CHAPTER 5

(A.D. 31)

A BORROWED SHIP

¹And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon Him to hear the Word of God, He stood by the lake of Gennesaret (the Sea of Galilee),

²And saw two ships standing by the lake (two among the many): but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets (Peter, Andrew, James, and John had fished all night and caught nothing).

³And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simons (proclaims Him borrowing this vessel to serve as a platform or pulpit), and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And He sat down (the custom then), and taught the people out of the ship.

THE MIRACLE

⁴Now when He had left speaking (had finished preaching and teaching), He said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught (came as a surprise to these fishermen; they had fished all night and caught nothing, so they must have wondered as to what He was doing; in effect, He will pay for the use of the boat; God will owe man nothing).

⁵And Simon answering said unto Him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at Your Word I will let down the net (the idea is that Peter would not have bothered himself to have let down the net on the word of anyone else other than Jesus).

⁶And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net broke (so many fish that it broke the net).

⁷And they beckoned unto their partners (Peter and Andrew beckoned to James and John), 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 (Christ had the same power over the fish of the sea as He had over the frogs, lice, and locusts of Egypt).

⁸When Simon Peter saw it(proclaims the effect of this lesson is not to give Simon high thoughts of himself, but low thoughts; such is ever the effect of a manifestation of Divine Power and Grace upon the conscience of fallen man), he fell down at Jesus knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord (proclaims this miracle revealing the hidden unbelief of Simons heart, for without a doubt, when casting the nets he said to himself: we shall catch nothing).

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

¹⁰And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth you shall catch men (the first recorded instance of Jesus using the words, fear not, with His Disciples; His statement elevated them to being fishers of men, and constituted their call to Discipleship, and as Apostles).

¹¹And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed Him (means they immediately did so).

JESUS HEALS A LEPER

¹²And it came to pass, when He was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy (the man was in the last stages of leprosy, actually close to death): who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought Him, saying, Lord, if You will, You can make me clean (he expressed doubt about the willingness of Jesus, rather than His Power; many Jews at that time, knowing that leprosy was a type of sin, didnt even believe that a leper could be Saved; hence, the statement of this leper concerning the willingness of Christ to cleanse Him).

¹³And He put forth His hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean (His answer and action forever settled the question of Gods Will regarding the healing of the sick). And immediately the leprosy departed from him (the Greek structure of the sentence proclaims the fact that it was Jesus Word which healed the man, so when He touched him, healing had already been effected).

¹⁴And he charged him to tell no man: but go, and show yourself to the Priest, and offer for your cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them (this concerned the Law of the cleansing of the Leper [Lev., Chpt. 14]).

¹⁵But 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.

¹⁶And He withdrew Himself into the wilderness, and prayed (if Jesus had to pray, what about us?!).

HEALING AND FORGIVENESS

¹⁷And 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 (now the great opposition will begin): and the power of the Lord was present to heal them (the implication is that sick people were being healed without Jesus even addressing their sicknesses or infirmities; the Spirit of God emanating from Him overwhelmed the sicknesses and diseases; in other words, His mere Presence brought healing).

¹⁸And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy (four men as Mark testified; the man had a type of paralysis): and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before Him (the place was so thronged with people that they could not get into the house).

¹⁹And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop (houses are normally flat on top in that part of the world), and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus (they probably enlarged a trap door that was in the ceiling).

²⁰And when He saw their faith (true Faith always has action), He said unto him, Man, your sins are forgiven you (indicates that the wretched physical condition of the sick man was due to his sinful life; yet, Jesus treated him with the utmost of kindness).

²¹And the Scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? (There was a hostile atmosphere in the room, and our Lord sensed it. What they thought in their hearts was expressed on their faces, and in their actions, and very personalities.)

²²But when Jesus perceived their thoughts (the Holy Spirit revealed to Him what they were thinking), He answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts? (He not only could forgive sins, but He could read the minds of individuals as the Holy Spirit revealed it to Him, proving that He was also God.)

