Luke 5 commlentary

LUKE 5 COMMLENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Jesus Calls His First Disciples
1 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of
Gennesaret,[a] the people were crowding
around him and listening to the word of God.
BARNES, "The people pressed upon his - Multitudes came to hear. There
were times in the life of our Saviour when thousands were anxious to hear him, and
when many, as we have no reason to doubt, became his true followers. Indeed, it is
not possible to tell what “might” have been his success, had not the Pharisees and
scribes, and those who were in office, opposed him, and taken measures to draw the
people away from his ministry; “for the common people heard him gladly,” Mar_
12:37.
The Lake of Gennesaret - Called also the Sea of Galilee and the Sea of Tiberias.
“Gennesaret was the more ancient name of the lake, taken from a small territory or
plain of that name on its western borders. See Num_34:11; Jos_19:35, where, after
the Hebrew orthography, it is called Chinnereth” (Owen). The plain lying between
Capernaum and Tiberias is said by Dr. Thomson (“The Land and the Book,” vol. i. p.
536) to be a little longer than thirty, and not quite twenty furlongs in breadth. It is
described by Josephus as being, in his time, universally fertile. “Its nature is
wonderful as well as its beauty. Its soil is so fruitful that all sorts of trees can grow
upon it, and the inhabitants accordingly plant all sorts of trees there; for the
temperature of the air is so well mixed that it agrees very well with those several
sorts; particularly walnuts, which require the coldest air, flourish there in vast plenty.
One may call this the ambition of nature, where it forces those plants which are
naturally enemies to one another to agree together. It is a happy conjunction of the
seasons, as if every one laid claim to this country; for it not only nourishes different
sorts of autumnal fruits beyond people’s expectations, but preserves them a great
while. It supplies people with the principal fruits; with grapes and figs continually
during ten months of the year, and the rest of the fruits, as they become ripe, through
the whole year; for, besides the good temperature of the air, it is also watered from a
most fertile fountain.”
Dr. Thomson describes it now as “preeminently fruitful in thorns.” This was the
region of the early toils of our Redeemer. Here he performed some of his first and
most amazing miracles; here he selected his disciples; and here, on the shores of this
little and retired lake, among people of poverty and inured to the privations of
fishermen, he laid the foundation of a religion which is yet to spread through all the
world, and which has already blessed millions of guilty and miserable people, and
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translated them to heaven.
CLARKE, "The people pressed upon him - There was a glorious prospect of
a plentiful harvest, but how few of these blades came to full corn in the ear! To hear
with diligence and affection is well; but a preacher of the Gospel may expect that, out
of crowds of hearers, only a few, comparatively, will fully receive the truth, and hold
out to the end.
To hear the word of God - Του λογον του Θεου, The doctrine of God, or, the
heavenly doctrine.
The lake of Gennesaret - Called also the sea of Galilee, Mat_4:18, and Mar_
1:16; and the sea of Tiberias, Joh_6:1. It was, according to Josephus, forty furlongs in
breadth, and one hundred and forty in length. No synagogue could have contained
the multitudes who attended our Lord’s ministry; and therefore he was obliged to
preach in the open air. But this also some of the most eminent rabbins were in the
habit of doing; though among some of their brethren it was not deemed reputable.
GILL, "And it came to pass, that as the people pressed upon him,.... As
Christ went through Galilee, and preached in the synagogues there, great crowds of
people attended on him, and they followed him wherever he went; and so large were
their numbers, and so very eager were they to see him, and hear him, that they were
even troublesome to him, and bore hard upon him, and were ready to press him
down, though they had no ill design upon him, but only
to hear the word of God; the scriptures of the Old Testament explained, and the
doctrines of the Gospel preached; and which were preached by him, as never were
before or since, and in such a manner as were not by the Scribes and Pharisees; and
both the matter and manner of his ministry drew a vast concourse of people after
him:
he stood by the lake of Gennesaret; the same with the sea of Chinnereth, Num_
34:11 where the Targums of Onkelos, Jonathan, and the Jerusalem, call it, ‫דגנוסר‬ ‫,ימא‬
"the sea of Geausar" or "Gennesaret": and so it is elsewhere called (a), and is the
same which is called the sea of Galilee, and of Tiberias, Joh_6:1 and is, by other
writers (b), as here, called the lake of Gennesaret, and said to be sixteen miles long,
and six broad. Josephus says (c), it is forty furlongs broad, and an hundred long. The
Jews say (d), that
"the holy, blessed God created seven seas, but chose none of them all, but the sea of
Gennesaret.''
And indeed, it was a place chosen by Christ, and honoured, and made famous by him,
by his preaching at it, his miracles upon it, and showing himself there after his
resurrection.
HENRY, "This passage of story fell, in order of time, before the two miracles we
had in the close of the foregoing chapter, and is the same with that which was more
briefly related by Matthew and Mark, of Christ's calling Peter and Andrew to be
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fishers of men, Mat_4:18, and Mar_1:16. They had not related this miraculous
draught of fishes at that time, having only in view the calling of his disciples; but
Luke gives us that story as one of the many signs which Jesus did in the presence of
his disciples, which had not been written in the foregoing books, Joh_20:30, Joh_
20:31. Observe here,
I. What vast crowds attended Christ's preaching: The people pressed upon him to
hear the word of God (Luk_5:1), insomuch that no house would contain them, but he
was forced to draw them out to the strand, that they might be reminded of the
promise made to Abraham, that his seed should be as the sand upon the sea shore
(Gen_22:17), and yet of them but a remnant shall be saved, Rom_9:27. The people
flocked about him (so the word signifies); they showed respect to his preaching,
though not without some rudeness to his person, which was very excusable, for they
pressed upon him. Some would reckon this a discredit to him, to be thus cried up by
the vulgar, when none of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him; but he
reckoned it an honour to him, for their souls were as precious as the souls of the
grandees, and it is his aim to bring not so much the mighty as the many sons to God.
It was foretold concerning him that to him shall the gathering of the people be.
Christ was a popular preacher; and though he was able, at twelve, to dispute with the
doctors, yet he chose, at thirty, to preach to the capacity of the vulgar. See how the
people relished good preaching, though under all external disadvantages: they
pressed to hear the word of God; they could perceive it to be the word of God, by the
divine power and evidence that went along with it, and therefore they coveted to hear
it.
II. What poor conveniences Christ had for preaching: He stood by the lake of
Gennesareth (Luk_5:1), upon a level with the crowd, so that they could neither see
him nor hear him; he was lost among them, and, every one striving to get near him,
he was crowded, and in danger of being crowded into the water: what must he do?
JAMISON, "Luk_5:1-11. Miraculous draught of fishes - Call of Peter, James, and
John.
Not their first call, however, recorded in Joh_1:35-42; nor their second, recorded
in Mat_4:18-22; but their third and last before their appointment to the apostleship.
That these calls were all distinct and progressive, seems quite plain. (Similar stages
are observable in other eminent servants of Christ.)
SBC 1-11, "Fishers of Men.
I. This passage reminds us that discipleship comes before apostleship. Peter had
been, for at least some months, a docile learner in the school of Christ before he was
called here to forsake all, and follow Him as an Apostle. They who would teach others
about the Lord must first be acquainted with Him themselves.
II. That the knowledge of self, obtained through the discovery of Christ, is one of the
main elements of power in seeking to benefit others. It is not a little remarkable that
when God has called some of His greatest servants to signal service He has begun by
giving them a thorough revelation of themselves, through the unveiling to them of
Himself. Thus, when He appeared to Moses at the bush, the first effect was that
Moses trembled and durst not behold, and the ultimate issue was that he cried, "O
my Lord, I am not eloquent:... but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue." Peter
recognised the deity of Jesus through the miracle; but the light of that Godhead did,
at the same time, flash into his own heart, and reveal him unto himself as he had
never had himself revealed unto him before. Then came the Master’s "Fear not," with
its soothing influence; and thus, through his discovery of himself, and his knowledge
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of his Lord, he was prepared for his apostolic service.
III. That the work of the Christian ministry demands the concentration of the whole
man upon it. These first Apostles "forsook all, and followed Christ." This was their
response to the call to active and official service by the Lord. Their ordination came
later, but their acceptance of the call was now, and was signalised by their withdrawal
from their ordinary pursuits.
IV. That the higher life of the ministry lifts into itself, and utilises all the experiences
of the lower life that preceded it. "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."
This phrase tells us (1) that if we would catch men we must use the right kind of net;
(2) that we must follow men to their haunts if we would win them for Christ; (3) that
we ought to improve special seasons of opportunity.
W. M. Taylor, Peter the Apostle, p. 36.
CALVIN, "Luke 5:1.He stood near the lake. Matthew and Mark, according to
the usual custom of their language, call it the sea of Galilee. The proper name of
this lake among the ancient Hebrews was ‫,כנרת‬ (Chinnereth;) (338) but, when the
language became corrupted, the word was changed to Gennesaret. Profane
authors call it Gennesar; and that part, which lay towards Galilee, was called by
them the sea of Galilee. The bank, which adjoined to Tiberias, received its name
from that city. Its breadth and situation will be more appropriately discussed in
another place. Let us now come to the fact here related.
Luke says, that Christ entered into a ship which belonged to Peter, and withdrew
to a moderate distance from the land, that he might more conveniently address
from it the multitudes, who flocked from various places to hear him; and that,
after discharging the office of teaching, he exhibited a proof of his divine power
by a miracle. It was no unusual thing, indeed, that fishers cast their nets, on
many occasions, with little advantage: and that all their fruitless toil was
afterwards recompensed by one successful throw. But it was proved to be a
miracle by this circumstance, that they had taken nothing during the whole
night, (which, however, is more suitable for catching fish,) and that suddenly a
great multitude of fishes was collected into their nets, sufficient to fill the ships.
Peter and his companions, therefore, readily conclude that a take, so far beyond
the ordinary quantity, was not accidental, but was bestowed on them by a divine
interposition.
EBC, "THE CALLING OF THE FOUR.
WHEN Peter and his companions had the interview with Jesus by the Jordan, and
were summoned to follow Him, it was the designation, rather than the appointment,
to the Apostleship. They did accompany Him to Cana, and thence to Capernaum; but
here their paths diverged for a time, Jesus passing on alone to Nazareth, while the
novitiate disciples fall back again into the routine of secular life. Now, however, His
mission is fairly inaugurated, and He must attach them permanently to His person.
He must lay His hand, where His thoughts have long been, upon the future, making
provision for the stability and permanence of His work, that so the kingdom may
survive and flourish when the Ascension clouds have made the King Himself
invisible.
St. Matthew and St. Mark insert their abridged narrative of the call before the healing
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of the demoniac and the cure of Peter s mother-in-law; and most expositors think
that St. Luke’s setting "in order," in this case at least, is wrong; that he has preferred
to have a chronological inaccuracy, so that His miracles may be gathered into related
groups. But that our Evangelist is in error is by no means certain; indeed, we are
inclined to think that the balance of probability is on the side of his arrangement.
How else shall we account for the crowds who now press upon Jesus so
importunately and with such Galilean ardour? It was not the rumour of His Judaean
miracles which had awoke this tempest of excitement, for the journey to Jerusalem
was not yet taken. And what else could it be, if the miraculous draught of fishes was
the first of the Capernaum miracles? But suppose that we retain the order of St.
Luke, that the call followed closely upon that memorable Sabbath, then the crowds
fall into the story naturally; it is the multitude which had gathered about the door
when the Sabbath sun had set, putting an after-glow upon the hills, and on whose
sick He wrought His miracles of healing. Nor does the fact that Jesus went to be a
guest in Peter’s house require us to invert the order of St. Luke; for the casual
acquaintance by the Jordan had since ripened into intimacy, so that Peter would
naturally offer hospitality to his Master on His coming to Capernaum. Again, too,
going back to the Sabbath in the synagogue, we read how they were astonished at His
doctrine; "for His word was with authority;" and when that astonishment was
heightened into amazement, as they saw the demon cowed and silenced, this was
their exclamation, "What a word is this!" And does not Peter refer to this, when the
same voice that commanded the demon now commands them to "Let down the nets,"
and he answers, "At Thy word I will"? It certainly seems as if the "word " of the sea-
shore were an echo from the synagogue, and so a "word" that justifies the order of
our Evangelist.
It was probably still early in the morning for the days of Jesus began back at the
dawn, and very often before when He sought the quiet of the sea-shore, possibly to
find a still hour for devotion, or perhaps to see how His friends had fared with their
all-night fishing. Little quiet, however, could He find, for from Capernaum and
Bethsaida comes a hurrying and intrusive crowd, surging around Him with the swirl
and roar of confused voices, and pressing inconveniently near. Not that the crowd
was hostile; it was a friendly but inquisitive multitude, eager, not so much to see a
repetition of His miracles, as to hear Him speak, in those rare, sweet accents, "the
word of God." The expression characterizes the whole teaching of Jesus. Though His
words were meant for earth, for human ears and for human hearts, there was no
earthliness about them. On the topics in which man is most exercised and garrulous,
such as local or national events, Jesus is strangely silent. He scarcely gives them a
passing thought; for what were the events of the day to Him who was "before
Abraham," and who saw the two eternities? what to Him was the gossip of the hour,
how Rome s armies marched and fought, or how "the dogs of faction" bayed? To His
mind these were but as dust caught in the eddies of the wind. The thoughts of Jesus
were high. Like the figures of the prophet’s vision, they had feet indeed, so that they
could alight and rest awhile on earthly things though even here they only touched
earth at points which were common to humanity, and they were winged, too, having
the sweep of the lower spaces and of the highest heavens. And so there was a
heavenliness upon the words of Jesus, and a sweetness, as if celestial harmonies were
imprisoned within them. They set men looking upwards, and listening; for the
heavens seemed nearer as He spoke, and they were no longer dumb. And not only did
the words of Jesus bring to men a clearer revelation of God, correcting the hard views
which man, in his fears and his sins, had formed of Him, but men felt the Divineness
of His speech; that Jesus was the Bearer of a new evangel, God s latest message of
hope and love. And He was the Bearer of such a message; He was Himself that
Evangel, the Word of God incarnate, that men might hear of heavenly things in the
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common accents of earthly speech.
Nor was Jesus loth to deliver His message; He needed no constraining to speak of the
things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Only let Him see the listening heart, the
void of a sincere longing, and His speech distilled as the dew. And so no time was to
Him inopportune; the break of day, the noon, the night were all alike to Him. No
place was out of harmony with His message the Temple-court, the synagogue, the
domestic hearth, the mountain, the lake-shore; He consecrated all alike with the
music of His speech. Nay, even upon the cross, amid its agonies, He opens His lips
once more, though parched with terrible thirst, to speak peace within a penitent soul,
and to open for it the gate of Paradise.
Drawn up on the shore, close by the water’s edge, are two boats, empty now, for
Simon and his partners are busy washing their nets, after their night of fruitless toil.
Seeking for freer space than the pushing crowd will allow Him, and also wanting a
point of vantage, where His voice will command a wider range of listeners, Jesus gets
into Simon s boat, and requests him to put out a little from the land. "And He sat
down, and taught the multitudes out of the boat," assuming the posture of the
teacher, even though the occasion partook so largely of the impromptu character.
When He dispensed the material bread He made the multitudes "sit down;" but when
He dispensed the living bread, the heavenly manna, He left the multitudes standing,
while He Himself sat down, so claiming the authority of a Master, as His posture
emphasized His words. It is somewhat singular that when our Evangelist has been so
careful and minute in his description of the scene, giving us a sort of photograph of
that lake side group, with bits of artistic colouring thrown in, that then he should
omit entirely the subject-matter of the discourse. But so he does, and we try in vain
to fill up the blank. Did He, as at Nazareth, turn the lamps of prophecy full upon
Himself, and tell them how the "great Light" had at last risen upon Galilee of the
nations? or did He let His speech reflect the shimmer of the lake, as He told in
parable how the kingdom of heaven was "like unto a net that was cast into the sea,
and gathered of every kind"? Possibly He did, but His words, whatever they were,
"like the pipes of Pan, died with the ears and hearts of those who heard them."
"When He had left speaking," having dismissed the multitude with His benediction,
He turns to give to His future disciples, Peter and Andrew, a private lesson. "Put out
into the deep," He said, including Andrew now in His plural imperative, "and let
down your nets for a draught." It was a commanding voice, altogether different in its
tone from the last words He addressed to Peter, when He "requested" him to put out
a little from the land. Then He spoke as the Friend, possibly the Guest, with a certain
amount of deference; now He steps up to a very throne of power, a throne which in
Peter’s life He never more abdicates. Simon recognizes the altered conditions, that a
Higher Will is now in the boat, where hitherto his own will has been supreme; and
saluting Him as "Master," he says, "We toiled all night, and took nothing; but at Thy
word I will let down the nets." He does not demur; he does not hesitate one moment.
Though himself weary with his night-long labours, and though the command of the
Master went directly against his nautical experiences, he sinks his thoughts and his
doubts in the word of his Lord. It is true he speaks of the failure of the night, how
they have taken nothing; but instead of making that a plea for hesitancy and doubt, it
is the foil to make his unquestioning faith stand out in bolder relief. Peter was the
man of impulse, the man of action, with a swift-beating heart and an ever-ready
hand. To his forward-stepping mind decision was easy and immediate; and so,
almost before the command was completed, his swift lips had made answer, "I will let
down the nets." It was the language of a prompt and full obedience. It showed that
Simon s nature was responsive and genuine, that when a Christly word struck upon
his soul it set his whole being vibrating, and drove out all meaner thoughts. He had
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learned to obey, which was the first lesson of discipleship; and having learned to
obey, he was there fore fit to rule, qualified for leadership, and worthy of being
entrusted with the keys of the kingdom.
And how much is missed in life through feebleness of resolve, a lack of decision! How
many are the invertebrate souls, lacking in will and void of purpose, who, instead of
piercing waves and conquering the flow of adverse tides, like the medusae, can only
drift, all limp and languid, in the current of circumstance I Such men do not make
apostles; they are but ciphers of flesh and blood, of no value by themselves, and only
of any worth as they are attached to the unit of some stronger will. A poor broken
thing is a life spent in the subjunctive mood, among the "mights" and "shoulds,"
where the "I will " waits upon" I would ". That is the truest, worthiest life that is
divided between the indicative and the imperative. As in shaking pebbles the smaller
ones drop down to the bottom, their place determined by their size, so in the shaking
together of human lives, in the rub and jostle of the world, the strong wills invariably
come to the top.
And how much do even Christians lose, through their partial or their slow obedience!
How we hesitate and question, when our duty is simply to obey! How we cling to our
own ways, modes, and wills, when the Christ is commanding us forward to some
higher service! How strangely we forget that in the grammar of life the "Thou wiliest"
should be the first person, and the "I will" a far-off second! When the soldier hears
the word of command he becomes deaf to all other voices, even the voice of danger,
or the voice of death itself; and when Christ speaks to us His word should completely
fill the soul, leaving no room for hesitancy, no place for doubt. Said the mother to the
servants of Cana, "Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it." That "whatsoever" is the line
of duty, and the line of beauty too. He who makes Christ s will his will, who does
implicitly "whatsoever He saith," will find a Cana anywhere, where life s water turns
to wine, and where life s common things are exalted into sacraments. He who walks
up to the light will surely walk in the light.
We can imagine with what alacrity Simon obeys the Master s word, and how the
disappointment of the night and all sense of fatigue are lost in the exhilaration of the
new hopes. Seconded by the more quiet Andrew, who catches the enthusiasm of his
brother’s faith, he pulls out into deep water, where they let down the nets.
Immediately they enclosed "a great multitude" of fishes, a weight altogether beyond
their power to lift; and as they saw the nets beginning to give way with the strain,
Peter "beckoned" to his partners, James and John, whose boat, probably, was still
drawn up on the shore. Coming to their assistance, together they secured the spoil,
completely filling the two boats, until they were in danger of sinking with the over
weight.
Here, then, we find a miracle of a new order. Hitherto, in the narrative of our
Evangelist, Jesus has shown His supernatural power only in connection with
humanity, driving away the ills and diseases which preyed upon the human body and
the human soul. And not even here did Jesus make use of that power randomly,
making it common and cheap; it was called forth by the constraint of a great need
and a great desire. Now, however, there is neither the desire nor the need. It was not
the first time, nor was it to be the last, that Peter and Andrew had spent a night in
fruitless toil. That was a lesson they had early to learn, and which they were never
allowed long to forget. They had been quite content to leave their boat, as indeed they
had intended, on the sands, until the evening should recall them to their task. But
Jesus volunteers His help, and works a miracle whether of omnipotence, or
omniscience, or of both, it matters not, and not either to relieve some present
distress, or to still some pain, but that He might fill the empty boats with fishes. We
must not, however, assess the value of the miracle at the market-price of the take, for
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evidently Jesus had some ulterior motive and design. As the leaden types, lying
detached and meaningless in the "case," can be arranged into words and be made to
voice the very highest thought, so these boats and oars, nets and fish are but so many
characters, the Divine "code" as we may call it, spelling out, first to these fishermen,
and then to mankind in general, the deep thought and purpose of Christ. Can we
discover that meaning? We think we may.
In the first place, the miracle shows us the supremacy of Christ. We may almost read
the Divineness of Christ s mission in the manner of its manifestation. Had Jesus been
man only, His thoughts running on human lines, and His plans built after human
models, He would have arranged for another Epiphany at the beginning of His
ministry, showing His credentials at the first, and announcing in full the purpose of
His mission. That would have been the way of man, fond as he is of surprises and
sudden transitions; but such is not the way of God. The forces of heaven do not move
forward in leaps and somersaults; their advances are gradual and rhythmic.
Evolution, and not revolution, is the Divine law, in the realm of matter and of mind
alike. The dawn must precede the day. And just so the life of the Divine Son is
manifested. He who is the "Light of the world" comes into that world softly as a
sunrise, lighting up little by little the horizon of His disciples thought, lest a
revelation which was too full and too sudden should only dazzle and blind them. So
far they have seen Him exercise His power over diseases and demons, or, as at Cana,
over inorganic matter; now they see that power moving out in new directions. Jesus
sets up His throne to face the sea, the sea with which they were so familiar, and over
which they claimed some sort of lordship. But even here, upon their own element,
Jesus is supreme. He sees what they do not; He knows these deeps, filling up with
His omniscience the blanks they seek to fill with their random guesses. Here,
hitherto, their wills have been all-powerful; they could take their boats and cast their
nets just when and where they would; but now they feel the touch of a Higher Will,
and Christ s word fills their hearts, impelling them onward, even as their boats were
driven of the wind. Jesus now assumes the command. His Will, like a magnet,
attracts to itself and controls their lesser wills; and as His word now launches out the
boat and casts the nets, so shortly, at that same "word," will boats and nets, and the
sea itself, be left behind.
And did not that Divine Will move beneath the water as well as above it, controlling
the movements of the shoal of fishes, as on the surface it was controlling the
thoughts and moving the hands of the fishermen? It is true that in Gennesaret, as in
our modern seas, the fish sometimes moved in such dense shoals that an enormous
"take" would be an event purely natural, a wonder indeed, but no miracle. Possibly it
was so here, in which case the narrative would resolve itself into a miracle of
omniscience, as Jesus saw, what even the trained eves of the fishermen had not seen,
the movements of the shoal, then regulating His commands, so making the oars
above and the fins below strike the water in unison. But was this all? Evidently not, to
Peter’s mind, at any rate. Had it been all to him, a purely natural phenomenon, or
had he seen in it only the prescience of Christ, a vision somewhat clearer and farther
than his own, it would not have created such feelings of surprise and awe. He might
still have wondered, but he scarcely would have worshipped. But Peter feels himself
in the presence of a Power that knows no limit, One who has supreme authority over
diseases and demons, and who now commands even the fishes of the sea. In this
sudden wealth of spoil he reads the majesty and glory of the new-found Christ, whose
word, spoken or unspoken, is omnipotent, alike in the heights above and in the
depths beneath. And so the moment his thoughts are disengaged from the pressing
task he prostrates himself at the feet of Jesus, crying with awe-stricken speech,
"Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" We are not, perhaps, to interpret
8

this literally, for Peter s lips were apt to become tremulous with the excitement of the
moment, and to say words which in a cooler mood he would recall, or at least modify.
So here, it surely was not his meaning that "the Lord," as he now calls Jesus, should
leave him; for how indeed should He depart, now that they are afloat upon the deep,
far from land? But such had been the revelation of the power and holiness of Jesus,
borne in by the miracle upon Peter s soul, that he felt himself thrown back, morally
and in every way, to an infinite distance from Christ. His boat was unworthy to carry,
as the house of the centurion was unworthy to receive, such infinite perfections as
now he saw in Jesus. It was an apocalypse indeed, revealing, together with the purity
and power of Christ, the littleness, the nothingness of his sinful self; that, as Elijah
covered his face when the LORD passed by, so Peter feels as if he ought to draw the
veil of an infinite distance around himself the distance which would ever be between
him and the LORD, were not His mercy and His love just as infinite as His power.
The fuller meaning of the miracle, however, becomes apparent when we interpret it
in the light of the call which immediately followed. Reading the sudden fear which
has come over Peter s soul, and which has thrown his speech somewhat into
confusion, Jesus first stills the agitation of his heart by a word of assurance and of
cheer. "Fear not," He says, for "from henceforth thou shalt catch men." It will be
observed that St. Luke puts the commission of Christ in the singular number, as
addressed to Peter alone, while St. Matthew and St. Mark put it in the plural, as
including Andrew as well: "I will make you to become fishers of men." The difference,
however, is but immaterial, and possibly the reason why St. Luke introduces the
Apostle Peter with such a frequent nomination for "Simon" is a familiar name in
these early chapters making his call so emphatic and prominent, was because in the
partisan times which came but too early in the Church the Gentile Christians, for
whom our Evangelist is writing, might think unworthily and speak disparagingly of
him who was the Apostle of the Circumcision. Be this as it may, Simon and Andrew
are now summoned to, and commissioned for, a higher service. That "henceforth"
strikes across their life like a high watershed, severing the old from the new, their
future from their past, and throwing all the currents of their thoughts and plans into
different and opposite directions. They are to be "fishers of men," and Jesus, who so
delights in giving object-lessons to His disciples, uses the miracle as a sort of
background, on which He may write their commission in large and lasting
characters; it is the Divine seal upon their credentials.
Not that they understood the full purport of His words at once. The phrase "fishers of
men" was one of those seed thoughts which needed pondering in the heart; it would
gradually unfold itself in the after months of discipleship, ripening at last in the
summer heat and summer light of the Pentecost. They were now to be fishers of the
higher art, their quest the souls of men. This must now be the one object, the
supreme aim of their life, a life now ennobled by a higher call. Plans, journeys,
thoughts, and words, all must bear the stamp of their great commission, which is to
"catch men," not unto death, however, as the fish expire when taken from their native
element, but unto life for such is the meaning of the word. And to "take them alive" is
to save them; it is to take them out of an element which stifles and destroys, and to
draw them, by the constraints of truth and love, within the kingdom of heaven, which
kingdom is righteousness and life, even eternal life.
But if the full meaning of the Master s words grows upon them an aftermath to be
harvested in later months enough is understood to make the line of present duty
plain. That " henceforth" is clear, sharp, and imperative. It leaves room neither for
excuse nor postponement. And so immediately, "when they had brought their boats
to land, they left all and followed Him," to learn by following how they too might be
winners of souls, and in a lesser, lower sense, saviours of men.
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The story of St. Luke closes somewhat abruptly, with no further reference to Simon’s
partners; and having "beckoned" them into his central scene, and filled their boat,
then, as in a dissolving-view, the pen of our Evangelist draws around them the haze
of silence, and they disappear. The other Synoptists, however, fill up the blank,
telling how Jesus came to them, probably later in the day, for they were mending the
nets, which had been tangled and somewhat torn with the weight of spoil they had
just taken. Speaking no word of explanation, and giving no word of promise, He
simply says, with that commanding voice of His, "Follow Me," thus putting Himself
above all associations and all relationships, as Leader and Lord. James and John
recognize the call, for which doubtless they had been prepared, as being for
themselves alone, and instantly leaving the father, the "hired servants," and the half-
mended nets, and breaking utterly with their past, they follow Jesus, giving to Him,
with the exception of one dark, hesitating hour, a life-long devotion. And forsaking
all, the four disciples found all. They exchanged a dead self for a living Christ, earth
for heaven. Following the Lord fully, with no side-glances at self or selfish gain at any
rate after the enduement and the enlightenment of Pentecost they found in the
presence and friendship of the Lord the "hundredfold" in the present life. Allying
themselves with Christ, they too rose with the rising Sun. Obscure fishermen, they
wrote their names among the immortals as the first Apostles of the new faith, bearers
of the "keys" of the kingdom. Following Christ, they led the world; and as the Light
that rose over Galilee of the nations becomes ever more intense and bright, so it
makes ever more intense and vivid the shadows of these Galilean fishermen, as it
throws them across all lands and times.
And such even now is the truest and noblest life. The life which is "hid with Christ" is
the life that shines the farthest and that tells the most. Whether in the more quiet
paths and scenes of discipleship or in the more responsible and public duties of the
apostolate, Jesus demands of us a true, whole souled, and life-long devotion. And,
here indeed, the paradox is true, for by losing life we find it, even the life more
abundant; for
"Men may rise on stepping-stones Of their dead selves to higher things."
Nay, they may attain to the highest things, even to the highest heavens.
BARCLAY, "THE CONDITIONS OF A MIRACLE (Luke 5:1-11)
5:1-11 Jesus was standing on the shore of the Lake of Gennesaret while the
crowds pressed in upon him to listen to the word of God. He saw two boats
riding close to the shore. the fishermen had disembarked from them and were
washing their nets. He embarked on one of the boats, which belonged to Simon,
and asked him to push out a little from the land. He sat down and continued to
teach the crowds from the boat. When he stopped speaking, he said to Simon,
"Push out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Simon
answered, "Master, we have toiled all night long and we caught nothing; but, if
you say so, I will let down the nets." When they had done so they enclosed a
great crowd of fishes; their nets were torn with the numbers; so they signalled to
their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and they
rifled both the boats so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this he
fell at Jesus' knees. "Leave me, Lord," he said, "because I am a sinful man."
Wonder gripped him and all who were with him at the number of fishes they had
caught. It was the same with James and John, Zebedee's sons, who were partners
with Simon. Jesus said to Simon, "From now on you will be catching men." So
they brought the boats to land and they left everything and followed him.
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The famous sheet of water in Galilee is called by three names--the Sea of Galilee,
the Sea of Tiberias and the Lake of Gennesaret. It is thirteen miles long by eight
miles wide. It lies in a dip in the earth's surface and is 680 feet below sea level.
That fact gives it an almost tropical climate. Nowadays it is not very populous
but in the days of Jesus it had nine townships clustered round its shores, none of
fewer than 15,000 people.
Gennesaret is really the name of the lovely plain on the west side of the lake, a
most fertile piece of land. The Jews loved to play with derivations, and they had
three derivations for Gennesaret all of which show how beautiful it was.
(i) From kinnowr (Hebrew #3658), which means a harp, either because "its fruit
is as sweet as the sound of a harp" or because "the voice of its waves is pleasant
as the voice of the harp,"
(ii) From gan (Hebrew #1588), a garden, and sar (Hebrew #8269), a prince--
hence "the prince of gardens."
(iii) From gan (Hebrew #1588), a garden, and 'osher (Hebrew #6239), riches--
hence "the garden of riches."
We are here confronted with a turning point in the career of Jesus. Last time we
heard him preach he was in the synagogue; now he is at the lakeside. True, he
will be back in the synagogue again; but the time is coming when the door of the
synagogue will be shut to him and his church will be the lakeside and the open
road, and his pulpit a boat. He would go anywhere where men would listen to
him. "Our societies," said John Wesley, "were formed from those who were
wandering upon the dark mountains, that belonged to no Christian church; but
were awakened by the preaching of the Methodists, who had pursued them
through the wilderness of this world to the High-ways and the Hedges--to the
Markets and the Fairs--to the Hills and the Dales--who set up the Standard of the
Cross in the Streets and Lanes of the Cities, in the Villages, in the Barns, and
Farmers' Kitchens, etc.--and all this done in such a way, and to such an extent, as
never had been done before since the Apostolic age." "I love a commodious
room," said Wesley, "a soft cushion and a handsome pulpit, but field preaching
saves souls." When the synagogue was shut Jesus took to the open road.
There is in this story what we might call a list of the conditions of a miracle.
(i) There is the eye that sees. There is no need to think that Jesus created a shoal
of fishes for the occasion. In the Sea of Galilee there were phenomenal shoals
which covered the sea as if it was solid for as much as an acre. Most likely Jesus'
keen eye saw just such a shoal and his keen sight made it look like a miracle. We
need the eye that really sees. Many people saw steam raise the lid of a kettle; only
James Watt went on to think of a steam engine. Many people saw an apple fall;
only Isaac Newton went on to think out the law of gravity. The earth is full of
miracles for the eye that sees.
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(ii) There is the spirit that will make an effort. If Jesus said it, tired as he was
Peter was prepared to try again. For most people the disaster of life is that they
give up just one effort too soon.
(iii) There is the spirit which will attempt what seems hopeless. The night was
past and that was the time for fishing. All the circumstances were unfavourable,
but Peter said, "Let circumstances be what they may, if you say so, we will try
again." Too often we wait because the time is not opportune. If we wait for a
perfect set of circumstances, we will never begin at all. If we want a miracle, we
must take Jesus at his word when he bids us attempt the impossible.
BENSON, "Luke 5:1-10. As the people pressed upon him, with great eagerness,
to hear the word of God — Insomuch that no house could contain them: they
perceived Christ’s word to be the word of God, by the divine power and evidence
that accompanied it, and therefore they were eager to hear it. It seems the
sermons which Jesus had preached in his last tour through the country had
made a great impression on the minds of the people who heard him; for they
either followed him to Capernaum, or came thither soon after his return in great
numbers, in expectation of receiving still further instruction from him. He stood
by the lake of Gennesaret — Elsewhere called the sea of Galilee, Mark 1:16; and
the sea of Tiberias, John 6:1; being distinguished by these names, because it was
situated on the borders of Galilee, and the city of Tiberias lay on the western
shore of it. The name Gennesaret seems to be a corruption of the word
Cinnereth, the name by which this lake was called in the Old Testament. See note
on Matthew 4:13. It appears from Mark 1:16, that Jesus had been walking on
the banks of this lake. And he saw two ships — Two small vessels, as the word
πλοια, frequently occurring in the gospels, evidently means, though in the
common versions rendered ships. They were a sort of large fishing-boats, which
Josephus calls σκαφαι, observing that there were about two hundred and thirty
of them on the lake, and four or five men to each. Standing by the side of the
lake, or aground near the edge of the lake, as Dr. Campbell renders εστωτα
παρα την λιμνην, observing that the vessels are said to be, not εν τη λιμνη, in the
lake, namely, at anchor, but παρα την λιμνην, at, or beside the lake. But the
fishermen were gone out of them — After the labour of a very unsuccessful
night; and were washing their nets — Namely, in the sea, as they stood on the
shore. And he entered into one of the ships — Namely, Simon’s — With whom,
as well as with his brother Andrew, he had formed some acquaintance on the
banks of Jordan, while John was baptizing there. See John 1:37-42 : and prayed
that he would thrust out a little from the land — Jesus desired this, that he might
avoid the crowd, and at the same time be more conveniently heard. And he
taught the people out of the ship — The subject of his discourse at this time is not
mentioned by the evangelist; he introduces the transaction only because it was
followed by an extraordinary miracle, which he is going to relate. When he had
left speaking, he said unto Simon — Who was the owner of the boat, and his own
disciple; Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught —
Christ intended by the multitude of fishes, which he would make Simon catch, to
show him the success of his future preaching, even in cases where little success
was reasonably to be expected. And Simon said, We have toiled all the night and
taken nothing — A circumstance this, which “one would have thought,” says
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Henry, “should have excused them from hearing the sermon; but such love had
they to the word of God, that it was more reviving and refreshing to them than
the softest slumbers.”
Nevertheless, at thy word — In obedience to it, and dependance on it; I will let
down the net — Though they had toiled to no purpose all night, yet at Christ’s
command they are willing to renew their toil, knowing, that by relying on him,
their strength should be renewed as work was renewed upon their hands.
Observe, reader, we must not presently quit the callings in which we are
engaged, because we have not the success in them which we promised ourselves.
The ministers of the gospel in particular must continue to let down their nets,
though they have, perhaps, toiled long, and caught nothing. They must persevere
unwearied in their labours, though they see not the success of them. And in this
they must have an eye to the word of Christ, and a dependance thereupon. We
are then likely to have success, when we follow the conduct of Christ’s word.
And they enclosed a great multitude of fishes — The net was no sooner let down,
than such a shoal of fishes ran into it, that it was in danger of breaking, or rather
did break in many parts. How vast was that power which brought such a
multitude of fishes into the net! But how much greater and more apparently
divine was the energy which, by the ministration of one of these illiterate men,
converted at once a much greater number of souls, and turned the despisers and
murderers of Christ into his adorers! And they beckoned to their partners which
were in the other ship — Namely, James and John, who, it seems, were at such a
distance from them, that they were not within call; that they should come and
help them — To secure this vast draught of fishes, and bring them safe to the
shore. Such a draught had, doubtless, never been seen in the lake before.
Wherefore it could not miss being acknowledged plainly miraculous, by all the
fishermen present, especially as they had toiled in that very place to no purpose
the whole preceding night, a season much more favourable than the daytime for
catching fish in such clear waters. Peter in particular was so struck with the
miracle, that he could not forbear expressing his astonishment in the most lively
manner, both by words and gestures: he fell down at Jesus’s knees — In
amazement and confusion; saying, in deep self-abasement, Depart from me, for I
am a sinful man, O Lord — And therefore utterly unworthy to be in thy
presence. He believed the holy God was peculiarly present with the person who
could work such a miracle; and a consciousness of sin made him afraid to
continue in his presence, lest some infirmity or offence should expose him to
some more than ordinary punishment. Observe here, reader, 1st, Peter’s
acknowledgment was very just, and one which it becomes us all to make, I am a
sinful man, O Lord: for even the best of men are sinful men, and should be ready
upon all occasions to own it, and especially to own it to Jesus Christ; for to whom
else but to him, who came into the world to save sinners, should sinful men apply
themselves? 2d, His inference from it was not just: if we be sinful men, as indeed
we are, we should rather say, “Lord, for that very reason, while we own
ourselves most unworthy of thy presence, we most importunately entreat it:
Come unto me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man, and if thou stand at a distance
from me, I perish! Come and recover my heart from the tyranny of sin; come
and possess it, and fix it for thyself.” But, considering what reasons sinful men
have before the holy Lord God to dread his wrath, Peter may well be excused in
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crying out, on a sudden, under a sense of his sinfulness and vileness, Depart from
me, O Lord. Though Peter was the only person who spake on this occasion, the
rest were not unaffected. James and John, who were partners with him — Were
also struck with astonishment, and, doubtless, were also humbled before him.
But Jesus encouraged them all, and especially Simon, saying, Fear not: from
henceforth thou shalt catch men — Instead of doing thee any harm, I from this
time design to employ thee in much nobler work, in which I will give thee such
happy success, that thou shalt captivate men, in greater abundance than those
fishes thou hast now caught: enclosing them in the net of the gospel, and drawing
them out of the gulf of ignorance, sin, and misery, to the land of life eternal. The
original expression here is very emphatical, ανθρωπους εση ζωγρων, Thou shalt
be employed in catching men alive: it is spoken in allusion to those fishes and
beasts that are caught, not to be killed, but to be put into ponds and parks.
Thus by a signal miracle our Lord, 1st, Showed his dominion in the seas as well
as on the dry land; and over its wealth as well as over its waves; and that he was
that Son of man, under whose feet all things were put. 2d, He confirmed the
doctrine he had just preached out of Peter’s ship, and proved that he was at least
a preacher come from God. 3d, He repaid Peter for the loan of his boat; and
manifested that his gospel now, as his ark formerly, in the house of Obed-Edom,
would be sure to make ample amends for its kind entertainment; and that
Christ’s recompenses for services done to his name would be abundant, yea,
superabundant. And lastly, he hereby gave a specimen to those who were to be
his ambassadors to the world, of the success of their embassy; that though they
might for a time, and in some particular places, toil and catch nothing, yet, that
they should be made the instruments of enclosing many in the gospel net, and
bringing them to Christ and salvation, present and eternal.
COFFMAN, "Events narrated in this chapter are the wonderful draught of
fishes (Luke 5:1-11), the healing of a leper (Luke 5:12-16), the cure of the man
carried by four men (Luke 5:17-26), the call of Matthew (Luke 5:27-28),
complaints by the Pharisees and following discussion (Luke 5:29-31). The call of
some of the apostles is also woven into the above narratives.
Now it came to pass, while the multitude pressed upon him and heard the word
of God, that he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; and he saw two boats
standing by the lake: but the fishermen had gone out of them, and were washing
their nets. (Luke 5:1-2)
THE WONDERFUL CATCH OF FISH
The dramatic scene here is emphasized by the last two clauses. It had been an
unsuccessful night of fishing, and the men who were about to be called to the
apostleship were cleaning up the gear and getting ready to store it against the
next fishing trip. With marvelous insight, Jesus accomplished several things at
once. By using one of the boats as a pulpit, he could avoid the press of the
throng; and, by means of the great catch a little later, he could provide further
insight for the men about to be called to accompany him as apostles. Luke did
not record the sermon Jesus preached on that occasion; and thus we should look
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to what Jesus did, rather than to the unrecorded message. Like the apostle John,
Luke recognized the deeply spiritual overtones of such an event as this. Of
course, it is incorrect to suppose that this miracle was the same as the one John
recorded and which took place after Jesus' resurrection.
NISBET, "ON HEARING SERMONS
‘The people pressed upon Him to hear the word of God.’
Luke 5:1
This eagerness of the people to hear Christ is full of instruction, and both of
encouragement and caution to all in every age who preach and who hear the
Word of Grace.
I. Motive.—Some desired to hear Christ from mixed and even unworthy motives;
some came from curiosity, impelled by the desire of knowing something new;
some came for bread, or for healing, or for some other form of temporal aid;
some came to cavil, to catch Him in His words, to betray Him. But some came to
hear Christ because their hearts felt the charm of His words and the Divine
power of His message. Still does the Divine Word prove its power by drawing the
hearts of men unto itself.
II. Method.—To hear it profitably men must listen to it—
(a) With reverence, as to a word higher than that of man.
(b) With attention, as to what is of vital interest and concern.
(c) With candour, as prepared to weigh all that is said, although it may be
opposed to their prejudices.
(d) With prayer, that the Spirit may accompany the message to the heart.
(e) With frequency, as remembering that not one lesson, not many lessons, can
exhaust the riches of heavenly truth.
III. Purpose.—The purpose for which the Word of God should be heard is
essentially spiritual.
(a) To appropriate it in faith. They truly hear who truly believe.
(b) To obey it with cheerfulness and diligence. ‘Blessed are they who hear the
word of God, and do it!’
Illustrations
(1) ‘Speaking of the plain of Gennesareth, Josephus says: “One may call this
place the ambition of Nature, where it forces those plants that are naturally
enemies to one another to agree together; it is a happy contention of the seasons,
as if each of them laid claim to this country, for it not only nourishes different
sorts of autumnal fruits beyond men’s expectation, but preserves them a great
15

while. It supplies men with the principal fruits, grapes and figs, continually
during ten months of the year, and the rest of the fruits as they ripen together
throughout the whole year.”’
(2) ‘It was no brilliant lecturer, no mere fascinating improviser that gathered
that eager throng. Imperfectly as He may have been understood to the full extent
of His teaching, all felt that He was a teacher of quite another order from any
they had ever known. It was nothing less than the Word of God that men
crowded to hear from the lips of Christ; and the craving which drew men after
Him then was one which has never passed away; it still works mightily in human
hearts; now, as of old, through many an avenue of approach, men are pressing
upon Him for satisfaction of that self-same craving; and the time is assuredly
coming, notwithstanding adverse signs, when the pressure shall be more intense
yet—nay, when the words once whispered in hatred and alarm, shall be literally
true: “Behold! the world is gone after Him.”’
(SECOND OUTLINE)
THE MODERN SERMON
The text serves to suggest thoughts af a general kind.
I. It opens up the whole question of religious appeal and Christian preaching.—
What is there, we may ask, in common between the eagerness with which men
pressed of old upon Christ Himself, and that with which they will flock to listen
to the teacher who preaches about Christ? Doubtless the disparity is great,
indeed, between the teaching of the Divine Master and that of the worthiest
individual who bears His commission. Yet what men seek to gather from the
imperfect utterances of His ministers is what they sought from Him—it is the
Word of God.
II. Another consideration is that preaching, in the original sense of the word, is a
thing now unknown in Christian lands.—To preach in the language of the New
Testament means to proclaim Christ as a Saviour to those who never before
heard of Him. The modern sermon is a new means of grace. It is one that has
grown up in the Church of Christ in answer to the instinctive demands of
believers; it is to satisfy the need which every Christian feels of having the chords
continually touched which link Divine truth to his common life. For more than a
generation the demand for sermons has been steadily growing. The people have
truly pressed upon’ the ministers of the Gospel ‘to hear the word of God.’ It is a
great mistake to imagine that the clergy have invented this want. It is the people
who call for sermons, and their ministers with revived zeal have set themselves to
meet the demand; notwithstanding charges of dulness, sameness, and emptiness
which have been levelled against preachers, the clergy know full well that the
omission of the sermon would be generally regarded as a loss. It should be
remembered that preaching must, for the most part, be all that it is sometimes
censured for being, commonplace and repetition. The preacher may, and should,
exercise his skill in clothing his great message with freshness, and in diversifying
the application of truth; to bring out of his treasure ‘things new and old’; to face
the intellectual difficulties, the moral perils, the social problems of his time; but
for all that, one theme alone must be paramount—he has to preach Christ in all
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His fullness, and to bring the ‘mind of Christ’ to bear to consecrate the present,
and to keep supreme the interests of the soul, to point ever to that unseen world
to which it belongs, and for which it is to prepare.
III. But what is it that gives to preaching its attractiveness still in a day when
there are so many influences at work which tend to discredit and invalidate it? Is
it not because there is that in the individual hearer which must always contribute
to the effect of a sermon? Every hearer has a history of his own. Many can testify
that the sermons which have helped them have not been those which a mere
critic would have pronounced remarkable; indeed, the preacher’s words may
have been lost upon the majority of his congregation, and yet some hearts there,
whose soil God has prepared, at some critical point in their life’s history,
perhaps, have heard words which just met the sorrow or the doubt or the fear
which held possession of them. No wonder, if those who have gone through such
an experience, believe it possible, even through the weak and faltering utterances
of man, to hear the very Word of God.
—Rev. Canon Duckworth.
Illustration
‘The vision must precede the message, and the message declare the vision. The
age calls for preachers who are seers, men who with pure hearts see God, who
“behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world,” who discern
“the signs of the times,” who with anointed eyes see under the surface of things,
and with open vision watch the movements of men in the light of the Incarnate
Christ. The age calls for preachers who are prophets as well as seers. Men who
speak what they know, and testify what they have seen, whose preaching may
not be with enticing words of men’s wisdom, but is in demonstration of the Spirit
and of power, who will not hesitate to declare the whole counsel of God, and who
scorn to apologise for preaching the full Gospel of Christ. The general
reinstatement of preaching as a Divine institution suited to modern needs would
issue in a widespread readjustment of the Church to the age. The people will
always come to hear, if only the clergy have always something worth hearing to
say. The Gospel of Christ is still the power of God unto salvation, and still the
cry is heard, “What must I do to be saved?”’
(THIRD OUTLINE)
CONCENTRATIVE CHRISTIANITY
The text tells us that the people ‘pressed’ to listen to the gracious words of
Christ. It tells little of their motives.
I. Those of our time, too, can press to hear the Word of God. Of diffusive religion
we have abundance; a concentrative Christianity is what we require. And to
believe it—to commune with our own hearts and be still—is the finest
preparative for external usefulness.
II. There are two ways in which the revelation of the will of God through Christ
may be presented to our minds.
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(a) We may know it as a mass of doctrines and commands offered to our
acceptance as beings possessed of reasonable faculties, and demanding from our
understandings a simple assent to these truths.
(b) We may know it in such a sense and degree as that it becomes the prevailing
principle of all our actions and the presiding director of our inmost thoughts, the
soul of our souls, the fountain of our moral being, the central force of the whole
system of life and conduct. To which of these classes does our acquaintance with
the Word of God belong?
Illustration
‘Archbishop Davidson in his Visitation Charge has a telling passage on
preaching. “If it be,” he says, “that we are enabled by painstaking study and
elaborate preparation and care to produce that which will be pointed and pithy,
and make itself felt as a direct message from God to the human soul, in ten
minutes, then be it so, and thank God. But if it be merely that we think people
are pleased and satisfied now with the ten minutes rather than with the little
longer time which used to be more customary; if God’s people so like it that
therefore we can do with it, and say a few words, as it is called, leaving the big
thought of the responsibility of the teacher to God and his fellow-men to be
discharged in a lighter way than before, then surely we are missing some of the
very largest part of the trust which God has laid upon us in a day when
education is wider and our own reading ought to be more deep and thorough.
Facilities for obtaining knowledge are taken advantage of by everybody, and
people who are preaching should now utter words worth hearing, because the
result of elaborate and painstaking care.”’
BURKITT, "Here observe, 1. That our Saviour used the sea as well as the land
in his passage from place to place to preach the gospel; and the reasons why he
did so might probably be these:
1. To show Nature's intent in making of the sea: namely, to be sailed upon, as the
land to be walked upon.
2. That Christ might take occasion to manifest his Deity, in working miracles
upon the sea: namely, by calming of the waves and stilling of the winds.
3. It might be to comfort sea-faring men in their distresses, and to encourage
them to pray to such a Saviour as had an experiemental knowledge of the
dangers of the sea: it were well if sailors would consider this, and instead of
inuring themselves to the language of hell when they go down into the deep,
would direct their prayer unto Christ, and look up to him; who now in heaven
has the remembrance of what he himself endured and underwent here on earth,
and on the sea.
Observe, 2. The circumstance of time, when Christ used to put forth to sea: it
was usually after he had wrought some extraordinary miracle, which set them on
admiring and commending of him; as after he had fed so many thousands, with a
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few barley loaves and fishes, presently he put forth to sea, shunning thereby all
popularity and vain-glorious applause from the multitude which he was never
ambitious of, but industriously avoided.
Observe, 3. That after our Saviour's resurrection, we never find him sailing any
more upon the seas. For such a fluctuating and turbulent condition, which
necessarily attends sea voyages, was utterly inconsistent with the constancy,
stability, and perpetuity, of Christ's estate when risen from the grave. The firm
land better agreeing with his fixed state, he keeps upon it, till his ascension into
heaven.
Observe, 4. That Christ scruples not to preach to the people in, and out of the
ship: He sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. Sometimes we find our
holy Lord preaching upon a mountain, sometimes in a ship, sometimes in a
house, as often as may be in a synagogue. He that laid hold of all seasons for
preaching the gospel, never scrupled any place which conveniency offered to
preach in; well knowing that it is the ordinance that sanctifies the place, and not
the place the ordinance.
CONSTABLE, "Verses 1-3
These verses give the setting for the incident. Again Luke pointed out that the
crowd was listening to the word of God (Luke 5:1; cf. Luke 4:32; cf. Luke 4:36).
The people were so interested that they pressed upon Jesus. Jesus put some
distance between them and Himself by teaching from a boat not far off shore.
Luke described the Sea of Galilee as a lake, as most of His readers would have
thought of it. Gennesaret was the town and plain on its northwest coast from
which it received its name.
Luke's characteristic attention to detail is obvious in that he referred to two
boats, setting the stage for Luke 5:7. Evidently the fishermen had used large
dragnets (Gr. diktau) when they had fished all night, which Zebedee, James, and
John were now washing and mending (Matthew 4:21; Mark 1:19; Luke 5:2).
Peter and Andrew were using a smaller round casting net (Gr. amphibleston),
throwing it into the water from close to shore (Matthew 4:18; Mark 1:16).
"It was a busy scene; for, among the many industries by the Lake of Galilee, that
of fishing was not only the most generally pursued, but perhaps the most
lucrative." [Note: Edersheim, 1:473.]
PETT, "In this chapter Jesus reveals His power and authority, first in His
calling of some of His disciples for a life long commitment; then by cleansing a
skin diseased man, by touching him and remaining clean; by forgiving the sins of
a paralytic as the Son of Man; by His calling of outcasts as The Physician; and
finally by declaring that His disciples cannot fast because the promised
Bridegroom is with them. This idea of revealing His authority and power
continues into chapter 6.
Verse 1
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‘Now it came about, while the multitude pressed on him and heard the word of
God, that he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.’
The crowds continued to gather around Jesus in order to hear ‘the word of God’,
the truth of God taught by Jesus, as He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.
They were so eager that they were pressing in on Him and making it difficult for
Him to speak in comfort and safety.
Gennesaret was a region south of Capernaum whose name had become attached
to the Sea of Galilee. The lake is know as Gennesaret in outside sources, and is
seven miles (eleven kilometres) wide and thirteen miles (twenty one kilometres)
long. It is liable to sudden storms because of the wind swirling through the
surrounding hills, and is six hundred feet (211 metres) below sea level, being
bountifully supplied with fish, and in Jesus’ day its shores were dotted with
towns.
The crowds had gathered to hear ‘the word of God.’ The spreading of this word,
and its effectiveness, is a theme of Luke and Acts. It is the word concerning the
Kingly Rule of God and in Acts includes the proclamation of the name of Jesus
Christ. The popularity of it among the ordinary people is brought out here.
‘Gennesaret.’ The lake is called that only here in the New Testament. It suggests
that Luke obtained this story from a local who thought of the Lake in those
terms. Peter, James and John clearly did not see it as a story to be spread
around. They would think that it could only fully be appreciated by fishermen,
and by recounting it they may have thought that they would be seen as putting
themselves in a position of superiority to those whose calls were less spectacular.
Verses 1-11
Jesus Reveals His Authority Over Both Fish and Fishermen and Calls the
Fishermen To Fish Men (5:1-11).
The first incident in which Jesus’ Messianic authority is revealed is in the calling
of fishermen to follow Him in lifetime commitment, with no offer of earthly
reward, for the purpose of ‘taking men alive’. This will fulfil the prophecy of
Jeremiah 16:16 concerning the last days. ‘Behold I will send for many fishermen,
says the Lord, and they will fish them’, but it is also evidence of Jesus’ supreme
authority to call men at His bidding.
The words of Jeremiah did primarily have judgment in mind, but always when
God judged men were also won to righteousness. And these Apostles too will,
even while taking men alive for Christ, be the cause of judgment on thoe who
refuse.
The story here parallels the calling of the four, Peter, Andrew, James and John
in Mark 1:16-20; Matthew 4:18-22 to be disciples. These were men who were
already acquainted with Him and had been disciples of John the Baptiser (John
1:35-42). They had probably accompanied Him back to Galilee. But He had not
at that stage called them to follow Him. There the incident is in a slightly
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different order, coming before the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, and is more
abbreviated. But this merely brings out that the Gospels are not intended to be in
strict chronological order. Their order is determined by how will best present the
ideas that they want to present. Had Luke had it earlier it would have spoiled the
pattern of chapter 4.
Only Luke tells us about the remarkable incident of the fishes. Mark had wanted
to concentrate on the authority that Jesus was revealing, and Matthew follows
Mark. But Luke not only wants to bring that out, but also wants to bring out His
power over nature and His fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy. The gathering
of the scattered children of Israel were to be gathered by ‘fishermen’ fishing for
them (Jeremiah 16:16). Thus He will act to cause the ‘taking of men alive’ by
fishermen, revealing Himself again as the introducer of the last days, for His
disciples were being called in order to carry out God’s purposes for the last days.
It could well be that Peter did not want to broadcast this story, which he might
have seen as glorifying himself and suggesting that he was superior to others,
which would explain why Mark did not know of it. Luke appears to have
obtained the details from a local (who calls the Lake Gennesaret).
The passage may be analysed as follows:
a Now it came about, while the multitude pressed on him and heard the word of
God, that he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret (Luke 5:1).
b And he saw two boats standing by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of
them, and were washing their nets (Luke 5:2).
c And he entered into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put
out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the multitudes out of the
boat (Luke 5:3).
d And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep,
and let down your nets for a draught” (Luke 5:4).
e And Simon answered and said, “Master, we toiled all night, and took nothing:
but at (on the strength of) your word I will let down the nets” (Luke 5:5).
f And when they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes, and
their nets were breaking (Luke 5:6).
e And they beckoned to those associated with them in the other boat, that they
should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the boats, so that
they began to sink (Luke 5:7).
d But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart
from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8).
c For he was amazed, and all who were with him, at the draught of the fishes
which they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who
were partners with Simon (Luke 5:9-10 a).
b And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be overawed, from now on you will be taking
men alive” (Luke 5:10 b).
a And when they had brought their boats to land, they left all, and followed him
(Luke 5:11).
Note that in ‘a’ the crowds were pressing Him on the land to hear the word of
God, and in the parallel the disciples also come to the land to follow Him. In ‘b’
they had ceased fishing and were washing their nets despondently because
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fishing had failed them, and in the parallel they are to rather have the
replacement joy of taking men alive. In ‘c’ they obey Jesus and do His will, and
in the parallel they are amazed at the reward that they receive. In ‘d’ they are
commanded to launch out into the deep and let down their nets, and in the
parallel Peter has launched so deep that what has happened as a result of
obeying Jesus makes him stricken with guilt over his sinfulness. In ‘e’ they have
caught nothing, and in the parallel have caught so much that they have to call for
their associates. And central to all is that when they obeyed Jesus they enclosed a
great multitude of fish.
BI, "And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon Him to hear the Word of
God
The gospel and the masses
What could have been the wonderful secret power by which the great Prophet of
Galilee drew all men after Him?
1. One simple and very intelligent element in it was the way in which he
recognized the wholeness of human nature, that, at the bottom, peer did not
differ from peasant, nor monarch from villager.
2. And not only did He recognize the wholeness of human nature, hut also its
many diversified needs.
3. He was sinless, and yet He never had a harsh word for the sinners—provided
they were not hypocrites.
4. He had the tenderest feelings for those who enjoyed fewest opportunities.
5. He recognized the natural or social wants which are common to all men.
Feeding five thousand; making wine at wedding.
6. He disdained no man.
APPLICATION. Oh that God would give us grace to preach fully, faithfully, wisely,
lovingly this gospel in the spirit, and with the simplicity and abounding sympathy
with which it was first preached in the cities and on the mountain slopes and by the
lake shores of Galilee; and then I believe the people would be found pressing to hear
it as they pressed then. (Bishop Fraser.)
The Word of God
I. THE WORD OF GOD THAT IS NOW PREACHED AMONG US.
II. THE EXISTING URGENCY TO HEAR IT. Of diffusive religion we have
abundance; a concentrative Christianity is what we require.
III. THE PEOPLE WHO ARE ITS FAVOURED, AND TOO OFTEN ITS FORGETFUL
HEARERS. TWO great classes; those who know the revelation of the will of God
through Christ as a mass of doctrines and commands demanding from our
understandings a simple assent to their truth; and those who know it in such a sense
and degree, as that it becomes the pervading principle of all their actions. Beware of
the Christianity of the formalist. When rightly received, “the Word of God is quick
and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.” (W. A. Butler, M. A.)
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To hear the Word of God
One of the finest conceivable pictures presented in this verse—people pressing to
hear the Word of God! They often pressed to see Christ’s miracles, and to listen to
His parables, with more or less of mere curiosity; but in this case the motive was
spiritual and pure. Why do people attend the sanctuary? To hear the word of man?
Then will there be debate, opposition, doubt, or at best, admiration, fickle and
selfish. The remedy is partly in the hands of ministers themselves. When they insist
upon delivering the message of God without any admixture of human speculation,
their spiritual reverence and earnestness may carry a holy contagion amongst the
people. God’s Word should always be supreme in God’s house. “Them that honour
Me, I will honour.” (J. Parker, D. D.)
The Lake of Gennesaret
It is the centre of the ministry of our Lord; it is not too much to say of it what Dean
Stanley has said, “It is the most sacred sheet of water that the earth contains.” The
Rabbins say, “I have created seven seas, saith the Lord, but out of them I have chosen
none but the sea of Gennesaret.” In the day of our Lord, it was a scene of teeming life
as well as the centre of a peculiarly hushed and hallowed solitude. No doubt, as
compared with many quarters of the globe, it was secluded; but still its shores and its
waves were the way of traffic. It was situated in the midst of the Jordan valley, or the
great thoroughfare from Babylon and Damascus into Palestine; hence it was “the way
of the sea beyond Jordan.” Along its banks a wondrous vegetation spread, and full of
especially beautiful birds and flowers and fruits. What a scene it must have
presented—fishermen by hundreds on the Lake; in hamlets around the numerous
shipbuilders; and the sails and boats of pleasure flying before the frequent gusts from
the mountains. There was no other spot which would so instantly have been a
conductor to the words of our Lord. There is a Divine providence in even the very
spot itself. The dwellers of the Sea of Galilee were free from most of the strong
prejudices which, in the south of Palestine, raised a bar to Christ’s reception. There
were the people of Zabulon and Nephthalim, by the way of the sea beyond Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles. They had sat in darkness; but for that very reason they saw
more clearly the great light when it came to them in the region of the shadow of
death. There He came, to that spot, to preach the gospel to the poor, the weary, and
the heavy laden, to seek and to save that which was lost. Where could He find what
He sought so readily as in the ceaseless turmoil of those busy waters and teeming
villages? Roman soldiers, centurions quartered with their slaves; here, too, the
palaces of the princes. Hardy boatmen, publicans, and tax-collectors sitting at the
receipt of custom, women who were sinners from neighbouring Gentile cities and
villages. Thus all was prepared to concentrate and give effect to the power of His
teaching by the Lake. (E. Paxton Hood.)
Description of the lake
The Sea of Galilee is shaped like a pear, with a width at the broadest part of 6.75
miles, and a length of 121; miles; that is, it is about the same length as our own
Windermere, but considerably broader, though in the clear air of Palestine it looks
somewhat smaller. Nothing can exceed the bright clearness of the water, which it is
delightful to watch as it runs in small waves over the shingle. Its taste, moreover, is
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sweet, except near the hot springs and at Tiberias, where it is polluted by the
sewerage of the town. There is much more level ground on the eastern side than the
western, yet the western side was always, in Bible times, much more thickly peopled
by the Hebrews than the other; partly from the fact that “beyond Jordan” was almost
a foreign country; partly because the land above the lake on the east was exposed to
the Arabs; and in some measure also because it always had a large intermixture of
heathen population. (Geikie’s “Holy Land and the Bible.”)
Description of the surrounding scenery
The original population of the shores of the lake was Sidonian, and when Tyre and
Sidon were founded on the shores of the Mediterranean they moved westward, but
the town of Bethsidon still retained the name given it by its first inhabitants. The
richest part of the shores was at the north-west, where is a luxuriant plain of half-
moon shape, walled out from the north and west winds by mountains, and exposed
to the sun. This was where the princes and the nobles had their country residences,
and the gardens were filled with all kinds of flowers and fruit. The lake was called by
its first colonists, Cenuereth, or the Harp, from its shape. The Jews thought so highly
of its beauty that they said, “God created seven seas—but for Himself He elected but
one, and that the Lake Gennesareth”; and again, “It is the Gate of Paradise.”
Josephus says, “It is a district where Nature seems to have constrained herself to
create an eternal spring, and to gather into one spot the products of every one.” To
the present day the date-palm, citrons, pomegranate, indigo, rice, sugar-cane, grow
there; cotton, balsams, vines, thrive; the purple grapes are as big as plums, and the
bunches weigh twelve pounds. Here also the fig-tree yields her fruit throughout the
year, ripening every month. The Jews call Gennesareth the Garden Lake, and if there
were any place in Palestine that could recall the lost Paradise, it was this fruitful,
beautiful tract, watered with its five streams. At Chammath, about two miles south of
Tiberias, are hot springs, of old much used for baths, and half an hour’s walk above
Tiberias a cold spring of beautiful water bursts out of the mountain side, and pours
down to the lake in five or six streams. At Tabigha also are hot springs, that gush
streaming down into the blue waters of the lake. Now the neglect of mismanagement
of the Turkish Government have led to the devastation of this beautiful corner of the
world, and many of the foreign plants once introduced into it have died out, or are
disappearing. We can only guess what a garden of delight it must have been in the
time of our Lord, when the aqueducts were in working order, and canals carried
water to all the gardens and fields. (S. Baring-Gould, M. A.)
Attractiveness of the true preacher
Let a man be a true preacher, really uttering the truth through his own personality,
and it is strange how men will gather to listen to him. We hear that the day of the
pulpit is past, and then some morning the voice of a true preacher is heard in the
land, and all the streets are full of men crowding to hear him, just exactly as were the
streets of Constantinople when Chrysostum was going to preach at the Church of the
Apostles, or the streets of London when Latimer was bravely telling the truth at St.
Paul’s. (Phillips Brooks, D. D.)
The personal power inpreaching
The nameless and potent charm of intense personality cannot all go down into a dead
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book. Truth in personality is where the hidings of power are. We look in vain along
the pages of Whitefield for the secret of his mighty effectiveness. We search the
famous sermon of Edwards, and wonder what there was in it that moved men so. It
was not the sermon on the printed page; it was the sermon in the living preacher.
While men are men, a living man before living men will always be more than white
paper and black ink. And therein will for evermore lie the supremest possibilities of
pulpit power, which no competing press, however enterprising and ubiquitous, can
rival. The Founder of Christianity made no mistake when He staked its triumphal
progress down through all ages, and its victorious consummation at “the end of the
“world,” on “the foolishness of preaching.” He chose the agency in full view of the
marvels of these later centuries, and the pulpit is not therefore likely to be despoiled
of its peculiar glory and made impotent to its work by any device born of the
inventive genius of man. (Dr. Herrick Johnson, of Chicago.)
A remarkable pulpit
I have seen in different countries some very wonderful pulpits, some of them
exquisitely carved in stone or wood, some of them richly inlaid with the choicest
mosaics, some of them illustrating scenes from the Bible. Perhaps the loveliest pulpit
I have ever seen is in a place where you would least expect to find it. In Italy you often
see places that are called Baptisteries—that is, places built specially for the baptism of
children. In the old city of Pisa there is a most lovely Baptistery, and in it the most
beautiful pulpit, which every one who sees greatly admires; but, strange to say, it
cannot be used, because there is such a wonderful echo in the building that the
preacher’s voice could not be heard. If you speak quite softly in it you hear a sound as
of a great choir right up in the roof, and so the pulpit can only be admired and not
used. But the pulpit from which Christ preached on this occasion was a very simple
one; it was not richly carved, nor beautifully decorated, nor of massive form. It was
only a tiny boat resting upon the bosom of a lake. (W. A. Herder.)
The preaching of Christ
The form of the preaching of Jesus was essentially Jewish. The Oriental mind does
not work in the same way as the mind of the West. Our thinking and speaking, when
at their best, are fluent, expansive, closely reasoned. The kind of discourse which we
admire is one which takes up an important subject, divides it out into different
branches, treats it fully under each of the heads, closely articulates part to part, and
closes with a moving appeal to the feelings, so as to sway the will to some practical
result. The Oriental mind, on the contrary, loves to brood long on a single point, to
turn it round and round, to gather up all the truth about it into a focus, and pour it
forth in a few pointed and memorable words. It is concise, epigrammatic, oracular. A
Western speaker’s discourse is a systematic structure, or like a chain in which link is
firmly knit to link; an Oriental’s is like the sky at night, full of innumerable burning
points shining forth from a dark background. Such was the form of the teaching of
Jesus. It consisted of numerous sayings, every one of which contained the greatest
possible amount of truth in the smallest possible compass, and was expressed in
language so concise and pointed as to stick in the memory like an arrow. Read them,
and you will find that every one of them, as you ponder it, sucks the mind in and in
like a whirlpool, till it is lost in the depths. You will find, too, that there are very few
of them which you do not know by heart. They have found their way into the memory
of Christendom as no other words have done. Even before the meaning has been
apprehended, the perfect, proverb-like expression lodges itself fast in the mind.
25

(James Stalker.)
Attention to the Word of God
I. The circumstance mentioned in the first verse of the text was A NATURAL
CONSEQUENCE OF OUR LORD’S OFFICE AND CHARACTER. “The people pressed
upon Him to hear the Word of God.” Jesus Christ was “that Prophet which should
come into the world.” He brought down a message of mercy from heaven to earth; a
message of pardon for the guilty, of life to the dead, and of salvation to those who
were utterly and eternally lost. They were astonished at His doctrine; for He taught
them as one having authority. They “ pressed upon Him to hear the Word of God.”
And surely it is not too much for us to expect to witness a continuance of the same
spirit. If God has indeed sent His Son and His servants to communicate an authentic
revelation of His will to man, these teachers must be listened to by all who
understand their own character and circumstances, and the great ends for which they
live.
II. Such AN ATTENTION TO THE WORD OF GOD IS MATTER OF ABSOLUTE
AND UNIVERSAL DUTY AND OBLIGATION. We are all bound to receive Divine
instruction, and to receive it in the mode contemplated in the text. The law of Moses
directed that, at stated seasons, there were to be holy convocations of the people;
when they were to be collected in masses, to engage in holy duties, to enjoy holy
delights, to receive holy light and power, and thereby to be filled for those high and
holy ends for which they existed as a separate people. In the gospel, Christians are
commanded not to forsake the assembling of themselves together. They are to
“exhort one another.” Along with these commands, there are “given unto us
exceeding great and precious promises.” “In all places where I record My name I will
come unto thee, and I will bless thee” (Exo_20:24; Mat_18:20). We are bound to
give this attendance on the word and worship of God, because He requires it. We are
bound to do this, because we ourselves have need of it. If the highest archangel in
heaven were commanded to frequent religious assemblies, as a learner, and as a
worshipper, he would not refuse. This was done by Him who has received “a name
which is above every name.” As the Mediator, Jesus Christ was subject to the Father;
and He testified that subjection by a devout regard for His ordinances. He was a
stated attendant on the services of the Temple. But we are not merely creatures: we
are also sinners. We are not only subject to our Maker’s authority; we need our
Maker’s mercy. If we would obtain His blessing, we must seek it in the way of His
own appointment. In any other way He has not promised it; in any other way we have
no right to expect it. It does not mean that the vulgar and illiterate must go to
Church, but that men of science and literature are at liberty to stay away. A man may
be as great a philosopher as Socrates or Plato; but then he is a creature and a sinner.
He must therefore attend to his Creator’s word; he must kneel at his Creator’s feet.
Neither can political rank at all free us from this great obligation. A man may be a
lord, a duke, a king, or an emperor; yet he must imitate the example of Him who is
Lord of lords, and King of kings. No man is excused on the ground of poverty and
meanness. It may mortify him excessively to exhibit his rags before a large and
respectable congregation; but Christ hath left us an example that we should tread in
His steps. His piety and poverty were great and manifest. The plea of a high and
refined spirituality of mind will be equally unavailing. It is useless to say, “I have no
need to observe the mere forms of piety, since I enjoy its spirit and its power.”
III. The men of bustle and business are sometimes disposed to look upon all this
attendance on the Word of God AS SO MUCH LOST TIME, AND AN
INCONVENIENT INTERFERENCE WITH THE CONCERNS OF LIFE. If such
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excuses could ever be seasonable, they might have been urged by the fishermen of
Galilee, on the occasion referred to in the text. They had toiled all the night before,
and caught nothing. They were now in the act of washing their nets, in order at the
earliest opportunity to go to sea again and make another attempt. Several of them, it
is probable, had families dependent on their industry and success. Under such
circumstances they might have said, “Lord, we have no time to hear sermons now. It
is impossible for us to comply with your request, and to spare our boat for preaching
purposes at present. We must follow our employment, or our debts cannot be paid,
nor our children’s wants supplied.” But not a word of objection or excuse was heard.
What follows proves that in the end they suffered no loss. Know, therefore, that there
is a providence; a blessing of the Lord which maketh rich.
IV. THE WORD OF GOD DESERVES TO BE IMPLICITLY BELIEVED AND
OBEYED. We may always venture to carry out its instructions into practical effect in
the face of every difficulty and discouragement. But Peter reasoned on a different
principle, and came to a different conclusion. He called Jesus “Master,” and was
consistent with himself. Many of us talk like servants while we act like masters. We
say, “Lord, Lord,” but do not the things which He enjoins. But Peter understood his
duty better. When the Master commands, the servant’s business is, not to argue, but
to obey.
V. THAT WORD DESERVES OUR ATTENTION ON ACCOUNT OF ITS POWER TO
REACH AND CONTROL THE HUMAN HEART. The Author of the Bible knows what
is in man. He can speak to the heart of His own creatures. His Word touches the
hidden springs of thought and feeling, and thus turns us about whithersoever He will
(Heb_4:12). Peter found this by experience. The sermon was heard, and such was the
silent and secret but powerful effect of Divine truth upon his heart, that he saw his
unutterable guilt and depravity as in the light of open day; and became so agitated
with grief and terror, that, in the end, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, exclaiming,
“Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luk_5:8). You will soon be brought
to the same temper, if you listen to the same Teacher.
VI. IT IS NOT INTENDED, HOWEVER, TO INTIMATE THAT THIS MATCHLESS
WORD WILL INTRODUCE US TO A REST AND PEACE, WHICH IMPLIES AN
EXEMPTION FROM WORLDLY CALAMITIES. When the disciples were favoured
with the immediate presence of Christ, and were in the very act of receiving a
miraculous blessing at His hands, we scarcely expected to hear anything of a broken
net and a sinking boat. Yet both these inconveniences were experienced on this
memorable occasion. The afflictions of a good man only tend to heighten his
gratitude, by more abundant displays of the Divine faithfulness and love. It was
wonderful that the net should be suffered to break; but it was more wonderful that,
after this accident, the fishes were not lost. It was wonderful that the boat should be
suffered to begin to sink; but it was more wonderful that, in such a state, they should
all come safe to land. God often reduces His people to the last extremities, and then
shows them His salvation. The vessel which bears the saints to glory is often in a
leaky and sinking state. All hope of being saved is not unfrequently taken away. Yet,
while they have an ear to hear, and a heart to obey, they continue to float.
VII. THE BENEFITS ARISING FROM. AN ATTENTION TO THE WORD OF GOD
ARE NOT CONFINED TO OURSELVES; THEY EXTEND TO OTHERS. While
attention to the Word of God teaches us the duty of instructing others, it also gives us
the disposition to make the attempt. Piety and charity are inseparably connected.
(Samuel Jackson.)
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The attractive power of the gospel
Jesus as a preacher “drew.” What was the attraction? He used no rhetorical device to
produce an effect. His method was startling in its novelty. He did not follow the
customs of His age. Though claiming to be a religious teacher, He did net adopt the
conventional role of a priest or scribe. But to really appreciate the spirit of the
Preacher we must understand His doctrine. The message He brought men made it
imperative that His attitude towards them should be that of large-hearted sympathy.
Now, there are some things I want you to see as the result of this exposition.
1. The first is that the gospel of Christ, when proclaimed in the proper spirit,
never fails to touch the heart. In a sermon of Bishop Fraser’s I read the following
story: A well-known Anglican Bishop was announced to preach in a certain
church. A tradesman in the parish, the leader of a set of Atheists, made up his
mind to go and hear him. He listened attentively, and after the sermon he said to
some one, “If that bishop had argued, I would have fought with him; but there
was no arguing about him; he preached to us simply about the love of God, and
that touched me.” Let the gospel be preached with the simplicity and sympathy
with which it was first preached in Galilee, and people will still be found pressing
to hear.
2. The next thing I want you to see is, that the gospel and spirit of Christ are the
powers that have been refining and elevating society ever since He lived and
taught. Slowly, almost insensibly, the gospel has been making its way in society.
3. The last thing I want you to see is, that the gospel and spirit of Jesus alone
have the power to make humanity noble and good. What a principle this is on
which to base individual, social, and political life—God is the Father of all men
and has given His Son to redeem them from death; all men are the sons of God,
bound to obey Him with loving and filial spirit; each man owes to every other
man the duties of a brother. Were that principle realized the happiness of the
world would far surpass the dreams of the most ardent socialist. Getting rich by
methods that injure others would be unknown. (S. If. Hamilton, D. D.)
2 He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left
there by the fishermen, who were washing their
nets.
BARNES, "Two ships - The ships used on so small a lake were probably no more
than fishing-boats without decks, and easily drawn up on the beach. Josephus says
there were 230 of them on the lake, attended by four or five men each. That they
were small is also clear from the account commonly given of them. A single large
draught of fishes endangered them and came near sinking them.
Standing by the lake - Anchored by the lake, or drawn up upon the beach.
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CLARKE, "Two ships - ∆υο πλοια, Two vessels, It is highly improper to term
these ships. They appear to have been only such small boats as are used to manage
nets on flat smooth beaches: one end of the net is attached to the shore; the
fishermen row out, and drop the net as they go, making a kind of semicircle from the
shore; they return, and bring the rope attached to the other end with them, and then
the net is hauled on shore; and, as it was sunk with weights to the bottom, and
floated with corks at the top, all the fish in that compass were included, and drawn to
shore.
GILL, "And saw two ships standing by the lake,.... Or two fishing boats; which
were, as the Arabic version renders it, "detained by anchors at the shore of the lake";
the one belonging to Peter and Andrew, and the other to Zebedee, and his two sons,
James and John:
but the fishermen were gone out of them; that is, either the above persons, or
their servants:
and were washing their nets; on shore; they having gathered a great deal of soil
and filthiness, but had caught no fish; and therefore were cleansing their nets, in
order to lay them up, finding it to be in vain to make any further attempts with them
at present; and which considered, makes the following miracle the more illustrious.
HENRY, "It does not appear that his hearers had any contrivance to give him
advantage, but there were two ships, or fishing boats, brought ashore, one belonging
to Simon and Andrew, the other to Zebedee and his sons, Luk_5:2. At first, Christ
saw Peter and Andrew fishing at some distance (so Matthew tells us, Mat_4:18); but
he waited till they came to land, and till the fishermen, that is, the servants, were
gone out of them having washed their nets, and thrown them by for that time: so
Christ entered into that ship that belonged to Simon, and begged of him that he
would lend it him for a pulpit; and, though he might have commanded him, yet, for
love's sake, he rather prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land,
which would be the worse for his being heard, but Christ would have it so, that he
might the better be seen; and it is his being lifted up that draws men to him. Wisdom
cries in the top of high places, Pro_8:2. It intimates that Christ had a strong voice
(strong indeed, for he made the dead to hear it), and that he did not desire to favour
himself. There he sat down, and taught the people the good knowledge of the Lord.
PETT, "So with the crowds pressing Him so hard Jesus looked around Him and
saw two boats moored by the shore, but they were empty, for the fishermen had
disembarked and some were washing and mending their nets (diktau), while
others were fishing from the shore with casting nets (amphibleston). The owners
were in partnership together and had a satisfactory little business. But on this
particular day they were not happy men. They and their crews had fished all
night and had caught nothing. Jesus, however recognised that He knew them. He
had met them when they were disciples of John the Baptiser and He and they
had come back to Galilee together.
The fruitlessness of their mission is reflected in Mark where we are told that they
were casting their nets. These were casting nets which were used from the shore
by someone standing in the water. Thus it would appear that while some were
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washing the main nets (drag nets) and mending them, others of the group were
trying vainly to see if they could catch anything to make up for their bad night
and for what they had failed to catch with their drag nets at sea. They did not
want to return home totally empty. It is a sad picture of a group of weary and
forlorn men who have had a hard time. Mark and Luke simply bring out
different aspects of the incident in the same way as two newspaper reporters
might.
3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging
to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from
shore. Then he sat down and taught the people
from the boat.
BARNES, "Which was Simon’s - Simon Peter’s.
Prayed him - Asked him.
He sat down - This was the common posture of Jewish teachers. They seldom or
never spoke to the people “standing.” Compare Mat_5:1. It may be somewhat
difficult to conceive why Jesus should go into a boat and put off from the shore in
order to speak to the multitude; but it is probable that this was a small bay or cove,
and that when he was “in” the boat, the people on the shore stood round him in the
form of an amphitheater. It is not improbable that the lake was still; that scarcely a
breeze passed over it; that all was silence on the shore, and that there was nothing to
disturb his voice. In such a situation he could be heard by multitudes; and no
spectacle could be more sublime than that of the Son of God - the Redeemer of the
world - thus speaking from the bosom of a placid lake - the emblem of the peaceful
influence of his own doctrines - to the poor, the ignorant, and the attentive
multitudes assembled on the shore. Oh how much “more” effect may we suppose the
gospel would have in such circumstances, than when proclaimed among the proud,
the joyful, the honored, even when assembled in the most splendid edifice that
wealth and art could finish!
CLARKE, "And taught - out of the ship - They pressed so much upon him on
the land, through their eagerness to hear the doctrine of life, that he could not
conveniently speak to them, and so was obliged to get into one of the boats; and,
having pushed a little out from the land, he taught them. The smooth still water of
the lake must have served excellently to convey the sounds to those who stood on the
shore;
GILL, "And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's,.... Simon
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Peter's, and Andrew his brother's, who were both together at this time, though the
last is not here mentioned:
and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land: as Simon
was the owner of the vessel, Christ desired him; he asked the favour of him to put off
a little way from shore; though the Arabic and Ethiopic versions render it, "he
commanded him", being his Lord and master: To which the Syriac and Persic
versions agree; only they make the orders to be given not to Simon singly, but to
others, to all in the boat; the former rendering it, and he said, or ordered, that they
should carry him a little way from the dry land to the waters; and the latter thus, and
said, carry ye the ship from dry land a little into the sea. And which adds, agreeable
to the sense enough, though it is not in the text, "when they had executed his
command": had done as he entreated, or ordered, and put off the vessel a little way
from the shore:
he sat down and taught the people out of the ship; for the boat was not
carried neither out of sight, nor beyond the hearing of the people: this method Christ
took at another time, and that for conveniency, as now; see Mat_13:1 and whereas he
sat while he taught, this was according to the then custom of the times with the Jews;
See Gill on Mat_5:1.
HENRY, "At first, Christ saw Peter and Andrew fishing at some distance (so
Matthew tells us, Mat_4:18); but he waited till they came to land, and till the
fishermen, that is, the servants, were gone out of them having washed their nets, and
thrown them by for that time: so Christ entered into that ship that belonged to
Simon, and begged of him that he would lend it him for a pulpit; and, though he
might have commanded him, yet, for love's sake, he rather prayed him that he would
thrust out a little from the land, which would be the worse for his being heard, but
Christ would have it so, that he might the better be seen; and it is his being lifted up
that draws men to him. Wisdom cries in the top of high places, Pro_8:2. It intimates
that Christ had a strong voice (strong indeed, for he made the dead to hear it), and
that he did not desire to favour himself. There he sat down, and taught the people
the good knowledge of the Lord.
III. What a particular acquaintance Christ, hereupon, fell into with these
fishermen. They had had some conversation with him before, which began at John's
baptism (Joh_1:40, Joh_1:41); they were with him at Cana of Galilee (Joh_2:2), and
in Judea (Joh_4:3); but as yet they were not called to attend him constantly, and
therefore here we have them at their calling, and now it was that they were called into
a more intimate fellowship with Christ.
BI, "And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon Him to hear the Word of
God
The gospel and the masses
What could have been the wonderful secret power by which the great Prophet of
Galilee drew all men after Him?
1. One simple and very intelligent element in it was the way in which he
recognized the wholeness of human nature, that, at the bottom, peer did not
differ from peasant, nor monarch from villager.
2. And not only did He recognize the wholeness of human nature, hut also its
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many diversified needs.
3. He was sinless, and yet He never had a harsh word for the sinners—provided
they were not hypocrites.
4. He had the tenderest feelings for those who enjoyed fewest opportunities.
5. He recognized the natural or social wants which are common to all men.
Feeding five thousand; making wine at wedding.
6. He disdained no man.
APPLICATION. Oh that God would give us grace to preach fully, faithfully, wisely,
lovingly this gospel in the spirit, and with the simplicity and abounding sympathy
with which it was first preached in the cities and on the mountain slopes and by the
lake shores of Galilee; and then I believe the people would be found pressing to hear
it as they pressed then. (Bishop Fraser.)
The Word of God
I. THE WORD OF GOD THAT IS NOW PREACHED AMONG US.
II. THE EXISTING URGENCY TO HEAR IT. Of diffusive religion we have
abundance; a concentrative Christianity is what we require.
III. THE PEOPLE WHO ARE ITS FAVOURED, AND TOO OFTEN ITS FORGETFUL
HEARERS. TWO great classes; those who know the revelation of the will of God
through Christ as a mass of doctrines and commands demanding from our
understandings a simple assent to their truth; and those who know it in such a sense
and degree, as that it becomes the pervading principle of all their actions. Beware of
the Christianity of the formalist. When rightly received, “the Word of God is quick
and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.” (W. A. Butler, M. A.)
To hear the Word of God
One of the finest conceivable pictures presented in this verse—people pressing to
hear the Word of God! They often pressed to see Christ’s miracles, and to listen to
His parables, with more or less of mere curiosity; but in this case the motive was
spiritual and pure. Why do people attend the sanctuary? To hear the word of man?
Then will there be debate, opposition, doubt, or at best, admiration, fickle and
selfish. The remedy is partly in the hands of ministers themselves. When they insist
upon delivering the message of God without any admixture of human speculation,
their spiritual reverence and earnestness may carry a holy contagion amongst the
people. God’s Word should always be supreme in God’s house. “Them that honour
Me, I will honour.” (J. Parker, D. D.)
The Lake of Gennesaret
It is the centre of the ministry of our Lord; it is not too much to say of it what Dean
Stanley has said, “It is the most sacred sheet of water that the earth contains.” The
Rabbins say, “I have created seven seas, saith the Lord, but out of them I have chosen
none but the sea of Gennesaret.” In the day of our Lord, it was a scene of teeming life
as well as the centre of a peculiarly hushed and hallowed solitude. No doubt, as
compared with many quarters of the globe, it was secluded; but still its shores and its
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waves were the way of traffic. It was situated in the midst of the Jordan valley, or the
great thoroughfare from Babylon and Damascus into Palestine; hence it was “the way
of the sea beyond Jordan.” Along its banks a wondrous vegetation spread, and full of
especially beautiful birds and flowers and fruits. What a scene it must have
presented—fishermen by hundreds on the Lake; in hamlets around the numerous
shipbuilders; and the sails and boats of pleasure flying before the frequent gusts from
the mountains. There was no other spot which would so instantly have been a
conductor to the words of our Lord. There is a Divine providence in even the very
spot itself. The dwellers of the Sea of Galilee were free from most of the strong
prejudices which, in the south of Palestine, raised a bar to Christ’s reception. There
were the people of Zabulon and Nephthalim, by the way of the sea beyond Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles. They had sat in darkness; but for that very reason they saw
more clearly the great light when it came to them in the region of the shadow of
death. There He came, to that spot, to preach the gospel to the poor, the weary, and
the heavy laden, to seek and to save that which was lost. Where could He find what
He sought so readily as in the ceaseless turmoil of those busy waters and teeming
villages? Roman soldiers, centurions quartered with their slaves; here, too, the
palaces of the princes. Hardy boatmen, publicans, and tax-collectors sitting at the
receipt of custom, women who were sinners from neighbouring Gentile cities and
villages. Thus all was prepared to concentrate and give effect to the power of His
teaching by the Lake. (E. Paxton Hood.)
Description of the lake
The Sea of Galilee is shaped like a pear, with a width at the broadest part of 6.75
miles, and a length of 121; miles; that is, it is about the same length as our own
Windermere, but considerably broader, though in the clear air of Palestine it looks
somewhat smaller. Nothing can exceed the bright clearness of the water, which it is
delightful to watch as it runs in small waves over the shingle. Its taste, moreover, is
sweet, except near the hot springs and at Tiberias, where it is polluted by the
sewerage of the town. There is much more level ground on the eastern side than the
western, yet the western side was always, in Bible times, much more thickly peopled
by the Hebrews than the other; partly from the fact that “beyond Jordan” was almost
a foreign country; partly because the land above the lake on the east was exposed to
the Arabs; and in some measure also because it always had a large intermixture of
heathen population. (Geikie’s “Holy Land and the Bible.”)
Description of the surrounding scenery
The original population of the shores of the lake was Sidonian, and when Tyre and
Sidon were founded on the shores of the Mediterranean they moved westward, but
the town of Bethsidon still retained the name given it by its first inhabitants. The
richest part of the shores was at the north-west, where is a luxuriant plain of half-
moon shape, walled out from the north and west winds by mountains, and exposed
to the sun. This was where the princes and the nobles had their country residences,
and the gardens were filled with all kinds of flowers and fruit. The lake was called by
its first colonists, Cenuereth, or the Harp, from its shape. The Jews thought so highly
of its beauty that they said, “God created seven seas—but for Himself He elected but
one, and that the Lake Gennesareth”; and again, “It is the Gate of Paradise.”
Josephus says, “It is a district where Nature seems to have constrained herself to
create an eternal spring, and to gather into one spot the products of every one.” To
the present day the date-palm, citrons, pomegranate, indigo, rice, sugar-cane, grow
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there; cotton, balsams, vines, thrive; the purple grapes are as big as plums, and the
bunches weigh twelve pounds. Here also the fig-tree yields her fruit throughout the
year, ripening every month. The Jews call Gennesareth the Garden Lake, and if there
were any place in Palestine that could recall the lost Paradise, it was this fruitful,
beautiful tract, watered with its five streams. At Chammath, about two miles south of
Tiberias, are hot springs, of old much used for baths, and half an hour’s walk above
Tiberias a cold spring of beautiful water bursts out of the mountain side, and pours
down to the lake in five or six streams. At Tabigha also are hot springs, that gush
streaming down into the blue waters of the lake. Now the neglect of mismanagement
of the Turkish Government have led to the devastation of this beautiful corner of the
world, and many of the foreign plants once introduced into it have died out, or are
disappearing. We can only guess what a garden of delight it must have been in the
time of our Lord, when the aqueducts were in working order, and canals carried
water to all the gardens and fields. (S. Baring-Gould, M. A.)
Attractiveness of the true preacher
Let a man be a true preacher, really uttering the truth through his own personality,
and it is strange how men will gather to listen to him. We hear that the day of the
pulpit is past, and then some morning the voice of a true preacher is heard in the
land, and all the streets are full of men crowding to hear him, just exactly as were the
streets of Constantinople when Chrysostum was going to preach at the Church of the
Apostles, or the streets of London when Latimer was bravely telling the truth at St.
Paul’s. (Phillips Brooks, D. D.)
The personal power inpreaching
The nameless and potent charm of intense personality cannot all go down into a dead
book. Truth in personality is where the hidings of power are. We look in vain along
the pages of Whitefield for the secret of his mighty effectiveness. We search the
famous sermon of Edwards, and wonder what there was in it that moved men so. It
was not the sermon on the printed page; it was the sermon in the living preacher.
While men are men, a living man before living men will always be more than white
paper and black ink. And therein will for evermore lie the supremest possibilities of
pulpit power, which no competing press, however enterprising and ubiquitous, can
rival. The Founder of Christianity made no mistake when He staked its triumphal
progress down through all ages, and its victorious consummation at “the end of the
“world,” on “the foolishness of preaching.” He chose the agency in full view of the
marvels of these later centuries, and the pulpit is not therefore likely to be despoiled
of its peculiar glory and made impotent to its work by any device born of the
inventive genius of man. (Dr. Herrick Johnson, of Chicago.)
A remarkable pulpit
I have seen in different countries some very wonderful pulpits, some of them
exquisitely carved in stone or wood, some of them richly inlaid with the choicest
mosaics, some of them illustrating scenes from the Bible. Perhaps the loveliest pulpit
I have ever seen is in a place where you would least expect to find it. In Italy you often
see places that are called Baptisteries—that is, places built specially for the baptism of
children. In the old city of Pisa there is a most lovely Baptistery, and in it the most
beautiful pulpit, which every one who sees greatly admires; but, strange to say, it
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cannot be used, because there is such a wonderful echo in the building that the
preacher’s voice could not be heard. If you speak quite softly in it you hear a sound as
of a great choir right up in the roof, and so the pulpit can only be admired and not
used. But the pulpit from which Christ preached on this occasion was a very simple
one; it was not richly carved, nor beautifully decorated, nor of massive form. It was
only a tiny boat resting upon the bosom of a lake. (W. A. Herder.)
The preaching of Christ
The form of the preaching of Jesus was essentially Jewish. The Oriental mind does
not work in the same way as the mind of the West. Our thinking and speaking, when
at their best, are fluent, expansive, closely reasoned. The kind of discourse which we
admire is one which takes up an important subject, divides it out into different
branches, treats it fully under each of the heads, closely articulates part to part, and
closes with a moving appeal to the feelings, so as to sway the will to some practical
result. The Oriental mind, on the contrary, loves to brood long on a single point, to
turn it round and round, to gather up all the truth about it into a focus, and pour it
forth in a few pointed and memorable words. It is concise, epigrammatic, oracular. A
Western speaker’s discourse is a systematic structure, or like a chain in which link is
firmly knit to link; an Oriental’s is like the sky at night, full of innumerable burning
points shining forth from a dark background. Such was the form of the teaching of
Jesus. It consisted of numerous sayings, every one of which contained the greatest
possible amount of truth in the smallest possible compass, and was expressed in
language so concise and pointed as to stick in the memory like an arrow. Read them,
and you will find that every one of them, as you ponder it, sucks the mind in and in
like a whirlpool, till it is lost in the depths. You will find, too, that there are very few
of them which you do not know by heart. They have found their way into the memory
of Christendom as no other words have done. Even before the meaning has been
apprehended, the perfect, proverb-like expression lodges itself fast in the mind.
(James Stalker.)
Attention to the Word of God
I. The circumstance mentioned in the first verse of the text was A NATURAL
CONSEQUENCE OF OUR LORD’S OFFICE AND CHARACTER. “The people pressed
upon Him to hear the Word of God.” Jesus Christ was “that Prophet which should
come into the world.” He brought down a message of mercy from heaven to earth; a
message of pardon for the guilty, of life to the dead, and of salvation to those who
were utterly and eternally lost. They were astonished at His doctrine; for He taught
them as one having authority. They “ pressed upon Him to hear the Word of God.”
And surely it is not too much for us to expect to witness a continuance of the same
spirit. If God has indeed sent His Son and His servants to communicate an authentic
revelation of His will to man, these teachers must be listened to by all who
understand their own character and circumstances, and the great ends for which they
live.
II. Such AN ATTENTION TO THE WORD OF GOD IS MATTER OF ABSOLUTE
AND UNIVERSAL DUTY AND OBLIGATION. We are all bound to receive Divine
instruction, and to receive it in the mode contemplated in the text. The law of Moses
directed that, at stated seasons, there were to be holy convocations of the people;
when they were to be collected in masses, to engage in holy duties, to enjoy holy
delights, to receive holy light and power, and thereby to be filled for those high and
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holy ends for which they existed as a separate people. In the gospel, Christians are
commanded not to forsake the assembling of themselves together. They are to
“exhort one another.” Along with these commands, there are “given unto us
exceeding great and precious promises.” “In all places where I record My name I will
come unto thee, and I will bless thee” (Exo_20:24; Mat_18:20). We are bound to
give this attendance on the word and worship of God, because He requires it. We are
bound to do this, because we ourselves have need of it. If the highest archangel in
heaven were commanded to frequent religious assemblies, as a learner, and as a
worshipper, he would not refuse. This was done by Him who has received “a name
which is above every name.” As the Mediator, Jesus Christ was subject to the Father;
and He testified that subjection by a devout regard for His ordinances. He was a
stated attendant on the services of the Temple. But we are not merely creatures: we
are also sinners. We are not only subject to our Maker’s authority; we need our
Maker’s mercy. If we would obtain His blessing, we must seek it in the way of His
own appointment. In any other way He has not promised it; in any other way we have
no right to expect it. It does not mean that the vulgar and illiterate must go to
Church, but that men of science and literature are at liberty to stay away. A man may
be as great a philosopher as Socrates or Plato; but then he is a creature and a sinner.
He must therefore attend to his Creator’s word; he must kneel at his Creator’s feet.
Neither can political rank at all free us from this great obligation. A man may be a
lord, a duke, a king, or an emperor; yet he must imitate the example of Him who is
Lord of lords, and King of kings. No man is excused on the ground of poverty and
meanness. It may mortify him excessively to exhibit his rags before a large and
respectable congregation; but Christ hath left us an example that we should tread in
His steps. His piety and poverty were great and manifest. The plea of a high and
refined spirituality of mind will be equally unavailing. It is useless to say, “I have no
need to observe the mere forms of piety, since I enjoy its spirit and its power.”
