< Luke 5 >

In this chapter we read of various miracles which Jesus performed. Those deeds proved that his message came from God, but they are also significant in representing the purpose of God. For example, some of his closest disciples were fishermen and Jesus took them away to become “fishers of men”. Their efforts in saving men would have been fruitless if attempted alone, as was their fishing in the sea of Galilee, but when they acted at Jesus’ command, “at his word”, they caught a great multitude.

Jesus cleansed a leper, and leprosy is used in the scriptures to represent sin in the flesh, for both are fatal corrupting afflictions and, just as he had power to make a leper clean, he can also cleanse us from sin. Jesus has authority from his Father to forgive our sins, as he said: “the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins”. The Pharisees considered this blasphemous but Jesus made the irrefutable assertion that the power of God in his possession which healed the paralysed man was proof that he had God’s authority and it was as easy for him to say “Thy sins be forgiven thee” as to say “Rise up and walk”. When Jesus returns from heaven he will come with the same power and authority, and we hope that he will say to us: “Thy sins be forgiven thee” and “Rise up out of the grave to the divine nature”.

The Pharisees considered themselves “righteous” and were disdainful of “publicans (tax gatherers for the Romans) and sinners” who welcomed Jesus. But he did not come to save the self-righteous, but sinners: as a doctor heals the sick, not the healthy. The Pharisees were unable to accept his teaching which was like “new wine” for they preferred the “old wine”. Those who did receive his teaching had to be new people; in the same way as new wine had to be put in new leather bottles, because fermenting wine would burst the old ones.