²³Whether is easier, to say, Your sins be forgiven you; or to say, Rise up and walk? (The idea of the question as posed by Christ is that God Alone could do both, forgive and heal.)

²⁴But that you may know that the Son of Man has power upon earth to forgive sins (to prove that power), (He said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto you, Arise, and take up Your couch, and go into your house.

²⁵And immediately he rose up before them (implying that he could not do so previously), and took up that whereon he lay (carried his own bed), and departed to his own house, Glorifying God (he had come sick, unable to walk, and left healed and well; no wonder he Glorified God).

²⁶And they were all amazed (the Truth was incontestable), and they Glorified God (insinuating that even the Scribes and Pharisees did so), and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things today (in fact, they had seen what no human beings had ever before seen).

JESUS CALLS MATTHEW

²⁷And after these things He went forth, and saw a Publican (a tax-collector), named Levi (Matthew), sitting at the receipt of custom (this was a lucrative occupation, but one despised by the Jews; in other words, they hated tax-collectors because they represented Rome; the task was so odious that most Publicans hired others to physically collect the taxes; but it seemed that Matthew little cared what people thought of him): and He (Jesus) said unto him (Matthew), Follow Me (it was not in Indian-file nature, with one following another, but a side by side walk down the same road).

²⁸And he left all, rose up, and followed Him (he left his tax-collectors position, and did so immediately).

²⁹And Levi made Him (Jesus) a great feast in his own house (speaks of the fact that Matthew was a person of consideration and position): and there was a great company of Publicans and of others who sat down with them (speaks of a group of people who were probably not even allowed in the Synagogues).

THE PHARISEES

³⁰But their Scribes (were supposed to be expert in the Law of Moses) and Pharisees (the fundamentalist religious party in Israel) murmured against His Disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with Publicans and sinners? (They would not have even remotely considered having a meal with any of these people, much less treating them in a friendly fashion.)

³¹And Jesus answering said unto them, They who are whole need not a physician; but they who are sick (the association with Publicans and sinners was not the Pharisees problem, but rather their black hearts, which were more wicked in the sight of God even than the ones whom they were condemning).

³²I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (in other words, the very reason I have come is for these people you are condemning).

FASTING

³³And they said unto Him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees (this question was probably asked by the disciples of John the Baptist); but yours eat and drink? (This referred to the Disciples of Jesus in comparison to the disciples of John.)

³⁴And He said unto them, Can you make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? (The object of all that is done by the Believer, whether it be fasting or feasting, is Jesus. He Alone is the focal point of all. The fasting done previously under the Old Covenant was in relationship to His Coming, which speaks of the First Advent because, as is obvious, He was not with them at that time. He is now with them, so there is no need for fasting, at least at that particular time.)

³⁵But the days will come, when the bridegroom (Christ) shall be taken away from them (Believers), and then shall they fast in those days (it refers to the period of time of the Church Age, which has lasted now for about 2,000 years; while the reasons for fasting are varied and many, the main reason of all pertains to Him not being here, which involves many things; when He comes back, joy, prosperity, and feasting will then be the order of the entirety of the world).

³⁶And He spoke also a Parable unto them; No man puts a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new makes a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agrees not with the old (the New Covenant is to be complete within itself, and not a part of the Old; in other words, the New Covenant cannot be patched onto the Old Covenant).

³⁷And no man puts new wine into old bottles (wineskins); else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish (to try to attach the New Covenant to the Old would destroy both Covenants).

³⁸But new wine (New Covenant) must be put into new bottles (new skins); and both are preserved (the new wine is the New Covenant; the new bottles constitute the Church; this means that Judaism will have no place whatsoever in Christianity, even though the roots of Christianity are definitely in Judaism).

³⁹No man also having drunk old wine straightway (immediately) desires new: for he says, The old is better (the Old Covenant had to be done away with completely, or else the New would not have been accepted; Why? Works are always more appealing to men than Faith; Why? Works appeals to pride, while Faith appeals to the Cross).