III. The men of bustle and business are sometimes disposed to look upon all this
attendance on the Word of God AS SO MUCH LOST TIME, AND AN
INCONVENIENT INTERFERENCE WITH THE CONCERNS OF LIFE. If such
excuses could ever be seasonable, they might have been urged by the fishermen of
Galilee, on the occasion referred to in the text. They had toiled all the night before,
and caught nothing. They were now in the act of washing their nets, in order at the
earliest opportunity to go to sea again and make another attempt. Several of them, it
is probable, had families dependent on their industry and success. Under such
circumstances they might have said, “Lord, we have no time to hear sermons now. It
is impossible for us to comply with your request, and to spare our boat for preaching
purposes at present. We must follow our employment, or our debts cannot be paid,
nor our children’s wants supplied.” But not a word of objection or excuse was heard.
What follows proves that in the end they suffered no loss. Know, therefore, that there
is a providence; a blessing of the Lord which maketh rich.
IV. THE WORD OF GOD DESERVES TO BE IMPLICITLY BELIEVED AND
OBEYED. We may always venture to carry out its instructions into practical effect in
the face of every difficulty and discouragement. But Peter reasoned on a different
principle, and came to a different conclusion. He called Jesus “Master,” and was
consistent with himself. Many of us talk like servants while we act like masters. We
say, “Lord, Lord,” but do not the things which He enjoins. But Peter understood his
duty better. When the Master commands, the servant’s business is, not to argue, but
to obey.
V. THAT WORD DESERVES OUR ATTENTION ON ACCOUNT OF ITS POWER TO
REACH AND CONTROL THE HUMAN HEART. The Author of the Bible knows what
is in man. He can speak to the heart of His own creatures. His Word touches the
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hidden springs of thought and feeling, and thus turns us about whithersoever He will
(Heb_4:12). Peter found this by experience. The sermon was heard, and such was the
silent and secret but powerful effect of Divine truth upon his heart, that he saw his
unutterable guilt and depravity as in the light of open day; and became so agitated
with grief and terror, that, in the end, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, exclaiming,
“Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luk_5:8). You will soon be brought
to the same temper, if you listen to the same Teacher.
VI. IT IS NOT INTENDED, HOWEVER, TO INTIMATE THAT THIS MATCHLESS
WORD WILL INTRODUCE US TO A REST AND PEACE, WHICH IMPLIES AN
EXEMPTION FROM WORLDLY CALAMITIES. When the disciples were favoured
with the immediate presence of Christ, and were in the very act of receiving a
miraculous blessing at His hands, we scarcely expected to hear anything of a broken
net and a sinking boat. Yet both these inconveniences were experienced on this
memorable occasion. The afflictions of a good man only tend to heighten his
gratitude, by more abundant displays of the Divine faithfulness and love. It was
wonderful that the net should be suffered to break; but it was more wonderful that,
after this accident, the fishes were not lost. It was wonderful that the boat should be
suffered to begin to sink; but it was more wonderful that, in such a state, they should
all come safe to land. God often reduces His people to the last extremities, and then
shows them His salvation. The vessel which bears the saints to glory is often in a
leaky and sinking state. All hope of being saved is not unfrequently taken away. Yet,
while they have an ear to hear, and a heart to obey, they continue to float.
VII. THE BENEFITS ARISING FROM. AN ATTENTION TO THE WORD OF GOD
ARE NOT CONFINED TO OURSELVES; THEY EXTEND TO OTHERS. While
attention to the Word of God teaches us the duty of instructing others, it also gives us
the disposition to make the attempt. Piety and charity are inseparably connected.
(Samuel Jackson.)
The attractive power of the gospel
Jesus as a preacher “drew.” What was the attraction? He used no rhetorical device to
produce an effect. His method was startling in its novelty. He did not follow the
customs of His age. Though claiming to be a religious teacher, He did net adopt the
conventional role of a priest or scribe. But to really appreciate the spirit of the
Preacher we must understand His doctrine. The message He brought men made it
imperative that His attitude towards them should be that of large-hearted sympathy.
Now, there are some things I want you to see as the result of this exposition.
1. The first is that the gospel of Christ, when proclaimed in the proper spirit,
never fails to touch the heart. In a sermon of Bishop Fraser’s I read the following
story: A well-known Anglican Bishop was announced to preach in a certain
church. A tradesman in the parish, the leader of a set of Atheists, made up his
mind to go and hear him. He listened attentively, and after the sermon he said to
some one, “If that bishop had argued, I would have fought with him; but there
was no arguing about him; he preached to us simply about the love of God, and
that touched me.” Let the gospel be preached with the simplicity and sympathy
with which it was first preached in Galilee, and people will still be found pressing
to hear.
2. The next thing I want you to see is, that the gospel and spirit of Christ are the
powers that have been refining and elevating society ever since He lived and
taught. Slowly, almost insensibly, the gospel has been making its way in society.
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3. The last thing I want you to see is, that the gospel and spirit of Jesus alone
have the power to make humanity noble and good. What a principle this is on
which to base individual, social, and political life—God is the Father of all men
and has given His Son to redeem them from death; all men are the sons of God,
bound to obey Him with loving and filial spirit; each man owes to every other
man the duties of a brother. Were that principle realized the happiness of the
world would far surpass the dreams of the most ardent socialist. Getting rich by
methods that injure others would be unknown. (S. If. Hamilton, D. D.)
COFFMAN, "Put out into the deep ... The KJV has "Launch out into the deep";
and Jesus would follow up this command, intended to be obeyed literally, with
another just like it in the spiritual sector when he invited them to "follow." Their
acceptance of the call was a launching out into the deep on a far grander scale
than anything they could have done in Peter's boat. Every Christian and all
churches still need this commandment to "put out into the deep." The miracle
here is unique to Luke.
NISBET, "CHRIST’S WORK IN THE WORLD
‘He entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s.’
Luke 5:3
The Lord Jesus used the instruments of His Apostles. He went into Simon’s boat;
He used Simon’s boat and tackle and nets. That is ever His way.
I. Christ used the instruments of His people.—And that is why we say to you, do
not ignore the instruments of religion in your religion. If you do, you will fail.
Use the Sacraments, use all ministry. If the Lord makes use of them, cannot His
people make use of them? I know you will say: ‘We might go out into the fields
and worship God just as well as going to church.’ Ah! no, you could not. You
would be lonely out in the fields. You want the sympathy of life. You want the
Lord’s own trysting-place, ‘Where two or three are gathered together in My
Name, there am I in the midst of them.’ You cannot get over that. You are
human, and must make use of the instruments that Christ has ordained and
made use of Himself.
II. Man can supply the instruments.—The boat, the net, and the tackle belonged
to Simon. So that the lesson we learn is that the instruments our Lord would use
are also the instruments that we ourselves can supply. Do not for one moment
say that you have not got opportunities and powers and faculties. That is what
people always say. You hear men say, ‘I should not like to tackle that question.’
Men have got plenty of tackle to tackle the question, but they are too
intellectually ignorant to find their way with faith into certainty of belief. Again
people often say, ‘I should not like to tackle that man or that woman and bring
them to Christ, because I have not got the tackle to do the tackling with.’ And
why? They have no faith in themselves or in their Saviour. For here comes the
truth, that all these instruments in themselves will not do it.
III. But Christ must be with you.—And what is the thing to do? Well, of course,
you must be quite sure, at least, that you have your Lord and Saviour in the boat
with you. Then whatever may be the storm, we can face it; whatever may be the
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discouragement, we can bear it with Him—then you are quite sure of your catch
in the end.
IV. You must do what He says.—If He is with you, you will do what He tells you.
He will tell you, ‘Do not let your life run along conventionalities.’ Launch out.
Conventionalities kill religion. We may get accustomed to everything. It is what
is called in theological treatises, the canker in the Sanctuary, the same going to
Church, the same prayers, the same Communions, the same people—no
progress, no joy in the Holy Ghost, no outpouring of the Spirit, no gladness of
heart. Launch out. If the Master is with you, you have no fear. Look at all the
history of the saints. Launch out.
V. The result.—Whatever the Lord tells you individually to do, do, although it
seems to you extravagant. We have toiled all the night, we are tired out, we are
thoroughly discouraged, and we do not see that we have done any good at all.
‘Nevertheless, at Thy word:’ it is quite enough. And then comes the experience of
life. Oh, what a man can do, if he works with the Master! The most blessed
experience of all ministry is, that the Lord works with you and you work with
the Lord. It is the crown of all ministry. Not the number of fish, not the success,
but the crown of real ministry is that you are working with God, and God is
working with you.
—Rev. A. H. Stanton.
CONSTABLE, "Luke's account of this incident is the longest of the three. Luke
stressed Peter and omitted any reference to Andrew, his brother (Matthew 4:18;
Mark 1:16). He characteristically focused on single individuals that Jesus'
touched wherever possible to draw attention to Jesus. He also stressed the
sovereignty and holiness of Jesus as well as these disciples' total abandonment of
their possessions to follow Jesus. Jesus repeated the lesson of this incident after
His resurrection (John 21:1-14).
Luke placed this account in his Gospel after the Capernaum incidents rather
than before them as Mark did (Mark 1:14-28). He probably arranged his
material this way to stress Jesus' sovereignty over people having established the
general program of Jesus' ministry. [Note: Ibid., p. 876.] The emphasis on Jesus'
sovereignty continues through chapter 5. This was not the first time Jesus had
talked with Peter and the other disciples mentioned. Andrew had told his
brother Peter that he had found the Messiah (cf. John 1:41). However these
disciples' thought of the Messiah as their contemporaries did. They expected a
political deliverer who was less than God. Jesus had to teach them that He was
God as well as Messiah. This lesson and its implications took all of Jesus'
ministry to communicate.
PETT, "So He boldly walked over and boarded Simon Peter’s boat, and called to
him and asked him to launch the boat a little away from the land so that He
could preach from it. He would have known that it was a bit of an imposition on
these hardworking men, but He was testing them out. Had they refused, or even
shown reluctance, He might simply have passed them by. If they were to follow
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Him they would need guts. Then when Simon Peter had proved himself and had
done what He asked, He sat down in the boat and taught the crowds from it.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to
Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down
the nets for a catch.”
BARNES, "Launch, out - Go out with your vessels.
Into the deep - Into the sea; at a distance from the shore.
For a draught - A draught of fish; or let down your nets for the “taking” of fish.
GILL, "Now when he had left speaking,.... Teaching the people, and preaching
the word of God unto them out of the ship, as they stood on the shore before him.
He said unto Simon, launch out into the deep; he spoke to Simon Peter, being
the master of the vessel, to thrust it out, or put it off further into deep water, more
convenient for fishing;
and let down your nets for a draught; of fishes: his meaning is, that he would
give orders to his servants, to put out the vessel to sea, to take their nets and cast
them into the sea, in order to take and draw up a quantity of fish, which was their
business.
HENRY, "1. When Christ had done preaching, he ordered Peter to apply himself
to the business of his calling again: Launch out into the deep, and let down your
nets, Luk_5:4. It was not the sabbath day, and therefore, as soon as the lecture was
over, he set them to work. Time spent on week-days in the public exercises of religion
may be but little hindrance to us in time, and a great furtherance to us in temper of
mind, in our worldly business. With what cheerfulness may we go about the duties of
our calling when we have been in the mount with God, and from thence fetch a
double blessing into our worldly employments, and thus have them sanctified to us
by the word and prayer! It is our wisdom and duty so to manage our religious
exercises as that they may befriend our worldly business, and so to manage our
worldly business as that it may be no enemy to our religious exercises.
JAMISON, "for a draught — munificent recompense for the use of his boat.
NISBET, "‘Launch out into the deep.’
Luke 5:4
Simon was surprised to receive that command; there are many still who do not
seem able at once to respond to it.
I. To whom should these words be addressed?
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(a) Disappointed workers.—As it was with Peter, so it has often been with
Christ’s servants since, and we may surely learn some lesson from our Lord’s
command on such an occasion. Let us dare a little more, venture a little further
for Christ than we have ever done before.
(b) Desponding believers.—There is another kind of deep besides the deep of
service. There is the ocean of God’s faithfulness. Launch the little craft of your
faith and life on the mighty ocean of Divine love. How little we trust Christ!
(c) All faint-hearted voyagers over life’s troubled sea. Christ’s word to every
troubled mariner is, ‘Fear not! launch out, and as thy days, so shall thy strength
be.’
II. The command.—What does obedience to it involve? Why is it not more
readily obeyed?
(a) It demands consecration.—If a boat is to be launched out into the deep, the
first thing needed is to weigh anchor. There must be a casting aside of every
weight. There must be unreserved consecration to Christ.
(b) There must be courage—to brave storms, to face the unknown, to stand
alone, to withstand the obstacles which confront him who ventures on a new
departure.
(c) Confidence is needed. ‘Nevertheless at Thy word’—there was faith. St. Peter
had such confidence in Jesus Christ that it enabled him to put aside every other
consideration.
III. How is obedience rewarded?—What are the rewards given to the man who
trusts, who obeys?
(a) Success in service. St. Peter could not draw in the net for the multitude of
fishes.
(b) To the despondent there shall be salvation. When we trust Christ fully we
shall be rewarded by such a revelation of His fullness that there shall not be
room enough to receive it.
(c) A revelation of the Saviour. St. Peter knew that day that Jesus was the Lord.
We want such a revelation of power as will convince men that it is not man but
God who is working in our midst.
(d) A renewal of devotion. ‘When they had brought their ships to land, they
forsook all, and followed Him.’ Do you not desire devotion like that?
—Rev. E. W. Moore.
Illustration
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‘Years ago, standing at the pier-head in Lowestoft harbour, I watched a large
fishing-smack working its way out to sea. The sailors fastened a hawser to one of
the bulkheads of the pier near where I was standing, and made the other end fast
to their vessel. Then they hauled the craft hand over hand till they reached the
harbour and could feel the swing of the tide under her. Then the rope, which
before had been a help, became a hindrance. “Throw her off, sir!” they cried to
me, as the sails went up and the good ship caught the breeze—“Throw her off!” I
lifted the heavy cable, and the next moment, like a thing of life, the vessel darted
over the waves. Ah! there is many a man held back to-day like that vessel, by
cords, not sinful in themselves, nay, which, it may be, have once been useful to
him, but now are holding him back from God. Throw off the tie that binds you to
the shore, throw it off and let the good ship go!’
(SECOND OUTLINE)
CHRIST AND CHRIST’S WORLD
It was while Christ was engaged in an ever-widening preaching tour there were
uttered the most striking words ‘Launch out into the deep, and let down your
nets for a draught.’ Upon this sentence let us now fix our thoughts.
I. The words impress two great principles for the guidance of the Church’s life,
viz. the principle or spirit of venturesomeness, ‘Launch out into the deep,’ and
the principle or spirit of order, ‘Let down your nets for a draught.’ It is through
the interaction of these two principles that the Lord can permanently bless His
Church, and place His work upon a sure foundation. They are often separated,
to the sure detriment both of the one and of the other. Not a few are venturesome
and not orderly; not a few are orderly and not venturesome; not a few launch
out into the deep, but have no nets to let down; not a few have nets, but have no
deep into which they can let them down. Both principles have brought forth
giants by which they are severally personified; but both principles are most
honoured when giants can combine them in their due proportions.
II. The meaning attached to this command by the individual Christian will in
each case be coloured by his own experience. What he means by ‘launch out’ will
be modified for him by what he means by ‘the deep.’ Shall ‘the deep’ mean for us
‘Christ Himself,’ as the preparation for sailing into all other unknown seas?
What a deep this! Christ in the fullness of the Godhead, in the fullness of the
Manhood; Christ in ‘the love that passeth knowledge’; Christ in the power of His
redeeming blood, in the power of His resurrection and of His intercession; Christ
in the filling of His Holy Spirit, in His all-enabling enduement. To know Him
with the grasp of that experience which can say, ‘I can do all things through
Christ Who strengtheneth me,’ that is to enter upon a deep indeed, full of
untrackable riches, full of inexpressible peace, full of unknown sources of power
ready to be applied. We are, alas! content with cupfuls of Christ, while we may
possess oceanfulnesses of Christ. ‘Then shall we know, if we follow on to know
the Lord.’ And if in the first instance Christ Himself be for us ‘the deep,’ then
‘launch out’ will have a corresponding meaning. What are those cables that bind
us to the shore that must be cut? What is that anchor that must be weighed, that
can touch bottom, and which stands between us and ‘the multitude of fishes’?
Not a few who have Christ are still afraid of Christ. He goes before, they follow
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Him up to a certain point, so far as they can ‘touch bottom,’ so far as they can
lengthen their own anchor chains, and calculate. In presence of the unknown
deep they hesitate. But ‘launch out,’ cut away all cables and all self-forged
anchors, and out into the deep, ‘where no anchor but the Cross can hold,’ but
that will hold. The most universal impediment to advance amongst Christians is
‘timidity’—not so much faithlessness, as the unexpressed fear that Christ cannot
be to them all He promises to be, the fear that Christ cannot be to them more
than self, and the interests that gravitate round self; that He cannot be to them
more than their little pleasures, their home circle, their comforts, their books,
their business, their gains. Their fear is that Christ is not ‘all and in all.’
Therefore they cannot ‘win Christ’ because they will not launch out into Christ.
But launch out and win.
III. Christ and Christ’s world.—That ‘the deep’ should mean for us also ‘Christ
Himself’ is one thing; that it should mean for us ‘the world for which Christ
died’ is scarcely another thing, for when we are Christ-centred we must be
world-absorbed, and the words must keep ringing in our ears, ‘As Thou hast
sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.’ The Church
hears much of laying hold on Christ, but the Church does not hear as much as it
ought of laying hold on Christ’s world. Congregations like to hear a Gospel
sermon about how Christ saves them, but not a few congregations shrink from a
Gospel sermon about how Christ saves the world. The two thoughts go hand in
hand and are inseparable. ‘The Church,’ as it has been expressed, ‘is self-
centred, and therefore self-absorbed; she needs to become Christ-centred, and
she will be world-absorbed.’ To know in ever-increasing degrees the love of
Christ, is to know in the same degrees Christ’s love for the world.
IV. Two unfailing sources of encouragement.—To nerve us for this supreme
decision, ‘to launch out,’ the text offers, amongst others, two unfailing sources of
encouragement.
(a) The first is that Christ Himself is in the ship in which we sail, and in the deep
into which we sail. He tells us to do nothing in which He Himself does not all
along stand by our side, in sunshine and gloom, in storm and calm, in success
and disappointment. He bids us enter upon no untried path where He is not and
has not gone already; for ‘if I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the
uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right
hand shall hold me.’
(b) The second source of encouragement is that if we do what Christ tells us,
sooner or later, in one way or another, our nets shall enclose a great multitude of
fishes, and that ‘take’ will with Christ be a reward unspeakable rendered to the
spirit of faith and obedience. It may be that we shall witness in this life so great a
multitude granted to our toils, that our nets shall be in danger of breaking; on
the other hand, it may be that this source of encouragement is denied us until the
Resurrection morning.
But upon that morning-dawn Jesus Himself shall stand in visible person upon
the shore; the fishes we have now caught, still in the water, out of sight, will all
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be found then to be great fishes, all perfected, all numbered one by one, and not
one lost. The net, the perfected Church, then in no danger of breaking, will draw
them all to the eternal shore, and we and they shall receive together the
invitation of our glorified Lord and Master, ‘Come and dine,’ and shall
experience to the full the meaning of the promise, ‘Ye which have followed Me …
shall receive one hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.’
Rev. H. Percy Grubb.
PETT, "Then when He had finished preaching He turned to Simon Peter and
said, “Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.” The
prophetic command probably made Peter give a grim smile, and give his partner
a look. No one knew better than they that there were no fish to be had. If they
could not be found at night when it was dark, this time of the morning when the
sun was shining on the water would be hopeless. But his calibre is revealed in his
obedience to the Prophet. If He told him to do something, then he would do it. It
could do no harm even though they were very tired, and it would please Him,
and possibly teach Him a lesson about fish.
BURKITT, "Observe here, 1. Our Saviour having delivered his doctrine to the
people, confirms his doctrine with a miracle, and with such a miracle as did at
once instruct and encourage his apostles; the miraculous number of fish which
they caught did presage and prefigure their miraculous success in preaching,
planting, and propagating, the gospel.
Observe, 2. Our Saviour's command to Peter, and his ready compliance with
Christ's command: Let down your nets for a draught, says Christ: We have
toiled all night, says St. Peter, and caught nothing: nevertheless, at thy word I
will let down the net.
This mystically represents to us. 1. That the fishers of men may labor all night,
and all day too, and catch nothing.
This is sometimes the fisherman's fault, but oftener the fishes'. It is the fisher's
fault that nothing is taken, if he doth only play upon the sands, and not launch
out into the deep; deliver some superficial and less necessary truths, without
opening to the people the great mysteries of godliness. If they fish with broken
nets, either deliver unsound doctrine, or lead unexemplary lives. If they do not
cast the net on the right side of the ship: that is, rightly divide the word, as
workmen that need not to be ashamed.
And if they do not fish at Christ's command, but run a fishing unsent, it is then
no wonder that they labor all their days and catch nothing. But very often it is
the fishes' fault, rather than the fisherman's: worldly men are crafty and
cunning, they will not come near the net; hypocrites are slippery, like eels, the
fishermen cannot long hold them, but they dart into their holes; priding
themselves in their external performances, and satisfying themselves with a
round of duties.
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The great men of the world break through the net, the divine commands cannot
bind them. I will go to the great men, and speak to them; but they have broken
the yoke, and burst the bonds. Jeremiah 5:5
Observe, 3. The miraculous success which St. Peter had, when at Christ's
command he let down the net: They inclosed such a multitude of fishes that their
net brake.
Two things our Saviour aimed at in this miracle, 1. To manifest to his disciples
the power of his Godhead, that they might not be offended at the poverty and
meanness of his manhood.
2. To assure them of the great success which his apostles and their successors
might expect in planting and propagating of the gospel. If the ministers of Christ,
whom he calls fishers of men, be faithful in the cast, his power shall be magnified
in the draught.
Some of our fish will cleave eternally to the rocks, others play upon the sands,
more will wallow in the mud, and continue all their days in the filth of sin, if our
Master at whose command we let down the net, does not inclose them in it, as
well as assist us in the casting of it.
Observe, 4. What influence the sight of this miracle had upon St. Peter: it
occasioned fear and amazement, and caused him to adore Christ, and declare
himself unworthy of his presence; Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O
Lord. Not that the good man was weary of Christ's presence, but acknowledged
himself unworthy of it. It is a great discovery of our holiness, to revere God, and
fear before him, when he does wonderuful things before us, though they be
wonders of love and mercy: here was a wonderful appearance of Christ's power
and mercy to St. Peter, but it affects him with a reverential fear and awful
astonishment.
Observe, 5. How St. Peter and the rest of the apostles, at Christ's call, forsook all
and followed him: they left father and friends, ships and nets, and followed
Jesus. Whom Christ calls, he calls effectually; he draws whom he calls, and
works their heart to a ready compliance to their duty. And although when they
were first called to be disciples, they followed their trades of fishing for a time,
yet upon their second call to the apostleship, they left off their trade, and forsook
all to follow the ministry; teaching the minsters of the gospel, that it is their duty
to give themselves wholly up to their great work, and not to encumber
themselves with secular affairs and worldy business.
Nothing but an indispensable nccessity in providing for a family can excuse a
minister's incumbering himself with worldly concerns and business: They
forsook all, and followed Jesus.
CONSTABLE, "Verse 4-5
Luke alone specified that Simon and his companions were "fishermen" (Gr.
halieus, Luke 5:2). Consequently, Jesus' command to launch out into the deep
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water for another try at fishing contrasts Jesus' authority with the natural
ability of these men. Peter's compliance shows his great respect for Jesus that led
to obedience and ultimately to a large catch of fish. "Master" (Gr. epistata) is
Luke's equivalent for "teacher" or "rabbi." Luke never used the term "rabbi,"
probably because it would have had little significance for most Greek readers.
"Master" is a term that disciples or near disciples used of Jesus (Luke 8:24;
Luke 8:45; Luke 9:33; Luke 9:49), and it indicates submission to authority. Luke
is the only Gospel evangelist who used this term, and wherever it appears it
refers to Jesus.
MACLAREN, "INSTRUCTIONS FOR FISHERMEN
The day’s work begins early in the East. So the sun, as it rose above the hills on the
other side of the lake, shone down upon a busy scene, fresh with the dew and energy
of the morning, on the beach by the little village of Bethsaida. One group of
fishermen was washing their nets, their boats being hauled up on the strand. A crowd
of listeners was thus early gathered round the Teacher; but the fishermen, who were
His disciples, seem to have gone on with their work, never minding Christ or the
crowd. It is sometimes quite as religious to be washing nets as to be listening to
Christ’s teaching.
The incident which follows the words of my text, and which is called the first
miraculous draught of fishes, is stamped by our Lord Himself with a symbolic
purpose; for at the end of it He says: ‘Fear not! from henceforth thou shalt catch
men.’ And that flings back a flood of light on the whole story; and not only warrants
but obliges us to take it as being by Him intended for the instruction in their
Christian work of these four whom He has chosen to be His workers. However many
of our Lord’s miracles may not come under this category of symbolism (and I, for my
part, do not believe that there are any of them which do not), this one clearly does.
We have His own commentary to compel us to interpret its features as meaning
something beyond what appears on the surface. I take it, then, that we have here a
first vivid code of instructions which our Lord gives to all His servants who do work
for Him; and I wish to look at the various stages of this incident from that point of
view.
If there are any of my hearers who think to themselves, ‘Ah, well! he is not going to
say anything that I have anything to do with,’ so much the worse for you, if you are
not a Christian; or, so much the worse for you if, being a Christian, you are not an
active servant. Jesus Christ had four disciples who were fishermen, and out of them
He made four fishers of men. The obligation is universal.
I. The Law of Service.
‘Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.’ Now there is
nothing more remarkable in the whole narrative than the matter-of-course fashion in
which our Lord takes the disposal of these men, and orders them about. It is not
explicable unless we fall back upon what Luke does not tell us, but John does, in his
Gospel, that this was by no means the first time that He had come across Peter and
Andrew his brother, or James and John his brother. We do not need to trouble
ourselves with the chronological question how long before they had been drawn to
Him at the fords of Jordan by the witness of John the Baptist, and by the witness of
some of them to the others. The relationship had been then commenced which is
presupposed by our Lord’s authoritative tone here. It leads in the incident of my text
to a closer discipleship, which did not admit of Simon and John hauling or cleaning
their nets any more. They had been disciples before in a certain loose fashion, a
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fashion which permitted them to go home and look after their ordinary avocations.
Hence-forward they were disciples in a much more stringent fashion. It was because
they had already said ‘Rabbi! Thou art the Son of God! Thou art the King of Israel,’
that this strange imperative command, inexplicable, except by the supplement of the
last of the four Gospels, came from Christ’s lips and secured immediate obedience.
If we thus understand that His authority follows on our discipleship, and that the
words of my text, first of all, insist upon and assert His right to command and
absolutely dispose of the activities, resources, and persons of all His disciples, we
have learned something that we only need to practise in order to make our lives noble
with a strange nobility, and blessed and sweet with an unearthly sanctity and
blessedness.
Further, the words of my text not only declare for us thus the absolute authority of
Jesus Christ over all His disciples, but also reveal His sweet promise and gracious
assurance that He cares to guide, to direct, to prescribe spheres, to determine
methods, to lead those who docilely look to Him and wait upon Him, in paths in
which their activity may most profitably be employed for Him and for His Church. If
there is anything that is declared to us plainly in the Scriptures, with regard to the
relationships between men and Jesus Christ, it is this, that a docile heart will always
be a guided heart, partly by inward whispers, which only they disbelieve who limit
God in His relation to men, beyond what they have a right to do; and partly by
outward providences which only they disbelieve who limit God in His power over the
external world, beyond what they have a right to do. He will guide, sometimes with
His eye, to which the loving eye flashes back response; sometimes with His
whispered word, when the noises of earth and the pulsations of self-will are stilled;
sometimes with His rod, which the less sensitive of His sons do often need;
sometimes by successes in paths that we venture upon tentatively and timidly; and
sometimes by failures in paths into which we rush confidently and presumptuously;
but always, the waiting heart is a guided heart, and if we listen we shall hear ‘This is
the way, walk ye in it.’ And sometimes it is God’s will that we should make mistakes,
for these too help us to learn His will.
But, further, and more particularly, I do not think that I am unduly reading too much
meaning into this story, if I ask you to put emphasis upon one word, ‘Launch out into
the deep.’ As long as you keep pottering along, a boat’s length from the shore, you
will only catch little fishes. The big ones, and the heavy takes are away out yonder. Go
out there, if you want to get them. Which, being translated, is this-The same spirit of
daring enterprise, which is a condition of success in secular matters, is no less potent
a factor in the success of Christian men in their enterprises for Jesus Christ. As long
as we keep Him down, within the limits of use and wont, and are horribly afraid of
anything that our great-grandfathers did not use to do, there will be very few fish in
the bottom of the boat.
Oh, brethren! if one thinks of the world into which it has been God’s providence to
put us, a world all seething with new aspirations and unrest-if we think of the
condition of the great city in which we live, which is only a specimen of the cities of
England, and of the tragical insufficiency of Christian enterprise and effort, as
compared with the overwhelming masses of the community, surely, surely, there is
nothing more wanted to make Christian people wake up from their old jog-trot
habits, and cast themselves with new earnestness, new daring and enterprise, into
forms of service which conscience and sober wisdom may approve. Of course, I do
not forget that any such new methods must each approve themselves at the tribunal
of the Christian consciousness. It is no part of my business here to descend into
details and particulars, but I do want to lay on my own heart, and especially on the
hearts of the members of the church of which I have the honour to be the pastor, and
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also upon all other Christian people whom my voice may reach, the solemn
responsibility which the conditions of life in our generation lay upon Christian men
and women, ‘Launch out into the deep and let down your nets.’ I believe, for my part,
that if all the good, God-fearing, Christ-loving men and women in Manchester were
to hear this voice sounding in their ears, and to obey it, they would change the face of
the city.
II. The Response.
Peter, characteristically, speaks out, and says exactly what a fisherman would be
likely to say to a carpenter from Nazareth, that came down to teach him his business.
The landsman would not know what the fisherman knew well enough, that it was
useless to go fishing in the morning if you had not caught anything all night. There
was very little chance of getting any better success when the sun’s rays were glinting
on the surface of the water.
‘We have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing.’ Experience said, ‘No! do not.’
Christ said, ‘Yes! do.’ And so when Peter has made a clean breast of his objection,
founded on experience, he goes on with the consent prompted by the devotion and
consecration of love, ‘nevertheless.’ A great word that. ‘We have toiled all the night,
and have taken nothing; nevertheless at Thy word we will let down the net. So here
goes.’ And away they went, breakfastless perhaps, with their nets half cleaned, and
sleepy and tired with the night’s work.
Here, then, we see obedience that springs delighted to obey, because it is impelled by
love. That is the spirit which can be trusted to go out into the deep, which does not
ask whether things are recognised and usual or not, but which, if once it is sure of the
Lord’s will, takes no counsel of anything else. How should it, seeing that there is
nothing so delightsome to a heart that truly loves as to know and do the will of its
beloved? And that, dear brethren, is the spirit that all we Christian people need-a
deeper, more vivid, more continual, soul-subduing, muscle-straining consciousness
that Jesus Christ ‘loved me and gave Himself for me.’ Then His whisper will be like
thunder, and the motto of our lives will be ‘At Thy word, I will!’ Further, here is
obedience that was not in the least degree depressed by the recognition of past
failure. All night long they had been dropping the net overboard, and drawing it in,
and with horny, wet hands seeking in its meshes, and finding nothing. Then
overboard with it again, and more pulling at the heavy sweeps, till the dawn began to
show, and all in vain. Now the weary task must be done all over again, though in all
the past hours though they were the best, there has been only failure.
I think that our Christian courage and consecration would be immensely increased, if
we could learn the lesson of my text; and feel that, however often in the past I may
have broken down, the word of Christ’s command, which thrills into my will, is also
the word of Christ’s promise which should stay my heart, and give me the assurance
that past defeat shall be converted into future victory.
There is an obedience which did not grudge fresh toil before the effect of past toils
had been quite got over. The nets, as I said, were only half cleaned. It was a pity to
begin and dirty them again. The fishers had had a very hard night’s toil. If they had
been like some of us they would have said, ‘Oh! I have been working hard all the
night. I cannot possibly do any more this morning.’ ‘I am so very busy with my
business all the week, that it is perfectly absurd to talk about my teaching in a
Sunday-school.’ That was not their spirit at all. No matter how they had to rub their
eyes to get the sleep out of them, they just bundled the nets into the boat once more,
pushed her down the strand, and shoved her out into the blue waters at Christ’s
bidding. And that is the sort of workmen that He wants, and that you and I should
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be.
Further, we have here an obedience that kept the Master’s word sounding in its heart
whilst it was at work. ‘At Thy word will I let down the net.’
Ah! we very often begin working with a very pure motive, and as we go on, the motive
gradually oozes away, and what was begun in the spirit is continued in the flesh; and
what was begun with a true devotion to Jesus Christ is continued because we were
doing it yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that, and because it is
the custom to do it. So we go on. The heart having all gone out of our service, the
blessing is gone out of it too. But if we will keep our hearts near that Lord and listen
to His voice calling us, wearied or not wearied, beaten before or not beaten before,
and do as He bids us, launch out into the deep, we shall not toil in vain.
III. The result.
Christ’s command ever includes His promise. Work done for Him is never resultless.
True, His most faithful servants have often to say, if they look at their few sheaves
with the eye of sense, ‘I have spent my strength for nought.’ True, the Apostolic
experience is, at the best, but too exactly repeated, ‘Some believed, and some believed
not.’ Christ’s Gospel always produces its twofold effect, being ‘a savour of life unto
life, or of death unto death.’ If the great Sower, when He went forth to sow, expected
but a fourth part of the seed to fall into good ground, His servants need look for no
larger results. But still it remains true that honest, earnest work for Jesus, wisely
planned and prayerfully carried out with self-oblivion and self-surrender, will not be
unblessed. If our labour is ‘in the Lord,’ it will not be ‘in vain.’ Just as pain is a danger
signal, pointing to mischief at work on the body, so failure in achieving the results of
Christian service is, for the most part, an indication of something wrong in method
or spirit.
But, if we are toiling in loving obedience to Christ’s voice, and seeking His direction
as to sphere and manner of service, we may be quite sure of this, that whether we get,
immediately or no, the outward and visible results which this incident promises to all
who fulfil the conditions, we shall get the results which were symbolised in the
second form of this miraculous draught of fishes. For, if you remember, there was
another incident at the end of Christ’s life, modelled upon this one, and equally
significant, though in a different fashion. On that occasion, when the disciples had
been toiling all the night, and saw, in the dim twilight of the morning, the
questionable figure standing on the shore there, they were bidden to bring of the fish
that they had caught, and when they came to land they saw a fire of coals, and fish
laid thereon, and bread; and His voice said, ‘Come, and eat!’ Blessed are the workers
that work for the Master, for living they shall not be left without His blessing, and
dying, ‘they rest from their labours’-by the side of that mysterious fire, and Christ-
provided food-’and their works do follow them, in that they bring of the fish which
they have caught.
BI, "Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught
Out of the deep
I.
RECALL THE HISTORIC EVENT.
1. It is not work that tries men and women, half as much as it is the
disappointment which unsuccess brings.
2. The best and only real recreation which any soul can find is that which comes
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from resting in the Lord, and in abiding patiently upon Him, in the faith that He
doeth all things well, even when He asks us to labour on without finding any
immediate reward.
II. CHRIST TAKES HIS PEOPLE INTO THE DEEP. There was in the crisis hour of
St. Peter’s personal history a striking coincidence between his outward and his
inward experience—a parable of all Divine dealings with men.
1. Think of the present attitude of the world towards revealed truth. It shrinks
from launching out into the deep. The prevailing tendency is towards the
superficial rather than the substantial. We aim at greatness instead of
thoroughness. Men have pushed their investigations in every direction; but they
are disposed to stop just where the problem deepens into anything like mystery,
and where faith must take the place of sight. Whenever I meet with one of these
flippant retailers of modern objections to Holy Scripture, and hear him making
light of revealed truth, and ventilating with imperiousness his opinion that the
Bible is largely a myth, I always feel like asking such a man: “My friend, have you
ever pushed out from the shallow into the depth of these questions? Have ever
your knees touched the waters of God’s mighty sea? Have you ever gone, alone
with Christ, away from the shore and its noisy multitude, to where His waves are
mountains?”
2. In the workings and leadings of His providence, God sometimes takes us out of
the region of shallow, everyday experiences, into those which are very deep and
solemn. There are depths of sorrow, of affliction, and doubt and depression, of
poverty and bodily sickness, of temptation, of penitence and shame, and of
spiritual weakness; and some of them are mysterious, unfathomable. There is, in
such cases, no use in trying to see bottom. Now and then the soul is tempted to
think that chance, or accident, or lack of foresight, or an enemy of some kind, has
lured him out there, just to drown him or to fill him with terror, Nay, it was a
loving Guide who led you thither. (E. E. Johnson, M. A.)
Advancement in prayer
Prayer has small beginnings; but it should be progressive, never stationary. It is a
science needing practice, and practice in it, as in other sciences, will make perfect.
Our Lord bade St. Peter thrust out a little from the land; then He made him launch
out into the deep. Our first prayers are a thrusting out a little from the land, a little
disengagement of the thoughts, of the affections, from earth. But if we would gain
anything, we must not rest satisfied with this, but must, at Christ’s word, launch
forth into the deep of spiritual communion with God.
I. Prayer, to be efficacious, must be RECOLLECTED. All the powers of the mind
must be drawn off from other matters, and concentrated on Him whom you are
addressing. The wandering imagination has to be recalled from those objects about
which it plays, like a butterfly round garden flowers, that it may rest on God. The
memory is called away from the affairs of ourselves, that it may be used to supply
food for the meditation in which we are engaged. The understanding is withdrawn
from musing and irrelevant objects, that it may reason and reflect on the matter of
our prayer and on the nature of Him to whom we pray. Finally, the will, which runs
after a thousand objects which it desires, loves, and takes pleasure in, is fixed on God,
and strives to conform itself to the Divine will, producing affections and forming
resolutions such as the subject of meditation and devotion exacts.
II. Prayer should be DISENGAGED. After St. Peter had received Jesus into his
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vessel, he thrust out a little from the land. So, in prayer, the thoughts which are
attached to earth, like the moorings of a boat, must be flung loose, or the vessel
cannot put to sea.
III. Prayer must be EARNEST. While disengagement resembles a sportsman raising
his gun to his shoulder, and recollection represents him sighting his object,
earnestness is the charge of powder with which his gun is loaded.
IV. Prayer must be DEFINITE. Vague prayer without a purpose is never very
earnest, nor can it be effectual. A good plan is to take one grace at a time, and ask for
that, then another, and so on. Definiteness is the bullet to hit the mark.
V. Prayer must be PERSEVERING. This proves that we are in earnest, that we really
desire that for which we ask. (S. Baring. Gould, M. A.)
Launching out into the deep
We have toiled in the narrows too long, and have taken little by our toil. Look round
you in this nineteenth century of Christendom, and survey what ought to be a
kingdom of heaven. We must launch out into the deep, the great human deep, which
is in Christ’s dominion, and not in the devil’s, and let down our nets for a draught.
We have learnt wisdom perhaps from our faults, our follies, our failures. The Church
has toiled in the shallows surrounding her coasts among the souls she could get
within her pale. But rarely has man, in his simple human relations and activities,
been suffered to feel that as man he was dear to Christ, and a subject of His kingdom.
The great evangelical movement began with a noble attempt to fulfil this command.
The evangelists saved our State. Voltaire wrote to d’Alembert, when the revolutionary
yeast was beginning to work: “We have never pretended to enlighten the cobblers
and the maid-servants; we leave that to the apostles.” In a few years those cobblers
and maid-servants were flooding the gutters of Paris with the best blood of France;
while in England the apostles had tamed them. But the evangelical movement, as the
years passed on, shut itself up more and more to its Churches, and treated the great
human world, the world of secular thought, activity, and interest, as quite outside its
pale. Christ points us to the broad ocean, the great human deep—the relations, the
energies, the industries, and the interests, the thoughts, and the sympathies of men,
in their physical, intellectual, social, and political life; these we claim for His
kingdom, these be it ours to win to His love. Instead of saving souls out of the world,
let us save the world with the souls in it. (J. Baldwin Brown, B. A.)
Encouragement to work for God, though unsuccessful
1. Have we to contend in our work with a feeling of its having been fruitless? In
the case of sensible labour, there always is some result. How different, on the
contrary, is the case of the labourer in the world of mind! Does the feeling of the
fruitlessness of our spiritual work oppress and summon us to conflict, or do we
bear it lightly? There arc men who know this feeling very well, but, in a certain
measure, feel comfortable in it.
2. If the feeling of dejection is now threatening to overcome us, let us not indulge
it; let us ask rather how to change it into the joyful confidence of success! And
whither shall we go? Where Peter went; with Jesus we find help. The same Peter
who now complains, “Lord, we have toiled,” &c., how differently he had, a few
moments after, to judge! But still more. Had he not laboured in vain, the Lord
had not found him, nor he the Lord. We see here, in a very evident example, how
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deceitful the feeling of fruitlessness is, and how we should not let ourselves be
taken in by it. But not only that—we have also a security for it that labour for
spiritual purposes can never be in vain. (Professor Rothe.)
Fishing too near shore
“Launch out into the deep.”
I. This Divine counsel comes, first, to all those who are paddling in THE MARGIN
OF BIBLE RESEARCH. My father read the Bible through three times after he was
eighty years of age, and without spectacles; not for the mere purpose of saying he had
been through it so often, but for his eternal profit. John Colby, the brother-in-law of
Daniel Webster, learned to read after he was eighty-four years of age, in order that he
might become acquainted with the Scriptures. There is no book in the world that
demands so much of our attention as the Bible. Yet nine-tenths of Christian men get
no more than ankle-deep. Walk all up and down this Bible domain! Try every path.
Plunge in at the prophecies, and come out at the epistles. Go with the patriarchs,
until you meet the evangelists. Rummage and ransack, as children who are not
satisfied when they come to a new house, until they know what is in every room, and
into what every door opens. Open every jewel-casket. Examine the sky-lights. For
ever be asking questions. Put to a higher use than was intended the Oriental proverb,
“Hold all the skirts of thy mantle extended when Heaven is raining gold.” The sea of
God’s Word is not like Gennesaret, twelve miles by six, but boundless; and in any one
direction you can sail on for ever. Why, then, confine yourself to a short psalm, or to
a few verses of an epistle? The largest fish are not near the shore. Sail away, oh ye
mariners, for eternity! Launch out into the deep.
II. The text is appropriate to all CHRISTIANS OF SHALLOW EXPERIENCE. Doubts
and fears have in our day been almost elected to the Parliament of Christian graces.
Doubts and fears are not signs of health, but festers and carbuncles. You have a
valuable house or farm. It is suggested that the title is not good. You employ counsel.
You have the deeds examined. You search the record for mortgages, judgments, and
liens. You are not satisfied until you have a certificate, signed by the great Seal of the
State, assuring you that the title is good. Yet how many leave their title to heaven an
undecided matter! Christian character is to come up to higher standards. We have
now to hunt through our library to find one Robert M’Cheyne, or one Edward
Payson, or one Harlan Page. The time will come when we will find half a dozen of
them sitting in the same seat with us. The grace of God can make a great deal better
men than those I have mentioned. Christians seem afraid they will get heterodox by
going too far.
III. The text is appropriate to all who ARE ENGAGED IN CHRISTIAN WORK. The
Church of God has been fishing along the shore. We set our net in a good, calm place,
and in sight of a fine chapel, and we go down every Sunday to see if the fish have
been wise enough to come into our net. We might learn something from that boy
with his hook and line. He throws his line from the bridge: no fish. He sits down on a
log: no fish. He stands in the sunlight and casts the line: but no fish. He goes up by
the mill-dam, and stands behind the bank, where the fish cannot see him, and he has
hardly dropped the hook before the cork goes under. The fish come to him as fast as
he can throw them ashore. In other words, in our Christian work, why do we not go
where the fish are? It is not so easy to catch souls in church, for they know that we
are trying to take them. With the Bible in one pocket, and the hymn-book in another
pocket, and a loaf of bread under your arm, launch out into the great deep of this
world’s wretchedness.
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IV. The text is appropriate TO ALL THE UNFORGIVEN. Every sinner in this house
would come to God if he thought that he might come just as he is. People talk as
though the pardon of God were a narrow river, like the Kennebec or the Thames, and
that their sin draws too much water to enter it. No; it is not a river, nor a bay, but a
sea. I should like to persuade you to launch out into the great deep of God’s mercy. I
am a merchant. I have bought a cargo of spices in India. I have, through a bill of
exchange, paid for the whole cargo. You are a ship-captain. I give you the orders, and
say,” Bring me those spices.” You land in India. You go to the trader and say, “Here
are the orders”; and you find everything all right. You do not stop to pay the money
yourself. It is not your business to pay it. The arrangements were made before you
started. So Christ purchases your pardon. He puts the papers, or the promises, into
your hand. Is it wise to stop and say, “ I cannot pay for my redemption”? God does
not ask you to pay. Relying on what has been done, launch out into the deep. (Dr.
Talmage.)
5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard
all night and haven’t caught anything. But
because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
BARNES, "Master - This is the first time that the word here translated “Master”
occurs in the New Testament, and it is used only by Luke. The other evangelists call
him Rabbi, or Lord. The word here used means a “prefect,” or one placed “over”
others, and hence, it comes to mean “teacher” or “guide.”
At thy word - At thy command. Though it seemed so improbable that they would
take anything after having in vain toiled all night, yet he was willing to trust the word
of Jesus and make the trial. This was a remarkable instance of “faith.” Peter, as it
appears, knew little then of Jesus. He was not then a chosen apostle. Jesus came to
these fishermen almost a stranger and unknown, and yet at his command Peter
resolved to make another trial, and go once more out into the deep. Oh, if all would
as readily obey him, all would be in like manner blessed. If sinners would thus obey
him, they would find all his promises sure. He never disappoints. He asks only that
we have “confidence” in him, and he will give to us every needful blessing.
CLARKE, "Simon - said - Master - Επι̣ατα. This is the first place where this
word occurs; it is used by none of the inspired penmen but Luke, and he applies it
only to our blessed Lord. It properly signifies a prefect, or one who is set over certain
affairs or persons: it is used also for an instructer, or teacher. Peter considered
Christ, from what he had heard, as teacher of a Divine doctrine, and as having
authority to command, etc. He seems to comprise both ideas in this appellation; he
listened attentively to his teaching, and readily obeyed his orders. To hear attentively,
and obey cheerfully, are duties we owe, not only to the sovereign Master of the world,
but also to ourselves. No man ever took Jesus profitably for his teacher, who did not
at the same time receive him as his Lord.
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We have toiled all the night - They had cast the net several times in the course
of the night, and drew it to shore without success, and were now greatly
disheartened. I have seen several laborious draughts of this kind made without fruit.
All labor must be fruitless where the blessing of God is not; but especially that of the
ministry. It is the presence and influence of Christ, in a congregation, that cause
souls to be gathered unto himself: without these, whatever the preacher’s eloquence
or abilities may be, all will be night, and fruitless labor.
At thy word I will let down the net - He who assumes the character of a fisher
of men, under any authority that does not proceed from Christ, is sure to catch
nothing; but he who labors by the order and under the direction of the great
Shepherd and Bishop of souls, cannot labor in vain.
GILL, "And Simon answering said unto him, master,.... Or Rabbi, as the
Syriac version renders it: he knew him to be the Messiah, the king of Israel, and a
teacher sent from God:
we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing; which carries in it an
objection to what Christ advised and directed to: they had been fishing that "night",
which was the best time for catching fish; and they had been at it all the night, and
had "laboured" hard; and were even "fatigued", and quite wearied out; and what was
most discouraging of all, their labour was in vain; they had caught "nothing":
nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net; which showed faith in Christ,
and obedience to him: thus the faithful preachers of the Gospel, sometimes labour
and toil in the ministry of the word a great while, with little or no success; and are
discouraged from going on, and would be tempted to leave off, were it not for the
commission and word of command they have received from Christ, which they dare
not be disobedient to; and for the word of promise he has given them, to be with
them, on which they depend.
HENRY, “3. Christ ordered Peter and his ship's crew to cast their nets into the
sea, which they did, in obedience to him, though they had been hard at it all night,
and had caught nothing, Luk_5:4, Luk_5:5. We may observe here,
(1.) How melancholy their business had now been: “Master, we have toiled all the
night, when we should have been asleep in our beds, and have taken nothing, but
have had our labour for our pains.” One would have thought that this should have
excused them from hearing the sermon; but such a love had they to the word of God
that it was more refreshing and reviving to them, after a wearisome night, than the
softest slumbers. But they mention it to Christ, when he bids them go a fishing again.
Note, [1.] Some callings are much more toilsome than others are, and more perilous;
yet Providence has so ordered it for the common good that there is no useful calling
so discouraging but some or other have a genius for it. Those who follow their
business, and get abundance by it with a great deal of ease, should think with
compassion of those who cannot follow theirs but with a great fatigue, and hardly get
a bare livelihood by it. When we have rested all night, let us not forget those who
have toiled all night, as Jacob, when he kept Laban's sheep. [2.] Be the calling ever so
laborious, it is good to see people diligent in it, and make the best of it; these
fishermen, that were thus industrious, Christ singled out for his favourites. They
were fit to be preferred as good soldiers of Jesus Christ who had thus learned to
endure hardness. [3.] Even those who are most diligent in their business often meet
with disappointments; they who toiled all night yet caught nothing; for the race is
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not always to the swift. God will have us to be diligent, purely in duty to his
command and dependence upon his goodness, rather than with an assurance of
worldly success. We must do our duty, and then leave the event to God. [4.] When we
are tired with our worldly business, and crossed in our worldly affairs, we are
welcome to come to Christ, and spread our case before him, who will take cognizance
of it.
(2.) How ready their obedience was to the command of Christ: Nevertheless, at thy
word, I will let down the net. [1.] Though they had toiled all night, yet, if Christ bid
them, they will renew their toil, for they know that they who wait on him shall renew
their strength, as work is renewed upon their hands; for every fresh service they shall
have a fresh supply of grace sufficient. [2.] Though they have taken nothing, yet, if
Christ bid them let down for a draught, they will hope to take something. Note, We
must not abruptly quit the callings wherein we are called because we have not the
success in them we promised ourselves. The ministers of the gospel must continue to
let down that net, though they have perhaps toiled long and caught nothing; and this
is thank-worthy, to continue unwearied in our labours, though we see not the success
of them. [3.] In this they have an eye to the word of Christ, and a dependence upon
that: “At thy word, I will let down the net, because thou dost enjoin it, and thou dost
encourage it.” We are then likely to speed well when we follow the guidance of
Christ's word.
JAMISON, "Master — betokening not surely a first acquaintance, but a
relationship already formed.
all night — the usual time of fishing then (Joh_21:3), and even now Peter, as a
fisherman, knew how hopeless it was to “let down his net” again, save as a mere act of
faith, “at His word” of command, which carried in it, as it ever does, assurance of
success. (This shows he must have been already and for some time a follower of
Christ.)
CALVIN, "Luke 5:5.Master, toiling all the night, we have taken nothing. The
reason why Peter calls him Master unquestionably is, that he knows Christ to be
accustomed to discharge the office of a Teacher, and is moved with reverence
toward him. But he has not yet made such progress as to deserve to be ranked
among his disciples: for our sentiments concerning Christ do not render him
sufficient honor, unless we embrace his doctrine by the obedience of faith, and
know what he requires from us. He has but a slender perception — if he has any
at all — of the value of the Gospel; but the deference which he pays to Christ is
manifested by this, that, when worn out by fruitless toil, he commences anew
what he had already attempted in vain. Yet it cannot be denied, that he highly
esteemed Christ, and had the highest respect for his authority. But a particular
instance of faith, rendered to a single command of Christ, would not have made
Peter a Christian, or given him a place among the sons of God, if he had not been
led on, from this first act of submission, to a full obedience. But, as Peter yielded
so readily to the command of Christ, whom he did not yet know to be a Prophet
or the Son of God, no apology can be offered for our disgraceful conduct, if,
while we call him our Lord, and King, and Judege, (Isaiah 33:22 ,) we do not
move a finger to perform our duty, to which we have ten times received his
commands.
COFFMAN, "Peter's objection against the thing Jesus commanded was well
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founded from the earthly viewpoint. It was not a good time to fish; the men were
tired; they were cleaning up; and it could not have been an altogether welcome
command from Jesus, who said, in effect, "Come on, let's go fishing!" Peter's
response here, while obedient, was clearly petulant, and not spontaneous at all.
Grudgingly agreeing to do it, he nevertheless made his displeasure known.
NISBET, "‘AT THY WORD’
“Nevertheless at Thy word I will let down the net.’
Luke 5:5
There are few things in common life so illustrative of the actings of faith—as ‘a
net cast into the sea.’
I. The net an emblem of faith.—But if the net be always the emblem of faith,
there are points about that ‘net’ which St. Peter cast which give an especial
aptitude to the image. St. Peter had not yet forgotten the weary night; yet it was
in no unbelief, but rather in the simplicity of his own honest, outspoken heart,
that he said, ‘Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing:
nevertheless at Thy word I will let down the net.’ Already, that man had learnt to
draw the grandest distinction of life—the difference between doing a thing with
God, and doing it without God; at His word, or not at His word. Already, that
mind discriminated between nature’s working and the working of grace.
Already, his faith was sufficient to make him do that hopefully, as an act of
obedience, which he had done fruitlessly at his own suggestion.
II. There is always a promise within a command, and an ordered thing is a thing
undertaken for. St. Peter’s mind—or rather his heart—went through all this in
an instant; and the disappointing night passed away out of his thoughts into
‘Nevertheless at Thy word I will let down the net.’ You remember the result. The
success was overwhelming! The net was broken, and the ships were well-nigh
crushed under a load of blessing. To teach us always that true lesson, that what
we want is not so much the mercy and the gift—for they are there, they are sure
to come—but the room and the strength to receive them when they come.
III. ‘At Thy word.’—The hardest thing in the whole world is to do an old thing
in a new way; to repeat what we have done before, and done uselessly, with a
fresh motive, and a fresh energy, hopefully and believingly. But this is just what
most of us have to do. You have sought right things, and sought them earnestly;
but you have not yet succeeded. Why? It was not ‘At thy word.’ Lay these
master-thoughts well to your heart. ‘At Thy word.’ I will go with the promises.
Not my arm; not my counsel; not my prayer; not my faith—but ‘Thy word’—
only ‘Thy word.’ Take care that you begin with some distinct word of God that
you may place underneath you. For where did St. Peter put his ‘net’? Not so
much into the water—that would not be the uppermost thought in his mind—but
deeper things, the word, the word Christ had spoken. He put down his ‘net’ into
the faithfulness of God! Let the word be everything, and you will soon find
yourself one who casts into full waters.
Rev. James Vaughan.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
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‘NEVERTHELESS’
I. A picture of ourselves.—‘Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken
nothing.’ Do not many of us feel this to be sadly true of our individual lives and
characters? How much we might have done! How noble our characters might
have been! What poor, shrivelled, unsatisfactory things they are! Only think of
the golden, the unbounded possibilities of childhood and of youth. What small
advantage we took of them! We are but stupid changelings of ourselves, mere
wrecks and ghosts of what God designed us to be.
II. However low we sink we must never cease the effort to struggle up.—That is a
lesson supremely necessary, but it is another only of the many aspects in which
this text might be regarded, which is also full of encouragement for all of us. If it
should awaken the despondent, it should also inspire the toiling. We think far too
much, every one of us, of our little work. We forget that God is patient because
He is eternal. All true work which we do is precious to God, not in so far as it is
successful, for that does not depend upon us, but in so far as it is true. We have
nothing to do with its results. The efforts are ours, the results belong to God.
Could anything have been more disastrously forlorn than the work of St. Paul,
or more expressive than the result of it, when, deserted by all his converts,
forgotten by all them of Asia, and none so poor as not to be ashamed of his
religion, he was led out to his lonely death. Yet we know that he wrote in his
dungeon and almost in his last words, ‘I have fought a good fight, I have finished
my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown,’ not
‘a crown of glory’ as you so often put it, but something much better, ‘henceforth
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous
Judge will give me in that day.’
III. Among the many thoughts of help which that brave ‘nevertheless’ of St.
Peter may bring to us, let us, above all, learn these two things:
(a) First, never to despair of ourselves, because unless we abandon ourselves, so
long as there is any effort in us after better things, God will not leave us nor
forsake us; and
(b) Secondly, never to despair of work, however fruitless, however complete a
failure it may seem to be. ‘Commit thy way unto the Lord, put thy trust in Him,
and He shall bring it to pass.’ ‘Master, we have toiled all the night, and have
taken nothing: nevertheless at Thy word I will let down the net.’
—Dean Farrar.
Illustration
‘If you look into St. Peter’s words you will find in them two predominant
feelings. One is that of weariness: “We have toiled all the night; must we begin
again?” The other is discouragement: “Must we, after failing all these hours,
most favourable for fishing, now start again in the full glare of the noontide sun?
Nevertheless”—here is the correction of the two feelings—“nevertheless, if Thou
biddest me, there is that in Thy voice which constrains my obedience, and,
notwithstanding weariness and notwithstanding discouragement, nevertheless at
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Thy word I will let down the net.” St. Peter’s reply, then, teaches us that the
word nevertheless, like its great sonorous synonym, notwithstanding, has in it
two things, a “though” and a “yet.” “This or that is against it, yet it shall be
done.” In the particular instance weariness was against it, and discouragement
was against it, but there was a constraining something for it. That something was
Christ’s word, and that settled the question of doing it or not doing it. It may be
said, that life, as a whole, is a great nevertheless, and that each act of life is a
little nevertheless; and we may say further that a noble life is characterised by a
preponderance of the “yet” in it, and that a poor life is characterised by a
preponderance of the “though.” The poor life says, “I have toiled all the night,
and nothing has come of it; I will give it up.” The noble life says, “True, I have
toiled all these days, all these years, and I seem to myself to be a complete and
utter failure; but Jesus Christ says, Let down the net; and at His word, and
simply because of His word, I will do it.”’
PETT, "‘And Simon answered and said, “Master, we toiled all night, and took
nothing: but at (on the strength of) your word I will let down the nets.” ’
He gives the hint to Jesus that it is really a waste of time. As experienced
fishermen they have tried and failed, nevertheless if He really wants them to, he
will do it. ‘Master, we have been fishing all night, and it has been hard toil, and I
am very tired, and we have caught nothing, but if you tell me to, then I will do
what you say. I will again throw out the nets.’ It was the response of a godly man
to a revered teacher. He politely refrained from pointing out that one just did not
fish at that time of day with the hope of catching anything substantial.
‘Master’ is a favourite word of Luke for when the disciples address Jesus. He
sees it as the best word to use for his Greek readers to explain ‘Rabbi’ and
‘Teacher’, although he uses ‘Teacher’ when Jesus is being addressed by non-
disciples.
Note the use of ‘word’. Peter recognised that hopeless as it might be this was a
prophetic word that he must obey.
BI, “Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless, at
Thy word—
Obedience to the word of Christ
How very much may simple obedience partake of the sublime l Peter here appeals,
quite naturally, to one of the grandest principles which rule among intelligent beings,
and to the strongest force which sways the universe.
Great God, it is “at Thy word” that seraphs fly and cherubs bow! Acting in conformity
with “Thy word,” we feel ourselves to be in order with all the forces of the universe,
travelling on the main track of all real existence. Is not this a sublime condition, even
though it be seen in the common deeds of our everyday life?
I. “At Thy word” should apply TO ALL THE AFFAIRS OF ORDINARY LIFE.
1. I mean, first, as to continuance in honest industry (1Co_7:20). Be diligent.
Labour on in hope. Your best endeavours will not of themselves bring you
prosperity; still, do not relax those endeavours. God has placed you where you
are; move not till His providence calls you. Do not run before the cloud. Let not
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despondency drive you to anything rash or unseemly.
2. As to seeking for employment, if you have none. Go on seeking. Let men see
that a Christian is not readily driven to despair; nay, let them see that when the
yoke is made more heavy the Lord has a secret way of strengthening the backs of
His children to bear their burdens.
3. It may be that you have been endeavouring in your daily life to acquire skill in
your business, and you have not succeeded, or you have tried to acquire more
knowledge, so that you could better fulfil your vocation, but hitherto you have not
prospered as you could wish. Do not, therefore, cease from your efforts.
Christians must never be idlers. Our Lord Jesus would never have it said that His
disciples are a sort of cowards who, if they do not succeed the first time, will
never try again. At His word let down the net once more: He may intend largely to
bless you when by trial you have been prepared to bear the benediction.
II. Is MATTERS OF SPIRITUAL PROFITING We must at the word of Christ let
down the net again.
III. The great principle of our text should be applied TO OUR LIFEBUSINESS—
soul-winning. Our method of catching men is by letting down the net of the gospel.
Each believer has a warrant to seek the conversion of his fellows. The word of the
Lord is a warrant which justifies the man who obeys it. It will leave us guilty if we do
not obey. This warrant from Christ is one which, if we be in the state of heart of
Simon Peter, will be omnipotent with us. It was very powerful with Simon Peter.
1. He was under the influence of a great disappointment. Yet he let down the net.
2. This command in Peter overcame his love of ease.
3. The command of Christ was so supreme over Peter that he was not held back
by carnal reason. Reason would say, “If you could not catch fish in the night, you
will certainly not do so in the day.” But when Christ commands, the most unlikely
time is likely, and the most unpromising sphere becomes hopeful.
4. The lesson to you and me is this: Let us do as Peter did, and let down the net
personally, for the apostle said, “I will let down the net.” Cannot you do
something yourself—with your own heart, lips, hands?
5. And you had better do it at once. You may never have another opportunity;
your zeal may have evaporated, or your life may be over. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
The power of God’s word
“At Thy word”—here is the cause of causes, the beginning of the creation of God. “By
the word of the Lord were the heavens made,” and by that word was the present
constitution of this round world settled as it stands. When the earth was fruitless and
dark, Thy voice, O Lord, was heard, saying, “Let there be light,” and “at Thy word”
light leaped forth. “ At Thy word” day and night took up their places, and “at Thy
word” the waters were divided from the waters by the firmament of heaven. “At Thy
word” the dry land appeared, and the seas retired to their channels. “At Thy word”
the globe was mantled over with green, and vegetable life began. “At Thy word”
appeared the sun and moon and stars, “for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and
years.” “At Thy word” the living creatures filled the sea, and air, and land, and man at
last appeared. Of all this we are well assured, for by faith we know that the worlds
were framed by the word of God. Nor is it in creation alone that the word of the Lord
is supreme, but in providence, too, its majestic power is manifested, for “the Lord
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upholdeth all things by the word of His power.” Snow and vapour and stormy wind
are all fulfilling His word. His word runneth very swiftly. When frost binds up the
life-floods of the year, the Lord sendeth forth His word and melteth them. Nature
abides and moves by the word of the Lord. So, too, all matters of fact and history are
beneath the supreme word. Jehovah stands the centre of all things, as Lord of all He
abides at the saluting-point, and all the events of the ages come marching by at His
word, bowing to His sovereign will. “At Thy word,” O God, kingdoms arise and
empires flourish; “at Thy word” races of men become dominant, and tread down
their fellows; “at Thy word” dynasties die, kingdoms crumble, mighty cities become a
wilderness, and armies of men melt away like the hoar frost of the morning. Despite
the sin of men and the rage of devils, there is a sublime sense in which all things from
the beginning, since Adam crossed the threshold of Eden even until now, have
happened according to the purpose and will of the Lord of hosts. Prophecy utters her
oracles, and history writes her pages, “at Thy word,” O Lord. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Peter and nature in harmony
It is wonderful to think of the fisherman of Galilee letting down his net in perfect
consonance with all the arrangements of the ages. His net obeys the law which
regulates the spheres. His hand consciously does what Arcturus and Orion are doing
without thought. This little bell on the Galilean lake rings out in harmony with the
everlasting chimes. “At Thy word,” saith Peter, as he promptly obeys, therein
repeating the watchword of seas and stars, of winds and worlds. It is glorious thus to
be keeping step with the marchings of the armies of the King of kings. (C. H.
Spurgeon.)
“At Thy word” the watchword of the saints
“At Thy word” has been the password of all good men from the beginning until now.
Saints have acted upon these three words, and found their marching orders in them.
An ark is builded on dry land, and the ribald crowd gather about the hoary patriarch,
laughing at him; but he is not ashamed, for, lifting his face to heaven, he saith, “I
have builded this great vessel, O Jehovah, at Thy word.” Abraham quits the place of
his childhood, leaves his family, and goes with Sarah to a land of which he knows
nothing, crossing the broad Euphrates, and entering upon a country possessed by the
Canaanite, in which he roams as a stranger and a sojourner all his days. He dwells in
tents with Isaac and Jacob. If any scoff at him for thus renouncing the comforts of
settled life, he lifts also his calm face to heaven, and smilingly answers to the Lord, “It
is at Thy word.” Ay, and even when his brow is furrowed, and the hot tear is ready to
force itself from beneath the patriarch’s eyelid, as he lifts his hand with the knife to
stab Isaac to the heart, if any charge him with murder, or think him mad, he lifts the
same placid face towards the majesty of the Most High and saith, “It is at Thy word.”
At that word he joyfully sheathes the sacrificial knife, for he has proved his
willingness to go to the utmost at the word of the Lord his God. If I were to introduce
you to a thousand of the faithful ones who have shown the obedience of faith, in
every case they would justify their acts by telling you that they did them “ at God’s
word.” Moses lifts his rod in presence of haughty Pharaoh, “at Thy word,” great God!
Nor does he lift that rod in vain at Jehovah’s word, for thick and heavy fall the
plagues upon the children of Ham. They are made to know that God’s word returneth
not to Him void, but fulfilleth His purpose, whether it be of threatening or of
promise. See Moses lead the people out of Egypt, the whole host in its myriads! Mark
how he has brought them to the Red Sea, where the wilderness doth shut them in.
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The heights frown on either side, and the rattle of Egypt’s war-chariots is behind.
How came Moses so to play the fool and bring them here? Were there no graves in
Egypt that thus he brought them forth to die on the Red Sea shore? The answer of
Moses is the quiet reflection that he did it at Jehovah’s word, and God justifies that
word, for the sea opens wide a highway for the elect of God, and they march joyfully
through, and with timbrels and dances on the other side they sing unto the Lord who
hath triumphed gloriously. If in after days you find Joshua compassing Jericho, and
not assailing it with battering rams, but only with one great blast of trumpets, his
reason is that God has spoken to him by His word. And so right on, for time would
fail me to speak of Samson, and Jephthah, and Barak: these men did what they did at
God’s word; and, doing it, the Lord was with them. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
A net for each one to let down
Peter only let down one net, and there was the pity of it. If John and James and all
the rest had let down their nets, the result would have been much better. “Why?” say
you. Because, through there being only one net, that net was overstrained, and broke.
If all the nets had been used, they might have taken more fish, and no net would have
been broken. I was reading some time ago of a take of mackerel at Brighton; when
the net was full, the mackerel slicking in all the meshes made it so heavy that the
fishermen could not raise it, and the boat itself was in some danger of going down, so
that they had to cut away the net and lose the fish. Had there been many nets and
boats, they might have buoyed up the whole of the fish; and so they might have done
in this case. As it was, many fish were lost through the breaking of the net. If a
Church can be so awakened that each individual gets to work in the power of the
Holy Spirit, and all the individuals combine, then how many souls will be captured
for Jesus l Multitudes of souls are lost to the blessed gospel because of our broken
nets, and the nets get broken because we are not well united in the holy service, and
by our unwisdom cause loss to our Master’s cause. Ministers need not become worn
out with labour if all would take their share: one boat would not begin to sink if the
other boats took a part of the blessed load. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Many are in need through their own fault
“ We have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing.” This complaint is often heard
nowadays, also. Although many poor people may assert, with perfect truth, that they
have laboured hard, yet there are many others whose poverty is through their own
fault. Some of the faulty occasions are the following.
I. LAZINESS. Many show neither zeal nor industry in the discharge of the duties of
their calling. Poverty is the necessary consequence.
1. According to the testimony of Scripture (Pro_18:9; Pro 21:5).
2. Reason and experience. How can he catch fishes who will not let down his net?
II. LAVISHNESS.
1. Many dissipate their property through folly.
(1) They have not learned how to save.
(2) They do not live according to their means.
(3) They attempt rash speculations, through greed of gold.
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2. Through extravagance in food and dress (Pro_21:17; Pro 23:11).
III. WANT OF FEAR OF GOD.
1. God deprives those who do not fear Him of His blessing.
2. He visits them with sickness, and all kinds of misfortune. (J. J. Haubs.)
Christ’s words, and not our own judgment, are our law
“Sir,” said the Duke of Wellington to an officer who urged the impossibility of
executing the directions he had received, “I did not ask your opinion; I gave you my
orders, and I expect to have them obeyed.” Such should be the obedience of every
follower of Jesus Christ. The words which He has spoken are our law, not our
judgment or fancies.
Perseverance necessary
The fishermen at Mentone keep on fishing with their great net; ay, by the score these
fishermen take it out and haul it in again, and frequently they get no more than one
little sardine for their pains. Many and many a time no more than they can hold in
their hand is the produce of the casting of a net which covers acres of the sea. But
why do they go on? Because they are fishermen, and cannot do anything else. Now,
we are praying men, and there is nothing else we can do but wait upon the Lord. So
if, after many a throw of the net of prayer, we get but one small answer, we will try
again, for this is all we can do. Let us continue instant in prayer. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
At Thy word
These fishermen are not the men who could be charged with originating the gospel.
Yet let us not suppose that there was no fitness in them for the work they had to do.
Their very occupation was one which bred and nourished those very qualities which
would stand them in good stead as the apostles of Christ. Their calling was one which
demanded observation, that they might discern the times most favourable. They had
to scan narrowly the sky, and discern whether there were signs of a coming tempest,
for the Sea of Galilee was treacherous, and would often rise into fury in a few
moments. Hence they needed both prudence and courage. And they needed both
patience and perseverance too. The previous night had been one of no new
experience to them. The new day was to be the greatest in their lives. They were to be
clothed with a new mission, and strengthened for it by a new experience. The secret
of their success was to be revealed to them by a miracle, the memory of which would
nerve and strengthen them in the days to come. The command, “Launch out,” &c.,
was a strange one, but still it was the command of the Lord.
I. OBEDIENCE TO THE WORD OF CHRIST. Wise to have authority for every work
we undertake. Enough for the soldier that he has the authority of his officer, for the
officer that he has the authority of his general, for the ambassador that he has the
authority of his king, and for the Christian labourer that he has the authority of
Christ. “Nevertheless,” said Peter—that is, not because of success, but in spite of
failure—“at Thy word I will let down the net.” And still the word “nevertheless” is on
the lips of the Church. Difficulties in the way of missionary enterprise. Arguments of
those who hold that heathen races should be allowed to remain undisturbed in their
religions. The slow progress we are making. “Nevertheless, at Thy word,” &c. We
must walk by faith, not by sight, not only in our own personal life, but in looking at
the progress of the kingdom of Christ. “ It is not given to you to know.” These are the
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Saviour’s words. It is enough for us to feel assured that patient labour cannot, will
not, fail, and to say, amid all discouragement and delay, “Nevertheless,” &c.
II. THE RESULT OF THIS OBEDIENCE. It had in it not much of cheerfulness, nor
perhaps, any faith, but it was obedience under trying circumstanses, and as such it
was crowned with success. The failure of the previous night was not unforeseen or
unarranged. Christ was in that failure as much as in the success that followed it. The
lesson was—empty nets without His blessing and full nets with it. And this lesson
they were to remember henceforth when they should become fishers of men. Be sure
that Peter would remember that morning on the day of Pentecost, when at the first
casting of the gospel-net he enclosed 3,000 souls; and a few days after, when, on
casting the net again, there were added to the Church 5,000 souls. The night of
failure was not without its lesson and benefit. We can do worse than fail—we can
succeed and be proud of our success, and burn incense to our net, and despise those
who fail, and forget the Hand whose it is to give or to withhold. (E. Mellor, D. D.)
The spiritual fishing
First, the state of the world, which is as the sea. Secondly, the state of the Church,
which is as a ship or boat in the sea. Thirdly, the state of men by nature, who be as
fishes, ranging after their own disposition uncaught. Fourthly, the state of ministers,
who be as fishers. Fifthly, the state of the gospel preached, which is the hook, or bait,
or net to take souls.
I. AND THE STATE OF THE WORLD IS AS THE SEA IN A FOUR-FOLD RESPECT.
1. Because of the general unstableness of the things thereof. The unsettledness of
that vast creature, the sea, is well known. It is in a continual motion (it cannot
rest), it ebbs and flows perpetually: sometimes (at a spring tide) it swells to that
bigness that the banks cannot contain it; sometimes, again, it falls back so low,
that a man must go far from the bank before he can come near it. It is (under
God) chiefly governed by the moon, the which there is no one thing more subject
unto chance, it being never beheld two nights together in one proportion. Thus is
the world, whether we look upon the general states of kingdoms or the personal
estates of particular men, either for their goods or for their bodies, we see
nothing but a continual alteration. Crowns are translated from head to head, and
sceptres pass from one hand to another; fenced cities are made heaps, and walled
towns become as the ploughed fields; they which were once fastened as with a
nail in a sure place, and having set their nests on high, dreamed of nothing but
perpetuities for them and theirs, are suddenly thrown out of all, and rolled and
turned like a ball.
2. Because of the tumultuousness of it. Who is ignorant of the storms and
grievous tempests which are at sea?
3. The world resembles the sea by the oppression that is in it. At sea the lesser
fishes are a prey to the great ones; and in the world the rich and mighty swallow
up the poor; one man bites and devours another.
4. In respect of the sway the devil bears in it. Observe what is in the Psalm, “The
sea is great and wide, there is that leviathan whom the Lord hath made to play
therein.” Now, look how this monster domineers in the sea, so doth Satan here in
the world; therefore he is called the god of this world.
II. The next thing is touching the Church. THE STATE THEREOF IN THE WORLD
IS LIKE THE STATE OF A SHIP OR BOAT UPON THE SEA; and that especially in
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this respect—because it is subject to continual tossings.
1. The troubles of His Church and the afflictions of His people do make His
power and mercy to be known; even as the skill of a pilot is most to be seen in a
storm: “My power is made perfect through weakness.”
2. For their good. First, it makes them to look upward with the greater fervency.
The second use serves to teach us (because the Church of God is as a ship in this
sea of the world) the necessity of furnishing ourselves with such things as
appertain to this spiritual voyage. Not to insist upon many, two things especially
must be looked to.
III. THE THIRD THING IS CONCERNING THE STATE OF MEN. The fish to be
catched out of this sea and to be brought into this ship are men. “Thou shalt catch
men from henceforth.” And well in this arc we compared unto the fish. For as the
fishes skip and play and take their pleasure in the sea and are unwillingly taken in the
net, and labour to get out, and, being in the boat, would fain, if they could, leap back
into the sea, so naturally we take pleasure in our sinful ways.
IV. THE FOURTH THING IS OF THE STATE OF THE MINISTER. Here are two
things.
1. The state of the minister.
2. The labour, business, and work of the minister. Of the first thus we see: That is
no superfluous or needless function, but a calling of great necessity for the
winning and saving of men’s souls. Secondly, thus: That the calling of the
minister is no idle calling, but a calling of labour, a calling of much business and
of great employment.
V. The last thing is, THAT THE NET IN WHICH MEN MUST RE TAKEN IS THE
PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL. The comparison agreeth fitly after this manner. The
preaching of the gospel is like to a net—
1. In the general drift and use. The use of a net is to take fish, the drift of
preaching is to bring in souls.
2. In the ordering of it. It is not that net lapped up together that bringeth in the
draught, but hailed out at length, and spread forth, that closeth the fish; it is the
opening and unfolding of the gospel, the stretching it out by preaching, which
doth encompass souls. There may a fish or two hang in the net, being let down on
a heap, but that is a chance, and is no wise adventuring. The Word read, and so
brought in (as it were) in gross, may (by the mercy of God) take some; but we
have no warrant from thence to make a rule general. Again, it is need that the net
be strong, otherwise the greater kind will break through and make all the labour
and charge to be in vain; so it is meet that the doctrine he well strengthened out
of the Word of God, that if it be well proved, that it be well pressed and applied,
that the consciences of the hearers may be convicted, and that they may see it is
God and not man with whom they have to do: for, a man shall meet with many
froward and wilful and violent natures that will not be held in, but when they feel
themselves within the net will cry, “Let us break their bands, and cast their cords
from us “: so that even a kind of violence may be used to keep them from
destruction.
3. In the success of it. Many a draught the poor fisherman makes and taketh
nothing, yet he leaveth not off. Many a time is the net of preaching shot forth, and
yet none converted thereby; so it pleaseth God to exercise the patience of His
servants. Yet still the work must be followed, and the Lord’s leisure must be
waited for. Often doth the net enclose many which yet after break away, and
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many are at first drawn in by the power of the gospel which yet afterwards slide
back and return again to their own profaneness. (S. Hieron.)
Unsuccessful fishing persevered in
I. CONSIDER THE FAILURE INDICATED.
1. They had “toiled.” Everything in this world comes to be a “toil” after a time.
Any kind of labour, whether of mind or body, and even pleasure, is devoid of
permanent satisfaction.
2. “All the night.” Incessant labour, with no result but failure. The process is
familiar—
(1) In personal life. After all our efforts and struggles, we confess with a sigh
that we do not seem to grow any better.
(2) In work for God in various spheres. Only failure seems to meet us. No
decrease in moral evil; little advance.
II. THERE MUST BE REASON FOR SUCH FAILURE. The general reason is the
absence of Divine blessing. “Except the Lord build the house,” &c. He alone is the
Author of all good. But there are further considerations to be taken into account.
1. Perhaps God has not been present in our efforts. They may have lacked—
(1) Simplicity of motive.
(2) Earnestness of devotion.
(3) Humble dependence and prayerfulness.
2. Human perversity may for a time be permitted to have its way. The reason for
this is hidden now; we shall know one day why it is so. Or—
3. God may have withheld His blessing—
(1) To try our faith.
(2) To teach us how better to labour.
(3) In order to some greater and more blessed result, e.g., Jacob.
III. NOTE THE PERSEVERING OBEDIENCE OF FAITH. In spite of failure the
apostles did not despair. So should it be with us.
1. The command of Christ is our warrant for labour.
2. And suggests the better performance of work.
(1) Better preparation “cleaning nets.”
(2) Greater skill and care.
(3) Deeper humility. Thinking less of our own part in the work.
(4) More perseverence.
(5) Stronger faith in the Great Worker whose instruments we are.
3. Such labour is bound to be ultimately successful. Because of His Word and our
obedience. When, and how, we know not. In His time and way. But surely and
certainly. (George Low, M. A.)
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The disappointed seamen
Now, if we search into the grounds and reasons of these disappointments by the
hand of Providence, we shall find them reducible to a threefold cause and reason.
1. The sovereign pleasure of God so disposes it.
2. The good of the people of God requires it.
3. The manifold sins of men in their callings provoke it.
1. The sovereign pleasure of God so disposes it. He is the Rector of the universe,
and as such will still assert His dominion. If Providence had alike prospered every
man’s designs, and set them upon a level, there had been no occasion to exercise
the rich man’s charity or the poor man’s patience. Nay, without frequent
disappointments, itself would scarcely be owned in successes, nor those successes
be half so sweet to them that receive them, as now they are. The very beauty of
Providence consists much in these various and contrary effects.
2. And if we consider the gracious ends and designs of God towards His own
people, it appears needful that all of them, in some things, and many of them in
most things (relating to their outward condition in this world), should be
frustrated in their expectations and contrivances. For if all things here should
succeed according to their wish, and a constant tide of prosperity should attend
them—
(1) How soon would sensuality and earthliness invade their hearts and
affections! Much prosperity, like the pouring in of much wine, intoxicates,
and overcomes our weak heads and hearts. Can a Christian keep his heart as
loose from the smiling, as from the frowning world?
(2) How soon would it estrange them from their God, and interrupt their
communion with Him I He had rather you should miss your desired comforts
in these things, than that He should miss that delightful fellowship with you
which He so desires.
(3) How loth should we be to leave this, if constant success and prosperity
should follow our affairs and designs here!
3. And as disappointments fall out as the effects of sovereign pleasure, and are
ordered as preventive means of such mischief, which prosperity would occasion
to the people of God; so it comes as a righteous retribution and punishment of
the many evils that are committed in our trading and dealings with men. It is a
hard thing to have much business pass through our hands, and no iniquity cleave
to them and defile them. And, from among many, I will here select these
following evils, which have destroyed the estates and hopes of many.
(1) Irreligious and atheistical neglect and contempt of God and His worship,
especially in those that have been enlightened and made profession of
religion.
(2) Injustice and fraud is a blasting sin. A little unjust gain mingled with a
great estate will consume it like a moth.
(3) Oppression is a blasting sin to men’s estates and employments.
(4) Falsehood and lying is a blasting sin to our employments; a sin which
tends to destroy all converse and disband all civil societies.
(5) Perjury, or false swearing, is a blasting sin. The man cannot prosper that
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lies under the guilt thereof. It now remains that we apply it.
Inference 1. Doth God sometimes disappoint the most diligent labours of men in
their lawful callings? Then this teacheth you patience and submission under your
crosses and disappointments.
Consideration 1. And, in the first place, if thou be one that fearest God, consider that
disappointments in earthly things fix no mark of God’s hatred upon thee. The bee
makes a sweeter meal upon two or three flowers, than the ox that hath so many
mountains to graze upon.
Consideration 2. And what if by these disappointments God be carrying on the great
design of His eternal love upon thy soul? This may be the design of these
providences; and if so, sure there is no cause for thy despondencies.
Consideration 3. Be patient under disappointments; for if you meekly submit and
quietly wait upon God, He can quickly repair all that you have lost and restore it by
other providences double to you.
Consideration 4. And why should it seem so hard and grievous to you for God to
disappoint your hopes and purposes, when you cannot but know that you have
disappointed His expectations from you so often, and that in greater and better
things than these?
Inference 2. If it be so, then labour to make sure of things eternal, lest you be
eternally disappointed there also. (J. Flavel.)
6 When they had done so, they caught such a
large number of fish that their nets began to
break.
BARNES, "Their net brake - Or their net “began” to break, or was “about” to
break. This is all that is implied in the Greek word. If their nets had actually
“broken,” as our English word seems to suppose, the fish would have escaped; but no
more is meant than that there was such a multitude of fishes that their net was “on
the point” of being torn asunder.
CLARKE, "Their net brake - Or, began to break, διερምηγνυτο, or, was likely to
be broken. Had it broke, as our version states, they could have caught no fish.
Grammarians give the following rule concerning words of this kind. Verba
completiva inchoative intelligenda. Verbs which signify the accomplishment of a
thing, are often to be understood as only signifying the beginning of that
accomplishment. Raphelius gives some very pertinent examples of this out of
Herodotus.
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GILL, "And when they had done this,.... Had put the ship out further to sea,
and had let down their net:
they enclosed a great multitude of fish; in their net, which by the secret divine
power of Christ, were gathered together just in that place, where by his order they
cast the net:
and their net brake; with the weight and number, of the fishes, yet not so as to let
the fish out; the Arabic version reads, "it was within a little that their nets were
broke": they were just upon breaking, the draught was so numerous, the struggling
so great, and the weight so heavy.
HENRY, “ The draught of fish they caught was so much beyond what was ever
known that it amounted to a miracle (Luk_5:6): They enclosed a great multitude of
fishes, so that their net broke, and yet, which is strange, they did not lose their
draught. It was so great a draught that they had not hands sufficient to draw it up;
but they were obliged to beckon to their partners, who were at a distance, out of call,
to come and help them, Luk_5:7. But the greatest evidence of the vastness of the
draught was that they filled both the ships with fish, to such a degree that they
overloaded them, and they began to sink, so that the fish had like to have been lost
again with their own weight. Thus many an overgrown estate, raised out of the water,
returns to the place whence it came. Suppose these ships were but five or six tons a
piece, what a vast quantity of fish must there be to load, nay to over-load, them both!
JAMISON, "net brake — rather “was breaking,” or “beginning to break,” as in
Luk_5:7, “beginning to sink.”
CALVIN, "Luke 5:6.They inclosed a great multitude of fishes. The design of the
miracle undoubtedly was, to make known Christ’s divinity, and thus to induce
Peter and others to become his disciples. But we may draw from this instance a
general instruction, that we have no reason to be afraid lest our labor should not
be attended by the blessing of God and desirable success, when it is undertaken
by the authority and guidance of Christ. Such was the multitude of fishes, that
the ships were sinking, and the minds of the spectators were thus excited to
admiration: for it must have been in consequence of the divine glory of Christ
manifested by this miracle, that his authority was fully acknowledged.
COFFMAN, "One cannot help agreeing with the KJV which translated "net"
(singular) in the preceding verse; and, although this is contrary to the Greek,
there certainly seemed to be some insufficiency in the number of nets let down,
raising a question whether or not Peter had fully complied with the Lord's
command to let down the nets (plural). If there was any such deficiency on the
disciples' part (and the Greek Text does not support the view that there was), it
was surely rebuked by the size of the catch.
COKE, "Luke 5:6. And their net brake.— Διερρηγνυτο,— was breaking, or
began to break. This translation is justified by the words ωστε βυθιζεσθαι αυτα,
in the following verse, which without dispute is there properlyrendered so that
they began to sink. Thus also Matthew 9:18. My daughter u945?ρτι ετελευτησεν,
is now (almost) dead, as is evident from Mark 5:23. Luke 8:49. So likewise chap.
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Luke 21:26 in the original men (almost) killed through fear.
PETT, "We are probably intended to see that Peter was expecting nothing. He
was a skilled fisherman, and he knew his fish. But he also respected Jesus and so
he and Andrew, with their men, did as He bade them. And it was then that to
their utter astonishment they discovered that their nets were so full that they
were breaking, although not to a point where they lost many fish. It seemed
incredible. They had taken a great multitude of fish.
No explanation is given. But we are left with the impression that it was out of the
ordinary, either by prophetic insight or by a divine herding of fish.
BI, “And when they had thus done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes, and
the net brake
The desponding encouraged
I.
IS DISCHARGING THE DUTIES OF LIFE OUR BEST ENDEAVOURS MAY
APPEAR FRUITLESS. Always discouraging to toil without success: in learning,
business, religion. Our failures often arise—
(1) through inexperience;
(2) through indolence;
(3) through impatience.
None of these the case with Peter however. An experienced fisherman, and had toiled
all the night. Continued fruitlessness ought to awaken candid investigation. Are we in
a right sphere of labour? Are we labouring in a right spirit? We may be, and yet our
best endeavours appear fruitless.
II. IN DISCHARGING THE DUTIES OF LIFE: WE MUST OBEY THE COMMANDS
OF CHRIST.
1. In obeying Christ, Peter’s faith rose above natural difficulties.
2. In obeying Christ, Peter’s faith rested on Christ’s command “At Thy word.” No
one else could have persuaded him to let down the net.
3. In obeying Christ, Peter’s faith led to decisive action—“I will let down the net.”
Cultivate the habit of decision. The decisive man will catch his fish while the
negligent man is preparing his nets.
III. IN DISCHARGING THE DUTIES OF LIFE, WE SHALL ULTIMATELY BE
SUCCESSFUL. Success may be delayed for a time; but it will come. At the very
moment of our failure God purposes to fill our nets. (J. Woodhouse.)
“The livelong night we’ve toiled in vain,
But at Thy gracious word
I will let down the net again:
Do Thou Thy will, O Lord.”
So spake the weary fisher, spent
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With bootless, darkling toil,
Yet on his Master’s bidding bent,
For love and not for spoil.
So day by day, and week by week,
In sad and weary thought,
They muse, whom God hath set to seek
The souls His Christ hath bought.
Full many a dreary, anxious hour
We watch our nets alone
In drenching spray and driving shower,
And hear the night-bird’s moan.
At morn we look and nought is there
Sad dawn of cheerless day!
Who then from pining and despair
The sickening heart can stay?
There is a stay—and we are strong!
Our Master is at hand,
To cheer our solitary song,
And guide us to the strand.
In His own time; but yet awhile
Our bark at sea must ride
Cast after cast, by force or guise
All waters must be tried.
Should e’er Thy wonder-working grace
Triumph by our weak arm,
Lot not our sinful fancy trace
Aught human in the charm.
Or, if for our unworthiness,
Toil, prayer, and watching fail,
In disappointment Thou canst bless,
So love at heart prevail.
(J. Keble.)
Weariness and faith
I. It is A voice OF FATIGUE AND LASSITUDE TRYING TO STEADY ITSELF FOR
FRESH EFFORT.
II. IT IS THE VOICE, ALSO, OF DEFEAT AND DISAPPOINTMENT TRYING TO
RALLY ITSELF FOR FRESH ENTERPRISE.
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III. The word “Nevertheless” introduces THE GRAND CONTRAST AND
ANTITHESIS OF THE TEXT. Gather into one all the heads and threads of
discourse—we are weary of the monotony of life, weary of the perpetual round of
doing and being, disappointed with the result of life, with what we are to-day in Thy
sight—beings occupying a point and not more, between two eternities. Nevertheless,
at Thy word, because Thou speakest in our ears today and sayest, “Launch out into
the deep, the inscrutable future, the future of time and of eternity”; yes, at Thy
word—otherwise we were languid and depressed and disappointed and could not—at
Thy word we will once again, to-day, let down the net. (Dean Vaughan.)
The Galilean fishers
Our subject is perseverance in duty in the absence of seeming success.
1. Illustrate it by the circumstances of our earthly life. Let duty always take
precedence of pleasure; let recreation never be thought of till it is fairly earned:
let no engagements be entered into beyond what can be met, and no expenditure
be indulged in beyond a man’s income. Let no neglect of our own prudence, and
our own duty, be excused by the idle plea of relying upon God’s providence
without ourselves exercising the self-help on which God’s providence is
conditional. On such principles, as a general rule, success will reward effort, and
the net judiciously cast will not fail to enclose the fish. There are, of course,
exceptions. Without any fault on the part of the workman his labour may be in
vain. What shall those do who may truly say, “we have toiled all night,” &c.? Give
up in despair? Nay. Let down the net again.
2. Apply this to higher industries. The case of a soul seeking heaven. The work of
preacher, Sunday-school teacher, Bible-woman, tract-distributor, Christian
missionary. (Newman Hall, LL. B.)
Faith triumphant in failure
Miracles of our Lord are parables. Because the record is literally true that it is
spiritually instructive. The terms success and failure have a large range in human life.
Some men are born, we say, to succeed. Nothing that man possesses can, however,
guarantee results. Circumstances which man controls not, changes which he cannot
foresee, have a wide operation, and under their influence it is seen again and again
that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. Failure comes where
success was certain; success where every one foresaw failure. If a man has found
heaven he may bear to have lost earth. But is it not true that failure has place also in
spiritual things? Is there no such thing as a toiling all the night and taking nothing in
the matters of that world which is of the soul and of eternity? The history of the
Church of Christ is full of answers to that question. What long dark nights has it had
to toil through! But of this we are sure, that the long toil of the night, however little
rewarded, was essential to the marvellous success of the morning. The attitude of the
true Church on earth has ever been characterized by the brief words selected as the
topic of this sermon, “Faith triumphant in failure.” And how shall we say that the
case stands now for us? Are we living in a night or in a morning? It is far better to be
labouring in the blackest night, than to fancy ourselves gathering with Christ when
we are indeed scattering without Him. But for ourselves, and for others, let faith
triumph over failure. I know that every failure is a proof of the want of faith. I know
that if faith were present, failure could not be. But there is such a thing as faith, after
defeats, returning to the charge, and it is in that that the test of our Christianity lies.
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A man who can come back to Christ, and say, “Lord, I have slept at my post; I have
let my oars drop; I have often left my net unmended until it could enclose nothing; I
have suffered weariness to make me indolent, and long disappointment to make me
hopeless. I have clone all this, but yet—even now—even thus late—I will, once again,
at Thy word, let down my net, and wait Thy blessing,” that man may have many
faults, he may be much behindhand, he may be full of infirmity and of sin, but he has
the root of the matter in him; he has a little faith, and according to that faith shall it
be to him. That man knows something, however little, of a faith triumphant in
failure. Christ stands, as of old, upon the shore, and asks us of our welfare. He enters,
as of old, into the little vessel which contains our fortunes: He feels for its frailness,
He will guide its fittings, He will steer it for us into the haven where we would be.
Hitherto we may have toiled and taken nothing; but if, at His word, we will now let
down the net, He will bring into it that which shall be sufficient for us, and man’s
failure shall be Christ’s success. (Dean Vaughan.)
A night of toil: the philosophy of failure
The sea-shore was often the Lord’s retreat. By the shore lines of Galilee He wandered,
and amid the voiceful hush of nature His soul found rest. Our scene opens in the
morning on that sea made so sacred with associations of our Lord. On the beach,
drawn up a little, were two fishing-boats. They had been out all night, trying, but
unsuccessfully, all waters. The fishermen were washing their nets some little distance
away with disconsolate faces. A night spent in toiling, and the morning dawning
upon no fruit of effort, might well make them sad. These men had apparently failed,
but there were elements in their failure which led to success.
I. CHRIST CAME TO THEM WHEN THEY WERE FEELING THEIR FAILURE. But
He found them working.
II. THEIR WORKING THUS IN FAILURE AND THEIR WILLINGNESS TO TRY
AGAIN SHADOWED THEIR FITNESS FOR HIGHER WORK. The Lord was
choosing gospel-pioneers. There was in these men—
1. Natural aptitude.
2. Industry.
3. Foresight.
4. Willinghood.
III. LET US HEAR CHRIST’S WORDS OF COMMANDING EFFORT AS
ADDRESSED TO US—“Launch out into the deep.”
1. There are prayers unanswered and we are weary. You have, perhaps, been
hugging the shore of self—throw yourself and yours more upon the deep of God s
unfailing faithfulness and mercy.
2. You have been fishing in shallow waters, teaching your children, your scholars,
your people, with that which was cheaply got and therefore little worth. Launch
out into the ocean of God’s truth.
3. You have had your religious crotchets. Launch out into broader spiritedness,
deeper sympathies, more catholic charity.
“O, stirring words of living power,
Ye speak to every heart;
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Ye bid all selfishness away,
And slothful ease depart.
Where’er there is a soul to cheer,
Where’er the mourners weep,
There, bear the healing balm of love,
‘Launch out into the deep!’
O, watchword brave for those who sail Across the sea of life, Steer far away from
every rock With awful dangers rife. Leave all the shallows and the neap; Far in the
distance keep; Strike boldly right amid the waves ‘Launch out into the deep!’” (W.
Scott.)
Gospel for the fifth Sunday after Trinity
This was the final call of the disciples. Notice with what exquisite skill it is managed.
I. There is THE CROWD PRESSING UPON CHRIST TO HEAR THE WORD OF
GOD. To a shepherd they might seem sheep to be folded; to a gardener, plants to be
tended; but to a fisherman they would suggest swarming fish, ready to be swept into
a net. Then comes the miraculous draught, the “great multitude of fishes”
corresponding with the multitude of the people. What could be more appropriate?
II. Then we have THE DIVINE POWER OF CHRIST OVER THE DENIZENS OF
THE DEEP, SYMBOLIZING HIS POWER OVER THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF
MEN.
Probably Peter (whom we may take as representative of the rest) may have smiled
when he heard the command (Luk_5:4). But he obeyed. And when he saw the
draught of fishes, and caught a glimpse of hundreds and thousands of human beings
drawn into the meshes of the gospel-net.
III. THE EFFECT OF THE MIRACLE WAS TO REVEAL THE TRUE CHARACTER
OF CHRIST TO PETER AND TO REVEAL PETER TO HIMSELF. Before Isaiah could
go as a messenger to the people he must have a vision of the Holy God, and be bowed
down under a sense of his own sinfulness. So with Peter. Whether he clearly saw at
this time the whole truth of the Godhead of Christ it may be hazardous to affirm. But
this is clear, that he felt himself in the presence of One who represented the holiness
of God. And he shrank from Him, yet was attracted towards Him. “Depart from me”;
but his inner heart says, “Stay with me.” The work was done. “They forsook all and
followed Him” (verse 11). (G. Calthrop, M. A.)
The miraculous draught of fishes
I. We have here ENCOURAGEMENT TO PERSEVERANCE.
II. LEARN THAT CONVICTION OF SIN IS DEEPENED BY KNOWLEDGE OF
CHRIST.
