis according to Dr. Luke? Why did they let the paralyzed man down through the roof into the house where Jesus was?

10.

Why did Jesus first tell the paralyzed man his sins were forgiven?

11.

What did the Pharisees say about Jesus forgiving the man's sins?

12.

How did Jesus prove He could forgive the man's sins?

13.

Who was Levi and what did he do for a living?

14.

Why would Jesus call Levi to be an apostle?

15.

How did Levi introduce Jesus to his friends?

16.

Why did Jesus eat with publicans and sinners?

17.

Why did the Pharisees and John's disciples attack Jesus for not fasting?

18.

What is fasting? When should Christians fast?

19.

What did Jesus mean by saying, You cannot put new patches on old cloth. and You cannot put new wine into old wineskins?

20.

Why do men not desire the new wine after having drunk the old?

21.

What is legalism? What is it not?