Typical Days in Jesus’s Ministry

Typical days in Jesus’s ministry included:

Healing, Lk 5:12-15

A man full of leprosy came to Jesus, fell on his face, and said, “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean”.  He called him Lord, not Master.  He prayed like Jesus in Gethsemane.. Lord willing.

Jesus put forth his hand and touched the man.  He was unclean, Lev 13:44-46.  The man wasn’t afraid to approach Jesus and Jesus wasn’t afraid to touch him.  The clean healed the unclean.  Immediately the leprosy departed from him.  Divine healing is always immediate.

Jesus charged him to tell no man.  He said this for two reasons.  First, he had to go to the priest according to the law, Lev 14:1-32. They were still under the law.  Jesus wasn’t circumventing the law.  And he went for a testimony unto them.  That is, the priests pronouncement of clean would let others know his cleansing was ‘official’.  Second, great multitudes came.  Mk 1:45 Jesus could no more openly enter into the city after everyone heard what happened.

Praying, Lk 5:16

Jesus withdrew himself to pray.  That’s the only way he could get alone with God.  He would have very little time to rest, otherwise.  See Mark 3:20-21 and Mark 6:30-33.  We need to withdraw and pray, and get alone with God.  We should have no distractions.

Teaching, Lk 5:17

As he was teaching, there were Pharisees and doctors of the law “sitting by”.  They came from cities all over the region.  They weren’t there to learn.  They were watching him.

When you come to church just “sitting by” you are no longer learning.  You’re looking for something to criticize.

The power of the Lord was present to heal those who had come for his teaching.  That’s because they believed.  Contrast, Mark 6:4-6, where he could there do no mighty work… because of their unbelief.

Forgiving, Lk 5:18-26

This is the fabulous story of the man with the palsy who was lowered through the roof to where Jesus was teaching.  When Jesus saw the faith of the men who lowered him and the man they lowered, he said, “Man, thy sins are forgiven thee”.  This was probably one of those instances where his illness was a consequence of his sin.  See Jn 5:14.

And this is what the scribes and Pharisees had been looking for.  They accused Jesus of blasphemy and they said, “Who can forgive sins, but God alone”?  What they obviously failed to recognize is that Jesus is God manifest in the flesh.  His miracle showed that.  And what the Roman Catholic Church fails to recognize is that the priests can’t forgive sins.  Only God can.

Now to prove that Jesus had the power to forgive sins, he said to the man with the palsy, “Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house”.  And immediately he rose up before them.  Divine healing is always immediate.

It would certainly have been much easier to say “Thy sins be forgiven thee” than to say, “Rise up and walk”.  This miracle showed them he was God.  But they didn’t believe him.  The man with the palsy certainly believed.  He went to his house glorifying God.

All the people were amazed when they saw this.  And they, too, glorified God.  They were filled with fear, which is what people do when they realize God has done something so miraculous.  See 1 Ki 3:28 and Matt 27:54.  Because they had never seen anything like this before, they said, “We have seen strange things today”.  Not strange, as in bizarre, but as in new and wonderful.

Calling, Lk 5:27-32

It’s at this time that Jesus called Levi (Matthew Matt 9:9).  When Jesus said, “Follow me”, he left all and followed him.  And he made a great feast in his house to which he invited a great company.  Now the scribes and Pharisees had something else to criticize, asking “Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners”?

Jesus answered with a parable stating “They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick”.  This is absolutely true.  Therefore, he came to call sinners, not the righteous, to repentance.  According to Matt 9:13, Jesus came to extend mercy, not to receive sacrifice.  They, too, should have had mercy on these sinners.  The sacrifices of these wicked Pharisees were unacceptable to God, Prov 15:8, 21:27.  Only the eventual sacrifice of Jesus Christ would atone for sin.

Explaining, Lk 5:33-35

Jesus had to explain to these critical, gnat-swallowing Pharisees that his disciples didn’t fast at this time because the bridegroom, Jesus Christ, Jn 3:28-29, was with them.  Their time to fast was going to be after his ascension.  And, as his disciples today, it’s still time for us to fast.

Illustrating, Lk 5:36-39

Then Jesus used two illustrations to teach these Pharisees why he was doing things they had never seen before.  You don’t mend an old garment with a piece of new garment.  The piece of new garment will shrink and tear the old garment where it was patched.  Jesus didn’t come to fix the damage they had done to the Old Testament.  He was instituting the New Testament.

You don’t put new wine into old bottles, which have already expanded under the fermenting pressure of the wine that was in them. The new wine will burst the old bottles. You put new wine into new bottles.  The New Testament didn’t fit in their old way of doing things.  For instance, there were going to be no more sacrifices after Calvary.

But the problem with people is that when they have had some old wine, they don’t want the new wine. Such was the case with the Pharisees.  They wouldn’t accept the New Testament.

To study the previous lesson, see Teaching Simon Peter. To study the next lesson, see The Sabbath Days.