III. Learn that HUMILITY IS THE BEST PREPARATION FOR ENTERING UPON
CHRISTIAN WORK.
IV. Learn HOW TO RESPOND TO A GREAT CALL—BY FORSAKING ALL. (D.
Longwill.)
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Place of the miracle in the history
The interest in this case centres not in the miraculous element, but in the two
questions: Is the incident historical? and is it in its true place in the history? The
circumstances that the narrative is found only in one of the Synoptical Gospels, and
that not, as we might have expected, the one containing the Petrine tradition; that an
incident is recorded in the appendix to the fourth Gospel so similar as to suggest the
hypothesis of a duplicate; and that an emblematic significance is assigned to the
occurrence in the words reported to have been spoken by Jesus, lend plausibility to
the notion that we have to do here not with an actual event, but simply with a
symbolic story invented to embody the promise made to Peter by his Master that he
should become a fisher of men. Of those who are prepared to recognize in the
incident something more than a metaphor transformed into a fact, some have
doubted whether it is in its true place in Luke’s Gospel, and ought not rather to be
assigned to the post-resurrection period, as in the fourth Gospel. In this connection
stress is laid on the exclamation of Peter on seeing the great draught of fish, “Depart
from me,” &c., which, as connected with the period of the first call to the discipleship,
seems to lack point and appropriateness, but gains deep meaning when conceived of
as spoken by Peter when his humiliating denial of his Lord was fresh in his
recollection. But one has no great difficulty in imagining such an excitable,
impressionable man as Peter uttering the words at any time, without any special
occasion for calling his sin to mind, viewing them simply as an expression of
reverence. Strauss characterizes Peter’s fear as superstitious, and not at all New-
Testament like. Granted, but what then? Was it to be expected that the disciples at
the time of their first call should be men of the New Testament in their thoughts and
feelings? On the contrary, was it not the very aim of their vocation that they might be
associated with Christ, and in His company gradually imbibe the spirit of the new
Christian era, the era of the better hope, when we no longer stand off in fear, but
draw nigh to God in filial trust? Peter’s exclamation, as reported by Luke, is in
keeping with the initial period of discipleship, and just on that account it supplies no
ground for transferring the incident to the later period when discipleship was about
to pass into apostleship. At that late time Peter might have more reason than ever
before for calling himself a sinful man, but his sense of unworthiness was not so
likely then to express itself in the form of a “Depart from me.” Looking at the incident
in connection with its probable aim, it seems equally appropriate at the beginning
and at the end of the history. Christ’s purpose was to inspire Peter with enthusiasm
for his spiritual vocation. There was a need for this at both periods, and in view of
this fact it becomes credible that the narratives of Luke and John are not variations
of the same history, but records of distinct events. The earlier event served the
purpose of winning Peter to the life of discipleship, the later of inspiring him with
devotion to the heroic career of the apostolate. (A. B. Bruce, D. D.)
The nature of the miracle
As for the nature of the action recorded, it has been variously conceived as a miracle
of power controlling the movements of the fish and directing them into a particular
course, or of supernatural knowledge of the place where the fish were to be found at a
certain moment, or of prophetic clairvoyance in the exercise of a faculty natural to
man, but possessed by Jesus in a preternatural degree, or so far as Jesus was
concerned a mere act of trust in a special providence of God making itself subservient
to His designs. It is not necessary, and the narrative does not enable us, to decide
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peremptorily between these various views. We arc not even absolutely shut up to the
belief that there was a miracle in the case in any form or degree. It is not an
impossible supposition that the knowledge possessed by Jesus was such as might be
obtained by observation. Traces of such a great shoal of fish might be visible on the
surface to any one who might be looking in the proper direction. A well-known writer
[Canon Tristram] remarks, “The density of the shoals of fish in the Sea of Galilee can
scarcely be conceived by those who have not witnessed them. Frequently these shoals
cover an acre or more of the surface, and the fish, as they slowly move along in
masses, are so crowded, with their back fins just appearing on the level of the water,
that their appearance at a little distance is that of a violent shower of rain pattering
on the surface.” But, while this description clearly proves the possibility of becoming
aware of the presence of a shoal by observation, the supposition that our Lord
acquired the knowledge which enabled Him to give directions to the fishermen in
this way, is rendered very improbable by the fact that the draught of fish appeared to
Peter marvellous not only in itself, but in connection with the agency of Jesus; for
that he recognized Jesus as somehow the cause of the extraordinary and utterly
unlooked-for success is manifest in his words. Yet it is noticeable that the narrative
does not lay stress on that agency in explaining the emotions of Peter and his
companions, but simply on the quantity of fish taken (Luk_5:9). And it may be
admitted that the purpose of the transaction did not absolutely demand a miracle.
Christ’s aim was not merely to attach the disciples to Himself, but to fire them with
zeal for their new vocation. For that end what was wanted was not a mere miracle as
displaying supernatural power or knowledge, but an experience in connection with
their old vocation which, whether brought about miraculously or otherwise, should
take possession of their imagination as an emblem of the great future which lay
before them in their new career as apostles, or fishers of men. The phenomenal
draught of fish, however brought about, fulfilled this purpose better than a small take
would have done, even though the fish had been expressly created before the eyes of
the disciples. Such a miracle would have filled them with astonishment and wonder,
but it would not have awakened in their breasts wondering thoughts and high hopes
in reference to the work and progress of the Divine Kingdom. (A. B. Bruce, D. D.)
All through the long night’s mist and rain,
In open sea or near the shore,
They cast their nets, yet still in vain;
They found but failure evermore.
‘Twas time to cleanse from tangled weed,
And lay them on the beach to dry:
When lo! in hour of utmost need,
They heard the voice of Jesus nigh.
They cast their nets again, and lo!
So large the haul of fish they take,
The meshes gape, and scarce they know
If they shall land them ere they break.
And then a chill of sudden fear,
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As though the veil of sense were rent,
And they, frail men, were brought too near
The scope of some Divine intent.
Oh, could they bear that presence dread,
Before whose keen and piercing sight
Lie bare the hearts of quick and dead,
The world’s great Teacher, Light of light
What wonder if from pallid lips
The cry bursts out, “Depart from me”?
Too bright that full apocalypse
For man’s sin-darkened eyes to see.
“Sin-stained am I, and Thou art pure
Oh, turn Thy steps some other way;
How shall I dare Thy gaze endure?
How in Thy stainless presence stay.”
Yet chiefly when unlooked-for gains
Our skill-less, planless labours bless.
And we, for weary labour’s pains,
Reap the full harvest of success;
We wonder at the draught we take,
The latent powers that bud and grow!
Ah, can we dare our work forsake,
And follow where He bids us go?
“Yes, fear ye not,” so ran His speech
“Fishers of men ye now must be,
Where’er the world’s wide waters reach,
By gliding stream or stormiest sea.”
So only can we hope restore,
So only conquer shame and fear,
And welcome, from the eternal shore,
The voice that tells “our Lord is near.”
(Dean Plumptre in “Poet’s Bible.)
Christ with the Galilean fishermen
1. The rank of life from which Jesus Christ chose the men who were to be the
chief ministers of His religion, is worthy of particular notice. We see that His
ministers were, in general, of lowly station; and yet we at the same time know
that their instructions and influence, far surpassed those of the most learned and
powerful men the world had ever seen. Principles were disseminated by
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fishermen and tent-makers, which, from the very first, excited the admiration of
many, and which, in the process of time, effected a complete revolution in the
religious sentiments of the civilized world. Does not this afford an irrefragable
argument for the Divine origin of the gospel? Whence had such men such things?
Let us beware of neglecting anything they delivered.
2. Let us mark the honour here put on honest industry. Duty requires us to be
diligent in the proper duties of our station and profession in life. No matter how
humble our employment, Christ will accept us in it, visit us in it, and bless us in
it.
3. The success of human industry depends on the blessing of Providence. If
given, let us thank God for it; if withheld, let us not murmur, but cheerfully
acquiesce in the Divine will.
4. An encouraging example of implicit and persevering obedience to the Divine
commandment.
5. Instruction to ministers, in their employment being compared to that of
fishermen.
(1) Arduous.
(2) Requiring watchfulness.
(3) Exercising patience.
6. The necessity of forsaking all, in order to follow Christ. (James Foote, M. A.)
The blessed fishermen
Blest—
(1) by the gracious presence of Jesus;
(2) by the rich gift of Jesus;
(3) by the gracious call of Jesus. (Heubner.)
The just means of gaining temporal blessing
1. God’s word.
2. Labour.
3. Trust in God.
4. Acknowledgment of personal unworthiness.
5. Right use of the blessing. (Heubner.)
The remarkable transitions in the life of faith
1. From disappointment to surprise.
2. From want to plenty.
3. From joy to terror.
4. From fear to hope. (Van Oosterzee.)
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The faith of Peter
Peter’s faith—
(1) was tried;
(2) endured;
(3) was changed into sight. (Van Oosterzee.)
The obedience of faith
1. Its ground.
2. Its nature.
3. Its blessing. (Van Oosterzee.)
An image of the preaching of the gospel
1. The wide-reaching command (Luk_5:4).
2. The hard labour (verse 50).
3. The sole might (verse 56).
4. The rich fruit (Luk_5:6-7).
5. The right temper (Luk_5:8).
6. The highest requirement of the evangelical function (Luk_5:10-11). (Van
Oosterzee.)
Peter an example for us
1. Hear when the Lord speaks.
2. Labour when the Lord commands.
3. Believe what the Lord promises.
4. Follow whither the Lord calls. (Fuchs.)
Blessing in our temporal calling
1. On what it depends.
2. Of what nature it is.
3. For what it inspirits us. (Lisco.)
Failure and success
I. THE FISHERMEN’S FAILURE.
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1. It was simply failure; disgrace did not attend it. They had done their best, and
it was not their fault that they were unsuccessful. Better to say, “I toiled all the
night, and caught nothing,” than, “I cast in the net, and caught one thousand fish
without an effort.”
2. It was overruled for good. God often teaches that the years of plenty are from
Him, by prefacing them with years of famine.
3. It did not produce despair.
4. No faithful toil is without reward. What we call failure is, in God’s account,
oftentimes brightest success.
II. THE FISHERMEN’S SUCCESS.
1. It was miraculous. In two respects—that they caught so many, and, though the
net brake, saved all.
2. But by ordinary means. No success without diligent labour.
3. They had much anxiety—“The net brake.” Yet this apparent accident was a
source of good—co-operation.
4. Their minds seem to have been pervaded by deepest awe. “They beckoned”—
not shouted, as in ordinary circumstances they would have done.
5. To enjoy success, we must have a present Lord.
6. Success should lead us to follow Christ more fully. (R. A. Griffin.)
The two draughts of fishes
We have heard of some ministers who could say that they had often preached from
the same text, but they had never delivered the same discourse. The like may be said
of Christ. He often preached upon the same truth, but it was never precisely in the
same manner. We have read in your hearing this morning the narrative of two
miracles (Luk_5:1-39. and Joh_21:1-25.) which seem to the casual observer to be
precisely alike; but he who shall read diligently and study carefully, will find that
though the text is the same in both, yet the discourse is full of variations. In both the
miraculous draughts of fishes, the text is the mission of the saints to preach the
gospel—the work of mancatching—the ministry by which souls are caught in the net
of the gospel, and brought out of the element of sin to their eternal salvation.
I. Is THESE TWO MIRACLES THERE ARE MANY POINTS OF UNIFORMITY. They
are both intended to set forth the way in which Christ’s kingdom shall increase.
1. First you will perceive that in both miracles we are taught that the means must
be used. In the first case, the fish did not leap into Simon’s boat to be taken; nor,
in the second case, did they swarm from the sea and lay themselves down upon
the blazing coals that they might be prepared for the fisherman’s feast. No, the
fishermen must go out in their boat, they must cast the net; and after having cast
the net, they must either drag it ashore, or fill both boats with its contents.
Everything is done here by human agency. It is a miracle, certainly, but yet
neither the fisherman, nor his boat, nor his fishing tackle are ignored: they are all
used and all employed. Let us learn that in the saving of souls God worketh by
means; that so long an the present economy of grace shall stand, God will be
pleased by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Every now and
then there creeps up in the Church a sort of striving against God’s ordained
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instrumentality. God getteth the most glory through the use of instruments.
2. Again, in both our texts there is another truth equally conspicuous, namely,
that means of themselves are utterly unavailing. In the first case you hear the
confession, “Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing.” In the
last case you hear them answer to the question, “Children, have ye any meat?”
“No”—a sorrowful No. What was the reason of this? Were they not fishermen
plying their special calling? Verily, they were no raw hands; they understood the
work. Had they gone about the toil unskilfully? No. Had they lacked industry?
No, they had toiled. Had they lacked perseverance? No, they had toiled all the
night. Was there a deficiency of fish in the sea? The Great Worker who does not
discard the means would still have His people know that He uses instrumentality,
not to glorify the instrument, but for the sake of glorifying Himself. He takes
weakness into His hands and makes it strong, not that weakness may be
worshipped, but that the strength may be adored which even makes weakness
subservient to His might.
3. Thirdly, there is clearly taught in both these miracles the fact that it is Christ’s
presence that confers success. Christ sat in Peter’s boat.
4. In both instances the success which attended the instrumentality through
Christ’s presence developed human weakness. We do not see human weakness
more in non-success than in success. In the first instance, in the success you see
the weakness of man, for the net breaks and the ships begin to sink, and Simon
Peter falls down with—“Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” He did
not know so much about that till his boat was filled; but the very abundance of
God’s mercy made him feel his own nothingness. In the last case, they were
scarcely able to draw the net because of the multitude of fishes. Brethren, if you
or I would know to the fullest extent what utter nothings we are, if the Lord shall
give us success in winning souls we shall soon find it out.
II. THERE ARE ALSO SEVERAL POINTS OF DISSIMILARITY. The first picture
represents the Church of God as we see it; the second represents it as it really is. The
first pictures to us the visible, the second the invisible. Luke tells us what the crowd
see; John tells us what Christ showed to His disciples alone. The first is common
truth which the multitude may receive; the next is special mystery revealed only to
spiritual minds. Observe, then, carefully, the points of divergence.
1. First, there is a difference in the orders given. In the first, it is, “Launch out
into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.” In the second it is, “Cast the
net on the right side of the ship.” The first is Christ’s order to every minister; the
second is the secret work of His Spirit in the word. The first shows us that the
ministry is to fish anywhere and everywhere. All the orders that the Christian has,
as to his preaching, is, “Launch out into the deep, and let down your net.” He is
not to single out any particular character; he is to preach to everybody. The secret
truth is, that when we are doing this, the Lord knows how to guide us, so that we
“cast the net on the right side of the ship.” That is the secret and invisible work of
the
Spirit, whereby He so adapts our ministry, which is in itself general, that He makes it
particular and special.
2. In the first instance you will clearly see that there is a distinct plurality. The
fishermen have nets—in the plural; they have boats—in the plural. There is
plurality of agency employed.
3. Thirdly, there is another difference. In the first case, how many fish were
caught? The text says, “a great multitude.” In the second case, a great multitude
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are taken too, but they are all counted and numbered. “A hundred and fifty and
three.” What was Peter’s reason for counting them? We cannot tell. But I think I
know why the Lord made him do it. It was to show us that though in the outward
instrumentality of gathering the people into the Church the number of the saved
is to us a matter of which we know nothing definitely, yet secretly and invisibly
the Lord has counted them even to the odd one, He knoweth well how many the
gospel net shall bring in. I, as a preacher, have nothing to do with counting fish.
My business is with the great multitude. Splash goes the net again! Oh Master I
thou who hast taught us to throw the net and bring in a multitude, guide into it
the hundred and fifty and three!
4. Yet again, notice another difference. The fish that were taken the first time
appear to have been of all sort. The not was broken, and therefore, doubtless
some of them got out again; there were some so little that they were not worth
eating, and doubtless were thrown away. “They shall gather the good into vessels
and throw the bad away.” In the second case, the net was full of great fishes; they
were all great fishes, all good for eating, all the one hundred and fifty-three were
worth the keeping, there was not one little fellow to be thrown back into the deep
again. The first gives us the outward and visible effect of the ministry. We gather
into Christ’s Church a great number. And there will always be in that number
some that are not good, that are not really called of God. Sometimes we have
Church-meetings in which we have to throw the bad away. We have many blissful
meetings where it is gathering-in the fish—and what big hauls of fish has God
given to us! Glory be to His name l But at other times we have to sit down and tell
our fish over, and there are some who must be thrown away; neither God nor
man can endure them. Thus is it in the outward and visible Church. Let no man
be surprised if the tares grow up with the wheat—it is the order of things, it must
be so.
5. Yet again, you notice in the first case the net broke, and in the second case it
did not. Now, in the first case, in the visible Church the net breaks.
My brethren are always calling out, “the net is broken 1” No doubt it is a bad thing for
nets to break; but you need not wonder at it. We cannot just now, when the net is full,
stop to mend it; it will break. It is the necessary consequence of our being what we
are that the net will break. There are several other points of difference, but I think we
have hardly time to enlarge upon them. I will only hint at them. In the first case,
which is the visible Church, you see the human weakness becomes the strongest
point; there is the boat ready to sink, there is the net broken, there is the men all out
of heart, frightened, amazed, and begging the Master to go away. In the other case it
is not so at all. There is human weakness, but still they are made strong enough. They
have no strength to spare, as you perceive, but still they are strong enough, the net
does not break, the ship goes slowly to land dragging the fish; and then, lastly, Simon
Peter pulls the fish to shore. Strong he must have been. They were just strong enough
to get their fish to shore. So in the visible Church of Christ you will often have to
mourn over human weakness; but in the invisible Church, God will make His
servants just strong enough—just strong enough to drag their fish to shore. The
agencies, means, instrumentalities, shall have just sufficient force to land every elect
soul in heaven, that God may be glorified. Then, notice, in the first case, in the visible
Church they launched out into the deep. In the second case, it says they were not far
from the shore, but a little way. So to-day our preaching seems to us to be going out
into the great stormy deep after fish. We appear to have a long way to reach before
we shall bring these precious souls to land. But in the sight of God we are not far
from shore; and when a soul is saved, it is not far from heaven. To us there are years
of temptation, and trial, and conflict; but to God, the Most High, it is finished—“it is
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done.” They are saved; they are not far from shore. In the first case, the disciples had
to forsake all and follow Christ. In the second, they sat down to feast with Him at the
dainty banquet which He had spread. So in the visible Church to-day we have to bear
trial and self-denial for Christ, but glory be to God, the eye of faith perceives that we
shall soon drag our net to land, and then the Master will say, “ Come and dine”; and
we shall sit down and feast in His presence, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the
kingdom of God.
III. The time is gone, and I close by NOTICING ONE AMONG MANY LESSONS
WHICH THE TWO NARRATIVES IN COMMON SEEM TO TEACH. In the first ease,
Christ was in the ship. Oh, blessed be God, Christ is in His Church, though she
launch out into the deep. In the second case, Christ was on the shore. Blessed be God,
Christ is in heaven. He is not here, but He has risen; He has gone up on high for us.
But whether He be in the Church, or whether He be on the shore in heaven, all our
night’s toiling shall, by His presence, have a rich reward. That is the lesson. (C.
H.Spurgeon.)
The disappointing night and the successful morn
I. THE NIGHT OF DISAPPOINTMENT.
1. A most unlikely disappointment.
2. The disappointment of skilled men.
3. A disappointment in spite of devoted labour.
4. This disappointment was most disheartening.
II. THE MORNING OF SUCCESS.
1. It was success that was not very probable. The best time for fishing had gone—
the night. Not unfrequently the work of which we have least hope in the end gives
us most joy. History of missions, e.g., to South Sea Islands. “In the morning sow
thy seed,” &c.
2. It was success through the use of the old means.
3. It was success in the old sphere.
4. It was success realized by the very men who had previously failed.
5. It was success consequent on the Lord’s presence and on a believing obedience
to His word.
6. It was success of the most complete character.
7. It was success in the joy and blessing of which others shared. Those in “the
other boat” were called upon to help.
8. It was success which had the most gracious results.
(1) Led to the adoring recognition of the Lord’s presence and power (Luk_
5:8).
(2) Filled the minds of all with grateful astonishment (Luk_5:9-10).
(3) Was the pledge and promise of greater things (Luk_5:10),
(4) Led to completest devotion on the part of those concerned (Luk_5:11). (R.
M. Spoor.)
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The sinking fishing-boat a symbol of the ruinous tendency of abounding
prosperity
When is a man most likely to go wrong morally? When he is in suffering? Hardly so.
Prosperity puts him to a far severer test. On the ground nobody gets giddy and falls,
but on a pinnacle many a one, having lost the steady nerve and firm foothold, has
trembled, reeled, and rolled down. How few can bear success t Let a man steal a
march on his fellows, outstrip them in the boisterous race for riches, “get on in the
world,” as we phrase it, and the chances are that he will deteriorate. Noble exceptions
there are to the rule, never more than in our own day. Many rise in character as they
rise in circumstances. But, alas I numbers do the exact opposite: as they go up in
possessions, they go down in mind, down in heart, down in conscience. Gray, in his
charming Elegy, speaks of “chill penury” freezing “the genial current of the soul.” It
may do, but the pleasant, soothing zephyr of wealth certainly tends to relax manly
vigour and induce baneful lethargy. There are certain fish which flourish best when
lowest in the sea; severe pressure is evidently, in some way, adapted to their nature;
when raised near the surface they invariably degenerate. It is so, too often, with men;
when raised, they descend. Alexander the Great was all right as long as he had to
cope with his enemies; difficulty did not daunt but develop him. On he went from
strength to strength, carrying everything before him. But the day that saw his final
obstacle removed beheld the first step taken in a retrograde direction. Conquest
surrounded him with luxuries; all the elaborate appliances of civilization were placed
within his reach; he had but to lift his hand, and the prolific, varied resources of
distant and neighbouring lands were at his command. The enervating influences of
these things were, however, only too speedily manifested. The Macedonian hero
dwarfed into the effeminate ben vivant; Spartan simplicity gave way to requirements
as multitudinous as they were vicious, and to make his ruin complete, the world’s
conqueror died from the effects of a disgraceful drunken brawl! (T. R. Stevenson.)
A new year’, word for business people
“Out of the ship.” The Lord Jesus had been preaching in synagogues; but there were
very many outside who wanted to hear Him, and whom He wanted to reach. So He
entered into a boat belonging to one of His disciples that was drawn up on the beach,
and when it was thrust a little way from the shore He sat down and taught the people.
I. JESUS SEEKS A PULPIT RIGHT IN THE MIDST OF DAILY LIFE. He comes to
each of us and asks us to let Him have our daily occupation as His preaching-place.
II. LOOK AT THE BOATS WHICH THE LORD JESUS USES.
1. It was the boat of a disciple. He never thrusts Himself upon any. Can we afford
to receive the Lord aboard of our ship?
2. It was the boat of an ardent and loving disciple. How eagerly Simon received
Him into the boat!
3. It was the boat of a busy disciple. Hard-working disciples who can toil all
night, if need be—their’s is the business from which Christ will preach.
III. LOOK AT THE FISHERMEN. They were washing their nets. The Lord will never
help us to catch fish with dirty nets.
IV. Then as to THE SERMON WHICH THE LORD WOULD PREACH from the daily
occupation.
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1. Considerateness for other people. These men would have to go off again at
sunset to fish, and they had toiled all the previous night. But that others might
see and hear Jesus, they leave their nets, they thrust out the ship, and they wait
upon the Lord. A sermon that was never so much needed as it is to-day.
2. Faithfulness. The crying want of our times is this, that men should see and
hear Jesus in the boat of every disciple. Faithfulness on the part of His disciples
goes furthest to give men faith in their Lord and Master.
V. Then there are TWO OR THREE OTHER THOUGHTS THAT GROW OUT OF
THE INCIDENT.
1. It goes well with the boat when Christ is on board.
2. Notice that while the Lord said “nets” (Luk_5:4), Simon said “net” (Luk_5:5).
And he took up the first that came to hand. Ah, Simon, the blessed Master knows
more about fishing than you think. And, my brethren, He knows as much about
your business as about Simon’s. Their net brake (Luk_5:6), so they needed the
nets after all.
3. Think of the fishing-net giving the disciples the most amazing manifestation of
Jesus they had seen. Ah, so it is when Jesus is in the business, the common daily
work of life shall bring glorious manifestations of the Lord’s presence and power.
4. The fisherman who takes Christ on board is promoted to the rank of an
apostle. To serve Jesus in the common round of daily life is the way up to the
highest and most splendid service for the King.
5. When Jesus is in the ship everything is in its right place. The cargo is in the
hold, not in the heart. Cares and gains, fears and losses, yesterday’s failure and
to-day’s success, do not thrust themselves in between us and His presence.
“Goodness and mercy shall follow me,” sang the Psalmist. Alas when the
goodness and mercy come before us, and our blessings shut Jesus from view I
Here is the blessed order—the Lord ever first, I following Him, His goodness and
mercy following me. (Mark Guy Pearse.)
Failure, faith, and fortune
I. FAILURE. “Toiled—nothing.” Failure may be caused by
(a) lack of aptitude;
(b) deficiency of energy; or
(c) want of perseverance. Notwithstanding skill, exertion, and
persistence, here was failure.
1. The plea of disappointment.
2. That plea urged as a reason for relinquishing toil.
II. FAITH. “Nevertheless, at Thy word,” &c. The fishermen were learning of Christ;
their confidence and hope were growing. They had Christ’s word to rely on, and have
not we?
1. Faith in exercise.
2. A right resolve taken.
3. A new venture made.
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III. FORTUNE.
1. Unexpected abundance.
2. An act of kindness compensated.
3. Plenty the reward of obedience.
4. Success the providence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
IV. Note THE RESULTS OR THE MIRACLE.
1. The perception of Christ’s glory.
2. Christ’s majesty producing, humility.
3. A new vocation indicated.
4. Abandonment of all for Christ’s service. (M. Braithwaite.)
The three F’s—a parable of fishing
1. Through a long weary night four men sat in their boats on the Sea of Galilee.
They are not novices in the art of fishing, but old experienced hands. They do not
idle away their time. They toil hard. They toil hard—dropping their nets and
drawing them up again, empty. The story of that vexatious night of
disappointment is told, next day, by one of their number in this one sentence,
“Master, we have toiled,” &c. It could all have been compressed into the one sad
word, FAILURE. And this is the word which many pastors and Christian workers
may feel themselves obliged to write underneath many of their undertakings and
efforts. But God holds us responsible only for duties, never for results. Not by
human might, or power, but by His Spirit, is success to be reached. A Paul may
plant, or a Peter may fish, but God only can give the increase.
2. Now let us turn over the leaf, and begin Chapter II. It is no longer midnight,
but morning. The early sun sparkles on the blue waves of Gennesareth. Two
fishermen are on the beach, washing their nets; two others, John and James, are
mending theirs in a boat. Jesus comes in sight, followed by a jostling crowd. He
wants elbow-room, and space to address the throng, and so He calls for Peter’s
boat and makes it His floating pulpit. As soon as His discourse is over, He begins
to think of His hungry and disappointed disciples. So He gives the order to
Simon. There was a great deal of human nature in Peter. He felt just as you and I
have felt a hundred times. He said, “We have been toiling all night, and have
taken nothing.” Had he stopped short right there he would have got a rebuke for
the shameful sin of giving up. He was despondent over the past; but he was not
despairing for the future. So out bolts that ringing reply, “Nevertheless,” &c.
Noble words! There spake out a resolute and a relying FAITH. Faith set the bow
of Peter’s little smack right towards the deep water, and then laid hold of the oar.
This is precisely the same thing which we pastors, and Sunday-school teachers,
and parents must do straightway. Invite Jesus into our undertakings, for we
cannot fail if He is with us in the boat. Then let us pull out into the deep water of
thorough, conscientious, faithful work. The fish are in the deep water, not near
the shore.
3. What will be the result sooner or later? Look at those disciples in the boat and
you will see. They have lowered their net, just as Jesus told them to do. Lo, a
multitude of fishes swarming in! The net is breaking. Peter signals to John to
bring his boat alongside and help to save the prodigious haul. Up comes the other
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smack. The two vessels are soon so overloaded that they begin to sink; and Peter
throws himself down in awe-struck wonder, and cries out that he is unworthy of
such a miraculous blessing. That was Peter’s way of saying just what we pastors
have often said when the revival was glorious, and we felt how much more God
had done for us than we deserved. How sweet was Christ’s answer! “Follow Me,
and I will make you a fisher of men.” And so the loaded boats are pulled ashore,
and the happy day’s work ends in a FULNESS of blessings. Here are the three F’s.
The first is a sad one, and teaches us that when we rely upon an arm of flesh our
hardest toils may end in Failure. The second is the watchword of all wise action,
and all holy endeavour—it is the golden word Faith. And when we take Jesus with
us in obedient trust, we bring back a Fulness of success. (T. L. Cuyler, D. D.)
This paragraph
1. Illustrates Christ’s indirect method of working. He often gives commands, the
exact bearing of which it is difficult or impossible to see.
2. Illustrates the proper treatment of the Divine word on the part of man.
3. Shows the proper effect of God’s rule over inferior things. There is enough in
any display of Divine power to humble us, if we did but open our eyes to see the
way of the Most High.
4. Illustrates the ever-heightening and ever-widening vocation of mankind.
(1) “Thou shalt catch men.” God does not call men downward but upward,
when they are faithful to their trust.
(2) Men need to be caught, for they have gone astray from God.
(3) Man must catch men.
(4) The art of catching men is a Divine art. It is easy to amuse them, and not
difficult to instruct them; but to catch them in the holy sense of this promise
to Peter, is an art taught only by the
Master Himself.
5. Shows that Jesus Christ does not put men into the ministry simply because
they are unfortunate in secular concerns. Peter had caught nothing all night, and
in the morning he was turned into a minister! Do not people plan to put their
least gifted and least successful children into the Church? It is sometimes said
that they do. Christ seemed to say to Peter, “See, there are fish enough yet in the
water; but you leave your occupation at the very moment of your highest success.
I don’t make a minister of you because there is no other way in which you can
make a morsel of bread, but for infinitely higher reasons.” So to-day there are
men in the ministry who could have caught fish enough and been highly
successful in the ordinary work of life. Give them credit for good motives. (J.
Parker, D. D.)
Christ the Lord of nature
We must not minimize this miracle by deeming that Christ, either by marvellous
sagacity or superhuman omniscience, knew of the presence of this great shoal at that
time and spot. Rather, we must not only see in Jesus “ the Lord of nature, able, by the
secret yet mighty magic of His will, to guide and draw the unconscious creatures, and
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make them minister to the higher interests of His kingdom”; but we must also
recognize in Him the second Adam exercising that dominion over the fish of the sea,
which was part of the grant of empire given originally to man. That there should be
this great herd of fish was not in itself miraculous; what was miraculous was that its
appearance should be thus timed, that it should coincide with Christ’s word and
subserve His purpose. (W. J. Deane, M. A.)
Reasons for the miracle
Various reasons have been offered for the special applicability of this miracle.
1. Thus was Peter repaid for the loan of his boat, even as the widow of Sarepta
was rewarded for her charity to Elijah by the unfailing resources of the barrel of
meal and the cruise of oil; as the Shunamite hostess was requited for her
kindness to Elisha by the restoration of her son to life; as the house of Obed-
Edom was blessed when it gave shelter to the ark of the Lord; as Christ Himself
testified that a cup of cold water given to one of His disciples should not lose its
reward.
2. Also, Jesus was thus preparing His apostles for their coming call; they might
see that in casting in their lot with Him and in abandoning their gainful trade,
they were entering the service of One who was able to provide for their bodily life
as well as for the wants of their soul; One who taught them that “godliness is
profitable for all things, having promise of the life which now is, and of that
which is to come.”
3. Still more might Simon see herein a prophecy of the future, an adumbration of
the success that awaited the preachers of the gospel, as they in obedience to the
word of Christ cast their nets into the sea of the world.
4. Here, too, is a lesson for all; how little we can do by our own skill or wisdom,
how much when we take Christ with us in our work. His Word teaches us how,
and where, and when to labour, and following that Divine Teacher we are sure of
success. (W. J. Deane, M. A.)
A broken net
“The net brake.” That net is the Church; and the history of the Church is, alas I a
history of the tearing of its meshes, and the breaking away of its fish. Heresy and
schism have troubled the Church from the apostolic period; and Christ in this
miracle showed that it would be so, lest we should be discouraged; but He also
showed the remedy for it—a remedy we have not sufficiently taken to heart. When
the net wastorn, then Peter beckoned to his partners to help to receive the draught.
And by this we are shown that the true remedy for heresy and schism is unity. Sad it
is that there should be so much separation among the Apostolic Churches; that the
Eastern Church, and the Church which claims to be founded by St. Peter, and our
own English Church, should all be engaged in fishing on our own several accounts,
with mangled nets, from which many escape, and in which only few are saved. When
the Churches recognize the real cause of their failure, repent of their haughty and
narrow isolation, and draw together, and call to each other to help, then, and then
only, will they be filled to the bulwarks, so that they seem almost about to sink. (S.
Baring-Gould, M. A.)
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Use of partners
There cannot be a better improvement of society than to help us in gain, to relieve us
in our profitable labours, to draw up the spiritual draught into the vessel of Christ
and His Church. Wherefore hath God given us partners, but that we should beckon to
them for their aid in our necessary occasions? Neither doth Simon slacken his hand,
because he had assistants. What shall we say to those lazy fishers, who can see others
to the drag, while themselves look on at ease, caring only to feed themselves with the
fish, not willing to wet their hands with the net? what shall we say to this excess of
gain? (Bishop Hall.)
7 So they signaled their partners in the other
boat to come and help them, and they came and
filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
BARNES, "They beckoned - They gave signs. Perhaps they were at a
considerable distance, so that they could not be easily heard.
Their partners - James and John. See Luk_5:10. The following remarks of Dr.
Thomson (“The Land and the Book,” vol. ii. p. 80, 81) will furnish a good illustration
of this passage. After describing the mode of fishing with the “hand-net” and the
“dragnet,” he adds: “Again, there is the bag-net and basket-net, of various kinds,
which are so constructed and worked as to inclose the fish out in deep water. I have
seen them of almost every conceivable size and pattern. It was with some one of this
sort, I suppose, that Simon had toiled all night without catching anything, but which,
when let down at the command of Jesus, inclosed so great a multitude that the net
broke, and they filled two ships with the fish until they began to sink. Peter here
speaks of toiling all night; and there are certain kinds of fishing always carried on at
night. It is a beautiful sight. With blazing torch the boat glides over the flashing sea,
and the men stand gazing keenly into it until their prey is sighted, when, quick as
lightning, they fling their net or fly their spear; and often you see the tired fishermen
come sullenly into harbor in the morning, having toiled all night in vain. Indeed,
every kind of fishing is uncertain. A dozen times the angler jerks out a naked hook;
the hand-net closes down on nothing; the drag-net brings in only weeds; the bag
comes up empty. And then again, every throw is successful - every net is full; and
frequently without any other apparent reason than that of throwing it on the right
side of the ship instead of the left, as it happened to the disciples here at Tiberias.”
CLARKE, "They beckoned unto their partners - Had not these been called
in to assist, the net must have been broken, and all the fish lost. What a pity there
should be such envious separation among the different sects that profess to believe in
Christ Jesus! Did they help each other in the spirit of Christian fellowship, more
souls would be brought to the knowledge of the truth. Some will rather leave souls to
perish than admit of partners in the sacred work. It is an intolerable pride to think
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nothing well done but what we do ourselves; and a diabolic envy to be afraid lest
others should be more successful than we are.
They - filled both the ships - Both the boats had as many as they could carry,
and were so heavily laden that they were ready to sink. As one justly observes, “There
are fish plenty to be taken, were there skillful hands to take, and vessels to contain
them. Many are disputing about the size, capacity, and goodness of their nets and
their vessels, while the fish are permitted to make their escape.” Did the faithful
fishers in both the vessels in these lands (the established Church, and the various
branches of the dissenting interest) join heartily together, the nations might be
converted to God; but, while the ridiculous disputes for and against particular forms
last, there can be no unity. Were men as zealous to catch souls, as they are to support
their particular creeds, and forms of worship, the state of Christianity would be more
flourishing than it is at present. But the wall of separation is continually
strengthened, each party fortifying it on his own side.
GILL, "And they beckoned unto their partners,.... Zebedee, and his two sons,
James and John; Luk_5:10 who were at some distance from them, probably lay at
anchor near the shore, not having put out to sea when the other vessel did, and so
were not within call; but they were obliged to make signs to them, and beckon with
their hands to come to them:
which were in the other ship; mentioned in Luk_5:2 which lay by the shore:
that they should come and help them; take up the net, and take the fish out of
it:
and they came and filled both the ships; with the fishes they took out of the
net, as full as they could hold, and which they were not well able to carry:
so that they began to sink; or "were almost immersed", as Beza's ancient copy,
and another manuscript, with the Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions read; the
vessels were so heavy laden, with the vast quantity of fish that was taken, that they
were just ready to sink with their burden.
PETT, "Excitedly they beckoned to those associated with them in the other boat,
James and John and their crew, for them to come and help them, and when they
came they filled both boats to the brim until the gunwales were almost under
water. They had never carried so much fish before. ‘Began to sink’ is not to be
taken too literally. The point is that they were so low in the water because of the
huge amount of fish that they seemed to be in danger of sinking. But they were
far too capable to actually allow the boats to sink.
8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’
knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am
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a sinful man!”
BARNES, "When Simon Peter saw it - Saw the great amount of fishes; the
remarkable success of letting down the net.
He fell down at Jesus’ knees - This was a common posture of “supplication.”
He had no doubt now of the power and knowledge of Jesus. In amazement, wonder,
and gratitude, and not doubting that he was in the presence of some divine being, he
prostrated himself to the earth, trembling and afraid. So should sinful people
“always” throw themselves at the feet of Jesus at the proofs of his power; so should
they humble themselves before him at the manifestations of his goodness.
Depart from me - This is an expression of Peter’s humility, and of his
consciousness of his unworthiness. It was not from want of love to Jesus; it did not
show that he would not be pleased with his favor and presence; but it was the result
of being convinced that Jesus was a messenger from God - a high and holy being; and
he felt that he was unworthy to be in his presence. In his deep consciousness of sin,
therefore, he requested that Jesus would depart from him and his little vessel. Peter’s
feeling was not unnatural, though it was not proper to request Jesus to leave him. It
was an involuntary, sudden request, and arose from ignorance of the character of
Jesus. We “are” not worthy to be with him, to be reckoned among his friends, or to
dwell in heaven with him; but he came to seek the lost and to save the impure. He
graciously condescends to dwell with those who are humble and contrite, though
they are conscious that they are not worthy of his presence; and we may therefore
come boldly to him, and ask him to receive us to his home - to an eternal dwelling
with him in the heavens.
CLARKE, "Depart from me; for I am a sinful man - Εξελθε απ’ εµου, Go out
from me, i.e. from my boat. Peter was fully convinced that this draught of fish was a
miraculous one; and that God himself had particularly interfered in this matter,
whose presence and power he reverenced in the person of Jesus. But as he felt
himself a sinner, he was afraid the Divine purity of Christ could not possibly endure
him; therefore he wished for a separation from that power, which he was afraid
might break forth and consume him. It seems to have been a received maxim among
the Jews, that whoever had seen a particular manifestation of God should speedily
die. Hence Jacob seemed astonished that his life should have been preserved, when
he had seen God face to face, Gen_32:30. So the nobles of Israel saw God, and yet did
eat and drink; for on them he had laid not his hand, i.e. to destroy them, though it
appears to have been expected by them, in consequence of this discovery which he
made of himself. See Exo_24:10, Exo_24:11 (note), and the notes there. This
supposition of the Jews seems to have been founded on the authority of God himself,
Exo_33:20 : There shall no man see my Face and Live. So Moses, Deu_5:26 : Who is
there of all flesh that hath heard the voice of the living God, speaking out of the midst
of the fire as we have, and Lived? So Gideon expected to be immediately slain,
because he had seen an angel of the Lord, and a miracle performed by him. See Jdg_
6:21-23. So likewise Manoah and his wife, Jdg_13:22 : We shall surely Die, for we
have Seen God. These different passages sufficiently show in what sense these words
of Peter are to be understood.
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GILL, "When Simon Peter saw it,.... The multitude of fish that was taken, and
both vessels filled with them, and the danger they were in of sinking,
he fell down at Jesus' knees. The Arabic and Persic versions read, "at" his "feet":
he fell on his knees before him, and threw himself prostrate at his feet, as a
worshipper of him, and a supplicant unto him:
saying, depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord; this he said, not as
though the presence of Christ was burdensome, or disagreeable to him; but as one
amazed at the greatness of the miracle wrought, and struck with the sense of the
power of Christ, put forth therein; and with the greatness of his majesty so near him;
and as conscious to himself of his own vileness and unworthiness to be in his
presence; and so the Persic version adds, and which may serve as a comment, "and
am not worthy that thou shouldst be with me": he had much the same sense of things
as the centurion had, Mat_8:8 and when it is considered how gracious persons have
been struck with awe and fear, and a consciousness of sin, weakness, and
unworthiness, at the appearance of an angel, as Zacharias, Luk_1:12 and the
shepherds, Luk_2:9 yea, at the presence of an holy man of God, as the widow of
Sarepta at Elijah, saying much the same as Peter does here, 1Ki_17:18 it need not be
wondered at, that Peter should so express himself, in these circumstances.
HENRY, “Now by this vast draught of fishes, (1.) Christ intended to show his
dominion in the seas as well as on the dry land, over its wealth as over its waves.
Thus he would show that he was that Son of man under whose feet all things were
put, and particularly the fish of the sea and whatsoever passeth through the paths of
the sea, Psa_8:8. (2.) He intended hereby to confirm the doctrine he had just now
preached out of Peter's ship. We may suppose that the people on shore, who heard
the sermon, having a notion that the preacher was a prophet sent of God, carefully
attended his motions afterward, and staid halting about there, to see what he would
do next; and this miracle immediately following would be a confirmation to their
faith, of his being at least a teacher come from God. (3.) He intended hereby to repay
Peter for the loan of his boat; for Christ's gospel now, as his ark formerly in the house
of Obed-edom, will be sure to make amends, rich amends, for its kind entertainment.
None shall shut a door or kindle a fire in God's house for nought, Mal_1:10. Christ's
recompences for services done to his name are abundant, they are superabundant.
(4.) He intended hereby to give a specimen, to those who were to be his ambassadors
to the world, of the success of their embassy, that though they might for a time, and
in one particular place, toil and catch nothing, yet they should be instrumental to
bring in many to Christ, and enclose many in the gospel net.
JAMISON, "Depart, etc. — Did Peter then wish Christ to leave him? Verily no.
His all was wrapt up in Him (Joh_6:68). “It was rather, Woe is me, Lord! How shall I
abide this blaze of glory? A sinner such as I am is not fit company for Thee.”
(Compare Isa_6:5.)
CALVIN, "Luke 5:8.Depart from me, O Lord. Although men are earnest in
seeking the presence of God, yet, as soon as God appears, they must be struck
with terror, and almost rendered lifeless by dread and alarm, until he
administers consolation. They have the best reason for calling earnestly on God,
because they cannot avoid feeling that they are miserable, while he is absent
from them: and, on the other hand, his presence is appalling, because they begin
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to feel that they are nothing, and that they are overpowered by an immense mass
of evils. In this manner, Peter views Christ with reverence in the miracle, and yet
is so overawed by his majesty, that he does all he can to avoid his presence. Nor
was this the case with Peter alone: for we learn, from the context, that
astonishment had overpowered all who were with him. Hence we see, that it is
natural to all men to tremble at the presence of God. And this is of advantage to
us, in order to humble any foolish confidence or pride that may be in us,
provided it is immediately followed by soothing consolation. And so Christ
relieves the mind of Peter by a mild and friendly reply, saying to him, Fear not.
Thus Christ sinks his own people in the grave, that he may afterwards raise them
to life.
COFFMAN, "I am a sinful man ... Thus Peter confessed the sin which had been
evident earlier in his grudging obedience a little earlier; and here is an
admonition to all who follow Christ. Mere obedience, attended by a critical,
complaining attitude, is not true obedience. Those who follow the Saviour should
do so with joy, and without any of the reservations and grumbling complaints
which seem to mark the service of some. Ours is a privileged and joyful service;
our lives are directed by the Lord whose love and blessing are without limit; our
personal judgments and reluctant attitudes should be utterly abandoned; and
there is for the child of God no happiness like that of doing exactly what the
Lord commanded.
Fell down at Jesus' knees ... This spontaneous act of worship on Peter's part
should be noted. Christ received his worship, the reception of such a thing being
an implicit claim of deity on the Saviour's part; and Luke's record of it here is
significant as a further proof that all of the apostles concurred in thus hailing
Jesus as God among human beings.
COKE, "Luke 5:8. Depart from me,— Peter's words on this occasion may be
variously interpreted; for we may suppose that, conscious of his sinfulness, he
was afraid to be in Christ's company, lest some infirmity or offence might have
exposed him to more than ordinary chastisements. Compare Judges 6:22; Judges
13:22. Or, it being an opinion of the Jews, that the visits of the prophets were
attended with chastisements from heaven, 1 Kings 17:18 he might be struck with
a panic, when he observed this proof of Christ's power: or he may have said to
his Master, depart, because he was not able to shew him the respect that he
deserved, and was not worthy to be in his company. In this latter sense St. Peter's
words were full of reverence and humility, being not unlike the centurion's
speech so highly applauded by Jesus himself,—I am unworthy that thou shouldst
come under my roof. It is so well known that it scarce needs observing, that the
ancients thought it improper and unsafe, where it could be avoided, for good
men to be in the same ship with persons of an infamous character; nor would the
heathens sometimes permit the very images of their deities to be carried in a
vessel with such. See the Inferences and Reflections.
PETT, "And then Simon Peter looked down on what had happened and the
realisation of the enormity of it burst on him. He had seen Jesus perform
miracles before, but this was beyond anything that he could have imagined. He
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knew perfectly well that there should have been no fish there. It thus revealed
that this Prophet could call fish to His bidding, that in some way He was Lord
over nature. And because he was a good man, and a godly man, he was
overawed. He realised that he was in the presence not only of a Prophet, but of
more than a Prophet. Somehow God was here. And recognising it he was filled
with a deep conviction of sin and unworthiness.
And without thinking (typically of Peter) he fell down before Jesus among the
fish and cried out, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” It was not a
statement to be analysed too closely. Nor was it a thought out phrase. Nor did he
really want Jesus to go. Rather it was a compulsive expression of veneration and
an indication of the sense that he had that he was not worthy to be close to Jesus.
He was declaring, as John the Baptiser had before him, that he was not worthy
to be in Jesus’ presence. (He did not really expect Jesus to leave the boat and it is
pedantic to think otherwise).
‘Fell down at Jesus’ knees.’ Probably literally. Both would be knee deep in fish.
It is the description of an eyewitness who remembered it vividly.
‘For I am a sinful man, O Lord.’ Peter had heard Jesus preaching, he was in awe
of Him as a prophet, and no doubt Jesus’ previous teaching had made him more
aware of his sinfulness. But now this extraordinary event brought it all home to
him in renewed power. He was in the presence of he knew not what and it made
his consciousness of his sin bubble over. He knew that he was not even worthy to
be in the same boat with Him. All the workings of his conscience in the last few
weeks had come home to roost. he recognised that he needed forgiveness and
mercy.
We see in what happened here Jesus’ knowledge of men. No other sign would
have made the same impression as this one. For fish were Peter’s life. And as a
result of it he belonged to Jesus for ever.
‘Simon Peter.’ Only here in Luke (regularly in John). It is probably intended by
Luke to indicate the moment when Simon became Peter in spirit, as he
recognised that Jesus was even more out of the ordinary than he had realised.
From this moment on he was Jesus’ man.
‘O Lord.’ Here this does not mean just ‘Sir’. It is a title of reverence to someone
who has been revealed as something beyond what he had previously thought,
and for Whom anything less seemed inappropriate.
NISBET, "GOD AND OURSELVES
‘Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.’
Luke 5:8
If the first lesson which was learned by Simon in the school of Jesus Christ was
the lesson of holy confidence, the second, which rapidly follows, is the lesson of
holy fear, the reverent remembrance of the difference between God and
ourselves. In other words, ‘I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth
me,’ while I remember the Master’s injunction, ‘Without Me ye can do nothing.’
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In various ways, at different times in our lives, we are tempted to think that we
can do without God.
I. The fear of God.—To gainsay God—with all reverence be it said—is to despise
God. To distrust God is to be guilty of the most lamentable ignorance of God.
Fear God man must, and ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.’ Fear
Him we must, either with the fear of a terror which hides itself before the face of
a power it will not acknowledge and reverence, or with a holy, loving fear which
grows and grows into that perfect love which casteth out fear.
II. St. Peter’s opportunity.—What has the Bible been to us? Surely the record of
how God was bringing back men to the knowledge of His love and His care. So in
St. Peter’s case many and many were the resolutions which he made how rigidly
he would serve his Lord in the coming days. Well, he shall have the opportunity.
God sends a multitude of fishes. And that man is face to face with the great
lesson given in the startling contrast of his weakness with the power of God, his
lukewarmness and Christ’s generosity, of his fickleness and the eternal
constancy of God.
III. We have toiled all night in the storm of our passion, in the darkness of our
ignorance, for fame, for money, and for happiness—good if sought in God’s way,
but sought alone, without God, what does it bring? We achieve the fame, and
then we learn that man’s life is but a vapour that passeth away. We get our
money, but ‘Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.’ We seek our
happiness, and find it, only to realise that no sooner have we grasped it than
fresh cravings are evermore arising, and satisfaction and rest and peace are as
far off as ever. Ah! and then—are there not some who will bear me out?—there
comes a cry for succour in our need, no set language but a cry to God; and when
the storm is over and the earthquake is no more there is the still small voice
which says, ‘Launch out once more, not in your own strength, but in Mine,’ and
we realise that though we forget God He never forgets us, and our extremity is
God’s opportunity. When we feel the contrast between our lukewarmness and
God’s generosity—how little time, how little money, how little work for God, and
yet His power has been with us all the while—we recognise our fickleness and
God’s constancy; so many resolutions made only to be forgotten, and in the felt
sense of that contrast we too fall down and say, ‘Depart from me; for I am a
sinful man, O Lord.’
—Rev. Canon Pollock.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
CONVICTION OF SIN
Our Lord here proclaims to St. Peter by a significant act many things on which
his heart may feed.
I. The meaning and object of this miracle.—It taught more than all others God’s
personality. At the bottom of all things here there is a law. It is the tendency of
habit to look upon law, and see nothing below it. A miracle breaks the continuity
of these laws by a higher law—an interruption, not a contradiction of law.
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II. The effects produced by it on St. Peter’s mind.—The effect ended in the
production of a sense of sin, ‘Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.’
This was not mere wonder, nor was it curiosity, or surprise; it was the sense of
personal sin.
(a) The cause of this impression. The impression was produced by the pure
presence of Jesus Christ. Wherever the Redeemer went He elicited a strange
sense of sin. This, too, is the case wherever Christianity is preached.
(b) This conviction of sin in Peter’s bosom was not remorse or anguish for crime,
but of inward devotedness.
Rev. F. W. Robertson.
Luke's other emphasis was Peter's response to this miracle. The catch so amazed
(Gr. thambos) Peter that he prostrated himself before Jesus, evidently in the
boat. Peter now addressed Jesus as "Lord" (Gr. kyrios) instead of "Master."
"Lord" expressed more respect than "Master." In view of later developments in
Peter's life, it is difficult to say that Peter viewed Jesus as God when he called
Him "Lord" here. He may have done so and then relapsed into thinking of Him
as only a mortal later. Nevertheless Peter expressed conviction of sin in Jesus'
presence indicating that he realized that Jesus was a holy man, very different
from himself (cf. Isaiah 6:5). "Depart from me," or, "Go away from me,"
expresses Peter's feeling of uncleanness in Jesus' presence. Jesus' superior ability
caused Peter to sense that he was a sinner, one who fell short. "Sinner" (Gr.
hamartolos) is one of Luke's characteristic words. Of the 22 occurrences of this
word in the Synoptics, 15 are in Luke.
"Luke does not use the term pejoratively but compassionately, as a common
term applied to those who were isolated from Jewish religious circles because of
their open sin, their unacceptable occupation or lifestyle, or their paganism.
Luke shows that these sinners are the objects of God's grace through the
ministry of Jesus." [Note: Leifeld, p. 877.]
"What Peter does not realize is that admitting one's inability and sin is the best
prerequisite for service, since then one can depend on God. Peter's confession
becomes his résumé for service. Humility is the elevator to spiritual greatness."
[Note: Bock, Luke, p. 155.]
MACLAREN, “FEAR AND FAITH
Luk_5:8; Joh_21:7
These two instances of the miraculous draught of fishes on the Lake of Gennesareth
are obviously intended to be taken in conjunction. Their similarities and their
differences are equally striking and equally instructive. In the fragment of the
incident which I have selected for our consideration now, we have the same man, in
the same scene and circumstances, in the presence of the same Lord, acting under
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the influences of the same motive, and doing two exactly opposite things.
In the first case, the miracle at once struck him with the consciousness that he was
now, in some way, he knew not how, in the immediate presence of the supernatural.
That was immediately followed by a quick spasm and sense of sin, and that again by a
recoil of terror, and that again by the cry, ‘Go out of the boat; for I am a sinful man, O
Lord.’
In the other instance, as soon as he saw (or rather, by the help of his friend’s clearer
sight, learned) that that dim and questionable figure on the morning beach there,
was the Lord, the sight brought back his sin to his mind. But this time the
consciousness of sin sent him splashing over the side, and through the shallow water,
to struggle anyhow to get close to his Lord, not because he thought more
complacently of himself or less loftily of his Master, but because he had learned that
the best place for a sinful man was as close to Christ as ever he could get. And so, if
we put these two incidents together, we get two or three thoughts that it is worth our
while to dwell upon.
I. I ask you to notice, first, that instinctive and swift awaking of
conscience.
This was not Peter’s first acquaintance with Jesus Christ, nor his first enrolment in
the ranks of disciples. John’s Gospel tells the very beginning, and how, long before
this incident, he had recognised Jesus Christ to be the King of Israel. This was not his
first experience of a miracle. There had been many wrought in Capernaum of which
probably he was an observer; and he had been at the wedding of Cana of Galilee; and
in many ways and at many times, no doubt had seen manifestations of our Lord’s
supernatural power. But here, in his own boat, with his own nets, about his own sort
of work, the thing came home to him as it never had come home before. And
although he had long ago recognised Jesus Christ as the Messiah, there is a new,
tremulous accession of conviction in that ‘O Lord!’ It means more than ‘Master,’ as
he had just called Jesus. It means more than he knew himself, no doubt, but it means
at least a great, sudden illumination as to who and what Christ was. And so the
consciousness of sin flashes upon him at once, as a consequence of that new vision of
the divine, as manifested in Jesus Christ. The links of the process of thought are
suppressed. We only see the two ends of it. He passed through a series of thoughts
with lightning rapidity. The beginning was the recognition of Christ as in some sense
the manifestation to him of the Divine Presence, and the end of it was the recognition
of his own sinfulness. He had no new facts; but new meaning and vitality were given
to the facts that had long been familiar to him. The first result of this was a new
conviction of his own hollowness and evil; and then, side by side with that sense of
demerit and sin, came this other trembling apprehension of personal consequences.
And so, not thinking so much about the sin as about the punishment that he thought
must necessarily come when the holy and the impure collided, he cried, ‘Depart from
me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!’ Now I take it that you get there, in that one
instance, packed into small and picturesque compass, just the outlines of what it is
reasonable and right that there should always go on in a heart when it first catches a
glimpse of the purity, and holiness, and nearness of God, and of the awful, solemn
verity that we do, each of us for himself, stand in a living, personal relation to Him.
That sudden conviction may come by a thousand causes. A sunset opening the gates
to the infinite distance may do it. A chance word may do it. A phrase in a sermon may
do it. Some personal sorrow or sickness may do it. Any accidental push may touch
the spring, and then the door flies open, for we all of us carry, buried deep down in
most of us, and not easily got at, that hidden conviction, only needing the letting in of
air to flame up, that we have indeed to do with a living God; that we are sinful and He
is pure, and that, that being the case, the discord between us, if we come to close
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quarters, must end disastrously for us.
You remember the grand vision of Isaiah, how, when he saw the King sitting on His
throne, ‘high and lifted up, and His train filled the Temple,’ the first thought was, not
of rapture at the Apocalypse, not of adoration of the greatness, not of aspiration after
the purity, not of any desire to join in the ‘Holy! Holy! Holy!’ of the burning spirits,
but ‘Woe is me, for I am undone; for mine eyes have seen the King; for I am a man of
unclean lips.’ Ah, brethren! whenever the commonplaces of our professed religious
belief are turned into realities for us, and these things that we have all been familiar
with from our childhood, flame before us as true and real, then there comes
something analogous to the experience of that other Old Testament character-’I have
heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eyes see Thee; wherefore I
abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.’
And then there comes, in like manner, and there ought to come, along with this new
vision of a God in His purity, and the new sense of my own sinfulness, the
apprehension of personal evil. For, although it be the lowest of its functions, it is a
function of conscience, not only to say to me, ‘It is wrong to do what is wrong,’ but to
say, too, ‘If you do wrong, you will have to bear the consequences.’ I believe that a
part of the instinctive voice of conscience is the declaration, not only of a law, but of a
Lawgiver, and that part of its message to me is not only that sin is a transgression of
the law, but that ‘the wages of sin is death.’
Now, let me ask you to ask yourselves whether it is not a strange and solemn and sad
testimony to the reality and universality of the fact of sin that the sense of impurity
and dread of its issues are the uniform results of any vivid, thrilling consciousness of
nearness to God. And let me ask you to ask yourself one other question, and that is,
whether it is a wise thing to live upon a surface that may be shattered at any moment;
whether that is true peace which needs but a touch to melt away; whether you are
wise with all this combustible material deep down in your conscience, in paying no
regard to it but living and frolicking, and feasting and trafficking, and lusting and
sinning on the surface, like those light-hearted, light-headed fools that build their
houses on the slopes of volcanoes when the lava rush may come at any moment?
II. That brings me to note, secondly, the mistaken cry of fear.
Peter felt uneasy in the presence of that pure eye, and he also felt, and was mistaken
in feeling, that somehow or other he would be safer if he was not so near the Master.
Well, if it were true that Jesus Christ brought God near to him, and if it were true
that the proximity of God was the revelation of his blackness and the premonition
and prophecy of evil to himself, would getting Christ out of the boat help him much?
The facts would remain the same. The departure of the physician does not tend to
cure the disease; and thus the cry,’ Go away from me because I am sinful,’ was all but
ludicrous if it had not been so tragical in its misapprehension of the facts of the case
and the cure for them.
Now the parallel to that, with you and me, is-what? How do we commit this same
error? By trying to get rid of the thoughts which evoke these uncomfortable feelings
of being impure and in peril. But does ceasing to remember the facts make any
difference in the facts? Surely not. Just recall for a moment the many ways in which
people manage to blind themselves to these plain, and to some of us unwelcome,
truths. You may do it by availing yourselves of that strange power that we all have, of
not attending to things that we do not like to think about. It is a strange thing that a
man should be able to do that; it is a sad thing that any man should be fool enough to
do it. But there are many among my hearers, I have no doubt whatever, who know
that if they were to let their thoughts dwell on the facts of their own characters and
relation to God they would be uncomfortable, and who, therefore, do their best to
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keep such thoughts at a safe distance. So, as soon as the sermon is over, some of you
will begin to criticise me, or to discuss politics, or gossip, and so get rid of the
impressions that the truth might produce. Or you fling yourselves into business. One
of the reasons for the fierce energy which some men throw into their common
avocations is their knowledge that if they have leisure, there may come into their
chambers, and sit down beside them there, these unwelcome thoughts, that kill
mirth. Some of you try to get rid of the Christ out of your boat by another way. You
plunge into sensualism, and live in the low, vulgar atmosphere of fleshly delight and
sensuous excitements in order to drown thought. And some of you do it by the even
simpler process of merely giving no heed to such thoughts when kindled. The fire,
unfed and unstirred, goes out. That is one way in which people come to have
consciences, to use the dreadful words of the New Testament, ‘seared as with a hot
iron.’ If you will only never listen to it, it will stop speaking after a while, and then
you will have an exemption from all these thoughts. When Felix first heard about
temperance and righteousness and judgment to come he trembled, but paid no heed
to his tremor, and said, ‘Go away for this time, and when I am not busy at anything
else, I will have thee back again.’ He did have Paul back again many a time, and
communed with him, but we never read that he trembled any more. The impression
is not always reproduced, although the circumstances that produced it at first may
be. The most impenetrable armour in which to clothe oneself against the sword of the
Spirit is hammered out of former convictions that were never acted on. A soul cased
in these is very hard to get at.
But consider the folly of seeking to get rid of truth, however unwelcome, under the
delusion that it ceases to be true because we cease to look at it. Christ’s leaving the
boat would not have helped Peter. The facts remained, however he refused to look at
them. If he could have changed them by getting rid of Him who reminded him of
them, it might have been worth while to send Him away-but to dismiss the physician
is a new way of curing the disease. Pain is an alarm bell for the physical nature to
point to something wrong there, and this sense of evil, this shrinking from God
regarded as the judge, is the alarm bell in the spiritual nature to warn of something
wrong there. Do you think that you banish the danger for which the alarm bell is
rung because you wrap a clout round the clapper so as to prevent it from sounding?
and do you think that you make it less true that ‘every transgression and
disobedience shall receive its just recompense of reward’ by bidding your conscience
hold its peace when it tells you so, or by trying to drown its voice amidst the shouts of
revelry, or the whirr of spindles, or the roar of traffic? By no means. The facts
remain; and nothing except what deals with the facts is the cure which a wise man
will adopt.
You remember the old story of the king of Babylon who sat feasting on the night
when the city was captured. When the Finger came out and wrote upon the wall,
‘Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin,’ it did not stop the feast. They went on with their
rioting, and whilst they were carousing, the enemy was creeping up the dried bed of
the diverted river, ‘and in that night was Belshazzar slain’ amidst his wine-cups, and
the flowers on his temples were dabbled with his blood. No more insane way of
curing the consciousness of sin and the dread of judgment than that of stifling the
voice that evokes it was ever dreamed of in an asylum.
III. Lastly, notice the right place for a sinful man.
On the second occasion to which our texts refer we have the Apostle far more deeply
conscious of his sin than he was on the first. He remembered his denial, and no
doubt he remembered also the secret interview that Jesus Christ had with him on the
day of the Resurrection, when, no doubt, He communicated to him His frank and full
assurance of forgiveness, He knows far more of Christ’s dignity and character and
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nature after the Resurrection than he had done on that day, long ago, by the banks of
the lake. The deeper sense of his own sin, and the clearer and loftier view of who and
what Jesus Christ was, send him struggling to his Master, and make him blessed only
at His feet.
Ah yes, brother! the superficial knowledge of my evil may drive me away from Jesus
Christ; the deepest conviction of it will send me right into His arms. A partial
knowledge of the divine nature as revealed in Him as judge, and punitive and
necessarily antagonistic to the blackness of my sin, in the lustrous whiteness of His
purity, may drive me away from Him, but the deeper knowledge of God manifested in
Jesus Christ, the long-suffering, the gentle, loving, pardoning, will send me to Him in
all the depth of my self-abasement and in the confidence in His love as covering over
my sin and accepting me. Where does the child go when it has transgressed against
its mother’s word? Into its mother’s arms to hide its face upon her bosom near her
heart. ‘Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned’; and therefore to Thee, Thee only will I
go. Only in nearness to Jesus Christ can we get the anodyne that quiets the
conscience-the blessed assurance of forgiveness that lightens us of our burden and
dread, and the power for holiness that will change our impurity into the likeness of
His own purity. He, and He only, can forgive. He, and He only, brings the loving God
into the midst of unloving men. He, and He only, hath offered the sacrifice in which
all sin is done away. He, and He only, by the communication of His Spirit and life to
me, will make me pure and deliver me from the burden of my sin.
And so the man who knows his own need and Christ’s grace will not say, ‘Depart
from me for I am a sinful man,’ but he will say, ‘Leave me never, nor forsake me, for I
am a sinful man, O Lord; but in Thee I have forgiveness and righteousness.’
Dear friends! that consciousness of demerit once evoked in a man’s heart, however
imperfectly, as I believe it is in some of your hearts now, must issue in one of two
things. Either it will send you further into darkness to get away from the light, as the
bats in a cave will flit to the deepest recesses of it in order to escape the torch, or it
will bring you nearer to Him, and at His feet you will find cleansing.
Oh, dear friends!-strangers many of you, but all friends-let me beseech you that, if
the merciful Spirit of God is in any measure using my poor words to touch your
consciences and hearts, you would not venture to seek escape from the convictions
which are stirring in you by any other way than by betaking yourselves to the Cross.
Let it not be, I pray you, that because you know yourselves to be in need of
forgiveness, and to stand in peril of judgment, you say to God,’ Depart from us, for
we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways.’ But rather do you cast yourselves into
Christ’s arms and keep near Him; saying as this same Peter did, on another occasion,
‘Lord! to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.’
BI, “When Simon Peter saw it he fell at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me
What it was that Peter saw
To understand the action and the words of Simon Peter, we must know what it was
that he saw.
The place was the shore of the Lake of Galilee, and the time was early in the first year
of the ministry of Christ. Already men were talking of the great prophet, and
wondering who and what He was; and no doubt the fishermen had thought and
spoken much of Him. One day Christ came; He went straight to Simon’s ship, and
from it He taught the people, while Simon Peter listened. And then followed that
great wonder of the miraculous draught of fishes, which astounded all beholders.
That was what Peter saw. But he saw more; he saw in all this what was like a call to
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him; not yet a direct one, but one which he could not help but understand. When you
see a grand action, it is a call to you to imitate it; when you hear of a noble deed, it is
a call to you to correct whatever of littleness or meanness may be in your own soul;
when you see others walking with God, it is a call to you to join them, and to walk
even as they. Sympathetic natures need no explanation at such times; they take in at
once the meaning of the voices which they hear as they go on through life. Simon
Peter felt what he saw; he felt how it bore on him; and feeling it, instantly and
profoundly, his first motion was to draw back in alarm, and to pray the Lord to
depart from him. (Morgan Dix, D. D.)
Two kinds of shrinking from Christ
Does this remind you of another scene? It must, if you are thoughtful, and
accustomed to interpret scripture by scripture. It was the very thing that the
Gadarenes and Gergesenes did, when Christ revealed Himself to them in His
holiness, and manifested forth His glory. Compare the narratives; they run almost
exactly parallel. The place was the same—the Lake of Gennesaret or its immediate
shores. The main personage in each scene is the same—Christ, the power of God, and
the wisdom of God. The state of preparation in human minds is the same—the
Gadarenes had heard of Christ, and so had Peter. The time was the same—just after a
startling miracle. The act in each case was the same, nay the very words are the same;
the people of Gadara prayed Him that He would depart out of their coasts; and
Simon Peter cried, “Depart from me, O Lord.” But yet, notwithstanding all these
correspondences, in time, in place, in deed, in result, in word, there was a difference
which outweighs all agreement. Not farther asunder are the poles of this globe, not
wider apart are east and west, than were the spirit of the men of Gadara and the soul
of Simon Peter. Nor could the final results have been more diverse. The men of
Gadara never saw Christ again; Peter never left Him. They kept all they had, and lost
the Lord; he kept the Lord, and lost all else. And then the histories diverge, as
streams part, never again to be united, but to flow farther and farther away from each
other. On the one hand a low, material, worldly life drags sluggishly forward, passing
into darkness and silence, and descending into shame and everlasting contempt:
while the other, fixed on Jesus, and developed in Him, groweth more and more unto
the perfect day; the name becomes an immortal name, the man is numbered with the
saints in glory everlasting, and the very record of his life tells with tremendous moral
force, even down to this far-off day, and here in this remote land, and is helpful, and
precious, and stands like a tower of strength amidst the waves of this troublesome
world. (Morgan Dix, D. D.)
Peter’s cry of despairing love
The feeling of St. Peter, as he uttered this cry, is not unmixed with sensations of
reverence and love. True, it contains within it elements of terror; it is not the
language of that perfect love which casts out fear; it is lower than the awe which
inspires angels and just men made perfect as they are conscious of the imperfections
and limitations of creaturely existence in the presence of the great Alpha and Omega
of all creation. But it is the cry of despairing love, not of despairing hate; the cry of
one who yearns after an unattainable height, not of one who is content to wallow in
the mire of his sins.
I. Undoubtedly it was the effect of FEAR PRODUCED BY A SENSE OF SIN. The
consciousness of standing before a Being of infinite holiness produces in sinful man a
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thrill of moral agony; the force of contrast brings into strong relief the hideous,
intolerable deformity of sin; in the light of that presence sin becomes exceeding
sinful, and the yawning depths of iniquity which lie hid in man’s nature are no longer
veiled by the mists of custom and long habit. Man for the most part is unconscious of
the real foulness of his sin; the moral atmosphere around him is charged therewith;
he imbibes its taint at every breath; the world around him is penetrated with it; it
enters into him at every pore, it suffuses itself more or less over his whole nature.
Hence arises the further realization of sin which results from growth in holiness, the
explanation of the seeming difficulty that the saintliest of mankind confess
themselves the greatest sinners. Men living at a distance from God are actually
without any standard by which to measure their deflection from the Divine law. Only
when a man begins to ascend the hill of God, to make his way out of the foul miasma
amid which he has been living and moving, can he in any measure discover the real
proportions of things, or bring home to his heart the miserable and loathsome forms
of evil by which he has been hitherto surrounded.
II. St. Peter’s words seem to arise out of some feeling of REPUGNANCE BETWEEN
HIS HUMAN WILL AND THE WILL OF AN ALL-HOLY GOD. There is, alas l even in
regenerate nature, a certain amount of antagonism towards the good and acceptable
and perfect will of God. We can none of us be brought into the immediate presence of
God without being conscious of the claim which is made upon us thereby of striving
after a more complete renunciation of our own lusts and desires, a more entire
conformity to that likeness which we instinctlively feel to be the law and pattern of
redeemed humanity. At this, man’s nature rebels.
III. These words seem to spring also from a REVERENT HUMILITY. An intensified
form of the centurion’s faithful saying (Mat_8:8). St. Peter had been treating our
Blessed Lord too much as a mere man; he had been mingling familiarly in His
company, listening to Him as a mere human teacher; and now the consciousness
lights up within him that God was in that place and he knew it not—that he had been
standing at the very gate of heaven. CONCLUSION: Wounded with a sense of
exceeding sinfulness, or conscious of a will struggling against the Divine purpose, or
penetrated with a feeling of unworthiness, you may be ready to exclaim, “Depart
from me,” &c. Yet in that cry is the earnest of your acceptance, not of your rejection.
In that cry lies a sure augury of future success. It is the first step towards penitence,
self-examination, confession, and God’s absolving word. (S. W. Skeffington, M. A.)
Peter’s confession of sin
Observe well what it was which led to this conviction of guilt in Peter’s soul. Not
terror, or judgment; not any view of the anger and justice of the Being with whom he
had to do. It was simply the reception and consciousness of a very great and
exceeding kindness. This made him love what he admired; and the love and the
admiration which he felt to God became, by an easy change, hatred and detestation
against himself. He was softened at the moment that he was convinced; and upon his
melted heart and conscience he wrote the large, deep characters of sin,
1. The greatest and surest test of every man’s state before God is this—How does
he feel toward sin? It is a great thing to have faith enough to see the requirements
of a holy God; faith enough to be conscious that there is a distance; faith enough
to fear.
2. There is no feeling in Peter’s breast akin to the desire to get rid of his religious
thought. He was asking rather that which he thought he ought to ask, than what
he wanted to ask. The humility was real; but it was not enlightened. It was exactly
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what every man ought to say and feel, if he saw only his own breast, and did not
see the bosom of God.
3. This feeling operates differently, according to the moral temperament, or
according to the stage in which a man may happen to stand in the Divine life.
(1) In one, it becomes despair. The soul dares not to admit the thought that it
could ever be received into the love of God. The dread of the sin of
presumption—from which it is the farthest off—is always haunting it. The
very name and joys of heaven seem a mockery to him.
(2) In another man it destroys all sense of God’s mercy. Peace, instead of
being a fact, established by the Cross, and simply taken, is always a thing put
off and off to some distant future. What is this but putting Christ away?
(3) Others seek an intermediate agency between Christ and their soul.
4. It is an unspeakable comfort to know that this awful prayer, which Peter made
in ignorance, was not answered. Christ did not depart from him. Thank God, He
knows when to refuse a prayer. He never leaves those who are only ignorant. (J.
Vaughan, M. A.)
The sense of sin in the Saviour’s presence
Such has ever been the effect of God’s presence felt and realized by a human soul.
Even the sinless angels veil their faces, and worship with an awful reverence before
the throne on high; how much less can man’s nature, penetrated with the mystery of
sin, endure without agony the blinding light and holiness of God! Thus Adam and his
wife, in the first moments of self-conscious guilt, hid themselves among the trees of
the garden from the presence of the Lord God; the people of Israel trembled at the
foot of Sinai, and entreated to hear the voice of God no more; Manoah fears death as
the consequence of the vision of God; the blameless Daniel falls prostrate and
weakened before the great Angel of the Covenant; Isaiah is oppressed with a painful
sense of guilt after witnessing the adoration of the Eternal. And even when God
Incarnate on earth had concealed beneath the tabernacle of our humanity the rays of
His Divine glory, and talked with man face to face, yet there were moments when the
glory of the Divine nature flashed forth from behind the thin veil of flesh, and
confounded the awe-struck senses of the beholders. There were moments at which
even His enemies were driven back, and fell before His presence; and many more
occasions on which the hearts of apostles and friends failed them for fear when they
felt that God was, indeed, in the midst of them. (S. W. Skeffington, M. A.)
The terror of the law
This is a cry which has a long story behind it. It carries us far back as we trace it step
by step along the pages of the Old Testament. St. Peter is testifying to his hold on the
significance of the law. His words carry us back to the voice of Adam as he saw God
draw near in the evening amid the pleasant garden, and he knew the chill of a terrible
fear and hid himself among the trees. Ever since that dismal day there had been in
man a blind terror lest his Father should come too near him. This is the terror which
passes like a shudder through primitive faiths, and turns savage religions into acts of
alarm, into rituals of panic. Men are nervous, discomfited, when their God is near;
and the very cruelties of these savage faiths are cruelties of fear. They know not the
secret of their dread; they cannot syllable the confession, “I am a sinful man.” They
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only know the fear, and passionately, and at any cost, beseech God to depart out of
their coasts. This is the terror which is at work to purge witchcraft. Jacob fleeing
from his home, when he awakes at Bethel, exclaims, “How dreadful is this place; this
is none other but the house of God.” It is the terror, this terror with its deep ground-
tone, which meets us, in its simplest and most natural fashion, in Manoah, when the
vision of the angel did wondrously and vanished, and he cried to his wife, “We shall
surely die, because we have seen God.” And we know its utterance, its stormy
utterance, in the mouths of Israel, at the foot of Sinai, as they cried to Moses, not
“Bring us near to God,” but “ Set bounds lest He break forth upon us. Why should we
die? If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die.” (Canon Scott
Holland.)
The nearer to God, the sharper the anguish
It is not the gross and carnal only, or the ignorant, who know this start, this touch of
shame. The cry breaks from the lips of the purest and the highest; and it breaks from
them with intenser violence, and with more startling passion. The nearer to God, the
sharper the anguish, and the more vehement the protestation, “Depart from me.” It
is Job, with his whole heart aflame with righteousness, after a life which—as it lay
there under his human review—looked so fair and high and blameless; it is he who is
stricken with theancient fear as he sees God with the seeing of the eye, and thus
abhors himself. And it is Isaiah, the evangelical prophet, who crowds into hot words
the fullest passion of the old cry (Isa_6:1-5). So has it ever been, until the last word of
the last prophet is there to tell us how he wondered lest He, for whom they had all,
one after another, so ardently waited, should consume them by His very coming:
“Who shall abide the day of His coming? Who shall stand when He appeareth? for He
is like a refiner’s fire.” (Canon Scott Holland.)
Peter’s surprise and fear
It was not at all surprising to him that Jesus should draw very near, and should ask
for his boat, and with him launch out. He was not alarmed or disturbed at such an
invitation; rather, everything in it to him was most natural and most habitual. There
seemed nothing to herald a spiritual crisis; it is the old task of the fisherman to which
he is used, the task familiar to him all his days. From earliest childhood he had lived
with the nets and the boats on the edge of those home waters. It is the old art that
would be his surely till death should lay him to sleep, or till be became too old to do
more than watch the younger men take his place in the old haunts. Everything stood
for him that morning as it had ever been; nothing seemed ready for any great shock
or surprise. No word of expectancy gathered over that sleeping scene. There lay the
broad waters as they had lain a thousand times before under his eyes; there stood the
hills, quiet and ancient and unmoved; and the same sky bent over him as had ever
bent over him, familiar and dear; and the same shores spread away with the old
curves and creeks and headlands, and villages greeting him with all that motionless
image of home. What symptom was there of that coming joy? How should he expect
anything at all? He was too weary to expect much, for he had toiled long and taken
nothing. It was but in a dull, passive acquiescence that he pushed out his boat.
Aimless and dispirited as he was how could he guess that it was to be the very last
time that he would ever be as he had always been, the very last time that he would sit
there on the shore mending his nets. Suddenly, like a flash of lightning, the moment
is upon him; there is a start, a wonder, as the fish swarm into the net. What is it, this
strange draught? What is it but a stroke of luck? Nay, a finger is upon him,
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admonitory and masterful, a thrill shoots through him, and he tingles as with a touch
of flame. He turns to look at Him who sits there close by him in the boat. Who is He,
and what? So quiet He seems, so human, so near, so serene; yet an awe has fallen
upon Peter, and a terror shakes him. Very near and very intimate the Master is, and
yet how is it that behind these steady human eyes there grows a terror—a terror as of
the fires of Sinai or the thunderings of Horeb? How is it that within that quiet, gentle
voice of His, there seems to be ringing the sound of that trumpet that grows louder
and louder, until Israel fell on their faces afraid? The Master sits as He had always
sat, and looked as He had always looked; and yet this tremor, this dread, as of a guilty
thing surprised! It is the old-world fear, it is the ancient dismay that has fallen upon
him, such as fell upon Isaiah when he saw the Lord high and lifted up between the
cherubim. He cannot be mistaken; his true and pure spirit reads off the secret at a
glance and at a flash. How, he knows not; but it is God upon whom He is looking. He
is sure of it. He is seeing God, and therefore he cannot endure it; God very near; he
sees Him with the seeing of an eye, as Job of old, and therefore he abhors himself in
dust and ashes. (Canon Scott Holland.)
The awakening of St. Peter
After his first interview with Christ, Peter went home to his daily work. The words
Christ had spoken to him were allowed to sink deep into his heart. There was a pause
in life before the next impression was made upon him. For the first time in his life the
unlearned fisherman had been recognized by one greater than himself. We may
imagine in some degree what were his thoughts as he lay at night within his boat,
rocked on the indolent surge of the lake, letting his thoughts wander with his eyes
among the stars, and hearing nothing but the cry of the wild fowl on the lake, and the
rustle of the oleander on the shore: “Shall I meet Jesus once again, or will He forget
me in the greatness of His work?” And one fair morning, as he sat on the glittering
beach of shells, mending his nets, his desire was answered. By all that Peter had gone
through there had been kindled in his soul the first sparks of love to Christ, fitly
mingled with veneration. But as yet there had been no spiritual element connected
with them, and Christ’s object was to awaken more than friendship. Peter loved,
reverenced, believed; but he had not linked his love and reverence and faith to any
profound feeling such as knits the forgiven sinner to a forgiving Father. And it is in
what now took place, in the awakening of the slumbering forces of the spirit, that
Peter was lifted into another and a higher, though a more sorrowful and more
tempted life. Peter’s expression of his emotion reveals one of those states of mingled
feelings which seem too strange to be understood, but which we feel to be true to our
human nature. It was a mixture of repulsion and attraction, of fear that repelled, of
love that drew. “Depart from me,” &c., that was the cry of his lips, and it rose half out
of fear at the revelation of holiness, half out of shame at the revelation of his own
sinfulness. But with this was something more. His fear and shame sprang out of his
lower self; but he could not remain in fear or shame with that wonderful and tender
face looking down upon him, as he knelt among the nets. His higher being rose in
passion to meet the encouragement of Christ. That which was akin to Christ in him
saw and recognized with joy—joy that took then the garments of a noble sorrow, the
beauty of holiness in Christ; remembered that this holiness had come to meet him,
sought him out and loved him—and at the thought, all his nobler nature darted
forward with a cry, repelled the lower that would have exiled Christ through fear, and
threw him down, forgetting all else in utter love and broken-hearted humbleness, at
the feet of Christ. “Depart from me—no, never, my Lord and Master, never leave me.
There, in Thy holiness, can I alone find rest; in being with Thee always alone
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salvation from my wrong-doing; in loving Thee with all my heart alone the strength I
need to conquer fear, and passionate impulse, and weakness in the hour of trial.” Yes,
that is the great step which takes us over the threshold into the temple of a spiritual
life with God. And the life which succeeds that revelation of holiness and sin is no life
of mere feeling. “Follow Me,” said Christ, “and I will make you a fisher of men”; and
Peter left all and followed Him. This part of the story does not tell us to throw aside
our daily work, unless it should happen that we have a special apostolic call; but it
does tell us to change our motives, our ideas, our aims: to live the life of Christ, the
life that gives up life to others. (Stopford A. Brooke, M. A )
Conviction of sin in the mind of Peter
We have here a specimen of the Redeemer’s method of teaching. He taught by
actions. His miracles had a voice. The advantage of this symbolic teaching twofold:
1. It was a living thing.
2. It saves us from dead dogmas. Our thoughts branch off into two divisions.
I. THE MEANING AND OBJECT OF THE MIRACLE. More than all others it taught
God’s personality. The meaning and intention of every miracle is to break through
the tyranny of the words “law” and “Nature.”
II. THE EFFECTS PRODUCED ON PETER’S MIND. The sense of personal sin.
1. When we come to look at the cause of this we see that the impression was
(a) partly owing to the apostle’s Jewish education. The Jews always
recognized the personality, of God, therefore this only awoke what was
acknowledged before;
(b) partly also it was produced by the pure presence of Jesus Christ.
Wherever the Redeemer went, He elicited a strange sense of sin. And this
is not the case only in our Redeemer’s personal ministry, but it is so
wherever Christianity is preached.
2. The nature of this conviction of sin in Peter’s bosom. There is a remorse which
is felt for crime, but this was not Peter’s case. The language of holy men when
they speak of sin is startling. In order to understand it, and to comprehend
Peter’s conviction of guilt, we must look at the three principles which guide the
life of three different classes of men.
(a) Obedience to the opinion of the world;
(b) The standard of a man’s own opinion;
(c) The light of the life of God.
The first of these makes the man of honour; the second, the man of virtue; the third,
the man of saintliness. Up to this time Peter had lived an upright man, full of self-
reliance; from this time he began to walk lowly and learnt self-forgetfulness. This is
the way in which Christ produces conviction of sin—by placing before us infinite love,
infinite loving-kindness, and a perfect humanity. We fall in the dust before this, and
say, “We are sinful men, O Lord.” We are sinners, we have erred exceedingly, and we
have seen the infinite charity of God stream forth in the majesty of Jesus Christ. It is
possible for us to bear the splendour of that presence only when love has taken the
place of fear, and we feel that we need fear nothing, neither death nor hell nor men.
(F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
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Humility
Few stories in the New Testament are as well known as this. Few go home more
deeply to the heart of man. Most simple, most graceful is the story, and yet it has in it
depths unfathomable. Great painters have loved to draw, great poets have loved to
sing, that scene on the Lake of Gennesaret. The clear blue water, land-locked with
mountains; the meadows on the shore, gay with their lilies of the field; the rich
gardens, olive-yards, and vineyards on the slopes; the towns and villas scattered
along the shore, all of bright white lime-stone gay in the sun; the crowds of boats,
fishing continually for the fish which swarm to this day in the lake; everywhere
beautiful country life, busy and gay, healthy and civilized—and in the midst of it, the
Maker of all heaven and earth sitting in a poor fisher’s boat, and condescending to
tell them where the shoal of fish was lying. It is a wonderful scene. Let us thank God
that it happened once on earth. Though our God and Saviour no longer walks this
earth in human form, He is near us now and here. There is in us the same heart as
there was in St. Peter for evil and for good. When he found suddenly that it was the
Lord who was in his boat, his first feeling was one of fear. Do we never feel the
thought of God’s presence a burden? God grant to us all, that after that first feeling of
dread and awe is over, we may go on, as Peter did, to the better feelings of
admiration, loyalty, worship; and say at last, as Peter said afterwards, “Lord, to
whom shall we go? for Thou hast the words of eternal life”
But do I blame St. Peter for saying, “Depart from me,” &c. Who am I, to blame St.
Peter? Especially when even the Lord Jesus did not blame him, but only bade him
not to be afraid. And why did the Lord not blame him, even when he asked Him to go
away? Because St. Peter was honest. He said frankly and naturally what was in his
heart. He spoke not from dislike of our Lord, but from modesty; from a feeling of
awe, of uneasiness, of dread, at the presence of One who was infinitely greater, wiser,
better than himself. And that feeling of reverence and honesty is a Divine and noble
feeling—the beginning of all goodness. Peter felt unworthy to be in such good
company. He felt unworthy—he, the ignorant fisher-man—to have such a guest in his
poor boat. “Go elsewhere, Lord,” he tried to say, “to a place and to companions more
fit for Thee. I am ashamed to stand in Thy presence. I am dazzled by the brightness
of Thy countenance, crushed down by the thought of Thy wisdom and power, uneasy
lest I say or do something unfit for Thee; Thou knowest not what a poor miserable
creature I am at heart—Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” There spake
out the truly noble soul, who was ready the next moment, as soon as he had
recovered himself, to leave all and follow Christ; who was ready afterwards to
wander, to suffer, to die upon the cross for his Lord; and who, when he was led out
to, execution asked (it is said) to be crucified with his head downwards, seeing that it
was too much honour for him to die looking to heaven, as his Lord had died. Do you
not understand me yet? Then think what you would have thought of Peter, if, instead
of saying what he did, he had said, “ Stay with me, for I am a holy man, O Lord. I am
just the sort of person who deserves the honour of Thy company; and my boat, poor
though it is, more fit for Thee than the palace of a king.” (Charles Kingsley.)
The sense of sin evoked by Christ and Christianity
When Simeon, on the verge of life, uttered his parting hymn within the Temple, he
told Mary, with the infant Jesus in his arms, that, by that child, “the thoughts of
many hearts should be revealed.” Never was prophecy more true; nor ever perhaps
the mission of our religion more faithfully defined. For wherever it has spread, it has
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operated like a new and Diviner conscience to the world; imparting to the human
mind a profounder insight into itself; opening to its consciousness fresh powers and
better aspirations; and penetrating it with a sense of imperfection, a concern for the
moral frailties of the will, characteristic of no earlier age. The spirit of religious
penitence, the solemn confession of unfaithfulness, the prayer for mercy, are the
growth of our nature trained in the school of Christ. The pure image of His mind, as
it has passed from land to land, has taught men more of their own hearts than all the
ancient aphorisms of self-knowledge, has inspired more sadness at the evil, more
noble help for the good that is hidden there; and has placed within reach of even the
ignorant, the neglected, and the young, severer principles of self-scrutiny than
philosophy had ever attained. The radiance of so great a sanctity has deepened the
shades of conscious sin. The savage convert who before knew nothing more sacred
than revenge and war, is brought to Jesus, and, as he listens to that voice, feels the
stain of blood growing distinct upon his soul. The voluptuary, never before disturbed
from his self-indulgence, comes within the atmosphere of Christ’s spirit; and it is as if
a gale of heaven fanned his fevered brow, and convinced him that he is not in health.
The ambitious priest, revolving plans for using men’s passions as tools of his
aggrandisements, starts to find himself the disciple of One who, when the people
would have made Him King, fled direct to solitude and prayer. The froward child
blushes to think how little there is in him of the infant meekness which Jesus
praised; and feels that, had he been there, he must have missed the benediction, or
more bitter still, have wept to know it misapplied. Nay, so deep and solemn did the
sense of guilt become under the influence of Christian thoughts, that at length the
overburdened heart of fervent times could endure the weight no longer; the
Confessional arose, and it became the chief object of the widest sacerdotal order
which the world has ever seen, to soothe the sobs, and listen to the whispered record
of human penitence. Everywhere the Christian mind proclaims its need of mercy, and
bends beneath the oppression of its guilt; and since Jesus began to “reveal the
thoughts of many hearts,” Christendom, with clasped hands, has fallen at His feet
and cried, “We are sinful men, O Lord.” In nurturing this sentiment, in producing
this solemn estimate of moral evil and quick perception of its existence, the religion
of Christ does blot perpetuate the influence of His personal ministry. (J. Martineau,
LL. D.)
Illumination
A flash of supernatural illumination had revealed to him both his own sinful
unworthiness and who He was who was with him in the boat. It was the cry of self-
loathing which had already realized something nobler. It was the first impulse of fear
and amazement, before they had had time to grow into adoration and love. St. Peter
did not mean the “Depart from me”; he only meant—and this was known to the
Searcher of hearts—“I am utterly unworthy to be near Thee, yet let me stay.” How
unlikewas this cry of his passionate and trembling humility to the bestial ravings of
the unclean spirits, who bade the Lord to let them alone; or to the hardened
degradation of the filthy Gadarenes, who preferred to the presence of their Saviour
the tending of their swine! (Archdeacon Farrar.)
Self-loathing in view of infinite purity
We read in profane history of an old woman who fell mad on seeing her deformity in
a looking-glass. There is enough in the view which the mirror of the Word gives us of
our individual character, if not to drive us to derangement and despair, to prostrate
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us in the dust of self-abasement and self-abhorrence; and still more affecting and
overpowering does this view of ourselves become in the presence of the Infinite
Purity.
The impression made by Christ’s holiness
I. In the first place, A VIEW OF THE CHARACTER OF JESUS CHRIST AWAKENS
THE FEELING OF SINFULNESS. It is absolutely perfect. The character of Jesus is
fathomless; and what has been remarked of Christianity by one of the early Roman
bishops, may with equal truth be said of the character of its Author: “It is like the
firmament; the more diligently you search it, the more stars will you discover. It is
like the ocean; the longer you regard it, the more immeasurable will it appear to you.”
When the characteristic qualities of Christ are distinctly beheld in their holy and
spotless beauty by a sinful man, the contrast is felt immediately. The instant that his
eye rests upon the sinlessness of Jesus, it turns involuntarily to the sinfulness of
himself. He realizes that he is a different man from “the man Christ Jesus;” and that
except so far as he is changed by Divine grace, there can he no sympathy and union
with Him. This is a proper and blessed mood for an imperfectly sanctified Christian.
It corresponds with the facts of the case. How can pride, the essence of sin, dwell in
such a spirit? It is excluded.
II. INTIMATELY CONNECTED, IN THE SECOND PLACE, WITH A VIEW OF
CHRIST’S CHARACTER, IS THAT OF CHRIST’S DAILY LIFE. When this with its
train of holy actions passes before the mind of the believer, it produces a deep sense
of indwelling sin. This sense of sin as related to justice should hold a prominent place
in the Christian experience; and in proportion as it is first vividly elicited by the
operation of the law, and then is completely pacified by a view of Christ as suffering
“the just for the unjust,” will be the depth of our love towards Him, and the simplicity
and entireness of our trust in Him. Those who, like Paul and Luther, have had the
clearest perception of the iniquity of sin, and of their own criminality before God,
have had the most luminous and constraining view of Christ as the” Lamb of God.”
III. Having thus directed attention to the fact that there is such a distinct feeling as
guilt, we remark, in the third place, THAT THE CONTEMPLATION OF THE
SUFFERINGS AND DEATH OF CHRIST BOTH ELICITS AND PACIFIES IT, IN
THE BELIEVER. Whoever beholds human transgression in the light of the Cross, has
no doubts as to the nature and character of the Being nailed to it; and he has no
doubts as to his own nature and character. The distinct and intelligent feeling of
culpability forbids that he should omit to look at sin in its penal relations, and
enables him to understand these relations. The vicarious atonement of Christ is well
comprehended because it is precisely what the guilt-smitten conscience craves in its
restlessness and anguish. The believer now has wants which are met in this sacrifice.
His moral feelings are all awake, and the fundamental feeling of guilt pervades and
tinges them all; until in genuine contrition, he holds up the Lamb of God in his
prayer for mercy, and cries out to the Just One: “This oblation which Thou Thyself
hast provided is my propitiation; this atones for my sin.” Then the expiating blood is
applied by the Holy Ghost, and the conscience is filled with the peace of God that
passeth all understanding. “Then,” to use the language of Leighton, “the conscience
makes answer to God: ‘Lord, I have found that there is no standing in the judgment
before Thee, for the soul in itself is overwhelmed with a world of guiltiness; but I find
a blood sprinkled upon it that hath, I am sure, virtue enough to purge it all away, and
to present it pure unto Thee. And I know that wheresoever Thou findest that blood
sprinkled, Thine anger is quenched and appeased immediately upon the sight of it.
Thine hand cannot smite when that blood is before thine eye.’” We have thus
considered the effect, in awakening a sense of sin, produced by a clear view of the
character, life, and death of Christ. But how dim and indistinct is our vision of all
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this! It should be one of our most distinct and earnest aims, to set a crucified
Redeemer visibly before our eyes, (W. G. T. Shedd, D. D.)
Peter’s confession
I. Remark his CONFESSIONS “I am a sinful man.”
II. His PETITION—“Depart from me, O Lord!” The following things seem to be
implied.
1. Great fear and distress. Few, unless they have been in something of the same
situation, can guess at the various agitations of Peter’s mind. What a sense he
now had of his own vileness, and what views of the excellency of Christ I Rebecca
alighted from her camel when she saw Isaac, and prostrated herself before him:
and whatever opinion we may have entertained of ourselves before, sure I am,
that we shall be sensible of our own nothingness when we view ourselves in the
light of the Divine perfections.
2. It implies modesty and diffidence, which kept him at a distance from Him who
not only admits, but invites to the greatest nearness. Peter felt on this occasion
somewhat like the centurion, when he said, “I am not worthy that thou shouldst
come under my roof.”
3. This request bespeak a rashness and inconsideration, much remaining
darkness and ignorance. That might be applied to Peter here, which is said of him
in another place: “He wist not what to say, for he was sore afraid.” (B. Beddome,
M. A)
Fifth Sunday after Trinity
Let us consider, with reference to this subject—
I. The truth of Peter’s confession.
II. The unreasonableness of his petition. That Peter was a sinful man, who can
possibly doubt? He was the child of Adam, inheriting his corrupt nature; and it must
therefore needs be that he was a sinner before God. With some, the alarms of
conscience are soon appeased; such heavings of the soul within are lulled speedily to
rest. Some endeavour to quiet them by sedatives, or soothing applications, altogether
inadmissible. “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest.” Such are the gracious purposes of God towards us. To depart from Him,
because we are sinners, would be to reverse the order of Heaven’s law and
appointment. What is it, however, which will cause God to depart from us, or
ourselves to desire that He should do so? Every kind and form of wilful and habitual
sin; all unfaithfulness to God. (H. J. Hastings, M. A.)
9 For he and all his companions were astonished
at the catch of fish they had taken,
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GILL, "Far he was astonished, and all that were with him,.... His brother
Andrew, and the servants they had with them to manage the vessel, and cast the nets:
at the draught of the fishes they had taken; being so large and numerous, as
the like was never seen, nor known by them before.
COFFMAN, "It may well be supposed that Andrew was also present; but Luke's
purpose here was evidently that of detailing the circumstances under which the
"inner circle" of the apostolic group were called. This, of course, was not the
first time these had met Jesus, as more fully explained in John. However, this
was the instant of their being called into a new and higher relationship with
Jesus as apostles. Elements which aided their decision were (1) the consciousness
of Jesus' miraculous power, (2) a vision of something greater, "thou shalt catch
men," and (3) a consciousness of sin. Only Peter acknowledged sin here; but it
may be that the others were equally guilty of the same attitude.
PETT, "Verse 9-10
‘For he was amazed, and all who were with him, at the draught of the fishes
which they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who
were partners with Simon.’
Luke then explains the reason for Peter’s words. It was because he, and all who
were with him, together with their partners James and John in the other boat,
were filled with astonishment at this amazing happening. They all had many
years of fishing experience behind them, but they had never seen anything like
this. (The reversion to ‘Simon’ adds emphasis to the inclusion of Peter in the
previous verse).
