You will catch people
1 One day, as Jesus stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, with a crowd gathered around him listening to the word of God,
2 he caught sight of two boats left at the water’s edge by the fishermen now washing their nets.
3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to pull out a little from the shore. There he sat and continued to teach the crowd.
4 When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”
5 Simon replied, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing. But if you say so, I will lower the nets.”
6 This they did and caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.
7 They signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats almost to the point of sinking.
8 Upon seeing this, Simon Peter fell at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
9 For he and his companions were amazed at the catch they had made
10 and so were Simon’s partners, James and John, Zebe dee’s sons.
Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. You will catch people from now on.”
11 So they brought their boats to land and followed him, leaving everything.
Cure of a leper
12 One day in another town, a man came to Jesus covered with leprosy. On seeing him he bowed down to the ground, and said, “Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean.”
13 Stretching out his hand, Jesus touched the man and said, “Yes, I want it. Be clean.” In an instant the leprosy left him.
14 Then Jesus instructed him, “Tell this to no one. But go and show yourself to the priest. Make an offering for your healing, as Moses prescribed; that should be a proof to the people.”
15 But the news about Je sus spread all the more, and large crowds came to him to listen and be healed of their sickness.
16 As for Jesus, he would often withdraw to solitary places and pray.
The paralytic saved
17 One day Jesus was teach ing and many Pharisees and teachers of the Law had come from every part of Galilee and Judea and even from Jerusalem. They were sitting there while the power of the Lord was at work to heal the sick.
18 Then some men brought a paralyzed man who lay on his mat. They tried to enter the house to place him before Jesus,
19 but they couldn’t find a way through the crowd. So they went up on the roof and, removing the tiles, they lowered him on his mat into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus.
20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “My friend, your sins are forgiven.”
21 At once the teachers of the Law and the Pha risees began to wonder, “This man insults God! Who can forgive sins but only God?”
22 But Jesus knew their thoughts and asked them, “Why are you reacting like this?
23 Which is easier to say: ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or: ‘Get up and walk’?
24 Now you shall know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” And Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.”
25 At once the man stood before them. He took up the mat he had been lying on and went home praising God.
26 Amazement seized the peo ple and they praised God. They were filled with a holy fear and said, “What wonderful things we have seen today!”
Call of Levi
27 After this Jesus went out, and as he noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax-office, he said to him, “Follow me.”
28 So Levi, leaving everything, got up and followed Jesus.
29 Levi gave a great feast for Jesus, and many tax collectors came to his house and took their place at table with the other people.
30 Then the Pharisees and their fellow teachers complained to Jesus’ disciples, “How is it that you eat and drink with tax collectors and other sinners?”
31 But Jesus spoke up, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do.
32 I have come to call to repentance; I call sinners, not the righteous.”
33 Some people asked him, “The disciples of John fast often and say long prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. Why is it that your disciples eat and drink?” Then Jesus said to them,
34 “You can’t make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them.
35 But later the bridegroom will be taken from them and they will fast in those days.”
36 Jesus also told them this parable, “No one tears a piece from a new coat to put it on an old one; otherwise the new will be torn and the piece taken from the new will not match the old.
37 No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed as well.
38 But new wine must be put into fresh skins.
39 Yet no one who has tasted old wine is eager to get new wine, but says: The old is good.”
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Comments Luke, Chapter 5
• 5.1 THE APOSTLES
Jesus invites himself aboard Peter’s boat, and Peter is willing to render him this service. Jesus looks for more: even though many are ready to assist him, he seeks those who are willing to totally surrender to his work. The listeners are many, but he needs apostles.
Miracles are another way in which Jesus teaches. The miracle reported here is God’s word for future apostles. Lower your nets; the nets were at the breaking point; you will catch people…
Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man (v. 8). Such is the fear of the one who discovers that God has entered into his inner life: this is a first act of faith in the divinity of Jesus. Yet Jesus calls on sinners to save sinners.
Leaving everything (v. 11), they followed him. It is not that they had much, but it was their whole life: work, family and their whole past as fishermen.
Apostle means sent. Christ is the one who chooses his apostles and sends them in his name. Where will he find someone to send except among those who are willing to cooperate with him? One begins to be an apostle, or at least to cooperate with Christ, when one looks for something more than performing good works for the benefit of the parish, when one feels responsible for people: fisher of people.
Here Luke may have combined two different events: the call of the disciples briefly presented in Mark 1:16 and the miraculous catch. John also relates a miraculous catch (Jn 21) but he places it after the resurrection. We have good reason to think we are dealing with the same mi racle, but it suited John to combine it with the appearance of the risen Jesus to the apostles, which occurred later in the same place.
• 12. See commentary on Mark 1:40.
Make an offering for your healing (v. 14). The same law that demanded that a leper be isolated (Lev 13:45), provided that if the leper was healed, he could, after examination by the priests be reintegrated into the community. Because leprosy was seen as God’s punishment, healing meant that God had forgiven the sinner who was to express his gratitude with a sacrifice.
• 15. He would often withdraw to solitary places and pray. Luke mentions Jesus’ prayer several times (3:21; 6:12; 9:28…) Jesus did not withdraw only to be still, but because, on each occasion, prayer was a necessity for him.
• 17. See commentary on Mark 2:1.
There were many Pha ri sees and teachers of the Law. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were not against Jesus yet, but being men who had received much religious formation, they were the first to wonder about Jesus’ religious claims: was he only a faithful believer respectful of God’s law or was he promoting a new sect? Jesus took advantage of their presence to show that he was not simply a disciple of Moses and the prophets, but the master of them all.
We easily understand why the teachers of the Law were scandalized. How could this man without studies or title, stand up to them as if he were a teacher? They were looking for the coming of a God who would confirm their teaching and acknowledge their merits. Jesus, however, was in the midst of common folk and did not pay attention to the authority of the masters of the law who looked down on them. Since the teachers of the Law could not believe, their only recourse was to oppose Jesus.
• 27. See commentary on Mark 2:13.
The events related in this chapter show how Jesus situates himself in society and with what peo ple he relates: with a small group of fishermen who will be in charge of his new movement, with lepers and sick people who seek him. He calls people who, like Levi, belong to a despised group.