Luke 5

Thought on This Chapter

LK 5:1 And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret,

LK 5:2 And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets.

LK 5:3 And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship.

This event happened before the religious leaders were after Jesus. They had not yet taken very many steps to draw the people away from Jesus' ministry. They were not yet calling for His death. That all comes later.

Multitudes came to Jesus at this time. And notice what they came for. "the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God," Later in His ministry many would come just to see the show. They wanted to see Him perform some miracle. Others would come to try to discredit Jesus.

However, this crowd was different. They did not come to try to discredit Jesus. They did not come to watch a miracle. They did not come to please their flesh. They did not come to be entertained. They came to hear the Word of God.

They came to listen to Jesus, and He did not disappoint. He got into a ship and had it go out a little ways and he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship.

We are not told in this account what Jesus preached. But rest assured it was a great message. It would have been the perfect message for this crowd. Jesus knew the hearts of men. He would not have wondered what message to bring. And we can be sure that they got something out of the message. Why? Because they came with the right attitude. They came with a purpose. They came to hear the Word of God. They came because they were interested in the Word of God.

This is the way that we should go to church. Too many people go to satisfy their conscience or because they think that it is a good thing to do. Some go to see a show. Some to get entertained. Some go out of routine. Some go because their friends will be there. Some even go to try to discredit the preacher; to catch him in some mistake. We need to be like the people in Luke 5:1. We need to go to hear the Word of God. If your attitude is right, you will be amazed how much more you will get out of the preaching

Thought On This Chapter

LK 5:16 And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.

Jesus went into the wilderness to pray. What was in the wilderness that made it a good place to pray? Well, it was not so much what was there as it was what was NOT there. There were no people. It says, he withdrew himself. It was a place to get alone with His Father. A place with no distractions, no interruptions, and none of the noise of life. It was a good place to go where you could set aside the hustle and bustle of the day, quite your thoughts and really spend quality time in prayer. If Jesus had a need for this kind of prayer, how much more do we?

All too often we can pray with our eye on the clock. I have just a few minutes before I have to be in such and such a place or before I have to do this or that. Other times our prayers will be shortened by someone coming in the room, or the phone ringing or a multitude of other things. And still other times our minds can be so full of the days activities that we don't concentrate on our praying like we should. We need to do what Jesus did. We need to go to the wilderness to pray. Now I don't mean that we need to literally get in a car and drive to the wilderness. What I mean is that we set aside serious time alone with God for prayer. We need to arrange it so that there will be no interruptions. Find a quiet place where we can really spend some time in prayer. We need it far more than we realize.

King James Bible Main Index:

Luke 5 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24]

LK 5:1 And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret,

LK 5:2 And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets.

LK 5:3 And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship.

LK 5:4 Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.

LK 5:5 And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.

LK 5:6 And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake.

LK 5:7 And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink.

LK 5:8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.

LK 5:9 For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken:

LK 5:10 And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.

LK 5:11 And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.

LK 5:12 And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

LK 5:13 And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him.

LK 5:14 And he charged him to tell no man: but go, and shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

LK 5:15 But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities.

LK 5:16 And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.

LK 5:17 And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.

LK 5:18 And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him.

LK 5:19 And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.

LK 5:20 And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.

LK 5:21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?

LK 5:22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts?

LK 5:23 Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?

LK 5:24 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.

LK 5:25 And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.

LK 5:26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day.

LK 5:27 And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me.

LK 5:28 And he left all, rose up, and followed him.

LK 5:29 And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them.

LK 5:30 But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?

LK 5:31 And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.

LK 5:32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

LK 5:33 And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink?

LK 5:34 And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?

LK 5:35 But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.

LK 5:36 And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old.

LK 5:37 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.

LK 5:38 But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.

LK 5:39 No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.

Jesus shows once again that He is God manifested in the flesh.

LK 5:21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?

The scribes and the Pharisees reasoning in this aspect was sound. Only God can forgive sins. So either Jesus was God manifested in the flesh or Jesus was guilty of blasphemy.

Jesus then demonstrates attributes that only God has.

LK 5:22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts?

Jesus demonstrated the all knowing attribute of God (Omniscience). Jesus knew their thoughts. They had only be reasoning in their heart. They had not spoken out loud.

And then Jesus demonstrated the attribute of God of being all powerful (Omnipotent) by performing a miracle.

LK 5:24 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.

Jesus said in verse 24 that the reason He was going to heal this man was so they could know that He had the power to forgive sins. This is a power that only God has.

LK 5:25 And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.

Over and over again in the gospels Jesus demonstrated that He was God manifested in the flesh.

We should praise Jesus for who He is.