We note all through how skilfully Luke keeps the attention on Simon Peter,
while bringing in others when necessary, and cleverly introducing James and
John so that they can be involved in the call, and yet without taking the attention
off Simon Peter.
10 and so were James and John, the sons of
Zebedee, Simon’s partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid;
from now on you will fish for people.”
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BARNES, "Fear not - He calmed their fears. With mildness and tenderness he
stilled all their troubled feelings, and to their surprise announced that henceforward
they should be appointed as heralds of salvation.
From henceforth - Hereafter.
Shalt catch men - Thou shalt be a minister of the gospel, and thy business shall
be to win people to the truth that they may be saved.
CLARKE, "Thou shalt catch men - Ανθρωπους εσᇽ ζωγρων, Thou shalt catch
men alive; this is the proper signification of the word. Fear not: these discoveries of
God tend to life, not to death; and ye shall become the instruments of life and
salvation to a lost world. These fish are taken to be killed and fed on; but those who
are converted under your ministry shall be preserved unto eternal life. See on Mat_
4:18 (note), etc., where this subject is considered more at large.
GILL, "And so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee,.... Who were
in the other ship, and had been beckoned to them to come and help them, and did
come, and were witnesses of the miracle:
which were partners with Simon; were sharers with him in loss and gain in the
fishing trade; these were equally astonished at the miracle, as Simon and his brother,
and the men that were in the boat with them, where Jesus was:
and Jesus said unto Simon; who was at his knees, and expressed his dread of his
majesty, and the consternation of mind he was in particularly:
fear not; do not be afraid of me, I shall do thee no harm, nor shall the boats sink, or
any damage come to any person, or to the vessels, nor be so much amazed and
affrighted, at the multitude of the fish taken:
from henceforth thou shalt catch men; alive, as the word signifies, or "unto
life", as the Syriac and Persic versions render it; thou shalt cast the net of the Gospel,
and be the happy instrument of drawing many persons out of the depths of sin and
misery, in which they are plunged, into the way of life and salvation; and which was
greatly verified, in the conversion of three thousand at one cast, under one sermon of
his, Act_2:41
HENRY, “The occasion which Christ took from this to intimate to Peter (Luk_
5:10), and soon after to James and John (Mat_4:21), his purpose to make them his
apostles, and instruments of planting his religion in the world. He said unto Simon,
who was in the greatest surprise of any of them at this prodigious draught of fishes,
“Thou shalt both see and do greater things than these; fear not; let not this astonish
thee; be not afraid that, after having done thee this honour, it is so great that I shall
never do thee more; no, henceforth thou shalt catch men, by enclosing them in the
gospel net, and that shall be a greater instance of the Redeemer's power, and his
favour to thee, than this is; that shall be a more astonishing miracle, and infinitely
more advantageous than this.” When by Peter's preaching three thousand souls
were, in one day, added to the church, then the type of this great draught of fishes
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was abundantly answered.
JAMISON, "Simon, fear not — This shows how the Lord read Peter’s speech.
The more highly they deemed Him, ever the more grateful it was to the Redeemer’s
spirit. Never did they pain Him by manifesting too lofty conceptions of Him.
from henceforth — marking a new stage of their connection with Christ. The last
was simply, “I will make you fishers.”
fishers of men — “What wilt thou think, Simon, overwhelmed by this draught of
fishes, when I shall bring to thy net what will beggar all this glory?” (See on Mat_
4:18.)
CALVIN, "Luke 5:10.For afterwards thou shalt catch men. The words of
Matthew are, I will make you fishers of men; and those of Mark are, I will cause
that you may become fishers of men. They teach us, that Peter, and the other
three, were not only gathered by Christ to be his disciples, but were made
apostles, or, at least, chosen with a view to the apostleship. It is, therefore, not
merely a general call to faith, but a special call to a particular office, that is here
described. The duties of instruction, I do admit, are not yet enjoined upon them;
but still it is to prepare them for being instructors, (340) that Christ receives and
admits them into his family. This ought to be carefully weighed; for all are not
commanded to leave their parents and their former occupation, and literally
(341) to follow Christ. There are some whom the Lord is satisfied with having in
his flock and his Church, while he assigns to others their own station. Those who
have received from him a public office ought to know, that something more is
required from them than from private individuals. In the case of others, our
Lord makes no change as to the ordinary way of life; but he withdraws those
four disciples from the employment from which they had hitherto derived their
subsistence, that he may employ their labors in a nobler office.
Christ selected rough mechanics, — persons not only destitute of learning, but
inferior in capacity, that he might train, or rather renew them by the power of
his Spirit, so as to excel all the wise men of the world. He intended to humble, in
this manner, the pride of the flesh, and to present, in their persons, a remarkable
instance of spiritual grace, that we may learn to implore from heaven the light of
faith, when we know that it cannot be acquired by our own exertions. Again,
though he chose unlearned and ignorant persons, he did not leave them in that
condition; and, therefore, what he did ought not to be held by us to be an
example, as if we were now to ordain pastors, who were afterwards to be trained
to the discharge of their office. We know the rule which he prescribes for us, by
the mouth of Paul that none ought to be called to it, unless they are “ apt to
teach,” (1 Timothy 3:2.) When our Lord chose persons of this description it was
not because he preferred ignorance to learning as some fanatics do, who are
delighted with their own ignorance, and fancy that, in proportion as they hate
literature, they approach the nearer to the apostles. He resolved at first, no
doubt, to choose contemptible persons, in order to humble the pride of those who
think that heaven is not open to the unlearned; but he afterwards gave to those
fishers, as an associate in their office, Paul, who had been carefully educated
from his childhood.
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As to the meaning of the metaphor, fishers of men, there is no necessity for a
minute investigation. Yet, as it was drawn from the present occurrence, the
allusion which Christ made to fishing, when he spoke of the preaching of the
Gospel, was appropriate: for men stray and wander in the world, as in a great
and troubled sea, till they are gathered by the Gospel. The history related by the
Evangelist John (John 1:37) differs from this: for Andrew, who had been one of
John’s disciples, was handed over by him to Christ, and afterwards brought his
brother along with him. At that time, they embraced him as their master, but
were afterwards elevated to a higher rank.
PETT, "And Jesus then gently said to Simon Peter. “Do not be overawed, from
now on you will be taking men alive.” It was His call to Peter to follow Him, and
both knew it, just as both knew that Peter had had a life-changing experience.
And it was an illustration of the fact that his future life was to be involved in
‘netting’ men. He was to be a ‘winner of souls’. In the other Gospels the call is
put more blatantly, ‘Follow Me.’ Both were surely said, for in neither case do we
have the full conversations. From now on Jesus was going to train Peter to be a
preacher, a catcher of men. And for Peter and the others life would never be the
same again.
As we have already seen the picture of men of God as fishermen is found in the
Old Testament. The scattered children of Israel were to be gathered by
‘fishermen’ fishing them (Jeremiah 16:16). No wonder Jesus chose fishermen.
They were skilled at it.
NISBET, "THE FUNCTION AND SIGNIFICANCE OF MIRACLE
‘Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.’
Luke 5:10
In considering this narrative there are two subjects on which we may dwell; first,
the general function of miracle in the ministry of our Lord; and next, the
symbolic significance of this miracle in particular.
I. The function of miracle.—What this true function of miracle is may best be
gathered from John’s comment on the first miracle at Cana of Galilee (John
2:11). By it ‘He manifested forth His glory, and His disciples believed on Him.’
Various words are used in the Gospel narratives to describe miracles. The
simplest, and perhaps least significant, is the word which we render ‘wonder.’
The second is a word denoting properly a ‘power’ at work. The third is the word
‘sign.’ Of what is miracle a sign? The answer is clear. It is a sign of the manifest
intervention of a superhuman will and purpose in the realms of nature and of
humanity, working in the one absolutely, in the other with the concurrence
through faith of the wills of those on whom it works. As such, it is intended
further to call the world’s attention to the character and mission of Him Who
works it, and to incline men to listen reverently to His Word, and bow to His
authority. Its function is thus simply preparatory.
II. The symbolic meaning of this particular miracle.—The key to that meaning is
given by His charge to the Apostles to be ‘fishers of men,’ and by His parable
(see Matthew 13:47-50), which likens the Kingdom of Heaven to a ‘draw-net cast
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into the sea.’ In all points of the narrative we trace the ever-recurring experience
of the Church of Christ, especially in the apostolic age, but also at all great
epochs of progress and revival.
His messengers are to be earnest and faithful ‘fishers of men.’
Bishop Barry.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
FISHERS OF MEN
Observe:—
I. The presence of Christ ensures success.—The net enclosed a great multitude of
fishes. We can wash the Gospel nets. We can mend the Gospel nets. We can let
down those nets into the seething sea of human life; but without the Spirit of
Christ we cannot save, or help, or comfort a single soul.
II. St. Peter’s astonishment.—St. Peter did not mean ‘depart,’ and Christ knew
it. There were two causes for St. Peter’s astonishment. He saw the glory of his
Lord; he felt the sinfulness of his own heart. Such an experimental acquaintance,
both with Christ and with self, is necessary to the salvation of any man.
III. The Lord’s gracious promise.—The Greek is, ‘Thou shalt take men alive.’
Fish are caught for death, for food; men are to be caught for life. Every true
minister of the Gospel can look his people in the face and say, ‘I seek not yours,
but you.’ The real object of the preaching of the Gospel is a gathering of souls
unto God; that men may be brought out by grace from lives of self-pleasing and
self-indulgence, and led to consecrate themselves to Christ as their only Lord and
Master.
—Rev. F. Harper.
Illustration
‘There was a circumstance connected with the miracle that St. Peter had
witnessed, which was especially to be attended to in connection with his future
ministry. The general life of a fisherman was no doubt toilsome and hard; but it
was also upon the whole successful. Christ chose a moment in St. Peter’s life for
the enforcing of the great lesson which He desired to teach when the labour had
been peculiarly unsuccessful; they had toiled all night and had taken nothing,
and it was after this night of fruitless effort that Christ joined the party and bid
them once more cast out their nets. It was not, therefore, the general success of
their occupation that made Christ choose the life of fishermen as the type of the
life of His Apostles; He would not represent the work to which he called Peter
and James and John as an ordinary work, which they had only to go about as
they would about any other work in order to ensure success; he rather took the
fishermen at a moment when their human sagacity and skill had failed them, and
when they had given up their endeavours for the time as useless, in order to show
them that the mainspring of their success in their future work was to be, not
confidence in their own skill, but faith in Himself. Moreover, the personal
presence of Christ could very much strengthen the lesson.’
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(THIRD OUTLINE)
THE MINISTERS CALLING
What was true of St. Peter is true, in measure, of every Christian minister.
I. The sea.—The sea, in which the catcher of men plies his benevolent vocation, is
the world of human society. In its vastness, in its vicissitudes, in its uncertainties,
in its dangers, this world of humanity is as a great ocean, both inviting and yet
often repelling the toil of the toiler.
II. The fish.—The fish which are sought in this sea are human souls. As the
disciples, in exercising their calling, sometimes toiled all night and caught
nothing, because the fish were wary or were elsewhere, so we are reminded, by
the figurative language of the text, that it is a hard, laborious, unpromising task
in which the preachers of the Gospel are engaged. Toil is often followed by
disappointment and discouragement.
III. The net.—The net which is cast into this sea is the Gospel—an instrument
devised by Divine wisdom, and adapted to enclose souls of every kind. Without
the net the fisherman is helpless; with the net he is Divinely equipped.
IV. Things which make for success.—The qualities of the successful fisherman
are to be imitated by the faithful minister of Jesus Christ. Skill, assiduity,
patience, perseverance, with the blessing of God, may effect great wonders.
V. The result.—The catching of the fish may represent the bringing souls within
the sacred and secure environment of the Church, and the landing of them may
picture the leading them to heavenly felicity. The Christian minister is only
satisfied and rewarded when those who are far from God are brought nigh, are
made partakers of eternal salvation.
Illustration
‘This miracle had a twofold object. It was intended to produce an immediate
effect upon their minds, to deepen their faith in a Master Who had called them,
and to set forth His power, His watchfulness, His love. But still more it was
intended to take effect in the future; it was emphatically a prophetic miracle, it
was to be looked back to and to yield inexhaustible comfort again and again,
amid the heavy cares and discouraging tasks of the years to come, when the
Gospel net had been finally put into their hands, and they had become fishers of
men. How many a time when that net has been cast and drawn to the shore by
weary arms and found empty—how many a time the memory of this scene has
revived the sinking hearts of workers for Christ! The great triumphs of the
Gospel of Christ have often been like the miraculous draught of fishes—
overpowering surprises after periods of stagnation. The success has been
perilous from its very magnitude, and the suddenness of its demand upon the
strength and skill of those who had to reap it.’
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Jesus does not depart from nor reject sinners who feel conviction because of
their sin. He draws them to Himself and sends them out to serve Him. Jesus used
the fish to represent people that Peter would draw into the kingdom of God and
before that into the church (cf. Acts 2; Acts 10:9-48). This seems to be a reference
to catching in the sense of saving rather than in the sense of judging and
destroying.
"Fishermen caught live fish to kill them, but the disciples would be catching
people who were dead to give them life." [Note: Bailey, p. 112.]
Peter and his three companions immediately abandoned their life as fishermen to
become Jesus' disciples full-time (cf. Luke 14:33; Luke 18:22). Only Luke
recorded that Jesus had contact with Peter before He called Peter to follow Him
(cf. Luke 4:38). These fishermen left the greatest catch of their career,
undoubtedly, because of what it showed them of Jesus. [Note: Morris, p. 114.] It
is unlikely that they were able to finance their life as Jesus' disciples with this
catch of fish, as one commentator suggested. [Note: Geldenhuys, p. 182.]
"Luke did not lay particular stress on the thought of giving up all to follow Jesus
(Mark 1:18; Mark 1:20): the accent is on Luke 5:10 with its call to mission."
[Note: Marshall, The Gospel . . ., p. 206.]
The general emphasis in this incident is on the authority of Jesus. His words had
powerful effects. The only proper response to them was submission. Blessing
would follow in the form of participation in Jesus' mission.
"The major application in the miracle of the catch of fish centers around Jesus'
instructions and Peter's responses. In the midst of teaching many, Jesus calls a
few people to more focused service. Peter is one example of such a call. Everyone
has a ministry, and all are equal before God, but some are called to serve him
directly. Peter has the three necessary qualities Jesus is looking for. He is willing
to go where Jesus leads, he is humble, and he is fully committed." [Note: Bock,
Luke, p. 163.]
This whole first section describing Jesus' teaching mission (Luke 4:14 to Luke
5:11) focuses on Jesus' authority and the proper response to it.
Verse 12
B. The beginning of controversy with the Pharisees 5:12-6:11
One of Luke's purposes in his Gospel and in Acts appears to have been to show
why God stopped working particularly with Israel and began working with Jews
and Gentiles equally in the church. [Note: Liefeld, p. 879.] The Jewish leaders'
rejection of Jesus was a major reason for this change. The conflict between them
is an important feature of this Gospel.
This section of the Gospel includes six incidents. In the first one Jesus served
notice to the religious leaders in Jerusalem that the Messiah had arrived. In the
remaining five pericopes, the Pharisees found fault with Jesus or His disciples.
Mark stressed the conflict that was mounting, but Luke emphasized the positive
aspects of Jesus' ministry that led to the opposition. [Note: Marshall, The
Gospel . . ., p. 206.]
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BI, “Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men
Fishing for men
To be good fishermen we must be—
I.
ARDENTLY ENAMOURED OF THE FISHING.
II. INTIMATELY ACQUAINTED WITH THE FISHES. In following the analogy, we
may observe that, because of his acquaintance with the fishes, the fisherman knows—
1. Where to fish. A novice would throw in his line anywhere; but not so the
fisherman. Fishes of various sorts must be sought in various localities, and in
some places you may seek in vain for any. Many a man has “toiled all the night
and has taken nothing,” simply because he has been trying in the wrong place;
while others round about him have “made a good tide.” For one sort he may go to
the quiet lake and the gentle stream; for another to the open sea or the deep
channel; while for others he has to go out into the great wide ocean. And in our
spiritual fishing we must learn where to catch men. We may find opportunities in
the quiet lakes of our own domestic circles, or in the pleasant streams of our
social friendships. Because of his acquaintance with the fishes, the fisherman also
knows—
2. How to fish. Like men, fishes differ very much in their dispositions and habits,
so that what would be suitable for catching one class would not be successful with
another. For instance: While some must be drawn, others must be driven. I have
seen fishermen, after casting their net, row round about it, making as much noise
as possible with their oars, in order to frighten the fishes into it; while, in other
instances, a bright light has been burned in the boat to allure them, if possible,
into the snare. It is exactly so with men. Some are caught in shoals, while others
must be caught singly. There are some that never can be taken in a net, and there
are others that can never be taken with a line. You must go about it very
cautiously. The fish is a shy creature, and many would-be sportsman has driven
away all chance of success by his incautious procedure. Almost anybody can cast
a net, but it requires an expert to use the line. People can successfully address
large assemblies, who are ill at ease when in personal intercourse with the
ungodly. This is a work that demands all our skill and care. You may see a
wonderful example of this in our Saviour’s conversation with the woman at the
well. I have been in the same boat with several persons, each provided with
similar lines, hooks, and bait; and yet some have been as wonderfully successful
as others have been strangely unfortunate. The secret, to those who understood
fishing, was obvious. The good fisherman, knowing exactly how to manage and
tempt his prey, could, with inferior apparatus, secure success; while the novice,
with the best patent gear, might sit, and wait and watch in vain. The application
is easy. Seek to allure men! Make your Christianity an attractive thing! Surround
all you do with the genuine sunshine of the Bible! Reveal Christ, and He “will
draw all men unto Him.” Again, his acquaintance with the fishes will teach the
fisherman—
3. When to fish. “A word in season, how good it is!” Some fishes are to be caught
when the tide is high; others, when it is low; and others, when it is “slack.” Some
can be obtained only in cloudy weather, and others may be caught when the sky is
clear and bright. For some the daylight is needful, and for others there is no time
like the night. And the fit season for approaching men may be equally various. As
in fishing, so, as a rule, with men, the best time to seek them is during “the slack”
of the tide. It is not well to make the attempt during either the full swing of the
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flood, or of the strong rush of the ebb. Indeed, no ordinary lead would carry your
bait to where they are. You must seek men when they are quiet. It is worthy of
observation that most fishes arc caught best in cloudy weather. When the sky is
murky and lowering, then the fisherman puts out to sea. This certainly suggests
to us the appropriateness of Christian words in seasons of sorrow.
III. MORALLY QUALIFIED TO BE FISHERMEN. Piety, patience, perseverance, and
every Christian grace will be needful in this work. Its difficulties are neither few nor
small. (W. H. Burton.)
Catching men alive
Thou shalt catch men. The word “catch” is different from any word that has been
used concerning the fish, and expresses the catching alive of the prey to be caught;
so that the phraseology of our Lord seems to carry with it the thought that fishers of
men are to toil for living creatures, and that unless they be caught alive they might as
well not be caught at all. How well would it be for all those who are called to be
fishers of men, to remember that their work is not to fill their boat with fishes which
may serve as food for themselves, but to catch living men and make them servants of
the Most High God. (Bishop Goodwin.)
Fishers of men
The design of this miracle was twofold. It was intended—
1. To produce an immediate effect upon the minds of Peter and the rest, to
deepen their faith in the Master who had called them, and to set forth His power,
His watchfulness, His love. But still more—
2. To take effect in the future; it was emphatically a prophetic miracle—to be
looked back to and to yield inexhaustible comfort again and again amid the heavy
cares and discouraging tasks of the years to come, when the gospel-net had been
finally put into their hands, and they had become “fishers of men.” St. Peter was
to translate into spiritual language all that belonged to his old fisherman’s life. He
was to understand that it had been in a homely, but still most real, way a
preparation for the new unearthly service to which Christ was calling him. So you
may remember the simple shepherd-life of David is set forth in the seventy-
eighth Psalm as a preparatory discipline for kingly rule. And so, according to the
fancy of an early writer, the trade of tentmaker followed by Saul of Tarsus
prefigured the work which lay in store for Paul the apostle, as the maker of
tabernacles for the people of God, the founder of Churches all over the known
world. (Canon Duckworth.)
The promise that Peter should become a fisher of men was made still more
impressive by a great symbolical miracle.
1. The number of fish caught at Jesus’ word represented the men he should some
day take.
2. As he fished all night and caught nothing, so had he afterwards to labour long
in Israel without winning a single human soul.
3. So, too, at Jesus’ word, he put further out into the deep of the great Gentile
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world, and drew there a great draught.
4. Last of all, there were two boats to fill—the Gentile-Christian and the Jewish
Christian Churches. Then the net began to tear, and the opposition of these two
sections threatened the Church with a grievous schism. But the draught was
brought safely to land, to the confounding of the circumcised Jew, through whose
instrumentality this Divine action had been brought about. (B. Weiss.)
Men-catchers
The man who saves souls is like a fisher upon the sea.
1. A fisher is dependent and trustful.
2. He is diligent and persevering.
3. He is intelligent and watchful.
4. He is laborious and self-denying.
5. He is daring—not afraid to venture upon a dangerous sea.
6. He is successful. He is DO fisher who never catches anything. (C.
H.Spurgeon.)
There is as much analogy as contrast between the first and second vocations of the
sons of Jonas and Zebedee.
1. Like the fisherman, the minister of the gospel must be furnished with a good
net, i.e., he must be conversant with the Scriptures, and mighty in them.
2. Like the fisherman, he must be acquainted with the sea, i.e., the world, and not
fear to confront its perils in pursuance of his calling.
3. Like the fisherman, he must now mend, now cast his nets.
4. Like the fisherman, he must labour perseveringly, and wait patiently.
5. Like the fisherman, he must enter into the spirit of his vocation, i.e., he must
be animated with the enthusiasm of the holy ministry.
6. Like the fisherman, he must dare to expose his life (Act_20:24).
7. Like the fisherman, he must draw in his net after having cast it. (C. Babut, B.
D.)
Sympathy a bait
It is a fact of which we can scarcely make too much, that nothing baits the
gospelfisherman’s hook like sympathy. (Dr. J. Clifford.)
Purposeless sermons
Are an insult to God and man. A sermon that aims at anything short of catching men
is a mistake. Let us beware of converting means into ends. (Dr. J. Clifford.)
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Catching bait
The fisherman, however, thinks far less of his gathering bait than he does of his
catching bait, in which he hides his hook. Very numerous are his inventions for
winning his prey, and it is by practice that he learns how to adapt his bait to his fish.
Scores of things serve as bait, and when he is not actually at work the wise fisherman
takes care to seize anything which comes in his way which may be useful when the
time comes to cast his lines. We usually carried mussels, whelks, and some of the
coarser sorts of fish, which could be used when they were wanted. When the anchor
was down the hooks were baited and let down for the benefit of the inhabitants of the
deep, and great would have been the disappointment if they had merely swarmed
around the delicious morsel, but had refused to partake thereof. A good fisherman
actually catches fish. He is not always alike successful, but, as a rule, he has
something to show for his trouble. I do not call that man a fisherman whose basket
seldom holds a fish; he is sure to tell you of the many bites he had, and of that very
big fish which he almost captured; but that is neither here nor there. There are some
whose knowledge of terms and phrases, and whose extensive preparations lead you
to fear that they will exterminate the fishy race, but as their basket returns empty,
they can hardly be so proficient as they seem. The parable hardly needs expounding:
great talkers and theorizers are common enough, and there are not a few whose
cultured boastfulness is only exceeded by their life-long failure. We cannot take these
for our example, nor fall at their feet with reverence for their pretensions. We must
have sinners saved. Nothing else will content us: the fisherman must take fish or lose
his toil, and we must bring souls to Jesus, or we shall break our hearts with
disappointment. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Sucking off the bait
Walking to the head of the boat one evening, I saw a line over the side, and must
needs hold it. You can feel by your finger whether you have a bite or no, but I was in
considerable doubt whether anything was at the other end or not. I thought they
were biting, but I was not certain, so I pulled up the long line, and found that the
baits were all gone; the fish had sucked them all off, and that was what they were
doing when I was in doubt. If you have nothing but a sort of gathering bait, and the
fish merely come and suck, but do not take the hook, you will catch no fish; you need
killing bait. This often happens in the Sunday-school. A pleasing speaker tells a story,
and the children are all listening; he has gathered them; now comes the spiritual
lesson, but hardly any of them take notice of it, they have sucked the bait from the
hook, and are up and away. A minister in preaching delivers a telling illustration, all
the ears in the place are open, but when he comes to the application of it the people
have become listless; they like the bait very well, but not the hook; they like the
adornment of the tale, but not the point of the moral. This is poor work. The plan is,
if you possibly can manage it, so to get the bait on the hook that they cannot suck it
off, but must take the hook and all. Do take care, dear friends, when you teach
children or grown-up people, that you do not arrange the anecdotes in such a way
that they can sort them out, as boys pick the plums from their cakes, or else you will
amuse but not benefit. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Over-cautious fishermen
A very zealous revivalist of our acquaintance was wont to say that over-cautious
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preachers were like fishermen who refuse to cast forth the net for fear they might
catch a devil-fish. (From Hervey’s “Manual of Revivals.”)
Sinners must be taken out of their native element
We must never be satisfied till we lift sinners out of their native element. That
destroys fish, but it saves souls. We long to be the means of lifting sinners out of the
water of sin to lay them in the boat at the feet of Jesus. To this end we must enclose
them as in a net; we must shut them up under the law, and surround them with the
gospel, so that there is no getting out, but they must be captives unto Christ. We
must net them with entreaties, encircle them with invitations, and entangle them
with prayers. We cannot let them get away to perish in their sin, we must land them
at the Saviour’s feet. This is our design, but we need help from above to accomplish
it: we require our Lord’s direction to know where to cast the net, and the Spirit’s
helping of our infirmity that we may know how to do it. May the Lord teach us to
profit, and may we return from our fishing, bringing our fish with us. Amen. (C. H.
Spurgeon.)
The draught of fishes
This miracle illustrates—
I. THE LOW LEVEL OF A LIFE WITHOUT CHRIST FOR ITS MASTER. Fishing had
become to these men the chief end and whole aim of living. Up to this time their life
was exceedingly narrow. It had no horizon wider than the sea which held their food
and supplied their trade. Thus they would have lived and died, but for the call and
commission of Christ. The secular ideal of life always binds men to earth. Only Christ
can raise it.
II. THE TRUE RELATION BETWEEN BUSINESS AND RELIGION, Our Lord lived
a carpenter before He died a Saviour. Through all His early manhood He consecrated
manual toil by His own example, and so He wedded the daily and spiritual life for
ever in one. Here He sanctions Simon’s business, even while crowning it with a
higher calling. Our Lord is master both of business and religion; no drudgery is too
low or mean to become, when done for Christ’s sake, the very service of God. How
this transfigures the net of the fisher, the miner’s pick, the grocer’s scales, the clerk’s
tape: in each of them can be discerned a humble tool for the accomplishment of the
Divine will. The servant’s broom, thus held, becomes a sceptre in the hand that holds
it.
III. THE SECULAR LIFE, SUBMITTED TO CHRIST, BECOMES A SCHOOL FOR
THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. It was in doing His daily work for Christ’s sake that Peter
took his first and most needed lesson in apostleship—the lesson of humility. And
thus it is, through the arts and implements which are the most familiar, that the Lord
is always seeking to lift men up from secular to spiritual lives. As the Eastern
astrologers were pointed to the Redeemer’s cradle by a star; as the woman of
Samaria, in the very act of drawing water out of Jacob’s well, was led to dip and drink
of the sweeter waters of life; as Peter, the fisherman, by a surprising draught of fishes
was made lowly enough to catch men—so through the humblest art or calling of the
daily life, the Lord is reaching down hands to train and mould us for a purer spiritual
life and service. The counting-room is no longer narrow, when thus its higher use as
schoolroom of the soul is recognized. Dollars and cents no longer degrade men when
they learn to read on their face, not the name of Caesar only, but the holier seal and
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superscription of God. The irritating cares of home cease to fret the housekeeper’s
spirit when she begins to treat them as part of that ministry by which the Lord seeks
to make her a more profitable servant.
IV. THE NOBLE SERVICES OF A LIFE CONSECRATED IN ALL ITS ACTIVITIES
TO THE LORD. Not all at once; we cannot enter school and graduate the same day. It
needs many lessons; line upon line of experience; but success does come at last.
V. PRACTICAL LESSONS.
1. The service of the Lord is always the truest service we can render to ourselves.
We have all something to give up to become followers of Jesus. Yet give it up!
Yours will be a strange experience if the things you give up for Christ’s sake do
not soon look small beside the things you have gained. They will be, in
comparison, as the Sea of Galilee to the world, as the worth of a fish to the value
of an immortal man.
2. No business on earth is worth following for its own sake. It may be an honest
and innocent business; but if it be not also a Christian calling, and that by our
own most deliberate choice, it will certainly dwarf the higher nature of him who
follows it. It may keep us alive. It may bring us gains. But what are life and wealth
worth, in any sober man’s estimate, when thus secured? The “successes” of
millionaires have been commonly the worst mistakes of life. There is a higher law
reigning over all trades, professions, occupation (1Co_10:31).
3. The climax of all callings is to be a fisher of men. (J. B. Clark.)
The noblest calling
An eminent New England divine, in his last sickness, was asked by a friend, “What
seems to you now the greatest thing?” “Not theology,” said this prince of theologians;
“not controversy,” again replied this chief of debaters; “but,” gathering up his last
breath to speak the words, while his spirit hovered at the gate of heaven, “the greatest
thing in the world is to save a soul.” He spoke of what he knew, for he had felt the joy
of delivering many; and could the witness of all saints, from Peter down to the last
ascended, be taken, would it not be the same, “the greatest thing on earth is to save a
soul”? (J. B. Clark. )
The “net” of a genuine Christian life
You and I may never be heroes of a Pentecost; we are not masters of the great seine,
which Peter and John of old, and some modern disciples, shoot out and catch men by
the thousands; but have we not some humble hand-net with which we can take a
few? Along our coast line, for some years, men have been setting up what they call
“weirs,” consisting of a series of enclosed ponds, connected with each other by
openings, and terminating, at last, in a netted fence running far out into the bay.
Against this netted fence the fish, in their progress, strike, and, following it down,
they are safely enclosed, at last, in the smallest pond where they are easily captured
when the tide is out. Like this netted arm, running far out into the busy world, is a
genuine Christian life. It has none of the special gifts of a Finney or a Moody, but in
the coming and going tides more than one soul is arrested by this standing net of a
godly life. Unconsciously guided by the holy barrier in their way, they are drawn into
stiller waters, and when the tide goes out at last, many, I believe, will be found taken
for Christ, and taken by fishers of men whose chief skill has been to stand, to stand
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firm and without rent, in the midst of a restless sea. (J. B. Clark.)
Catch men by love
Would you be a fisher of men? And do you ask, How may I succeed? Love is the best
pilot, the only wise interpreter. Love men as Christ loved them, and you will not
mourn your small skill or limited chance. Love will soon show you your own best
way. To catch men without love is as hopeless as to catch fish without a net. Love is
the net. There never was a wicked sinner unsoftened by a pure and steadfast love.
There never was a wayward scholar who did not reward the faithful, patient love of
his teacher. Let our love be only such that we can pray as Christ prayed for men, can
weep as Christ wept over them, can bleed as Christ bled for them, can stretch our
arms of help as wide as He stretched His on the cross of sacrifice I Then we shall be
able to catch men, for so He drew us, and so He is drawing the world to Himself.
“Fear not,” He seems to say to all who love, yet shrink from this holy calling, “fear
not; love men, and you shall catch them.” (J. B. Clark.)
Ministerial lessons
Christ’s method of training His ministers for their high office was very remarkable. It
was by a miracle, especially designed to represent, in a figure, their future office, me
that the homely trade in which they were engaged was for ever hallowed to be the
emblem of the gathering into the Church of such as should be saved.
1. The unwearied patience and consummate skill, without which the fisherman
cannot be successful in alluring his prey, are, no doubt, fit illustrations of that
constancy of purpose and that heavenly wisdom which are such important
elements in the character of the Christian teacher.
2. And, perhaps, the fact that the four disciples had toiled all night and taken
nothing, and yet were ready, at their Master’s bidding, again to let down the net
for a draught, is recorded as an instance of that unwavering faith in the Divine
promise, and that patient continuance in well-doing, which had prepared these
simple-minded peasants of Galilee for that office in which the Christian minister
has only to obey, while he leaves results in a higher hand, and, even when he fears
he has bestowed labour in vain, still to labour on, in reliance upon the assurance
that God’s word shall not return to Him void.
3. But perhaps the chief ministerial lesson which our Lord intended to convey to
the minds of His apostles was this—that as even the fisherman, in spite of all his
skill, must still depend on the power of Him whose is the sea, for He made it, so
all the success of the gospel preacher is of the Lord alone. (J. S. Hoare, B. D.)
Fishers of men
I. NONE SHOULD ENTER THE MINISTRY BUT THOSE WHO ARE CALLED OF
CHRIST, There are other voices to which young men are apt to listen.
1. There is the voice of the love of a life of literary ease. The young man has a
passion for books; his daily toil seems to him mean and degrading; and he fancies
that if he were in the ministry he would have nothing to do but to study, and that
study would be a lifelong and ever-increasing delight. At the best he becomes a
respectable bookworm, who hates preaching, which so greatly interferes with his
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studies; but he must preach or starve, and so he preaches sermons about the
gospel—very learned sermons—which do his hearers about as much real good as
would an admirable lecture on the chemistry of food delivered to a number of
farm labourers who at the close of a day’s toil had hurried into a kitchen! hungry
for food.
2. There is a voice of the ambition to be respectable, genteel!
3. There is the voice of the love of publicity. Sometimes a little success in
delivering half a dozen addresses to a Sunday School, or in making as many
speeches in a debating society, turns a young man’s brain, and he is sure that his
proper place is in the ministry.
4. There is still another voice to which many young men are apt to listen,
imagining that it is indeed the voice of Christ calling them to devote themselves
to the ministry—the voice of a sincere desire to do good. This desire is quick and
powerful in the heart of every young man who has really given himself to Christ.
But it is a pitiable mistake to imagine that the call to do good and the call to
become a preacher of the gospel is one and the same thing. To none of the voices
that I have named should a young man listen when he is debating the question
whether he should devote himself to the ministry of the Word. Before he takes
that solemn, and in many cases irrevocable step, he should be very sure that it is
the voice of Christ that he has heard saying to him, “Follow Me, and I will make
you a fisher of men.”
II. BUT—this is the second fact that should be pondered—WHEN A MAN HAS
HEARD THAT CALL HE SHOULD OBEY IT AT ANY COST. It may be that he cannot
do so without making sacrifices; like Simon and Andrew, James and John, he may
have to leave behind him nets, boats, valuable fishing-tackle, and dear friends; he
may have to give up great present advantages, still greater prospective advantages;
but like those of whom this narrative speaks to us, he should cheerfully forsake all,
and follow Christ. Amos, the herdsman, was as true a prophet of the Lord as Isaiah,
although he was reared in a palace. The other young man is in the counting-house; he
is the eldest son of the successful head of the firm; he knows that in due time he will
be a partner in the firm; he, too, is called, clearly called—he has no doubt that it is
Christ’s voice he hears—yet he hesitates, for the nets and boats that will have to be
left are too many and too valuable; he reminds himself of the fact of which of I have
reminded you, that it is not in the ministry only that a man can do good, and so, with
this excuse, which he knows is for him a lie, he silences the Voice that calls so clearly.
And hence comes that fact, which all the Churches deplore, that so few young men
come forth from the middle and upper ranks of society to serve our Lord Jesus Christ
as preachers of His Word. This was Garibaldi’s most effective appeal to his fellow-
countrymen:—“Soldiers, your efforts against overwhelming odds have been
unavailing. I have nothing to offer you but hunger, thirst, hardship, death: let all who
love their country follow me” (July 22, 1849). Such an appeal does Christ address to-
day to the sons of our Christian merchants and landowners. (Christian Age.)
11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left
everything and followed him.
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BARNES, "Forsook all - It was not “much” that they left - a couple of small
boats and their nets; but it was all they had, even all their living. But this showed
their love of Jesus, and their willingness to deny themselves, as “really” as if they had
forsaken palaces and gold. All that Jesus asks is that we should leave “all” we have for
him; that we should love him “more” than we do whatever friends or property we
may possess, and be willing to give them all up when he requires it.
CLARKE, "They forsook all, and followed him - God expects this from
every person, and especially from those in whose hearts, or in whose behalf, he has
wrought a miracle of grace or of providence. Jesus intended to call Peter, James, and
John, to become his disciples; and that they might see the propriety and importance
of the call, he: -
1st. Teaches in their presence, that they may know his doctrine.
2dly. He Works a Miracle before their eyes, that they might see and be convinced of
his power.
3dly. He Calls them to go forth with this doctrine, and through this power, that
they might teach the ignorant, and be successful in their work.
GILL, "And when they had brought their ships to land,.... Both Simon
Peter's, and the other in which his partners were, and which were laden with fish:
they forsook all; even all their fish, which they doubtless might have made much
money of, and their nets, and their ships, and their servants, and their relations, and
friends:
and followed him; Christ; and became his disciples, even all four of them, Peter,
Andrew, James, and John.
HENRY, “Lastly, The fishermen's farewell to their calling, in order to their
constant attendance on Christ (Luk_5:11): When they had brought their ships to
land, instead of going to seek for a market for their fish, that they might make the
best hand they could of this miracle, they forsook all and followed him, being more
solicitous to serve the interests of Christ than to advance any secular interests of their
own. It is observable that they left all to follow Christ, when their calling prospered
in their hands more than ever it had done and they had had uncommon success in it.
When riches increase, and we are therefore most in temptation to set our hearts
upon them, then to quit them for the service of Christ, this is thank-worthy.
JAMISON, "forsook all — They did this before (Mat_4:20); now they do it
again; and yet after the Crucifixion they are at their boats once more (Joh_21:3). In
such a business this is easily conceivable. After Pentecost, however, they appear to
have finally abandoned their secular calling.
BENSON, "Luke 5:11. And when they had brought their ships to land, they
forsook all, &c. — Doubtless, before this the disciples entertained a high idea of
their Master, as they believed him to be the Messiah, and had followed him, John
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1:43; till now, however, they did not forsake all, but continued to work at their
ordinary calling. But this miracle of the fishes was such a striking demonstration
of his power, that from this time they left their vessels and nets, nay, and all they
had in the world, neglecting even the booty they had now taken, and became his
constant followers; being henceforward more solicitous to serve the interest of
his kingdom, than to advance any secular interests of their own whatever.
Observe here, reader, the wonderful choice which Jesus makes of those who were
to be the chief ministers in his kingdom! “Surely the same divine power which
prevailed on these honest fishermen to leave their little all to follow him, could
with equal ease have subdued the hearts of the greatest and wisest of the nation,
and have engaged them to have attended him in all his progress through the
country, with the exactest observance, and the humblest reverence: but he chose
rather to preserve the humble form in which he had at first appeared, that he
might thus answer the schemes of Providence, and by the weak things of the
world confound them that were mighty.” It must be remembered, however, that
he did not “go to call them that stood all the day idle; but, on the contrary,
conferred this honour upon honest industry; on them that had been toiling all
the night in the proper duties of their station and profession in life. Let us pursue
our business with vigilance and resolution; assuring ourselves, that, however
mean it be, Christ will graciously accept us in it; and let us fix our dependence on
his blessing, as absolutely necessary to our success.” — Doddridge.
PETT, "Notice the ‘they’. It caters for Andrew, James and John as well.
Together they left their boats with the servants, and followed Jesus. From now
on they would go where He went, learning from Him and preparing to be
proclaimers of His word. We are intended to see that they turned their backs on
the greatest catch of fish that they had ever made without even a thought. They
left all and followed Him. So it must be if we would follow Jesus.
What Jesus had done had paradoxically done by producing an abundance of fish
was to make clear to them that there was more that they could do with their lives
than be fishermen. They could go with this Prophet and serve God, which was
better than a whole multitude of fish. And so they responded to His quiet word of
Messianic authority and followed Him.
(The servants would take the fish to the homes of Peter, James and John and
explain what had happened, and they would no doubt carry on the fishing
business on behalf of the families, but that was not Luke’s interest. As for the
three (or four), they would, of course, be able to return to their homes now and
again while they were in the area. But they had received a permanent call from
which they could not draw back. Although later, after the resurrection, Peter
would take his wife with him - 1 Corinthians 9:5).
Note on the Connection of This Passage With John 21.
As we might expect many scholars, who cannot bear to have things happen twice
in life, and for whom every day is totally different, see this story as simply being
the same as John 21 under a different guise. But there are no real grounds for
doing so. The similarities are mainly those which naturally arise when men go
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fishing, and the differences are many and varied. It is true that there is a similar
‘miracle, but that is the only parallel apart from the obvious. And what is much
more likely than it being a duplication is that Jesus planned what He did in John
21 as a reminder to Peter of this life-changing moment at his call. It was an
indication that his call still held, and that He still had plenty of ‘taking men alive’
for him to do. End of note.
BI, “And when they had thus done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes, and
the net brake
The desponding encouraged
I.
IS DISCHARGING THE DUTIES OF LIFE OUR BEST ENDEAVOURS MAY
APPEAR FRUITLESS. Always discouraging to toil without success: in learning,
business, religion. Our failures often arise—
(1) through inexperience;
(2) through indolence;
(3) through impatience.
None of these the case with Peter however. An experienced fisherman, and had toiled
all the night. Continued fruitlessness ought to awaken candid investigation. Are we in
a right sphere of labour? Are we labouring in a right spirit? We may be, and yet our
best endeavours appear fruitless.
II. IN DISCHARGING THE DUTIES OF LIFE: WE MUST OBEY THE COMMANDS
OF CHRIST.
1. In obeying Christ, Peter’s faith rose above natural difficulties.
2. In obeying Christ, Peter’s faith rested on Christ’s command “At Thy word.” No
one else could have persuaded him to let down the net.
3. In obeying Christ, Peter’s faith led to decisive action—“I will let down the net.”
Cultivate the habit of decision. The decisive man will catch his fish while the
negligent man is preparing his nets.
III. IN DISCHARGING THE DUTIES OF LIFE, WE SHALL ULTIMATELY BE
SUCCESSFUL. Success may be delayed for a time; but it will come. At the very
moment of our failure God purposes to fill our nets. (J. Woodhouse.)
“The livelong night we’ve toiled in vain,
But at Thy gracious word
I will let down the net again:
Do Thou Thy will, O Lord.”
So spake the weary fisher, spent
With bootless, darkling toil,
Yet on his Master’s bidding bent,
For love and not for spoil.
So day by day, and week by week,
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In sad and weary thought,
They muse, whom God hath set to seek
The souls His Christ hath bought.
Full many a dreary, anxious hour
We watch our nets alone
In drenching spray and driving shower,
And hear the night-bird’s moan.
At morn we look and nought is there
Sad dawn of cheerless day!
Who then from pining and despair
The sickening heart can stay?
There is a stay—and we are strong!
Our Master is at hand,
To cheer our solitary song,
And guide us to the strand.
In His own time; but yet awhile
Our bark at sea must ride
Cast after cast, by force or guise
All waters must be tried.
Should e’er Thy wonder-working grace
Triumph by our weak arm,
Lot not our sinful fancy trace
Aught human in the charm.
Or, if for our unworthiness,
Toil, prayer, and watching fail,
In disappointment Thou canst bless,
So love at heart prevail.
(J. Keble.)
Weariness and faith
I. It is A voice OF FATIGUE AND LASSITUDE TRYING TO STEADY ITSELF FOR
FRESH EFFORT.
II. IT IS THE VOICE, ALSO, OF DEFEAT AND DISAPPOINTMENT TRYING TO
RALLY ITSELF FOR FRESH ENTERPRISE.
III. The word “Nevertheless” introduces THE GRAND CONTRAST AND
ANTITHESIS OF THE TEXT. Gather into one all the heads and threads of
discourse—we are weary of the monotony of life, weary of the perpetual round of
doing and being, disappointed with the result of life, with what we are to-day in Thy
sight—beings occupying a point and not more, between two eternities. Nevertheless,
at Thy word, because Thou speakest in our ears today and sayest, “Launch out into
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the deep, the inscrutable future, the future of time and of eternity”; yes, at Thy
word—otherwise we were languid and depressed and disappointed and could not—at
Thy word we will once again, to-day, let down the net. (Dean Vaughan.)
The Galilean fishers
Our subject is perseverance in duty in the absence of seeming success.
1. Illustrate it by the circumstances of our earthly life. Let duty always take
precedence of pleasure; let recreation never be thought of till it is fairly earned:
let no engagements be entered into beyond what can be met, and no expenditure
be indulged in beyond a man’s income. Let no neglect of our own prudence, and
our own duty, be excused by the idle plea of relying upon God’s providence
without ourselves exercising the self-help on which God’s providence is
conditional. On such principles, as a general rule, success will reward effort, and
the net judiciously cast will not fail to enclose the fish. There are, of course,
exceptions. Without any fault on the part of the workman his labour may be in
vain. What shall those do who may truly say, “we have toiled all night,” &c.? Give
up in despair? Nay. Let down the net again.
2. Apply this to higher industries. The case of a soul seeking heaven. The work of
preacher, Sunday-school teacher, Bible-woman, tract-distributor, Christian
missionary. (Newman Hall, LL. B.)
Faith triumphant in failure
Miracles of our Lord are parables. Because the record is literally true that it is
spiritually instructive. The terms success and failure have a large range in human life.
Some men are born, we say, to succeed. Nothing that man possesses can, however,
guarantee results. Circumstances which man controls not, changes which he cannot
foresee, have a wide operation, and under their influence it is seen again and again
that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. Failure comes where
success was certain; success where every one foresaw failure. If a man has found
heaven he may bear to have lost earth. But is it not true that failure has place also in
spiritual things? Is there no such thing as a toiling all the night and taking nothing in
the matters of that world which is of the soul and of eternity? The history of the
Church of Christ is full of answers to that question. What long dark nights has it had
to toil through! But of this we are sure, that the long toil of the night, however little
rewarded, was essential to the marvellous success of the morning. The attitude of the
true Church on earth has ever been characterized by the brief words selected as the
topic of this sermon, “Faith triumphant in failure.” And how shall we say that the
case stands now for us? Are we living in a night or in a morning? It is far better to be
labouring in the blackest night, than to fancy ourselves gathering with Christ when
we are indeed scattering without Him. But for ourselves, and for others, let faith
triumph over failure. I know that every failure is a proof of the want of faith. I know
that if faith were present, failure could not be. But there is such a thing as faith, after
defeats, returning to the charge, and it is in that that the test of our Christianity lies.
A man who can come back to Christ, and say, “Lord, I have slept at my post; I have
let my oars drop; I have often left my net unmended until it could enclose nothing; I
have suffered weariness to make me indolent, and long disappointment to make me
hopeless. I have clone all this, but yet—even now—even thus late—I will, once again,
at Thy word, let down my net, and wait Thy blessing,” that man may have many
faults, he may be much behindhand, he may be full of infirmity and of sin, but he has
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the root of the matter in him; he has a little faith, and according to that faith shall it
be to him. That man knows something, however little, of a faith triumphant in
failure. Christ stands, as of old, upon the shore, and asks us of our welfare. He enters,
as of old, into the little vessel which contains our fortunes: He feels for its frailness,
He will guide its fittings, He will steer it for us into the haven where we would be.
Hitherto we may have toiled and taken nothing; but if, at His word, we will now let
down the net, He will bring into it that which shall be sufficient for us, and man’s
failure shall be Christ’s success. (Dean Vaughan.)
A night of toil: the philosophy of failure
The sea-shore was often the Lord’s retreat. By the shore lines of Galilee He wandered,
and amid the voiceful hush of nature His soul found rest. Our scene opens in the
morning on that sea made so sacred with associations of our Lord. On the beach,
drawn up a little, were two fishing-boats. They had been out all night, trying, but
unsuccessfully, all waters. The fishermen were washing their nets some little distance
away with disconsolate faces. A night spent in toiling, and the morning dawning
upon no fruit of effort, might well make them sad. These men had apparently failed,
but there were elements in their failure which led to success.
I. CHRIST CAME TO THEM WHEN THEY WERE FEELING THEIR FAILURE. But
He found them working.
II. THEIR WORKING THUS IN FAILURE AND THEIR WILLINGNESS TO TRY
AGAIN SHADOWED THEIR FITNESS FOR HIGHER WORK. The Lord was
choosing gospel-pioneers. There was in these men—
1. Natural aptitude.
2. Industry.
3. Foresight.
4. Willinghood.
III. LET US HEAR CHRIST’S WORDS OF COMMANDING EFFORT AS
ADDRESSED TO US—“Launch out into the deep.”
1. There are prayers unanswered and we are weary. You have, perhaps, been
hugging the shore of self—throw yourself and yours more upon the deep of God s
unfailing faithfulness and mercy.
2. You have been fishing in shallow waters, teaching your children, your scholars,
your people, with that which was cheaply got and therefore little worth. Launch
out into the ocean of God’s truth.
3. You have had your religious crotchets. Launch out into broader spiritedness,
deeper sympathies, more catholic charity.
“O, stirring words of living power,
Ye speak to every heart;
Ye bid all selfishness away,
And slothful ease depart.
Where’er there is a soul to cheer,
Where’er the mourners weep,
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There, bear the healing balm of love,
‘Launch out into the deep!’
O, watchword brave for those who sail Across the sea of life, Steer far away from
every rock With awful dangers rife. Leave all the shallows and the neap; Far in the
distance keep; Strike boldly right amid the waves ‘Launch out into the deep!’” (W.
Scott.)
Gospel for the fifth Sunday after Trinity
This was the final call of the disciples. Notice with what exquisite skill it is managed.
I. There is THE CROWD PRESSING UPON CHRIST TO HEAR THE WORD OF
GOD. To a shepherd they might seem sheep to be folded; to a gardener, plants to be
tended; but to a fisherman they would suggest swarming fish, ready to be swept into
a net. Then comes the miraculous draught, the “great multitude of fishes”
corresponding with the multitude of the people. What could be more appropriate?
II. Then we have THE DIVINE POWER OF CHRIST OVER THE DENIZENS OF
THE DEEP, SYMBOLIZING HIS POWER OVER THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF
MEN.
Probably Peter (whom we may take as representative of the rest) may have smiled
when he heard the command (Luk_5:4). But he obeyed. And when he saw the
draught of fishes, and caught a glimpse of hundreds and thousands of human beings
drawn into the meshes of the gospel-net.
III. THE EFFECT OF THE MIRACLE WAS TO REVEAL THE TRUE CHARACTER
OF CHRIST TO PETER AND TO REVEAL PETER TO HIMSELF. Before Isaiah could
go as a messenger to the people he must have a vision of the Holy God, and be bowed
down under a sense of his own sinfulness. So with Peter. Whether he clearly saw at
this time the whole truth of the Godhead of Christ it may be hazardous to affirm. But
this is clear, that he felt himself in the presence of One who represented the holiness
of God. And he shrank from Him, yet was attracted towards Him. “Depart from me”;
but his inner heart says, “Stay with me.” The work was done. “They forsook all and
followed Him” (verse 11). (G. Calthrop, M. A.)
The miraculous draught of fishes
I. We have here ENCOURAGEMENT TO PERSEVERANCE.
II. LEARN THAT CONVICTION OF SIN IS DEEPENED BY KNOWLEDGE OF
CHRIST.
III. Learn that HUMILITY IS THE BEST PREPARATION FOR ENTERING UPON
CHRISTIAN WORK.
IV. Learn HOW TO RESPOND TO A GREAT CALL—BY FORSAKING ALL. (D.
Longwill.)
Place of the miracle in the history
The interest in this case centres not in the miraculous element, but in the two
questions: Is the incident historical? and is it in its true place in the history? The
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circumstances that the narrative is found only in one of the Synoptical Gospels, and
that not, as we might have expected, the one containing the Petrine tradition; that an
incident is recorded in the appendix to the fourth Gospel so similar as to suggest the
hypothesis of a duplicate; and that an emblematic significance is assigned to the
occurrence in the words reported to have been spoken by Jesus, lend plausibility to
the notion that we have to do here not with an actual event, but simply with a
symbolic story invented to embody the promise made to Peter by his Master that he
should become a fisher of men. Of those who are prepared to recognize in the
incident something more than a metaphor transformed into a fact, some have
doubted whether it is in its true place in Luke’s Gospel, and ought not rather to be
assigned to the post-resurrection period, as in the fourth Gospel. In this connection
stress is laid on the exclamation of Peter on seeing the great draught of fish, “Depart
from me,” &c., which, as connected with the period of the first call to the discipleship,
seems to lack point and appropriateness, but gains deep meaning when conceived of
as spoken by Peter when his humiliating denial of his Lord was fresh in his
recollection. But one has no great difficulty in imagining such an excitable,
impressionable man as Peter uttering the words at any time, without any special
occasion for calling his sin to mind, viewing them simply as an expression of
reverence. Strauss characterizes Peter’s fear as superstitious, and not at all New-
Testament like. Granted, but what then? Was it to be expected that the disciples at
the time of their first call should be men of the New Testament in their thoughts and
feelings? On the contrary, was it not the very aim of their vocation that they might be
associated with Christ, and in His company gradually imbibe the spirit of the new
Christian era, the era of the better hope, when we no longer stand off in fear, but
draw nigh to God in filial trust? Peter’s exclamation, as reported by Luke, is in
keeping with the initial period of discipleship, and just on that account it supplies no
ground for transferring the incident to the later period when discipleship was about
to pass into apostleship. At that late time Peter might have more reason than ever
before for calling himself a sinful man, but his sense of unworthiness was not so
likely then to express itself in the form of a “Depart from me.” Looking at the incident
in connection with its probable aim, it seems equally appropriate at the beginning
and at the end of the history. Christ’s purpose was to inspire Peter with enthusiasm
for his spiritual vocation. There was a need for this at both periods, and in view of
this fact it becomes credible that the narratives of Luke and John are not variations
of the same history, but records of distinct events. The earlier event served the
purpose of winning Peter to the life of discipleship, the later of inspiring him with
devotion to the heroic career of the apostolate. (A. B. Bruce, D. D.)
The nature of the miracle
As for the nature of the action recorded, it has been variously conceived as a miracle
of power controlling the movements of the fish and directing them into a particular
course, or of supernatural knowledge of the place where the fish were to be found at a
certain moment, or of prophetic clairvoyance in the exercise of a faculty natural to
man, but possessed by Jesus in a preternatural degree, or so far as Jesus was
concerned a mere act of trust in a special providence of God making itself subservient
to His designs. It is not necessary, and the narrative does not enable us, to decide
peremptorily between these various views. We arc not even absolutely shut up to the
belief that there was a miracle in the case in any form or degree. It is not an
impossible supposition that the knowledge possessed by Jesus was such as might be
obtained by observation. Traces of such a great shoal of fish might be visible on the
surface to any one who might be looking in the proper direction. A well-known writer
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[Canon Tristram] remarks, “The density of the shoals of fish in the Sea of Galilee can
scarcely be conceived by those who have not witnessed them. Frequently these shoals
cover an acre or more of the surface, and the fish, as they slowly move along in
masses, are so crowded, with their back fins just appearing on the level of the water,
that their appearance at a little distance is that of a violent shower of rain pattering
on the surface.” But, while this description clearly proves the possibility of becoming
aware of the presence of a shoal by observation, the supposition that our Lord
acquired the knowledge which enabled Him to give directions to the fishermen in
this way, is rendered very improbable by the fact that the draught of fish appeared to
Peter marvellous not only in itself, but in connection with the agency of Jesus; for
that he recognized Jesus as somehow the cause of the extraordinary and utterly
unlooked-for success is manifest in his words. Yet it is noticeable that the narrative
does not lay stress on that agency in explaining the emotions of Peter and his
companions, but simply on the quantity of fish taken (Luk_5:9). And it may be
admitted that the purpose of the transaction did not absolutely demand a miracle.
Christ’s aim was not merely to attach the disciples to Himself, but to fire them with
zeal for their new vocation. For that end what was wanted was not a mere miracle as
displaying supernatural power or knowledge, but an experience in connection with
their old vocation which, whether brought about miraculously or otherwise, should
take possession of their imagination as an emblem of the great future which lay
before them in their new career as apostles, or fishers of men. The phenomenal
draught of fish, however brought about, fulfilled this purpose better than a small take
would have done, even though the fish had been expressly created before the eyes of
the disciples. Such a miracle would have filled them with astonishment and wonder,
but it would not have awakened in their breasts wondering thoughts and high hopes
in reference to the work and progress of the Divine Kingdom. (A. B. Bruce, D. D.)
All through the long night’s mist and rain,
In open sea or near the shore,
They cast their nets, yet still in vain;
They found but failure evermore.
‘Twas time to cleanse from tangled weed,
And lay them on the beach to dry:
When lo! in hour of utmost need,
They heard the voice of Jesus nigh.
They cast their nets again, and lo!
So large the haul of fish they take,
The meshes gape, and scarce they know
If they shall land them ere they break.
And then a chill of sudden fear,
As though the veil of sense were rent,
And they, frail men, were brought too near
The scope of some Divine intent.
Oh, could they bear that presence dread,
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Before whose keen and piercing sight
Lie bare the hearts of quick and dead,
The world’s great Teacher, Light of light
What wonder if from pallid lips
The cry bursts out, “Depart from me”?
Too bright that full apocalypse
For man’s sin-darkened eyes to see.
“Sin-stained am I, and Thou art pure
Oh, turn Thy steps some other way;
How shall I dare Thy gaze endure?
How in Thy stainless presence stay.”
Yet chiefly when unlooked-for gains
Our skill-less, planless labours bless.
And we, for weary labour’s pains,
Reap the full harvest of success;
We wonder at the draught we take,
The latent powers that bud and grow!
Ah, can we dare our work forsake,
And follow where He bids us go?
“Yes, fear ye not,” so ran His speech
“Fishers of men ye now must be,
Where’er the world’s wide waters reach,
By gliding stream or stormiest sea.”
So only can we hope restore,
So only conquer shame and fear,
And welcome, from the eternal shore,
The voice that tells “our Lord is near.”
(Dean Plumptre in “Poet’s Bible.)
Christ with the Galilean fishermen
1. The rank of life from which Jesus Christ chose the men who were to be the
chief ministers of His religion, is worthy of particular notice. We see that His
ministers were, in general, of lowly station; and yet we at the same time know
that their instructions and influence, far surpassed those of the most learned and
powerful men the world had ever seen. Principles were disseminated by
fishermen and tent-makers, which, from the very first, excited the admiration of
many, and which, in the process of time, effected a complete revolution in the
religious sentiments of the civilized world. Does not this afford an irrefragable
argument for the Divine origin of the gospel? Whence had such men such things?
Let us beware of neglecting anything they delivered.
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2. Let us mark the honour here put on honest industry. Duty requires us to be
diligent in the proper duties of our station and profession in life. No matter how
humble our employment, Christ will accept us in it, visit us in it, and bless us in
it.
3. The success of human industry depends on the blessing of Providence. If
given, let us thank God for it; if withheld, let us not murmur, but cheerfully
acquiesce in the Divine will.
4. An encouraging example of implicit and persevering obedience to the Divine
commandment.
5. Instruction to ministers, in their employment being compared to that of
fishermen.
(1) Arduous.
(2) Requiring watchfulness.
(3) Exercising patience.
6. The necessity of forsaking all, in order to follow Christ. (James Foote, M. A.)
The blessed fishermen
Blest—
(1) by the gracious presence of Jesus;
(2) by the rich gift of Jesus;
(3) by the gracious call of Jesus. (Heubner.)
The just means of gaining temporal blessing
1. God’s word.
2. Labour.
3. Trust in God.
4. Acknowledgment of personal unworthiness.
5. Right use of the blessing. (Heubner.)
The remarkable transitions in the life of faith
1. From disappointment to surprise.
2. From want to plenty.
3. From joy to terror.
4. From fear to hope. (Van Oosterzee.)
The faith of Peter
Peter’s faith—
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(1) was tried;
(2) endured;
(3) was changed into sight. (Van Oosterzee.)
The obedience of faith
1. Its ground.
2. Its nature.
3. Its blessing. (Van Oosterzee.)
An image of the preaching of the gospel
1. The wide-reaching command (Luk_5:4).
2. The hard labour (verse 50).
3. The sole might (verse 56).
4. The rich fruit (Luk_5:6-7).
5. The right temper (Luk_5:8).
6. The highest requirement of the evangelical function (Luk_5:10-11). (Van
Oosterzee.)
Peter an example for us
1. Hear when the Lord speaks.
2. Labour when the Lord commands.
3. Believe what the Lord promises.
4. Follow whither the Lord calls. (Fuchs.)
Blessing in our temporal calling
1. On what it depends.
2. Of what nature it is.
3. For what it inspirits us. (Lisco.)
Failure and success
I. THE FISHERMEN’S FAILURE.
1. It was simply failure; disgrace did not attend it. They had done their best, and
it was not their fault that they were unsuccessful. Better to say, “I toiled all the
night, and caught nothing,” than, “I cast in the net, and caught one thousand fish
without an effort.”
2. It was overruled for good. God often teaches that the years of plenty are from
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Him, by prefacing them with years of famine.
3. It did not produce despair.
4. No faithful toil is without reward. What we call failure is, in God’s account,
oftentimes brightest success.
II. THE FISHERMEN’S SUCCESS.
1. It was miraculous. In two respects—that they caught so many, and, though the
net brake, saved all.
2. But by ordinary means. No success without diligent labour.
3. They had much anxiety—“The net brake.” Yet this apparent accident was a
source of good—co-operation.
4. Their minds seem to have been pervaded by deepest awe. “They beckoned”—
not shouted, as in ordinary circumstances they would have done.
5. To enjoy success, we must have a present Lord.
6. Success should lead us to follow Christ more fully. (R. A. Griffin.)
The two draughts of fishes
We have heard of some ministers who could say that they had often preached from
the same text, but they had never delivered the same discourse. The like may be said
of Christ. He often preached upon the same truth, but it was never precisely in the
same manner. We have read in your hearing this morning the narrative of two
miracles (Luk_5:1-39. and Joh_21:1-25.) which seem to the casual observer to be
precisely alike; but he who shall read diligently and study carefully, will find that
though the text is the same in both, yet the discourse is full of variations. In both the
miraculous draughts of fishes, the text is the mission of the saints to preach the
gospel—the work of mancatching—the ministry by which souls are caught in the net
of the gospel, and brought out of the element of sin to their eternal salvation.
I. Is THESE TWO MIRACLES THERE ARE MANY POINTS OF UNIFORMITY. They
are both intended to set forth the way in which Christ’s kingdom shall increase.
1. First you will perceive that in both miracles we are taught that the means must
be used. In the first case, the fish did not leap into Simon’s boat to be taken; nor,
in the second case, did they swarm from the sea and lay themselves down upon
the blazing coals that they might be prepared for the fisherman’s feast. No, the
fishermen must go out in their boat, they must cast the net; and after having cast
the net, they must either drag it ashore, or fill both boats with its contents.
Everything is done here by human agency. It is a miracle, certainly, but yet
neither the fisherman, nor his boat, nor his fishing tackle are ignored: they are all
used and all employed. Let us learn that in the saving of souls God worketh by
means; that so long an the present economy of grace shall stand, God will be
pleased by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Every now and
then there creeps up in the Church a sort of striving against God’s ordained
instrumentality. God getteth the most glory through the use of instruments.
2. Again, in both our texts there is another truth equally conspicuous, namely,
that means of themselves are utterly unavailing. In the first case you hear the
confession, “Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing.” In the
last case you hear them answer to the question, “Children, have ye any meat?”
“No”—a sorrowful No. What was the reason of this? Were they not fishermen
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plying their special calling? Verily, they were no raw hands; they understood the
work. Had they gone about the toil unskilfully? No. Had they lacked industry?
No, they had toiled. Had they lacked perseverance? No, they had toiled all the
night. Was there a deficiency of fish in the sea? The Great Worker who does not
discard the means would still have His people know that He uses instrumentality,
not to glorify the instrument, but for the sake of glorifying Himself. He takes
weakness into His hands and makes it strong, not that weakness may be
worshipped, but that the strength may be adored which even makes weakness
subservient to His might.
3. Thirdly, there is clearly taught in both these miracles the fact that it is Christ’s
presence that confers success. Christ sat in Peter’s boat.
4. In both instances the success which attended the instrumentality through
Christ’s presence developed human weakness. We do not see human weakness
more in non-success than in success. In the first instance, in the success you see
the weakness of man, for the net breaks and the ships begin to sink, and Simon
Peter falls down with—“Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” He did
not know so much about that till his boat was filled; but the very abundance of
God’s mercy made him feel his own nothingness. In the last case, they were
scarcely able to draw the net because of the multitude of fishes. Brethren, if you
or I would know to the fullest extent what utter nothings we are, if the Lord shall
give us success in winning souls we shall soon find it out.
II. THERE ARE ALSO SEVERAL POINTS OF DISSIMILARITY. The first picture
represents the Church of God as we see it; the second represents it as it really is. The
first pictures to us the visible, the second the invisible. Luke tells us what the crowd
see; John tells us what Christ showed to His disciples alone. The first is common
truth which the multitude may receive; the next is special mystery revealed only to
spiritual minds. Observe, then, carefully, the points of divergence.
1. First, there is a difference in the orders given. In the first, it is, “Launch out
into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.” In the second it is, “Cast the
net on the right side of the ship.” The first is Christ’s order to every minister; the
second is the secret work of His Spirit in the word. The first shows us that the
ministry is to fish anywhere and everywhere. All the orders that the Christian has,
as to his preaching, is, “Launch out into the deep, and let down your net.” He is
not to single out any particular character; he is to preach to everybody. The secret
truth is, that when we are doing this, the Lord knows how to guide us, so that we
“cast the net on the right side of the ship.” That is the secret and invisible work of
the
Spirit, whereby He so adapts our ministry, which is in itself general, that He makes it
particular and special.
2. In the first instance you will clearly see that there is a distinct plurality. The
fishermen have nets—in the plural; they have boats—in the plural. There is
plurality of agency employed.
3. Thirdly, there is another difference. In the first case, how many fish were
caught? The text says, “a great multitude.” In the second case, a great multitude
are taken too, but they are all counted and numbered. “A hundred and fifty and
three.” What was Peter’s reason for counting them? We cannot tell. But I think I
know why the Lord made him do it. It was to show us that though in the outward
instrumentality of gathering the people into the Church the number of the saved
is to us a matter of which we know nothing definitely, yet secretly and invisibly
the Lord has counted them even to the odd one, He knoweth well how many the
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gospel net shall bring in. I, as a preacher, have nothing to do with counting fish.
My business is with the great multitude. Splash goes the net again! Oh Master I
thou who hast taught us to throw the net and bring in a multitude, guide into it
the hundred and fifty and three!
4. Yet again, notice another difference. The fish that were taken the first time
appear to have been of all sort. The not was broken, and therefore, doubtless
some of them got out again; there were some so little that they were not worth
eating, and doubtless were thrown away. “They shall gather the good into vessels
and throw the bad away.” In the second case, the net was full of great fishes; they
were all great fishes, all good for eating, all the one hundred and fifty-three were
worth the keeping, there was not one little fellow to be thrown back into the deep
again. The first gives us the outward and visible effect of the ministry. We gather
into Christ’s Church a great number. And there will always be in that number
some that are not good, that are not really called of God. Sometimes we have
Church-meetings in which we have to throw the bad away. We have many blissful
meetings where it is gathering-in the fish—and what big hauls of fish has God
given to us! Glory be to His name l But at other times we have to sit down and tell
our fish over, and there are some who must be thrown away; neither God nor
man can endure them. Thus is it in the outward and visible Church. Let no man
be surprised if the tares grow up with the wheat—it is the order of things, it must
be so.
5. Yet again, you notice in the first case the net broke, and in the second case it
did not. Now, in the first case, in the visible Church the net breaks.
My brethren are always calling out, “the net is broken 1” No doubt it is a bad thing for
nets to break; but you need not wonder at it. We cannot just now, when the net is full,
stop to mend it; it will break. It is the necessary consequence of our being what we
are that the net will break. There are several other points of difference, but I think we
have hardly time to enlarge upon them. I will only hint at them. In the first case,
which is the visible Church, you see the human weakness becomes the strongest
point; there is the boat ready to sink, there is the net broken, there is the men all out
of heart, frightened, amazed, and begging the Master to go away. In the other case it
is not so at all. There is human weakness, but still they are made strong enough. They
have no strength to spare, as you perceive, but still they are strong enough, the net
does not break, the ship goes slowly to land dragging the fish; and then, lastly, Simon
Peter pulls the fish to shore. Strong he must have been. They were just strong enough
to get their fish to shore. So in the visible Church of Christ you will often have to
mourn over human weakness; but in the invisible Church, God will make His
servants just strong enough—just strong enough to drag their fish to shore. The
agencies, means, instrumentalities, shall have just sufficient force to land every elect
soul in heaven, that God may be glorified. Then, notice, in the first case, in the visible
Church they launched out into the deep. In the second case, it says they were not far
from the shore, but a little way. So to-day our preaching seems to us to be going out
into the great stormy deep after fish. We appear to have a long way to reach before
we shall bring these precious souls to land. But in the sight of God we are not far
from shore; and when a soul is saved, it is not far from heaven. To us there are years
of temptation, and trial, and conflict; but to God, the Most High, it is finished—“it is
done.” They are saved; they are not far from shore. In the first case, the disciples had
to forsake all and follow Christ. In the second, they sat down to feast with Him at the
dainty banquet which He had spread. So in the visible Church to-day we have to bear
trial and self-denial for Christ, but glory be to God, the eye of faith perceives that we
shall soon drag our net to land, and then the Master will say, “ Come and dine”; and
we shall sit down and feast in His presence, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the
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kingdom of God.
III. The time is gone, and I close by NOTICING ONE AMONG MANY LESSONS
WHICH THE TWO NARRATIVES IN COMMON SEEM TO TEACH. In the first ease,
Christ was in the ship. Oh, blessed be God, Christ is in His Church, though she
launch out into the deep. In the second case, Christ was on the shore. Blessed be God,
Christ is in heaven. He is not here, but He has risen; He has gone up on high for us.
But whether He be in the Church, or whether He be on the shore in heaven, all our
night’s toiling shall, by His presence, have a rich reward. That is the lesson. (C.
H.Spurgeon.)
The disappointing night and the successful morn
I. THE NIGHT OF DISAPPOINTMENT.
1. A most unlikely disappointment.
2. The disappointment of skilled men.
3. A disappointment in spite of devoted labour.
4. This disappointment was most disheartening.
II. THE MORNING OF SUCCESS.
1. It was success that was not very probable. The best time for fishing had gone—
the night. Not unfrequently the work of which we have least hope in the end gives
us most joy. History of missions, e.g., to South Sea Islands. “In the morning sow
thy seed,” &c.
2. It was success through the use of the old means.
3. It was success in the old sphere.
4. It was success realized by the very men who had previously failed.
5. It was success consequent on the Lord’s presence and on a believing obedience
to His word.
6. It was success of the most complete character.
7. It was success in the joy and blessing of which others shared. Those in “the
other boat” were called upon to help.
8. It was success which had the most gracious results.
(1) Led to the adoring recognition of the Lord’s presence and power (Luk_
5:8).
(2) Filled the minds of all with grateful astonishment (Luk_5:9-10).
(3) Was the pledge and promise of greater things (Luk_5:10),
(4) Led to completest devotion on the part of those concerned (Luk_5:11). (R.
M. Spoor.)
The sinking fishing-boat a symbol of the ruinous tendency of abounding
prosperity
When is a man most likely to go wrong morally? When he is in suffering? Hardly so.
Prosperity puts him to a far severer test. On the ground nobody gets giddy and falls,
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but on a pinnacle many a one, having lost the steady nerve and firm foothold, has
trembled, reeled, and rolled down. How few can bear success t Let a man steal a
march on his fellows, outstrip them in the boisterous race for riches, “get on in the
world,” as we phrase it, and the chances are that he will deteriorate. Noble exceptions
there are to the rule, never more than in our own day. Many rise in character as they
rise in circumstances. But, alas I numbers do the exact opposite: as they go up in
possessions, they go down in mind, down in heart, down in conscience. Gray, in his
charming Elegy, speaks of “chill penury” freezing “the genial current of the soul.” It
may do, but the pleasant, soothing zephyr of wealth certainly tends to relax manly
vigour and induce baneful lethargy. There are certain fish which flourish best when
lowest in the sea; severe pressure is evidently, in some way, adapted to their nature;
when raised near the surface they invariably degenerate. It is so, too often, with men;
when raised, they descend. Alexander the Great was all right as long as he had to
cope with his enemies; difficulty did not daunt but develop him. On he went from
strength to strength, carrying everything before him. But the day that saw his final
obstacle removed beheld the first step taken in a retrograde direction. Conquest
surrounded him with luxuries; all the elaborate appliances of civilization were placed
within his reach; he had but to lift his hand, and the prolific, varied resources of
distant and neighbouring lands were at his command. The enervating influences of
these things were, however, only too speedily manifested. The Macedonian hero
dwarfed into the effeminate ben vivant; Spartan simplicity gave way to requirements
as multitudinous as they were vicious, and to make his ruin complete, the world’s
conqueror died from the effects of a disgraceful drunken brawl! (T. R. Stevenson.)
A new year’, word for business people
“Out of the ship.” The Lord Jesus had been preaching in synagogues; but there were
very many outside who wanted to hear Him, and whom He wanted to reach. So He
entered into a boat belonging to one of His disciples that was drawn up on the beach,
and when it was thrust a little way from the shore He sat down and taught the people.
I. JESUS SEEKS A PULPIT RIGHT IN THE MIDST OF DAILY LIFE. He comes to
each of us and asks us to let Him have our daily occupation as His preaching-place.
II. LOOK AT THE BOATS WHICH THE LORD JESUS USES.
1. It was the boat of a disciple. He never thrusts Himself upon any. Can we afford
to receive the Lord aboard of our ship?
2. It was the boat of an ardent and loving disciple. How eagerly Simon received
Him into the boat!
3. It was the boat of a busy disciple. Hard-working disciples who can toil all
night, if need be—their’s is the business from which Christ will preach.
III. LOOK AT THE FISHERMEN. They were washing their nets. The Lord will never
help us to catch fish with dirty nets.
IV. Then as to THE SERMON WHICH THE LORD WOULD PREACH from the daily
occupation.
1. Considerateness for other people. These men would have to go off again at
sunset to fish, and they had toiled all the previous night. But that others might
see and hear Jesus, they leave their nets, they thrust out the ship, and they wait
upon the Lord. A sermon that was never so much needed as it is to-day.
2. Faithfulness. The crying want of our times is this, that men should see and
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hear Jesus in the boat of every disciple. Faithfulness on the part of His disciples
goes furthest to give men faith in their Lord and Master.
V. Then there are TWO OR THREE OTHER THOUGHTS THAT GROW OUT OF
THE INCIDENT.
1. It goes well with the boat when Christ is on board.
2. Notice that while the Lord said “nets” (Luk_5:4), Simon said “net” (Luk_5:5).
And he took up the first that came to hand. Ah, Simon, the blessed Master knows
more about fishing than you think. And, my brethren, He knows as much about
your business as about Simon’s. Their net brake (Luk_5:6), so they needed the
nets after all.
3. Think of the fishing-net giving the disciples the most amazing manifestation of
Jesus they had seen. Ah, so it is when Jesus is in the business, the common daily
work of life shall bring glorious manifestations of the Lord’s presence and power.
4. The fisherman who takes Christ on board is promoted to the rank of an
apostle. To serve Jesus in the common round of daily life is the way up to the
highest and most splendid service for the King.
5. When Jesus is in the ship everything is in its right place. The cargo is in the
hold, not in the heart. Cares and gains, fears and losses, yesterday’s failure and
to-day’s success, do not thrust themselves in between us and His presence.
“Goodness and mercy shall follow me,” sang the Psalmist. Alas when the
goodness and mercy come before us, and our blessings shut Jesus from view I
Here is the blessed order—the Lord ever first, I following Him, His goodness and
mercy following me. (Mark Guy Pearse.)
Failure, faith, and fortune
I. FAILURE. “Toiled—nothing.” Failure may be caused by
(a) lack of aptitude;
(b) deficiency of energy; or
(c) want of perseverance. Notwithstanding skill, exertion, and
persistence, here was failure.
1. The plea of disappointment.
2. That plea urged as a reason for relinquishing toil.
II. FAITH. “Nevertheless, at Thy word,” &c. The fishermen were learning of Christ;
their confidence and hope were growing. They had Christ’s word to rely on, and have
not we?
1. Faith in exercise.
2. A right resolve taken.
3. A new venture made.
III. FORTUNE.
1. Unexpected abundance.
2. An act of kindness compensated.
3. Plenty the reward of obedience.
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4. Success the providence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
IV. Note THE RESULTS OR THE MIRACLE.
1. The perception of Christ’s glory.
2. Christ’s majesty producing, humility.
3. A new vocation indicated.
4. Abandonment of all for Christ’s service. (M. Braithwaite.)
The three F’s—a parable of fishing
1. Through a long weary night four men sat in their boats on the Sea of Galilee.
They are not novices in the art of fishing, but old experienced hands. They do not
idle away their time. They toil hard. They toil hard—dropping their nets and
drawing them up again, empty. The story of that vexatious night of
disappointment is told, next day, by one of their number in this one sentence,
“Master, we have toiled,” &c. It could all have been compressed into the one sad
word, FAILURE. And this is the word which many pastors and Christian workers
may feel themselves obliged to write underneath many of their undertakings and
efforts. But God holds us responsible only for duties, never for results. Not by
human might, or power, but by His Spirit, is success to be reached. A Paul may
plant, or a Peter may fish, but God only can give the increase.
2. Now let us turn over the leaf, and begin Chapter II. It is no longer midnight,
but morning. The early sun sparkles on the blue waves of Gennesareth. Two
fishermen are on the beach, washing their nets; two others, John and James, are
mending theirs in a boat. Jesus comes in sight, followed by a jostling crowd. He
wants elbow-room, and space to address the throng, and so He calls for Peter’s
boat and makes it His floating pulpit. As soon as His discourse is over, He begins
to think of His hungry and disappointed disciples. So He gives the order to
Simon. There was a great deal of human nature in Peter. He felt just as you and I
have felt a hundred times. He said, “We have been toiling all night, and have
taken nothing.” Had he stopped short right there he would have got a rebuke for
the shameful sin of giving up. He was despondent over the past; but he was not
despairing for the future. So out bolts that ringing reply, “Nevertheless,” &c.
Noble words! There spake out a resolute and a relying FAITH. Faith set the bow
of Peter’s little smack right towards the deep water, and then laid hold of the oar.
This is precisely the same thing which we pastors, and Sunday-school teachers,
and parents must do straightway. Invite Jesus into our undertakings, for we
cannot fail if He is with us in the boat. Then let us pull out into the deep water of
thorough, conscientious, faithful work. The fish are in the deep water, not near
the shore.
3. What will be the result sooner or later? Look at those disciples in the boat and
you will see. They have lowered their net, just as Jesus told them to do. Lo, a
multitude of fishes swarming in! The net is breaking. Peter signals to John to
bring his boat alongside and help to save the prodigious haul. Up comes the other
smack. The two vessels are soon so overloaded that they begin to sink; and Peter
throws himself down in awe-struck wonder, and cries out that he is unworthy of
such a miraculous blessing. That was Peter’s way of saying just what we pastors
have often said when the revival was glorious, and we felt how much more God
had done for us than we deserved. How sweet was Christ’s answer! “Follow Me,
and I will make you a fisher of men.” And so the loaded boats are pulled ashore,
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and the happy day’s work ends in a FULNESS of blessings. Here are the three F’s.
The first is a sad one, and teaches us that when we rely upon an arm of flesh our
hardest toils may end in Failure. The second is the watchword of all wise action,
and all holy endeavour—it is the golden word Faith. And when we take Jesus with
us in obedient trust, we bring back a Fulness of success. (T. L. Cuyler, D. D.)
This paragraph
1. Illustrates Christ’s indirect method of working. He often gives commands, the
exact bearing of which it is difficult or impossible to see.
2. Illustrates the proper treatment of the Divine word on the part of man.
3. Shows the proper effect of God’s rule over inferior things. There is enough in
any display of Divine power to humble us, if we did but open our eyes to see the
way of the Most High.
4. Illustrates the ever-heightening and ever-widening vocation of mankind.
(1) “Thou shalt catch men.” God does not call men downward but upward,
when they are faithful to their trust.
(2) Men need to be caught, for they have gone astray from God.
(3) Man must catch men.
(4) The art of catching men is a Divine art. It is easy to amuse them, and not
difficult to instruct them; but to catch them in the holy sense of this promise
to Peter, is an art taught only by the
Master Himself.
5. Shows that Jesus Christ does not put men into the ministry simply because
they are unfortunate in secular concerns. Peter had caught nothing all night, and
in the morning he was turned into a minister! Do not people plan to put their
least gifted and least successful children into the Church? It is sometimes said
that they do. Christ seemed to say to Peter, “See, there are fish enough yet in the
water; but you leave your occupation at the very moment of your highest success.
I don’t make a minister of you because there is no other way in which you can
make a morsel of bread, but for infinitely higher reasons.” So to-day there are
men in the ministry who could have caught fish enough and been highly
successful in the ordinary work of life. Give them credit for good motives. (J.
Parker, D. D.)
Christ the Lord of nature
We must not minimize this miracle by deeming that Christ, either by marvellous
sagacity or superhuman omniscience, knew of the presence of this great shoal at that
time and spot. Rather, we must not only see in Jesus “ the Lord of nature, able, by the
secret yet mighty magic of His will, to guide and draw the unconscious creatures, and
make them minister to the higher interests of His kingdom”; but we must also
recognize in Him the second Adam exercising that dominion over the fish of the sea,
which was part of the grant of empire given originally to man. That there should be
this great herd of fish was not in itself miraculous; what was miraculous was that its
appearance should be thus timed, that it should coincide with Christ’s word and
subserve His purpose. (W. J. Deane, M. A.)
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Reasons for the miracle
Various reasons have been offered for the special applicability of this miracle.
1. Thus was Peter repaid for the loan of his boat, even as the widow of Sarepta
was rewarded for her charity to Elijah by the unfailing resources of the barrel of
meal and the cruise of oil; as the Shunamite hostess was requited for her
kindness to Elisha by the restoration of her son to life; as the house of Obed-
Edom was blessed when it gave shelter to the ark of the Lord; as Christ Himself
testified that a cup of cold water given to one of His disciples should not lose its
reward.
2. Also, Jesus was thus preparing His apostles for their coming call; they might
see that in casting in their lot with Him and in abandoning their gainful trade,
they were entering the service of One who was able to provide for their bodily life
as well as for the wants of their soul; One who taught them that “godliness is
profitable for all things, having promise of the life which now is, and of that
which is to come.”
3. Still more might Simon see herein a prophecy of the future, an adumbration of
the success that awaited the preachers of the gospel, as they in obedience to the
word of Christ cast their nets into the sea of the world.
4. Here, too, is a lesson for all; how little we can do by our own skill or wisdom,
how much when we take Christ with us in our work. His Word teaches us how,
and where, and when to labour, and following that Divine Teacher we are sure of
success. (W. J. Deane, M. A.)
A broken net
“The net brake.” That net is the Church; and the history of the Church is, alas I a
history of the tearing of its meshes, and the breaking away of its fish. Heresy and
schism have troubled the Church from the apostolic period; and Christ in this
miracle showed that it would be so, lest we should be discouraged; but He also
showed the remedy for it—a remedy we have not sufficiently taken to heart. When
the net wastorn, then Peter beckoned to his partners to help to receive the draught.
And by this we are shown that the true remedy for heresy and schism is unity. Sad it
is that there should be so much separation among the Apostolic Churches; that the
Eastern Church, and the Church which claims to be founded by St. Peter, and our
own English Church, should all be engaged in fishing on our own several accounts,
with mangled nets, from which many escape, and in which only few are saved. When
the Churches recognize the real cause of their failure, repent of their haughty and
narrow isolation, and draw together, and call to each other to help, then, and then
only, will they be filled to the bulwarks, so that they seem almost about to sink. (S.
Baring-Gould, M. A.)
Use of partners
There cannot be a better improvement of society than to help us in gain, to relieve us
in our profitable labours, to draw up the spiritual draught into the vessel of Christ
and His Church. Wherefore hath God given us partners, but that we should beckon to
them for their aid in our necessary occasions? Neither doth Simon slacken his hand,
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because he had assistants. What shall we say to those lazy fishers, who can see others
to the drag, while themselves look on at ease, caring only to feed themselves with the
fish, not willing to wet their hands with the net? what shall we say to this excess of
gain? (Bishop Hall.)
Luke 5:11
And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed Him
Imitation of the apostles
I.
WITH REGARD TO THOSE POINTS IN WHICH THE EXAMPLE OF THE
APOSTLES AT THEIR CALL IS NOT TO BE UNIVERSALLY IMITATED, I would
remark at once a wide difference betwixt their case and that of the generality of
Christians, which is, that they were entering the ministerial office. Those whom they
might convert, either from the errors of Judaism or the blindness of idolatry, might
possibly become equally acceptable Christians in the sight of their Divine leader; but
there would still remain a line of separation betwixt the two classes, and to each class
peculiar duties were annexed. And besides this distinction which we have just
noticed, there is another consideration which invests the situation of the apostles in a
still more peculiar light. They were going to live day and night, and in constant
companionship with one who, having “all power given Him both in heaven and
earth,” could, at any moment, supply their wants, whatever those wants might be:
and in attending upon whom, therefore, they would be miraculously defended from
all those evils which would infallibly overtake any one who now attempted literally to
do as they were ordered. And in speculating upon our Saviour’s purpose in this
particular miracle, though the idea may not hitherto have occurred to you, it
certainly does seem probable that He meant it to have this convincing effect; for that
men, earning their precarious livelihood as mere fishermen on the Lake of Tiberias,
probably dependent for their next day’s meal on the fortune which attended their
over-night’s fishing, would naturally feel their trust much strengthened in our
Saviour’s character after such an exhibition of His miraculous power to help them,
there cannot be a doubt. Christ foresaw, indeed, though as yet hidden from the
apostles’ eyes, that dreadful cloud of persecution which was gathering on every side
of them, which in a very short while burst in its first fury upon Calvary, and soon
after took off each one of our Lord’s immediate followers by the refined agonies of
some cruel death. And having this foreknowledge of what would and must come,
Christ took only for the attendants of His mission such as would be undisturbed from
their purpose of final perseverance and endurance: such in fact only as, having
previously resigned all affections for this world, would be able and willing to quit life
at any moment through the martyr’s blood-stained gate. But, my brethren, there are
some points in which the example of the apostles must be imitated, if we would be
Christians. In the first place, we must imitate the apostles in their readiness to resign
all earthly things when put in competition with those of heaven. Secondly, we must
imitate them in their liveliness of conscience, to distinguish the value betwixt the
body and the soul. Thirdly, we must imitate their perseverance and final triumph,
through faith, over the temptations of life and the terrors of death. (A. Garry, M. A.)
Forsaking all
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This was indispensable to our becoming disciples. It is indispensable to our
continuing disciples.
1. We are to feel habitually that we have nothing of our own. All idea of
proprietary rights we are to relinquish.
2. And when the selfish counter pleas that oppose the claims of the rightful
Master solicit my consent, I must hear only the one Divine call that bids me
forsake all I have in devotion to this new Master.
3. And this renunciation of all must be made in the conviction that there is no use
we can possibly make of ourselves and of what we have that can be so sweet, so
wise, and so fruitful of good and of blessing, as to lay the whole down at Jesus’
feet. ( A. L. Stone, D. D.)
Love to Christ supreme
A Karen woman offered herself for baptism. After the usual examination, I inquired
whether she could give up her ornaments for Christ. It was an unexpected blow. I
explained the spirit of the gospel. I appealed to her own consciousness of vanity. I
read to her the apostle’s prohibition (1Ti_2:9). She looked again and again at her
handsome necklace, and then, with an air of modest decision, she took it off, saying,
“I love Christ more than this.” (Dr. Judson.)
Leaving all to follow Christ;
The secretary of the Brighton Town Mission narrates the following: “Miss B. was in
the theatrical profession, earning as much at times as £21 a week. Through the
agencies at work in connection with our hall, she was led to choose the one thing
needful. But now came the struggle between duty to Christ and duty to her parents.
As she expressed it, ‘ She could not have Christ and go on with her work; therefore, as
she felt she would rather die than dishonour Him,’ although only seventeen, she
made the happy choice. Every means was taken to win her back; her Bible was
burned, her clothes taken from her, she was locked up in her room, she was sent
from home, but flattery and persecution were alike in vain, she realized in its fulness
the promise, ‘My grace is sufficient for thee.’ She still holds on her way rejoicing.”
Rejecting a kingdom for Christ
This noble act has been left for a converted heathen in India to do for Christ. The
account has lately been sent to this country by Mr. C. A. Elliott, C.B., the
Commissioner of Assam, who says he supposes the man in question is the only man
now alive who has rejected a kingdom for Christ. He was the heir of the Rajah of
Cherra, U. Bor. Sing, of Khasia, India, and had been converted to Christianity by the
missionaries. U. Bor. Sing was warned that in joining the Christians he would
probably forfeit his right to be King of Cherra after the death of Ram Sing, who then
ruled. Eighteen months afterwards Ram Sing died; the chiefs of the tribes met
together, and unanimously decided that Bor. Sing was to succeed him as Slim (king),
but that his Christian profession stood in the way. Messenger after messenger was
sent to U. Bor. Sing urging him to go to the missionaries and recant. He was invited
to the native council, and there asked to put aside his religious profession, and that
then they would all acknowledge him as their king. His answer was, “Put aside my
Christian profession! I can put aside my head-dress or my cloak, but as for the
covenant I have made with my God, I cannot for any consideration put that aside.”
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Another was therefore appointed king in his stead.
Jesus Heals a Man With Leprosy
12 While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man
came along who was covered with leprosy.[b]
When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the
ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are
willing, you can make me clean.”
CLARKE, "A certain city - This was some city of Galilee; probably Chorazin or
Bethsaida.
A man full of leprosy - See this disease, and the cure, largely explained on Mat_
8:2-4 (note); and see it particularly applied to the use of public preaching, Mar_1:40
(note), etc. See also the notes on Leviticus 13 (note), and 14 (note).
GILL, "And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city,.... Or near it, hard
by it, very probably Capernaum; Mat_8:1 Behold a man full of leprosy; a disease to
which the Jews were very incident, and concerning which, many laws and rules are
given, in Lev_13:1. The symptoms of the ancient "lepra", as laid down by Galen,
Aretaeus, Pontanus, Aegineta, Cardan, Varanda, Gordon, Pharaeus, and others, are
as follow. The patient's voice is hoarse, and comes rather through the nose than the
mouth; the blood full of little white shining bodies, like groins of millet, which upon
filtration, separate themselves from it; the serum is scabious, and destitute of its
natural humidity, insomuch that salt applied to it, does not dissolve; it is so dry, that
vinegar poured on it boils; and is so strongly bound together by little imperceptible
threads, that calcined lead thrown into it swims. The face resembles a coal half
extinct, unctuous, shining, and bloated, with frequent hard knobs, green at bottom,
and white at top. The hair is short, stiff, and brinded; and not to be torn off, without
bringing away, some of the rotten flesh, to which it adheres; if it grows again, either
on the head or chin, it is always white: athwart the forehead, run large wrinkles or
furrows, from one temple to the other; the eyes red and inflamed, and shine like
those of a cat; the ears swollen and red, eaten with ulcers towards the bottom, and
encompassed with little glands; the nose sunk, because of the rotting of the cartilage;
the tongue dry and black, swollen, ulcerated, divided with furrows, and spotted with
grains of white; the skin covered with ulcers, that die and revive on each other, or
with white spots, or scales like a fish; it is rough and insensible, and when cut,
instead of blood, yields a sanious liquor: it arrives in time to such a degree of
insensibility, that the wrist, feet, or even the large tendon, may be pierced with a
needle, without the patient's feeling any pain; at last the nose, fingers, toes, and even
privy members, fall off entire; and by a death peculiar to each of them, anticipate that
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of the patient: it is added, that the body is so hot, that a fresh apple held in the hand
an hour, will be dried and wrinkled, as if exposed to the sun for a week (e). Think
now what a miserable deplorable object this man was, said to be full of it. Between
this disease and sin, there is a very great likeness. This disease is a very filthy one,
and of a defiling nature, by the ceremonial law; under which it was considered rather
as an uncleanness, than as a disease; the person attended with it was pronounced
unclean by the priest, and was put out of the camp, and out of the cities and walled
towns, that he might not defile others; and was obliged to put a covering on his upper
lip, and cry Unclean, Unclean, to acknowledge his pollution, and that others might
shun him: all mankind, by reason of sin, are by the Lord pronounced filthy; and by
their evil actions, not only defile themselves, but others; evil communications corrupt
good manners; and when they are made sensible, freely own that their
righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and they themselves as an unclean thing: it is a
very nauseous and loathsome disease, as is sin; it is abominable to God, and renders
men abominable in his sight; it causes the sinner himself, when convinced of it, to
loath and abhor himself: David calls his sin a loathsome disease, Psa_38:7 it is of a
spreading nature: this was a sign of it, if it did not spread, it was only a, scab; if it
spread, it was a leprosy, Lev_13:5. Sin has spread itself over all mankind, and over all
the powers and faculties of the soul, and members of the body; there is no place free
of it: and as the leprosy is of consuming nature, it eats and wastes the flesh, see
Num_12:10 2Ki_5:10 so sin eats like a canker, and brings ruin and destruction upon
men, both soul and body. This disease was incurable by medicine; persons that had it
were never sent to a physician, but to a priest; and what he did was only this, he
looked upon it, and if it was a clear case, he declared the person unclean; and if it was
doubtful, shut him up for seven days, and then inspected him again; and after all he
could not cure him; this was the work of God, 2Ki_5:7. All which shows the nature
and use of the law, which shuts men up, concludes them under sin, and by which
they have knowledge of it, but no healing: the law heals none, it is the killing letter,
the ministration of condemnation and death; Christ only, by his blood and stripes,
heals the disease of sin, and cleanses from it. There is one thing in the law of the
leprosy very surprising, and that is, that if there was any quick raw flesh, or any
sound flesh in the place where the leprosy was, the man was pronounced unclean;
but if the leprosy covered his skin, and all his flesh, then he was pronounced clean:
this intimates, that he that thinks he has some good thing in him, and fancies himself
sound and well, and trusts to his own works of righteousness, he is not justified in
the sight of God; but if a man acknowledges that there is no soundness in his flesh,
that in him, that is, in his flesh, dwells no good thing, but that his salvation is alone,
by the grace and mercy of God, such a man is justified by faith in Christ Jesus: the
parable of the Pharisee and publican will illustrate this, Luk_18:10. "Who, seeing
Jesus, fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make
me clean"; See Gill on Mat_8:2. Christ could cure lepers, and did; and which was a
proof of his Messiahship, and is given among the signs of it, to John's disciples, Mat_
11:5 and as there is a likeness between the leprosy and sin, so between the cleansing
of a leper under the law, and the healing of a sinner by Christ: for the cleansing of a
leper, two birds were to be taken clean and alive, which were both typical of Christ,
and pointed at the meekness of his human nature, his innocence, harmlessness, and
purity, and that he had a life to lay down; one of these was to be killed, in an earthen
vessel over running water, showing that Christ must be killed, his blood must be shed
for the cleansing of leprous sinners; the earthen vessel denoted his human nature, his
flesh, in which he was put to death; and the running water signified the purifying
nature of his blood, and the continued virtue of it, to cleanse from all sin; and the
blood and the water being mixed together, may put us in mind of the blood and water
which flowed from the side of Christ, when pierced with the spear; which was an
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emblem of our justification and sanctification being both from him, on account of
which, he is said to come both by water and by blood, 1Jo_5:6. The other bird, after
it was dipped with the cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop in the blood of the slain bird,
was let go alive; which typified the resurrection of Christ, who was put to death in the
flesh, and quickened in the Spirit; and who rose again, for the justification of his
people from all sin: the cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop, which were used in the
cleansing of the leper, may either relate to the sufferings, and death, and blood of
Christ; the scarlet wool may denote the bloody sufferings of Christ, through which he
was red in his apparel; the cedar wood may signify the incorruptibleness and
preciousness of the blood of Christ, and the hyssop the purging virtue of it; or else
these three may have regard to the three principal graces of the Spirit of God, which
have to do with, and are in influenced by the sin cleansing blood of Christ: the cedar
wood may signify the incorruptible and precious grace of faith; the green hyssop, the
lively grace of hope; and the scarlet, the flaming grace of love, when it is in its full
exercise: or else the grace of faith, by which dealing with the blood of Christ, the
heart is purified, is only meant; signified by cedar wood, for its permanency; by
scarlet, for its concern with the crimson blood of Christ; by which sins, though as
scarlet, are made white as wool; and by hyssop, for its being an humble and lowly
grace: now the cedar stick, with the scarlet wool, and bunch of hyssop bound unto it,
was used to sprinkle the blood of the bird upon the leper seven times, when he was
pronounced clean; and expresses the instrumentality of faith, in the application of
the blood of Christ for cleansing: though after this, the leper was to shave off all his
hair, and wash himself and clothes in water; suggesting to us, that holiness of life and
conversation which should follow, upon cleansing through faith in the blood of
Christ.
