Luke 5:15-29 New wine for old tax collectors

Luke 5:15-16 Following the healing of the leper, Jesus continues His ministry of teaching and healing.   We find here that again, as in Luke 4:42, Jesus sought the Father's fellowship in solitude, to recharge His spiritual batteries for the ministry.

Luke 5:17-26 Jesus heals a paralytic. The key point in this passage seems to be the play on words relative to Jesus' comment regarding knowing that He had authority to forgive sins. It would seem from a physical perspective that it would be easier to tell a person that his sins are forgiven, because we would not expect to see any immediate physical evidence, than to tell a person that he is healed, because we would then expect to see physical evidence. But the scribes and pharisees thought it to be blasphemy for Jesus to pronounce to a man that his sins were forgiven, because only God can forgive sin. So Jesus offers them physical proof. And tells them that this is so that they will know that He has authority to forgive sins. This seems to invert priorities, but Jesus understood that the Pharisees and Scribes were not truly spiritual, because if they had known the Father, they would have recognized Him. (John 8:19). Hence he offers them physical proof of His divinity, the only kind they will accept. At least, they see the evidence with their own eyes.

Luke 5:27-39 Jesus calls Levi, who throws a huge party to introduce Him to his friends and others. Tax collectors have never been popular, but in Judea during the time of the Roman Empire, they were viewed as traitors to their people because they raised the money using the force of the Roman army to fund the occupation of Judea by that very army. Although this occupation would have provided a comfortable income, it seems likely that Levi had few friends - primarily other tax collectors. So after he decided to leave his livelihood to follow Jesus, he threw a big party and there was a great crowd of tax-collectors. Curiously the Pharisees and scribes were also there - possibly because they were more interested in trying to discredit Jesus than any relationship with Levi. They brought up two principle complaints. First, that Jesus ate and drank with tax-collectors and sinners. It is not clear to me if they intended this to be synonymous, i.e. a tax collector was a sinner by definition, or if it was a reference to others Jesus hung out with. In those days, disease was thought to be a judgment from God for sin in one's life, so it might have been a reference to the previous events in which Jesus touched and healed a leper and then healed a paralytic. In any event, Jesus' words were implicitly poking them in the eye. Sinners are the ones who need to repent. The righteous don't need to, and the self-righteous never will repent. So Jesus ministered to people who were willing to admit they needed God, and He called them to repent and offered them forgiveness and healing.

         It seems unfortunate that the universal human tendency in religion is to become self-righteous about our faith, or about our life. In the modern church, it often seems that people who should know Christ the best are the ones who mimic the Pharisees in casting judgment on anyone who isn't like them. Of course, modern legalists use a slightly different set of words than the Pharisees, because they will quote the words of Jesus or Paul or one of the gospel writers, rather than Moses. But the spirit of legalism and judgmentalism comes through. One might have thought that Jesus would have had natural allies in those people who knew the Mosaic law the best, but they were the very people who had Him put to death!

         The Pharisees' and scribes' second complaint about Jesus was that His disciples did not fast and pray like the disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees' disciples. Jesus offered a two-fold explanation, perhaps hoping that they might listen and change their tune. The first part of His explanation was that it is not necessary nor appropriate to fast at a wedding, while everyone is celebrating in the presence of the groom. Similarly, there is no need to fast in the very presence of God. The second part of His explanation was to highlight the difference between the old and new covenants. The law could not save. His kingdom would be established based not on the law, nor on keeping the law, but a new covenant in which the indwelling Holy Spirit in each believer would be the source and basis of a new life, to be lived in relationship to God. The metaphor of wine for the Holy Spirit is also used in the parallel passage in Matt 9:14-17, but there seems to be essentially the same story. However, in Acts 2:13, the observers on Pentecost of the effects of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the disciples commented that they were full of sweet wine. And perhaps there is some logic, from the physical viewpoint, in that the behavior of people who are euphoric because of being overwhelmed by the presence of God may in some ways resemble the euphoria of people who have had a lot of wine to drink and whose inhibitions have been removed.

         Jesus parting comment is that those who have drunk old wine have had their taste buds dulled and have no interest in the new wine. In effect, metaphorically, people who believe they can be saved by keeping rules, and believe that they can keep the rules well enough to please God, will never be interested in the Holy Spirit empowerment to live above sin, apart from the law.