HENRY, “Here is, I. The cleansing of a leper, Luk_5:12-14. This narrative we had
both in Matthew and Mark. It is here said to have been in a certain city (Luk_5:12);
it was in Capernaum, but the evangelist would not name it, perhaps because it was a
reflection upon the government of the city that a leper was suffered to be in it. This
man is said to be full of leprosy; he had that distemper in a high degree, which the
more fitly represents our natural pollution by sin; we are full of that leprosy, from
the crown of the head to the sole of the foot there is no soundness in us. Now let us
learn here,
1. What we must do in the sense of our spiritual leprosy. (1.) We must seek Jesus,
enquire after him, acquaint ourselves with him, and reckon the discoveries made to
us of Christ by the gospel the most acceptable and welcome discoveries that could be
made to us. (2.) We must humble ourselves before him, as this leper, seeing Jesus,
fell on his face. We must be ashamed of our pollution, and, in the sense of it, blush to
lift up our faces before the holy Jesus. (3.) We must earnestly desire to be cleansed
from the defilement, and cured of the disease, of sin, which renders us unfit for
communion with God. (4.) We must firmly believe Christ's ability and sufficiency to
cleanse us: Lord, thou canst make me clean, though I be full of leprosy. No doubt is
to be made of the merit and grace of Christ. (5.) We must be importunate in prayer
for pardoning mercy and renewing grace: He fell on his face and besought him; they
that would be cleansed must reckon it a favour worth wrestling for. (6.) We must
refer ourselves to the good-will of Christ: Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst. This is not so
much the language of his diffidence, or distrust of the good-will of Christ, as of his
submission and reference of himself and his case to the will, to the good-will, of Jesus
Christ.
JAMISON, "Luk_5:12-16. Leper healed.
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(See on Mat_8:2-4.)
SBC, “(with Luk_5:20)
I. So long as there is any religion at all in the world it will, of course, busy itself with
the eternal question of the difference between right and wrong. It will, in some sense,
make itself the champion of right and the enemy of wrong. But then wrongdoing may
be very differently regarded, even by religious men. Roughly speaking, it may be
regarded as directed either against man or against God; either as an injury or an
offence; either as a weakness or a wickedness; either as a defect or a sin. Roughly
speaking, again, the world takes the former view, Scripture the latter. The sentence of
worldly men and of the natural conscience is, "I have injured him, and I must do
what I can to make amends." The sentence of Scripture is that of the Psalmist,
"Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight."
II. If at any time sin as sin is thought little of, the prevalent ideal of goodness among
Christians will be that of doing good to man rather than walking humbly with God.
Philanthropy, in short, will take the place of holiness. And I think we see many signs
of this at the present day—signs which we are bound to hail with thankfulness, even
while, as Christians, we note their deficiencies.
III. Christ assumes our sinfulness as the very basis of His work. He speaks to us as
sinners, but as sinners loved, not despised; and there is all the difference. His deeds
have an interest indeed, and a charm for thousands, and thousands who are, as yet at
least, but little burdened by a sense of sin. But it was not to interest these that He
lived and died. He came not to call the righteous, or the sensible, or the indifferent,
or the critical, but sinners to repentance. That was His distinguishing work. All other
works—the unfelt duties He has revealed, the dormant philosophy He has
stimulated, the social kindness He has aroused, the august institutions He has
founded and hallowed—all these works, glorious as they are, are but secondary to His
great design. He is, first and chief, the Friend of sinners. "He shall save His people
from their sins." He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied; by His
knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities.
H. M. Butler, Harrow Sermons, 2nd series, p. 252.
BARCLAY, "TOUCHING THE UNTOUCHABLE (Luke 5:12-15)
5:12-15 While Jesus was in one of the towns--look you--a man who was a severe
case of leprosy saw him. He fell before him and besought him, "Lord, if you are
willing to do so you are able to cleanse me." Jesus stretched out his hand and
touched him. "I am willing," he said. "Be cleansed." Immediately the leprosy left
him. Jesus enjoined him to tell no one. "But," he said, "go and show yourself to
the priest, and bring the offering for cleansing, as Moses's law laid it down, to
prove to them that you are cured." Talk about him spread all the more; and
many crowds assembled to listen to him and to be cured of their illnesses.
In Palestine there were two kinds of leprosy. There was one which was rather
like a very bad skin disease, and it was the less serious of the two. There was one
in which the disease, starting from a small spot, ate away the flesh until the
wretched sufferer was left with only the stump of a hand or a leg. It was literally
a living death.
The regulations concerning leprosy are in Leviticus 13:1-59; Leviticus 14:1-57.
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The most terrible thing about it was the isolation it bought. The leper was to cry
"Unclean! Unclean!" wherever he went; he was to dwell alone; "in a habitation
outside the camp" (Leviticus 13:45-46). He was banished from the society of men
and exiled from home. The result was, and still is, that the psychological
consequences of leprosy were as serious as the physical.
Dr. A. B. MacDonald, in an article on the leper colony in Itu, of which he was in
charge, wrote, "The leper is sick in mind as well as body. For some reason there
is an attitude to leprosy different from the attitude to any other disfiguring
disease. It is associated with shame and horror, and carries, in some mysterious
way, a sense of guilt, although innocently acquired like most contagious troubles.
Shunned and despised, frequently do lepers consider taking their own lives and
some do."
The leper was hated by others until he came to hate himself. That is the kind of
man who came to Jesus; he was unclean; and Jesus touched him.
(i) Jesus touched the untouchable. His hand went out to the man from whom
everyone else would have shrunk away. Two things emerge. First, when we
despise ourselves, when our hearts are filled with bitter shame, let us remember,
that, in spite of all, Christ's hand is still stretched out. Mark Rutherford wished
to add a new beatitude, "Blessed are those who heal us of our self-despisings."
That is what Jesus did and does. Second, it is of the very essence of Christianity
to touch the untouchable, to love the unlovable, to forgive the unforgivable. Jesus
did--and so must we.
(ii) Jesus sent the man to carry out the normal, prescribed routine for cleansing.
The regulations are described in Leviticus 14:1-57 . That is to say a miracle did
not dispense with what medical science of the time could do. It did not absolve
the man from carrying out the prescribed rules. We will never get miracles by
neglecting the gifts and the wisdom God has given us. It is when man's skill
combines with God's grace that wonder happens.
(iii) Luke 5:15 tells us of the popularity Jesus enjoyed. But it was only because
people wanted something out of him. Many desire the gifts of God but repudiate
the demands of God--and, there could be nothing more dishonourable.
BENSON, "Luke 5:12-16. Behold a man full of leprosy — Of this miracle, see the
notes on Matthew 8:2-4, and Mark 1:45. And he withdrew himself into the
wilderness and prayed — The original expression, ην υποχωρων εν ταις ερημοις,
και προσευχομενος, implies that he frequently did this. Though no one was ever
more busily employed than he was, or did so much good in public as he did, yet
he found time for pious and devout retirement: not that he needed to avoid either
distraction or ostentation; but he meant to set us an example, who have need so
to order the circumstances of our devotion as to guard against both. It is likewise
our wisdom so to order our affairs, that our public work and our secret
devotions may not intrench upon, or interfere with each other. Observe, reader,
private prayer must be performed secretly; and how much soever we have to do
in the best business in this world, we ought to have stated times for it, and
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steadily to attend to them.
COFFMAN, "THE HEALING OF A LEPER
The dreadful disease of leprosy left its victim in a totally pitiable condition
without hope of any earthly cure. The fact that one so afflicted sought Jesus' aid
indicated the popular conception that Jesus was a man of supernatural power.
This dreaded malady was a type of sin in the Old Testament; and, although there
were instances of its being sent as punishment for sin (2 Kings 5:27), it also
occurred independently of sin. Significantly, Luke recorded the fact of the man
worshipping Jesus.
BURKITT, "He does not question Christ's power, but distrusts his willingness to
help and heal him. Christ's divine power must be fully assented to, and firmly
believed, by all those that expect benefit by him, and healing from him.
Observe, 2. The great readiness of Christ to help and heal this distressed person:
Jesus touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean.
By the ceremonial law, the leper was forbidden to be touched; therefore Christ
touching this leper, shows himself to be above the law; that he was the Lord of it,
and might dispense with it. And his healing this leper, by the word of his mouth
and the touch of his hand, showed him to be truly and really sent of God; for
leprosy among the Jews was accounted an incurable distemper, called the finger
of God; a disease of his sending, and of his removing.
Our Saviour, therefore, as a proof of his being the Messiah, tells John's disciples,
That the lepers were cleansed, and the dead raised by him; Matthew 11:5 which
two being joined together, do imply, that the cleansing of the leper is as much an
act of divine power, as the raising of the dead; and accordingly, it is said, Am I
God, that this man sends unto me to cure a person of his leprosy? 2 Kings 5:7
Observe, 3. The certainty and the suddenness of the cure was a farther proof of
Christ's divine power; Immediately the leprosy departed. Christ not only cured
him immediately, but instantaneously; not only without means, but without the
ordinary time required for such a cure. Thus Christ showed both power and will
to cure him miraculously, who believed his power, but questioned his willingness.
Observe, 4. A twofold charge and command given by Christ to the leper.
1. To tell it to no man. Where the great modesty, piety, and humility of our
Saviour are discovered, together with the prudent care he took of his own safety:
his modesty, in concealing his own praises; his humility, in shunning all vain-
glorious applause and commendation; his piety, in referring all the honor and
glory to God his Father; and the care of his own safety appeared, lest the
publishing of his miracle should create untimely danger from the Pharisees.
2. The next part of the charge given to the recovered leper, is, to go and show
himself to the priest, and to offer the gift which Moses commanded for a
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testimony unto them; that is, to testify to the Jews, that he did not oppose the
ceremonial law, which required a thank- offering at his hand; and also that the
miracle might testify that he was the true and promised Messiah.
Learn hence, that our blessed Saviour would have the ceremonial law punctually
observed, so long as the time of its continuance did endure; though he came to
destroy that law, yet while it stood he would have it exactly observed. See note on
St.Matthew 8:2
CONSTABLE, "One of the cities of Galilee is what Luke meant in view of the
context. He revealed his particular interest in medical matters again by noting
that leprosy covered this man completely. There could be no doubt that he was a
leper. As Peter had done, this man fell on His face before Jesus (cf. Luke 5:8). As
Peter, he also appealed to Jesus as "Lord" (Luke 5:8). This address was
respectful and appropriate for addressing someone with special power from
God. [Note: G. Vermes, Jesus the Jew, pp. 122-23.] The leper was very bold in
coming to Jesus since his leprosy separated him from normal social contacts. His
conditional request cast doubt on Jesus' willingness to heal him, not His ability to
do so. It may express his sense of unworthiness to receive such a blessing.
1. Jesus' cleansing of a leprous Jew 5:12-16 (cf. Matthew 8:1-4; Mark 1:40-45)
This miracle was to be a "testimony" to others about Jesus' person (Luke 5:14).
It authenticated His person and His teaching. It also shows the blessings that
Jesus brought to people, specifically the spiritual cleansing of those whom sin has
polluted (cf. Luke 4:18).
"Like sin, leprosy ["a defiling skin disease" TNIV] is deeper than the skin
(Leviticus 13:3) and cannot be helped by mere 'surface' measures (see Jeremiah
6:14). Like sin, leprosy spreads (Leviticus 13:7-8); and as it spreads, it defiles
(Leviticus 13:44-45). Because of his defilement, a leprous person had to be
isolated outside the camp (Leviticus 13:46), and lost sinners one day will be
isolated in hell. People with leprosy were looked on as 'dead' (Numbers 12:12),
and garments infected with leprosy were fit only for the fire (Leviticus 13:52)."
[Note: Wiersbe, 1:186.]
PETT, "All background information is suppressed in order to focus entirely on
the man and his condition, although Luke probably expects us to recognise that
we are still near the Lake of Gennesaret. (It may also have been in order to
prevent embarrassment to a well known figure. The man was still open to rebuke
for having ventured into the city while ritually unclean). He was ‘full of skin
disease’, a clearly severe case. (‘Full = pleres, a term regularly used by medical
men to describe the progress of a disease). And now he was meeting someone
Who was ‘full of the Holy Spirit’ (Luke 4:1). As being unclean he was not
supposed to approach anyone, least of all a prophet of Israel in Whom was the
Holy Spirit. But when he saw Jesus, concerning Whom he had heard so much, he
fell on his face before Him. In his heart he knew that this man could help him.
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And he begged Him saying, ‘Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.’ His doubt
was not whether He could do it, but whether He would. For many turned away
from him in disgust when they saw him. It was a cry of faith, and yet of anguish.
Notice his desire, to be made ‘clean’. This is the thing above all that hurt him so
deeply, not so much the dreadful disfigurement, but being unable to approach
God’s house and being unable to be in contact with fellow human beings.
Verses 12-16
The Cleansing of A Skin Diseased Man (5:12-16).
The cleansing of a skin diseased man by touching him is something that would
have affected the ancient mind like little else. It indicated a mastery over disease
and uncleanness that was unique. Skin disease was held in horror by all, and
skin diseased men and women were to be avoided. They were expected to avoid
human company, except for their own kind, and to call ‘unclean, unclean’ so as
to warn people to keep away from them (Leviticus 13:43-46). For in Jewish Law
skin disease rendered them permanently ritually unclean. They could neither live
among men nor approach the Dwellingplace of God. And any who came in
contact with them became ‘unclean’ and unable to enter the temple until they
again became clean.
It is no accident that in Luke this story follows the cry of Peter, ‘Depart from me
for I am a sinful man, O Lord’, and precedes the one in which Jesus declares
that a man’s sins are forgiven, for it illustrates that He could also make Peter
‘clean’, and can truly forgive sins.
There are a number of indications in the Old Testament that Israel were seen as
the equivalent of skin diseased persons. Isaiah could cry out, ‘We are all as an
unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags’ (Isaiah 64:6), a
typical picture of a skin diseased person, and some have seen in the Servant of
Isaiah 53 the picture of a skin diseased person as He bore the sin of others.
Moreover the picture in Isaiah 1:5-6 of Israel as covered with festering sores
could well have been of a skin diseased person. And the worst fate that could
befall a man who usurped the privileges of God’s sanctuary was to be stricken
with skin disease (1 Chronicles 16:16-21). Never again could he enter the Temple
of the Lord. So like the skin diseased man, Israel were unclean before God
(Haggai 2:14), although in Haggai it is by contact with death. However, being
skin diseased was seen as a living death, so the thoughts are parallel. Thus a skin
diseased man was a fit depiction of Israel’s need.
In contrast Jesus was conscious of His own superlative purity. He was master
over uncleanness, it could not survive His touch, nor could He be defiled by it.
Thus when a skin diseased man approaches Jesus for healing we may well see
behind it the intention of also depicting Israel in its need, a need which can only
be healed by the Messiah. Compare Luke 7:22 where the cleansing of the skin
diseased is a sign of the presence of the Messiah.
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There may also be intended a reminder of the fact that a greater than Elisha was
here. Elisha had enabled the healing of a skin diseased man (2 Kings 5), but he
had not touched him. Rather he had sent him to wash seven times in the Jordan.
He had put him firmly in the hands of God, and God had healed him. But here
Jesus had taken it on Himself. It was He Who had healed him. The implication
could be drawn by the reader.
We may analyse this passage as follows:
a While He was in one of the cities (Luke 5:12 a).
b Behold, a man full of skin disease, and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face
(Luke 5:12 b).
c And besought him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” (Luke
5:12 c).
d And he stretched out his hand, and touched him, saying, “I will, be you made
clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him (Luke 5:13).
c And he charged him to tell no man: “But go your way, and show yourself to the
priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a testimony to
them” (Luke 5:14).
b But so much the more went abroad the report concerning him, and great
crowds came together to hear, and to be healed of their infirmities (Luke 5:15).
a But he withdrew himself in the deserts, and prayed (Luke 5:16).
In ‘a’ Jesus is in ‘one of the cities’ where He can meet with man. In the parallel
He is in the deserts where He could meet with God. In ‘b’ the skin diseased man
comes to Jesus, and in the parallel the crowds with infirmities come to Jesus. In
‘c’ the man pleads to be made clean and in the parallel he is to go to the priests
because he is clean. And central to it all is that it was Jesus Who had made him
clean.
BI, “Behold a man full of leprosy
The leper cleansed
I.
LEPROSY AFFORDS A STRIKING REPRESENTATION OF THE CHARACTER AND
CONSEQUENCE OF SIN.
1. This spiritual leprosy has rendered all our race unclean in the sight of God and
in the judgment of His holy law.
(1) It shuts us out from His presence,
(2) and from a place among His people.
2. No skill or power of man can cure this disease.
3. This malady, if not healed, will issue in death. And remember, death is not
cessation of being, but a state of awful terror, pain, and wretchedness. This is the
issue to which sin is bringing its victims.
4. Yet, thank God, our case is not altogether hopeless; there is a cure.
II. OBSERVE THE STEPS TAKEN BY THIS LEPER TO OBTAIN A CURE. Thus we
may learn what the disposition is, in which we should endeavour to approach the
Saviour, who alone can heal our spiritual leprosy.
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1. The first thing I would notice in this leper’s conduct is the eagerness and haste
with which he ran to Jesus immediately he met Him.
2. His reverential selfabasement. His eagerness in seeking relief did not cause
him to forget what was due to the character of Him from whom that relief was
sought.
3. The confidence he entertained of Christ’s power. Have not we far stronger
grounds for this than he had? (J. Harding, M. A.)
Two pulpits
I. Observe HOW MANY ANONYMOUS BELIEVERS THERE ARE IN THE BIBLE
RECORD WHO GIVE HELP ALL ALONG THE AGES. Here are mentioned
“multitudes,” and among them two persons in particular—a leper and a paralytic.
And that is all we know about any individual to whom that eventful day was the
beginning of renewed life. No name, no history, no after career; but we suppose that
these cripples are in heaven now, and we know that their story has helped thousands
to be patient and cheerful on the way thither. It is of little consequence who we are; it
matters more what we are.
II. EVEN IN EXTREME HOPELESSNESS OF DISEASE ONE MAY EXHIBIT A
SUPREME AND ILLUSTRIOUS FAITH. The cases of these two men were as bad as
they could well be; yet did our Lord find in them faith enough to be healed. In the
rooms of the American Tract Society, in New York, are still standing two objects
which I studied for some meditative years, once a month, at a committee meeting.
One is a slight framework of tough wood, a few feet high, so bound together with
hasps and hinges as to be taken down and folded in the hand. This was Whitefield’s
travelling-pulpit—the one he used when, denied access to the churches, he
harangued the thousands in the open air, on the moors of England. You will think of
this modern apostle, lifted up upon the small platform, with the throngs of eager
people around him, or hurrying from one field to another, bearing his Bible in his
arms; ever on the move, toiling with Herculean energy, and a force like that of a
giant. There, in that rude pulpit, is the symbol of all which is active and fiery in
dauntless Christian zeal. But now, look again: in the centre of this framework, resting
upon the slender platform, where the living preacher used to stand, you will see a
chair—a plain, straight-backed, armed, cottage-chair—rough, simple, meagrely
cushioned, unvarnished, and stiff. It was the seat in which Elizabeth Wallbridge, “the
dairyman’s daughter,” sat and coughed and whispered, and from which she went
only at her last hour to the couch on which she died. Here again is a pulpit; and it is
the symbol of a life quiet and unromantic and hard in all Christian endurance. Every
word that invalid woman uttered—every patient night she suffered—was a gospel
sermon. In a hundred languages, the life of that servant of God has preached to
millions of souls the riches of Christ’s glory and grace. And of these two pulpits,
which is the most honourable is known only to God, who undoubtedly accepted and
consecrated them both. The one is suggestive of the ministry of speech, the other of
the ministry of submission.
III. AN EXPLANATION OF THE MYSTERY AND THE PURPOSE OF SUFFERING.
Pain is a sort of ordination to the Christian ministry. Pure submission is as good as
going on a foreign mission. Souls may be won to the Cross by a life on a sick-bed just
as well as by a life in a cathedral desk.
IV. Hence, we may easily learn WHAT SHOULD BE THE CHIEF OCCUPATION OF
AN INVALID. NO one can preach from any pulpit without the proper measure of
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study. He must thoughtfully ascertain what will make his efforts most pertinent.
1. He will study doctrine.
2. He will study experience, too.
A month ago I saw a brave soldier of the Cross who had been passing through a fiery
history of years with broken health, which had taken him from the pulpit of his
usefulness and bidden him look into the grave season after season. He was now only
able to stand, and sought a new field. Only yesterday he visited me again; in his
feebleness he lay on my couch while he talked. He had just come from putting the
wife of his manhood, his patient helper and the stay of his home, in the bedlam of a
madhouse. Poor in spirit and poor in purse, broken-hearted and alone, he feared he
should break again. Yet there he lay, and spoke hopefully and gently. Oh, that valiant
brother, quivering in every muscle, but bold and firm in his trustful courage,
preached to me in my study as I know I never preached in my church!
V. Some people recover from long illness; Christ heals them, as He did these men in
the story. So there is one more lesson for convalescents: WHAT ARE THEY GOING
TO DO WITH THEIR LIVES HEREAFTER? “It is a solemn thing to die,” said
Schiller, “but it is a more solemn thing to live.” We know the story of the Scotch
mother, whose child an eagle stole away; half maddened she saw the bird reach its
eyrie far up the cliff. No one could scale the rock. In distraction she prayed all the
day. An old sailor climbed after it, and crept down dizzily from the height. There, on
her outstretched arms, as she plod with closed eyes, he laid her babe. She rose in
majesty of self-denial and took it (as she had been taught in that land) to her
minister. She would not kiss it till it had been solemnly dedicated unto God I What
shall a man do with a life given back to him? (C. S.Robinson, D. D.)
What has God done to save me?
The divinely-offered key to a right appreciation of Christ’s spiritual work, even to that
which theologians call the Atonement, should be sought by observing how our Lord
cleansed the lepers, made the blind to see, and the lame to walk. Let us endeavour to
realize how He, whose name is the only name given under heaven among men
whereby we may be saved, healed men’s diseases, in order that we may understand,
so far as it has been revealed, how He saves us from our sins.
I. CONSIDER, FIRST, WHY JESUS HEALED. Not to show that He could, but
because He pitied the sufferer. When asked to work miracles to prove His ability to
do so, He habitually declined. Every act of healing wrought by Christ was an act of
pure compassion. He never healed to attract attention to Himself. He often
commanded those He healed to say nothing of their cure.
II. CONSIDER, NEXT, HOW JESUS HEALED.
1. The fact that He had compassion upon them was itself the first step in the cure
of many who came to Him. There are diseases in which recovery must begin by
regaining lost self-respect. In Christ the most dissolute and disgraced found not
only pity, but delicate considerateness. Think, e.g., of His treatment of this leper.
We can scarcely conceive what the effect must have been upon a man who had for
years been closeted with his loathsome self, or with still more loathsome fellow-
sufferers—a man who might not eat with human beings unless the same deadly
taint was upon them, nor appear in the street except jangling a bell to give
warning of the peril his presence brought; who, if he patted upon the head a
carrion dog, it must be instantly killed, lest it should brush against others and
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defile them, because he had touched it; who, if he saw his mother, his child, his
wife approach, must fly or shout, “Unclean, unclean! Keep afar!” We can scarcely
conceive what the effect must have been upon such a man, when he saw Jesus
draw nigh. The multitude attending the Saviour falls back as men shrink from the
plague; for crowds are always cowards. But the Master approaches, and, paying
no heed to the jangling bell, the warning cry, lays His hand upon him. For the
first time for years the leper feels the touch of a hand that is not hardened by the
awful malady. That touch must have made the leper a new man in heart before
the quickened pulse could shoot new life into the decaying limbs.
2. In healing, Christ made effort. One must be blind to read the New Testament,
and fancy Christ’s cures cost Him nothing because He was Divine. It was because
He was Divine that they cost Him so much. If you would seek beings incapable of
suffering, you must not go up toward the angels and the great white throne, for
there you will find “the Lamb as it had been slain,” but down among the oysters.
Do you ask, How did Christ bear men’s diseases? Thus: He sighed, He prayed, He
lifted them in His arms, He put His hands upon them, He drew them to His
bosom, He groaned, He felt His strength go from Him, to heal their bodies. If He
had done less, He would not have made manifest the longsuttering God; and His
saving men’s bodies, His bearing their infirmities and healing their diseases,
would have been no illustration of the agony with which He wrestled in
Gethsemane for the salvation of their souls.
3. In many instances Jesus employed known remedies in physical healing. He
manipulated the palsied tongue and the stopped ears—“put His fingers in the
ears,” “touched the tongue.” He covered the blind eyes with moist clay, a well-
known Egyptian remedy for ophthalmia. He inquired minutely the symptoms of
the demoniac boy. He bent over those He healed, He touched them, as careful
physicians do. Thus He encouraged, not the breach, but the observance of God’s
order. He put honour, by His example, upon the use of scientific remedies. At
times He healed by a word, without approaching the sick one. But He seems to
have dispensed with remedies only when to employ them was impossible, or
when they would have been obviously useless, or when there was a special reason
for neglecting them. His example said to those apostles to whom miraculous
powers were given, “Use the best means; pray God to bless their use; and when
you can do nothing more, pray.” And that is what every wise and instructed
Christian tries to do.
4. In all Christ’s healings there was conspicuously revealed the authority of
absolute power. When He spoke, devils obeyed, the dead heard, the despairing
hoped, the lost knew that they were found. (William B. Wright.)
The touch of Christ; or, the power of sympathy
A lady visiting an asylum for friendless orphan children lately watched the little ones
go through their daily drill superintended by the matron, a firm, honest woman, to
whom her duty had evidently become a mechanical task. One little toddler hurt her
foot, and the visitor, who had children of her own, took her on her knee, petted her,
made her laugh, and kissed her before she put her down. The other children stared in
wonder. “What is the matter? Does nobody ever kiss you?” asked the astonished
visitor. “No; that isn’t in the rules, ma’am,” was the answer. A gentleman in the same
city, who one morning stopped to buy a newspaper from a wizened, shrieking
newsboy at the station, found the boy following him every day thereafter, with a
wistful face, brushing the spots from his clothes, calling a car for him, &c. “Do you
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know me?” he asked at last. The wretched little Arab laughed. “No; but you called me
‘my child’ one day. I’d like to do something for you, sir. I thought before that I was
nobody’s child.” Christian men and women are too apt to feel when they subscribe to
organized charities that they have done their duty to the great army of homeless,
friendless waifs around them. A touch, a kiss, a kind word, may do much towards
saving the neglected little one who feels he is “nobody’s child,” teaching it, as no
money can do, that we are all children of one Father. When Christ would heal or help
the poor outcast, He did not send him money, but He came close and touched him.
A leper’s logic
This man apparently had no doubt of our Lord’s ability to heal him. It was about
Christ’s willingness that he was in doubt. As a rule, men do not naturally associate
love and power; they believe in the existence of power far more readily than in that of
love. Power seems to create distrust in love.
1. Perhaps because the world is so used to seeing power used arbitrarily and
selfishly.
2. Because of the consciousness of sin. It was when Peter saw the Divine power of
Christ displayed in the draught of fishes that he said, “Depart from me,” &c. And
in the light of this fact, the incident of our text has a peculiar force; for—
I. THE DISEASE FROM WHICH THIS MAN WAS SUFFERING WAS
REPRESENTATIVE OF SIN. It was a decomposition of the vital juices, putrefaction
in a living body; hence an image of death. The leper was treated throughout as a
sinner. “He was a dreadful parable of death.” The case of this leper, therefore—
II. GAVE OUR LORD AN OPPORTUNITY, NOT ONLY TO DO A WORK OF MERCY
AND LOVE UPON A DISEASED MAN, BUT ALSO TO GIVE A SYMBOLIC
TESTIMONY OF HIS WILLINGNESS TO DEAL LOVINGLY AND FORGIVINGLY
WITH A SINFUL MAN. Let US see how Christ’s willingness comes out in this
incident.
1. It is not repelled by an imperfect faith.
2. It was shown in Christ’s express declaration. How striking is the way in which
He meets that timid “If Thou wilt” with “I will.” (M. R. Vincent, D. D.)
“If Thou wilt”
When the leper said, “If Thou wilt,” he narrowed his appeal, and directed it to the will
of Jesus. His faith in Christ’s power was very much stronger that his faith in Christ’s
goodness. It contained much that was true, but did not contain much more that was
equally true. Christ answered, not according to the imperfection of the appeal, but
according to its possibility of being perfected. “If Thou wilt” is fitting language for us,
not because we doubt His goodness, but because we believe in His wisdom. If we
learn that it is God’s will that we should suffer and have disappointment, we hope
amidst our pain, and know that our disappointment is after all the appointment of
the wiser still, and that, whatever may be in the meantime withheld, the answer will
be given at last, “Be thou clean.” (J. Ogmore Davies)
Leprosy
I. PHYSICAL ASPECT.
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1. White pustules—eat away flesh—attacking one member after another—at last
the bones.
2. Attended with sleeplessness, nightmare, and hopelessness of cure.
3. A living death.
II. SOCIAL ASPECT.
1. Contagion.
2. Lived in a several house, or in bands at a distance from ordinary dwelling.
3. Went with head uncovered, crying, “Room for the leper.”
III. RELIGIOUS ASPECT.
1. Excommunication—no communion with the commonwealth of Israel.
2. In every way a type of the impenitent sinner. For—
3. Sin is a living death; contagious, and separates from God. (F. Godet, D. D.)
Socially restored, as well as morally
And He charged him to tell no man. Assume that the true state of the case was that
Jesus wrought a cure, and left it to the priest to declare the patient cured, and all
becomes clear, natural, and Christlike. Two things had to be done to make the benefit
complete—the disease had to be healed, whereby the sufferer would be delivered
from the physical evil; and it had to be authoritatively declared healed, whereby the
sufferer would be delivered from the social disabilities imposed by the law upon
lepers. Jesus conferred one-half of the blessing, and He sent the leper to the priest to
receive from him the other half. He did this, not in ostentation, or by way of
precaution, but chiefly, if not exclusively, out of regard to the man’s good, that he
might be restored, not only to health, but to society. Hence, also, the injunction of
silence. The prevention of unhealthy excitement among the people was only a
secondary aim. The primary end concerned the man healed. Jesus wished to prevent
him from contenting himself with half the benefit, rejoicing in restored health, and
telling everybody he met about it, and neglecting the steps necessary to get himself
universally recognized as healed. (A. B. Bruce, D. D.)
Show thyself to the priest, &c.
A certificate of the recovery of a leper could only be given at Jerusalem, by a priest,
after a lengthened examination, and tedious rites. It will illustrate the bondage of the
ceremonial law, as then in force, to describe them. With his heart full of the first joy
of a cure so amazing, the leper had to set off to the Temple for the requisite papers to
authorize his return, once more, to the roll of Israel. A tent had to be pitched outside
the city, and in this the priest examined the leper, cutting off all his hair with the
utmost care; for, if only two hairs were left, the ceremony was invalid. Two sparrows
had to be brought at this first stage of the cleansing—the one, Go be killed over a
small earthen pan of water, into which its blood must drop; the other, after being
sprinkled with the blood of its mate—a cedar twig, to which scarlet wool and a piece
of hyssop (Psa_51:1) were bound, being used to do so—was let free in such a
direction that it should fly to the open country. After the scrutiny by the priest, the
leper put on clean clothes, and carried away those he had worn to a running stream
to wash them thoroughly, and to cleanse himself by a bath. He could now enter the
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city, but for seven days more could not enter his own house. On the eighth day he
once more submitted to the scissors of the priest, who cut off whatever hair might
have grown in the interval. Then followed a second bath; and now he had only
carefully to avoid any defilement, so as to be fit to attend in the Temple next
morning, and complete his cleansing. The first step in this final purification was to
offer three lambs, two males and a female, none of which must be under a year old.
Standing at the outer edge of the court of the men, which he was not yet worthy to
enter, the leper awaited the longed-for rites. These began by the priest taking one of
the male lambs destined to be slain as an atonement for the leper, and handing it to
each point of the compass in turn, and by his swinging a vessel of oil on all sides in
the same way, as if to present both to the universally-present God. He then led the
lamb to the leper, who laid his hands on its head, and gave it over as a sacrifice for
his guilt, which he now confessed. It was forthwith killed at the north side of the
altar, two priests catching its blood, the one in a vessel, the other in his hand. The
first now sprinkled the altar with the blood, while the other went to the leper and
anointed his ears, his right thumb, and his right toe with it. The one priest then
poured some oil of the leper’s offering into the left hand of the other, who, in his
turn, dipped his finger seven times into the oil thus held, and sprinkled it as often
towards the Holy of Holies. Each part of the leper which before had been touched
with the blood was then further anointed with the oil, what remained being stroked
on his head. The leper could now enter the men’s court, and did so, passing through
it to that of the priests’. The female lamb was next killed, as a sin-offering, after he
had put his hands on its head, part of its blood being smeared on the horns of the
altar, while the rest was poured out at the altar-base. The other male lamb was then
slain for a burnt-sacrifice; the leper once more laying him hands on its head, and the
priests sprinkling its blood on the altar. The fat, and all that was fit for an offering,
was now laid on the altar, and burned as a “sweet-smelling savour” to God. A meal-
offering of fine wheat meal and oil ended the whole; a portion being laid on the altar,
while the rest, with the two lambs, of which only a small part had been burned,
formed the dues of the priest. It was not till all this had been done that the full
ceremony of cleansing, or showing himself to the priests, had been carried out, and
that the cheering words, “ Thou art pure,” restored the sufferer once more to the
rights of citizenship and of intercourse with men. No wonder that even a man like St.
Peter, so tenderly minded to his ancestral religion, should speak (Act_15:10) of its
requirements as a yoke which “neither our fathers nor we are able to bear.” (Dr.
Geikie.)
The moral of Luk_5:14
Unless we show ourselves to whomsoever is our priest after our healings and
cleansings, and after the gift which is commanded us, we are less pure for having
been so cleansed, and more diseased for having been so healed. There can be no
greater evil than to be prosperous without being prayerful, and strong without being
Godlike. You should never finish your successful commercial enterprise with the
balancing of your account at the bank. The only duty of your restored vigour is not
merely to pay your doctor’s bill. Your healing and your prospering are from Israel’s
God; you had better tell Him of them, and tell Him without much ado with man by
the way. Tell no man until you know how to speak devoutly, and see no man until you
have seen God. You must obey with the new strength before you are free in the use of
it. (J. Ogmore Davies.)
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13 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the
man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And
immediately the leprosy left him.
GILL, "And he put forth his hand and touched him,.... Having compassion on
him, and commiserating his sad case:
saying, I will, be thou clean; and immediately the leprosy departed from
him; See Gill on Mat_8:3.
HENRY, “ What we may expect from Christ, if we thus apply ourselves to him. (1.)
We shall find him very condescending and forward to take cognizance of our case
(Luk_5:13): He put forth his hand and touched him. When Christ visited this leprous
world, unasked, unsought unto, he showed how low he could stoop, to do good. His
touching the leper was wonderful condescension; but it is much greater to us when
he is himself touched with the feeling of our infirmities. (2.) We shall find him very
compassionate, and ready to relieve us; he said, “I will, never doubt of that;
whosoever comes to me to be healed, I will in no wise cast him out.” He is as willing
to cleanse leprous souls as they can be to be cleansed. (3.) We shall find him all-
sufficient, and able to heal and cleanse us, though we be ever so full of this loathsome
leprosy. One word, one touch, from Christ, did the business: Immediately the
leprosy departed from him. If Christ saith, “I will, be thou justified, be thou
sanctified,” it is done; for he has power on earth to forgive sin, and power to give the
Holy Spirit, 1Co_6:11.
COFFMAN, "To touch a leper resulted in the ceremonial defilement of the one
who touched; but Jesus did not hesitate to incur such defilement on behalf of
those whom he came to deliver. In a similar way, he touched the bier of the dead
(Luke 7:14). As often noted, Christ's cures were instantaneous, performed
without physical effort on his part, and free of the type of incantations,
ostentatious prayers, and hysterical behavior associated with so-called
"healings" today. His were real, immediate, and designed to demonstrate his
own heavenly power.
CONSTABLE, "By stretching out His hand and touching the leper, Jesus was
doing the unthinkable (Leviticus 13). He probably did this to express His
compassion for the man as well as to identify Himself beyond doubt as the source
of his healing (cf. Exodus 4:4; Exodus 6:6; Exodus 14:16; Exodus 15:12;
Jeremiah 17:5; Acts 4:30). Jesus' words offered him reassurance (cf. Luke 5:10).
Jesus' authority extended to power over disease and ceremonial uncleanness.
Doctor Luke again noted an immediate cure (cf. Luke 4:35; Luke 4:39).
"The most significant lesson from the cleansing of the leper story is that even
outsiders can experience God's healing grace." [Note: Bock, Luke, p. 165.]
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PETT, "But Jesus had come in order to help those whom other people found
disgusting, and to the man’s total surprise, He reached out His hand and touched
him. It was the first time he had been touched for a long time, and the last thing
that he had expected. Men normally turned away from him with a shudder. For
to touch a skin diseased man like himself was for the person in question also to
be rendered ritually unclean. No Pharisee would have come within a mile of him
if he could help it. But then there was nothing that he could do about his
condition. He was powerless to help him. But Jesus deliberately chose to touch
him. He could have healed him at a word. Why then did He touch him? It was a
gesture of supreme religious authority. By this Jesus revealed His conscious
superiority to all disease and uncleanness. By it He was claiming that He could
not be rendered unclean by His contact with the skin-diseased man because He
was the source of all cleanness. He was saying that He was the One Who was so
pure that His purity countered any uncleanness. In any other the claim would
immediately have been dismissed. But what was to be said of a case where the
disease simply disappeared before their eyes?
Jesus then added, ‘I will. Be clean.” It was Jesus’ will that he be made clean. And
immediately he was healed, for immediately the skin disease was cured. It ‘left
him’. Nor was Jesus rendered unclean. His purity had counteracted any
uncleanness. And the man was no longer skin diseased, he would no longer
render others unclean by contact with him. And who could charge with
uncleanness the One Who had healed him? In this too was a picture of what
Jesus had come to do for Israel. He wanted as the Messiah to make them clean.
He would ‘bear their griefs and carry their sorrows’, (Isaiah 52:3) being afflicted
for their sakes that they might be healed. Only God could so rise over
uncleanness.
There are many examples in the Old Testament of God’s promise that He would
make men clean, although they are not specifically related to skin disease. ‘I will
sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean from all your uncleannesses,
and from all your idols will I cleanse you, a new heart I will give you, and a new
Spirit will I put within you, and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone,
and will give you a heart of flesh.’ (Ezekiel 36:25-26, compare Leviticus 14:7
where sprinkling of blood is used with regard to skin diseases). ‘On that day
there will be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness’ (Zechariah 13:1). At least
one member of the house of David had been stricken with skin disease (2 Kings
15:5).
14 Then Jesus ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone,
but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the
sacrifices that Moses commanded for your
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cleansing, as a testimony to them.”
CLARKE, "And offer for thy cleansing - A Hindoo, after recovering from
sickness, presents the offerings he had vowed when in distress, as a goat,
sweetmeats, milk, or any thing directed by the Shaster. All nations agreed in these
gratitude-offerings for benefits received from the object of their worship.
GILL, "And he charged him to tell no man,.... Of his cure, and by whom he
received it;
but go show thyself to the priest. The Syriac and Persic versions read, "to the
priests: and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses has commanded, for a
testimony unto them"; See Gill on Mat_8:4.
HENRY, “ What he requires from those that are cleansed, Luk_5:14. Has Christ
sent his word and healed us? (1.) We must be very humble (Luk_5:14): He charged
him to tell no man. This, it should seem, did not forbid him telling it to the honour of
Christ, but he must not tell it to his own honour. Those whom Christ hath healed and
cleansed must know that he hath done it in such a way as for ever excludes boasting.
(2.) We must be very thankful, and make a grateful acknowledgment of the divine
grace: Go, and offer for thy cleansing. Christ did not require him to give him a fee,
but to bring the sacrifice of praise to God; so far was he from using his power to the
prejudice of the law of Moses. (3.) We must keep close to our duty; go to the priest,
and those that attend him. The man whom Christ had made whole he found in the
temple, Joh_5:14. Those who by any affliction have been detained from public
ordinances should, when the affliction is removed, attend on them the more
diligently, and adhere to them the more constantly.
CONSTABLE, "The healing of lepers was a messianic act (cf. Luke 7:22).
Therefore the man's "testimony" to his cleansing amounted to an announcement
of Messiah's arrival. Jesus did not want this man to fail to go to Jerusalem and
present the required offering for the healing of leprosy (Leviticus 14:1-32). If the
man had broadcast his healing, he may never have reached the priests there and
the crowds may have mobbed Him even worse than they were already doing.
PETT, "Then Jesus bade him not to tell anyone, but to obey the Law of Moses
and go on his way to the Temple in Jerusalem, and show himself to a priest, who
would be able to examine him and pass his verdict on whether his skin disease
was cleansed. Then he must make the usual offerings as a testimony to the priests
of what God had done.
The command not to tell anyone was in order to prevent him in his excitement
from contacting others and thus rendering them ritually unclean, for until he
had received a certificate from the priests he was still officially unclean. It may
also have been in order to prevent people coming to see Jesus as a spectacle, and
in order to stress that it was primarily not in order to heal that He had come. He
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wanted people to come to Him out of hunger for the word. And while people
continued to flock to Him He found it very difficult to find quiet places where He
could meet with His Father.
‘A testimony to them.’ This demonstrates that his silence was to endure only
until he came to the priest. And he would inform the priest how it had happened
and who had done it. And the priesthood would be made aware of the activities
of Jesus and how He was making sick people whole. But the ‘testimony’ in mind
was to both to priests and people. The offering of the sacrifices would be witness
to the fact that the man was clean. It made clear that he had been officially
passed as clean. But Luke may have intended the double entendre. The man’s
very healing was a witness of what Jesus had come to do, bear the sin and
uncleanness of man.
Note On What Was Involved Before The Priests.
A man who claimed to be healed of a disfiguring skin disease had to go and show
himself to the priests in Jerusalem and then offer the appropriate sacrifices.
Once he had been examined and declared free of the disease, two birds were
taken, and one was killed over running water. Then cedar, scarlet and hyssop,
with the living bird, were dipped in the blood of the dead bird and he was
sprinkled with the blood seven times and pronounced clean. Then the live bird
was allowed to go free. The man then washed himself and his clothes and shaved
himself.
Seven days later he was re-examined. He then had to shave his head, hair, beard
and eyebrows, and bring an offering of two male lambs without blemish and one
ewe lamb (less for a poor person), with three tenths parts of fine flour for a meal
offering, mingled with oil, and one log of oil. The priest then offered one he-lamb
as a guilt offering, together with the log of oil , and waved them as a wave
offering before the Lord to make atonement for him. The other two were offered
as a sin offering and a burnt offering. The restored person was then touched on
the tip of the right ear, the right thumb and the right great toe with blood from
the guilt offering and, after the oil had been sprinkled seven times before the
Lord, with oil. The remainder of the oil was then put on his head. Thus was
atonement made for him. Then he was finally examined and, if he was clear of
the disease, was given a certificate that he was clean and allowed to go. See for all
this Leviticus 14.
End of note.
It should be noted that we have in this passage a demonstration of Jesus’ loyalty
to the Law, and that this comes prior to a number of cases where He is
challenged concerning His loyalty to the Law. he has already established His
bona fides.
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15 Yet the news about him spread all the more,
so that crowds of people came to hear him and
to be healed of their sicknesses.
GILL, "But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him,.... For the
more he charged the man to keep silence, the more he blazed it abroad, being elated
with the cure he received, and filled with gratitude to his benefactor; Mar_1:45.
And great multitudes came together to hear: him, or from him, as the Syriac,
Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions add; to hear the doctrines of the Gospel
preached by him: "and to be healed by him of their infirmities"; their bodily
weaknesses and disorders.
HENRY, “ Christ's public serviceableness to men and his private communion
with God; these are put together here, to give lustre to each other.
(1.) Though never any had so much pleasure in his retirements as Christ had, yet
he was much in a crowd, to do good, Luk_5:15. Though the leper should altogether
hold his peace, yet the thing could not be hid, so much the more went there a fame
abroad of him. The more he sought to conceal himself under a veil of humility, the
more notice did people take of him; for honour is like a shadow, which flees from
those that pursue it (for a man to seek his own glory is not glory), but follows those
that decline it, and draw from it. The less good men say of themselves, the more will
others say of them. But Christ reckoned it a small honour to him that his fame went
abroad; it was much more so that hereby multitudes were brought to receive benefit
by him. [1.] By his preaching. They came together to hear him, and to receive
instruction from him concerning the kingdom of God. [2.] By his miracles. They
came to be healed by him of their infirmities; that invited them to come to hear him,
confirmed his doctrine, and recommended it.
Luke omitted the fact that the man disobeyed Jesus (Mark 1:45) perhaps because
this would have undermined his emphasis on Jesus' authority. Instead he
stressed the spread of the story (lit. "word," Gr. logos) concerning Jesus. The
spread of the gospel concerning Jesus is a major theme of both this Gospel and
the Book of Acts. This healing increased Jesus' popularity. However, His
response was not to rest on popular approval but to renew His dependence on
His Father by praying in a solitary place.
". . . the mainspring of his life was his communion with God, and in such
communion he found both strength and guidance to avoid submitting to
temptation." [Note: Marshall, The Gospel . . ., p. 210.]
Luke did not mention the fact that increased popularity hampered Jesus'
activities (Mark 1:45). He also listed hearing Jesus before experiencing healing in
Luke 5:15, reflecting the priority of Jesus' preaching over His miracles.
BI, “Behold a man full of leprosy
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The leper cleansed
I.
LEPROSY AFFORDS A STRIKING REPRESENTATION OF THE CHARACTER AND
CONSEQUENCE OF SIN.
1. This spiritual leprosy has rendered all our race unclean in the sight of God and
in the judgment of His holy law.
(1) It shuts us out from His presence,
(2) and from a place among His people.
2. No skill or power of man can cure this disease.
3. This malady, if not healed, will issue in death. And remember, death is not
cessation of being, but a state of awful terror, pain, and wretchedness. This is the
issue to which sin is bringing its victims.
4. Yet, thank God, our case is not altogether hopeless; there is a cure.
II. OBSERVE THE STEPS TAKEN BY THIS LEPER TO OBTAIN A CURE. Thus we
may learn what the disposition is, in which we should endeavour to approach the
Saviour, who alone can heal our spiritual leprosy.
1. The first thing I would notice in this leper’s conduct is the eagerness and haste
with which he ran to Jesus immediately he met Him.
2. His reverential selfabasement. His eagerness in seeking relief did not cause
him to forget what was due to the character of Him from whom that relief was
sought.
3. The confidence he entertained of Christ’s power. Have not we far stronger
grounds for this than he had? (J. Harding, M. A.)
Two pulpits
I. Observe HOW MANY ANONYMOUS BELIEVERS THERE ARE IN THE BIBLE
RECORD WHO GIVE HELP ALL ALONG THE AGES. Here are mentioned
“multitudes,” and among them two persons in particular—a leper and a paralytic.
And that is all we know about any individual to whom that eventful day was the
beginning of renewed life. No name, no history, no after career; but we suppose that
these cripples are in heaven now, and we know that their story has helped thousands
to be patient and cheerful on the way thither. It is of little consequence who we are; it
matters more what we are.
II. EVEN IN EXTREME HOPELESSNESS OF DISEASE ONE MAY EXHIBIT A
SUPREME AND ILLUSTRIOUS FAITH. The cases of these two men were as bad as
they could well be; yet did our Lord find in them faith enough to be healed. In the
rooms of the American Tract Society, in New York, are still standing two objects
which I studied for some meditative years, once a month, at a committee meeting.
One is a slight framework of tough wood, a few feet high, so bound together with
hasps and hinges as to be taken down and folded in the hand. This was Whitefield’s
travelling-pulpit—the one he used when, denied access to the churches, he
harangued the thousands in the open air, on the moors of England. You will think of
this modern apostle, lifted up upon the small platform, with the throngs of eager
people around him, or hurrying from one field to another, bearing his Bible in his
arms; ever on the move, toiling with Herculean energy, and a force like that of a
giant. There, in that rude pulpit, is the symbol of all which is active and fiery in
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dauntless Christian zeal. But now, look again: in the centre of this framework, resting
upon the slender platform, where the living preacher used to stand, you will see a
chair—a plain, straight-backed, armed, cottage-chair—rough, simple, meagrely
cushioned, unvarnished, and stiff. It was the seat in which Elizabeth Wallbridge, “the
dairyman’s daughter,” sat and coughed and whispered, and from which she went
only at her last hour to the couch on which she died. Here again is a pulpit; and it is
the symbol of a life quiet and unromantic and hard in all Christian endurance. Every
word that invalid woman uttered—every patient night she suffered—was a gospel
sermon. In a hundred languages, the life of that servant of God has preached to
millions of souls the riches of Christ’s glory and grace. And of these two pulpits,
which is the most honourable is known only to God, who undoubtedly accepted and
consecrated them both. The one is suggestive of the ministry of speech, the other of
the ministry of submission.
III. AN EXPLANATION OF THE MYSTERY AND THE PURPOSE OF SUFFERING.
Pain is a sort of ordination to the Christian ministry. Pure submission is as good as
going on a foreign mission. Souls may be won to the Cross by a life on a sick-bed just
as well as by a life in a cathedral desk.
IV. Hence, we may easily learn WHAT SHOULD BE THE CHIEF OCCUPATION OF
AN INVALID. NO one can preach from any pulpit without the proper measure of
study. He must thoughtfully ascertain what will make his efforts most pertinent.
1. He will study doctrine.
2. He will study experience, too.
A month ago I saw a brave soldier of the Cross who had been passing through a fiery
history of years with broken health, which had taken him from the pulpit of his
usefulness and bidden him look into the grave season after season. He was now only
able to stand, and sought a new field. Only yesterday he visited me again; in his
feebleness he lay on my couch while he talked. He had just come from putting the
wife of his manhood, his patient helper and the stay of his home, in the bedlam of a
madhouse. Poor in spirit and poor in purse, broken-hearted and alone, he feared he
should break again. Yet there he lay, and spoke hopefully and gently. Oh, that valiant
brother, quivering in every muscle, but bold and firm in his trustful courage,
preached to me in my study as I know I never preached in my church!
V. Some people recover from long illness; Christ heals them, as He did these men in
the story. So there is one more lesson for convalescents: WHAT ARE THEY GOING
TO DO WITH THEIR LIVES HEREAFTER? “It is a solemn thing to die,” said
Schiller, “but it is a more solemn thing to live.” We know the story of the Scotch
mother, whose child an eagle stole away; half maddened she saw the bird reach its
eyrie far up the cliff. No one could scale the rock. In distraction she prayed all the
day. An old sailor climbed after it, and crept down dizzily from the height. There, on
her outstretched arms, as she plod with closed eyes, he laid her babe. She rose in
majesty of self-denial and took it (as she had been taught in that land) to her
minister. She would not kiss it till it had been solemnly dedicated unto God I What
shall a man do with a life given back to him? (C. S.Robinson, D. D.)
What has God done to save me?
The divinely-offered key to a right appreciation of Christ’s spiritual work, even to that
which theologians call the Atonement, should be sought by observing how our Lord
cleansed the lepers, made the blind to see, and the lame to walk. Let us endeavour to
realize how He, whose name is the only name given under heaven among men
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whereby we may be saved, healed men’s diseases, in order that we may understand,
so far as it has been revealed, how He saves us from our sins.
I. CONSIDER, FIRST, WHY JESUS HEALED. Not to show that He could, but
because He pitied the sufferer. When asked to work miracles to prove His ability to
do so, He habitually declined. Every act of healing wrought by Christ was an act of
pure compassion. He never healed to attract attention to Himself. He often
commanded those He healed to say nothing of their cure.
II. CONSIDER, NEXT, HOW JESUS HEALED.
1. The fact that He had compassion upon them was itself the first step in the cure
of many who came to Him. There are diseases in which recovery must begin by
regaining lost self-respect. In Christ the most dissolute and disgraced found not
only pity, but delicate considerateness. Think, e.g., of His treatment of this leper.
We can scarcely conceive what the effect must have been upon a man who had for
years been closeted with his loathsome self, or with still more loathsome fellow-
sufferers—a man who might not eat with human beings unless the same deadly
taint was upon them, nor appear in the street except jangling a bell to give
warning of the peril his presence brought; who, if he patted upon the head a
carrion dog, it must be instantly killed, lest it should brush against others and
defile them, because he had touched it; who, if he saw his mother, his child, his
wife approach, must fly or shout, “Unclean, unclean! Keep afar!” We can scarcely
conceive what the effect must have been upon such a man, when he saw Jesus
draw nigh. The multitude attending the Saviour falls back as men shrink from the
plague; for crowds are always cowards. But the Master approaches, and, paying
no heed to the jangling bell, the warning cry, lays His hand upon him. For the
first time for years the leper feels the touch of a hand that is not hardened by the
awful malady. That touch must have made the leper a new man in heart before
the quickened pulse could shoot new life into the decaying limbs.
2. In healing, Christ made effort. One must be blind to read the New Testament,
and fancy Christ’s cures cost Him nothing because He was Divine. It was because
He was Divine that they cost Him so much. If you would seek beings incapable of
suffering, you must not go up toward the angels and the great white throne, for
there you will find “the Lamb as it had been slain,” but down among the oysters.
Do you ask, How did Christ bear men’s diseases? Thus: He sighed, He prayed, He
lifted them in His arms, He put His hands upon them, He drew them to His
bosom, He groaned, He felt His strength go from Him, to heal their bodies. If He
had done less, He would not have made manifest the longsuttering God; and His
saving men’s bodies, His bearing their infirmities and healing their diseases,
would have been no illustration of the agony with which He wrestled in
Gethsemane for the salvation of their souls.
3. In many instances Jesus employed known remedies in physical healing. He
manipulated the palsied tongue and the stopped ears—“put His fingers in the
ears,” “touched the tongue.” He covered the blind eyes with moist clay, a well-
known Egyptian remedy for ophthalmia. He inquired minutely the symptoms of
the demoniac boy. He bent over those He healed, He touched them, as careful
physicians do. Thus He encouraged, not the breach, but the observance of God’s
order. He put honour, by His example, upon the use of scientific remedies. At
times He healed by a word, without approaching the sick one. But He seems to
have dispensed with remedies only when to employ them was impossible, or
when they would have been obviously useless, or when there was a special reason
for neglecting them. His example said to those apostles to whom miraculous
powers were given, “Use the best means; pray God to bless their use; and when
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you can do nothing more, pray.” And that is what every wise and instructed
Christian tries to do.
4. In all Christ’s healings there was conspicuously revealed the authority of
absolute power. When He spoke, devils obeyed, the dead heard, the despairing
hoped, the lost knew that they were found. (William B. Wright.)
The touch of Christ; or, the power of sympathy
A lady visiting an asylum for friendless orphan children lately watched the little ones
go through their daily drill superintended by the matron, a firm, honest woman, to
whom her duty had evidently become a mechanical task. One little toddler hurt her
foot, and the visitor, who had children of her own, took her on her knee, petted her,
made her laugh, and kissed her before she put her down. The other children stared in
wonder. “What is the matter? Does nobody ever kiss you?” asked the astonished
visitor. “No; that isn’t in the rules, ma’am,” was the answer. A gentleman in the same
city, who one morning stopped to buy a newspaper from a wizened, shrieking
newsboy at the station, found the boy following him every day thereafter, with a
wistful face, brushing the spots from his clothes, calling a car for him, &c. “Do you
know me?” he asked at last. The wretched little Arab laughed. “No; but you called me
‘my child’ one day. I’d like to do something for you, sir. I thought before that I was
nobody’s child.” Christian men and women are too apt to feel when they subscribe to
organized charities that they have done their duty to the great army of homeless,
friendless waifs around them. A touch, a kiss, a kind word, may do much towards
saving the neglected little one who feels he is “nobody’s child,” teaching it, as no
money can do, that we are all children of one Father. When Christ would heal or help
the poor outcast, He did not send him money, but He came close and touched him.
A leper’s logic
This man apparently had no doubt of our Lord’s ability to heal him. It was about
Christ’s willingness that he was in doubt. As a rule, men do not naturally associate
love and power; they believe in the existence of power far more readily than in that of
love. Power seems to create distrust in love.
1. Perhaps because the world is so used to seeing power used arbitrarily and
selfishly.
2. Because of the consciousness of sin. It was when Peter saw the Divine power of
Christ displayed in the draught of fishes that he said, “Depart from me,” &c. And
in the light of this fact, the incident of our text has a peculiar force; for—
I. THE DISEASE FROM WHICH THIS MAN WAS SUFFERING WAS
REPRESENTATIVE OF SIN. It was a decomposition of the vital juices, putrefaction
in a living body; hence an image of death. The leper was treated throughout as a
sinner. “He was a dreadful parable of death.” The case of this leper, therefore—
II. GAVE OUR LORD AN OPPORTUNITY, NOT ONLY TO DO A WORK OF MERCY
AND LOVE UPON A DISEASED MAN, BUT ALSO TO GIVE A SYMBOLIC
TESTIMONY OF HIS WILLINGNESS TO DEAL LOVINGLY AND FORGIVINGLY
WITH A SINFUL MAN. Let US see how Christ’s willingness comes out in this
incident.
1. It is not repelled by an imperfect faith.
2. It was shown in Christ’s express declaration. How striking is the way in which
He meets that timid “If Thou wilt” with “I will.” (M. R. Vincent, D. D.)
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“If Thou wilt”
When the leper said, “If Thou wilt,” he narrowed his appeal, and directed it to the will
of Jesus. His faith in Christ’s power was very much stronger that his faith in Christ’s
goodness. It contained much that was true, but did not contain much more that was
equally true. Christ answered, not according to the imperfection of the appeal, but
according to its possibility of being perfected. “If Thou wilt” is fitting language for us,
not because we doubt His goodness, but because we believe in His wisdom. If we
learn that it is God’s will that we should suffer and have disappointment, we hope
amidst our pain, and know that our disappointment is after all the appointment of
the wiser still, and that, whatever may be in the meantime withheld, the answer will
be given at last, “Be thou clean.” (J. Ogmore Davies)
Leprosy
I. PHYSICAL ASPECT.
1. White pustules—eat away flesh—attacking one member after another—at last
the bones.
2. Attended with sleeplessness, nightmare, and hopelessness of cure.
3. A living death.
II. SOCIAL ASPECT.
1. Contagion.
2. Lived in a several house, or in bands at a distance from ordinary dwelling.
3. Went with head uncovered, crying, “Room for the leper.”
III. RELIGIOUS ASPECT.
1. Excommunication—no communion with the commonwealth of Israel.
2. In every way a type of the impenitent sinner. For—
3. Sin is a living death; contagious, and separates from God. (F. Godet, D. D.)
Socially restored, as well as morally
And He charged him to tell no man. Assume that the true state of the case was that
Jesus wrought a cure, and left it to the priest to declare the patient cured, and all
becomes clear, natural, and Christlike. Two things had to be done to make the benefit
complete—the disease had to be healed, whereby the sufferer would be delivered
from the physical evil; and it had to be authoritatively declared healed, whereby the
sufferer would be delivered from the social disabilities imposed by the law upon
lepers. Jesus conferred one-half of the blessing, and He sent the leper to the priest to
receive from him the other half. He did this, not in ostentation, or by way of
precaution, but chiefly, if not exclusively, out of regard to the man’s good, that he
might be restored, not only to health, but to society. Hence, also, the injunction of
silence. The prevention of unhealthy excitement among the people was only a
secondary aim. The primary end concerned the man healed. Jesus wished to prevent
him from contenting himself with half the benefit, rejoicing in restored health, and
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telling everybody he met about it, and neglecting the steps necessary to get himself
universally recognized as healed. (A. B. Bruce, D. D.)
Show thyself to the priest, &c.
A certificate of the recovery of a leper could only be given at Jerusalem, by a priest,
after a lengthened examination, and tedious rites. It will illustrate the bondage of the
ceremonial law, as then in force, to describe them. With his heart full of the first joy
of a cure so amazing, the leper had to set off to the Temple for the requisite papers to
authorize his return, once more, to the roll of Israel. A tent had to be pitched outside
the city, and in this the priest examined the leper, cutting off all his hair with the
utmost care; for, if only two hairs were left, the ceremony was invalid. Two sparrows
had to be brought at this first stage of the cleansing—the one, Go be killed over a
small earthen pan of water, into which its blood must drop; the other, after being
sprinkled with the blood of its mate—a cedar twig, to which scarlet wool and a piece
of hyssop (Psa_51:1) were bound, being used to do so—was let free in such a
direction that it should fly to the open country. After the scrutiny by the priest, the
leper put on clean clothes, and carried away those he had worn to a running stream
to wash them thoroughly, and to cleanse himself by a bath. He could now enter the
city, but for seven days more could not enter his own house. On the eighth day he
once more submitted to the scissors of the priest, who cut off whatever hair might
have grown in the interval. Then followed a second bath; and now he had only
carefully to avoid any defilement, so as to be fit to attend in the Temple next
morning, and complete his cleansing. The first step in this final purification was to
offer three lambs, two males and a female, none of which must be under a year old.
Standing at the outer edge of the court of the men, which he was not yet worthy to
enter, the leper awaited the longed-for rites. These began by the priest taking one of
the male lambs destined to be slain as an atonement for the leper, and handing it to
each point of the compass in turn, and by his swinging a vessel of oil on all sides in
the same way, as if to present both to the universally-present God. He then led the
lamb to the leper, who laid his hands on its head, and gave it over as a sacrifice for
his guilt, which he now confessed. It was forthwith killed at the north side of the
altar, two priests catching its blood, the one in a vessel, the other in his hand. The
first now sprinkled the altar with the blood, while the other went to the leper and
anointed his ears, his right thumb, and his right toe with it. The one priest then
poured some oil of the leper’s offering into the left hand of the other, who, in his
turn, dipped his finger seven times into the oil thus held, and sprinkled it as often
towards the Holy of Holies. Each part of the leper which before had been touched
with the blood was then further anointed with the oil, what remained being stroked
on his head. The leper could now enter the men’s court, and did so, passing through
it to that of the priests’. The female lamb was next killed, as a sin-offering, after he
had put his hands on its head, part of its blood being smeared on the horns of the
altar, while the rest was poured out at the altar-base. The other male lamb was then
slain for a burnt-sacrifice; the leper once more laying him hands on its head, and the
priests sprinkling its blood on the altar. The fat, and all that was fit for an offering,
was now laid on the altar, and burned as a “sweet-smelling savour” to God. A meal-
offering of fine wheat meal and oil ended the whole; a portion being laid on the altar,
while the rest, with the two lambs, of which only a small part had been burned,
formed the dues of the priest. It was not till all this had been done that the full
ceremony of cleansing, or showing himself to the priests, had been carried out, and
that the cheering words, “ Thou art pure,” restored the sufferer once more to the
rights of citizenship and of intercourse with men. No wonder that even a man like St.
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Peter, so tenderly minded to his ancestral religion, should speak (Act_15:10) of its
requirements as a yoke which “neither our fathers nor we are able to bear.” (Dr.
Geikie.)
The moral of Luk_5:14
Unless we show ourselves to whomsoever is our priest after our healings and
cleansings, and after the gift which is commanded us, we are less pure for having
been so cleansed, and more diseased for having been so healed. There can be no
greater evil than to be prosperous without being prayerful, and strong without being
Godlike. You should never finish your successful commercial enterprise with the
balancing of your account at the bank. The only duty of your restored vigour is not
merely to pay your doctor’s bill. Your healing and your prospering are from Israel’s
God; you had better tell Him of them, and tell Him without much ado with man by
the way. Tell no man until you know how to speak devoutly, and see no man until you
have seen God. You must obey with the new strength before you are free in the use of
it. (J. Ogmore Davies.)
Luke 5:15
A fame abroad of Him
True popularity
That distinguished and excellent judge, Lord Mansfield, once observed: “True
popularity is not that popularity which is followed after, but the popularity which
follows after.
”
A fruitless expedient to prevent overcrowding
Dr. Chalmers, when large audiences attended his services, sometimes announced in
the morning that he would repeat the same sermon in the afternoon. On one occasion
when he had made that announcement Dr. Wardlaw was present, and gives us an
account of the scene. It was on one Sabbath evening. The seats were occupied an
hour before the time, and the doors were closed and bolted. An immense crowd was
without, and as soon as Chalmers opened the vestry door, in spite of the keepers, the
front door was forced open and the crowd rushed in, completely filling all the vacant
space. Chalmers was grieved, and administered a sharp rebuke to the audience.
Walking home with him, Chalmers said to Wardlaw, “I preached the same sermon in
the morning, and, for the very purpose of preventing the annoyance of such a
densely-crowded place, I intimated that I should preach it again in the evening. Have
you ever tried that plan?” Wardlaw says: “I did not smile. I laughed outright. ‘No, no,’
I replied. ‘My good friend, there are but very few of us that are under the necessity of
having recourse to the use of means for getting thin audiences.’” (Bishop Simpson.)
16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and
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prayed.
CLARKE, "And he withdrew himself into the wilderness - Or rather, He
frequently withdrew into the desert. This I believe to be the import of the original
words, ην ᆓποχωρων. He made it a frequent custom to withdraw from the multitudes
for a time, and pray, teaching hereby the ministers of the Gospel that they are to
receive fresh supplies of light and power from God by prayer, that they may be the
more successful in their work; and that they ought to seek frequent opportunities of
being in private with God and their books. A man can give nothing unless he first
receive it; and no man can be successful in the ministry who does not constantly
depend upon God, for the excellence of the power is all from him. Why is there so
much preaching, and so little good done? Is it not because the preachers mix too
much with the world, keep too long in the crowd, and are so seldom in private with
God? Reader! Art thou a herald for the Lord of hosts? Make full proof of thy
ministry! Let it never be said of thee, “He forsook all to follow Christ, and to preach
his Gospel, but there was little or no fruit of his labor; for he ceased to be a man of
prayer, and got into the spirit of the world.” Alas! alas! is this luminous star, that was
once held in the right hand of Jesus, fallen from the firmament of heaven, down to
the Earth!
GILL, "And he withdrew himself into the wilderness,.... Into a desert place,
that he might have rest from the fatigues of preaching and healing diseases; and
being alone, and free from company, might have an opportunity for private prayer to
God, for so it lows:
and prayed; this is to be understood of Christ, as man: as God, he is the object of
prayer, and petitions are often addressed unto him; and as mediator, he offers up the
prayers of all saints, and presents them to his Father; which are acceptable to him,
through the incense of his mediation; and as man, he prayed himself: what he now
prayed for, is not known; sometimes he prayed for his disciples, and for all that
should believe; for their conversion, sanctification, union, perseverance, and
glorification; and sometimes for himself, that the cup might pass from him, and he
be saved from death; but always with submission to the will of his Father.
HENRY, " Though never any did so much good in public, yet he found time for
pious and devout retirements (Luk_5:16): He withdrew himself into the wilderness,
and prayed; not that he needed to avoid either distraction or ostentation, but he
would set us an example, who need to order the circumstances of our devotion so as
to guard against both. It is likewise our wisdom so to order our affairs as that our
public work and our secret work may not intrench upon, nor interfere with, one
another. Note, Secret prayer must be performed secretly; and those that have ever so
much to do of the best business in this world must keep up constant stated times for
it.
SBC, "I. When we read in this and in so many other passages that our blessed Lord
in the days of His flesh offered prayers unto God, it greatly concerns us that we do
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not accept an explanation only too commonly suggested of these His prayers. It is
sometimes said that Christ our Lord prayed by way of example, that so He might
teach us the duty of prayer, and that His prayers had no other purpose and meaning
but this. Doubtless He was our example in this as in every other point. But His
prayers were no such hollow, unreal things, as we must needs confess them to have
been, if such was the only intention which they had. Our Lord, the head of the race of
men, but still man as truly as He was God, prayed, as any one of His servants might
pray, because—in prayer is strength; in prayer is victory over temptation; in prayer,
and in the grace of God obtained through prayer, is deliverance from all evil.
II. If times of prayer were needful for Christ, how much more for all others; for as He
was in the world, so are we; the only difference being that we lie open to the injurious
influences which it exerts, as He neither did nor could; that the evil in the world finds
an echo and an answer in our hearts which it found not at all in His. In a world where
there is so much to dissipate and distract the spirit, how needful for us is that
communion with God, in which alone the spirit collects itself at its true centre, which
is God again; in a world where there is so much to ruffle the spirit’s plumes, how
needful that entering into the secret of the pavilion, which will alone bring it back to
composure and peace; in a world where there is so much to sadden and depress, how
blessed that communion with Him, in whom is the one source and fountain of all
true gladness and abiding joy; in a world where so much is ever seeking to unhallow
our spirits, to render them common and profane, how high the privilege of
consecrating them anew in prayer to holiness and to God.
R. C. Trench, Sermons in Westminster Abbey, p. 138.
BARCLAY, "THE OPPOSITION INTENSIFIES (Luke 5:16-17)
5:16-17 Jesus withdrew into the desert places and he continued in prayer. On a
certain day he was teaching and, sitting listening, there were Pharisees and
experts in the law who had come from every village in Galilee and from Judaea
and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was there to enable him to heal.
There are only two verses here; but as we read them we must pause, for this
indeed is a milestone. The scribes and the Pharisees had arrived on the scene.
The opposition which would never be satisfied until it had killed Jesus had
emerged into the open.
If we are to understand what happened to Jesus we must understand something
about the Law, and the relationship of the scribes and the Pharisees to it. When
the Jews returned from Babylon about 440 B.C. they knew well that, humanly
speaking, their hopes of national greatness were gone. They therefore
deliberately decided that they would find their greatness in being a people of the
law. They would bend all their energies to knowing and keeping God's law.
The basis of the law was the Ten Commandments. These commandments are
principles for life. They are not rules and regulations; they do not legislate for
each event and for every circumstance. For a certain section of the Jews that was
not enough. They desired not great principles but a rule to cover every
conceivable situation. From the Ten Commandments they proceeded to develop
and elaborate these rules.
Let us take an example. The commandment says, "Remember the Sabbath day
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to keep it holy"; and then goes on to lay it down that on the Sabbath no work
must be done (Exodus 20:8-11). But the Jews asked, "What is work?" and went
on to define it under thirty-nine different heads which they called "Fathers of
Work." Even that was not enough. Each of these heads was greatly sub-divided.
Thousands of rules and regulations began to emerge. These were called the Oral
Law, and they began to be set even above the Ten Commandments.
Again, let us take an actual example. One of the works forbidden on the Sabbath
was carrying a burden. Jeremiah 17:21-24 says, "Take heed for the sake of your
lives, and do not bear a burden on the Sabbath day." But, the legalists insisted, a
burden must be defined. So definition was given. A burden is "food equal in
weight to a dried fig, enough wine for mixing in a goblet, milk enough for one
swallow, oil enough to anoint a small member, water enough to moisten an eye-
salve, paper enough to write a custom-house notice upon, ink enough to write
two letters, reed enough to make a pen" . . . and so on endlessly. So for a tailor to
leave a pin or needle in his robe on the Sabbath was to break the law and to sin;
to pick up a stone big enough to fling at a bird on the Sabbath was to sin.
Goodness became identified with these endless rules and regulations.
Let us take another example. To heal on the Sabbath was to work. It was laid
down that only if life was in actual danger could healing be done; and then steps
could be taken only to keep the sufferer from getting worse, not to improve his
condition. A plain bandage could be put on a wound, but not any ointment; plain
wadding could be put into a sore ear, but not medicated. It is easy to see that
there was no limit to this.
The scribes were the experts in the law who knew all these rules and regulations,
and who deduced them from the law. The name Pharisee means "The Separated
One"; and the Pharisees were those who had separated themselves from
ordinary people and ordinary life in order to keep these rules and regulations.
Note two things. First, for the scribes and Pharisees these rules were a matter of
life and death; to break one of them was deadly sin. Second, only people
desperately in earnest would ever have tried to keep them, for they must have
made life supremely uncomfortable. It was only the best people who would even
make the attempt.
Jesus had no use for rules and regulations like that. For him, the cry of human
need superseded all such things. But to the scribes and Pharisees he was a law-
breaker, a bad man who broke the law and taught others to do the same. That is
why they hated him and in the end killed him. The tragedy of the life of Jesus
was that those who were most in earnest about their religion drove him to the
Cross. It was the irony of things that the best people of the day ultimately
crucified him.
From this time on there was to be no rest for him. Always he was to be under the
scrutiny of hostile and critical eyes. The opposition had crystallized and there
was but one end.
Jesus knew this and before he met the opposition he withdrew to pray. The love
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in the eyes of God compensated him for the hate in the eyes of men. The approval
of God nerved him to meet the criticism of men. He drew strength for the battle
of life from the peace of God--and it is enough for the disciple that he should be
as his Lord.
COFFMAN, "Deserts ... In Biblical times, these were merely uninhabited places,
not arid desolations in the same sense the word is used today.
And prayed ... The reliance of Jesus upon God, and his constant dependence
upon the Father's will appear throughout the New Testament in the vigorous
pursuit of prayer which marked his holy life.
THE HEALING OF THE MAN CARRIED BY FOUR MEN
A fuller treatment of this wonder is given in my Commentary on Mark, Mark
2:1-12. It is mentioned only briefly in Matthew 9:2, Luke's account being the
most graphic.
NISBET, "SPIRITUAL SOLITUDE
‘And He withdrew Himself into the wilderness, and prayed.’
Luke 5:16
The wilderness and the mountain—the two loneliest places He could command—
appear several times to have made fitting retirement for Christ.
God provides wildernesses for us all, and He provides them in the same mercy
and in the same intention with which He provided them for Israel, or for Moses,
or for Elijah, or for Paul, or for Christ.
I. Where is the wilderness?—The many bright rooms of your house are the
Nazareth, and the Capernaum, and the Jerusalem. But where is the wilderness?
In the quietude of your own room, arranged for you in the kind Providence of
God, that in your chamber you may follow Christ as He went, and do what He
did, alone. All greatly need it. Nothing in the family, nothing out of doors, no
intercourse, can compensate for the solitude of the soul. The spiritual life
depends upon the sanctuary of the wilderness of your own private bedroom.
II. The purpose of the wilderness.—Christ went into the wilderness to ‘pray.’
Beware of sentimental solitude. Beware of prayerless solitude. Beware of idle
solitude. There are prayers, such as we have been now offering, when we do
right, as we pray, to gather into our mind the sense of the presence of every
individual within the walls, and to embrace them all into one loving heart. But
there is prayer which must be intense loneliness with God. What a man is to
God, that a man is. You stand, it may be, in many relationships, and they are all
dear. But one by one those relationships must pass away, that you may be related
only to one, and that one God. Look well to it that you adjust, that you know
your real position towards God and towards eternity.
BURKITT, "The duty of private and solitary prayer is not more strictly enjoined
by our Saviour's command, than it is recommended to us by his example.
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Observe, 1. The duty which our holy Lord performed: prayer. We have much
more business with God in prayer than Christ had; he had no sins to be humbled
for, nor beg pardon of; no need to pray for any sanctifying habits of grace, the
Holy Spirit being given to him without measure; yet did our holy Lord spend
much of his time in prayer; he took delight in paying this homage to his heavenly
Father.
Observe, 2. What kind of prayer our Lord did eminently delight in: it was
solitary and private prayer. He often went alone, even out of the hearing of his
own disciples. The company of our best friends is not always seasonable nor
acceptable. There are times and seasons when a Christian would not be willing
that his dearest relations upon earth should hear that conversation which passes
between him and his God.
Observe, 3. The place our Lord withdraws to for private prayer; it is the desert;
he withdrew into the wilderness and prayed, both to avoid ostentation, and also
to enjoy communion with his Father. The modest Bridegroom of his church, says
St. Bernard, will not impart himself so freely to his spouse before company. That
our Saviour rose up a great while before day, and went into this desert place to
pray. Mark 1:35
Teaching us, that the morning is the fit season, yea, the best of seasons, for
private duties; now are our spirits freshest, and our spirits freest, before the
distractions of the day break is upon us. It is certainly much better to go from
prayer to business, than from business to prayer.
Note lastly, that our blessed Saviour had no idle hours here in this world; his
time did not lie upon his hands as ours do; he was always either preaching or
praying, or working miracles; either paying homage to God or doing good to
man.
Lord, help us to imitate this thy instructive example, by embracing all
opportunities of glorifying God, and doing good to one another.
PETT, "While walking in the towns and cities (Luke 5:12) Jesus was constantly
open to approaches by needy people, and this made it all the more necessary that
at times He withdraw into desert places to meet with His Father (compare Luke
6:12; Luke 9:18; Luke 9:28; Luke 11:1; Luke 22:32). He may have been
withdrawing from the effects of the new success, but whatever the reason it was
an indication that He needed these times of resuscitation in the presence of God.
BI 16-17, "And He withdrew Himself into the wilderness and prayed
Jesus praying
What were the special reasons which led our Lord at this time to go away for prayer.
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I. THE NEED OF INWARD REFRESHMENT OF WHICH HE MUST HAVE BEEN
CONSCIOUS.
1. Christ was full of the truest, tenderest sympathy.
2. His sympathy was invariably practical
3. It was intensely personal; general enough to embrace the multitude; particular
enough to fix itself on the individual. We can imagine, therefore, how exhausted
He must have been.
II. THE FEELING OF SADNESS WHICH CAME TO HIM IN VIEW OF THE
SPIRITUAL APATHY OF THE MULTITUDES WHO WERE SO EAGERLY SEEKING
HIM. If we are deeply concerned for the spiritual welfare of men we shall feel
something of the same sadness.
III. HIS CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE DANGER TO HIS SPIRITUAL MISSION
WHICH WOULD ARISE FROM A PREMATURE POPULARITY. Prayer is the only
true preservative against the perils of success. Because of our success we are in
danger—
1. Of rushing on too fast.
2. Of becoming self-dependent.
3. Of growing unsympathetic. (B. Wilkinson,F. G. S.)
The Redeemer an example of solitary prayer
I. UPON WHAT PRINCIPLES ARE WE TO ACCOUNT FOR OUR LORD’S
FREQUENT RETIREMENT FOR SOLITUDE AND DEVOTION? A man, though in
blessed and ineffable union with God. Made in all points like unto His brethren, with
the exception of His sinless purity.
1. The Redeemer would be impelled to cultivate solitude and devotion by the
fervour of His piety.
2. Solitary communion with God was necessary to preserve His holy mind from
the contaminations of the world, incidental to the possession of a material body,
and his participation of human nature.
3. In solitude and prayer, the Redeemer was invigorated to pursue and to
accomplish His great work.
4. Our Lord, by this habit of retired devotion, afforded an example and an
illustration of His own doctrine, and condemned the hypocritical and
ostentatious worship of the Jewish elders.
II. WHAT ADVANTAGES MAY WE EXPECT TO DERIVE FROM IMITATING THE
EXAMPLE OF THE SAVIOUR IN THIS PARTICULAR INSTANCE. To suppose the
disciple in less need of perpetual supplies of grace than his Lord were folly and
presumption.
1. Solitude is favourable to that calm, reflecting, and pensive state of the mind
which is suitable to the higher duties of religion.
2. In devout seclusion, the realities of religion are brought more closely home to
our consciences and our hearts, and we feel more deeply our individual concern
in their truth and consequences.
3. A life of faith in opposition to a life regulated by the exclusive interests of the
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present world, can only be sustained by habits of private devotion.
4. It secures an effectual refuge amidst the sorrows and calamities of life. (W.
Hull.)
Christ and prayer
1. In what His prayers for the most part consisted we know not, but we know that
one element, which must ever form an important part in our petitions, could have
no place in His. He would not say, “Forgive Me My trespasses.”
2. But though Christ prayed without seeking mercy, of which He had no need, He
still truly and earnestly prayed. His devotions were not simply thanksgivings,
utterances of praise and gladness, or ecstatic contemplations.
3. In the prayers of Christ, if in nothing else, we see abundant reason for our
prayers. ( E. Mellor, D. D.)
The exhaustion of pity
The spirit is never so exhausted as when it is exhausted by being pitiful. For
weariness of bone and muscle nature is very generous; rest for that may be found
anywhere; the tree will do for shelter, and the stone for a pillow. Weariness of brain
is harder to lay aside, and weariness of heart harder still. Brain and limb fail when
the heart’s power is gone. Jesus needed the day for work and the night for rest. The
spirit must rest and be refreshed by spirit; we are revived again, and often brought to
a lively hope through the ministry of life’s friendships, and have been created anew
by the consciousness of being understood. Christ had been understood neither when
He spake nor acted, but had been wholly when He prayed. We, too, have need of a
place apart where we may be refreshed from the presence of the Lord. (J. Ogmore
Davies.)
Solitude necessary
Life must have its hours of holy solitude if it would be rich and strong. It is true that
we can pray in the city; it is also true that the wilderness has charms of its own for
meditative purposes. Silence helps speech. Loneliness prepares for society. Nature
has special messages to exhausted workers. After the wilderness came the city, with
all its activities and temptations. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Prayer the breath of the spiritual man
A celebrated performer upon the piano was continually familiar with his instrument,
for he used to say, “If I quit the piano one day I notice it; if I quit it two days my
friends notice it; if I quit it three days the public notice it.” No doubt he correctly
described his experience; only by perpetual practice could he preserve the ease and
delicacy of his touch. Be sure that it is so with prayer. If this holy art be neglected,
even for a little time, the personal loss will be great; if the negligence be continued,
our nearest spiritual friends will notice a deterioration in tone and life; and if the evil
should be long indulged, our character and influence will suffer with a wider circle.
To be a master of the mystery of prayer one must pray, pray continually, pray hourly,
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pray at all times, pray without ceasing. A Christian should no more leave off praying
than the musician should leave off playing; in fact, it is the breath of every spiritual
man, and woe be to him should he restrain it! (C. H.Spurgeon.)
A great man at prayer
I had once been spending three weeks in the White House with Mr. Lincoln as his
guest. One night—it was just after the battle of Bull Run—I was restless and could not
sleep. I was repeating the part which I was to take in a public performance. The hour
was past midnight. Indeed, it was coming near to the dawn, when I heard low tones
proceeding from a private room near where the President slept. The door was partly
open. I instinctively walked in, and there I saw a sight which I shall never forget. It
was the President kneeling beside an open Bible. The light was turned low in the
room. His back was toward me. For a moment I was silent, as I stood looking in
amazement and wonder. Then he cried out in tones so pleading and sorrowful, “O
thou God that heard Solomon in the night when he prayed for wisdom, hear me: I
cannot lead this people, I cannot guide the affairs of this nation without Thy help. I
am poor and weak and sinful. O God, who didst hear Solomon when he cried for
wisdom, hear me, and save this nation!” (James E. Murdock.)
Public prayer not always the measure of private prayer
My brethren, do we pray? There is many a minister—pardon me for saying so—who
spends more time in public prayer than in private prayer, and not a few spend more
time in preaching than in praying. Is this as it ought to be? A faithful pastor went
once to see a young man who was a member of his Church, and he said to him, “I
have come to ask you if you are on good terms with your Father?” meaning his
heavenly Father. The young man seemed very much taken aback, and said to him,
“Who told you about me and my father? We have not been on speaking terms for
years.” “Oh,” said the minister, “I mean your heavenly Father; but this is very sad.”
“Oh, it is sad, and it grieves me in my heart,” said the young man. “Oh,” said the
minister, “I have often spent an evening in your house, and I never noticed there was
any estrangement between you and your father.” “Ah, no,” says the young man, “we
have an arrangement, when we come together in company to act as if nothing had
happened; but when we are alone there is no intercourse between us.” (C. Lockhart.)
And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.—
The gospel’s healing power
I. THE POWER OF CHRIST IN THE GOSPEL IS MAINLY A POWER TO HEAL,.
1. It is a Divine power which comes from our Lord Jesus, because He is most
surely God. It is the sole prerogative of God to heal spiritual disease.
2. Although our Lord Jesus healed as Divine, remember that He also possessed
power to heal because of His being human. He used no other remedy in healing
our sin-sickness but that of taking our sicknesses and infirmities upon Himself.
This is the one great cure-all.
3. The power which dwelt in Christ to heal, coming from Him as Divine and
human, was applicable, most eminently, to the removal of the guilt of sin.
Reading this chapter through, one pauses with joy over that twenty-fourth verse,
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“The Son of Man hath power upon earth to forgive sin.” Here, then, is one of the
great Physician’s mightiest arts: He has power to forgive sin.
4. This is not the only form of the healing power which dwells without measure in
our glorious Lord. He heals the sorrow of sin. It is written, “He healeth the
broken in heart and bindeth up their wounds.” When sin is really manifest to the
conscience it is a most painful thing, and for the conscience to be effectually
pacified is an unspeakable blessing. Sharper than a dagger in the heart, or an
arrow piercing through the loins, is conviction of sin. When Jesus is received by
faith, He lifts all our sorrow from us in a moment.
5. Christ also heals the power of sin.
6. And He is able to heal us of our relapses.
II. A second remark arises from the text: THERE ARE SPECIAL PERIODS WHEN
THE POWER TO HEAL IS MOST MANIFESTLY DISPLAYED. The verse before us
says that on a certain day the power of the Lord was present to heal, by which I
understand, not that Christ is not always God, not that He was ever unable to heal,
but this—that there were certain periods when He pleased to put forth His Divine
energy in the way of healing to an unusual degree. The sea is never empty; it is indeed
always as full at one time as at another, put yet it is not always at flood. The sun is
never dim, he shines with equal force at all hours, and yet it is not always day with us,
nor do we always bask in the warmth of summer. Christ is fulness itself, but that
fulness does not always overflow; He is able to heal, but He is not always engaged in
healing.
1. On this occasion there was a great desire among the multitude to hear the
Word.
2. The healing power was conspicuously present when Christ was teaching.
3. A further sign of present power is found most clearly in the sick folk who were
healed by Jesus.
4. The particular time mentioned in the text was prefaced by special season of
prayer on the part of the principal actor in it.
III. WHEN THE POWER OF THE LORD IS PRESENT TO HEAL, IT MAY NOT BE
SEEN IN ALL, BUT MAY BE SHOWN IN SPECIAL CASES AND NOT IN OTHERS.
We do not find that this power was wanting among the publicans; we have an
instance here of one of them who made a great feast in his house for Christ. Where,
then, was the power lacking? Where was it unsought and unfelt?
1. It was, in the first place, among the knowing people, the doctors of the law.
These teachers knew too much to submit to be taught by the Great Rabbi. There
is such a thing as knowing too much to know anything, and being too wise to be
anything but a fool. Beware of saying, “Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, that is very
applicable to So-and-so, and very well put.” Do not criticise, but feel.
2. Those, moreover, who had a good opinion of themselves were left unblest. The
Pharisees I no better people anywhere, from Dan to Beersheba, than the
Pharisees, if you would take them upon their own reckoning.
3. The people who stood by, as one observes, they did not come to be preached
at, they came for Christ to preach before them. They did not come for Christ to
operate upon them; they were not patients, they were visitors in the hospitals.
4. Those who felt not the healing power sneered and cavilled. When a man gets
no good out of the ministry, he is pretty sure to think there is no good in the
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ministry; and when he himself, for want of stooping down, finds no water in the
river, he concludes it is dry, whereas it is his own stubborn knee that will not
bend, and his own wilful mouth that will not open to receive the gospel.
IV. In the last place, I want Christian people here to observe that WHEN THE
POWER OF CHRIST WAS PRESENT, IT CALLED FORTH THE ENERGY OF
THOSE WHO WERE HIS FRIENDS TO WORK WHILE THAT POWER WAS
MANIFEST. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christ healing the sick
1. The infinitude of Christ’s power.
2. The tenderness of Christ’s power.
3. The beneficence of Christ’s power.
4. The availableness of Christ’s power.
The conditions on which is secured the outflow of Christ’s beneficent power.
1. Helplessness. Leper and paralytic men were unable to relieve themselves.
2. Humility.
3. Faith. (P. P. Davies.)
Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man
17 One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees
and teachers of the law were sitting there. They
had come from every village of Galilee and from
Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the
Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick.
BARNES, "On a certain day - The time and place are not particularly
mentioned here, but from Mat_9:1 it seems it was at Capernaum.
CLARKE, "On a certain day - This was when he was at Capernaum. See Mar_
2:1.
The power of the Lord - ∆υναµις Κυριου The mighty or miraculous power of the
Lord, i.e. of Jesus, was there to heal them - as many as were diseased either in body
or soul. Where the teaching of Christ is, there also is the power of Christ to redeem
and save.
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GILL, "And it came to pass on a certain day,.... When he was at Capernaum, as
appears from Mar_2:1
As he was teaching: in the house where such numbers were gathered together, to
hear the word of God preached by him, that there was not room for them, neither
within the house, nor about the door, Mar_2:2
That there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by; who were
sometimes called Scribes, and sometimes lawyers, and were generally of the sect of
the Pharisees:
which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judea, and Jerusalem:
having heard much of his doctrine and miracles, they came from all parts to watch
and observe him, and to take all opportunities and advantages against him, that they
might expose him to the people:
and the power of the Lord was present to heal them; not the Pharisees and
doctors of the law, who did not come to be healed by him, either in body or mind; but
the multitude, some of whom came to hear his doctrine, and others to be healed of
their infirmities, Luk_5:15. The Persic version reads the words thus, "and from all
the villages of Galilee, and from Judea, and from Jerusalem, multitudes came, and
the power of God was present to heal them."
HENRY, "Here is, I. A general account of Christ's preaching and miracles, Luk_
5:17. 1. He was teaching on a certain day, not on the sabbath day, then he would
have said so, but on a week-day; six days shalt thou labour, not only for the world,
but for the soul, and the welfare of that. Preaching and hearing the word of God are
good works, if they be done well, any day in the week, as well as on sabbath days. It
was not in the synagogue, but in a private house; for even there where we ordinarily
converse with our friends it is not improper to give and receive good instruction. 2.
There he taught, he healed (as before, Luk_5:15): And the power of the Lord was to
heal them - ēn eis to iasthai autous. It was mighty to heal them; it was exerted and put
forth to heal them, to heal those whom he taught (we may understand it so), to heal
their souls, to cure them of their spiritual diseases, and to give them a new life, a new
nature. Note, Those who receive the word of Christ in faith will find a divine power
going along with that word, to heal them; for Christ came with his comforts to heal
the broken-hearted, Luk_4:18. The power of the Lord is present with the word,
present to those that pray for it and submit to it, present to heal them. Or it may be
meant (and so it is generally taken) of the healing of those who were diseased in
body, who came to him for cures. Whenever there was occasion, Christ had not to
seek for his power, it was present to heal. 3. There were some grandees present in
this assembly, and, as it should seem, more than usual: There were Pharisees, and
doctors of the law, sitting by; not sitting at his feet, to learn of him; then I should
have been willing to take the following clause as referring to those who are spoken of
immediately before (the power of the Lord was present to heal them); and why
might not the word of Christ reach their hearts? But, by what follows (Luk_4:21), it
appears that they were not healed, but cavilled at Christ, which compels us to refer
this to others, not to them; for they sat by as persons unconcerned, as if the word of
Christ were nothing to them. They sat by as spectators, censors, and spies, to pick up
something on which to ground a reproach or accusation. How many are there in the
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midst of our assemblies, where the gospel is preached, that do not sit under the
word, but sit by! It is to them as a tale that is told them, not as a message that is sent
them; they are willing that we should preach before them, not that we should preach
to them. These Pharisees and scribes (or doctors of the law) came out of every town
of Galilee, and Judea, and Jerusalem; they came from all parts of the nation.
Probably, they appointed to meet at this time and place, to see what remarks they
could make upon Christ and what he said and did. They were in a confederacy, as
those that said, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah, and agree to smite
him with the tongue, Jer_18:18. Report, and we will report it, Jer_20:10. Observe,
Christ went on with his work of preaching and healing, though he saw these
Pharisees, and doctors of the Jewish church, sitting by, who, he knew, despised him,
and watched to ensnare him.
JAMISON, "Luk_5:17-26. Paralytic healed.
(See on Mat_9:1-8).
Pharisees and doctors ... sitting by — the highest testimony yet borne to our
Lord’s growing influence, and the necessity increasingly felt by the ecclesiastics
throughout the country of coming to some definite judgment regarding Him.
power of the Lord ... present — with Jesus.
to heal them — the sick people.
BENSON, "Luke 5:17-25. And on a certain day, as he was teaching — Not on a
sabbath day, as it appears, but on a week-day; and not in the synagogue, but in a
private house. Preaching and hearing the word of God is good work, if it be
performed properly, on any day in the week, as well as on the sabbath days; and
in any convenient place, as well as in a place peculiarly set apart for divine
worship: even there where we ordinarily converse with our friends, it is not
improper to give and receive good instruction. There were Pharisees and doctors
of the law sitting by — As being more honourable than the bulk of the
congregation, who stood. These men of learning and influence had come from all
quarters, on hearing the report of his miracles, to see his works, and scrutinize
his pretensions of being a divinely-commissioned teacher. And the power of the
Lord was present to heal — Namely, as many as then applied to him for the cure
of their diseases. The sense is, that Christ not only preached such awakening
sermons as might have converted them to righteousness, but his mighty and
miraculous power was there to perform such cures as ought to have removed all
their scruples with respect to his divine mission. Accordingly he embraced an
opportunity, which now offered, of showing his power on a man afflicted with
the palsy to such a degree that he could neither walk, nor stand, nor sit, nor
move any member of his body, nor utter so much as a word importing the least
desire of relief; but seemed a carcass rather than a man. This miserable object
was carried in his bed, or couch, by four persons, who, when they could not
bring him in at the door because of the crowd that was gathered to see how Jesus
would behave before such learned judges, they bare him up, by some stairs on
the outside, to the roof of the house, which, like other roofs in that country, was
flat, with a battlement round it, and had a kind of trap-door, it seems, by which
the members of the family could come out upon it to walk, and take the air, or
perform their devotions. Through this they let him down with his couch, into the
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midst of the company assembled, before Jesus — Who, knowing the man to be a
true penitent, and observing the faith of those who brought him, immediately
gave him the consolation of knowing that his sins were all forgiven; and as a
proof that he had authority to announce to him such glad tidings, he immediately
so perfectly healed him of his disorder, as to enable him instantly to rise up
before all that were present, take up his couch, and walk. For a more particular
elucidation of the circumstances of this remarkable miracle, see notes on Mark
2:3-12. To what is there observed, it may not be improper to add here, that by
our Lord’s manner of proceeding on this occasion we are taught two important
lessons; 1st, That sin is the cause of all sickness, and the forgiveness of sin the
only foundation on which the expectation of a recovery from sickness can be
comfortably built. 2d, That when we are sick, we should be more concerned to
get our sins pardoned than our sickness removed; Christ, in what he said to this
man, directing us when we seek to God for health, to begin with seeking to him
for pardon. And from the influence which the healing of this man’s soul and
body had upon his mind, inducing him as he departed to his house, bearing his
couch, to praise and glorify God, we may learn to give God the praise of those
mercies of which we have the comfort, and to acknowledge his hand in all our
recoveries from affliction and escapes from death, and to glorify him for them,
by whose mercy and power alone they are wrought.
COKE, "Luke 5:17. And the power of the Lord was present, &c.— Our Lord
not only preached such awakening sermons as might have converted them to
righteousness, but he was ready to perform such astonishing miracles as ought to
have removed all their scruples with respect to his mission. Some suppose, that
the word them refers not to the doctors and Pharisees of the law, but, in general,
to those who had need of healing, and faith to be healed—the crowds, mentioned
Mark 2:2. See on Matthew 9:1.
BURKITT, "As the great end of our Saviour's miracles was to confirm his
doctrine, so commonly after his preaching he wrought his miracles. The scribes
and Pharisees, though they had no love for our Saviour's person, nor value for
his ministry, yet they frequently accompanied him wherever he went, partly to
cavil at his doctrine, and partly out of curiousity to see his miracles: but observe
the gracious condescension of our Saviour; although he well knew that the
Pharisees at this time attended upon him with no good intention, yet he puts
forth his divine power in working miracles before them: The power of the Lord
was present to heal. Not that Christ's power was at any time absent but it is said
now to be present, because it was now exerted and put forth at his will and
pleasure.
And accordingly at this time, before the Pharisee's eyes, he miraculously cures a
person sick of the palsy, as the paragraph before us does inform us.
Wherein observe, 1. The diseased and distressed person, one sick of the palsy,
which being a resolution and weakness of the nerves, enfeebles the joints, and
confines a person to his bed or couch. As a demonstration of Christ's divine
power, he was pleased to single out the palsy and leprosy, incurable diseases, to
work a cure upon. Now this person was so great a cripple, by reason of the palsy,
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that he could not go, nor be led, but was carried in his bed or couch.
Observe, 2. As the grievousness of the disease, so the greatness of the people's
faith. The man and his friends had a firm and full persuasion, that Christ was
clothed with a divine power, and able to help him; and they hope in his goodness,
that he was willing as well as able.
And accordingly, the roof of the Jewish houses being flat, they uncover some
part of it, and let the bed down with the sick man in it, and lay him at the foot of
Christ, in hopes of help and healing.
Observe, 3. That no sooner did they exercise their faith in believing, but Christ
exerts his divine power in healing: yet the object of their faith probably was not
Christ's divine power as God, but they looked upon him as an extraordinary
prophet, to whom God had communicated such a divine power as Elijah and
Elisha had before him. Yet, see the marvelous efficacy even of this faith, which
obtained not only what was desired, but more than was expected. They desired
only the healing of the body, but Christ heals body and soul too, saying, Son, be
of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee. Thereby our Saviour, signifies to them,
that sin is the meritorious cause of sickness, and consequently, that in sickness
the best way to find ease and deliverance from pain, is first to seek for pardon;
for the sins of pardon will in some degree take away the sense of pain.
Observe, 4. The exception which the Pharisees take against our Saviour for
pronouncing that this man's sins were forgiven him: they charge him with
blasphemy, urging, that it is God's peculiar prerogative to pardon sin. Indeed
their proposition was true, but their application was false. Nothing more true,
than that it is the highest blasphemy for any mere man to arrogate and assume to
himself the incommunicable property of God, absolutely and authoritatively to
forgive sin. But then their denying this power to Christ of forgiving sins, which
he had as God from all eternity, and as mediator, God and man in one person,
when here on earth; this was blasphemy in them; but the assuming and
challenging in it, none in him.
Observe, 5. To cure, if possible, the obstinacy and blindness of the Pharisees, our
Saviour gives them a two fold demonstration of his Godhead;
1. By letting them understand that he knew their thoughts, Jesus perceived their
thoughts, Luke 5:22 To know the thoughts, to search the hearts, and understand
the reasonings of men, is not in the power of angels or men, but the prerogative
of God only.
2. By assuming to himself a power to forgive sins: for our Saviour here, by taking
upon him to forgive sins in his own name and by his own authority, does give the
world an undeniable proof, and a convincing evidence, of his Godhead: for who
can forgive sins but God only?
Observe, 6. The effect which this miracle had upon the minds of the people: they
marvelled and were amazed, were filled with fear, but not with faith; astonished,
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but did not believe.
Learn hence, that the sight of Christ's own miracles is not sufficient to work faith
in the soul, without the efficacious grace of God; the one may make us marvel,
the other must make us believe.
CONSTABLE, "Again Luke stressed the priority of Jesus' teaching ministry.
The Pharisees and scribes had come to hear what He was teaching. These men,
first appearing in Luke here, were the guardians of Israel's orthodoxy. The
Pharisees were a political party in Israel noted for their strict observance of the
Mosaic Law as traditionally interpreted by the rabbis. Some of these doctors of
the law (i.e., scribes, lawyers) were probably Pharisees, but probably not all of
them were. The figure is a hendiadys indicating that they were religious
watchdogs and does not mean that other religious leaders were absent. A
hendiadys is a figure of speech in which someone expresses a complex idea by
naming two entities and linking them with a conjunction. Thus scribes and
Pharisees means religious leaders but does not imply that other religious leaders
such as the Sadducees were absent. [Note: For a discussion of the religious
leaders, see Steve Mason, "Chief Priests, Sadducees, Pharisees and Sanhedrin in
Acts," in The Book of Acts in Its First Century Setting; Vol. 4: The Book of Acts
in Its Palestinian Setting, pp. 134-47.]
Luke viewed the power of God as extrinsic to Jesus (cf. John 5:1-19). Jesus did
not perform miracles out of His divine nature. He laid those powers aside at the
Incarnation. Rather He did His miracles in the power of God's Spirit who was on
Him and in Him as a prophet.
"Why would Luke say that 'the power of the Lord was present for him to heal' if
Jesus could heal at any time, under any condition, and solely at his own
discretion? This statement only makes sense if we view healing as the sovereign
prerogative of God the Father, who sometimes dispenses his power to heal and at
other times withholds it." [Note: Jack Deere, Surprised by the Power of the
Spirit, p. 59. Cf. J. I. Packer, "The Comfort of Conservatism," in Power
Religion, p. 289.]
In Acts, Luke would stress that the same Spirit is on and in every believer today,
and He is the source of our power as He was the source of Jesus' power.
PETT, "After a vague time note, omitting the mention of Capernaum (which
demonstrates that he is not over concerned to mention place names, not that he
does not know them), Luke now introduces us to Jesus as He teaches. From what
follows He was clearly seated within a house looking out through the open door.
Like being in the boat earlier it would prevent the crowds from pressing Him.
Nearby, observing Him, were Pharisees and Doctors of the Law (Rabbis). They
had come as self-appointed judges to check Him out, ‘from every village of
Galilee, and Judaea and Jerusalem’. This did not necessarily mean that every
village in Galilee contained at least one Pharisee, but that all villages that did
have Pharisees in them were represented. They had clearly decided that it was
important for them all to be here. Some also came from Judaea and Jerusalem.
(This is the most likely reading and best attested. Other readings suggest that it
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is the crowds who were from out of ‘every village of Galilee, and from Judaea
and from Jerusalem’). By now His fame had spread far and wide and even
Judaea and Jerusalem were interested.
‘And the power of the Lord was with Him to heal.’ This suggests that a number
of healings had already taken place. But it would be specially relevant in what
was to follow, for Jesus would use this power to heal as proof of His overall
authority.
PETT, "Jesus Is The Son of Man Who Can Forgive Sins (5:17-26).
We now commence here a series of five incidents which can be paralleled in
Mark, from where Luke probably gained most of his knowledge about them
(Luke 5:17 to Luke 6:11). Each except the last, which speaks for itself, depicts
Jesus as a fulfilment of Old Testament promises. He is the Son of Man, He is the
Bridegroom, He is the Great Physician, He is the Greater than David, He is Lord
of the Sabbath. It is thus made clear that He is the Coming One.
In these passages also we find the first beginnings of the antagonism towards
Jesus which was aroused among certain Pharisees, and the Rabbis (teachers of
the Law of Moses) that they called in to assist them. They call His assurance to
the paralytic, that his sins are forgiven, blasphemy. They harshly criticise eating
with ‘public servants’ (tax-collectors) and ‘sinners’ (those who do not follow
Pharisaic teaching in respect of ritual requirements), an attack on Jesus’ position
concerning ritual cleanliness. They attack the failure of His disciples to fast.
They condemn His attitude to the Sabbath. They criticise His healing on the
Sabbath. And as their criticism expands, so does their determination to do away
with Him.
Those who openly opposed Jesus were not on the whole the cream of such men,
which is why our picture of them is slightly distorted. For those who tailed Jesus
tended to be the ones that were more extreme and rigidly minded. The Pharisees
followed a strict interpretation of the Law but were very influential, with some
being more flexible than others. Even though there were only a few thousand of
them they had a strong influence in the synagogues, and were highly respected
because of their religious zeal. They believed in the resurrection of the dead, and
in angels, and saw both the Law and the Prophets as Scripture. They also held
fast to the teachings of the elders, a kind of oral tradition dealing with the
detailed interpretation of the Law (and it was very detailed), which they stressed
that all men should live by. They were very strict about ritual cleanliness and
keeping the Sabbath; were strict and particular on tithing; and in order to
ensure cleanness themselves engaged in a multiplicity of ‘washings’. The
problem was that in their zeal they became too fastidious and too demanding.
And the more particular they became the worse they got. They tended to believe
that only they were right, seeing their traditions as being as authoritative as
Scripture. They believed that if only they were sufficiently obedient to the
covenant God would bless Israel. Thus they took their eyes off God and fixed
them on their own laws. That is always the danger with rules.
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In this first passage we are introduced for the first time in Luke to Jesus’
description of Himself as ‘the Son of Man’. The same title will also occur in Luke
6:5. In both cases it is a title which depicts divine authority. As Son of Man He
has authority on earth to forgive sins. As Son of Man He is Lord of the Sabbath.
Later the title bears four distinct emphases, the one is that the Son of Man must
suffer and die and rise again (Luke 9:22; Luke 9:44; Luke 17:22; Luke 22:22;
Luke 24:7), the second is that He is here to live as a true man among men (Luke
7:34; Luke 9:58), the third is that He has come to seek and save the lost (Luke
9:56; Luke 19:10), and the fourth that He will be exalted and that one day He
will return to this earth in power and glory (Luke 9:26; Luke 12:8; Luke 12:40;
Luke 17:24; Luke 17:26; Luke 17:30; Luke 18:8; Luke 21:27; Luke 21:36; Luke
22:69).
The title Son of Man was Jesus’ favourite title for Himself. It was ideal for His
purpose. It could depict one who was lowly, a ‘son of man’ who lived for God as
a man among men, and who would have to face suffering and death, but it could
also depict One who would rise again, becoming the glorious figure who had
come to God on the clouds of Heaven to receive dominion and glory and a
kingdom, in other words to receive authority from God (Daniel 7:13-14), the very
essence of Messiahship.
Here then in the current passage we are brought face to face with the authority
of the Son of Man, which is here the authority on earth to declare that men’s sins
have been forgiven.
a He was teaching, and there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by,
who were come out of every village of Galilee and Judaea and Jerusalem, and the
power of the Lord was with Him to heal (Luke 5:17).
b Men bring on a bed a man who was paralysed, and they sought to bring him
in, and to lay him before Him. Not finding by what way they might bring him in
because of the crowd, they went up to the housetop, and let him down through
the tiles, with his couch, into the midst before Jesus (Luke 5:18-19).
c Seeing their faith, He said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” (Luke 5:20).
d The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks
blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” (Luke 5:21).
e Jesus perceiving their reasonings, answered (Luke 5:22 a).
d And He said to them, “Why do you reason in your hearts? Which is easier, to
say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you’, or to say, ‘Arise and walk?’ ” (Luke 5:22 b-23).
c ‘But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive
sins (He said to him who was paralysed), “I say to you, Arise, and take up your
couch, and go to your house.” (Luke 5:24).
b Immediately he rose up before them, and took up that on which he lay, and
departed to his house, glorifying God (Luke 5:25).
a Amazement took hold on all, and they glorified God, and they were filled with
awe, saying, “We have seen strange things today” (Luke 5:26).
Note that in ‘a’ He was teaching (and was being watched by the Pharisees and
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Rabbis) and the power of the Lord was present to heal, while in the parallel all
who gathered to here Him were amazed at what they saw. In ‘b’ they bring a
man in lying on his litter, and in the parallel the man stands up healed. In ‘c’
Jesus declares his sins forgiven, and in the parallel H shows that it is so by telling
him to rise and walk. In ‘d’ He is faced with the opposition of the Pharisees
concerning forgiving sins and in the parallel He replies with a counter argument
concerning forgiving sins. Centrally in ‘e’ Jesus has an answer for the Pharisees
and scribes.
MACLAREN, "BLASPHEMER, OR-WHO?
Luke describes the composition of the unfriendly observers in this crowd with more
emphasis and minuteness than the other Evangelists do. They were Pharisees and
doctors, and they were assembled from every part of Galilee, and even from Judea,
and, what was most remarkable, from Jerusalem itself. Probably the conflict with the
authorities in the capital recorded in Joh_5:1-47 had taken place by this time, and if
so, a deputation from the Sanhedrim would very naturally be despatched to
Capernaum, and its members would as naturally summon the local lights to sit with
them, and watch this revolutionary young teacher, who had no licence from them,
and apparently not much reverence for them.
One can easily imagine that these heresy-hunters would be much too superior
persons to mix with the crowd about the door of Peter’s house, and would, as Luke
says, be ‘sitting by,’ near enough to see and hear, but far enough to show that they
had no share in the vulgar enthusiasm of these provincial peasants. They were too
holy to mingle with the mob, so they kept together by themselves, and waited
hopefully for some heresy or breach of their multitudinous precepts. They got more
than they expected.
We may note the contrast between their cynical watchfulness and the glorious
manifestations for which they had no eyes. ‘The power of the Lord’-that is, of
Christ-’was’ (operative) ‘in His healing,’ or, according to another reading, ‘to heal
them.’ But the critics took no heed of that. There is a temper of mind which is sharp-
eyed as a lynx for faults, and blind as a bat to evidences of divine power in the Gospel
or its adherents. Some noses are keen to smell stenches, and dull to perceive
fragrance. The race of such inquisitors is not extinct.
They contrast, too, with the earnestness of the four friends who brought the
paralysed man. The former sat cool and critical, because they had no sense of need
either for themselves or for others. The latter made all the effort they could to fight
through the crowd, and then took to the roof by some outside stair, and hastily
stripping off enough of the tiling, lowered their friend, bed and all, right down in
front of the young Rabbi. The house would be low, and the roof slight, and Jesus was
probably seated in an open inner court or verandah, At any rate, the description gives
a piece of local colour, and presents no improbability.
Earnestness in striving to come oneself or to bring a dear one to Christ’s feet seems a
supremely absurd waste of energy to a cynical critic, who feels no need of anything
that Christ can give. It looks rather different to the paralytic on his couch, and to the
friends who long for his healing.
The first lesson from this incident is that our deepest need is forgiveness. No doubt,
something in the paralytic’s case determined Christ’s method with him. Perhaps his
sickness had been brought on by dissipation, and possibly conscience was lashing
him with a whip of scorpions, so that, while his friends sought for his healing, he
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himself was more anxious for pardon. It is very unlikely that Jesus would have
offered forgiveness unless He had known that it was yearned for. But whether that is
so or not, we may fairly generalise the order of givings in this miracle, and draw from
it the lesson that what Jesus then gave first is His chief gift. In most of His other
miracles He gave bodily healing first. First or second, it is always Christ’s chief gift in
the beginning of discipleship. His miracles of bodily healing are parables of that
higher miracle. This incident brings out what is always the order of relative
importance, whether it is that of chronological sequence or not.
And we all need to lay that truth to heart for ourselves. No tinkering with superficial
discomforts, or culture of intellect and taste, or success in worldly pursuits, will avail
to stanch the deep wound through which our life-blood is ebbing out. We need
something that goes deeper than all these styptics. Only a power which can deal with
our sense of sin, and soothe that into blessed assurance of pardon, is strong enough
to grapple with our true root of misery. It is useless to give a man dying of cancer
medicine for pimples. That is what all attempts to make man happy and restful while
sin remains unforgiven, are doing.
Social reformers need this lesson. Many voices proclaim many gospels to-day.
Culture, economical or social reconstruction, is trumpeted as the panacea. But it
matters comparatively little how society is organised. If its individual members retain
their former natures, the former evils will come back, whatever its organisation. The
only thorough cure for social evils is individual regeneration. Christ deals with men
singly, and remoulds society by renewing the individual. The most elaborate
machinery may be used for filtering the black waters. What will be the good of that if
the fountain of blackness is not sealed up, or rather purified, at its hidden source?
Make the tree good, and its fruit will be good. To make the tree good, you must begin
with dealing with sin.
The second lesson from this incident is that Christ’s claim to forgive sins is either
blasphemy or the manifest token of divinity. These Pharisees scented heresy at once.
They were blind to the pathos of the story, and hard as millstones towards the poor
sufferer’s wistful looks. But they pounced at once gleefully on Christ’s words. They
were perfectly right in their premises that forgiveness was a divine prerogative which
no man could share. For sin is the name of evil, when considered in its relation to
God. He only can forgive it, for ‘against Thee, Thee only,’ as David confessed, is it
committed. True, the same act may be full of harmful results to men, and may be a
breach of human law, but in its character as sin it refers to God only. Forgiveness is
the outpouring of God’s love on a sinner, uninterrupted by his sin. Only God can
pour out that love.
But the cavillers were quite wrong in their conclusion. He did not ‘blaspheme.’ The
fact that Jesus knew and answered their whispered or unspoken ‘reasonings in their
hearts’ might have taught them that here was more than a rabbi, or even a prophet.
But He goes on to reiterate His assertion that He has power to forgive sins.
Observe that He does not deny their premises. Nor does He, as He was bound in
common honesty to do, set them right if they were wrong in supposing that He had
claimed divine power. A wise religious teacher, who saw himself misunderstood as
asserting that he could give what he only meant to assure a penitent that God would
give, would have instantly said, ‘Do not mistake me. I am only doing what every
servant of God’s should and can do, telling this poor brother that God is ready to
forgive. God forbid that I should be supposed to do more than to declare his
forgiveness!’ Christ’s answer is the strongest possible contrast to that. He knew what
these Pharisees supposed Him to have meant by His authoritative words, and
knowing it, He repeats them, and points to the miracle about to be done as their
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vindication.
Is there any possible way of escaping from the conclusion that Jesus solemnly and
deliberately laid claim to exercise the divine prerogative of dispensing pardon? If He
did, what shall we say of Him? Surely there is no third judgment of Him and His
words possible; but either the Pharisees were right, and ‘this man,’ this pattern of all
meekness and perfect example of humility, blasphemed, or else Peter was right when
he said, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’
The third lesson is that the visible effects of Christ’s power attest the reality of His
claim to produce the invisible effects of peaceful assurance of forgiveness. It was
equally easy to say, ‘Thy sins are forgiven thee,’ and to say, ‘Take up thy bed and
walk.’ It was equally impossible for a mere man to forgive, and to give the paralytic
muscular force to move. But the one saying could be tested, and its fulfilment verified
by sight. The other could not; but if the visible impossibility was done, it was a
witness that the invisible one could be.
The striking way in which our Lord weaves in His command to the palsied man to
take up his bed with His words to the Pharisees is preserved in all the Gospels, and
gives vividness to the narrative, while it brings out the main purpose of the miracle.
It was a demonstration in the visible sphere of Christ’s power in the invisible. Both
were divine acts, and that which could be verified by sight established the reality of
that which could not.
The same principle may be widely extended. It includes all the outward effects of
Christ’s gospel in the world. There are abundance of these which are patent to fair-
minded observers. If one wishes to know what these are, he has only to contrast
heathen lands with those in which, however imperfectly, Jesus is recognised as King
and Example. The lives of His disciples are full of faults, but they should, and in a
measure, do, witness to the reality of His gifts of forgiveness and conquest of sin. He
has done more to restore strength to humanity paralysed for good than all other
would-be physicians put together have done; and since He has visibly effected such
manifest changes on outward lives, it is no rash conclusion to draw that He can
change the inward nature. If He has healed the palsy, that is a work surpassing
human power, and it proves that He can forgive the sin which brought the paralysis,
and tied the helpless sufferer to his couch of pain.
18 Some men came carrying a paralyzed man
on a mat and tried to take him into the house to
lay him before Jesus.
CLARKE, "A man - taken with a palsy - See this case described on Mat_9:1
(note), etc., and Mar_2:1 (note), etc.
GILL, "And behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a
palsy,.... Four men brought him, as Mark says, Mar_2:3 and which the Ethiopic
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version expresses here: "and they sought means to bring him in": into the house
where Jesus was:
and to lay him before him; at his feet, in hope of moving his compassion, and to
obtain a cure of him: of the nature of this disease, and of the sort which this man's
seems to be; see Gill on Mar_2:3.
HENRY, " The duties that are taught us, and recommended to us, by this story. (1.)
In our applications to Christ, we must be very pressing and urgent: that is an
evidence of faith, and is very pleasing to Christ and prevailing with him. They that
were the friends of this sick man sought means to bring him in before Christ (Luk_
5:18); and, when they were baffled in their endeavour, they did not give up their
cause; but when they could not get in by the door, it was so crowded, they untiled the
house, and let the poor patient down through the roof, into the midst before Jesus,
Luk_5:19. In this Jesus Christ saw their faith, Luk_5:20. Now here he has taught us
(and it were well if we could learn the lesson) to put the best construction upon
words and actions that they will bear. When the centurion and the woman of Canaan
were in no care at all to bring the patients they interceded for into Christ's presence,
but believed that he could cure them at a distance, he commended their faith. But
though in these there seemed to be a different notion of the thing, and an
apprehension that it was requisite the patient should be brought into his presence,
yet he did not censure and condemn their weakness, did not ask them, “Why do you
give this disturbance to the assembly? Are you under such a degree of infidelity as to
think I could not have cured him, though he had been out of doors?” But he made the
best of it, and even in this he saw their faith. It is a comfort to us that we serve a
Master that is willing to make the best of us. (2.) When we are sick, we should be
more in care to get our sins pardoned than to get our sickness removed. Christ, in
what he said to this man, taught us, when we seek to God for health, to begin with
seeking to him for pardon.
BARCLAY, "FORGIVEN AND HEALED (Luke 5:18-26)
5:18-26 Now--look you--there came men bearing on a bed a man who was
paralysed, and they were trying to carry him in and to lay him before Jesus.
When they could find no way to carry him in because of the crowd they climbed
up on to the roof and they let him down, bed and all, through the tiles right into
the middle of them in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Man,
your sins are forgiven you." The scribes and Pharisees began to raise questions.
"Who," they said, "is this who insults God? Who can forgive sins but God
alone?" Jesus was well aware of what they were thinking. He answered, "What
are you thinking about in your hearts? Which is easier--to say, 'Your sins are
forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of
Man has authority on earth to forgive sins (he said to the paralysed man), I tell
you rise, take up your bed, and go to your own house." And immediately he
stood up in front of them and lifted up the bedding on which he was lying and
went away to his house, glorifying God. Astonishment gripped them all and they
glorified God and were filled with awe. "To-day," they said, "we have seen
amazing things."
Here we have a vivid story. Jesus was in a house teaching. The Palestinian house
was flat-roofed. The roof had only the slightest tilt, sufficient to make the rain
water run off. It was composed of beams laid from wall to wall and quite a short
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distance apart. The space between the beams was filled with close packed twigs,
compacted together with mortar and then marled over. It was the easiest thing in
the world to take out the packing between two beams. In fact coffins were very
often taken in and out of a house via the roof.
What does the passage about forgiving sins mean? We must remember that sin
and suffering were in Palestine inextricably connected. It was implicitly believed
that if a man was suffering he had sinned. And therefore the sufferer very often
had an even morbid sense of sin. That is why Jesus began by telling the man that
his sins were forgiven. Without that the man would never believe that he could
be cured. This shows how in debate the scribes and Pharisees were completely
routed. They objected to Jesus claiming to extend forgiveness to the man. But on
their own arguments and assumptions the man was ill because he had sinned;
and if he was cured that was proof that his sins were forgiven. The complaint of
the Pharisees recoiled on them and left them speechless.
The wonderful thing is that here is a man who was saved by the faith of his
friends. When Jesus saw their faith--the eager faith of those who stopped at
nothing to bring their friend to Jesus won his cure. It still happens.
(i) There are those who are saved by the faith of their parents. Carlyle used to
say that still across the years there came his mother's voice to him, "Trust in God
and do the right." When Augustine was living a reckless and immoral life his
devout mother came to ask the help of a Christian bishop. "It is impossible," he
said, "that the child of such prayers and tears should perish." Many of us would
gladly witness that we owe all that we are and ever will be to the faith of godly
parents.
(ii) There are those who are daily saved by the faith of those who love them.
When H. G. Wells was newly married and success was bringing new temptations
to him, he said, "It was as well for me that behind the folding doors at 12
Mornington Road there slept one so sweet and clean that it was unthinkable that
I should appear before her squalid or drunken or base." Many of us would do
the shameful thing but for the fact that we could not meet the pain and sorrow in
someone's eyes.
In the very structure of life and love--blessed be God--there are precious
influences which save men's souls.
PETT, "Verse 18-19
‘And behold, men bring on a bed a man who was paralysed, and they sought to
bring him in, and to lay him before him, and not finding by what way they might
bring him in because of the crowd, they went up to the housetop, and let him
down through the tiles, with his couch, into the midst before Jesus.’
While Jesus was speaking some men arrived (Mark tells us that there were four)
carrying a litter in which was a paralysed man. But there was no way through
the crowd. So the four men, confident that Jesus could and would help them,
went up the stone steps on the outside of the house which led up to the roof,
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taking the man with them. (We have here the reminiscence of an eyewitness). It
probably took some manoeuvring for they would not want to spill the man out of
the litter, but at last they achieved it. Then they broke open the roof of the house
by removing some clay objects (keramos - tiles?) and lowered the man down.
It would be a typical small town house. It would probably be a one storey house
and would have stone steps round the back which led on to the roof for access to
the roof, which would be flat, but with a balustrade as required by the Law
(Deuteronomy 22:8). This was a place where those who lived in the house could
go for comparative quiet and privacy. Luke lets us know that the roof was at
least partly clay covered (keramos). This may signify clay tiles. Mark does not
tell us what the roof consisted of. It was not able to thwart the attempts of four
determined men to dig through and break it open. And as long as the beams
were not harmed it would be easy and cheap to repair again by replacing the
tiles. There were by this time tiled roofs in Galilee.
BI 18-26, "A man which was taken with a palsy
Carried by four
I.
THERE ARE CASES WHICH WILL NEED THE AID OF A LITTLE BAND OF
WORKERS BEFORE THEY WILL BE FULLY SAVED. Yonder is a householder as yet
unsaved: his wife has prayed for him long; her prayers are yet unanswered. Good
wife, God has blessed thee with a son, who with thee rejoices in the fear of God. Hast
thou not two Christian daughters also? O ye four, take each a corner of this sick
man’s couch, and bring your husband, bring your father, to the Saviour. A husband
and a wife are here, both happily brought to Christ; you are praying for your
children; never cease from that supplication: pray on. Perhaps one of your beloved
family is unusually stubborn. Extra help is needed. Well, to you the Sabbath-school
teacher will make a third; he will take one corner of the bed; and happy shall I be if I
may join the blessed quaternion, and make the fourth. Perhaps, when home
discipline, the school’s teaching, and the minister’s preaching shall go together, the
Lord will look down in love and save your child.
II. We now pass on to the second observation, that SOME CASES THUS TAKEN UP
WILL NEED MUCH THOUGHT BEFORE THE DESIGN IS ACCOMPLISHED. They
must get the sick man in somehow. To let him down through the roof was a device
most strange and striking, but it only gives point to the remark which we have now to
make here. If by any means we may save some, is our policy. Skin for skin, yea, all
that we have is nothing comparable to a man’s soul. When four true hearts are set
upon the spiritual good of a sinner, their holy hunger will break through stone walls
or house roofs.
III. Now we must pass on to an important truth. We may safely gather from the
narrative THAT THE ROOT OF SPIRITUAL PARALYSIS GENERALLY LIES IN
UNPARDONED SIN. Jesus intended to heal the paralysed man, but He did so by first
of all saying, “Thy sins are forgiven thee.” The bottom of this paralysis is sin upon the
conscience, working death in them. They are sensible of their guilt, but powerless to
believe that the crimson fountain can remove it; they are alive only to sorrow,
despondency, and agony. Sin paralyses them with despair. I grant you that into this
despair there enters largely the element of unbelief, which is sinful; but I hope there
is also in it a measure of sincere repentance, which bears in it the hope of something
better. Our poor, awakened paralytics sometimes hope that they may be forgiven, but
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they cannot believe it; they cannot rejoice; they cannot cast themselves on Jesus; they
are utterly without strength. Now, the bottom of it, I say again, lies in unpardoned
sin, and I earnestly entreat you who love the Saviour to be earnest in seeking the
pardon of these paralysed persons.
IV. Let us proceed to notice that JESUS CAN REMOVE BOTH THE SIN AND THE
PARALYSIS IN A SINGLE MOMENT. It was the business of the four bearers to bring
the man to Christ; but there their power ended. It is our part to bring the guilty
sinner to the Saviour; there our power ends. Thank God, when we end, Christ begins,
and works right gloriously.
V. WHEREVER OUR LORD WORKS THE DOUBLE MIRACLE, IT WILL BE
APPARENT. The man’s healing was proved by his obedience. Openly to all onlookers
an active obedience became indisputable proof of the poor creature’s restoration.
Notice, our Lord bade him rise—he rose; he had no power to do so except that power
which comes with Divine commands. He did his Lord’s bidding, and he did it
accurately, in detail, at once, and most cheerfully. Oh! how cheerfully; none can tell
but those in like case restored. So, the true sign of pardoned sin, and of paralysis
removed from the heart, is obedience.
VI. ALL THIS TENDS TO GLORIFY GOD. Those four men had been the indirect
means of bringing much honour to God and much glory to Jesus, and they, I doubt
not, glorified God in their very hearts on the housetop. Happy men to have been of so
much service to their bedridden friend I When a man is saved his whole manhood
glorifies God; he becomes instinct with a new-born life which glows in every part of
him, spirit, soul, and body. But who next glorified God? The text does not say so, but
we feel sure that his family did, for he went to his own house. Well, but it did not end
there. A wife and family utter but a part of the glad chorus of praise, though a very
melodious part. There are other adoring hearts who unite in glorifying the healing
Lord. The disciples, who were around the Saviour, they glorified God too. And there
was glory brought to God, even by the common people who stood around. We must,
one and all, do the same. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Jesus’ method of doing good
The first thing which He did was not the thing which He was expected by men to do.
His first word seemed remote from the thing needing then and there to be done. The
friends of that palsied man expected the famed Miracle-Worker to heal him; and
instead, Jesus said only, “Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.” That was not the first nor
the last time that ecclesiastical logic has drawn a correct circle of reasoning by which
the living truth has been shut out. Jesus stood for the moment looking upon the
disappointed faces of His friends, and meeting the cruel eyes of His enemies. He
knew that His word of Divine forgiveness, which seemed remote from the very
present need of that palsied man, and which to the Pharisees was idle as a breath of
air, was nevertheless the force of forces for the healing of the world. He knew how to
begin His work among men, before any form of suffering, with a word which should
bring down to the soul of man’s need the power of the heart of God. The multitude
looked on and saw the momentary failure, as it seemed, of the Christ of God. “But
Jesus, perceiving their reasonings,” &c. “Whether is easier?” &c. Which is the greater
force, the love of God forgiving sin, or the miracle of healing? Jesus began with the
greatest work. The miracle, as it seemed to the people, was not the greater work
which Jesus knew He was sent to accomplish. The physical miracle followed easily
upon the diviner power of God’s love which Jesus was conscious of possessing and
exercising over the might of evil, when He said, “Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.”
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The people, when they saw the lesser work done, not comprehending the power of
God then and there present upon the earth, and working first the greater work of the
forgiveness of sin, were amazed and filled with fear, and said, “We have seen strange
things to-day.” And this opinion of the people must be our opinion of these miracles
if we do not know Jesus any better than those doctors of the law at Capernaum had
learned Christ. But as in that case soon appeared, Jesus Christ was right in the way
He chose to begin His work, and the people were all wrong. He did the harder thing
first, and the easier thing next. And the method of the Church, following Christ’s, is
profoundly right. It is practically true, The gospel of Divine forgiveness we must put
first; our benevolcnces second. Sin is first to be mastered; then suffering is more
easily healed. ( Newman Smyth, D. D.)
The gospel of forgiveness
In this miracle many truths are presented to us; e.g.,
1. A strong faith will overcome difficulties.
2. The readiness of Christ to welcome the needy, and to reward faith.
3. The enmity and opposition of the human heart.
4. The superiority of spiritual to temporal blessings.
5. Testimony given to the Divinity of Christ by His
(1) forgiving sin;
(2) searching the heart;
(3) healing the body. But the central truth of the passage appears to be, the
gospel of forgiveness preached to the poor.
I. THE NEED IT MEETS. The figure presented to us: a paralysed man—helpless,
incurable—a mere wreck. Three things combined in him.
1. Disease.
2. Poverty.
3. Poverty of spirit. He had a sense of sin—connected his misery with his sin—
was softened, penitent.
II. THE HOPE IT AWAKENS. Indefinite—but the hope of good. Had heard of Jesus.
Drawn by the Father. The attraction exercised by Christ. All obstacles overcome.
Jesus must be reached.
III. THE BLESSING IT BESTOWS.
1. Forgiveness. A word lightly used; little valued by many. But ask the friend, the
child, the sinner who feels himself wrongdoer, and longs for reconciliation.
2. Manner of bestowment.
(1) Immediate.
(2) Free.
(3) Complete.
(4) Authoritative.
(5) Effectual.
IV. THE OPPOSITION IT EXCITES. The spirit of opposition to grace always the
same; the form differs. Here it was provoked by Christ’s assumption; commonly by
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man’s presumption.
V. THE VINDICATION IT RECEIVES. Christ proves His power to forgive, confutes
His adversaries, saves the man. The gospel may appeal to results. CONCLUSION:
Application to
(1) The careless.
(2) The anxious.
(3) The healed. (Emilius Bayley, B. D.)
Reflections on the healing of the paralytic
1. This passage suggests some serious consideration relating to the great
numbers who sometimes assemble when the gospel is to be preached. Some hear
with profit; but how many seem to hear in vain.
2. Be exhorted to imitate the benevolence of the four men who brought the
paralytic to Christ. All who are themselves in health, strength, and comfort, ought
to be ready to perform the various offices of humanity to those who are in
sickness, or any trouble.
3. There are some things here for the consideration of the sick. The best use of
sickness is for religious improvement.
4. It is delightful to think that the Son of Man has still power to forgive sin.
(James Foote, M. d.)
God interprets prayers
In our prayers, Christ often hearkens more to our wants than our desires. He goes to
the very root of the evil, which is sin; and we ought to imitate Him in our afflictions.
They who, out of a spirit of charity, pray for others, receive frequently more than they
ask. God interprets their prayers; because He understands better what charity asks in
them, than they do themselves. (Quesnel.)
Faith’s reward
The hand of faith never knocked in vain at the door of heaven. Mercy is as surely ours
as if we had it, if we have but faith and patience to wait for it. (W. Burkitt.)
The healing of the paralytic
Here is an instance of the secondary services which men may render to each other.
The men who carried the sufferer could not cure him. Still they could help him by
kind and sympathetic attention. We should not shrink from the lower duties simply
because we cannot discharge those which are higher. The method of approaching
Christ adopted by them, and Christ’s approval of it, show that the one thing to be
particular about is to get to Christ, rather than to be fastidious as to the mere manner
by which the object is accomplished. The great thing that Jesus Christ valued in men
was faith. His answer to the faith of man was always in proportion to the fulness and
courage of that faith. In this case He gave the very highest answer at once, with an
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apparent abruptness that startled the scribes and the Pharisees as if He had
committed high blasphemy. Look at the harmony between the action of the men and
the speech of Jesus. He did not receive them coldly, and test their sincerity by much
questioning and seeming reluctance. On the contrary, no sooner did He see a special
exhibition of faith in His power, than He instantly spoke the highest word which God
Himself can address to the heart of man. Singularly enough, in this instance Jesus
Christ passed from the high spiritual act of forgiveness to the high spiritual act of
penetrating the hidden thoughts of those who were secretly accusing Him of
blasphemy. The twenty-second verse shows the absolute fearlessness of Jesus, in that
He did not wait for an audible expression of unbelief or aversion. He who could thus
read the heart showed another phase of that great power by which He released man
from the captivity of his guilt. The power is one; only in its application is it varied. In
His further remarks upon this cage Jesus Christ shows that He can begin His work
either from the highest spiritual or the highest physical point. It is curious to observe
how sensitive were the scribes and Pharisees in the matter of the forgiveness of sins
by any but God Himself, and yet how dull they were to draw the right inference from
the fact that Jesus perceived their thoughts. The man who can read the thoughts of
the heart has a presumptive claim to be considered able to do more than lies within
the sphere of ordinary men. We find, however, that they passed from this instance of
spiritual insight without a remark. This is a danger to which we are all exposed—the
danger, namely, of seeing blasphemy where we ought to see Divinity, and of
neglecting to construct the right argument upon such evidences of Christ’s power as
are patent to our own observation. The effect produced upon the minds of the
spectators (Luk_5:26) was apparently satisfactory, yet not really and permanently so,
or there could have been no recurrence of hostility. We see from this how possible it
is to be amazed, even to glorify God and to be filled with fear, and yet to fall back
from this high feeling into positive distrust and enmity. Feeling must be consolidated
by understanding, or it will prove itself a poor defence in the day of repeated trial.
Christianity is an argument as well as an emotion; and to separate them is to divide
our strength and to miss the great purpose of Christian instruction. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The story
1. Is an admirable commentary on the psalmist’s words, “Thy gentleness hath
made me great.” As we follow the steps of the narrative, we feel how, by His
gentleness, by the wise gradations of His approach to the paralytic’s true need,
Christ is gradually raising him into his best moods.
2. Reminds us that in His grace Christ rewards the very moods of faith and hope
which He Himself has produced. He says, “Be of good courage”; and, at the word,
courage springs up in our fearful hearts. He says, “Thy sins are forgiven”; and we
are able to believe that He, who can forgive sins, can do for us whatever we may
need. And then, having inspired faith and courage, He rewards them as though
they were our virtues rather than His gifts: He bids us “arise and walk,” to prove
our victory over sin, to show that we have found new life in Him. So that the
reward He bestows is—new and happier service.
3. Teaches that Christ often crosses our wish to supply our want. No doubt the
supreme desire of the Galilean paralytic was deliverance from the palsy. But that
is not the first thing Christ grants him. There must be faith before there can be
healing; the man’s sins must be forgiven before he can be made whole from his
disease. But then, when our sins are really forgiven us, forgiveness implies a free
restoration to health. (S. Cox, D. D.)
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The vicarious nature of faith
We have here a distinct recognition of the value of intercessory prayer, or, if I may so
express myself, of vicarious faith. God, we learn therefore, hears prayers of believing
men offered up not for themselves but for others.
1. This doctrine is Scriptural. Abraham, Moses, &c.
2. This doctrine is reasonable. It can give a good account of itself before the bar
of philosophy. It is a wise, God-worthy policy to encourage men to pray, live, and
even die for one another, in the assurance that they pray not, live not, die not in
vain.
3. The duty arising out of the foregoing doctrine is plain. It is without ceasing to
desire and to pray for the well-being, spiritual and temporal, of all men, specially
of those whose case Providence brings closest home to us. (A. B. Bruce, D. D.)
Spiritual uses of affliction
I. A CASE OF DIRE DISEASE.
II. PRACTICAL SYMPATHY EVOKED.
III. UNEXPECTED HINDRANCES.
IV. THE INGENUITY OF FAITH.
V. A GRACIOUS ORDER OF BLESSING.
VI. PLAUSIBLE OBJECTIONS CONFUTED.
VII. HUMAN RESTORATIONS BY JESUS MADE COMPLETE.
VIII. HUMAN SUFFERING RESULTING IN BRINGING GLORY TO GOD. (D.
Davies, M. A.)
Who can forgive sins?
I. Whether God can forgive sins or not, it is certain that NO OTHER BEING CAN.
We have no right to forgive one another. We cannot forgive one another.
Forgiveness, real and complete, can neither go nor come, can neither be given nor
accepted, between man and man. As I have said before, God would have to die first.
Eternity would have to end first. This is what conscience says to-day, will say to-
morrow, and will say for ever. I am almost ashamed to be insisting upon any thing so
elementary and axiomatic. But I dare not be ashamed of it. There is Something in the
air which predisposes us to think lightly of sin. And I must warn you against it; and
warn myself against it. Questions of conscience are only in part subjective and social.
They are between us and the Unseen; between us and the Eternal; between us and
the All-Just; between us and the All-Terrible. I do not see nor touch Him yet. But
when this tired breast stops heaving, and this tired pulse stops beating, quick as
thought, quicker than lightning, I shall be with Him, face to face. Only one question
shall I then care to have answered: Can He forgive? I do not, dare not, can not forgive
myself; can He forgive me?
II.
Let us ask, and answer this question now: Can God forgive? In the dainty,
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superficial thinking of our time, which comes of so much self-indulgence,
softening the mental and moral fibre, Divine forgiveness is easy.
It is assumed that suffering must cease some time.
A bold assumption, in the face of a creation which has always sighed and
groaned.
If God is not impeached or disturbed by suffering to-day, why need He be
to-morrow, or next day, or the next? Much is said also of our
insignificance, and that, too, by men who, in other relations, make great
account of the dignity of human nature.
God, it is said, can suffer no loss at our hands.
We cannot rob Him of any treasure.
Somebody once asked Daniel Webster what was the most important
thought that ever occupied his mind. The propriety of the question
hardly equalled the solidity of the answer. “The most important thought that
ever occupied my mind,” said he, “was that of my individual responsibility to God.”
Psychology admits no possibility of forgiveness. On purely rational grounds, it is
inconceivable. Plato could see nothing ahead but either penalty, or penance. Some
speakers and writers of our time, affecting philosophy, are eloquent about work and
wages, being and condition, character and destiny. Very well, gentlemen: but do you
know what you are saying? You hate our iron-clad orthodoxy. But our creed, as you
must yourselves admit, has some mercy in it; while your creed has no mercy in it at
all. To be consistent, you should get rid of your idea of a personal God, as perhaps
you have already. As you put things, this universe might just as well be governed by
some impersonal Force. The laws are all alike, whether physical or moral. Atonement
suggests and warrants the declaration that “God is Love.” Somehow, on the basis of
this atonement, and in pursuance of its purpose, God forgives. What is forgiveness?
Not mere remission of penalty. Moral penalty never can be remitted without moral
change. To forgive an offence that I know will be repeated is to be accessory to that
offence, before and after. Divine forgiveness can go no farther than human
forgiveness, and achieve no more. It must observe the same ethical laws. It must have
the same high ethical tone. “Go, and sin no more,” is always the condition of
forgiveness. (R. D. Hitchcock, D. D.)
Zeal will always find a way to accomplish its purpose
It seems to have been a common practice with their (the Waldensian) teachers, the
more readily to gain access for their doctrines among persons in the higher ranks of
life, to carry with them a box of trinkets, or articles of dress, something like the
hawkers or pedlars of our day; and Reinerius thus describes the manner in which
they were wont to introduce themselves: “Sir, will you be pleased to buy any rings or
seals or trinkets? Madam, will you look at any handkerchiefs or pieces of needlework
for veils; I can afford them cheap.” If, after a purchase, the company ask, “Have you
anything more?” the salesman would reply, “Oh, yes; I have commodities far more
valuable than these, and I will make you a present of them, if you will protect me
from the ecclesiastics.” Security being promised, he went on: “The inestimable jewel I
spoke of is the Word of God, by which He communicates His mind to men, and
which inflames their heart with love to Him.” (Milner.)
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A mother’s belief that God would justify her faith for her son’s
conversion
A touching story of a mother’s faith is that of a dying Scotch mother, who in praying
for and speaking of a wandering son, whom she had not heard from for years, said:
“O God, Thou knowest I consecrated Jamie to Thee when he was an infant in my
arms. Thou knowest I have prayed for him with the prayer of faith—a mother’s faith,
every day ever since he was born. He is Thy child; Thou must go after him and find
him, and bring him into the kingdom, for Thou hast promised, and Thou art faithful
to fulfil Thy promises. Thou canst not lose my Jamie from the fold. I know that Thou
wilt save Jamie for me, and I shall meet him in the land where none ever wander
away from the green pastures and the still waters.”
Faith honoured
“There is no use in keeping the church open any longer; you may as well give me the
key,” said a missionary in Madras, as in the course of a journey he passed through a
village where once so many of the natives had professed Christianity that a little
church had been built for them. But the converts had fallen away, returned to their
idols, and there only remained faithful the one poor woman to whom now the
missionary was speaking. “There is Christian worship in the village three miles off,”
he added, noticing her sorrowful look; “any one who wishes can go there.” “Oh, sir,”
she pleaded, most earnestly, “ do not take away the key! I at least will still go daily to
the church and sweep it clean and will keep the lamp in order, and go on praying that
God’s light may one day visit us again.” So the missionary left her the key, and
presently the time came when he preached in that very church crowded with
repentant sinners; the harvest of the God-given faith of that one poor Indian woman.
Rejoicing through forgiveness
We now visit an old man of seventy-five, who had been a coachman and cabdriver in
Paris. We have known him for ten years. His home is humble, but it was very
interesting to look in from time to time on old Grimmer and his wife, both of them
diligently cutting into strips a sort of coarse lace to try and earn something for their
own support. He was a great sufferer through gout for the last two years, and when
the thought came forcibly home to him that he could not live much longer, the sins of
his past life weighed heavily upon his mind. ‘You have no idea,’ he would say, ‘of the
sins I have committed during my long life, and if I only knew they were forgiven I
should not be afraid to die.’ The feeling quite overpowered him. We visited him, and
read God’s Word with him, and after some months the light shone in upon him, and
all was changed. But let him tell his own simple story; ‘I know now my sins are all
forgiven, for the sake of my Saviour, who died for me. Yes, though I am such a great
sinner, God has forgiven me all. I used to be so frightened when I awoke at night, and
seemed to see dreadful spirits round me; but now, when I am awake, I pray to God,
and I seem to know He is in the room with me. One night I am sure I saw Jesus
standing before me when I was praying.’ His faith was bright to the last, and he
passed quietly away to ‘ the home above.’” (Miss Leigh’s work in Paris.)
“Sixty-five years’ sins all forgiven”
This was the language of Mrs. B—, who has been visited by the missionary for many
years. She always received my visits, and was willing to hear the Scriptures read, but
was totally blind to their spiritual application, and always said she was too bad to be
forgiven; but this was as a cloak to cover her indulgence in sin. About nine months
ago she manifested a deep concern about her spiritual condition. She said, “It’s no
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use talking to me, the day of grace is gone, I am afraid there is no hope for me.” I
repeatedly visited her, read and prayed with her. She attended all the meetings, and
would cry out, “Lord, save me, if thou canst look upon a poor sinner like me! “At
night she was terrified with dreams.” My old man,” she said,” declared I was gone
mad. I said, ‘It’s my sins, my sins!’ I didn’t know what to do nor where to go. It was at
the Mission-room last June that I heard distinctly a voice that said, ‘Thy sins which
were many are all forgiven thee.’ I felt such a change; I’m an old woman, but I could
dance for joy; it is wonderful the Lord Jesus forgave me. Sixty-five years’ sins all
forgiven!”
Omniscience of Christ
Nature, in all her realms, lies open to His eye. No pearl of the deep, no metallic
splendour of the mine, but shines to Him. No flower of a day, no tree of a century, no
forest of a millennium, but has in petal, foliage, and gathering girth a history He
intimately knows. No fish, glancing through the seas, no beast, wild or subdued, no
bird, savage or harmless, but has a biography whose every incident is clear in the
flame of His all searching eyes, and, pointing to man, He says: “The very hairs of your
head are all numbered.” And is He so minutely acquainted with man’s decorating and
living crown? He has as intimate acquaintance with the thoughts of man’s mind and
the feelings and aspirations of his soul. Every creature, small and great, every event
of every life, every sin, sorrow, fear, and hope, lives simultaneously, completely,
unerringly, in the light of His countenance. (G. T. Coster.)
Christ can see through men
He needed not that one should tell Him what was in men; He knew it. He, looking
upon men, looked upon them as if they were glass, and as if their soul’s machinery
was perfectly visible within them. As we, looking upon a clock, see its whole
mechanism, so Christ, looking upon men, seemed to see the interior men more than
the exterior. (H. W. Beecher.)
The simplicity of Christ’s method of healing
I looked the other day into old Culpepper’s Herbal. It contains a marvellous
collection of wonderful remedies. Had this old herbalist’s prescriptions been
universally followed, there would not long have been any left to prescribe for; the
astrological herbalist would soon have extirpated both sickness and mankind. Many
of his receipts contain from twelve to twenty different drugs, each one needing to be
prepared in a peculiar manner; I think I once counted forty different ingredients in
one single draught. Very different are these receipts, with their elaboration of
preparation, from the Biblical prescriptions which effectually healed the sick—such
as these. “Take a lump of figs and lay it for a plaster upon the boil”: or that other one:
“Go and wash in Jordan seven times”; or that other; “Take up thy bed and walk.” One
cannot but admire the simplicity of truth, while falsehood conceals her deformities
with a thousand trickeries. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The purpose of Christ’s miracles of healing
It is not so easy a matter as it might seem, to explain the multitude of the miracles
that are narrated or referred to in these Gospels which give us all that we know of the
life of Jesus the Messiah. The accounts of them make up a large part of the four
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Gospels. Why is it that the three brief years of Christ’s miracles should have been so
largely consumed in these hundreds, thousands of acts of healing men’s bodily
ailments and infirmities, and even inconveniences? What was the purpose, and what
was the result, of all these mighty works?
1. If the one object of Christ’s miracles was directly to reduce the sum of human
misery, then they were a failure; for their result was inappreciably small and
insignificant. What a mere drop of solace in an ocean of agony 1 What an atom of
comfort beside the huge, mountainous mass of human woe.
2. Such an object as that of arbitrarily interrupting the general course of human
suffering by miraculous interference, not only was not accomplished by the
power of Christ, but it ought not to have been accomplished it would not have
been a blessing. The notion that there was too much pain and suffering in the
world—more than was right, more than was best, more than was needed by
mankind for their own good—the notion that God our Father had dealt hardly by
His children, and that the Son of God, with a superior love, came down to
mitigate the hardship which the Father’s too great severity had imposed—is quite
too much like some other of the obsolete notions of a mediaeval theology, and
quite too much unlike the Word of God. For it is not true. God tolerates no pain
in the world that can be spared. It was not in revenge or cruelty, but in that
justice which is another name for love, that He pronounced on the apostate race
the curse of toil and suffering and death. His curse was the best blessing that
mankind, sinful, apostate, were capable of receiving.
3. The real answer is declared in the text. When God interferes to break the
dreadful chain of moral causes that binds penalty to sin, He gives sign and token
of the same, by breaking also the chain of physical cause and effect that holds the
creation groaning under bondage to bodily pain and weakness. When He sends
His only-begotten into the world, He adopts this way to signalize Him to the
wretched, the poor, the hungry, the sick, the palsied, the sinful and unhappy of
every land and language and century, as God’s authorized Commissioner.
4. Christ’s works, moreover, set before us the way of salvation—the way in which
He gives it, the way in which we are to receive it. The miracles are parables—not
the less parables for being also facts. And this miracle, in particular, shows the
order in which the devil’s works are destroyed by the Holy One of God—not first
pain and sorrow, and then sin; but first sin, and then the pain, sorrow, death that
sin has wrought. (Leonard W. Bacon.)
The healing of the palsied
I. THIS MIRACLE IS A PARABLE.
1. Of Divine power and love.
2. Of human faith.
II. CONSIDER THE PARALYTIC’S PRAYER. It was a wonderful prayer—so brief, so
comprehensive, so affecting, so complete; stating the whole case, setting it forth in
every particular, detailing every symptom of the malady, urging every argument of
sympathy, calling for exactly the comfort and help that were required;—such was the
prayer offered by the sick of the palsy, as his couch with its half-dead burden
dropped on the ground at the feet of the Christ. What then did he say? Not one word!
The silence which this strange intruder brought with him into the school of Christ
was broken only by the voice of the Son of Man Himself—“Son, be of good cheer; thy
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sins are forgiven thee.” He had told his story well. There was a dead and leaden limb
hanging to a half-lifeless trunk. There was a hand shaking with the helpless tremor of
the nerves that could do little more than tremble. There were the lips drooling and
mowing, and the tongue lolling with a look like idiocy within the gate of speech, and
the eyes, last refuge of the blockaded intellect, looking with longings that cannot be
uttered toward Him who is the Life. And now do you ask. What did he may? Rather,
What did he leave unsaid? It was an unspoken prayer, but not a prayer unuttered or
unexpressed. I find, in the very nature of this sick man’s malady, some instructive
indications as to what is the prayer of faith, and what is faith that gives prevailing
power to prayer. It is not without significance that so large aproportion of our Lord’s
miracles of healing were wrought on the blind and the palsied—the sufferers from
those two forms of human infirmity which most discipline one to a sense of his own
helplessness and need, and most educate him in the habit of confiding in the strength
and wisdom and faithfulness of another. And as I meditate of blindness and palsy, I
better understand the darkness and impotency of sis, and what is that faith by which
we should commit ourselves to the infinite wisdom, love, and power of God.
III. CONSIDER THE ANSWER WHICH THE PALSIED MAN RECEIVED TO HIS
PRAYER. If it seemed at first, to any, that he had uttered no prayer at all, such will
surely think at first that he received no answer at all. Very commonly this is true, in
the Gospels, of the Lord’s response to those who come to Him. “Jesus answered and
said,” we read; but the answer has no obvious relevency to what was asked (Joh_
3:1-3). He answers, not the words, but what lay in the heart, behind the words. In
such wise He answers the prayer of the palsied—a prayer that says, plainer than any
words can say it, “Lord, that I might be healed.” It seems no answer at all—“Son, be
of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven thee.” There seems to besome untold story here.
There is more than palsy—there is sin; if not an anxious face, at least a troubled
conscience. And there is a keen diagnosis on the part of the Great Healer, going
deeper than the surface symptoms, reaching to the inmost roots of the trouble. And
His answer is given accordingly. Observe in it—
1. That the paralytic received the substance, though not the form, of what he had
asked, to his entire satisfaction. For a similar case, see 2Co_12:7-10. Did the
features of the paralytic, think you, betray to the gazing and murmuring scribes
some sign of disappointment or discontent, when those majestic words were
spoken down to him—“Thy sins be forgiven thee”? Is it ever those who cry
mightily to God, who are found complaining that He is slack concerning His
promises? And if not, then who are you that are finding fault—making bold to
come between the saint and his Saviour, to complain that the covenant is not fully
performed? If Christ is satisfied, and the suppliant soul is satisfied, who are we
that we should interfere to measure the prayer against the answer, and
remonstrate with the Lord that His ways are unequal. Nay, I take you all to
witness—
2. That this petitioner received more than the equivalent of what he had asked,
by as much as it is a greater thing to suffer and be happy and joyful in the midst
of suffering, than it is not to suffer at all. Many a sick man has implored the Lord
for health and strength, and won a blessing greater than he asked, in learning
“how sublime a thing it is to suffer and be strong.” Many a bankrupt man, that
had struggled, with anxious calculations and many an earnest petition, for
deliverance from accumulating troubles, and seemed to find no answer from God,
has been rewarded at last with the heavenly gift of grace to step majestically down
from wealth to poverty, and has found a joy in low estate beyond what wealth
could ever give.
3. But now observe, finally, that when he had received the equivalent of his
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prayer, to his full content; and when he had received “exceeding abundantly
above what he had asked”; at last, this palsied man was given the identical thing
which he had asked. Not for his sake—no, he did not ask it now. He was of good
cheer—his sins were forgiven him. So far as appears, he was full of exceeding
peace and content, craving nothing more, but wholly satisfied, the rest of his
appointed time, to lie a helpless infant in the everlasting arms. No, it was not for
his sake, but “that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power,” &c. For now
the palsy had accomplished its work and could be spared. It had brought the
sufferer, and laid him low and helpless at the feet of Jesus to receive the
forgiveness of his sins, and what more could it do for him? The time was come, at
last, when it might be dismissed, but not till now. And Christ is not so unkind as
to give healing so long as suffering is still needed. He is not less merciful than the
Father, as He is not more merciful. Would you dare to ask that your grief, your
pain, your burden should be taken away before its work was done? Could you
bring your mind to wish that all these past hours, and days, and weeks, and weary
months of suffering should have been in vain; and that God should call back these
stern but kindly servants of His, while yet their mission was incomplete, and bid
them Let him alone I sorrow is wasted on him I he is joined to his idols; let him
alone? But now, the sick of the palsy is forgiven and at peace. The sickness has
well fulfilled its painful but beneficent ministry, and He who is Lord over all the
powers of life and death, that saith to this one, Come, and he cometh, and to
another,! Go, and he goeth, may call away this sad-faced angel, and send him
back to where, before the throne, they “stand and wait” for some new bidding
upon messages of love. (Leonard W. Bacon.)
Strange things
I. MARK THE STRANGE THINGS OF THAT PARTICULAR DAY.
1. Power present to heal the doctors (Luk_5:17).
2. Faith reaching down to the Lord from above (Luk_5:19).
3. Jesus pardoning sin with a word (Luk_5:20).
4. Jesus practising thought-reading (Luk_5:22).
5. Jesus making a man carry the bed which had carried him (Luk_5:25).
II. MARK THE STRANGE THINGS OF CHRIST’S DAY.
1. The Maker of men born among men.
2. The Lord of all serving all.
3. The Just One sacrificed for sin.
4. The Crucified rising from the dead.
5. Death slain by the dying of the Lord.
III. MARK THE STRANGE THINGS SEEN BY BELIEVERS IN THEIR DAY
WITHIN THEMSELVES AND OTHERS.
1. A self-condemned sinner justified by faith.
2. A natural heart renewed by grace.
3. f soul preserved in spiritual life amid killing evils, like the bush that burned
with fire and was not consumed.
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4. Evil made to work for good by providential wisdom.
5. Strength made perfect in weakness.
6. The Holy Ghost dwelling in a believer.
7. Heaven enjoyed on earth. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Revivals of religion
I. THIS INFLUENCE SUCCEEDED TO PRAYER. It is said our Redeemer had
withdrawn into the wilderness to pray; He had just come from the wilderness, where
He had been engaged in earnest prayer with the Father, no doubt for the salvation of
a lost world; for this was the errand upon which He came to our earth, this was the
work which He took upon Him, and with reference to this work were all His
engagements. We are sure His prayers, when presented to His Father, had a special
and direct reference invariably to the salvation of a lost world. After thus praying He
came forth, and it was then this extraordinary influence was present. In all ages, God
hath made the execution of His gracious purposes to depend upon the exercise of the
forth-putting of earnest prayer. Throughout the Old Testament dispensation, we find
all those who were raised up by Him to bring about the spiritual or temporal
deliverance of His people, were instructed to do so in the spirit of prayer. When the
holy prophet Daniel was made aware that the set time to favour Zion was come, even
after knowing this he did not restrain prayer, but gave himself to this duty as one
which must be performed in order to the accomplishment of God’s gracious
purposes.
II. THIS GRACIOUS INFLUENCE WAS IN CONNECTION WITH THE TEACHING
OF JESUS. Jesus had not only been praying, and was now in the spirit of prayer, but
He was teaching, and the Lord hath made the salvation of the world to depend upon
the faithful teaching of the doctrines of Christ: “ Go ye,” said our Redeemer, “into all
the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”
III. We observe THE CONVERSION OF THIS MAN WAS BROUGHT ABOUT BY
EXTRAORDINARY MEANS. NOW the present state of the Christian Church, and
this professedly Christian land, calls to extraordinary efforts. We have been trying for
a length of time to get people by the door, and if the house has not always been
crowded, as it has not in some instances (the more the pity), yet, in innumerable
instances it has been crowded with devils, who kept out poor sinners, who prevented
them from coming in: and there we have been too ready to leave them, because we
were afraid of stepping out of the ordinary course—that we should do anything out of
the usual way, lest the whole town should be in a stir, and that any of the people of
God should think we were disposed to signalize ourselves. Now we wish you to be
impressed with this; and beware, because you have happened to see a conversion
affected by extraordinary means, of supposing that this is the only way, and that this
way always succeeds, and no other will. It is an extraordinary way suited to
extraordinary circumstances; and, I believe, extraordinary circumstances are more
general than people are disposed to admit. But what will take place then? Why, if you
act thus, there will be a great deal of excitement, and people will talk against it; they
will say, oh, take care of excitement (for the excitement has been very great amongst
us in several instances)—take care you do not excite the people. We ask them to
specify any good reason why we should not try to excite the people, and then we will
desist. Are they too susceptible? Is not the world affected with excitement in other
quarters? There is plenty of excitement in the theatre, plenty of excitement in the
ball-room, and no one attempts to fasten upon them the charge of enthusiasm. These
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men are most rational, the very lights of the world, fitted to expound everything that
appears a mystery I It is only in the house of God, where the most stirring subjects
are brought before us, that it is thought better to be as still as possible; that is, it is
thought a perfect breach of decorum for there to be the slightest indication of
sympathy in the statements made. We are in perfect bondage; we dare not utter our
feelings lest some that stand by should say that we are enthusiasts. But then, if the
Lord thus appear, if the Lord make bare His arm, they will say, oh, it is all sympathy
it spreads from one to another. We admit that, to a considerable extent, sympathy is
the means that God employs. But, further, if you thus get the Influence of God down
upon the people, the power of Christ communicated to their hearts, and have the
matter settled by the testimony of the Spirit, they will object to the suddenness of the
conversion. God’s way of salvation is very simple, and the person who has been
brought to exercise a believing act will learn more in a few hours than he could by
years of study previous to its exercise. (J. M’Lean.)
Forgiveness and healing
I. THE SICK MAN AND HIS FRIENDS.
1. The sick man.
2. The sick man’s friends. Several interesting particulars are suggested by their
action in this matter.
(1) They had faith in Jesus. It is only men of faith who can truly do good to
others. If we do not believe in our hearts and souls that Jesus Christ can
forgive and heal sinners, we shall certainly never bring any such to him.
(2) Theirs was a practical faith. Faith is not merely a sentiment which
believes something to be, but a vitalized affection which starts all our faculties
into action and sets us to work to accomplish something.
(3) Their faith was resourceful. There were difficulties in their path. (G. F.
Pentecost.)
Strange things
The world is a-weary, and longs for something novel. The greatest stranger in the
world is Jesus; and alas l He is the least seen, and the least spoken of by the most of
men. If men would come and watch Him, they would see strange things. His person,
His life, His death, are full of strange things. What He is doing now has as much as
ever the element of strangeness and wonder about it. Life never grows stale to a
companion of Jesus. Do you find it becoming so, and are you a believer? Seek the
conversion of your family, and your neighbourhood. Seek to know more of Jesus at
work among men. This will cause you to see stranger and stranger things, till you see
the strangest of all with Christ in glory. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Two kinds of wonder
Wonder at the work of God is natural, justifiable, commendable. He is a God of
wonders. It is right to say of the Lord’s doing, “It is marvellous in our eyes.” We are
to talk of all His wondrous works; but this must be in the spirit of devout admiration,
not in the spirit of suspicion and doubt. A holy, grateful wonder should be indulged
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to the full; but a cold, sceptical wonder should be resisted as a suggestion from Satan.
Faith accounts all things possible with God; it is unbelief that in credulously marvels
at the work of His hand. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
God’s wonders
Guthrie, of Fenwick, a Scotch minister, once visited a dying woman, whom he found
very anxious about her state, but very ignorant. His explanation of the gospel was
joyfully received, and she died soon afterwards. On his return home, Guthrie said, “I
have seen a strange thing to-day—a woman whom I found in a state of nature, I saw
in a state Of grace, and left in a state of glory.”
19 When they could not find a way to do this
because of the crowd, they went up on the roof
and lowered him on his mat through the tiles
into the middle of the crowd, right in front of
Jesus.
GILL, "And when they could not find by what way,.... As by the door, or in at
a window of the house:
they might bring him in; to Jesus, in the house:
because of the multitude; which was about the door, and all the fore part of the
house:
they went upon the housetop; by a ladder, or pair of stairs, which usually were
on the outside of houses; See Gill on Mat_24:17 the houses of the Jews being flat
roofed:
and let him down through the tiling with his couch, into the midst before
Jesus; that is, they untiled the roof, or took away the tiles which were about the trap
door, or passage, into the inside of the house; and so making it wider, let down the
man upon his couch, or bed, into the middle of the room and of the people, just
before Jesus, where he was sitting; See Gill on Mar_2:4.
JAMISON, "housetop — the flat roof.
through the tiling ... before Jesus — (See on Mar_2:2).
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20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend,
your sins are forgiven.”
GILL, "And when he saw their faith,.... That is, Jesus, as the Syriac and Persic
versions express it; when he saw the faith both of the paralytic man, and of the men
that brought him, which was shown in the pains they took, and trouble they were at,
in getting him to him;
he said unto him. The Vulgate Latin only reads, "he said"; but the Syriac, Arabic,
and Persic versions, still more fully express the sense, rendering it, "he said to the
paralytic man"; and the Ethiopic version, "he said to the infirm man"; as follows:
man, thy sins are forgiven thee. The other evangelists say, he said "son";
perhaps he used both words: however, all agree that he pronounced the forgiveness
of sins, which were the cause of his disease; and which being removed, the effect
must cease; so that he had healing both for soul and body; See Gill on Mat_9:2.
HENRY, "II. A particular account of the cure of the man sick of the palsy, which
was related much as it is here by both the foregoing evangelists: let us therefore only
observe in short,
1. The doctrines that are taught us and confirmed to us by the story of this cure. (1.)
That sin is the fountain of all sickness, and the forgiveness of sin is the only
foundation upon which a recovery from sickness can comfortably be built. They
presented the sick man to Christ, and he said, “Man, thy sins are forgiven thee
(Luk_5:20), that is the blessing thou art most to prize and seek; for if thy sins be
forgiven thee, though the sickness be continued, it is in mercy; if they be not, though
the sickness be removed, it is in wrath.” The cords of our iniquity are the bands of
our affliction.
BENSON, "Luke 5:20. They were all amazed — Greek, εκστασις ελαβεν
απαντας, astonishment seized all, that is, the Pharisees and doctors of the law, as
well as the people: and they glorified God — Matthew says, who had given such
power unto men; power not only to heal diseases, but to forgive sins. For they
could not but acknowledge the authority of Christ’s declaration, Thy sins be
forgiven thee, when their eyes showed them the efficacy of his command, Arise
and walk. And were filled with fear —
With a reverential kind of fear and dread, in consequence of this marvellous
proof of the divine presence among them; saying, We have seen strange things
to-day — Sins forgiven, miracles wrought. Greek, παραδοξα, paradoxes, or,
incredible things, as Dr. Campbell renders it; things which we should think
impossible to be performed, and should conclude to be tricks and illusions, had
we not indisputable proofs of their reality. Indeed, “whether we examine the
nature of this miracle, as being a perfect and instantaneous cure of an obstinate,
universal palsy, under which a person advanced in years had laboured, it seems,
for a long time, a perfect cure produced by the pronouncing of a single sentence;
or whether we consider the number and quality of the witnesses present,
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Pharisees and doctors of the law from every town of Galilee, and Judea, and
Jerusalem, together with a vast concourse of people; or whether we attend to the
effect which the miracle had upon the witnesses; — namely, the Pharisees and
doctors of the law, not able to find fault with it in any respect, though they had
come with a design to confute our Lord’s pretensions as a miracle-worker, were
astonished, and openly confessed that it was a strange thing which they had seen;
the multitude glorified God who had given such power unto men; the person
upon whom the miracle was wrought employed his tongue, the use of which he
had just recovered, in celebrating the praises of God: in short, view it in
whatever light we please, we find it a most illustrious miracle, highly worthy of
our attention and admiration.” — Macknight. Still, however, it does not appear
that these Pharisees and doctors of the law, though struck with amazement at
this miracle, were convinced thereby of the divine mission of Jesus, or induced to
lay aside their enmity against him.
COFFMAN, "Not the faith of the sufferer, but the faith of those who bore him, is
in focus here. Christ never followed any stereotyped pattern in the discharge of
his glorious mission. It is a safe conjecture, of course, that no sufferer would have
allowed such inconvenience to himself and his friends unless he too had faith that
Jesus would heal him; nevertheless, it was the faith of the group, not that of the
individual, that Jesus noted.
Man, thy sins are forgiven thee ... Christ no doubt intended this to be a challenge
of the religious doctors present in such large numbers; and, therefore, upon
grounds fully known to himself alone, he announced the man's pardon of all
transgressions, no doubt foreseeing the objections that would come of it, and the
eventual healing of the man's body afterward.
COKE, "Luke 5:20. And when he saw their faith,— That of the man, and of his
friends,—though they themselves spake nothing; the miserable condition of the
paralytic yet pleading with a voice far more eloquent than all language. St.
Chrysostom, speaking of this act of the bearers, says, "So ingenious a thing is
affection, and so fruitful in invention is love!" And upon the paralytic's patience
in bearing all these difficulties,and not waiting for some other opportunity, he
observes, he said nothing of all this to his bearers; but thought it became him to
make such a number of persons as were present, witnesses of his cure. His faith,
however, was not only visible from hence, but likewise from the very words used
by Christ on this occasion; for which reason also Christ did not go out to him,
but waited for the sick man to come to him, that he might have an opportunity of
demonstrating the faith of the paralytic to all the company. For could not he
have made the admission of the paralytic to him aneasy thing? But he did
nothing of that nature, that he might exhibit to all the company the diligent and
fervent faith of the paralytic and his friend.
CONSTABLE, "The zeal with which the four friends of the paralytic sought to
bring him into Jesus' presence demonstrated their faith, namely, their belief that
Jesus could heal him. However the sick man also appears to have had faith in
Jesus or he would not have permitted his friends to do what they did. Perhaps
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Luke did not mention the paralytic's faith explicitly because to do so might have
detracted from his emphasis on Jesus' power. God responds to the faith of others
when they bring friends in need to Him in prayer as well as in person.
". . . it is impossible to think that the man's sins were forgiven if he had no faith
of his own." [Note: Morris, p. 117.]
We should not regard physical healing and spiritual forgiveness as an "either
or" proposition. Rather true forgiveness includes full restoration in every area of
life. Jesus graciously did "both and" for this man, though often God does not
restore people to complete physical health, some not until after death.
"Miracle becomes a metaphor for salvation. All Jesus' miracles should be seen in
this light." [Note: Bock, "A Theology . . .," p. 126.]
PETT, "Jesus was clearly moved by the faith and persistence of these five men
(including the paralytic). He ‘saw their faith’. But then He did the unexpected.
Turning to the man He said to him, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ This was in the
perfect passive indicative and could therefore mean ‘have been and therefore are
forgiven’. But some see it as an aoristic perfect and as thus meaning ‘are this
moment forgiven’. Both interpretations are possible. Either way forgiveness was
declared, and when Jesus used the passive in this way He was intending God to
be seen as the subject (compare Matthew 5:1-10).
But we may ask why did He speak like this when the man had come for healing?
No Jew of that time would have asked such a question. They would have agreed
that his condition must connect with some sin, either his or his parents (compare
John 9:2), and that forgiveness of that sin could well relate to any attempt to
heal. But Jesus did not think like that. Clearly as He looked at the man, with his
eager gaze fixed on Him, possibly clouded by fear that he was not worthy, He
knew something specific about this man which led Him to say it. And besides He
wanted it made quite clear that He was not a doctor but a prophet. He was first
of all concerned with men’s inner souls. Once that was right healings could
follow.
It is quite possible that the paralysis had actually resulted from some deep sin.
Cases are known where people have become paralysed as a result of some
traumatic event in their lives. That cannot be ruled out. But it is more likely that
Jesus knew of his private struggle with sin and knew that he had prayed, ‘God
be merciful to me a sinner’, and yet was still in doubt. Whatever the situation
Jesus knew that the greatest need of this man was an assurance of forgiveness.
His healing was secondary. And His very words seem to suggest that He knew
that this man had repented and that God had forgiven him. So He gives that
assurance.
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21 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law
began thinking to themselves, “Who is this
fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive
sins but God alone?”
CLARKE, "Who can forgive sins, but God alone? - If Jesus were not God,
he could not forgive sins; and his arrogating this authority would have been
blasphemy against God, in the most proper sense of the word. That these scribes and
Pharisees might have the fullest proof of his Godhead, he works in their presence
three miracles, which from their nature could only be effected by an omniscient and
omnipotent Being. The miracles are:
1. The remission of the poor man’s sins.
2. The discernment of the secret thoughts of the scribes.
3. The restoration of the paralytic in an instant to perfect soundness.
See on Mat_9:5, Mat_9:6 (note).
GILL, "And the Scribes and the Pharisees began to reason,.... To think and
say within themselves, and it may be to one another, in a private manner:
saying, who is this which speaketh blasphemies? what vain boaster, and
blaspheming creature is this, who assumes that to himself, which is the prerogative
of God?
Who can forgive sins but God alone? against whom they are committed, whose
law is transgressed, and his will disobeyed, and his justice injured and affronted.
Certain it is, that none can forgive sins but God; not any of the angels in heaven, or
men on earth; not holy good men, nor ministers of the Gospel; and if Christ had been
a mere man, though ever so good a man, even a sinless one, or ever so great a
prophet, he could not have forgiven sin; but he is truly and properly God, as his being
a discerner of the thoughts of these men, and his healing the paralytic man in the
manner he did, are sufficient proofs. The Scribes and Pharisees therefore, though
they rightly ascribe forgiveness of sin to God alone, yet grievously sinned, in
imputing blasphemy to Christ: they had wrong notions of Christ, concluding him to
be but a mere man, against the light and evidence of his works and miracles; and also
of his office as a Redeemer, who came to save his people from their sins; and seem to
restrain the power of forgiving sin to God the Father, whereas the Son of God, being
equal with him, had the same power, and that even on earth, to forgive sin; See Gill
on Mar_2:7.
HENRY, "By doing that which their thoughts owned none could do but God only
(Luk_5:21): Who can forgive sins, say they, but only God? “I will prove,” saith
Christ, “that I can forgive sins;” and what follows then but that he is God? What
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horrid wickedness then were they guilty of who charged him with speaking the worst
of blasphemies, even when he spoke the best of blessings, Thy sins are forgiven thee!
COFFMAN, "Speaketh blasphemies ... The reasoning of the Pharisees was a
syllogism:
Only God can forgive sins.
This man is not God (deity).
Therefore, he is blaspheming by saying that he forgives sins.
Their second, or minor premise, was wrong; and therefore their conclusion was
wrong. Jesus indeed was, and ever is, God; but this they did not believe.
It is not amiss, however, to notice that their major premise, to the effect that only
God can forgive sins, was absolutely correct.
Matthew's revelation that this type of thinking against Jesus was in the inward
thoughts of the Pharisees, rather than an open allegation against him, is not
contradicted by Luke's statement that "they began to reason." Both Mark and
Matthew mention the fact of Jesus' reading their thoughts in this situation; and
the same is evident a little later here in Jesus reply (Luke 5:22).
CONSTABLE, "The religious leaders were correct. Only God can forgive sins.
However, they were unwilling to draw the conclusion that Jesus was God.
"Whenever Luke reports what someone is thinking, instruction from Jesus
usually follows." [Note: Idem, Luke, p. 158.]
"Luke, incidentally, is rather fond of questions which begin with 'Who?' and
refer to Jesus (Luke 7:49; Luke 8:25; Luke 9:9; Luke 9:18; Luke 9:20; Luke
19:3)." [Note: Morris, p. 117.]
PETT, "The Scribes would probably be mainly the local Scribes, doctors and
teachers of the Law (depending on Luke 5:17), supported perhaps by one or two
from Judaea and Jerusalem. The larger party from Jerusalem would come later.
Being mainly local they were almost certainly Pharisees, with any other having
been brought in by the locals. (Some Scribes were Sadducees). They were looked
to by the people to interpret the Law and did so on the basis of oral tradition
passed down among them, much of which was the result of scribal decisions in
the past. There would appear to have been three types of such oral tradition: (a)
some oral laws which were claimed as having come from Moses as having been
given by the great lawgiver in addition to the written laws; (b) decisions made by
various judges which had become precedents in judicial matters; and (c)
interpretations of great teachers (Rabbis) which came to be prized with the same
reverence as were the Old Testament Scriptures. In order to become Scribes they
had to become learned in these oral traditions, which were called ‘the tradition
of the Elders’. They looked on themselves, and were generally looked on by the
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people, as the guardians of the Law. They had almost certainly come to sound
out this new teacher so as to make a judgment on Him.
‘Began to reason.’ They were weighing up His words and coming to their
‘considered’ judgment on them. They had not come to learn but to act as critics.
Thus when they heard His words to the paralysed man their ears pricked up,
and they probably whispered quietly among themselves. ‘How dare He speak
like this? It is pure blasphemy. For surely only God can forgive sins.’ Had they
listened more reasonably they might have recognised that He had not quite said
what they thought. Like Nathan of old He had only assured the man of God’s
forgiveness (2 Samuel 12:13). But they were not thinking sympathetically.
‘He speaks blasphemies.’ That is, He is taking over God’s prerogative and
therefore acting against God. Indeed almost making Himself out to be the equal
of God. Their words remind us how easy it is to be so set in our thoughts that we
can only think in one way. They had not come to think fairly about what Jesus
was saying, or what He was doing. They had come to measure it by their
yardstick. And in that light there could be only one conclusion. And in fact by
that yardstick even a Messiah coming in terms of their own expectations would
have been a blasphemer. The theory of a Messiah was fine, but the actuality was
not, and never would be, acceptable to them unless He handed over all religious
aspects to them. A free thinking Messiah would not be allowable.
‘Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ They were, of course, correct. From the
point of view of being forgiven in the sight of God (which was what Jesus had
meant) it was only God Who could do it. But Jesus had actually spoken
ambiguously. They could have seen it as meaning simply, ‘God has forgiven you’
as a word of comfort and assurance, but they saw it as meaning ‘I have bestowed
on you God’s forgiveness’. In their view that went along with His outrageous
religious attitude. But it was open to men either to see Him as a declarer of
forgiveness (as with Nathan in 2 Samuel 12:13) or as One Who shared the
prerogative of God. The Scribes, in fact, actually came to the right conclusion,
that He could forgive sins, but made the wrong response. Because of their
prejudice they were not willing to yield to the truth.
22 Jesus knew what they were thinking and
asked, “Why are you thinking these things in
your hearts?
GILL, "But when Jesus perceived their thoughts,.... Being God omniscient;
he answering said unto them, what reason ye in your hearts? This he said,
not as being ignorant what their reasonings were, for it is before said he perceived
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their thoughts, but to expose the wickedness of them; in one exemplar of Beza's it is
added, "evil things", as in Mat_9:4. See Gill on Mat_9:4.
HENRY, "By knowing the thoughts of the scribes and Pharisees (Luk_5:22),
which it is God's prerogative to do, though these scribes and Pharisees knew as well
how to conceal their thoughts, and keep their countenances, as most men, and
probably were industrious to do it at this time, for they lay in wait secretly. [2.] By
doing that which their thoughts owned none could do but God only (Luk_5:21): Who
can forgive sins, say they, but only God? “I will prove,” saith Christ, “that I can
forgive sins;” and what follows then but that he is God? What horrid wickedness then
were they guilty of who charged him with speaking the worst of blasphemies, even
when he spoke the best of blessings, Thy sins are forgiven thee!
PETT, "The Scribes would probably be mainly the local Scribes, doctors and
teachers of the Law (depending on Luke 5:17), supported perhaps by one or two
from Judaea and Jerusalem. The larger party from Jerusalem would come later.
Being mainly local they were almost certainly Pharisees, with any other having
been brought in by the locals. (Some Scribes were Sadducees). They were looked
to by the people to interpret the Law and did so on the basis of oral tradition
passed down among them, much of which was the result of scribal decisions in
the past. There would appear to have been three types of such oral tradition: (a)
some oral laws which were claimed as having come from Moses as having been
given by the great lawgiver in addition to the written laws; (b) decisions made by
various judges which had become precedents in judicial matters; and (c)
interpretations of great teachers (Rabbis) which came to be prized with the same
reverence as were the Old Testament Scriptures. In order to become Scribes they
had to become learned in these oral traditions, which were called ‘the tradition
of the Elders’. They looked on themselves, and were generally looked on by the
people, as the guardians of the Law. They had almost certainly come to sound
out this new teacher so as to make a judgment on Him.
‘Began to reason.’ They were weighing up His words and coming to their
‘considered’ judgment on them. They had not come to learn but to act as critics.
Thus when they heard His words to the paralysed man their ears pricked up,
and they probably whispered quietly among themselves. ‘How dare He speak
like this? It is pure blasphemy. For surely only God can forgive sins.’ Had they
listened more reasonably they might have recognised that He had not quite said
what they thought. Like Nathan of old He had only assured the man of God’s
forgiveness (2 Samuel 12:13). But they were not thinking sympathetically.
‘He speaks blasphemies.’ That is, He is taking over God’s prerogative and
therefore acting against God. Indeed almost making Himself out to be the equal
of God. Their words remind us how easy it is to be so set in our thoughts that we
can only think in one way. They had not come to think fairly about what Jesus
was saying, or what He was doing. They had come to measure it by their
yardstick. And in that light there could be only one conclusion. And in fact by
that yardstick even a Messiah coming in terms of their own expectations would
have been a blasphemer. The theory of a Messiah was fine, but the actuality was
not, and never would be, acceptable to them unless He handed over all religious
aspects to them. A free thinking Messiah would not be allowable.
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‘Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ They were, of course, correct. From the
point of view of being forgiven in the sight of God (which was what Jesus had
meant) it was only God Who could do it. But Jesus had actually spoken
ambiguously. They could have seen it as meaning simply, ‘God has forgiven you’
as a word of comfort and assurance, but they saw it as meaning ‘I have bestowed
on you God’s forgiveness’. In their view that went along with His outrageous
religious attitude. But it was open to men either to see Him as a declarer of
forgiveness (as with Nathan in 2 Samuel 12:13) or as One Who shared the
prerogative of God. The Scribes, in fact, actually came to the right conclusion,
that He could forgive sins, but made the wrong response. Because of their
prejudice they were not willing to yield to the truth.
23 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are
forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?
GILL, "Whether is it easier to say,.... Mark adds, "to the sick of the palsy"; to
whom Christ had said that his sins were forgiven him, which had given offence to the
Scribes and Pharisees, imagining that he had assumed too much to himself:
wherefore he proposes the following case to them, which they thought was most easy
for man, or more proper and peculiar to God to say,
thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, rise up and walk? Neither of them could
be said by a mere man, with effect, so as that sins would be really remitted on so
saying; or that a man sick of a palsy, by such a word speaking, would be able to stand
upon his feet and walk; but both of them were equally easy to him, that is truly God;
and he that could say the one effectually, could also say the other: or in other words,
he that could cure a man of a palsy with a word speaking, ought not to be charged
with blasphemy, for taking upon him to forgive sin: our Lord meant, by putting this
question, and acting upon it, to prove himself to be God, and to remove the
imputation of blasphemy from him; See Gill on Mat_9:5. See Gill on Mar_2:9.
COFFMAN, "The implications of this statement by our Lord are profound.
Here, Jesus admitted that the so-called granting of absolution is on an absolute
parity with performing a miracle. Anyone who can do either can do both; and he
who cannot do both can do neither! It does seem that with such a proposition so
boldly stated here, there should be an end of men saying, "I absolve thee?
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24 But I want you to know that the Son of Man
has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he
said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up,
take your mat and go home.”
GILL, "But that ye may know, that the son of man,.... Whom the Scribes and
Pharisees took for a mere man, in which they were mistaken; for though he was really
a man, and the son of man, yet he was God as well as man; he was God manifest in
the flesh:
hath power upon earth to forgive sins; even in the days of his flesh, whilst he
was in his humble form on earth; for he did not cease to be God by becoming man,
nor lose any branch of his power, not this of forgiving sin, by appearing in the form
of a servant; and, that it might be manifest,
he said unto the sick of the palsy: these are the words of the evangelist,
signifying, that Christ turned himself from the Scribes and Pharisees to the paralytic
man, and thus addressed him:
I say unto thee, arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.
JAMISON, "take up thy couch — “sweet saying! The bed had borne the man;
now the man shall bear the bed!” [Bengel].
CONSTABLE, "Jesus did the apparently more difficult thing to prove that He
could also do the apparently easier thing. This is the first time Luke recorded
Jesus calling Himself the "Son of Man." Luke used this title 26 times, and in
every case Jesus used it to describe Himself (except in Acts 7:56 where Stephen
used it of Him). This was a messianic title with clear implications of deity (Daniel
7:13-14). Since the Son of Man is the divine judge and ruler, it is only natural
that He would have the power to forgive. It was only consistent for Jesus to claim
deity since He had just demonstrated His deity by forgiving the man's sins. He
would demonstrate it by healing him.
PETT, "Here we have the positive message that this account is all about. The
sudden switch in subject in the middle of the verse should be noted. It has caused
some to see the original account as having been interfered with in one way or the
other before Mark got hold of it. But it is difficult to see how Mark could have
got over this point so personally and yet so succintly without using this method.
And the fact that scholarly Luke accepts it by citing him suggests that he saw
nothing wrong with it. It is in fact dramatic. Jesus makes His solemn declaration
to the Scribes and then instantly speaks to the man, all in one breath, closely
connecting the two. The repetition of ‘He said to him who was paralysed,’ is not a
simple repetition but a deliberate contrast with what He says in Luke 5:20. The
repetition draws attention to the contrast between that and here. The point is
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brought home. The purity of the Greek takes second place.
His new claim is startling. Now He has moved from ambiguity to clarity. ‘So that
you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins.’ He claims
authority on earth to forgive sins! ‘Forgive’ is in the present infinitive, ‘to go on
forgiving sins’ as a personal activity. And we notice that the words are spoken
directly to the Rabbis. It is they whose thoughts He is challenging. He wants
them to know that He can forgive sins in God’s name, something which no other
can do.
But we note first the title under which He claims the right to forgive sins. He
does so as ‘the Son of Man’. Some have tried to make this mean simply ‘man’ on
the basis of the Aramaic, but Mark was an Aramaic speaker and yet he
translated it as ‘the Son of Man’, with Luke following suit, treating it as a title
and making an unambiguous connection with the ideas that lie behind that term.
It is significant that in the Gospels the term is only ever used on the lips of Jesus
(Mark 8:31; Luke 24:7; and John 12:34 are not really exceptions for they are
referring to what Jesus actually said), and in the New Testament only ever
referred to Jesus. Thus there are no good grounds for denying these words to
Jesus.
He begins to develop the term from the moment of His baptism. His first use of it
is to Nathaniel at his call following Jesus’ baptism, where He speaks of angels
ascending and descending on the Son of Man (John 1:51). He then uses it to
Nicodemus with clear heavenly connections. ‘No man has ascended into Heaven
but He Who descended out of Heaven, even the Son of Man’ (John 3:13). Thus
according to John the Son of Man is closely connected with Heaven and has His
source in Heaven right from the beginning. And as we have seen above He
continues using it to depict His own authority, to depict His manhood, to depict
His coming sufferings and to depict His coming in glory, all of which He
partakes in as God’s chosen One.
The connection with the coming in glory unquestionably connects the title with
Daniel 7:13-14. There ‘a son of man’ comes on the clouds of Heaven to receive
dominion and power and glory, and from the remainder of the chapter it is clear
that He is the representative of the saints of the Most High, that is the future
promised King of Israel. And by His receiving the kingship He obtains the power
to judge and to show mercy, to condemn or to forgive. Thus Jesus is revealing
Himself as this figure and declaring that He therefore has the power to forgive
sins on earth. He leaves all who hear to consider what the full consequences of
such a statement are.
To the problem that Jesus had set these men they could give no answer. Had they
said that it was easier ‘to make the man walk’ they would have had to do it. And
they knew that they could not. Only a man in direct touch with God could do
that. But they would not admit that they were wrong either. So they sank into
sullen silence
Then Jesus drove in the last nail. He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, Arise,
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and take up your litter, and go to your house.”
25 Immediately he stood up in front of them,
took what he had been lying on and went home
praising God.
GILL, "And immediately he rose up before them,.... As soon as ever these
words were spoken by Christ, the man, before sick of the palsy, finding himself
perfectly well, got off of his couch, and stood up on his feet before the Scribes and
Pharisees, and all the people:
and took up that whereon he lay; his couch, or bed: and departed to his own
house; with it upon his back: "and went to his business", as the Persic version
renders it:
glorifying God; both for the healing of his body, and for the pardon of his sins;
each of which he knew none but God could do. This circumstance is only mentioned
by Luke, and shows the sense the man had of the great favours bestowed upon him:
he glorified God, by ascribing them to his goodness and power; by offering the
sacrifice of praise, or giving thanks unto him for them; by publishing them among his
neighbours, to the honour of his name; and by living a holy life and conversation, to
his glory, under a grateful sense of his kindness: yea, he glorified Jesus Christ as God,
who he knew must be God, by forgiving his sins, and curing his disease; he
proclaimed his divine power, and ascribed greatness to him; he confessed him as the
Messiah, and owned him as his Saviour, and became subject to him as his Lord.
HENRY, "The mercies which we have the comfort of God must have the praise of.
The man departed to his own house, glorifying God, Luk_5:25. To him belong the
escapes from death, and in them therefore he must be glorified. (4.) The miracles
which Christ wrought were amazing to those that saw them, and we ought to glorify
God in them, Luk_5:26. They said, “We have seen strange things today, such as we
never saw before, nor our fathers before us; they are altogether new.” But they
glorified God, who had sent into their country such a benefactor to it; and were filled
with fear, with a reverence of God, with a jealous persuasion that this was the
Messiah and that he was not treated by their nation as he ought to be, which might
prove in the end the ruin of their state; perhaps they were some such thoughts as
these that filled them with fear, and a concern likewise for themselves.
COFFMAN, "Thus, a second time in this chapter, Jesus directed the most visible
and convincing proof of his oneness with the Father toward the community of
scribes and Pharisees, making every effort to enlist them as believers in his holy
mission. From John it is learned, however, that they had already rejected him
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and were merely stalking him with a view of putting him to death (John 5:18).
That prior evil decision on their part was the true reason why they did not
believe in this circumstance.
Glorifying God ... The healed man was aware that only God could have wrought
such a wonder; and the same conclusion should have been made by Jesus'
enemies.
The paralyzed man responded in faith immediately (Gr. parachrema) to Jesus'
command. The stretcher had carried the man, and now the man carried the
stretcher.
"The ability of the paralyzed man to resume his walk of life is a picture of what
Jesus does when he saves. His message is a liberating one." [Note: Bock, Luke, p.
158.]
Everyone present glorified God because of what Jesus had done. One of Luke's
objectives was to glorify God and to encourage his readers to do the same in this
Gospel and in Acts (cf. Luke 2:20). The amazed reaction of the crowd recalls the
same response of the people on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:11-12; cf. Luke 7:16;
Luke 13:17; Luke 18:43; Acts 3:9; Acts 8:8). Perhaps Luke meant to draw the
reader's attention to "today," the last word that is also the first word Jesus spoke
when He announced the fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1-2 a (Luke 4:21). The "day" of
the Messiah's appearing had arrived, and the witnesses of this miracle testified to
it albeit unknowingly.
Luke's emphasis in his account of this incident was on Jesus' authority and the
people's acknowledgment of it. He also stressed Jesus' ongoing mission (cf. Acts).
"Three quest stories appear early in the narrative of Jesus' ministry, in Luke 5,
7. Three reappear toward the end of Jesus' journey to Jerusalem, in Luke 17,
18, , 19. Thus they appear early and late in the narrative of Jesus' ministry prior
to his arrival in Jerusalem. The tendency to bracket Jesus' ministry with this
type of story suggests the importance of these encounters in Jesus' total activity."
[Note: Tannehill, 1:118.]
A quest story is one in which someone approaches Jesus in quest of something
very important to human wellbeing. Of the nine quest stories in the Synoptics,
seven are in Luke, and four of these are unique to Luke.
PETT, "And he did just that. He rose, took up what he was lying on, and went
home glorifying God. So having accomplished the harder, Jesus had the right to
expect that they would agree about the easier, or at least think about it.
But it is one of the evidences of the hardness of men’s hearts that once they have
determined something, they regularly stick to it, however much they might be
proved to be wrong. It is in the end the test of the open or closed mind. And the
minds of these men were firmly closed. There was no excuse for them. They had
asked for proof and they had received it. But it was not really proof that they
wanted, but submission to their ideas. Here was one who had made the paralytic
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walk when they could not. What did it tell the world? It told it that He was from
God. But that they could not stomach. Let us not think of these men as sincerely
wrong. They had proved themselves totally insincere. They did not want the
truth. They only wanted to be acknowledged as right.
26 Everyone was amazed and gave praise to
God. They were filled with awe and said, “We
have seen remarkable things today.”
CLARKE, "Strange things - Παραδοξα, paradoxes. A paradox is something that
appears false and absurd, but is not really so: or, something contrary to the
commonly received opinion. We have seen wonders wrought which seem impossible;
and we should conclude them to be tricks and illusions, were it not for the
indisputable evidence we have of their reality.
GILL, "And they were all amazed, and they glorified God,.... Not the
Pharisees, and doctors of the law, but the common people:
and were filled with fear; of the Divine Being, whose presence and power they
were sensible must be in this case:
saying, we have seen strange things today; paradoxes, things wonderful,
unthought of, unexpected, and incredible by carnal reason, and what were never
seen, nor known before; as that a man, who was so enfeebled by the palsy, that he
was obliged to be carried on a bed by four men, yet, on a sudden, by a word speaking,
rose up, and carried his bed, on his back, home.
HENRY, “The miracles which Christ wrought were amazing to those that saw
them, and we ought to glorify God in them, Luk_5:26. They said, “We have seen
strange things today, such as we never saw before, nor our fathers before us; they
are altogether new.” But they glorified God, who had sent into their country such a
benefactor to it; and were filled with fear, with a reverence of God, with a jealous
persuasion that this was the Messiah and that he was not treated by their nation as
he ought to be, which might prove in the end the ruin of their state; perhaps they
were some such thoughts as these that filled them with fear, and a concern likewise
for themselves.
COFFMAN, "On all ... Luke's use of these words in not absolute. For example,
he said in another place, "And all the people ..." were baptized "of John's
baptism; but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected for themselves the counsel of
God, being not baptized of him" (Luke 7:29). Therefore, it may be assumed that
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the same group refused to glorify God in this instance.
We have seen strange things ... Indeed, how strange it was! That Almighty God
should have become a man, concerning himself with the pitiful ailments of the
flesh, and forgiving the sins of his fallen children. It is the strangest, most
wonderful thing that has ever happened.
THE CALL OF MATTHEW
The balance of this chapter is related to the call of Matthew and discussions that
arose at the dinner he made for Jesus.
COKE, "Luke 5:26. They were all amazed,— That is, the Pharisees and doctors
of the law, mentioned Luke 5:17 as well as all the people. See Matthew 9:8. And
indeed, whether you examine the nature of this miracle, as being a perfect and
instantaneous cure of an obstinate universal palsy, under which a person
advanced in years had laboured for a long time; a perfect cure produced by
pronouncing a single sentence; or whether you consider the number and quality
of the witnesses present, Pharisees and doctors of the law from every town of
Galilee and Judea, and from Jerusalem, together with the vast concourse of
people; or whether you attend to the effect which the miracle had upon the
witnesses;—that the Pharisees and doctors of the law, not able to find fault with
it in any respect, though they had come with a design to refute our Lord's
pretensions as a worker of miracles, were astonished, and openly confessed that
it was a strange thing which they had seen;—that the multitude glorified God,
who had given such power unto men;—that the person upon whom the miracle
was wrought, employed his tongue, the use of which he had recovered, in
celebrating the praises of God:—in short, view it in whatever light you please,
you will find in it a most illustrious miracle, highly worthy of your attention and
admiration.
PETT, "But all the people who saw what had happened were amazed, and they
glorified God and were filled with awe. They had no theological problem with it.
They declared rightly, that “We have seen strange things today”, that is things
far beyond their expectations.
So by His actions Jesus has now established that He is the Son of man Who has
the power on earth to forgive sins. Men did not have to wait until the Hereafter.
They could know now that they were forgiven on the authority of Jesus, so close
was His relationship with His Father. But the fact that He was so demonstrated
that He was the One Who had come to the Father and received Kingly Rule and
dominion. It demonstrated that He was the heavenly Messiah.
Jesus Calls Levi and Eats With Sinners
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27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax
collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax
booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him,
GILL, "And after these things he went forth,.... After his discourse with the
Scribes and Pharisees, and his healing of the man, sick with the palsy, he went forth
from the city of Capernaum, to the sea side; not only for retirement and recreation,
after the work of the day hitherto, but in order to meet with, and call one that was to
be a disciple of his:
and saw a publican named Levi who is said to be the son of Alphaeus, Mar_2:14
and so it is said to be in Beza's ancient copy here; and who was also called Matthew,
see Mat_9:9
sitting at the receipt of custom; at the place where custom was received, and toll
taken, near the sea side, of such that went over. The Syriac and Persic versions read,
"sitting among publicans", of which business he himself was; and these might be his
servants under him, or partners with him; See Gill on Mar_2:14.
and he said unto him, follow me: of all the publicans that were there, he singled
out Levi, or Matthew, and directed his discourse to him, and called him to be a
follower of him: an instance of powerful, special, and distinguishing grace this; See
Gill on Mat_9:9.
HENRY, “All this, except the last verse, we had before in Matthew and Mark; it is
not the story of any miracle in nature wrought by our Lord Jesus, but it is an account
of some of the wonders of his grace, which, to those who understand things aright,
are no less cogent proofs of Christ's being sent of God than the other.
I. It was a wonder of his grace that he would call a publican, from the receipt of
custom, to be his disciple and follower, Luk_5:27. It was wonderful condescension
that he should admit poor fishermen to that honour, men of the lowest rank; but
much more wonderful that he should admit publicans, men of the worst reputation,
men of ill fame. In this Christ humbled himself, and appeared in the likeness of sinful
flesh. By this he exposed himself, and got the invidious character of a friend of
publicans and sinners.
JAMISON, "Luk_5:27-32. Levi’s call and feast.
(See on Mat_9:9-13; and Mar_2:14.)
BARCLAY, "THE GUEST OF AN OUTCAST (Luke 5:27-32)
5:27-32 After that Jesus went out, and he saw a tax-collector, called Levi, sitting
at his tax-collector's table. He said to him, "Follow me!" He left everything and
rose and followed him. And Levi made a great feast for him in his house; and a
great crowd of tax-collectors and others who were their friends sat down at table
with them. The Pharisees and scribes complained at this, and said to the
disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax-collectors and sinners?" Jesus
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answered, "Those who are healthy have no need of a doctor but those who are ill
have. I did not come to invite the righteous but sinners to repentance."
Here we have the call of Matthew (compare Matthew 9:9-13). Of all people in
Palestine the tax-collectors were the most hated. Palestine was a country subject
to the Romans; tax-collectors had taken service under the Roman government;
therefore they were regarded as renegades and traitors.
The taxation system lent itself to abuse. The Roman custom had been to farm out
the taxes. They assessed a district at a certain figure and then sold the right to
collect that figure to the highest bidder. So long as the buyer handed over the
assessed figure at the end of the year he was entitled to retain whatever else he
could extract from the people; and since there were no newspapers, radio or
television, and no ways of making public announcements that would reach
everyone, the common people had no real idea of what they had to pay.
This particular system had led to such gross abuses that by New Testament times
it had been discontinued. There were, however, still taxes to be paid, still quisling
tax-collectors working for the Romans, and still abuses and exploitation.
There were two types of taxes. First, there were stated taxes. There was a poll tax
which all men from 14 to 65, and all women from 12 to 65, had to pay simply for
the privilege of existing. There was a ground tax which consisted of one-tenth of
all grain grown, and one-fifth of wine and oil. This could be paid in kind or
commuted into money. There was income tax, which was one per cent. of a man's
income. In these taxes there was not a great deal of room for extortion.
Second, there were all kinds of duties. A tax was payable for using the main
roads, the harbours, the markets. A tax was payable on a cart, on each wheel of
it, and on the animal which drew it. There was purchase tax on certain articles,
and there were import and export duties. A tax-collector could bid a man stop on
the road and unpack his bundles and charge him well nigh what he liked. If a
man could not pay, sometimes the tax-collector would offer to lend him money at
an exorbitant rate of interest and so get him further into his clutches.
Robbers, murderers and tax-collectors were classed together. A tax-collector was
barred from the synagogue. A Roman writer tells us that he once saw a
monument to an honest tax-collector. An honest specimen of this renegade
profession was so rare that he received a monument.
Yet Jesus chose Matthew the tax-collector to be an apostle.
(i) The first thing Matthew did was to invite Jesus to a feast--he could well afford
it--and to invite his fellow tax-collectors and their outcast friends to meet him.
Matthew's first instinct was to share the wonder he had found. John Wesley once
said, "No man ever went to Heaven alone; he must either find friends or make
them." It is a Christian duty to share the blessedness that we have found.
(ii) The scribes and Pharisees objected. The Pharisees--the separated ones--
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would not even let the skirt of their robe touch the like of Matthew. Jesus made
the perfect answer. Once Epictetus called his teaching "the medicine of
salvation." Jesus pointed out that it is only sick people who need doctors; and
people like Matthew and his friends were the very people who needed him most.
It would be well if we were to regard the sinner not as a criminal but as a sick
man; and if we were to look on the man who has made a mistake not as someone
deserving contempt and condemnation but as someone needing love and help to
find the right way.
BENSON, "Luke 5:27-29. He went forth and saw a publican, &c. — Having
performed this great miracle on the paralytic, Jesus thought proper to allow the
Pharisees and doctors an opportunity of conferring upon it among themselves,
and of making what observations they pleased concerning it, in the hearing of
the common people. He left the house, therefore, immediately. But on his going
out the people accompanied him, eager to hear him preach. This good disposition
which they were in, Jesus improved to their advantage. He went with them to the
lake, and on the shore preached to a great multitude, Mark 2:13. When he had
made an end of speaking, he passed by the receipt of custom, or booth, where the
collectors of the tax waited to levy it, possibly from the vessels which used the
port of Capernaum. Here he saw a publican, Matthew or Levi, (for it was a
common thing among the Jews for a person to have two names,) sitting, whom he
ordered to follow him, and who immediately obeyed, being designed of God for a
more honourable employment than that of collecting the taxes. Matthew,
thinking himself highly honoured by this call, made a great feast, or
entertainment, for Jesus and his disciples, inviting, at the same time, as many of
his brother publicans as he could, hoping that Christ’s conversation might bring
them to repentance. In this action, therefore, Matthew showed both gratitude
and charity; gratitude to Christ who had now called him, and charity to his
acquaintance in labouring to bring about their conversion.
COFFMAN, "Levi ...
This son of Alphaeus was a Hebrew with two names, a common thing in Galilee
at that time. Mark and Luke speak of him as Levi, but Matthew himself used the
name that has been loved throughout the Christian era.[1]
The speculation that Jesus gave Levi the name "Matthew," meaning "gift of
God," is not unreasonable; for Jesus also gave Simon the name "Peter."
Publican ... is a word applied to tax collectors; and, in Palestine at that time, the
occupation itself was hated by the Jews. They particularly despised any of their
own race who consented to such work for Roman usurpers. John the Baptist
implied that the work of a tax collector was not in itself evil (Luke 3:13); but
there is little doubt that the vast majority of holders of such an office enriched
themselves through extortion and oppression. There is no hint that Matthew was
like them.
Implicit in Jesus' call of such a social outcast was his purpose of redeeming all
men. Jesus did not look upon outward appearances but at the genuine character
of men. Never did the genius of the Son of God show more clearly than here.
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Matthew was a "gift of God" indeed to the Christian faith. His scholarly
knowledge of the Old Testament, his intimate understanding of the Pharisees
and Sadducees, and his ability to penetrate the sham of the religious hierarchy of
that era fully endowed him with unique gifts which enabled the writing of the
first Gospel. The integrity and sincerity of this great apostle were quickly
evidenced by the dinner which he gave in honor of the Lord and for the purpose
of introducing others to the Master.
He forsook all ... and followed ... Just as Luke passed over without mention the
prior contact of Simon, James, and John with Jesus, the assumption that he did
the same thing here is justified. The amazing restraint of all the sacred writers
regarding themselves is apparent; and there is a remarkable sameness in the
three synoptic accounts of the calling of Matthew.
ENDNOTE:
[1] Herbert Lockyer, All the Men of the Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan:
Zondervan Publishing House, 1958), p. 231.
COKE, "Luke 5:27. A publican named Levi,— There were at this time in the
Roman empire two sorts of people, who might be called publicans, ( τελωναι .)
First, such as farmed the taxes of whole provinces. These generally were Roman
knights, men of very honourable characters, as we learn from the
commendations which Cicero gives of them. It was this sort of tax-gatherers, who
were properly termed publicans by the Romans; but it does not appear that they
are ever mentioned in the Gospels. These did not levy the taxes in person, but
they employed their freed-men and slaves in that office; and to make out the
number, gave them for assistants as many of the natives of the country as were
necessary. This sort of men were likewise called publicans, ( τελωναι ) being as it
were under-farmers of the taxes; but in Latin their proper name was portitores.
Their employment was attended with great temptations; for the taxes being
farmed for a sum, in levying them from individuals they had it in their power to
exact more than was due. Farther, in every country the raising of taxes for a
foreign power being an odious business, not many of the natives would choose to
be employed in it, except such as were of the lower station and character. In the
execution therefore of thisoffice, these men did not fail to push matters to the
utmost, levying the taxes with rigour, and enriching themselves with the spoils of
the people. Hence this class of publicans, in all countries, became the objects of
universal hatred. In Judea especially they were particularly infamous, because
the paying of taxes to heathens was by many looked upon as little better than
apostacy from their religion. Thesecircumstances,togetherwiththeinjusticewhich
the publicans usually committed in the execution of their office, occasioned them
always to be ranked with sinners, and made those who valued their own
reputation shun their company. But though the publicans in general were bad
men, there were among them some of a different character. Zaccheus was most
probably a person of great probity and charity, even before his conversion; and
Matthew (here called Levi) may have resembled him; at least in the Gospels
there are no hints to be found of any unjust practices committed by him in the
execution of his office. It is generally thought, that the taxes he levied were those
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imposed upon commodities transported by the sea of Galilee to and from
Capernaum.
BURKITT, "The number of our Lord's apostles not being filled up, observe 1.
What a free and gracious, what an unexpected and undeserved choice Christ
makes. Levi, that is Matthew, (for he had both names,) a grinding publican, who
gathered the tax for the Roman emperor, and was probably guilty, as others
were, of the sins of covetousness and extortion, yet he is called to follow Christ,
as a special disciple.
Learn hence, that such is the freeness of divine grace,that it sometimes calls and
converts sinners unto Christ, when they think not of him, nor seek unto him.
Little did Levi now think of a Saviour, much less seek after him, yet he is here
called by him, and that with an efficacious call: Matthew, a publican; Zaccheus,
an extortioner; Saul, a persecutor; all these are effectually called by Christ, as
instances and evidences of the mighty power of converting grace.
Observe, 2. Levi's or Matthew's ready compliance with Christ's call: He
presently arose and followed him. Where the inward call of the Holy Spirit
accompanies the outward call of the word, the soul readily complies and yields
obedience to the voice of Christ. Our Saviour, says the pious bishop Hall, speaks
by his word to our ears, and we hear not, we stir not; but when he speaks by his
spirit efficaciously to our heart, Satan cannot hold us down, the world shall not
keep us back; but we shall with Levi instantly rise and follow our Saviour.
Observe, 3. Levi, to show his thankfulness to Christ, makes him a great feast.
Christ invited Levi to a dicipleship, Levi invites Christ to a dinner; the servant
invites his Master, a sinner invites his Saviour; a better guest he could not invite,
Christ always comes with his cost with him. We do not find that when Christ was
invited to any table, he ever refused to go; if a publican, if a Pharisee, invited
him, he constantly went; not so much for the pleasure of eating, as for an
opportunity of conversing and doing good; Christ feasts us when we feed him.
Levi, to give Christ a pledge and specimen of his love, makes him a feast.
Learn thence, that new converts are full of affection towards Christ, and very
expressive of their love unto him. Levi's heart being touched with a sense of
Christ's rich love, makes him a royal feast.
Observe, 4. The cavil and exception which the scribes and Pharisees made at our
Lord's free conversation. They censur him for conversing with sinners. Malice
will never want matter of accusation. Our Saviour justifies himself, telling them
he conversed with sinners as their physician, not as their companion: They that
are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.
As if our Lord had said, "With whom should a physician converse but with sick
patients! And is he to be accused for that? Now this is my case. I am come into
the world to do the office of a kind physician unto men: surely then I am to take
all opportunities of conversing with them, that I may help and heal them, for
they that are sick need the physician; but as for you scribes and Pharisees, who
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are well and whole in our own opinion and conceit, I have no hopes of doing
good upon you; for such as think themselves whole desire not the physician's
help."
Now from this assertion of our Saviour, The whole need not the physician, but
the sick.
These truths are suggested to us:
1. That sin is the soul's malady, its spiritual disease and sickness.
2. That Christ is the physician appointed by God for the cure and healing of this
disease.
3. That there are multitudes of sinners spiritually sick, who yet think themselves
sound and whole.
4. That such, and only such as find themselves sin-sick, and spiritually diseased,
are subjects capable of Christ's healing: They that are whole need not the
physician, but they that are sick. I come not, says Christ, to call the
(opinionatively) righteous, but the (sensible) sinner, to repentance.
COFFMAN, "Verse 27-28
Levi (Matthew) was a tax collector ("publican," AV). However he was not a chief
tax collector, as Zaccheus was (Luke 19:2), nor does the text say that he was rich,
though he appears to have been. Nevertheless the Pharisees and most of the
ordinary Jews despised him because of his profession. He collected taxes from
the Jews for the unpopular Roman government, and many of his fellow tax
collectors were corrupt.
"It is of importance to notice, that the Talmud distinguishes two classes of
'publicans': the tax-gatherer in general (Gabbai), and the Mokhes, or Mokhsa,
who was specially the douanier or custom-house official. Although both classes
fall under the Rabbinic ban, the douanier-such as Matthew was-is the object of
chief execration." [Note: Edersheim, 1:515.]
Jesus' authority is apparent in Levi's immediate and unconditional
abandonment of his profession to follow Jesus. Levi obeyed Jesus' as he should
have and in so doing gave Luke's readers a positive example to follow (cf. Luke
5:11). Luke's terminology stresses Levi's decisive break with his former vocation
and his continuing life of discipleship. This decision undoubtedly involved
making financial and career sacrifices.
3. Jesus' attitude toward sinners 5:27-32 (cf. Matthew 9:9-13; Mark 2:13-17)
Luke painted Jesus bestowing messianic grace on a variety of people: a
demoniac, a leper, a paralytic, and now a tax collector. He liberated these
captives from a malign spirit, lifelong uncleanness, a physical handicap, and now
social ostracism and materialism. Again the Pharisees were present. In Levi's
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case, Jesus not only provided forgiveness but fellowship with Himself. The
incident shows the type of people Jesus called to Himself and justifies His calling
them.
PETT, "The Pharisees and scribes now being against Him Jesus adds to their
cause for distress, for He walks past a customs post and tollbooth and calls a
public servant serving there to follow Him. Levi (Matthew is his other name)
need not necessarily have been on his own. There would be two or three manning
the booth, supported by soldiers. But Jesus could hardly doubt that His action
would provoke anger. He had no doubt had conversations with Levi before this
when Levi had come to hear Him speak, and had recognised his genuine
repentance and a heart that sincerely sought after God. Indeed the call may not
have come as a surprise to Levi, only the timing of it. But Jesus clearly intended
it to be public. It could hardly fail to cause a stir. Neither the Pharisees nor the
Herodians (whom Levi served) would be pleased, and even the general public
would look askance. It was a brave, even a daring, thing to do.
It is thus clear that Jesus wanted to make public the fact that repentance and
forgiveness was open to even the lowest level of society, and that He did not mind
what a person had been as long as they genuinely turned to God from the heart,
even though it offended the very religious.
This would also be noted by Luke’s Gentile readers. They too were to recognise
that the way was open for them also.
It should be noted that the Pharisees would not necessarily have turned away a
public servant who wanted to change his ways, any more than they would
Gentiles. But they would have demanded deep humility, a period of penance, and
his recognition that he began at a subservient level. The convert would have had
to walk a hard and difficult path towards restoration. It would be many years
before he could ‘redeem’ himself. But with Jesus it was different. Levi was not
only to be accepted, but he was accepted immediately and was given the privilege
of being a called disciple, sharing equally with the other disciples.
‘He beheld.’ Not a chance sighting, but a deliberate act of seeing. He had come
there to find him.
Verses 27-32
The Call of Levi. Jesus Is The Great Physician Who Can Heal The Outcast
(5:27-32).
A narrative revealing that He had come to forgive sins is now followed by a
passage revealing that he has come to call sinners to that forgiveness. Indeed He
was going to shock the Pharisees and scribes even more by calling a hated
outcast to follow Him. This man was a tax collector, a customs officer, and every
eyebrow in Galilee would be raised when he was called. They did not know that
he would go on to write a Gospel.
Levi was a man who served the hated ruler Herod Antipas as a local official
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collecting tolls on his behalf from those who passed along that route, probably
the trade route from Damascus. For Capernaum was basically a frontier town
between the territory of Herod and that of Philip. Such people were despised.
They were considered to be betrayers of the people, for they were dishonest and
lined their pockets by mean of extra ‘taxes’ at everyone’s expense. And with their
constant contact with Gentiles they were seen as continually ritually unclean.
They were seen on the whole as very unpleasant and irreligious people who were
seen as traitors by all decent people.
The resulting criticism would then lad on to Jesus revealing that He was come as
the Great Physician, the One sent by God to heal the wounds of His people, and
to aid specially the hurt of soul. He was answering the call of God, ‘is there no
physician there?’ (Jeremiah 8:22). There the heart of God is revealed as breaking
because of the sickness of His people, because the Lord was not in Zion, because
her King was not in her (Jeremiah 8:19), and His people had missed their
opportunity. Elsewhere in the Old Testament God is revealed as the Great
Physician, for it was to Him that the Psalmist said, “I said, Oh Lord, have mercy
on me, heal my soul for I have sinned against you” (Psalms 41:4). While Isaiah
tells us that He is the God Who is the healer of those with a humble and contrite
spirit (Isaiah 57:15-19). And that is precisely what Jesus was intending to do
here, to heal the souls of those who were repentant and who sought God. He was
here on earth doing God’s healing work for sinners. He was here to set God’s
king in Zion (compare Psalms 2:6-8). Thus once again He reveals Himself as
acting in God’s name, on God’s behalf, doing God’s work, in a way that was
connected with His Sonship.
He could thus say, “I have come (as a doctor) not to call the righteous, but
sinners” and thus align Himself with God as the Great Physician. He saw in these
people those who said, “Come and let us return to the Lord. For He has torn us
and He will heal us. He has smitten and He will bind us up” (Hosea 6:1). (Notice
that Hosea 6:2 may well be behind His claim that He would be raised on the
third day and Luke 6:6 is quoted by Him against the Pharisees in Matthew 9:13.
This was clearly a passage He knew well and applied to His ministry, which may
suggest He had it in mind here).
a And after these things he went forth, and beheld a public servant, named Levi,
sitting at the tollbooth, and said to him, “Follow me” (Luke 5:27).
b And he forsook all, and rose up and followed him (Luke 5:28).
c And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a great crowd of
public servants and of others who were sitting at meat with them (Luke 5:29).
d And the Pharisees and their scribes murmured against his disciples (Luke 5:30
a).
c Saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the public servants and sinners?”
(Luke 5:30 b).
b And Jesus answering said to them, “Those who are in health have no need of a
physician, but those who are sick” (Luke 5:31).
a “I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32)
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Note that in ‘a’ Levi, the outcast, is called to follow Jesus and in the parallel
Jesus has come to call sinners to repentance. In ‘b’ Levi leaves all and follows
Him, and in the parallel Jesus is the physician for the ailing. In ‘c’ public
servants and ‘others’ gather for a meal and in the parallel the questions is why
the disciples eat with public servants and sinners. Central in ‘d’ is the
antagonism of the Pharisees and scribes.
SBC, “The text tells us of the power which Christ exercised over the mind, the will,
and the affections. "Follow Me, follow Me," and immediately he rose up, and followed
Him. There was power—power over the mind, power over the will, power over the
affections; and that is the demonstration beyond all parallel that Christ is God. Now,
about this Levi. We know very little about him, except that he was a Jew, a native of
Galilee, and that he was a publican—that is, a collector of the Roman taxes. Now for a
Roman citizen to become a collector of the taxes upon the Jews was an offence to
them, for it carried the conviction constantly to their minds that they were a
subjugated people; but that a Jew should be so far recreant to the honour of his
country and to the feeling of his people as to take office under the Roman
government for such a purpose, it carried the conviction home still further. How did
Levi come to follow Christ? There are four things that will help us to determine the
reality of his conversion.
I. First, the change of occupation in obedience to Christ. The rule is to continue in
that calling in which we were unless the providence of God, or some other reason,
justifies the change. There are but two exceptions to this rule. The first is where the
business in which a man is called, converted, is itself injurious to himself and his
fellowmen. The other is where a man is called to a different field of labour.
II. The second evidence is the sacrifice endured. Levi sacrificed the source of his
wealth. The publicans did get rich; he forsook it, gave it up. You know it takes grace
to do that.
III. The third evidence is his identifying himself with Christ. He did not act as
Nicodemus did, who said, "I will come round the corner at night;" nor like Joseph of
Arimathæa, who was secretly a disciple. He was no neutral; he came right out,
identified himself with Jesus Christ, to go where He went, and suffer or rejoice as He
suffered or rejoiced.
IV. I have one more evidence—his concern for his fellowmen. It is added, "He made a
great feast in his own house, and there was a great company of publicans and others
that sat down with them." Why did he make that feast? Levi understood human
nature; he knew that more people would come to a feast than to a prayer meeting. He
made a feast; he called the publicans to it; he designed to tell them why he had
determined to quit that business. He made a public profession of religion. He had a
hope that as he had experienced a saving benefit, so those others would also desire to
share it with him. If any individual should bring in such evidences as Levi’s in proof
of his conversion, I take it that he would be received into the Church.
J. Patton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 120.
Luke 5:27-28
How was it that a man like Levi, with aims so low and pleasures so earthly, was found
to listen, not only with willingness, but with profit and attention, to the teachings of
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the Lord Jesus? We cannot explain that difficulty away by saying that our Saviour
spoke seldom or leniently of this particular class of men; for it would be difficult to
name any sin, save hypocrisy, which He reproved with greater frequency and severity
than covetousness. Anything more opposite than the tone of His preaching to the
state of public teaching and practice it would be impossible to conceive, and yet the
fact is incontestable, that in this class of publicans our Saviour found numerous
disciples and one apostle. How, then, are we to explain it? The result was due, I
believe,
I. To the honesty of the Lord Jesus Himself. In censuring sinners He reproved all
alike, not only the poor and despised, but also the nominally pious and respectable.
No station was so lofty as to lift the offender above the reach of His censure; no
profession so pious or respectable as to cloak from his searching eye the pride, or
lust, or covetousness, which might lurk concealed beneath it. By such a prophet the
publicans could bear to be censured, who told the Pharisees that they were accursed
outcasts, that their phylacteries and broad garments, and greetings in the market-
place, were all hypocrisy. If, then, we are desiring that the love of Christ should touch
men’s hearts, and change their lives, let us endeavour to be more like our Saviour.
More bold and true in what we say; more simple and self-denying in what we do;
practising no more than what we believe and what we intend.
II. But then, in the second place, if we would worthily follow the Lord Jesus, our
Master, we must not only imitate His truthfulness and self-denial, but we must be
content, like Matthew, to leave all in order to do it; content, that is to say, with no
more of this world’s wealth and honour and pleasant things, than are consistent with
a simple and holy-hearted surrender of our wills and ways to the will and direction of
our blessed Saviour. If there be any pleasure, any pursuit, any friend, any indulgence,
any gain, which is inconsistent with the devotion of our life and work and heart to the
service and glory of our Lord, all that must be given up without reservation; we must
throw it off and cast it behind us, finally and decisively, as Matthew did, when, rising
up from the toll-booth at the call of the Saviour, he deserted his occupation for ever.
Bishop Moorhouse, Penny Pulpit, No. 536
I. One of the most conspicuous instances of the attractive power of Jesus is presented
by the narrative in our text. The Lord laid a spell on Matthew, and he yielded in a
moment. Christ drew him irresistibly, imperially. He swept him with Him in His
progress as a satellite is swept by its sun. And what was the secret of the spell? The
Man Christ Jesus embodied all the higher thoughts, influences, aspirations, and
hopes, by which His life had ever been blessed. Man is double. He is what he is, what
the world and the devil have made him, and he is what he was meant to be, what his
soul pines to be—his idea. And he and his idea dwell together, strange comrades in
this case of flesh. The one is and suffers; the other dreams, and while it dreams is
blessed.
II. The Lord came by as Matthew was brooding there; the Lord comes by as you sit
brooding; He is the Author and Finisher of those dreams. His is the voice which has
often spoken to you in night watches, and stirred your aspirations; in bitter sorrow
He has come to you and kindled your hope; out of the depths He has lifted you to
visions of a glorious future, and made the germs of all blessed fruits stir in the cold
breast of your despair. Every voice of the better nature, every pining of the nobler
heart, every vision of the purer imagination, every stirring of the immortal spirit that
you have from God, every sigh for deliverance from sin, every resolution to fight it
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out, God helping you, with the devil, is the Lord’s inspiration; and they all rise up and
beckon you to follow Him, when Jesus of Nazareth at length draws near. "And
Matthew left all, rose up, and followed Him." Young man, standing there by the
devil’s toll-booth, paying in the tax of thy young life to his accursed treasury, go thou
and do likewise.
J. Baldwin Brown, The Sunday Afternoon, p. 106.
BI 27-28, “And saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom
A publican
Publican was the name given to an employe of low degree, whose duty it was to get in
the tribute money.
He was the agent of the farmers-general, great personages who lived by their
depredations, after the publicans themselves had kept back an exorbitant percentage
on the money levied. The Talmuds often betray the scorn felt for the publicans. Their
testimony was not accepted in a court of justice. Probable that the publicans were
allowed no more rights than the heathen, and that the Court of the Gentiles alone
was open to them. (E. Stapfer, D. D.)
The Jews, who bore the Roman yoke with more impatience than any other nation,
excommunicated every Israelite who became a publican; and the disgrace extended
to his whole family. Nobody was allowed to take alms from one, or to ask him to
change money for them. They were even classed with high-way robbers and
murderers, or with harlots, heathen, and sinners. No strict Jew would eat, or even
hold intercourse, with them. (Dr. Geikie.)
AT THE RECEIPT OF CUSTOM.
From fishers’ net, from fig-trees’ shade,
God gathers whom He will;
Touch’d by His grace all men are made
His purpose to fulfil.
But not alone from shady nooks,
Fresh with life’s noontide dew
From humble walks or quiet books,
Calls He His chosen few.
Out of the busiest haunts of life,
Its most engrossing cares,
Its mighty travail, daily strife,
Self-woven golden snares—
He for His vineyard doth provide,
His gentle voice doth move
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The world’s keen votaries to His side,
With its persuasive love.
ST. MATTHEW THE APOSTLE.
At once he rose, and left his gold;
His treasure and his heart
Transferred, where he shall safe behold
Earth and her idols part;
While he beside his endless store
Shall sit, and floods unceasing pour
Of Christ’s true riches o’er all time and space,
First angel of His Church, first steward of His grace.
(J. Keble.)
The call of St. Matthew
Matthew was the son of Alphaeus, or Cleopas who had married the sister, probably
the elder sister, of our Lord’s mother. Not unlikely that he was the Cleopas who
walked to Emmaus (Luk_24:13-35). A holy family—Israelites indeed. To such a
family, what calamity could be more terrible than that one of the sons should become
a publican, a renegade to the Hebrew faith, a traitor to the Hebrew commonwealth?
Levi had taken service with the Romans. Day by day, in their own city of Capernaum,
he was to be seen sitting at the receipt of custom. Whenever boats came into the little
port, it was his duty to take dues of them. Whenever a caravan reached the city, he
had to take toll of the goods with which the weary camels were laden. And these tolls
and dues were paid, not into the Jewish treasury, but into the purses of the Roman
knights. For the true publicani were Romans of wealth and credit who “farmed” the
taxes of a province. In the collection of these taxes they commonly employed natives
of the province, who were, as a rule, infamous for their extortions. Only the lowest
and most profligate of the people would accept so degrading an office. What led Levi
thus to wound and put to shame those who loved him so well? It may be that the very
austerity of their piety alienated him from them. It may be that he was simply
thoughtless and pleasure-loving. It would be a keen joy to the Lord Jesus to give joy
to such good people as His uncle and aunt and cousins, to restore peace and union to
the family in which He had lived so long. This was His pleasant errand this morning
as He left the house in which His mother dwelt with her sister, and Cleopas, and their
children, and passed through the city to the shore of the lake. As He passed through
the official quarter, He saw Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom. Possibly He had
not seen him for a long time. In all likelihood Matthew had hitherto slipped out of
His way. But now at last He sees him sitting at his post. What a Divine constraining
power there must have been in the words of Him who spake as never man spake! As
He looks at Matthew, He says simply, “Follow Me”; and His cousin, so hardened and
degraded by his sins, rises, leaves all—his work for the moment, his official post and
wage—and follows Him as though drawn by an irresistible power. Hitherto he had
been called Levi, after the son of Jacob. And the word “Levi “ simply meant “link.”
But Jesus had found and saved him; and He brings him back to the old home a new
man with a new name. Henceforth Levi, now a true and strengthening link, is to be
called Matthew, i.e., the gift of God; the very moment he rises to the level and
meaning of his old name, a new name, a new ideal is given him. A true gift of God
was this recovered son to the wounded and sorrowful hearts of his father and mother
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end brethren. Matthew, then, was the scapegrace of a holy family. Father, mother,
brothers, sisters were ashamed of him. Yet even he was not beyond the reach and
sway of Christ. (S. Cox, D. D.)
THE CALL OF MATTHEW.
“Arise and follow Me!”
Who answers to the call?
Not Ruler, Scribe, or Pharisee,
Proud and regardless all.
“Arise and follow Me!”
The publican hath heard;
And by the deep Gennesaret sea
Obeys the Master’s word.
Thenceforth in joy and fear,
Where’er the Saviour trod,
Among the twelve his place was near
The Holy One of God.
His is no honour mean,
For Christ to write and die;
Apostle, Saint, Evangelist,
His record is on high.
(Dean Alford.)
Following Christ
I. THE REALITY OF THIS CONVERSION proved by—
1. The change of occupation in obedience to Christ.
2. The sacrifice endured.
3. His identifying himself with Christ.
4. His concern for his fellow-men.
II. LET US TRY OURSELVES BY THESE TESTS.
1. What is Christ’s power over us?
2. What sacrifices are we making for Christ?
3. How do we identify ourselves with Christ?
4. What are we doing to bring others to Christ? (W. W.Patton, D. D.)
God calls busy men to do His grander work
God calls busy men to do His grander work. Moses, the shepherd; Shamgar and
Elisha and Gideon, the farmers; James and John, Andrew and Peter, the fishermen;
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Matthew, the tax-collector; Luke, the physician, &c., &c. This same Jehovah-angel
appears also to Joshua. The case of the Roman Cincinnatus, called by his people from
the plough to be dictator of Rome, and saving it from the enemy, is also in point.
Many of God’s most distinguished workmen have been called from scenes of the
humblest labour. It was when toiling over a shoemaker’s bench that Carey’s soul was
filled with a zeal for missionary labour. Yet he became one of the most successful
missionaries of his age. By his labours a magnificent college was erected at
Serampore, sixteen flourishing stations were established, the Bible translated into
sixteen languages, and the seed sown of a moral revolution in India. Morrison,
another laborious missionary, was once a maker of shoe-lasts. Henry Martyn’s father
was a Cornwall miner. John Williams, of Erromanga, left the blacksmith’s shop to
teach the is landers of the Pacific the way of life. Dr. Livingstone supported himself
through a course of study by working in a cotton mill. (Teacher’s Storehouse.)
Following Christ fully
In the diary of the lamented Dr. Livingstone was found the following passage, written
thirteen months before he died:—“ My own Jesus, my King! my life, my all I have
given Thee; I dedicate my whole self to Thee. Accept me, O gracious Father, and
grant that ere this year has gone I may finish my task. In Jesus’ name I ask it. Amen.”
There is the key to the life of Dr. Livingstone.
The call of Matthew
I. CHRIST CALLS.
1. We cannot tell what preparation may have been previously made for this
abrupt summons. If Matthew was son of the Alphaeus elsewhere named, then his
connection with our Lord would account for it.
2. In any case we are sure that our Lord’s appeal was reasonable. Resting on
grounds intelligible to St. Matthew.
3. The call involved sacrifice. He was following a lucrative calling, and he had to
abandon it.
4. Our Lord’s calling is always substantially the same.
(1) It bids us leave the world.
(2) It bids us follow Him. Whatsoever is inconsistent with a close earnest
following of Him must be abandoned.
II. MATTHEW OBEYS. Mark the brevity, yet sufficient fulness, of the account given.
This was all that was required of him, and he did it.
1. Great difficulties lay in his way.
(1) His manner of life.
(2) The peculiar character of his employment.
(3) Perhaps also acquired habits in connection with his employment.
2. Yet his obedience was ready and prompt.
(1) No rashness. He certainly knew what our Lord asked, and what he was
bound to render. Christ repressed those who came thoughtlessly.
(2) On the other hand, no vacillation or hesitation.
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III. THE REALITY OF HIS ADHESION TO CHRIST. This was shown—
1. By the evident sacrifice he made. An example to all who hear Christ’s voice, and
follow Him. No royal road to perfection. Jesus by suffering conquered, and all
who follow Him must enter into the spirit of sacrifice.
2. By his seeking for Christ’s communion. He “made Him a great feast.” (W. R.
Clark, M. A.)
Matthew before, daring, and after his conversion
Matthew is of the number of those saints who, once living in sin, gained heaven by
perfect repentance. As a true penitent he deserves our veneration, which we shall
best exhibit by learning from his life what we should do, and what avoid, in order to
gain heaven.
I. THE OCCUPATION OF MATTHEW BEFORE HIS CONVERSION.
1. The occupation of a money-changer, which is perilous.
2. The trade of a usurer, which is vicious.
3. The office of a toll-collector, which was odious.
II. THE SUPPER PREPARED BY MATTHEW FOR THE LORD.
1. The reasons for which he prepared it.
(1) To show his true joy, and to give an evidence of his willingness to forsake
all things and to follow Jesus.
(2) He would do the little He could, in order to gain the love of
Jesus.
(3) To give other publicans an opportunity of becoming acquainted with
Jesus.
2. The reasons for which Jesus accepted the invitation to the supper.
(1) To afford pleasure to Matthew, to encourage and reward him.
(2) To exhort also other publicans, and to give them grace.
3. The reasons for which the Pharisees grumbled, and reprimanded the disciples.
(1) To deceive the disciples, by making them distrust their Master, and to
turn them from Jesus.
(2) Because they envied Jesus.
III. THE HONOURS OF ST. MATTHEW AFTER HIS CONVERSION.
1. He became an apostle.
2. An evangelist.
3. A martyr.
LESSONS.
1. Let sinners learn from St. Matthew conversion without delay.
2. Let the converted learn from him zeal.
3. Let the zealous learn from him perseverence. (Laselve.)
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Great honour was put upon the simple work of the fisherman, and the keen pursuits
of the custom-house, when Christ chose of fishermen and publicans to become His
first disciples and His apostles. His parables, also, cast the same reflection of honour
on all honest work. Let us then ask how our common business in warehouses and
shops may bring glory to Christ.
I. IN BUSINESS MAY BE FOUND A SERVICE FOR CHRIST. May be found; but,
alas! sometimes it is lost; often it is not even sought.
II. WE MUST NOT THINE TOO MUCH OF DAILY WORK, and set too great a price
on it.
III. WE SHALL SEEK TO GIVE OF THE FRUITS OF OUR TRADING TO CHRIST.
All we spend may be spent with express thought of Him; but to make full proof of our
ministry, we shall seek for special expenditure in works of Christian philanthropy.
IV. WE SHALL BE WILLING TO GIVE UP, NOT ONLY THE FRUITS OF DAILY
WORK, BUT DAILY WORE ITSELF, FOR CHRIST. It is not only to ministers that
Christ says “Follow Me.” Others also are called to self-sacrifice. To say that business
keeps me from Sunday-school teaching, or that business keeps me from visiting the
sorrowful, and taking help to the needy, may not be a plea that ever covers neglect in
the sight of our great Master, Christ. His word may be, “Then have less business.
Follow Me.” It is possible that God calls one and another to make some sacrifice of
apparent opportunities of making money, in order that there may be more time for
spiritual service. Willingness to make sacrifice for Christ is essential to true
discipleship. (T. Gascoigne, B. A.)
Matthew obeys Christ’s call
Some years ago I remember having my notice drawn by a little picture that hung in
the window of an Oxford book-shop; it was a simple German lithograph, and it
represented the call of Matthew. I do not know the name of the artist, but he seemed
to me to have caught the whole spirit of the scene. In the centre was Matthew
himself, eagerly leaving his booth, with treasures of untold money lying untouched
on the counter for his helpers to reckon. Before the booth was the crowd of fishers
and traders entering the seaside city, almost aghast at the sudden leaving of the
business by one till then so strict in all his dealings with them, so ever ready to
receive tribute. And just behind appeared a company of Christ’s disciples, not
altogether unwondering at so ready a departure from all that wealth; half sorry for
sacrifice so great; and yet half feeling, from what little they had learnt already of the
Master, that He was worth the sacrifice. And in front was the Christ Himself, patient,
tender, calling, waiting—the Lord of all, knowing calmly how life in the Father’s
kingdom was worth any earthly sacrifice, that the Father could yet give to His own all
they ever might have need of. (T. Gascoigne, B. A.)
Self-surrender
It is related in Roman history that when the people of Collatia stipulated about their
surrender to the authority and protection of Rome, the question asked was, “Do you
deliver up yourselves, the Collatine people, your city, your fields, your water, your
bounds, your temples, your utensils, all things that are yours, both human and
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Divine, into the hands of the people of Rome?” And on their replying, “We deliver up
all,” they were received. The voluntary surrender which you, Christian, have made to
Christ is equally comprehensive; it embraces all you are, and have, and hope for. (H.
G. Salter.)
Follow exactly
Two persons were walking together one very dark night, when one said to the other,
who knew the road well, “I shall follow you, so as to be right.” He soon fell into a
ditch, and accused the other with his fall. The other replied, “Then you did not follow
me exactly, for I have kept free.” A side step had caused the fall. There is like danger
in not following Christ fully.
On the calling of St. Matthew
I. WE ARE TO LEAVE ALL OUR EVIL PRACTICES THAT WE MAY FOLLOW
CHRIST. We must relinquish our former iniquities altogether, and without reserve.
Suppose that St. Matthew, when Christ commanded him to become His follower, had
answered, that he would attend upon Christ occasionally, when his occupation
afforded him leisure: and that for the future, when employed in collecting tribute, he
would commit acts of extortion only seldom. Would Christ have accepted such
service? You muse surrender yourselves entirely to Christ. You must follow Him
wholly. You must follow Him alone. When you reserve some favourite sin for your
occasional gratification; is that to leave all for the sake of Christ? No man can serve
two masters.
II. WE MUST RENOUNCE, FOR THE SAKE OF CHRIST, ALL OUR EVIL
INCLINATIONS. This step is necessary to make repentance complete. St. Matthew
not only relinquished his occupation, but abandoned it with gladness. You do not see
him taking leave of his home with reluctance and sorrow. In conformity to this
example every Christian is not merely to abstain, as by constraint, from sinful
actions; but to glorify his God by cheerful obedience, and to bring his will under
thankful subjection to his Redeemer. He is to be holy in thought, holy in heart, holy
in his designs, holy in his wishes.
III. We, like St. Matthew, ARE TO RENOUNCE PRIVATE INTEREST, WHENEVER
IT INTERFERES WITH OUR OBEDIENCE TO JESUS CHRIST. Behold a decisive
proof of sincerity l He does not honour his Saviour with his lips only. He glorifies the
Son of God by making large sacrifices for His sake; by immediately making every
sacrifice which is required. He counts all things but loss that he may win the
approbation of his Redeemer.
IV. We are to renounce our own righteousness; TO CAST AWAY ALL RELIANCE
ON MERIT OF OUR OWN FOR ACCEPTANCE WITH GOD. Why did St. Matthew
become a disciple of Jesus Christ? Why did he leave all to be with that man of
sorrows? Because he beheld in that man of sorrows one who bare our griefs; one who
bare the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. He recognized
the appointed Saviour; the Lamb of God which took away the sins of the world.
V. We must, in the last place, FOLLOW OUR REDEEMER UNTO THE END. Such
was the stedfastness of St. Matthew. He remained constantly with Christ until the
evening before the crucifixion. On that evening he showed, in common with the other
apostles, what man is, when the Divine grace withdraws itself, and leaves him to his
native weakness. All the disciples of Christ forsook Him and fled. Of that guilty flight
St. Matthew was a partaker. After the Resurrection, he received, in conjunction with
the other apostles, pardon and strength from his forgiving Lord. When Jesus had
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ascended into heaven, we behold St. Matthew continuing closely in prayer and
supplication with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and the brethren; and
bearing his part as an apostle in the election of a successor to the traitor Judas.
Boldly remaining at Jerusalem, when havoc was made of the Church after the
martyrdom of Stephen, he proved that he was not of those who have no root, and in
time of persecution fall away. And the early history of the Christian Church informs
us that, in the face of danger and death, he persevered until the end of his days in
preaching the gospel of his Lord. From every Christian patient continuance in well
doing is indispensably required. (Thomas Gisborne.)
The duty of following Christ, as illustrated by the conduct of His disciples
But, in the event which succeeds, we have an instance of still greaterpower than that
which is involved in the healing of any temporal disease. We find Him controlling not
merely the elements of nature, as he had often done, or the circumstances which
conduce to the health of our temporal frames, as in the instance of the paralytic man,
but we find Him swaying the very elements of the mind and will, and proving that the
moral and the intellectual powers of man are no less subject to His sovereign control.
“After these things,” we are told, “He went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi,
sitting at the receipt of custom: and lie said unto him, Follow Me.”
1. In the first place, the individual named Levi, who is spoken of by St. Luke, is
said to have been a publican—a term which is explained in some degree, when it
is mentioned that he was found “sitting at the receipt of custom.” It was thus that
the name of publican became expressive, in their mind, of all that was abandoned
and profane. There was nothing, for instance, in the character or condition of the
individual before us to warrant his selection to this high and distinguished
calling. There was no title existing in himself whereby he could claim it as
peculiarly his own. He was a member of an obnoxious profession, and he was, so
far as we know, unadorned with any lofty or brilliant attainments. We are not
referring in the meantime to the condition of these men as poor and illiterate,
and as affording from their original circumstances, as contrasted with the noble
future discharge of their apostolic duties, a powerful argument for the truth and
efficacy of our holy religion. We are referring to it simply as pointing out in the
term, publican, in the present instance, and in the ideas which were usually
associated with that term, the very condition in which by nature we are placed,
and from which Christ is so willing to redeem us. Naturally, we say, there is
nothing in any one of us to entitle us to selection on the part of Christ. On the
contrary, there is everything that might lead Him to reject us, and dispose Him,
in the purity of His character and the beauty of His own perfections, to pass us by
as unworthy of His notice. In all our character and condition, naturally
considered, and as seen in the light of His untainted holiness, there is nothing
which His pure and omniscient eye can possibly desire. We are not engaged in
His service. We are not contemplating His works. We are not endeavouring to
ascend through the survey and admiration of these to the adoring contemplation
of His excellence, or aspiring in the light of His perfections to have our natures
assimilated to His. There is nothing of all this, when He comes to us on His
errand of mercy, and calls upon us to follow Him as His disciples and His friends.
We are engaged in the service of the world at that very time, intent, like the
fishermen of Galilee, or the despised receiver of customs, on the affairs of a life
which is only preparatory to another, but for which other we are not mindful or
solicitous to prepare. Yes, my friends, we are either busied in the pursuit of some
gainful and engrossing occupation, or we are sitting at destructive ease in the
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degradation of sin, reviewing our extending treasures, and yet thirsting to
increase them. If active, we are not active in God’s service—if at ease, we are not
at ease in Zion, or because we have sought peace and found it of the Lord. We
repeat, then, that we are selected by Christ in the exercise of free and sovereign
compassion. We are called to be disciples of His, not because we have loved Him,
but because He has loved us.
2. The inclination or willingness to follow onward to know the Lord, is not
occasioned by any exercise of our own powers, but is wrought in us by the
operation of Christ’s own mighty power. But in Jesus there was nothing
outwardly to distinguish Him. He was surrounded with no trappings of external
dignity, no insignia of honour, no symbols of opulence or power. He was meek
and lowly in His deportment—the reputed son of a carpenter; arrayed like the
meanest of the people, and bearing in His aspect the suffering, yet subdued,
expression of the man of sorrows. And yet He called the disciples, and they
implicitly obeyed Him. No sooner did He issue the command than they hastened
to fulfil it. He said to them, “ Follow Me,” and immediately they left all and
followed Him. Now, we argue from this, that a great and decided change must
have instantaneously passed upon their minds. The mere command of Jesus,
considered apart from His divinity—considered apart from His power over the
understanding and the heart, could never have produced this effect. We say, then,
that the grace of God must have operated directly in this instance to the
enlightenment of their minds, and the regulation of their wills. On no other
principle can we account for the conduct they displayed. The Spirit of the Lord
was with them, and at once they felt it to be their duty and their privilege to obey.
They resembled the men who acknowledged Saul to be their king, when Samuel
announced him to be the chosen of God to the throne of Israel, and when the
children of Belial were despising and setting him at nought: they resembled these
firm and devoted men, of whom it is said, in the expressive language of Scripture,
“that when Saul went up to Gibeah, there went up with him likewise a baud of
men, whose hearts God had touched.” In the case of the disciples, God also had
touched and influenced their hearts.
3. We would remark, that when the Spirit of God does touch our hearts, and the
power of Christ is thus made manifest in our lives, we are at once enlightened as
to two things—the right of Jesus to command, and His worthiness as a King and
Saviour to be obeyed. All this was exemplified in the conduct of the disciples.
True, they had not at this time the most clear views of His character, or the most
spiritual notions of the kingdom He was to establish, but still they saw, or rather
felt enough, to convince them that Christ was worthy of their obedience and love;
and, therefore, without a moment’s hesitation or reserve, they yielded the
submission which He required, and determined to “follow Him whithersoever He
went.” We admit, then, that they were not enlightened all at once, and that they
were still imperfect as to their conceptions of Christ’s heavenly kingdom. But this
is the way in which the Spirit of Divine grace in general acts upon the human
understanding. He works in a gradual and progressive manner, disclosing more
and more of the beauty of Christ, and of the loveliness of sacred truth, and
shining inwardly upon the soul with somewhat of the brightening effulgence of
that light of heaven, which rises at first with the faint dawnings of the eastern sky,
until at last it opens and expands into the glorious lustre of the perfect day. But
still the work of the Spirit leads us at once to exercise confidence in Christ. Now,
the right which Christ has to the obedience of us all, is simply this: He has
created us, and we are bound to serve Him; He has preserved us, and we are
bound to honour Him; He has redeemed us, and we are bound to love Him. In
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every character and relation He is entitled to our love, and homage, and
gratitude, and esteem. But superadded to this, there is now the powerful, the
constraining tie of sovereign and redeeming love. In following Christ, my friends,
we must follow Him to duty. When the Saviour issued His command to His
disciples, there was before Him the chequered scene of His labours; and they, as
the companions of His wanderings, had to go forth and mingle in the work.
Again, my friends, we must follow the Saviour in the path of suffering. When
Christ told His disciples to follow Him, He had yet before Him the scenes of His
agony and death—the privations of His wanderings to feel, the hall of Pilate to
encounter, the garden of Gethsemane to bear, the torture of the cross, in
unmitigated anguish, to endure. And His disciples, whom He had called to follow
Him, had likewise their griefs and sufferings to undergo. “In the world ye shall
have tribulation,” was the warning which He gave them. Not that the way of life is
a dark and painful career, unsoothed by a single comfort, unalleviated by a single
joy. The truth is, that the follower of Christ has joys which the world cannot
understand, just as he has sorrows which it cannot share. He has a peace of mind
which passeth knowledge, which rises far above the comprehension of the mere
natural man; but then he has griefs which a stranger cannot interfere with. There
is encouragement, however, the amplest and surest encouragement. Hear the
language of Christ to His people: “I will make My grace to be sufficient for you; I
will perfect My strength in your weakness; I will guide you by My counsel, and
receive you to My glory.” (W. Maclure.)
28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed
him.
CLARKE, "And he left all - Καταλιπων - completely abandoning his office, and
every thing connected with it. He who wishes to preach the Gospel, like the disciples
of Christ, must have no earthly entanglement. If he have, his whole labor will be
marred by it. The concerns of his own soul, and those of the multitudes to whom he
preaches, are sufficient to engross all his attention, and to employ all his powers.
GILL, "And he left all,.... His company, his business, and all the profits of it:
rose up; directly; such power went along with the words of Christ, that he could not
withstand it:
and followed him; not only in a literal, but in a spiritual sense, and became a
disciple of his.
HENRY, “II. It was a wonder of his grace that the call was made effectual, became
immediately so, Luk_5:28. This publican, though those of that employment
commonly had little inclination to religion, for his religion's sake left a good place in
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the custom-house (which, probably, was his livelihood, and where he stood fair for
better preferment), and rose up, and followed Christ. There is no heart too hard for
the Spirit and grace of Christ to work upon, nor any difficulties in the way of a
sinner's conversion insuperable to his power.
PETT, "And in response to Jesus’ call Levi forsook all, rose up and followed
Him. He was leaving behind a secure government post and the possibility of
great wealth, but it counted as nothing to him compared with the privilege that
was now his. It was evidence of his genuine turning to God. ‘Follow Me’ always
indicates lifetime commitment (compare John 1:43; Mark 1:17) as the future
makes clear.
29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at
his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors
and others were eating with them.
BARNES, "Made him a great feast - This circumstance “Matthew,” or “Levi”
as he is here called, has omitted in his own gospel. This fact shows how little inclined
the evangelists are to say anything in favor of themselves or to praise themselves.
True religion does not seek to commend itself, or to speak of what it does, even when
it is done for the Son of God. It seeks retirement; it delights rather in the
consciousness of doing well than in its being known; and it leaves its good deeds to
be spoken of, if spoken of at all, by others. This is agreeable to the direction of
Solomon Pro_27:2; “Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth.” This
feast was made expressly for our Lord, and was attended by many publicans,
probably people of wicked character; and it is not improbable that Matthew got them
together for the purpose of bringing them into contact with our Lord to do them
good. Our Saviour did not refuse to go, and to go, too, at the risk of being accused of
being a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners, Mat_
11:19. But his motives were pure. In the thing itself there was no harm. It afforded an
opportunity of doing good, and we have no reason to doubt that the opportunity was
improved by the Lord Jesus. Happy would it be if all the “great feasts” that are made
were made in honor of our Lord; happy if he would be a welcome guest there; and
happy if ministers and pious people who attend them demeaned themselves as the
Lord Jesus did, and they were always made the means of advancing his kingdom.
But, alas! there are few places where our Lord would be “so unwelcome” as at great
feasts, and few places that serve so much to render the mind gross, dissipated, and
irreligious.
CLARKE, "A great feast - ∆οχην µεγαλην, A splendid entertainment. The word
refers more properly to the number of the guests, and the manner in which they were
received, than to the quality or quantity of the fare. A great number of his friends and
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acquaintance was collected on the occasion, that they might be convinced of the
propriety of the change he had made, when they had the opportunity of seeing and
hearing his heavenly teacher.
GILL, "And Levi made him a great feast in his own house,.... At Capernaum,
which, very likely, was made some time after his call, though recorded here; for it is
not reasonable to think there could be time enough that day to get ready so great a
feast, as this is said to be Levi, it should seem, was a rich man, and in gratitude to
Christ for his special grace and honour bestowed on him, made this entertainment
for him; and he seems to have had also another view in it, to bring him into the
company of his fellow publicans, hoping he might be useful to them, as he had been
to him; for of this nature is true grace, to wish for, and desire the salvation of the
souls of others, as well as a man's own:
and there was a great company of publicans, and of others: ‫,אחרים‬ which
word is sometimes used in Talmudic writings for Gentiles; so ‫אחרים‬ ‫,אשת‬ "the wife of
others", is interpreted the wife of the Cuthites, or Samantans (f): and thus the Jews
explain the text in Deu_24:14 "thou shalt not oppress an hired servant, that is poor
and needy", whether he be "of thy brethren", on which they make this remark, ‫פרט‬
‫,לאחרים‬ "this excepts others"; that, is, as the gloss interprets it, it excepts the nations
of the world, or the Gentiles: they go on to expound the text, "or of thy strangers that
are in thy land"; these are the proselytes of righteousness: "within thy gates"; these
are they that eat things that are torn (g): so that the "others" are distinguished from
the Jews, and from both the proselytes of righteousness, and of the gate; and it is
easy to observe, that publicans and Heathens are sometimes mentioned together:
here it means sinners, as appears from Mat_9:10 such the Gentiles were reckoned:
that sat down with them; being invited by Matthew.
CALVIN, "Luke 5:29.And Levi made him a great banquet This appears to be at
variance with what Luke relates, that he left all: but the solution is easy.
Matthew disregarded every hinderance, and gave up himself entirely to Christ,
but yet did not abandon the charge of his own domestic affairs. When Paul,
referring to the example of soldiers, exhorts the ministers of the word to be free
and disentangled from every hinderance, and to devote their labors to the
church, he says:
No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of life,
that he may please the commander, (2 Timothy 2:4.)
He certainly does not mean, that those who enroll themselves in the military
profession divorce their wives, forsake their children, and entirely desert their
homes; but that they quit their homes for a time, and leave behind them every
care, that they may be wholly employed in war. In the same manner, nothing
kept Matthew from following where Christ called; and yet he freely used both
his house and his property, as far as the nature of his calling allowed. It was
necessary, indeed, that he should leave the custom-house: for, had he been
detained there, he would not have been a follower of Christ. (519)
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It is called a great banquet, with reference not to the multitude of the guests, but
to the abundance and magnificence of the provisions: for we know that Christ
did not practise such austerity, as not to allow himself to be sometimes
entertained more splendidly by the rich, provided that there were no superfluity.
Yet we cannot doubt that, as he was a remarkable example of temperance, so he
exhorted those who entertained him to frugality and moderation in diet, and
would never have endured wasteful and extravagant luxuries. Matthew says that
sinners —that is, men of wicked lives and of infamous character —came to the
banquet. The reason was, that the publicans, being themselves generally hated
and despised, did not disdain to associate with persons of that description; for, as
moderate correction produces shame and humiliation in transgressors, so
excessive severity drives some persons to despair, makes them leave off all
shame, and abandon themselves to wickedness. In levying custom or taxes there
was nothing wrong: but when the publicans saw themselves cast off as ungodly
and detestable persons, they sought consolation in the society of those who did
not despise them on account of the bad and disgraceful reputation which they
shared along with them. Meanwhile, they mixed with adulterers, drunkards, and
such characters; whose crimes they would have detested, and whom they would
not have resembled, had not the public hatred and detestation driven them to
that necessity.
COFFMAN, "For additional comment on this episode, see my Commentary on
Matthew, Matthew 9:9.
One of the very best ways to begin Christian service is the method chosen here
by Matthew. He gave a big dinner, invited many, and introduced the Saviour,
thus committing himself publicly and irrevocably to the new way of life. No man
can sneak into the service of God; and inevitable failure attends all who try to do
so. Matthew did it right!
They that are in health have no need of a physician ... This was not an admission
by Jesus that the Pharisees were "in health" spiritually; for truly their moral
sickness was the scandal of that age. Of course, they viewed themselves as
righteous; and thus the argument is an "ad hominem" statement based on their
prejudice.
They that are sick ... It was the glory of our Lord that he came to heal the moral
and spiritual sickness engulfing all people; and the Pharisees themselves were
included in this if they had only been able to appreciate it. Jesus' deep thrust in
this context has elements of humor in it. The very idea that the evil priests "had
no need" of spiritual healing was such a preposterous thing that the people who
heard Jesus' words must have laughed aloud.
PETT, "Levi did not turn his back on his fellow public servants and his friends.
He threw a last final great feast and invited them along to it to meet the new
prophet. And because he was well known many came. It would include many
who paid little heed to the niceties of the Pharisees, although we should note that
Jesus almost certainly observed them, for He was not subjected to personal
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criticism by the Pharisees. They were no doubt watching Him closely for any
looseness in His behaviour. It was the motive behind the feast that made it right.
It was not a lingering look to his past life, but an attempt to reach out to his
friends and fellow-workers with the Gospel.
They would not, however, have been pleased with Jesus being there, any more
than they were with His disciples. Even mixing with such people risked ritual
uncleanness.
SBC, “Our Lord’s example teaches us what sort of employment is always, perhaps so
far as we can pursue it, the most useful to our souls; it shows us, at any rate, what
business there is which we can none of us safely neglect altogether; for that which
Christ did always, Christ’s servants cannot certainly be justified if they never do. And
this business consists in mixing with others, not in the mere line of our trade or
calling, and still less for mere purposes of gaiety; but the mixing with others, neither
for business, nor yet for pleasure, but in the largest sense of the word, for charity.
I. It will, then, be seen how many persons there are who have need to be reminded of
this duty. They who really live mostly to themselves are indeed in these days very few,
and embrace only that small number of persons whose time is principally spent in
study; that is, men who are devoted to literature or science. But those who, while
they mix with others, yet do it in the line of their business, or for pleasure’s sake,
include a very large portion of the world indeed. Statesmen, lawyers, soldiers, sailors,
tradesmen, merchants, farmers, labourers—all are necessarily brought much into
contact with their fellowmen; there is no danger of their living in loneliness. And
persons of no profession—the young, and women of all ages, in the richer classes
especially—they desire society for the pleasure of it; they think it dull to live out of
the world. For it is very possible that neither of these two large classes of people may
mix with others in the way that Christ mixed with them; they may do it for business
or for pleasure, but not for charity.
II. To those, then, who are not inclined to be idle, but who, whether from necessity or
from activity of mind, are sure to have plenty of employment, nay, who are so much
engrossed by it that it leaves them, as was the case with Christ, "no leisure so much
as to eat," it becomes of great consequence, not only that they should be as busy as
Christ was, but that part of their business, at least, should be of the same kind; not
only that they should be fully employed, but that their employment may, in part at
least, be of that sort, as, when they fail, they cause them to be received into
everlasting habitations.
T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. ii., p. 164.
Reference: Luk_5:31.—D. Fraser, Metaphors of the Gospels, p. 95.
Christian Mutual Tolerance. Christ is here claiming for His disciples that their
spiritual life be left to unfold itself naturally; that they be not fettered with forms;
that they be not judged by religious traditions and old habits; that they be free to
show themselves glad when they have cause of gladness, and that their expressions of
sorrow and their self-discipline follow their feeling of sorrow and their need of
discipline.
I. Christ’s vindication of freedom to all His disciples. We cannot ante-date maturity
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nor hurry experience. Endeavour not to force a young and vigorous, even though
incomplete, Christian character into the mould and habit of an older one, which may
perchance, in its turn, be too despondent, too cheerless; but rather notice and admire
how God develops each according to its own vitality, and appoints to each its proper
sphere and mode of service. There is a work to be done by the young, and God has
given them the impulses for it. Their native energy will be always breaking through
their conventionalities; the new wine will burst the bottles. Put the new wine into
new bottles, and both will be preserved.
II. Christ’s plea for consideration of one another. Be patient, Christ is saying to those
who were offended at the exuberance of His disciples; they will not always be as
joyous as they are now. The realities of life and the variations of Christian experience
will surely take away from younger disciples the undue exaltation which shocks the
elder saints. Without your schooling they will pass through much tribulation. They
will be sober enough, subdued enough, by-and-by. While the more sombre Christians
attempt to bind their sadness as a law on the whole Church, there will surely be strife
and bitterness, insincerity, unfitness for the stress of the Christian conflict. But the
life which Christ develops in its own fitting forms will give the joyous, confident
Christian, matured by painful discipline, sympathy even with those whose sadness is
the sadness of doubt. He will be very gentle with them, for His own life has taught
Him that without full and abiding confidence in Jesus religious experience must be a
gloomy thing. The new wine is better than the old. Not only is Christianity better
than Judaism; even under the Gospel the new days are better than the old. God gives
His best blessings latest. "Thou hast kept the good wine till now."
A. Mackennal, Christ’s Healing Touch, p. 218.
BI 29-30, “And Levi made Him a great feast in his own house
Levi’s feast
Text shows our Lord a guest at a great feast at which a company of publicans and
others sat down with Him.
Our Lord’s example applicable to us all. That which Christ did always, His servants
cannot be justified if they never do—the mixing with others, neither for business nor
yet for pleasure, but, in the largest sense of the word, for charity.
1. It will then be seen how many persons there are who have need to be reminded
of this duty.
2. One way of mixing with our brethren, in a manner most pleasing to Christ and
useful to ourselves, is by holding frequent intercourse with the poor. (T. Arnold,
D. D.)
Religions joy associated with common occasions
Some people are very much offended by the close connection of common joys with
spiritual and religious events. “Keep religion by itself,” they say, “and let it be
unmixed with any associations which may in the least tend to degrade it; and if you
take pleasure, let it be wholly separated from religious occasions.” But the conduct of
Christ is a perpetual witness to the fact that the most holy and momentous
occurrence in our religious history may be associated with social enjoyment. The
feast to which Christ was invited, and which He attended, was a feast which was
given in connection with the choice and appointment of an apostle. The event is
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deserving of our attention inasmuch as it brings Christ before us in an aspect of His
character which is often overlooked. We have looked to Him so much as the Christ
who has gone away from the world that the simple gospel history of Christ in the
world has been passed over by us, and we have almost felt that we were doing
something wrong when we ascribed to Jesus Christ words and acts such as ordinary
men would say and do. Yet here is the history to speak for itself—the record of One
who, if He had been seen in our streets, and in our homes, might have been found
living as we live, entering the dwellings of neighbours, with or without ceremony,
speaking kindly to the old, the weak, the downcast, and being at home in the houses
of rich and poor, Pharisee and publican, at the rich feast or the scant meal, and
shedding around Him the fragrance of good feeling, and a genial warmth and light.
And withal, here is the record of One, who, in all these simple and kindly courtesies,
never forgot that it was the deepest cravings and wants in human nature which He
had come to satisfy, and that His great mission was to bring men to God. (A. Watson,
D. D.)
The conversion of Levi
I. JESUS BEHOLDING SINNERS. “Jesus saw a publican.” Jesus, brethren, sees all
the sons of men. His eyes behold all classes. Christ saw Paul while, in his
unconverted state, he was sitting at the feet of Gamaliel; and while he was afterwards
occupied in persecuting the Christian Church; and He took not off His eyes from Paul
till, in deep contrition and self-devotion, he cried out—“Lord, what wilt Thou have
me to do?” Christ saw the woman of Samaria at Jacob’s well, long before she had any
idea that Christ’s seeing her would issue in her salvation. Christ saw Zaccheus in the
fig-tree before his conversion, and called him down to active service and eternal
salvation. Christ saw Lydia of Thyatira, the seller of purple, long before she had any
conception that her heart would be opened to hear the word spoken by St. Paul. But
do not mistake my words. To prevent your conversion, Satan makes some of you
imagine that, if you become religious, the Lord Jesus will wish you to neglect your
proper callings. Far otherwise. He expects His people to be “ diligent in business,
fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.” But, when Jesus beholds sinners with the eye of
His pity, He does so with a view to their salvation. This we shall see, while we state
our second point.
II. JESUS CALLING SINNERS. Jesus said unto Levi, “Follow Me.” There are, you
observe, brethren, two kinds of call. There is the general call, and there is the
effectual call.
III. JESUS HONOURED BY SINNERS. It is the cry of every true believer—“What
can I render unto the Lord for all His mercies? “This was the cry of Levi’s heart as
soon as he was brought to a saving knowledge of his Redeemer. He was willing to do
anything which would show his attachment to that Saviour, to whose love and mercy
he was so much indebted. He, therefore, made for Jesus “a great feast,” “in his own
house.” He then thought to show his respect for Christ by providing for Him a great
entertainment; and, with a view to their spiritual benefit, he invited to it many of his
old friends from among the publicans and his other companions. Now this, brethren,
is one great proof of an effectual call. David, in his deep thankfulness for God’s
sparing mercy, said to Araunah the Jebusite—“I will not offer burnt offerings unto
the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing.” There are innumerable ways,
brethren, in which we also can show our gratitude to Christ. Temporally and
spiritually we can help Christ’s brethren; and of such acts He declares, “Ye have done
it unto Me.” Those, therefore, of you who never make any sacrifice, either of your
substance or your time, for Christ and Christ’s work, have reason at once to conclude
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that you have heard the Saviour call, but that thus far that call has been unheeded. It
is a great trial to a really spiritual man to mix with the world at all, whether on festive
or on other occasions. And as soon as such mixing with the world ceases to be a trial,
mischief has been done. But we come now to notice a remarkable interruption in the
feast, and this interruption gave our Lord the opportunity of stating—
IV. THE BLESSINGS IMPARTED BY THE GOSPEL. There never was any good done
in this fallen world without some men objecting. When Nehemiah was building the
walls of Jerusalem, “What do these feeble Jews?” was the taunt of Tobiah and
Sanballat. And, what is more observable, the objection generally proceeds from those
who ought to be the last to make it. The objection often comes from those who
profess to be the spiritual guides of the people. Look at the case before us. Here was
Levi making a feast for publicans and sinners, with Jesus among the guests, with a
view to their spiritual profit. And who can object to such a proceeding? The civil and
the ecclesiastical rulers of the day—“the scribes and Pharisees”—they object. They do
not attack the Master; they attack the disciples. So is it now. Many objectors attack
Christ’s servants, but they little imagine that, in so doing, they are attacking Christ.
If, therefore, you are attacked, brethren, for your piety, remember that no one was
more attacked than was Christ Himself. You may safely leave your cause with Jesus,
as your faithful Creator. He will answer every objection, and you shall hold your
peace. It was so here. The scribes and Pharisees murmured against the disciples, and
said—“Why do ye eat with publicans and sinners?” To this question Jesus gave them
a reply they little expected. He told them plainly, that was the object of His gospel. It
was not meant for self-righteous formalists. It was meant for those who feel their
guilt—for those who are sensible of their spiritual disease. I now add two other
practical remarks. We see hence—
1. The freeness of salvation. Medicine is for the sick. Salvation is for sinners. In
all diseases there are outward symptoms. That precious blood, which He shed for
our sins on the cross, is a never-failing remedy. It makes crimson iniquities as
white as snow. It cleanses sins as red as scarlet, till they become as wool.
2. The peril of a worldly spirit. (C. Clayton, M. A.)
Christ’s call
I. THIS CALM IS TO INDIVIDUALS.
1. TO repentance, i.e., to begin life again.
2. To a feast, and its joys.
II. THIS CALL WILT. BE SUCCESSFUL IF WE DESIRE IT.
1. Having susceptible hearts.
2. If poor in spirit.
3. If we hunger after righteousness, i.e., desire the feast.
III. How THE CALL IS MADE OF NONE EFFECT.
1. The worldly heart—pre-occupied—makes effectual calling impossible (Luk_
14:16; Luk 14:20).
2. The “wise and prudent “do not like it (Mat_11:25).
3. The stupid heart, wayside—no soil.
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4. By levity. “They made light of it.” (F. B. Proctor, M. A.)
30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law
who belonged to their sect complained to his
disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax
collectors and sinners?”
CLARKE, "Why do ye eat and drink, etc. - See what passed at this
entertainment considered at large on Mat_9:10-17 (note); Mar_2:15-22 (note).
GILL, "But their Scribes and Pharisees,.... Not the Scribes of the publicans and
sinners that sat down, but the Scribes of the people in general; the Scribes of the
Jewish nation: all the eastern versions leave out the word "their":
murmured against his disciples, saying; or, "murmured, and said unto his
disciples", as the Syriac and Persic versions render it: that is, they either murmured
at the publicans and sinners sitting down at meat; or "against him", as the Ethiopic
version reads: either against Matthew for inviting them; or rather against Christ for
sitting down with them: and not caring to speak to him, address themselves to his
disciples in these words,
why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? The other evangelists
represent these as saying, why does he, or your master, eat with such? doubtless,
they included both Christ, and his disciples; though they chiefly designed him, and to
bring an accusation against him, and fix a charge upon him, in order to render him
odious to the people.
HENRY, “IV. It was a wonder of his grace that he did so patiently bear the
contradiction of sinners against himself and his disciples, Luk_5:30. He did not
express his resentment of the cavils of the scribes and Pharisees, as he justly might
have done, but answered them with reason and meekness; and, instead of taking that
occasion to show his displeasure against the Pharisees, as afterwards he did, or of
recriminating upon them, he took that occasion to show his compassion to poor
publicans, another sort of sinners, and to encourage them.
JAMISON, "their scribes — a mode of expression showing that Luke was
writing for Gentiles.
BENSON, "Luke 5:30-32. But their scribes and Pharisees murmured — The
Pharisees of Capernaum, who knew both Matthew’s occupation and the
character of his guests, were highly offended that Jesus, who pretended to be a
prophet, should have deigned to go into the company of such men; so offended
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that they could not forbear condemning his conduct openly, by asking his
disciples, with an air of insolence, in the hearing of the whole company, why he
sat with publicans and sinners. Jesus answering, said, They that be whole, &c. —
The Pharisees had not directed their discourse to Jesus, but having spoken so
loud as to let all the guests hear their censure, he could not with propriety let it
pass without showing the unreasonableness of it; which he does in a forcible
manner, in these words: As if he had said, They that are in perfect health do not
need the converse and advice of the physician, but those that are sick; and
therefore, because of their need of him, he visits and converses with them, though
it cannot otherwise be agreeable to him to do it; and I act on the same principles;
for I am not come to call the righteous — As you arrogantly suppose yourselves
to be, but such poor sinners as these; to repentance — Or, the persevering
penitence, faith, and holiness of such as are truly righteous, is not so much the
object of my attention, as the conversion of sinners. See a like form of expression,
1 Corinthians 1:17. Some commentators imagine that self- righteous persons are
here spoken of; but the scope and connection of the passage evidently confirm
the former meaning. Indeed it is not true that our Lord did not come to call self-
righteous persons to repentance: he certainly came as much to call them as any
other class of sinners. Such were the scribes and Pharisees, and many of his
discourses were evidently levelled at them, and intended to bring them to a sense
of their sin and danger, in order to their humiliation, self-abasement, and
conversion. See this paragraph more fully explained in the notes on Matthew
9:9-13; Mark 2:13-17.
PETT, "The Pharisees and scribes were wary of approaching Jesus. He had
bested them once and they did not want to be bested again. Or it may be that
they did not want to come in too close a contact with those enjoying the feast, for
to them they were ritually ‘unclean’. So they rather approached His disciples.
And they asked why they were eating and drinking like this with public servants
and sinners. Did they not realise that they were degrading themselves and
themselves risking ritual uncleanness? By sinners they meant people who did not
observe the niceties of the Pharisees, not necessarily bad living people.
We do not actually know whether this took place while the feast was going on, or
afterwards, but it makes no difference to the points at issue. However, the news
that Jesus had called a tax-collector to be His disciple would surely have brought
them hurrying to the spot. Surely they had got Him now?
31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy
who need a doctor, but the sick.
GILL, "And Jesus answering, said unto them,.... Knowing that they aimed at
him; though, according to this evangelist, they only mentioned his disciples,
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however, he takes up the cause, and vindicates both himself and them, by observing
to them the following proverb;
they that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick: suggesting
hereby, that as such who are in good health, who are free from all diseases, wounds,
bruises, and putrefying sores, stand in no need of the advice and assistance of a
physician, or surgeon, but such who have either distempers or sores on their bodies;
so they, the Scribes and Pharisees, who, in their own opinion, were free from the
disease of sin, original and actual, and touching the righteousness of the law, were
blameless, stood not in any need of him, the physician, who came to cure the
maladies of the souls, as well as of the bodies of men; but such persons, who not only
are sick with sin, but sick of it, who are sensible of it, and desire healing: and
therefore this was the reason of his conduct, why he conversed with sinners, and not
with the Scribes and Pharisees; his business, as a physician, lying among the one, and
not the other; See Gill on Mat_9:12. See Gill on Mar_2:17.
HENRY, “III. It was a wonder of his grace that he would not only admit a
converted publican into his family, but would keep company with unconverted
publicans, that he might have an opportunity of doing their souls good; he justified
himself in it, as agreeing with the great design of his coming into the world. Here is a
wonder of grace indeed, that Christ undertakes to be the Physician of souls
distempered by sin, and ready to die of the distemper (he is a Healer by office, Luk_
5:31) - that he has a particular regard to the sick, to sinners as his patients, convinced
awakened sinners, that see their need of the Physician - that he came to call sinners,
the worst of sinners, to repentance, and to assure them of pardon, upon repentance,
Luk_5:32. These are glad tidings of great joy indeed.
CONSTABLE, "Jesus used a proverb to summarize His mission (cf. ch. 15). He
used the word "righteous" in a relative sense and perhaps a bit sarcastically
since no one is truly righteous, though the Pharisees considered themselves
righteous. A person must acknowledge his or her need for Jesus and His
righteousness before that one will benefit from the Great Physician's powers.
This acknowledgment of need is what Jesus meant by repentance. Repentance
leads to joy in Luke as well as to life (cf. Luke 15:7; Luke 15:10; Luke 15:22-27;
Luke 15:32). Luke stressed the positive call of sinners to repentance in this
Gospel and in Acts. Luke referred to repentance more than Matthew or Mark
did (cf. Luke 3:3; Luke 3:8; Luke 10:13; Luke 11:32; Luke 13:3; Luke 13:5;
Luke 15:7; Luke 15:10; Luke 16:30; Luke 17:3-4; Luke 24:47).
"The connection between Luke 5:32 and Luke 19:10 suggests that they form an
inclusion. That is, we have similar general statements about Jesus' mission early
and late in his ministry, statements which serve to interpret the whole ministry
which lies between them." [Note: Tannehill, 1:107.]
PETT, "Verse 31-32
‘And Jesus answering said to them, “Those who are in health have no need of a
physician, but those who are sick. I am not come to call the righteous but sinners
to repentance.”
Jesus took over the question and gave them His reply. He wanted them and the
world to know that He had not come simply to mingle with ‘the righteous’, that
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is those who strove to keep the Law and thought that they did so (who would not
be many in number). He had come to those who were sick of soul and in need. He
had come to save and restore. Those who were in health did not need a doctor,
only those who were sick. Thus He was here to be a spiritual doctor to sinners
and all in need. He was here to call them to turn to God in repentance.
It is probable that He had mind the words in Jeremiah 8:22, ‘Is there no balm in
Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter
of my people recovered?’ He had come for the purpose of meeting that lack, to
provide a balm in Gilead, and to be that physician. But He was not really
suggesting that the Pharisees did not need a physician. They in fact desperately
needed one. He was pointing out that the recovery of God’s people in these last
days required a physician like Himself, and that He had come for all who
recognised their need and admitted their spiritual ill-health. Those who thought
themselves already righteous would not come to Him. Thus He could not help
them. But for all who recognised their need, whoever they were, He was
available.
His claim to be God’s physician must be seen for what it is. He is setting Himself
up as having a certain level of uniqueness. He is able to restore sinners because
he is not a sinner. The ailing and sick doctor is little use to his patients. And He is
calling them to repentance, to turn to God with all their hearts. He can do this
because He need no repentance. Here is the only Son acting on behalf of His
Father. We may compare Jesus’ willingness to be a healer here with the man in
Isaiah 3:7, who was not prepared to be a healer because it would be too costly
and demanding. Jesus minded neither the cost nor the demand. The Father had
sought a physician and He was here.
BI, “They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick
The soul’s malady and cure
The occasion of the words is set down in the context; Levi was called from the receipt
of custom (he was a customhouse man), but Christ called him, and there went out
power with the word, “he left all, rose up, and followed Him.
” “Levi made Him a great feast in his own house”; a better guest he could not invite.
Levi feasted Christ with his cheer, and Christ feasted him with salvation.
I. THE DYING PATIENTS. They that are sick. Whence observe—
Doct. 1. That sin is a soul-disease—“He hath borne our griefs”; in the Hebrew it is
our sicknesses. Man at first was created in a healthful temper, he had no sickness of
soul, he ailed nothing; the soul had its perfect beauty and glory. The eye was clear,
the heart pare, the affections tuned with the finger of God into a most sweet
harmony.
I. In what sense sin is resembled to sickness.
1. Sin may be compared to sickness for the manner of catching.
(1) Sickness is caught often through carelessness: some get cold by leaving off
clothes.
(2) Sickness is caught sometimes through superfluity and intemperance.
Excess produceth sickness.
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2. Sin may be resembled to sickness for the nature of it.
(1) Sickness is of a spreading nature, it spreads all over the body, it works
into every part, the head, stomach, it disorders the whole body: so sin doth
not rest in one part, but spreads into all the faculties of the soul, and
members of the body—“The whole head is sick, the whole heart is faint.” The
memory is diseased; the memory at first was like a golden cabinet in which
Divine truths were locked up safe; but now it is like a colander, or leaking
vessel, which lets all that is good run out. The memory is like a searcer, which
sifts out the flour, but keeps the bran. So the memory lets saving truths go,
and holds nothing but froth and vanity. Many a man can remember a story,
when he hath forgot his creed. Thus the memory is diseased; the memory is
like a bad stomach that wants the retentive faculty, all the meat comes up
again: so the most precious truths will not stay in the memory, but are gone
again. The will is diseased; the will is the soul’s commander-in-chief, it is the
master-wheel; but how irregular and eccentric is it! The affections are sick:
the affection of desire; a sick man desires that which is hurtful for him, he
calls for wine in a fever; so the natural man being sick, he desires that which
is prejudicial for him; he hath no desire after Christ, he doth not hunger and
thirst after righteousness; but he desires poison, he desires to take his fill of
sin, he loves death: the affection of grief; a man grieves for the want of an
estate, but not for the want of God’s favour; he grieves to see the plague or
cancer in his body, but not for the plague of his heart: the affection of joy;
many can rejoice in a wedge of gold, not in the cross of Christ. Thus the
affections are sick and distempered. The conscience is diseased; “their mind
and conscience is defiled.”
(2) Sickness doth debilitate and weaken the body; a sick man is unfit to walk:
so this sickness of sin weakens the soul—“When we were without strength
Christ died.” In innoceney Adam was, in some sense, like the angels, he could
serve God with a winged swiftness, and filial cheerfulness; but sin brought
sickness into the soul, and this sickness hath cut the lock where his strength
lay; he is now disarmed of all ability for service; and where grace is wrought,
though a Christian be not so heart-sick as before, yet he is very faint.
(3) Sickness doth eclipse the beauty of the body. This I ground on that
Scripture, “When Thou with rebukes dost correct man, Thou makest his
beauty to consume away like a moth.” The moth consumes the beauty of the
cloth; so a fit of sickness consumes the beauty of the body. Thus sin is a soul-
sickness, it hath eclipsed the glory and splendour of the soul, it hath turned
ruddiness into paleness;that beauty of grace which once sparkled as gold, now
it may be said, “How is this gold become dim!” That soul which once had an
orient brightness in it, it was more ruddy than rubies, its polishing was of
sapphire, the understanding bespangled with knowledge, the will crowned
with liberty, the affections like so many seraphim, burning in love to God;
now the glory is departed. Sin hath turned beauty into deformity; as some
faces by sickness are so disfigured, and look so ghastly, they can hardly be
known.
(4) Sickness takes away the taste; a sick man doth not taste that sweetness in
his meat; so the sinner, by reason of soul-sickness, hath lost his taste to
spiritual things.
(5) Sickness takes away the comfort of life; a sick person hath no joy of
anything, his life is a burden to him.
II. WHAT THE DISEASES OF THE SOUL ARE. Only I shall name some of the worst
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of these diseases. Pride is the tympany of the soul, lust is the fever, error the
gangrene, unbelief the plague of the heart, hypocrisy the scurvy, hardness of heart
the stone, anger the phrenzy, malice the wolf in the breast, covetousness the dropsy,
spiritual sloth the green sickness, apostasy the epilepsy; here are eleven soul-
diseases, and when they come to the full height they are dangerous, and most
frequently prove mortal.
III. The third thing to be demonstrated is, THAT SIN IS THE WORST SICKNESS.
To have a body full of plague sores is sad; but to have the soul, which is the more
noble part, spotted with sin, and full of the tokens, is far worse; as appears.
1. The body may be diseased, and the conscience quiet: “the inhabitant of the
land shall not say I am sick.” He should scarce feel his sickness, because sin was
pardoned; but when the soul is sick of any reigning lust, the conscience is
troubled—“There is no peace to the wicked, saith my God.”
2. A man may have bodily diseases, yet God may love him. “Asa was diseased in
his feet.” He had the gout, yet a favourite with God.
3. Sickness, at worst, doth but separate from the society of friends; but this
disease of sin, if not cured, separates from the society of God and angels.
2. If sin be a soul-sickness, then how foolish are they that hide their sins; it is
folly to hide a disease!
3. If sin be a soul-sickness, then what need is there of the ministry? If sin be a
soul-sickness, then do not feed this disease; he that is wise will avoid those things
which will increase his disease; if he be feverish, he will avoid wine which would
inflame the disease; if he have the stone he will avoid salt meats; he will forbear a
dish he loves, because it is bad for his disease: why should not men be as wise for
their souls? Thou that hast a drunken lust, do not feed it with wine; thou that
hast a malicious last, do not feed it with revenge.
Doct. 2. That Jesus Christ is a soul-physician. Ministers (as was said before) are
physicians whom Christ doth in His name delegate and send abroad into the world.
I. That Christ is a physician; it is one of His titles—“ I am the Lord that healeth thee.”
II. Why Christ is a physician.
1. In regard of His call; God the Father called Him to practise physic, He anointed
Him to the work of healing—“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath
anointed Me to preach the gospel: He hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted.”
2. Jesus Christ undertook this healing work, because of that need we were in of a
physician. Christ came to be our physician, not because we deserved Him, but
because we needed Him; not our merit, but our misery, drew Christ from heaven.
3. Christ came as a physician out of the sweetness of His nature; He is like the
good Samaritan, who had compassion on the wounded man. A physician may
come to the patient only for gain; not so roach to help the patient as to help
himself: but Christ came purely out of sympathy.
III. The third particular is, that Christ is the only physician—“Neither is there
salvation in any other,” &c.
IV. How CHRIST HEALS HIS PATIENTS. There are four things in Christ that are
healing.
1. His word is healing—“He sent His word, and healed them.”
2. Christ’s wounds are healing; “with His stripes we are healed.” Christ made a
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medicine of His own body and blood; the physician died to cure the patient.
3. Christ’s Spirit is healing; the blood of Christ heals the guilt of sin; the Spirit of
Christ heals the pollution of sin.
But if Christ be a physician, why are not all healed?
1. Because all do not know they are sick; they see not the sores and ulcers of their
souls; and will Christ cure them who see no need of Him?
2. All are not healed, because they love their sickness—“Thou lovest evil”; many
men hug their disease.
3. All are not healed, because they do not look out after a physician.
4. All are not healed, because they do not take the physic which Christ prescribes
them; they would be cured, but they are loath to put themselves into a course of
physic.
5. All are not healed, because they have not confidence in their physician; it is
observable when Christ came to work any cure, He first put this question,
“ Believe ye that I am able to do this?” Millions die of their disease, because they
do not believe in their physician.
V. The fifth and last particular is, THAT CHRIST IS THE BEST PHYSICIAN. That I
may set forth the praise and honour of Jesus Christ, I shall show you wherein He
excels other physicians; no physician like Christ.
1. He is the most skilful physician; there no disease too hard for Him—“Who
healeth all thy diseases.”
2. Christ is the best physician, because He cures the better part, the soul; other
physicians can cure the liver or spleen, Christ cures the heart; they can cure the
blood when it is tainted, Christ cures the conscience when it is defiled; “How
much more shall the blood of Christ purge your conscience from dead works?”
3. Christ is the best physician, for He causeth us to feel our disease.
4. Christ shows more love to His patients than any physician besides.
5. Christ is the most cheap physician.
6. Christ heals with more ease than any other: other physicians apply pills,
potions, bleeding; Christ cures with more facility. Christ made the devil go out
with a word.
7. Christ is the most tender-hearted physician. He hath ended His passion, yet
not His compassion.
8. Christ never fails of success.
9. Christ cures not only our diseases, but our deformities. The physician can
make the sick man well; but if he be deformed, he cannot make him fair. Christ
gives not only health, but beauty. Sin hath made us ugly and misshapen.
10. And lastly, Christ is the most bountiful physician. Other patients do enrich
their physicians, but here the physician doth enrich the patient. Christ prefers all
His patients; He doth not only cure them, but crown them. Christ cloth not only
raise from the bed, but to the throne; He gives the sick man not only health, but
heaven. But mine is an old inveterate disease, and I fear it is incurable. Though
thy disease be chronical, Christ can heal it. But after I have been healed, my
disease hath broken out again; I have relapsed into the same sin; therefore, I fear
there is no healing for me. It is rare that the Lord leaves his children to these
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relapses. If Jesus Christ be a spiritual physician, let us labour to hasten the cure
of our souls. Consider
(1) What a little time we have to stay here, and let that hasten the cure.
(2) Now is properly the time of healing, now is the day of grace, now Christ
pours out His balsams, now He sends abroad His ministers and Spirit; “now
is the accepted time.” (T. Watson.)
I. CHRIST IS MOST CONCERNED WITH THOSE WHO NEED HIM MOST.
The sick need the physician
II. SICKNESS OF SOUL IS THE NEED WHICH CALLS FOR CHRIST AS THE
GOOD PHYSICIAN.
III. IT IS NECESSARY FOR A MAN TO CONFESS HIS SICKNESS OF SOUP.
BEFORE HE CAN BE HEALED BY CHRIST. (W. F. Adeney, M. A.)
We have recently been told that there are no less than 1088 definite forms of disease
to which our mortal bodies are liable. (Archdeacon Farrar.)
The moral disease of humanity
I. THERE IS A MORAL DISEASE IN THE HEART AND CHARACTER OF MAN.
1. Depraved mental appetite.
2. The faculty of vision is impaired.
3. Moral stupor and lethargic disposition of mind.
4. Feverish excitement of disposition.
5. Moral weakness and want of activity.
II. THE PECULIAR CHARACTERISTICS BY WHICH THIS MORAL DISEASE IS
DISTINGUISHED.
1. It is universal in extent.
2. It is inherent in our constitution.
3. It is disastrous in its results.
4. It is incurable by anything less than Divine agency.
III. THE REMEDY PROPOSED FOR HEALING THIS DISEASE the healing
medicine of the gospel.
1. Universally adapted.
2. Absolutely free.
3. Infallibly efficacious. (W. Urwick.)
The art of healing
That the sick need a physician is an assertion which appeals to the dictates of
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common sense.
1. The ministrations of the art of healing are a beautiful imitation of those of
Divine providence. Both are designed to restore what was lost, and to repair what
is disordered.
2. How striking is the contrast between the art of medicine and the art of war.
3. The erection of hospitals and infirmaries for the poor is one of the
distinguishing ornaments and fruits of Christianity, unknown to the wisdom and
humanity of pagan times. (R. Hall, A. M.)
Christianity a remedy for all diseases
The gospel is not meant for the salvation of men who are so good that they hardly
seem to need it, but for men that are bad—for the very worst of men. Admit all that
can be said of the badness of the Chinese; admit the blackest portrait that can be
correctly painted of them; admit that they are as bad as men can be out of hell—if I
understand the matter rightly, you only make out a stronger case for sending them
the gospel of Christ. There is a story told of a vendor of quack medicine, who sent out
an advertisement to one of the Australian newspapers, and after enumerating all the
diseases of which he could think, he added, “If there be any disease peculiar to the
colony, put that in, for my medicine will cure that too.” A statement that was not true
of the quack medicine we can apply to the gospel of Christ. If there be any wickedness
peculiar to the Chinese; if they are the worst specimens of humanity; if human
depravity has assumed a type there which it does not present in any other part of the
world, put all these in, for the gospel will cure them too. It is a remedy for all
diseases, even the worst. (W. Landels.)
Eagerness to find the Great -Physician
Years ago, the bargemen who were associated with the coal mines on the River Ruhr,
in Germany, were regarded as uncivilized and wicked beyond reclamation; but on
one occasion a religious awakening broke out among them which astonished all who
beheld its varied and striking phenomena. There was one man more particularly
whose name of Wolf suggested only a few of the traits of his character: for a savage
beast of the forest would have used its offspring better than this man used his
household. To crown all, he was a drunkard, and no wolf could ever be charged with
that abomination. Though too illiterate to read, the man still came under the
influence which was abroad, and conscience smote him on account of past iniquities,
until life was almost unendurable. In a state of despondency he went to a relative who
was a Christian man, who after listening a while, remarked, “I know a Physician who
can cure you.” “Where does he live?” cried Wolf, in extreme eagerness, “I would
gladly walk ten miles this night to find him.” The only reply to this was to preach
Christ as the Great Physician, who saves from the effects of sin. When the penitent
returned home he prayed long and earnestly, until his agony of mind was relieved,
and he found peace. His appearance among his companions in labour struck them all
with surprise. Instead of beating his wife, he became instrumental in her conversion,
while the earnest power with which he preached Christ among the workers on coal
barges was viewed with astonishment. Dr. Pinkerton, who sent home the particulars,
remarked, “the Holy Spirit confirmed his testimony. The holy fire spread from boat
to boat; drunkards, thieves, and abandoned characters were made penitent.”
Hundreds were converted, and houses which had been given up to riot and squalor
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became clean and attractive—the abodes of peace and love. (Sword and Trowel.)
Conviction of sin necessary to a just sense of God’s grace in salvation
In multitudes of cases, they are entirely insensible of the malady that is preying upon
them and hastening to its fatal issue in the death of the soul. And so long as they
entertain this opinion of themselves, or remain insensible to their real condition as
perishing in sin, it is plain that they cannot feel their need of the remedy provided for
them in the gospel, and will not apply to the Divine Physician for the healing of their
souls, or their recovery to spiritual health. Let us illustrate this point in a few
particulars. And—
1. I remark—those who feel themselves to be whole, in the sense of our text, can
have no sincerity or earnestness in using the means of spiritual recovery. A man
who is in doubt whether he is sick or well, will of course hesitate whether he shall
ask advice of a physician, and after having asked it, he will show the same
indecision and hesitancy in regard to taking the medicine prescribed by him.
2. While a man feels himself to be whole he can of course have no true conviction
of sin.
3. While a man imagines himself to be whole, he cannot feel his need of mercy,
and of course cannot ask for nor receive it as it is offered him in the gospel.
4. While a man feels himself to be whole, he cannot receive Christ as his Saviour,
nor acceptably apply to Him for any one blessing of His mediation.
5. That while a man imagines himself to be whole he can have no real, abiding
gratitude for redeeming mercy, even should he flatter himself that he has
embraced Christ as his Saviour.
In conclusion, I am led to remark—
1. We see in view of our subject who they are that are in the greatest danger of
being lost.
2. We see the necessity of preaching the law. By the law is the knowledge of sin.
3. We see why there is so little of deep and fruitful religion in many who profess
to be Christians. They are wanting in a deep and abiding sense of the great evil of
sin, and of their infinite indebtedness to the mercy of God in Christ in delivering
them from the wrath to come.
4. We see why it is so difficult to persuade impenitent men to accept the salvation
of the gospel. It is because they do not feel their need of such a salvation. (J.
Hawes, D. D.)
The Physician of souls
The text hath three parts.
1. The patients.
2. The Physician.
3. The cure.
I. THE PATIENTS ARE PROPOUNDED NEGATIVELY—“not the whole.”
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Affirmatively—“but the sick.” Is any man whole?
1. No man is whole by nature; in Adam all are deadly sick.
2. Some are whole in conceit only. And another cause of conceited soundness is
the extenuation of sin. Let this therefore serve to convince these whole men, and
let them see their estate, so as they may seek to the Physician, and not die
senseless.
The marks and spots of a deadly disease are these:
1. An ill stomach argueth bodily disease; so spiritual, if the Word be bitter, if thy
mind rise against it, and the mouth of thy soul be out of taste, if thy memory keep
not the doctrine of God, if by meditation thou digestest it not, and so sendest it
into all parts of thy life, thou art sick indeed, though thou seemest never so
whole.
2. When the body consumeth, the parts are weakened, the knees bow under a
man, and with much ado he draggeth his limbs after him, there is certainly a
bodily disease, though there be no complaint. So in the soul; when men are weak
to deeds of piety, have no strength to conquer temptation, to suffer crosses and
trials; to works of charity, mercy, or justice; but all strength of grace seems to be
exhausted, here is a dangerous disease.
3. When the senses fail, the eyes grow dim, the ears dull, it is an apparent sign of
a bodily or spiritual disease. A senseless is the sickest man, because he is sick
though he be not sensible. Even so, when the eye-strings of the soul are broken,
that they see not the light of grace, nor of God, which as the sun shines round
about them; the ears hear not the voice of God, the feeling is gone, they have no
sense of the great gashes and wounds of the lusts of uncleanness, drunkenness,
covetousness, swearing, lying, malice against God and His servants; nay, no
complaint, but rather rejoicing in these; the soul of such a man lies very weak, as
a man for whom the bell is ready to toll.
4. Difficulty of breathing, or to be taken speechless, is a sign of a disease and
death approaching. So in the soul, prayer being the breath of the soul, when a
man can hardly fetch his breath, cannot pray, or with much ado can beg mercy,
strength, and supply of grace; or when he is speechless, a man cannot hear him
whisper a good and savoury word, but all is earthly, fruitless, or hurtful; here is a
living corpse, a painted sepulchre, not a man of a better world. Thus negatively of
the patient, or party, fit for cure. Affirmatively it is the sick man. And he is the
sick man, that feels and groans under the pain and burden of his sin. The point
this: Sin is the most dangerous sickness in the whole world, and fitly resembles
bodily sickness.
For—
1. Sickness comes by intemperance: the temperate body is never sick; while we
were in innocency we were in sound health, but through distemperature in our
nature we were poisoned at first, and ever since our sins and lusts conceiving,
bring forth sin and death.
2. Sickness weakeneth the body, and impaireth the vigour of nature; so cloth sin
in the soul: experience showeth that after some sin we very hardly and weakly
attempt any good thing for a long time. Sin hath weakened the faculties,
darkened the understanding, corrupted the will, disordered the affections: thence
this sickness.
3. Sickness brings pain and torment into the body; so doth sin into the soul.
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4. Sickness continuing and lingering on the body, threateneth death, and without
timely cure bringeth it; sin also, not removed by repentance, menaceth and
bringeth certain death to body and soul.
5. Sickness is generally incident to all men. So the souls of all men are diseased by
nature; even the souls of the elect, till they be healed by Christ.
II. WE COME NOW TO THE PHYSICIAN. The Physician is our Lord Jesus Christ; as
in the next word, “I come not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” “I am
the Lord, that healeth thee” (Exo_15:26). God challengeth this as a part of His own
glory, by Christ to heal us. “He maketh sore, and bindeth up; He woundeth, and His
hands make whole” Job_5:18). “Who healed thee of thy infirmities?” (Psa_103:3).
1. As a skilful Physician He knoweth every man s estate perfectly. He knoweth
what is man (Joh_2:1-25.), so doth no other physician. He saw the woman at the
well to be an harlot. And (Mat_16:7) He saw the reasoning of their hearts, when
they thought He spake because they had no bread.
2. He knows the cure as perfectly as He cloth the disease. No physician knows all
the virtues of all the simples and drugs he administereth; and besides, he is
wholly ignorant of many. But Christ our Physician knows the infallible work of
His remedies.
3. As a skilful Physician He prescribeth the fittest remedies. For in His word He
appointeth physic for every disease of the soul; for pride, envy, covetousness,
trouble of conscience, and other.
4. As a physician prepareth his patient for his physic, so Christ prepareth the
party by faith to apply His remedies; by persuading the heart to believe, and to
apply to the sore and wounded conscience the precious balms which Himself
hath prepared. Else, as physic, not in the receipt, or box, or cupboard, or pocket
can profit, unless it be applied and received, though it be never so sovereign; no
more can this.
5. Christ goeth beyond all physicians, two ways.
(1) In the generality of His cure. Some diseases are desperate, and all the
physic in the world cannot cure them. But Christ can cure all; no disease is so
desperate as to foil Him.
(2) In the freedom of His cure. For first, He offereth His help and physic even
daily in the preaching of His gospel. Now if Christ be the Physician, Christ
must be magnified for our health. The Pope, by his pardons, masses,
pilgrimages, and the like, cannot cure us. It is too great a price to pay. Nay,
the angels can confer nothing to this cure. Lastly, if Christ be the Physician,
here is marvellous comfort for afflicted souls pained and pined under the
burden of sin.
1. He is a skilful doctor, He knows all our diseases and the remedies; thou mayst
safely commit thyself into His hands, as His mother said to those servants,
“Whatsoever He commands, that do” (Joh_2:1-25.). Simple obedience is
required, without reasoning or inquiry. All His sayings must we do.
2. He is able enough to cure us, because He is God Omnipotent, able to work an
infinite cure: and only such a physician can bestead us, for all created power
cannot help us.
3. He is as willing to help as able; being a merciful High Priest, compassed with
infirmities, to have compassion on them that are out of the way.
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III. Having spoken of the patients, and of the Physician, we come now to the CURE,
which is the third general; wherein consider—
1. The confection.
2. The application.
In the confection are—
1. The Author.
2. The matter.
3. The virtue.
The Author must be a man, and above a man. He must be a man, because man had
sinned, and man’s nature must satisfy; else God’s justice and menace had not taken
place. But withal, He must be above a man; even our Emmanuel (Isa_7:14), God with
us. All this must our Physician do,by His lowest abasement. He must satisfy God’s
justice, appease His anger, triumph against enemies of salvation, subdue sin, foil the
devil, overcome death, discharge all debts, cancel all obligations and handwritings
against us, and after all be exalted to glory. Thirdly, He must be God to procure us
those infinite good things we need, viz., to restore us God’s image lost, and with it
righteousness and life eternal. To defend soul and body against the world, the devil,
hell, and all enemies. Next, the matter of the cure, and that is, “the Physician’s own
blood” by which is meant His whole passion: “By His stripes we are healed (1Pe_
2:19), His sickness brings us health. Next the virtue and preciousness of this cure.
Oh, it was a powerful and precious blood I and that in five respects.
1. In respect of the qualtity: it is the blood incorruptible. All other diseases are
cured with corruptible things (1Pe_1:18).
2. In respect of the person: it was the blood of God (Act_20:28).
3. In respect of the subject of it: no other cure or remedy can reach the soul. All
other drugs conduce for healthful life, and work upon the body; but this makes
for an holy life, and works upon the soul, the sickness whereof the most precious
thing in the world cannot cure.
4. In respect of the powerful effects of it, above all other cures in the world: for—
(1) They may frame the body to some soundness of temperature, but this
makes sound souls, according to the conformity of God’s law.
(2) They may preserve natural life for a while, but this brings a supernatural
life for ever.
(3) They may restore strength and nature decayed, but this changeth and
bringeth in a new nature, according to the second Adam.
(4) They cannot keep away death approaching, but this makes immortal.
(5) They cannot raise or recover a dead man, but this raiseth both dead in sin,
dead in soul, and dead in body.
5. In respect of time. All other physic is made of drugs created with the world, but
this was “prepared before the foundation of the world” (1Pe_1:18). Again, all
work of all other physic is done in death, but the perfection and most powerful
work of this is after death. By all this take we notice of our extreme misery by sin;
seeing nothing else can cure us, but the blood of the Son of God. If we had such a
disease as nothing but the heart-blood of our dearest friends alive (suppose our
wife, husband, mother, or child) could cure us, what a hopeless and desperate
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case were it? It would amaze and astonish the stoutest heart. But much more may
it smite our hearts, that we have such a disease as nothing else but the heart-
blood of the Son of God can cure. But those never saw their sin in this glass who
conceive the cure as easy as the turning of a hand, a light “Lord have mercy,” or
an hour of repentance at death.
2. In this cure we may observe a world of wonders—
(1) Wonder and admire this Physician, who is both the Physician and the
Physic. Was ever the like heard of in all nature?
(2) Admire the confection: that the Physician must temper the remedy of His
own heart-blood. He must by passion be pounded in the mortar of God’s
wrath; He must be beaten, smitten, spit upon, wounded, sweat water and
blood, be trodden on as a worm, be forsaken of His Father; the Lamb of God
must be slain; the just” suffer for the unjust. Dost thou not here stand and
wonder?
(3) Admire the power of weakness, and the Omnipotent work of this cure by
contraries, as in the great work of creation; there the Son of God made all
things, not out of something, but out of nothing; so in this great work of our
cure by redemption, He works our life, not by His life, but by His own death;
He makes us infinitely happy, but by His own infinite misery; He opens the
grave for us, by His own lying in the grave; He sends us to heaven by His own
descending from heaven; and shuts the gates of hell by suffering hellish
torments. He honours us by His own shame; He breaks away our
temptations, and Satan’s molestations, by being Himself tempted. Here is a
skilful Physician, tempering poison to a remedy, bringing light out of
darkness, life out of death, heaven out of hell. In the whole order of nature
one contrary resisteth another, but it is beyond nature that one contrary
should produce another. Wonder.
(4) Admire the care of the Physician, who provided us a remedy before our
disease, before the world was, or we in it.
(5) Admire His matchless love, who to save our souls, made His soul an
offering for sin, and healeth our wounds by His own stripes. A physician
showeth great love, if he take a little care above ordinary, though he be well
rewarded, and made a great gainer by it. But this Physician must be a loser by
His love; He must lose His glory, His life. Wonder, and wonder for ever.
3. How may we testify our love to Christ?
(1) In profession and word we must magnify His great Work of redemption,
and advance it in the perfection and virtue of it, as able of itself to purchase
the whole Church.
(2) As God’s love was actual, so we must settle ourselves to His service.
(3) According to His example, let us not love our lives to the death for His
Rev_12:11). Now we are to consider it in the application. For, what would it
avail, to have the most skilful and careful physician, and the most rare,
proper, and powerful medicine under the sun prescribed by him, if either it be
not for me, or not applied to the disease or sore? And so our heavenly
Physician hath taken care, not only for direction and confection, but also for
application. Medicines must be received; for we must not look to be cured by
miracle, but by means. Where consider—
1. The persons to whom the cure is applied.
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2. The means whereby.
3. The time when.
For the persons, the text saith, “all that be sick”; that is, sensible and languishing
under their sickness. And Psa_147:3, “He heals those that are broken in heart, and
binds up their sores.” For the means whereby the cure is applied, it is faiths, we must
bring faith to be healed. But when is this medicine applied? For time, there is no
application but in this life; no curing after this life. Again, seeing there is a time to
heal, come in season Ecc_3:3). Again, content not thyself only to hear of this remedy,
but seek to know that it is applied to thee in particular, and to feel the virtue of it in
thyself. How may I know it? As physic taken into the body works often so painfully,
that men are even at the gate of death in their present sense, and no other but dead
men, so this physic worketh kindly, when it worketh pain in the party, through the
sense and sight of sin, apprehension of God’s anger and utter despair in themselves.
As physic kindly working delivers the party, not only from death, but such humours
as were the cause of his sickness, at least that they be not predominant; even so must
this physic rid us of our sin, and these peccant humours which were the matter of our
sickness. As after application of proper physic we find a great change in our bodies,
as if we had new bodies given us; so after the kindly work of this physic we may find
ourselves cast into a new mould; this blood applied makes us new creatures, new
men, having new minds, new wills, new words, new affections, new actions, new
conversations. Our strength is renewed to Christian actions and passion; we are
strong for our journey, for our combat, and strong to carry burdens, with a strong
appetite, and digestion of the word; every way more hearty and cheerful. Thus having
received our health, by means of this cure, wisdom commands us to be as careful to
preserve our health as to attain it. Every wise man will be as careful to keep himself
well as to get himself well. And to this purpose, we must remember the counsel of our
Physician for maintaining our health attained. Among many direction prescribed, I
mention four.
1. Not to be tampering with our own medicines, nor the medicines of Egypt,
merits, pilgrimages, penance, or the like; nor any quintessence or mineral from
the hand of any libertine teacher; but only such as we find prescribed in the Word
of God, by our great Doctor.
2. To keep our health, we must keep good diet, both for soul and body. The best
diet for the soul is to keep God’s hours for our daily repast by the Word, in
reading and meditating on it; which David regarded above his ordinary food. A
liberal diet is best for the soul; but the best diet for the body is a spare diet, a
sober and moderate use of meat, drink, and pleasure, for beating down and
mortifying corrupt affections and lusts.
3. To preserve our health, we must strive to live in a good and wholesome air. If
thou livest in a corrupt air, change it for a better. The worst air that can be is
where worst men and worst company are. The air of a hot plague house is not so
infectious as the contagious air of wicked company.
4. To preserve health, physicians prescribe the use of good exercises. The best
exercises to use for the health of the soul are hearing and reading of God’s Word;
pray also, and meditate when thou art alone; with conference of good things in
company. These are notable helps to bring thee through weaknesses, and keep
thy soul in good plight, health, and cheerfulness. (T. Taylor. D. D.)
Christ the Physician of men
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The grand design of Christ’s mission into the world was that He might be the
Physician of souls—that He might heal those who were subject to the disease of sin,
and restore them to spiritual health, life, and happiness.
I. OUR LORD WAS DIVINELY AUTHORIZED AND APPOINTED TO THIS
IMPORTANT OFFICE.
II. CHRIST, AS THE GREAT PHYSICIAN OF SOULS, HAS PROVIDED A REMEDY
OF TRANSCENDENT EFFICACY.
III. OUR HEAVENLY PHYSICIAN IS POSSESSED OF INFINITE SKILL. His
understanding is infinite. He perfectly knoweth our frame. He knows all the
distempers of our minds, with all their diversified forms and symptoms.
IV. THE PHYSICIAN OF SOULS IS POSSESSED OF INFINITE POWER AND
COMPASSION. If with one hand He extends to us a bitter potion, with the other He
upholds, strengthens, comforts us.
V. HE IS GENEROUS AND DISINTERESTED. He seeks not ours, but us. His sole
object is to do us good.
VI. HE IS ALWAYS ACCESSIBLE. NO disadvantage of place or condition can
exclude from His aid. Nor is there a single individual who may not, on every
occasion, obtain from Him the healing that he needs. (Peter Grant.)
32 I have not come to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance.”
GILL, "I came not to call the righteous,.... Such as the Scribes and Pharisees
were in their own apprehension, and in the esteem of others, who trusted in
themselves, that they were righteous, and submitted not to the righteousness of
Christ: these Christ came not to call by his grace, and therefore did not associate
himself with them: but sinners to repentance; such as the publicans, and others, with
them, were; and therefore he was chiefly with such, and chose to be among them:
these he not only called to repentance by the outward ministry of the word, but
brought them to it; he having power to bestow the grace of repentance, as well as to
call to the duty of it; See Gill on Mat_9:13. See Gill on Mar_2:17.
NISBET, "CHRIST’S CALL
‘I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’
Luke 5:32
The call of Levi and the incidents associated with it are full of interest and
instruction. Note:—
I. The power of Christ’s calling grace.—Levi belonged to a class who were a very
proverb for wickedness. Yet even he at once ‘left all, rose up, followed’ Christ,
and became a disciple.
II. Obedience to Christ’s call brings joy.—Levi ‘made a great feast in his own
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house’; and ‘there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that
repenteth.’
III. Converted souls desire to promote the conversion of others.—Levi invited ‘a
great company of publicans’ to share in his feast. Most probably these men were
his old friends and companions. He knew well what their souls needed, for he
had been one of them.
III. The chief object of Christ’s coming into the world.—We have it in the well-
known words, ‘I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’
Illustration
‘We must be careful not to suppose that Levi neglected his duty to the
government and inflicted loss on his employers, by this sudden action here
recorded, in leaving his post. It is highly probable that, like many tax-gatherers
and toll-collectors, he hired the tolls at the place where our Lord found him, by
the year, and paid in advance. This being the case, if he chose to leave his post, he
did so entirely at his own loss, but the government was not defrauded. Watson
remarks, “Had Levi been a government servant hired at a salary like our
custom-house officers, to collect the duties, he must in justice have remained
until a successor was appointed. But having himself purchased the tolls and dues
for a given period, he was at liberty to throw up the office of exacting them at
pleasure.” The word translated “feast,” is only used here and Luke 19:13. It
means a kind of large reception banquet, such as only wealthy people could give,
and at which the guests were numerous. The worldly sacrifice which Levi made
in becoming Christ’s disciple was probably greater than that made by any of the
Apostles.’
Jesus Questioned About Fasting
33 They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast
and pray, and so do the disciples of the
Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”
GILL, "And they say unto him,.... The Scribes and Pharisees, or the disciples of
John; see Mat_9:14
why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers? set times apart
frequently for fasting and prayer. The Ethiopic version reads, "why do the disciples of
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John baptize frequently, fast, and make prayers?" in which the former clause is
added; and as without any authority, so without judgment, since it must suppose that
the Pharisees did so likewise, whereas they rejected the baptism of John; for it
follows, and "likewise" the disciples of "the Pharisees"; who fasted often, at least
twice in the week, and made frequent prayers in the synagogues, and corners of the
streets, and in widows' houses.
But thine eat and drink? instead of fasting and praying; See Gill on Mat_9:14.
HENRY, "V. It was a wonder of his grace that, in the discipline under which he
trained up his disciples, he considered their frame, and proportioned their services
to their strength and standing, and to the circumstances they were in. It was
objected, as a blemish upon his conduct, that he did not make his disciples to fast so
often as those of the Pharisees and John Baptist did, Luk_5:33. He insisted most
upon that which is the soul of fasting, the mortification of sin, the crucifying of the
flesh, and the living of a life of self-denial, which is as much better than fasting and
corporal penances as mercy is better than sacrifice.
BARCLAY, "THE HAPPY COMPANY (Luke 5:33-35)
5:33-35 They said to him, "John's disciples fast frequently and pray. So do the
disciples of the Pharisees; but your disciples eat and drink." Jesus said to them,
"You cannot make the children of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is
with them. But the days will come--and when the bridegroom is taken away from
them in those days they will fast."
What amazed and shocked the scribes and the Pharisees was the normality of the
followers of Jesus. Collie Knox tells how once a well-loved chaplain said to him,
"Young Knox, don't make an agony of your religion." It was said of Burns that
he was haunted rather than helped by his religion. The orthodox Jews had an
idea--not yet altogether dead--that a man was not being religious unless he was
being uncomfortable.
They had systematised their religious observances. They fasted on Mondays and
Thursdays; and often they whitened their faces so that no one could fail to see
that they were fasting. True, fasting was not so very serious because it lasted only
from sunrise to sunset and after that ordinary food could be taken. The idea was
to call God's attention to the faster. Sometimes they even thought of it in terms of
sacrifice. By fasting a man was in essence offering nothing less than his own flesh
to God. Even prayer was systematised. Prayer was to be offered at 12 midday, 3
p.m. and 6 p.m.
Jesus was opposed radically to religion by rule. He used a vivid picture. When
two young people married in Palestine they did not go away for a honeymoon;
they stayed at home, and for a week kept open house. They dressed in their best;
sometimes they even wore crowns; for that week they were king and queen and
their word was law. They would never have a week like that again in their hard-
wrought lives. And the favoured guests who shared this festive week were called
the children of the bride-chamber.
(i) It is extremely significant that more than once Jesus likened the Christian life
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to a wedding feast. Joy is a primary Christian characteristic. It was said of a
famous American teacher by one of her students, "She made me feel as if I was
bathed in sunshine." Far too many people think of Christianity as something
which compels them to do all the things they do not want to do and hinders them
from doing all the things they do want to do. Laughter has become a sin, instead
of--as a famous philosopher called it--"a sudden glory." Robert Louis Stevenson
was right, when he wrote in The Celestial Surgeon:
If I have faltered more or less
In my great task of happiness;
If I have moved among my race
And shown no glorious morning face;
If beams from happy human eyes
Have moved me not; if morning skies,
Books, and my food, and summer rain
Knocked on my sullen heart in vain:
Lord, thy most pointed pleasure take
And stab my spirit broad awake;
Or, Lord, if too obdurate I,
Choose thou, before that spirit die,
A piercing pain, a killing sin,
And to my dead heart run them in!
(ii) At the same time Jesus knew there would come a day when the bridegroom
would be taken away. He was not caught unawares by death. Ahead he saw the
cross; but even on the way to the cross he knew the joy that no man can take
away, because it is the joy of the presence of God.
BENSON, "Luke 5:33-39. The contents of these verses occur Matthew 9:14-17,
where they are explained at large. The disciples of John fast and make
prayers — Long and solemn prayers: but thine eat and drink — Freely, though
thou professest a high degree of righteousness. And he said, Can ye make, &c. —
That is, Is it proper to make men fast and mourn during a festival solemnity? My
presence and converse render this a kind of festival to my disciples: for, as John
taught his hearers but a little before his confinement, I am the bridegroom of my
church; you cannot, therefore, in reason, expect I should command them to fast
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now, or that they should do it without such a command. But the days will
come — And that very soon; when the bridegroom shall be taken away from
them — And shall leave them exposed to much toil, hardship, and suffering;
“with their hearts full of sorrow, their hands full of work, and the world full of
enmity and rage against them.” — Henry. Then shall they fast in those days —
They shall have great need, and even shall be compelled so to do. They shall both
hunger and thirst, and even be destitute of clothing, 1 Corinthians 4:11. They
shall also keep many religious fasts; shall serve the Lord with fastings, Acts
13:2-3; for Providence shall call them to it. He spake also a parable unto them —
Taken from clothes and wine, therefore peculiarly proper at a feast. See on
Matthew 9:16-17. No man having drunk old wine — As people, who have been
accustomed to drink wine made mellow with age, do not willingly drink new
wine, which for the most part is harsh and unpleasant; so my disciples, having
been accustomed for some time to live without practising any of the severities for
which John’s disciples and the Pharisees are remarkable, cannot relish that new
way of life which they recommend. They are not yet so fully acquainted with and
established in my doctrine as to submit cheerfully to any extraordinary
hardships. To this purpose is Le Clerc’s interpretation of the verse; but Wolfius
and others apply it to the Pharisees, who were much better pleased with the
traditions of the elders than with the doctrines of Christ; because the latter
prescribed duties more difficult and disagreeable to the corrupt natures of men
than the former. Perhaps the general sense of the sentence may be, that men are
not wont to be soon or easily freed from old prejudices. As if Christ had said,
Judge how fit it is that I should not oblige my disciples to a new course of
severities at once, but should rather gradually form their characters to what the
duty of their future profession, and the usefulness of their lives, may require.
COFFMAN, "This was an effort by the Pharisees to open a conflict between
Jesus and John the Baptist; but Christ's inspired reply made use of John's
statement regarding Christ as "the bridegroom," and extending it a little with
the effect of saying, "Look, this is a wedding; and all of the rules on fasting are
suspended!" The background of this answer included the notorious behavior of
the Pharisees themselves whose gluttonous conduct at weddings was a public
scandal. There is no way that such a thrust by Jesus could have failed to
precipitate a storm of laughter. It was a center shot; and the Pharisees were
completely vanquished by it.
When the bridegroom shall be taken away ... Jesus however, was not amused.
Those vicious enemies would yet nail him up to die, and he knew it; thus, there is
this plaintive reference to the time when the bridegroom shall be taken away.
This was a clear prophecy of his Passion.
BURKITT, "An objection is here made against the disciples of our Saviour, that
they did not fast so much and so often, as John Baptist's disciples did. John's
disciples imitated their master, who was a man of an austere life; Christ's
disciples imitated him who was of a more free conversation.
Observe, therefore, our Saviour's defense, which he makes for the not fasting of
his disciples; he declares, that at present it was neither suitable nor tolerable; not
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suitable, in regard of Christ's bodily presence with them, who being their
bridegroom, and his disciples children of the bride-chamber, it was now a day of
joy and rejoicing to them, and mourning and fasting would be very improper for
them. But when the bridegroom shall be taken away, that is, Christ's bodily
presence removed, then there will be cause enough for the disciples to fast and
mourn.
Learn hence, 1. That Jesus Christ is the bridegroom of his spouse the church.
2. That this bridegroom was to be taken away.
3. That because of the bridegroom's removal, the church did, shall, and must
fast: The days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away, then shall
they fast.
Again our Saviour declares, that this discipline of fasting was not at present
tolerable for his disciples, for they were at present but raw, green, and tender,
unable to bear the severities and rigors of religion, any more than an old
garment can be a piece of new cloth to be set into it, or any more than old bottles
can bear new wine to be put into them. The sense of our Saviour's words seems
to be this, "My disciples at present are tender and weak, newly called and
converted, they cannot therefore at present undergo the austerities of relgion,
fastings, weepings, and watchfulness; but before long I shall leave them, and go
to heaven, from whence I will send down my Holy Spirit upon them, which will
enable them to all the duties that the gospel enjoins."
The lesson of instruction which we may probably gather from hence, is this, that
it is hurtful and dangerous for young converts, for weak Christians, to be put
upon the severe exercises of religion, or to be urged to the performance of all
such duties as are above their strength, but they ought to be treated with that
tenderness which becomes the mild and gentle dispensation of the gospel.
Our Saviour, says one, does here commend prudence to his ministers, in treating
their people according to their strength, and putting them upon duties according
to their time and standing. We must consult what progress our people have made
in Christianity, and manage accordingly.
CONSTABLE, "The religious leaders (Luke 5:30; Mark 2:18) and John's
disciples (Matthew 9:14; Mark 2:18) raised the question of fasting. They did so
because it was another practice, besides eating with sinners, that marked Jesus
and His disciples as unusual (cf. Luke 7:34). Since Jesus preached repentance
(Luke 5:32), why did He not expect His followers to demonstrate the accepted
signs that indicated it? These questioners made Jesus and His disciples appear to
be out of step by contrasting their behavior with that of John the Baptist's and
the Pharisees' disciples. All of those people appeared to be sympathetic to Jesus
and righteous.
The Old Testament required only one day of fasting, namely, the Day of
Atonement (Leviticus 16:29), but over the years additional fasts had become
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traditional. Evidently John and his disciples fasted periodically. The Pharisees
fasted every Monday and Thursday (cf. Luke 18:12) as well as on four other
days in memory of Jerusalem's destruction (Zechariah 7:3; Zechariah 7:5;
Zechariah 8:19). [Note: Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, s.v.
"nestis," by J. Behm, 4:930.] Jesus did not oppose fasting, but He criticized its
abuse (Luke 4:2; Luke 22:16; Luke 22:18; Matthew 6:16-18).
Luke alone mentioned the reference of Jesus' questioners to prayer. He probably
did this to clarify the circumstances in which fasting happened for his readers.
The questioners implied that Jesus' disciples neglected prayer as well as fasting.
PETT, "The complaint is brought by ‘they’ who are unidentified. They may be
puzzled onlookers or critical opponents. Their problem is that while both the
disciples of John and of the Pharisees regularly fast, and make supplications, this
is not true of His own disciples. They rather eat and drink. This last links with
the feasting in the previous passage. But the question is concerned with whether
His disciples have the right attitude to spiritual things. Is it not right to fast?
We know that the Pharisees encouraged twice a week fasting (Luke 18:12) on
Mondays and Thursdays, and may presume that John’s disciples did similarly,
although not necessarily on the same days. The purpose of such fasting was
linked with mourning because the Kingly Rule of God had not yet come, and
probably in the case of John’s disciples because he was in prison. The
‘supplications’ would be in order to put right what was wrong, and now that
Jesus was here would be no longer necessary. They would be replaced by new
supplications as given in the Lord’s prayer.
‘The disciples of the Pharisees.’ This is shorthand for the disciples of the
Pharisaic Rabbis/Scribes (there were also Sadducean Scribes) who were the
Pharisaic equivalent of John.
Verses 33-35
A Question About Fasting. Jesus Has Come As The Promised Bridegroom
(5:33-35).
The revelation of the glory of Jesus continues. Not only is He the Son of Man
Who can forgive sins, and God’s Physician Who can restore the outcast, but he is
the Promised Bridegroom Who brings rejoicing and a new beginning for His
people.
The revelation results from a mundane question about fasting. We can analyse
this chapter as follows:
a They said to him, “The disciples of John fast often, and make supplications,
likewise also the disciples of the Pharisees, But yours eat and drink” (Luke 5:33).
b Jesus said to them, “Can you make the sons of the bride-chamber fast, while
the bridegroom is with them?
c But the days will come, and when the bridegroom shall be taken away from
them, then will they fast in those days” (Luke 5:34-35)
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d He spoke also a parable to them, “No man tears a
piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment, or else he will tear the
new, and also the piece from the new will not agree with the old” (Luke 5:36).
c And no man puts new wine into old wineskins, or else
the new wine will burst the skins, and itself will be spilled, and the skins will
perish” (Luke 5:37).
b “But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins”
(Luke 5:38).
A And no man having drunk old wine desires new, for
he says, “The old is good” (Luke 5:39).
Note that in ‘a’ the disciples of John and the Pharisees prefer the old ways, and
in the parallel those who drink old wine prefer it to the new. In ‘b’ the sons of the
bride-chamber opt for the new ways, and in the parallel new wine must be put
into fresh wineskins. In ‘c’ there is to be mourning because the Bridegroom will
be taken away, and in the parallel the use of old wineskins with new wine result
in a perishing. In ‘d’ the central thought is that the old garment must not be
patched with the new.
BI 33-34, "And they said unto Him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and
make prayers?
Christian mutual tolerance
The whole passage illustrates the breadth and tolerance of our Lord’s teaching. He is
claiming for His disciples that their spiritual life be left to unfold itself naturally, that
they be not fettered by forms, that they be not judged by religious traditions and old
habits, that they be free to show themselves glad when they have cause of gladness,
and that their expressions of sorrow and their self-discipline follow their feeling of
sorrow and their need of discipline. He adds also a plea for the sincere among the
Pharisees and John’s disciples; He tells His own followers that they must be tolerant
of these. No man accustomed to old wine will readily relish new. These parables have
a perpetual application. They affirm the propriety of all forms of religious life that are
the true outcome of spiritual experience, and they plead for consideration of one
another in the differences which perpetually arise between Christians of varying
experience and habitude.
I. CHRIST’S VINDICATION OF FREEDOM TO ALL HIS DISCIPLES.
II. CHRIST’S PLEA FOR CONSIDERATION OF ONE ANOTHER. (A. Mackennal, D.
D.)
Wisdom justified of her children
The outward religious life of Christ differed from that of John. One was social, the
other ascetic. To the astonish ment created by this difference among worldly people
and Pharisees, Jesus voucheared no reply but “wisdom is justified of her children.”
Once, however, He did condescend to explain the difference between His life and the
life of John. And the reply goes deep into the grounds of a religious life.
I. THE REASONS FOR THE ASTONISHMENT WHICH CAUSED THE QUESTION,
1. The Divine life was social, whereas the popular conceptions of religious life are
drawn naturally from those evidences which are most visible, fasting and prayers.
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2. There is a tendency in disciples to copy and idolize the peculiarities of a
master. Matthew tells us that it was John’s disciples who put the question of the
text.
3. The indifference of Christ to ascetic forms astonished, because there is a real
influence in asceticism. The principle of Christianity is from within outwards. The
ascetic principle reverses this.
II. THE REASONS FOR WHICH JESUS DID NOT IMPOSE THE ASCETIC LIFE ON
HIS DISCIPLES.
1. Because it is unnatural “Can the children of the bridechamber mourn?” &c.
2. Because of the results. The result of the forcing system is twofold:
(1) The destruction of religion. The weak old wine-skins, the weak old cloth,
are rent.
(2) Hypocrisy. The piece agreeth not. No harmony between the form and the
life. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
Privileges as well as duties to be attended to
When Dr. John Mason Good, the distinguished and excellent author of the “Book of
Nature,” was on his death-bed he said, “I have taken what unfortunately the
generality of Christians too much take. I have taken the middle walk of Christianity. I
have endeavoured to live up to its duties and doctrines, but I have lived below its
privileges.” Is not this, alas l but too true of the great body of those of us who call
ourselves Christians, and who may indeed be so? Are we not living below the
spirituality, and of course without the enjoyment, which God designs for His
children, and so without the example and usefulness that should mark the life of
every Christian? Far better, with Whitefield, to pray that he might be “an
extraordinary Christian,” and to endeavour, by God’s grace, so to live as to be an
example to all of a true and living Christianity.
Luke 5:33-38
No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old
The patched garment
We appreciate easily the offensiveness of what is incongruous.
It is fatal alike to beauty, to symmetry, and to effectiveness. A sparrow is not as
beautiful as a bird of Paradise, yet the little brown bird is a pleasant sight. Try to
fasten upon him the gorgeous plumage of the other bird, and you make him
ridiculous at once. His beauty consists in being simply himself. An inferior thing that
is constant to its own ideal, consistent, true, is a far more useful and a far more
pleasurable thing than when you try to make it look like something else, or do the
work of something else, or take it out of its place and put it in circumstances to which
it has no adaptation. Take a plain stone wall, for instance. There is nothing very
artistic about it, but if it be well and truly built, a simple wall and nothing else, it is
not an unpleasing object. But now go to the ruins of that Gothic church, and bring
away the sculptured keystone of an arch, the fragments of a carved screen, a column
with an elaborately cut capital, and sundry pinnacles and gargoyles, and work these
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into the masonry of your wall, and set up your pinnacles along the top, and let your
gargoyles protrude their hideous heads at intervals: you have made a ridiculous thing
out of your stone wall. People at once see that something is there which belongs to
quite another order of things. Everybody acknowledges the difference between the
church and the plain wall, and the difference offends no one so long as each keeps its
place and is simply itself. But the attempt to patch one with the other emphasizes the
difference offensively. The rent is made worse: the beauty is taken from the church,
and the wall is made ugly. (M. R. Vincent, D. D.)
Theology must tally with experience
I remember an old farmer who, when he was about sixty years of age, professed faith
in Christ. He was full of zeal, and, for a time, was like a flaming torch in the
neighbourhood. I never saw a man who seemed to feel so keenly the awful risk he had
run in delaying his salvation so long. He could not be in a prayer-meeting without
rising to warn his fellow-men against his mistake. But he was also an ignorant man,
and his new experience only deepened his sense of his ignorance of the things of God;
and he used to shut himself in his room with volumes on systematic theology, and
painfully wade through their contents, and then come down to the prayer-meeting
and attempt to reproduce what he had read; and you can easily imagine the result. So
long as he kept to his own experience, so long as he was just himself, speaking of
what he knew and felt, he spoke with power. The moment he cried to patch the
theologian upon the plain farmer, he spoiled it all. The theology was ruined, and so
was the personal experience. The ignorance which no one would have thought of in
the plain man speaking out of a full heart, was thrust into prominence by the
ridiculous attempt to play the part of a theological teacher. The rent was made worse.
(M. R. Vincent, D. D.)
The unity of the gospel
The gospel is a unit, one and inseparable. It is sufficient unto itself. It asks no aid
from any source outside of itself. It needs no combination to develop its peculiar
virtues. The great truth it sets before men is Christ all, and in all. And it does its work
for and in man upon the condition that it be received as it is; entire, adding nothing
and subtracting nothing. It does not engage that there shall be virtue in its fragments
apart from the whole. You may take up the lock of that rifle, and pull and snap it as
much as you please, and it will be a good while before you shoot anything. You must
combine it with the barrel and the stock, Neither lock, stock, nor barrel is good for
anything, except as they together make up a rifle. Similarly, 1 cannot answer for the
effect of a single Christian precept or doctrine disjoined from the whole. It is only a
patch, cut out from a good, solid garment, and refusing to match with any other
fabric. (M. R. Vincent, D. D.)
No patch-work morality
You say, and say honestly no doubt, that you want to be right and to do right, but you
can accept the gospel only in part. Christ’s moral code is all very well, but the
doctrine of the new birth you cannot accept. So you go to cutting patches again. You
cut the moral code clean from the new birth. You will keep Christ’s precepts without
being a new creature. You will sew the new code upon the old nature. Very well. Some
people in a city think they will build a fountain. They engage an engineer, and a noted
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sculptor. A beautiful design is carried out in stone or bronze. The water is to pour
from vases in the hands of sea-nymphs, and to spout from the horns of tritons. At
last all is ready. The crowd assemble to witness the opening of the fountain. The
signal is given, there is a little spirt from a jet here and there, and then all is dry as
before. The stupid engineer has drawn his water from a point almost as low as the
base of the fountain, and there is no head to send the water through the pipes. But a
more competent workman comes to the rescue. He lays a large main. He leads it to a
deep lake or reservoir far up above the town; and now, at the signal, the crystal
waters shoot high into the air, and drape the beautiful forms with their falling spray.
Oh, my friend, I greatly fear you have not rightly estimated that moral system of
Christ. It is grander than you think; higher than you are aware; and to make your life
flow through it to refresh the world, you will need something besides the pressure of
your feeble will. Your reservoir is too low down. If your life is to fill that godlike out-
line of virtue, its impulse must be Divine. If your impulse is earthly, your life will be
earthly. That moral code was meant for a new man, and nothing but a birth from
above, nothing but an impulse generated and maintained by God Himself, will ever
enable you to live it. The new code and the new man will not be separated. If they
shall not go together the gospel will be caricatured by you, and the new precepts will
break loose continually from the old will and the old passions and the old habits, and
the rent will be worse. (M. R. Vincent, D. D.)
Worthlessness of a patched character
Men talk of turning over a new leaf—of beginning over again. How many times you
hear it. “Yes, I have been careless, self-indulgent, hasty and passionate; I am going to
try to do better.” Never does the old year strike its last hour, that hundreds and
thousands of people are not lying wakeful and thoughtful upon their beds, or sitting
with sober meditation in their closets, and gathering up their faculties into mighty
resolutions for the year to come. “ I will swear no more. I will drink no more. I will go
to the house of God. I will begin to read my Bible.” The resolutions are good and
honest, no doubt. It is a good thing that one’s attention has been called to those
faults. It will be a better thing if he can carry out his resolution and master them; but,
alas, neither the good resolutions nor their accomplishment go far enough. It is
patch-work still; patching pieces of the gospel on the old nature; a temperance piece,
and a Bible-reading piece, and a church-going piece, upon a nature which, in its very
quality and essence, is estranged from God. The man gives up an indulgence here and
there, says to God in effect, “Your moral law may come and occupy this ground which
has been occupied by my misdoing”; but such an entrance of God’s law is like the
occupation of some remote outpost of a fortified town by an invader. The citadel is
still unreached. The situation is commanded by the garrison of the town. There is no
conquest until the invader gets in there. (M. R. Vincent, D. D.)
Christianity will not amalgamate with Judaism
If any of the Pharisees, moved by the miracles which Christ wrought, had felt
disposed to receive Him as a teacher from God, the thing which they would most
naturally have attempted would have been the making a compound of their own
religion and the Christian, so that, whilst they kept what they liked most in their
tenets and observances, they might have the advantage of the new revelation; and
therefore, what Christ had to denounce in the case of these Pharisees was the lurking
notion that Christianity might admit some admixtures from other religions, so that
men might bring into its profession their own favourite theories, and find them
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amalgamate very well with its doctrines. This notion Christ denounces most
emphatically. Christianity, though far enough from being a new revelation, required
that the scene should be swept clear for its institutions, peremptorily refusing that
there should be blended with the revealed mode of a sinner’s acceptance anything of
ceremonial ordinance, demanding to be received without admixture, or rejected
without reserve. And it is against this that men in every age have rebelled. They have
wanted not only to keep some part of their own favourite systems, but to keep it for
the very end which, according to their own theory, it had heretofore answered. Thus
generally with good works. It does not content them that Christianity demands good
works, that it makes salvation impossible without them, and thus transfers to its
system the favourite part of their own; they have been accustomed to account their
works meritorious, and they would fain have Christianity account them so too; and
this Christianity will not do. If it require and retain fasting and almsgiving, it will not
allow them any justifying merit; it may be said to alter their character in granting
them admission. Thus, whilst it has much in common with other systems, it is wholly
against the being compounded with those systems, in order that the produce may
give a mixed mode of obtaining salvation. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Christianity a new dispensation
Our Lord is referring to the proposal to enforce the ascetic leanings of the
forerunner, and the pharisaic regulations which had become a parasitic growth on
the old dispensation, upon the glad simplicity of the new dispensation. To act thus
was much the same thing as using the gospel by way of a mere adjunct to—a mere
purple patch upon—the old garment of the law. The teaching of Christ was a new and
seamless robe which would only be spoilt by being rent. It was impossible to tear a
few doctrines and precepts from Christianity, and use them as ornaments and
improvements of Mosaism. If this were attempted
(1) the gospel would be maimed by the rending from its entirety;
(2) the contrast between the new and the old system would be made more
glaring;
(3) the decay of the evanescent institutions would only be violently
accelerated. (Archdeacon Farrar.)
Suitable external forms
Jesus here applies a great principle to all external rites and ceremonies. They have
their value. As the wineskin retains the wine, so are feelings and aspirations aided,
and even preserved, by suitable external forms. Without these, emotion would lose
itself for want of restraint, wasted like spilt wine, by diffuseness. And if the forms are
unsuitable and outworn, the same calamity happens, the strong new feelings break
through them, “and the wine perisheth, and the skins.” The coming of a new
revelation meant the repeal of old observances, and Christ refused to sew His new
faith like a patchwork upon ancient institutions, of which it would only complete the
ruin. Thus He anticipated the decision of His apostles releasing the Gentiles from the
law of Moses. (Dean Chadwick.)
A mixed garment
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Just as it was forbidden by the law of Moses to wear a mixed garment of linen and of
wool, so there was a deeper and a more essential incongruity involved in every
attempt to patch the old and tattered garments of the law with the new and seamless
robe of the gospel. Just as the insertion of a piece of undressed cloth, which shrinks
when wetted, and takes along with it a part of the old and worn garment, does but
increase the rent which it is designed to mend; just as the unfermented wine put into
old skins, bursts the skins and perishes with them, even so our Lord declares that all
attempts to combine the bondage of the law with the liberty of the gospel involves a
fundamental ignorance of the nature and design of both. The two similitudes
employed by our Lord seem to exhibit this truth in different ways.
1. The similitude of the old garment patched with a piece of new cloth seems
more immediately applicable to external rites and ceremonies, such as the
observance of those prescribed days and months and years which caused St. Paul
to stand in doubt of the Galatian Church.
2. The similitude of the new wine seems to have reference to the inner life and
spirit—the very life and soul of the Christian dispensation which could not be
restrained within the trammels of the worldly sanctuary of Judaism. The history
of the Church, in all after ages, teaches how greatly this lesson was needed, and
how imperfectly it has been learned. (C. J. Elliot, M. A.)
New cloth on an old garment
This, we may add, is what the Church of Christ has too often done in her work as the
converter of the nations. Sacramental ordinances, or monastic vows, or Puritan
formulae, or Quaker conventionalities, have been engrafted on lives that were
radically barbarous or heathen, or worldly, and the contrast has been glaring, and the
rent made worse. The more excellent way which our Lord pursued, and which it is
our wisdom to pursue, is to take the old garment and to transform it, as by a
renewing power from within, thread by thread, till old things are passed away and all
things are become new. (Dean Plumptre.)
The broken bottles
The doctrines of religion demand a certain suitableness, or preparedness, in the
persons to whom they are taught; and if there be no attempt in the persons to fit
themselves for the doctrines—to adapt the bottles to the wine—there is nothing to be
looked for but that the doctrines will be wasted, and the persons, like the bottles, be
only injured by what they have received. It may be the pure, the generous wine which
is poured forth—the preacher may dispense nothing but the unadulterated gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. But the great mass of hearers come up to God’s house without
the smallest preparation of heart, with scarce a thought given beforehand to the
solemn duty in which they are about to engage. In place of having been secretly in
prayer that God would give unto them the hearing ear and the understanding heart;
in place of having been endeavouring to purge out the old leaven of worldliness and
prejudice, that so they might bring with them candid and unoccupied minds; they
rush to the sanctuary, as they would to some scene of business or pleasure;
conversing, perhaps, up to the moment of entering it on politics, or scandal, or
commerce, or fashion; and continuing to give the same things their thoughts, when
restrained by the place from giving them their tongues. And what is to be looked for
from the attempt to pour the new wine into these unseasoned bottles, but that the
wine will be lost and the bottles themselves broken? Yes—you are not to overlook this
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peculiarity in the parable—the bottles are broken through the action of the wine; not
through any external violence, but simply through the workings of the generous
liquid. It is thus with the moral facts which the parable illustrates. The preaching of
the gospel is no inefficient thing, producing no injury where it produces no benefit is
“the savour of death unto death,” where it fails to be “the savour of life unto life.”
This may be little thought of by numbers who, perhaps, attend church regularly on
Sundays, and spend the intermediate days as those who are ignorant of judgment to
come. Yet it is of all hardening things the most hardening, to remain unrenewed
under the preaching of the gospel. Alas l for an audience accustomed to hear the
gospel, but to hear it only with the understanding whilst they shut up the heart! I
may pour in the wine—but, at every fresh pouring, there is, so to speak, a fresh rent
in the bottles. Every Sunday does but make the matter worse, dismissing the hearers
to their engrossing pursuits, and their ensnaring amusements, but with another
unimproved opportunity for which to account, another warning neglected, another
effort on God’s part resisted, and, therefore, another nerve added to the power of
resistance. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
New wine in old bottles
As the action of organized churches has too often reproduced the mistake of sewing
the patch of new cloth on the old garment, so in the action of enthusiastic or mystic
sects, in the history of Montanism, Quakerism in its earlier stages, the growth of the
so-called Catholic and Apostolic Church, which had its origin in the history of
Edward Irving, we have that of pouring “new wine into old bottles.” (Dean
Plumptre.)
Permanence of the old
When Mr. Lincoln was a young man, he was awakened one night by the good deacon
with whom he boarded, and told that the stars were falling and the world coming to
an end. He looked out of the window, and saw the air full of meteors, but, looking
beyond, he saw the grand old constellations firm in their places where he had always
seen them from childhood; and he went to bed, feeling that all was well so long as the
old constellations were unmoved. (D. E. Lancing, D. D.).
34 Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends
of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?
GILL, "And he said unto them,.... The disciples of John, or the Scribes and
Pharisees:
can ye make the children of the bride chamber fast, while the
bridegroom is with them? signifying, that he was the bridegroom, and his
disciples the children of the bride chamber; and that as it is unreasonable to expect,
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and morally impossible, that persons, attending the festivals of a nuptial solemnity,
should be engaged in severe fastings; so it was not to be thought, that whilst Christ
was corporeally present with his disciples, that they should be prevailed upon to live
such an austere and mortified life.
Jesus compared the situation to a wedding, which calls for joy. He meant that He
was the bridegroom who had come to claim His bride, Israel (cf. Isaiah 54:5-8;
Isaiah 62:5; Jeremiah 2:2; Hosea 2:19-20; Hosea 2:23; Ezekiel 16). His disciples
were His friends who rejoiced at this prospect with Him. Therefore to compel
them to fast was inappropriate. Thus Jesus rebuked His questioners. However,
Jesus implied that the bridegroom would die. This was one of Jesus' early
intimations of His death. Then His disciples would fast. They probably did this
after His crucifixion but before His resurrection. They also do it after His
ascension and before His return to the earth (cf. John 16:16-24).
35 But the time will come when the bridegroom
will be taken from them; in those days they will
fast.”
GILL, "But the days will come,.... And that in a very little time, as they did:
when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them: as their master, John,
was taken away from them, and now in prison, and therefore it was no wonder they
mourned and fasted; signifying, that in a short time he, the bridegroom of his church
and people, should be taken away by death:
and then they shall fast in those days; mourn, and be humbled, of which fasting
was, a sign, for the death of their Lord, and on account of the many afflictions and
persecutions they should endure for his sake; See Gill on Mat_9:15.
HENRY, "VI. It was a wonder of his grace that Christ reserved the trials of his
disciples for their latter times, when by his grace they were in some good measure
better prepared and fitted for them than they were at first. Now they were as the
children of the bride-chamber, when the bridegroom is with them, when they have
plenty and joy, and every day is a festival. Christ was welcomed wherever he came,
and they for his sake, and as yet they met with little or no opposition; but this will not
last always. The days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from
them, Luk_5:35. When Christ shall leave them with their hearts full of sorrow, their
hands full of work, and the world full of enmity and rage against them, then shall
they fast, shall not be so well fed as they are now. We both hunger and thirst and are
naked, 1Co_4:11. Then they shall keep many more religious fasts than they do now,
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for Providence will call them to it; they will then serve the Lord with fastings, Act_
13:2.
PETT, "Jesus therefore points out that such fasting would be inappropriate. The
Bridegroom has come. The Kingly Rule of God is at hand. Those therefore who
are benefiting from it should not be fasting but rejoicing.
His first point is that fasting is reserved for times of mourning and unhappiness,
mourning over failure and unhappiness about sin, and especially mourning
because God has not yet acted in history and the Messiah and the Holy Spirit’s
outpouring have not come. But those who are appointed at a wedding to be with
the bridegroom to sustain him cannot fast, for they would then mar the
celebrations. Rather must they eat and drink and be joyful. A Jewish wedding
lasted for seven days, and they were days of feasting and merriment during
which the bridegroom would be celebrating. And he would have with him his
closest friends to share his joy with him. To seek to fast under such
circumstances would be an insult. (The Rabbis indeed excluded people at a
wedding feast from the need to fast). Thus a unique occasion, and only a unique
occasion exempted men from fasting.
This in itself was a remarkable claim, that because He had come men need not
fast. It was to claim divine prerogative. Moses could not have said it. Elijah could
not have said it. John the Baptiser could not have said it. It required a greater
than they.
But unquestionably Jesus was conveying a deeper message even than this, as the
next verse brings out. He was pointing out that the Messiah had come. He was
pointing to Himself as the great Bridegroom whose presence meant that men
need not fast, the great Bridegroom promised in the Scriptures. In Isaiah 62:5,
the prophet had said “As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so will your
God rejoice over you”. The picture there is emphasised and poignant. Isaiah
points out that they have been called Forsaken, and their land Desolate, but they
will be renamed because God delights in them and their land will be married.
They will become God’s bride. He will be their Bridegroom. So there God is the
Bridegroom, and His restored people are the Bride, and it is clearly pointing to
the time of restoration. Thus Jesus, by describing Himself as the Bridegroom of
God’s restored people, shows that He is uniquely standing in the place of God
and introducing the time of restoration.
A similar vivid picture is also brought out in Jeremiah 2:2 where the Lord says
of His people, “I remember concerning you the kindness of your youth, the love
of your espousals, how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was
not sown.” Here we have the Lord as the Bridegroom in waiting (compare
Jeremiah 2:32. Compare also Ezekiel 16:8-14). It is thus very doubtful whether a
discerning listener would fail to catch at least something of this implication.
Furthermore that Jesus emphatically saw Himself as the Bridegroom comes out
elsewhere in the Gospels. Consider the marriage feast for the son (Matthew
22:2-14) and the Bridegroom at the wedding where the foolish virgins were
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excluded (Matthew 25:1-13), both clear pictures of Jesus. So His being the
Bridegroom was a theme of His. And John the Baptiser described Him in the
same way (John 3:29). Thus Jesus was by this declaring in another way that the
‘the Kingly Rule of God has drawn near’, and that He was a unique figure come
from God, the heavenly Bridegroom, God’s Messiah.
But if God has come on earth as the Bridegroom, how can there be fasting by
those who have recognised Him and welcomed Him? It would not be seemly. The
others only fast because the truth has not come home to them.
PETT, "But then Jesus comes in with an ominous warning. The words He has
spoken confirm that we are to see in the picture of the Bridegroom something
significant concerning Jesus. And this is clear in that the Bridegroom, Who was
now here, will one day be ‘taken away’ forcibly and then they will have good
cause to fast. Jesus knew already from the voice at His baptism that He was
called on to fulfil the ministry of the suffering Servant, and this had been
confirmed by John’s words, “Behold the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin
of the world” (John 1:29). Thus we have here the first indication of His
awareness of the brutal end that awaited Him. He knew that He must face
suffering on behalf of His people. And then indeed His disciples would fast.
Interestingly the words do not encourage regular fasting. The disciples would
indeed sorrow but their sorrow would be turned into joy (John 16:20). Thus the
need for fasting would quickly pass and would be no more. There is no real
encouragement to fasting here. It is not, however forbidden. The point is that it is
not required. Those who serve the King are not bound by petty regulations but
are concerned with how they can please Him. If they fast it is in order to better
serve Him, not because it is necessary for their own spiritual lives, for as regards
this He is more than sufficient.
So we have here both Jesus’ testimony to the fact that He is God’s Sent One, over
Whom men should rejoice, and with it an indication that He is aware of the
future that awaits Him. The cross would not catch Him by surprise (compare
Luke 2:35).
This declaration that Jesus has come as the heavenly Bridgroom and is
inaugurating a new world is then brought out by two illustrations.
It Is The Time of New Clothing and New Wine (Luke 5:36-39).
By His parable here Jesus is declaring that it is a time of new clothing and new
wine. The old must not be supplemented by the new, but the new must replace
the old. We are reminded by this of God’s promises to reclothe His people
(Zechariah 3:4-5 compare Matthew 22:11-12; and the idea in Ezekiel 16:10-14
with 59-63), and to give them new wine to drink (Isaiah 25:6 compare John
2:1-11).
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36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a
piece out of a new garment to patch an old one.
Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment,
and the patch from the new will not match the
old.
GILL, "And he spake also a parable unto them,.... The Scribes and Pharisees;
illustrating what he had just now said:
no man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; by "a piece of a new
garment" meaning the new and upstart notions and traditions of the elders, which
were so in comparison of the law of Moses; and by the "old", the robe of their own
righteousness, wrought out in obedience to the moral and ceremonial law: and Christ
suggests, that to join these together, in order to patch up a garment of righteousness,
to appear in before God, was equally as weak and ridiculous, as to put a piece of new
and undressed cloth into a garment that was old, and wore threadbare.
If otherwise, then both the new, maketh the rent; that is, much worse than it
was, as it is expressed both in Matthew and Mark; the old and new cloth being
unsuitable, and not of equal strength to hold together: by this Christ intimates, that
the Jews, by being directed to the observance of the traditions of the elders, were
drawn off from a regard to the commandments of God; so that instead of having a
better righteousness, they had one much the worse, a ragged, and a rent one.
And the piece that was taken out of the new, agreeth not with the old; and
so the statutes of men, and the ordinances of God, or the traditions of the elders, and
the commands of God, are no more like one another, than the piece of a new and an
old garment, and as unlike is obedience to the one, and to the other;
See Gill on Mat_9:16. See Gill on Mat_9:17. See Gill on Mar_2:21.
See Gill on Mar_2:22 where this, and the following parable, are more largely
explained.
HENRY, "VII. It was a wonder of his grace that he proportioned their exercises to
their strength. He would not put new cloth upon an old garment (Luk_5:36), nor
new wine into old bottles (Luk_5:37, Luk_5:38); he would not, as soon as ever he
had called them out of the world, put them upon the strictnesses and austerities of
discipleship, lest they should be tempted to fly off. When God brought Israel out of
Egypt, he would not bring them by the way of the Philistines, lest they should repent,
when they saw war, and return to Egypt, Exo_13:17.
JAMISON, "The incongruities mentioned in Luk_5:36-38 were intended to
illustrate the difference between the genius of the old and new economies, and the
danger of mixing up the one with the other. As in the one case supposed, “the rent is
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made worse,” and in the other, “the new wine is spilled,” so by a mongrel mixture of
the ascetic ritualism of the old with the spiritual freedom of the new economy, both
are disfigured and destroyed. The additional parable in Luk_5:39, which is peculiar
to Luke, has been variously interpreted. But the “new wine” seems plainly to be the
evangelical freedom which Christ was introducing; and the old, the opposite spirit of
Judaism: men long accustomed to the latter could not be expected “straightway” - all
at once - to take a liking for the former; that is, “These inquiries about the difference
between My disciples and the Pharisees,” and even John’s, are not surprising; they
are the effect of a natural revulsion against sudden change, which time will cure; the
new wine will itself in time become old, and so acquire all the added charms of
antiquity. What lessons does this teach, on the one hand, to those who unreasonably
cling to what is getting antiquated; and, on the other, to hasty reformers who have no
patience with the timidity of their weaker brethren!
BARCLAY, "THE NEW IDEA (Luke 5:36-39)
5:36-39 He spoke a parable to them like this: "Nobody puts a patch from a new
garment on an old garment. If he does the new will tear it and the patch from the
new will not match the old. No one puts new wine into old skins. If he does the
new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled and the skins will be ruined.
But new wine must be put into new skins, and no one who drinks old wine wishes
for new for he says, 'The old is good.'"
There is in religious people a kind of passion for the old. Nothing moves more
slowly than a church. The trouble with the Pharisees was that the whole religious
outlook of Jesus was so startlingly new they simply could not adjust to it.
The mind soon loses the quality of elasticity and will not accept new ideas. Jesus
used two illustrations. "You cannot put a new patch on an old garment," he said,
"The strong new cloth will only rip the rent in the old cloth wider." Bottles in
Palestine were made of skin. When new wine was put into them it fermented and
gave off gas. If the bottle was new, there was a certain elasticity in the skin and it
gave with the pressure; but if it was old, the skin was dry and hard and it would
burst. "Don't," says Jesus, "let your mind become like an old wineskin. People
say of wine, 'The old is better.' It may be at the moment, but they forget that it is
a mistake to despise the new wine, for the day will come when it has matured and
it will be best of all."
The whole passage is Jesus' condemnation of the shut mind and a plea that men
should not reject new ideas.
(i) We should never be afraid of adventurous thought. If there is such a person as
the Holy Spirit, God must ever be leading us into new truth. Fosdick somewhere
asks, "How would medicine fare if doctors were restricted to drugs and methods
and techniques three hundred years old?" And yet our standards of orthodoxy
are far older than that. The man with something new has always to fight. Galileo
was branded a heretic when he held that the earth moved round the sun. Lister
had to fight for antiseptic technique in surgical operations. Simpson had to battle
against opposition in the merciful use of chloroform. Let us have a care that
when we resent new ideas we are not simply demonstrating that our minds are
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grown old and inelastic; and let us never shirk the adventure of thought.
(ii) We should never be afraid of new methods. That a thing has always been
done may very well be the best reason for stopping doing it. That a thing has
never been done may very well be the best reason for trying it. No business could
exist on outworn methods--and yet the church tries to. Any business which had
lost as many customers as the church has would have tried new ways long ago--
but the church tends to resent all that is new.
Once on a world tour Rudyard Kipling saw General Booth come aboard the
ship. He came aboard to the beating of tambourines which Kipling's orthodox
soul resented. Kipling got to know the General and told him how he disliked
tambourines and all their kindred. Booth looked at him. "Young man," he said,
"if I thought I could win one more soul for Christ by standing on my head and
beating a tambourine with my feet I would learn how to do it."
There is a wise and an unwise conservatism. Let us have a care that in thought
and in action we are not hidebound reactionaries when we ought, as Christians,
to be gallant adventurers.
COFFMAN, "There are three comparisons: (1) new cloth on an old garment, (2)
new wine in old wineskins, and (3) no man having drunk old wine desires new.
The meaning is very similar in all three, and they stress Jesus' unwillingness to
make the ceremonial fasts of the Old Testament a large feature of the new
kingdom, the necessity of finding new "wineskins" (disciples) who would be able
to receive his new teaching (as in the call of Matthew), and Jesus' understanding
of the fact that many of John's disciples (though not all) would prefer the old
ways to the new methods of the approaching kingdom.
The variations between Matthew and Luke derive from Luke's fuller report.
Whereas Matthew mentioned patching the old garment with "new cloth," Luke
has the fuller account of the "new cloth" having been rent from a "new
garment." Matthew abbreviated the discussion, even omitting altogether the
third analogy given by Luke. Regarding the fundamental reasons for such
variations, they resulted from:
(a) The fact that Jesus himself varied his parables, illustrations, and teachings
from place to place and time to time. There is no more unfounded assumption
possible than the premise of some in the critical schools to the effect that Jesus
gave, for example, the beatitudes, or the prayer he taught the disciples to pray, in
one form only and upon only one occasion. Never! In a ministry that lasted
perhaps fifty months and covered literally hundreds of villages and cities, it is
absolutely mandatory to assume that Jesus' teachings were frequently varied as
to their exact words. The opposite view is disproved by the variations reported in
the sacred Gospels as well as by the common practice of speakers in all
generations. Anyone following the speeches of a candidate for public office has
observed the variations which always mark "the speech" given in many different
localities. Common sense demands the supposition that Jesus' teaching, repeated
hundreds of times, made use of countless variations and subtle changes to bring
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out additional truth or avoid the inevitable misunderstandings that would have
resulted from a robot-like repetition of the same words over and over. The view
that Jesus taught always in the same "verbatim et literatim" style is
preposterous. Even when he quoted the inspired prophets of the Old Testament,
he did nothing like that.
(b) Another source of variations in the Gospels was in the choice of materials by
sacred authors, some selecting parables, some sayings, etc., not found in the
others; and also in the particular stress or emphasis intended by the authors.
They also wrote from diverse viewpoints. John gave the seven great signs;
Matthew the seven great woes against the Pharisees; and Luke a vast body of
material of particular interest to Gentiles, etc., etc. The diversity in the Gospels is
so extensive as to deny, absolutely, any possibility of their being in any sense
copies one of another.
Inherent in the threefold analogies of the kingdom Jesus gave at Matthew's
dinner party is the fact of the "newness" of the kingdom of Christ. It was not to
be merely a patch imposed upon Judaism, nor a mere refilling of old forms with
vital new truth. "New wine ... new garment ..." Here was a glimpse of the truth
stressed by the apostles, "Behold all things are become new!" (2 Corinthians
5:17).
CONSTABLE, "Jesus next illustrated with parables the fact that His coming
introduced a radical break with former religious customs. He did not come to
patch Judaism up but to inaugurate a new order. Had Israel accepted Jesus this
new order would have been the messianic kingdom, but since the Jews rejected
Him it became the church. Eventually it will become the messianic kingdom.
Simply adding His new order to Judaism would have two detrimental effects. It
would damage the new order, and it would not preserve the old order. It would
also appear incongruous. Only Luke's account includes the first effect, that it
would damage the new order. Luke evidently included this to help his Christian
readers see that Israel and the church are distinct.
"The real point is the incompatibility of the two pieces of cloth, and the contrast
of new and old is implicit.... Whereas in Mk. the deficiencies of Judaism cannot
be mended simply by a Christian 'patch', in Lk. the emphasis is on the
impossibility of trying to graft something Christian onto Judaism." [Note:
Marshall, The Gospel . . ., p. 227.]
PETT, "Jesus is here declaring that He has brought something new which must
not be spoiled by mingling it with the old. He is bringing the new clothing of the
Kingly Rule of God.
In context the application of it is against fasting. It is saying that we should not
take old ideas, (in context the ideas about fasting), and apply them to a new
situation, or try to fit the new into the old. That would be like cutting a piece
from a new garment so as to mend the old. That would be ridiculous. Both
garments would be spoiled. To put together the ideas of the old ways and the new
would be incompatible. They do not match. With Jesus everything has begun
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anew.
This suggests that He saw fasting as being mainly for the old dispensation, but
not for the new. The old world fasted because they waited in penitence for God
to act. But now God was acting and fasting was a thing of the past. Now was the
time for rejoicing.
However, the words also contain within them the general idea that what Jesus
Himself has come to bring is new. ‘The Kingly Rule of God has drawn near’. So
now is to be a time of rejoicing and everything must be looked at in its light. The
old had past, and the new has come (compare 2 Corinthians 5:17). Two examples
of this appear in the Old Testament. The first is in Ezekiel 16 where Israel,
having been splendidly clothed by God is defiled because of her idolatrous
practises. But God promises hat in the end He will put all right. The second is in
Zechariah 4:3-5 where Joshua the High Priest, the representative of Israel, is
clothed in new clothing as an illustration of acceptance by God. From these we
may gather that Jesus has come to reclothe His people with pure clothing
(compare Matthew 22:11-12; Revelation 19:8).
The extraordinary significance of this statement must not be overlooked. Jesus
had clearly declared that in His coming as the Bridegroom a whole new way of
thinking and living had been introduced. He was the introducer of a new age. It
was the acceptable year of the Lord. Repentance and forgiveness in the new age
into which they were now entering would lead to lives of joy with first the earthly
and then the heavenly (risen) Bridegroom. Thus fasting will be unnecessary
except in exceptional circumstances, in the brief period before final victory.
Everything is different and old ways must be forgotten.
And this is because Jesus is introducing new clothing. This gains new meaning in
the light of Jesus’ idea elsewhere, which He Himself may have had in mind, for
the man who seeks to enter the heavenly wedding without having a proper
wedding garment on will be cast out (Matthew 22:11-12 compare Revelation
19:8; Revelation 3:5; Revelation 3:18). Those who would enter His presence must
be clothed in His righteousness alone. There must be no partially patched up
dress for them.
It will be noted that the illustration here is different from that in Mark. Jesus
probably used the same illustration a number of times, varying it slightly when
He wanted to make a different point. Mark has clearly used one example, and
Luke another. The one Luke has chosen has the advantage to him that,
secondarily to its main meaning, it brings out that there is no point in trying to
turn Gentiles into Jews.
37 And no one pours new wine into old
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wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst
the skins; the wine will run out and the
wineskins will be ruined.
CLARKE, "The new wine will burst the bottles - These old bottles would
not be able to stand the fermentation of the new wine, as the old sewing would be apt
to give way. It is scarcely necessary to remark, that the eastern bottles are made of
skins; generally those of goats.
GILL, "And no man putteth new wine into old bottles,.... To which the
Scribes and Pharisees are here compared, into whose hearts the new wine of Gospel
grace was not put; or to whom was not made known the love of God Comparable to
new wine; nor the blessings of the new covenant of grace, now exhibited; nor the
truths of the Gospel now more clearly and newly revealed.
Else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled; they not being able
to receive and bear these things, no, not the relation of them: these were hard sayings
to them, of which they said, who can hear them? they could not hear them with
patience, much less receive them in the love of them; but were at once filled with
wrath and indignation, and rejected them.
And the bottles shall perish; their condemnation shall be the greater.
PETT, "The point is emphasised again using the idea of putting new wine into
old wineskins. To do so would be to cause the dried out old skins to burst. They
are no loner elastic enough to cope with the fermentation of new wine. Then all
would be lost, the new wine and the wineskins, for the skins would perish.
As the parallel above reveals this includes the idea that in order for the new to
prosper there must be His death. Because Jesus has come to a place which is like
dried out, old wineskins, His having come can only result in His death (the new
wine will be lost) and the destruction of the place to which He has come (the old
wineskins, Jerusalem, will perish).
38 No, new wine must be poured into new
wineskins.
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GILL, "But new wine must be put into new bottles,.... Such as the disciples of
Christ were, and sinners called to repentance are, who are renewed by the Spirit and
grace of God: and these are filled with spiritual joy and comfort, as with new wine,
arising from discoveries of the love of God, a view of interest in the blessings of the
covenant, and an application of Gospel truths and promises.
And both are preserved; both these renewed ones, who are preserved unto the
kingdom and glory of Christ; and the grace that is put into them, which is a well of
living water, springing up to everlasting life; as well as the Gospel, and its blessings.
PETT, "Here is the solution, to keep the new wine to new wineskins, and not try
to mix it with the old. Everything must be seen anew. Thus must they rejoice in
the bridegroom, and not fast over Him, and they must receive His new message
(which will be declared shortly), putting the old (Judaism) aside.
The idea is carried further in John 2:1-11 where the new wine symbolises the
glories of the Messianic age. The time has come for the fulfilment of Isaiah 25:6.
39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the
new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”
BARNES, "Having drunk old wine ... - Wine increases its strength and flavor,
and its mildness and mellowness, by age, and the old is therefore preferable. They
who had tasted such mild and mellow wine would not readily drink the
comparatively sour and astringent juice of the grape as it came from the press. The
meaning of this proverb in this place seems to be this: You Pharisees wish to draw
my disciples to the “austere” and “rigid” duties of the ceremonial law - to fasting and
painful rites; but they have come under a milder system. They have tasted the gentle
and tender blessings of the gospel; they have no “relish” for your stern and harsh
requirements. To insist now on their observing them would be like telling a man who
had tasted of good, ripe, and mild wine to partake of that which is sour and
unpalatable. At the proper time all the sterner duties of religion will be properly
regarded; but “at present,” to teach them to fast when they see “no occasion” for it -
when they are full of joy at the presence of their Master - would be like putting a
piece of new cloth on an old garment, or new wine into old bottles, or drinking
unpleasant wine after one had tasted that which was more pleasant. It would be ill-
timed, inappropriate, and incongruous.
CLARKE, "The old is better - Χρη̣οτερος - Is more agreeable to the taste or
palate. Herodotus, the scholiast on Aristophanes, and Homer, use the word in this
sense. See Raphelius. The old wine, among the rabbins, was the wine of three leaves;
that is, wine three years old; because, from the time that the vine had produced that
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wine, it had put forth its leaves three times. See Lightfoot.
1. The miraculous draught of fishes, the cleansing of the leper, the healing of the
paralytic person, the calling of Levi, and the parable of the old and new bottles,
and the old and new wine - all related in this chapter, make it not only very
entertaining, but highly instructive. There are few chapters in the New
Testament from which a preacher of the Gospel can derive more lessons of
instruction; and the reader would naturally expect a more particular
explanation of its several parts, had not this been anticipated in the notes and
observations on Matthew 9, to which chapter it will be well to refer.
2. The conduct as well as the preaching of our Lord is highly edifying. His manner
of teaching made every thing he spoke interesting and impressive. He had
many prejudices to remove, and he used admirable address in order to meet
and take them out of the way. There is as much to be observed in the manner of
speaking the truth, as in the truth itself, in order to make it effectual to the
salvation of them who hear it. A harsh, unfeeling method of preaching the
promises of the Gospel, and a smiling manner of producing the terrors of the
Lord, are equally reprehensible. Some preachers are always severe and
magisterial: others are always mild and insinuating: neither of these can do
God’s work; and it would take two such to make one Preacher.
GILL, "No man also having drunk old wine,.... "Wine", though not in the text,
is rightly supplied by our translators, as it is by the Syriac and Persic versions:
straightway desireth new; new wine:
for he saith, the old is better; old wine is more grateful, more generous, and
more reviving to the spirits, than new wine is. This is a proverbial expression, and
which Luke only records; which may be applied to natural men, who having drunk
the old wine of their carnal lusts and pleasures, do not desire the new wine of the
Gospel, and of the grace of God, and of spiritual things, but prefer their old sins and
lusts unto them: carnal lusts may be signified by old wine, both for the antiquity of
them, being as old as men themselves, and therefore called the old man, and for the
gratefulness of them to them; and who may be said to drink of them, as they do drink
iniquity like water; which is expressive of their great desire and thirst after it, and
delight in it: now whilst they are such, they cannot desire the new wine of the Gospel,
which is insipid and ungrateful to them; nor the grace of God, to which their carnal
minds are enmity; nor any thing that is evangelical and spiritual, at least, not
straightway, or immediately; not until they are regenerated by the Spirit of God, and
their taste is changed, but will prefer their old lusts and former course of life unto
them: or it may be accommodated to legalists, and men of a "pharisaical spirit", to
whom spiritual and evangelical things are very disagreeable: Scribes and Pharisees,
who have drank of the old wine of the law, and the traditions of the elders, do not
desire the new wine of the Gospel, but prefer the former to it: the ceremonial law may
be expressed by old wine, being originally instituted of God, and acceptable to him;
and one part of which lay in libations of wine, and was of long standing, but now
waxen old, and ready to vanish away; and likewise the traditions of the elders, which
were highly pleasing to the Pharisees, and which pretended to great antiquity: and of
these they might be said to drink, being inured to them from their youth, and
therefore could not like the new dispensation of the Gospel, neither its doctrines, nor
its ordinances; but preferred their old laws and traditions to them: or rather this
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proverb, as used by Christ here, may be considered as intimating the reason why the
disciples did not give into the practices of the Pharisees, because they had drank of
the old wine of the Gospel; which, as upon some account it may be called new,
because of the new dispensation, fresh discovery and clearer revelation of it; in other
respects it may be said to be old, being what was prepared and ordained before the
world began; and what Adam drank of, in the first hint and promise of the Messiah;
and after him Noah, the preacher of righteousness; and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
to whom the Gospel was preached before; and even Moses, who wrote and testified of
Christ; and David, and Solomon, and Isaiah, and all the prophets of the former
dispensation: and now the disciples having more largely drank of it, under the
ministry of Christ, could not easily desire the new wine of the fastings and prayers of
the Pharisees, and John's disciples; for the old wine of the Gospel was much better in
their esteem, more grateful to the taste, more refreshing to their spirits, and more
salutary and healthful, being the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ. Old
wine, with the Jews (h) was wine of three years old, and was always by them
preferred to new: so they descant on those words in Deu_15:16 "because he is well
with thee (i), (i.e. the servant,)"
"with thee in food, with thee in drink; for thou shalt not eat bread of fine flour, and
he eat bread of bran; or thou drink, ‫ישן‬ ‫,יין‬ "old wine", and he drink, ‫הדש‬ ‫,יין‬ "new
wine".''
And sometimes they use this distinction of old and new wine proverbially and
parabolically, as here (k).
"Rabbi Jose bar Juda, a man of a village in Babylon, used to say, he that learns of
young men, to what is he like? to him that eateth unripe grapes, and drinks wine out
of the fat: but he; that learns of old men, to what is he like? to him that eats ripe
grapes, and drinks, ‫ישן‬ ‫,יין‬ "old wine"''
signifying, that the knowledge of old men is more solid, and mature, and unmixed,
and free from dregs of ignorance, than that of young men: though it follows, that
"Ribbi had used to say, do not look upon the tankard, but on what is in it; for
sometimes there is a new tankard full of old wine, and an old one in which there is
not so much as new in it:''
signifying, that sometimes young men are full of wisdom and knowledge, when old
men are entirely devoid of them.
HENRY, "So Christ would train up his followers gradually to the discipline of his
family; for no man, having drank old wine, will of a sudden, straightway, desire new,
or relish it, but will say, The old is better, because he has been used to it, Luk_5:39.
The disciples will be tempted to think their old way of living better, till they are by
degrees trained up to this way whereunto they are called. Or, turn it the other way:
“Let them be accustomed awhile to religious exercises, and then they will abound in
them as much as you do: but we must not be too hasty with them.” Calvin takes it as
an admonition to the Pharisees not to boast of their fasting, and the noise and show
they made with it, nor to despise his disciples because they did not in like manner
signalize themselves; for the profession the Pharisees made was indeed pompous
and gay, like new wine that is brisk and sparkling, whereas all wise men say, The old
is better; for, though it does not give its colour so well in the cup, yet it is more
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warming in the stomach and more wholesome. Christ's disciples, though they had
not so much of the form of godliness, had more of the power of it.
CALVIN, "Luke 5:39.And no person who has drunk old wine. This statement is
given by Luke alone, and is undoubtedly connected with the preceding discourse.
Though commentators have tortured it in a variety of ways, I take it simply as a
warning to the Pharisees not to attach undue importance to a received custom.
For how comes it that wine, the taste of which remains unaltered, is not equally
agreeable to every palate, but because custom and habit form the taste? Hence it
follows, that Christ’s manner of acting towards his disciples is not less worthy of
approbation, because it has less show and splendor: as old wine, though it does
not foam with the sharpness of new wine, is not less agreeable on that account, or
less fitted for the nourishment of the body.
CONSTABLE, "Only Luke included this statement. Jesus' point was that most
people who have grown accustomed to the old order are content with it and do
not prefer the new. They tend to assume that the old is better because it is old.
This was particularly true of the Jewish religious leaders who regarded Jesus'
teaching as new and inferior to what was old.
Jesus contrasted four pairs of things that do not mix in this pericope. They are
feasting and fasting, a new patch and an old garment, new wine and old
wineskins, and new wine and old wine. His point was that His way and the way
that the Jewish leaders followed and promoted were unmixable. The religious
leaders even refused to try Jesus' way believing that their old way was better.
PETT, "But there will always be those who cling to the old wine and prefer it to
the new, saying the old is better. That is what both the disciples of John and the
disciples of the Pharisees are doing. Let all therefore be warned. There is no
longer any place for the old.
These illustrations reach far beyond just the question of fasting. They emphasise
that there is a real sense in which Christianity is new. Through His death Jesus
has fulfilled the old, and now we can look from it to the new way of living taught
by Him. This claim to total newness is another example of the uniqueness of
Jesus.
Chapter 6 Further Incidents and Teaching.
In this sixth chapter we have the incident of the grainfields where Jesus again
describes Himself as the Son of Man, and as Lord of the Sabbath; the healing of
the man with the withered hand, which again revels Him as the Great Restorer
and Lord of the Sabbath; the appointment of the twelve Apostles; and the first
extended example of His teaching.
Jesus is the Son of Man and the Lord of the Sabbath (Luke 6:1-5).
In this incident Jesus as the Son of Man puts Himself on at least the same level as
David, and as such calls Himself ‘the Son of Man’. We are reminded again of
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Daniel 7:13-14 where the Son of Man, as the representative leader of Israel,
claims His dominion and power. Jesus is claiming that He is this representative
leader. He is the Greater David (compare the ‘Anointed One’ (Messiah) in Daniel
9:26). As such He then claims to be Lord of the Sabbath, that is, able to make
binding decisions concerning the Sabbath.
This incident also represents a hardening of the position of the Pharisees with
regard to Him. They give to Jesus and His disciples an official warning (‘it is not
lawful’). So to authorities are seen to be in conflict, on the one hand the heaven
appointed Son of Man and on the other the earthly authority of the Pharisees. To
disobey the latter was to run the risk of being beaten at the command of the
synagogue elders.
It is difficult to overemphasise the importance of the Sabbath to religious Jews. It
was to them the sign that they were God’s holy nation, God’s own people. But it
had become overlaid with the traditions of the Elders who were so eager to
prevent it being dishonoured that they had made strict rules about it, which had
gone beyond what was reasonable, while at the same time allowing a certain
amount of sophistry with regard to it. Thus there was a limit as to how far you
could walk on the Sabbath (a Sabbath day’s journey), but this was then allowed
to be doubled by leaving food a Sabbath days journey from home, and treating
that as ‘home’ for the day. Then you could walk to it and after that go a Sabbath
days journey beyond it. It might have been humerous if it had not been treated
so seriously. They could do it without even the trace of a smile, and see no
incongruity in it.
We should note that Jesus’ claim to be Lord of the Sabbath was not a claim to be
able to use it as He wished, but to be able to determine what the requirements of
the Sabbath really were. Thus here He will counteract a pedantic interpretation
of it, and in the next incident an uncompassionate one.
The passage can be analysed as follows:
a On a sabbath He was going through the grainfields, and his disciples plucked
the ears, and ate, rubbing them in their hands (Luke 5:1).
b Certain of the Pharisees said, “Why do you do what is not lawful to do on the
sabbath day?” (Luke 5:2).
c Jesus replied “Have you not read even this, what David did, when he was
hungry, he, and those who were with him?” (Luke 5:3).
b “How he entered into the house of God, and took and ate the showbread, and
gave also to those who were with him, that which it is not lawful to eat save for
the priests alone?” (Luke 5:4).
a And he said to them, “The Son of man is lord of the sabbath” (Luke 5:5).
Note that in ‘a’ we have the behaviour of the Jesus (the Son of Man) and His
disciples in the grainfield, and in the parallel that as Son of man He has the right
to determine whether it is right or not. In ‘b’ we have the Pharisees declaring
what is not lawful, and in the parallel we have Jesus’ declaration of what was
also not lawful, but which history demonstrates that the Pharisees do no criticise.
Central to the incident is that what David does is considered to be right, and the
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same courtesy must therefore be extended to the Greater David.
COKE, "Luke 5:39. No man also, having drunk old wine— That is, "As people
who have been accustomed to drink wine made mellow with age, do not willingly
drink new wine, which for the most part is harsh and unpleasant; so Christ's
disciples, having been accustomed for some time to live without practising any
kind of severities for which the Pharisees were remarkable, could not relish that
new wayof life which they had been recommending; they were not yet so fully
acquainted with and established in his doctrine, as to submit cheerfully to any
extraordinary hardships." This is Le Clerc's interpretation of the passage; but
Wolfius and others apply it to the Pharisees, who were much better pleased, with
the traditions of the elders, than with the doctrines of Christ; because the latter
prescribed duties more difficult and disagreeable to the corrupt natures of men
than the former. See on Joel 1:5. We may just remark how applicable these
proverbial parables were to the time and occasion. See Luke 5:29.
Inferences drawn from the calling of Simon, &c.—As the sun in its first rising
draws all eyes to it, so did the Sun of Righteousness, when he first shone forth in
the world. His miraculous cures drew patients; his divine doctrines drew
auditors; both together drew the admiring multitude by troops after him, Luke
5:1.
And why do we not still follow thee, O Saviour, through desarts and mountains,
over land and seas, that we may be both healed and taught?—It was thy
promise, O Saviour, that when thou wert lifted up, thou wouldst draw all men
after thee; behold, thou hast been lifted up since, both to the tree of shame, and
to the throne of heavenly glory: O draw us, then, blessed Lord, and we will run
after thee. Thy word is still the same, though proclaimed by men; thy virtue is
still the same, though exercised upon the spirits of men; give us to hunger after
both, that by both our souls may be satisfied.
The people, in the present instance, not only follow Christ, but press upon him:
even indecorum here finds both excuse and acceptance. They did not keep their
distance in awe of the majesty of the Speaker, while their ears were ravished
with the power of the speech; yet did not the Saviour check their unceremonious
thronging, but rather he encourages their forwardness: we cannot offend thee, O
God, with the importunity of our desires; nay, thou art well pleased that the
kingdom of heaven should suffer violence: ever art thou displeased with our
slackness; our vehemence never can displease.
The throng of his audience forced Christ to leave the shore, and make Peter's
vessel his pulpit. Never were there such nets cast out of that fishing-boat before.
While he was upon the land, he healed the sick bodies by his touch; now that he
was upon the sea, he cured the sick souls by his doctrines; and is purposely
severed from the multitude, that he may unite them to himself. He that made
both sea and land, causeth both sea and land to conspire to the opportunities of
doing good.
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Simon and his partners were busy washing their nets, little thinking so soon to
leave them, though they now so carefully employed their attention; when, behold,
Christ interrupts them with the favour and blessing of his gracious presence. The
honest Simon, when he saw the people flock after Christ, and heard him speak
with such power, could not but conceive a confused apprehension of some
excellent worth in such a teacher, and therefore is glad to honour his vessel with
such a guest, and to be first Christ's host at sea, ere he is his disciple by land: a
humble and serviceable entertainment of so great a prophet, was a good
introduction to his future honour.
No sooner is this service done to Christ, than he is preparing the bounteous
reward. When the sermon is ended, he saith unto Simon, Luke 5:4. Launch out
into the deep, &c. It had been as easy for our Saviour to have brought the fish to
Peter's boat, close to the shore: but in all his miracles we may observe, he ever
loves to meet Nature in all her boundaries; and when she has done her best, to
supply the rest by his over-ruling power.
Rather from a desire to gratify and obey his guest, than to please himself, will
Simon bestow one cast of his net: (Had Christ enjoined him a harder task, he
had not refused;) yet not without a modest allegation of the unlikelihood of
success. Master, we have toiled all night, (Luke 5:5.) and caught nothing; yet at
thy word I will let down the net. The night was the fittest time, humanly
speaking, for the hopes of their trade; so that not unjustly might Simon doubt his
success through the day, when he had worn out the whole night in unprofitable
labour: and thus it is that God sometimes crosses the fairest of our expectations,
and gives a blessing to those times and means, whereof our prudence utterly
despairs; those pains cannot be cast away, which we resolve to employ for Christ.
O God, how many do we see daily casting out their nets in the great lake of this
world, and, in the whole night of their lives, have caught nothing in recompense
of their toil! They conceive mischief, and they bring forth iniquity: They hatch
cockatrice eggs, and weave the spider's web; he that eateth of their eggs dieth,
and that which is trodden upon breaketh out into a serpent. Their webs shall
form no garment, neither shall they cover themselves with their labours.
O ye sons of men! how long will ye love vanity, and follow after lies?—And yet, if
we have thus vainly mispent the time past, let us, at the command of Christ, cast
out, with these fishermen, our newly-washen nets; and our humble and patient
obedience shall come then home richly laden with blessings: (Luke 5:6.) never
man threw out his net at the command of his Saviour, and drew it back empty.
Who would not obey thee, O Christ, since thou so bountifully requitest our weak
services!
It was not mere retribution that was intended in this event, but instruction also.
This act was not without a mystery: they who were to be made fishers of men,
were in this drought to foresee their success: The kingdom of heaven, we are
assured, is like a drawn-net, cast into the sea, which, when it is full, men draw to
land, &c. Matthew 13:47-48. Thus the very first draught which Peter made after
the commencement of the gospel dispensation, inclosed no less than three
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thousand souls, Acts 2:41. O powerful gospel! that can fetch sinful men from the
depth of natural corruption! O happy souls, that, from the blind and polluted
cells of our wicked nature, are thus drawn forth into the glorious liberty of the
sons of God!
Simon's net begins to break with the store; accordingly they beckon their
partners in the other vessel for help, Luke 5:7. There cannot be a better
improvement of society, than to afford mutual assistance, than to relieve each
other in all profitable labours, for drawing up the spiritual draught into the
vessel of Christ's church. Gracious Saviour, if these apostolical vessels of thy first
rigging were thus overladen, how do ours float and totter with an unballasted
lightness! O do Thou, who art no less present in these our vessels, lade them with
an equal freight of sanctified sentiments, or of converted souls, according to our
station; and thus shall we too have equal cause to praise thee for thy exuberant
bounty.
Simon was a skilful fisher, and well knew the depth of his trade; perceiving now
therefore more than art, more than nature in this draught, He falls down at the
knees of Jesus, and acknowledges his unworthiness, Luke 5:8. Himself is caught
in this wonderful net. He does not greedily fall upon the unexpected and
profitable booty; but turns his eyes from the draught to himself; from the act to
the author; and in the utmost astonishment proclaims his own vileness, and his
Saviour's majesty: Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!
What pity had it been that the poor honest fisherman should have been taken at
his word! O Simon, thy Saviour is come into thy own boat to call thee, and to call
others by thee unto blessedness:—and dost thou say, Lord, depart from me?—as
if the patient should say to the physician, "Depart from me, for I am sick." But it
was the voice of astonishment, not of dislike; the voice of humility, not of
discontent: yea, Peter, because thou art a sinful man, therefore hath thy Saviour
need to come to thee, to stay with thee; and because thou art humble in the
acknowledgment of thy sinfulness, therefore does Christ delight to abide with
thee, and will call thee to abide with him. No man ever fared the worse for
abasing himself to his God: many a soul has Christ left for froward and unkind
usage; never any for its disparagement of itself, and intreaties of humility.
O my soul, be not weary of complaining of thy own wretchedness; but be
astonished at those mercies, which have shamed thy ill-deservings. Thy Saviour
has no power to turn away from a prostrate heart; he that terribly resisteth the
proud, delighteth to revive the spirits of the lowly: Fear not, &c. Luke 5:10.
Behold, Simon's humility is rewarded with an apostleship! He that bade Christ
go from him, shall have the honour to go first on the happy errand of gospel
salvation.
This was indeed a trade in which Simon had no skill; yet it could not but be
enough to him, that Christ had said, Follow me,—I will make thee.—The miracle
shewed him able to make good his word.
What then is this divine trade of ours, but a spiritual fishery? The world is a sea;
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souls, like fishes, swim at liberty in this great deep: the nets of wholesome
doctrine draw some up to the shore of glory, who yield to be saved by grace. How
much skill and care, how much toil and patience, are requisite for this art! Who
is sufficient for these things? This sea,—these nets,—the fishers,—the fish,—the
vessels,—all are thine, O God; do in us, and by us, what thou wilt: give us ability
and grace to follow thee, and to take men; and give unto men the will and grace
to be taken; and take thou the eternal glory.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, Vast was the concourse that attended the preaching of
Jesus; and while the scribes and Pharisees, the wise doctors of the law, despised
him, the common people were eager to hear him, and pressed through the crowd
to get nearer. Hereupon,
1. Christ desired the use of a fisherman's boat, for the greater convenience of
being heard, and to be less incommoded with the throng; and there he sat down
and taught the people who stood before him on the shore.
2. When he had done preaching, he desired Simon, in whose boat he was, to
launch out farther into the lake, and let down his nets. Simon told him the ill
success which they had met with; but, though they had wearied themselves all
night, and washed their nets, if he bade them, they would cheerfully make
another trial. Note; (1.) The most diligent and laborious sometimes meet with
disappointments, and are apt to be discouraged by the little fruit they see of their
labours; but they must persist in the way of duty, and leave the event to God. (2.)
If our bread be easily earned, and our rest sweet unto us, we should remember
charitably those who labour hard for little gain, and are awake at their toils,
when we are sleeping.
3. Most amazing was the quantity of fishes they inclosed: their net began to give
way with the weight; and, unable to draw them up themselves, they beckoned to
their partners to come to their assistance, and loaded both their boats so deep,
that they were in danger of sinking. Peter was now abundantly repaid for the
loan of his boat; and in this display of his Master's power in the sea, as well as on
the land, might be confirmed in his faith of the doctrine which he had heard.
4. Peter, deeply affected with what he saw, and perceiving the danger they were
in, fell down at Jesus's knees, and, under the deepest sense of his own
unworthiness, cried out, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
Conscious of his guilt and sinfulness, he trembled, lest the Lord was come to
punish instead of blessing him; and was afraid of his very mercies: for he was
astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of fishes they had taken;
though brought up to this business from their youth, they had never seen any
thing at all to be compared with this in their whole lives. Note; Though we have
grievously offended our Lord, we must not say, Depart from me, but, Stay with
me, or, Return to me in mercy; for nothing but his presence and grace can keep
us from sinking.
5. Jesus quiets their fears. He is not come to them in anger, but in mercy: and he
has still greater kindness in store for them than this cargo of fishes; therefore he
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said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men, and be more
successful in casting the gospel-net, and drawing greater multitudes out of the
depths of sin and misery to life and salvation. Which was eminently fulfilled,
Acts 2:41.
6. No sooner were they come to land, than Simon and Andrew, and the sons of
Zebedee their partners, obeying his call, immediately left their boats, and all they
had, quitting their employment at the time when it appeared most successful;
and commenced thenceforward constant attendants on the Lord Jesus. Note;
They who know the blessedness of Christ's service, will count nothing too much
to part with for his sake.
2nd, We have,
1. The cleansing of the leper. This history both the former evangelists have
recorded. It affords us,
(1.) A striking emblem of our true state. So corrupt is our nature; so spotted are
our souls; so loathsome in the eyes of God, and by all natural means so utterly
incurable, is the disease of sin.
(2.) It directs us where our only hope lies, even in Jesus, the great Physician. To
him, with deep humiliation and confusion of face, in the sight of our own
vileness, should we make application; crying earnestly for his healing grace;
depending on his power to save to the uttermost; and casting ourselves wholly on
his mercy.
(3.) Christ appears a gracious Saviour, ready to hear the prayer of the poor and
destitute, and able to save to the uttermost all who come to him: both to pardon
the sinner's guilt, however aggravated; and to deliver him from the power of his
corruptions, however inveterate.
(4.) Every cleansed sinner will obediently follow the commands of Jesus; will
offer up himself a living sacrifice to God; and in the blessed, evident, and
universal change wrought upon him, will leave those without excuse, who will
not acknowledge the divine power and grace magnified in such a conversion.
2. Great multitudes resorted to him from every quarter to hear him, and to be
healed. The more he sought to be hid, the more his fame spread. The gratitude
and transport of joy this poor man felt on his cure, would not permit him to hold
his tongue and conceal the glory of his great Benefactor. Modest worth, that
wishes to be concealed, shines the brighter.
3. He withdrew, after the labours of the day, from the crowd, and, retiring into a
solitary place, spent some time alone in prayer.—To teach us this necessary duty,
which nothing should intrench upon or interrupt.
3rdly, Christ ceased not his indefatigable labours.
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1. He preached in a house on a week-day at Capernaum; for no day, no place, is
unsuitable or unseasonable, when an opportunity offers to speak a word for
God, and for the good of men's souls. Among others of his audience, were a large
number of scribes and Pharisees; who, with no good intention, were come from
the distant places, not to hear and learn, but to sit by, to make remarks and
cavil; and the power of the Lord was present to heal them, not the Pharisees, but
many of the multitude who came to him with their several diseases; thus at least
to leave without excuse those who refused the evidence of such incontestable
miracles. Note; (1.) When persons come to hear the word of God, not to profit
themselves, but to prejudice others against it, great is their guilt. (2.) Though we
know the malice of those who watch for our halting, we must not be discouraged
from persevering in the way of duty. (3.) The power of the Lord is present to heal
wherever his gospel is preached; but they who reject the counsel of God against
their own souls, have only themselves to blame for their destruction.
2. Just at that time a paralytic was brought to Jesus: unable to gain access by the
door, because of the multitude, his friends carried him up to the top of the house,
and let him down through the roof into the room where Jesus was. (See the
Annotations.) Beholding their faith, he pronounces the pardon of His sins; and
notwithstanding all the cavils of the Pharisees which he knew, Jesus confirms the
divine authority that he assumed, by an immediate cure of the paralytic; proving
thereby, that he who could thus by his own power remove the effects of sin, had
an undoubted right to pardon it. The cure was instantaneous and perfect, and
raised the amazement of all who were struck with sacred reverence and awe,
when they saw him who the moment before lay stretched so helpless, now rise
with full strength and vigour, take up his own bed, and go away glorifying God
for the astonishing mercy; and the people in general acknowledged, that no such
strange miracles were ever before seen or heard of. Note; (1.) All our diseases are
the fruit of sin, and that should ever humble us under them before God. (2.)
Jesus hath power to forgive sins, and they who by faith come to him, shall know
it by blessed experience. (3.) If our sin be pardoned, the bitterness of sickness is
passed away: a soul rejoicing in God, as its Saviour, has nothing to complain of.
(4.) When we have received mercy at God's hand, we are bound to ascribe to him
the glory due unto his name, and to speak to his praise.
4thly, The conversion of the sinner's heart to God is equally a matter of wonder,
and as great an evidence of divine power, as cleansing the leper, or raising the
dead. We have,
1. The calling of Matthew, or Levi the publican, and his ready obedience to the
command of Jesus: instantly leaving all, he followed him. The vilest sinners who
come to Jesus at his call, will hear him speak to their hearts, and be effectually
wrought upon: nothing is above his almighty grace.
2. The gracious condescension of the Lord to those publicans whom Matthew
invited to his house. Our Lord disdained not to sit down with them, and
vindicates his conduct from the envious, malicious, and censorious suggestions of
the Pharisees. He associated not with them as approving their ways, or
countenancing them in evil, but as a physician visits the diseased: the whole, at
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least they who fancy themselves so, need not his care. The business of the Saviour
in the world was not with the righteous, or those who were vainly puffed up with
a conceit of their own excellence, as was the case of the Pharisees; he came to call
poor sinners, as the publicans were, to repentance; and would kindly receive
them, when sensible of their guilt and sinfulness they turned to him. And he is
still the same gracious Lord; no miserable sinner need despair; let him look unto
Jesus and be saved. Those only perish, who through wilful ignorance know not
their need of him, or proudly fancy that they are righteous.
3. He vindicates his disciples from the censures of the Pharisees respecting
fasting. It was not fit that they should fast, while their Master was with them;
they were not yet prepared to endure this discipline. Such austerities might
tempt them to draw back, as new fermenting wine would burst old leathern
bottles; their exercises must be proportioned to their strength. At present they
could not bear it; but hereafter the time would come, when losing their Master,
and called out to labour in his cause, they would learn to fast, 1 Corinthians 4:11.
Not that the Pharisees had a right to lay such a stress upon their own bodily
services: though, like new fermenting wine that sparkles high, they made a fair
show in the flesh, their form of godliness was not to be compared with the life
and power of religion, the old wine, which the disciples possessed, and which
every spiritual person who has a true relish for the things of God far prefers.
NISBET, "THE EXCELLENCE OF THE LITURGY
‘No man having drunk old wine desireth new; for he saith, The old is better.’
Luke 5:39
The excellency of the Liturgy of the Church of England! This is proved by using
it. No man having drunk of this wine desireth new; experience has taught him
what argument might have failed in doing, that the old is better. Solvitur
ambulando. The excellency of the Liturgy of the Church of England is assumed
from:—
I. The point of view of scripturalness and Scripture truth.—Above two-thirds of
the daily service of the Church consists of extracts from Scripture. You may find
fault with the minister and object to his preaching, but no minister can rob you
of a service in which the Bible takes the chief place. The Psalter is read through
twelve times a year; the bulk of the Old Testament once; the New Testament
(save for three chapters) twice. Each Sunday and holy-day has a special Epistle
and Gospel. On Ash Wednesday we have an exhortation which is practically in
the very words of Scripture. Not only so, but this normal arrangement is
ruthlessly set aside when the fluctuations of the ecclesiastical year demand that
our attention should be fixed on what Prebendary Sadler called ‘the Scripture
Gospel.’ Compare this form of worship with what obtains in many a
Nonconformist chapel, where, both in reading and in preaching, the officiating
minister follows his own will and fancy.
II. The point of view of what may be called balance.—‘I thank God,’ said one
who had just experienced a wonderful outpouring of the Holy Spirit, ‘that I was
brought up in the Church of England.’ We live in an age of revivals, of zeal and
enthusiasm. Let us be grateful for it. But zeal and enthusiasm are apt to become
302

one-sided and intolerant. It needed the well-balanced mind of an Erasmus to see
the dangers which were hidden from the eyes of a Luther. There was a time for
Luther and there was a time for Erasmus. There are men who have joined the
Church of England because only in her could they find freedom, within
reasonable limits, for that unfettered consideration of theological difficulties
which is so necessary in these days of searching investigation, the result of that
freedom being frequently (thank God!) a hearty acquiescence in those views
which are looked upon as orthodox, instead of being driven by the extreme
dogmas of a sect into heresy of opinion and misery of soul.
III. The point of view of fitness and good taste.—We live in a critical age. We live
in a religious age. The religious and critical spirit are continually at variance,
and (to some extent) act and react on each other. Earnestness may compel our
admiration, but good taste refuses to be outraged even for the sake of
earnestness, be it ever so earnest. The fierce light of criticism, the almost
unreasonable requirements of good taste, the innate conviction of what ought to
constitute the fitness of things, is silent in the case of our Liturgy. Criticism may
discuss the ritual which obtains; good taste may have its say with regard to the
reading and the music which are customary; but the words themselves of the
Prayer Book retain to the full to-day, as much as when John Keble in 1827 wrote
his charming preface to The Christian Year, their ‘soothing tendency.’ The
Collect for the day will touch many a heart where extempore prayer would but
cause a cavil; the Te Deum will be the song of praise to many who, like Charles
Kingsley, are sorely exercised by most of our modern hymns; and the secret
agnostic will stand reverently at the open grave and be comforted by the most
touching of our occasional services.
IV. The point of view of spiritual growth.—As we advance in the spiritual life, as
we draw nearer to the presence of God, we have no need to borrow phrases
which seem to stamp us as of some school of thought of yesterday; the third
Collect at Morning Prayer (to take but one out of the full sum of Anglican
devotion) will satisfy the aspirations of St. Paul when caught up to the third
heaven; it will indicate a line of practical Christian perfectionism which can
never be surpassed on this side of eternity.
We have in our possession a spiritual treasure. Do we use it, do we enjoy it?
(a) Unless our Liturgy is used it is but a poor possession. The fervent Dissenter
whose heart follows the petitions uttered by his minister has a more valuable
possession than those who hear the Liturgy but take no part therein. Learn,
then, to appreciate the Prayer Book by using it. If we do not use our Prayer
Books we shall starve in the midst of plenty; let us see to it that we show our
appreciation of our treasury of devotion by our acquaintance with its many
priceless gems.
(b) Lastly, let us nourish our spiritual life by the Liturgy of the Church of
England. Where ought we to find more perfect Christians than in the members
of the Anglican communion? They ‘have all and abound,’ as regards prayer and
praise and Scripture-reading. But the Prayer Book, like the Bible, needs a key
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with which to unlock its treasures. That key is Jesus Christ. Those who know
Christ, those who are following Christ, those who have put on Christ, will learn
more and more of Christ in the Liturgy as their spiritual life deepens and widens
with experience and prayer.
—Rev. E. J. Sturdee.
Illustration
‘In 1875 a Convention was held at Brighton to emphasise a comparatively new
development of spiritual life in the direction of what was called “sanctification by
faith alone.” Much interest was aroused in the movement. Much discussion took
place all over the country in connection with it. Among those who visited the
Convention was one whose books and teaching have long been cherished by
thousands who only knew her by name, when they heard that Mrs. Rundle
Charles was the authoress of The Schönberg Cotta Family. Mrs. Charles went to
the Convention, and embodied her experiences in an article sent to a religious
paper, and afterwards reproduced in one of her most charming books, The
Bertram Family. And this was the gist of her remarks, that all she had heard at
Brighton was virtually contained in the Liturgy, and though true was in no sense
new.’
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