THE GOSPEL
ACCORDING TO
LUKE
Commentary by DAVID BROWN
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CHAPTER 5
@Lu
5:1-11. MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES--CALL OF PETER,
JAMES, AND JOHN.
Not their first call, however, recorded in @Joh
1:35-42; nor their second, recorded in @Mt
4:18-22; but their third and last before their
appointment to the apostleship. That these calls were all
distinct and progressive, seems quite plain.
(Similar stages are observable in other eminent servants
of Christ.)
3. taught . . . out of the ship--(See on
Mt 13:2).
4. for a draught--munificent recompense for the use
of his boat.
5. Master--betokening not surely a first
acquaintance, but a relationship already formed.
all night--the usual
time of fishing then (@Joh
21:3), and even now Peter, as a fisherman, knew how
hopeless it was to "let down his net" again,
save as a mere act of faith, "at His word" of
command, which carried in it, as. it ever does, assurance
of success. (This shows he must have been already and for
some time a follower of Christ.)
6. net brake--rather "was breaking," or
"beginning to break," as in @Lu
5:7, "beginning to sink."
8. Depart, &c.--Did Peter then wish Christ to
leave him? Verily no. His all was wrapt up in Him (@Joh
6:68). "It was rather, Woe is me, Lord! How shall
I abide this blaze of glory? A sinner such as I am is not
fit company for Thee." (Compare @Isa
6:5.)
10. Simon, fear not--This shows how the Lord read
Peter's speech. The more highly they deemed Him, ever
the more grateful it was to the Redeemer's spirit. Never
did they pain Him by manifesting too lofty conceptions of
Him.
from henceforth--marking
a new stage of their connection with Christ. The last was
simply, "I will make you fishers."
fishers of men--"What
wilt thou think, Simon, overwhelmed by this draught of
fishes, when I shall bring to thy net what will beggar all
this glory?" (See on Mt 4:18.)
11. forsook all--They did this before (@Mt
4:20); now they do it again; and yet after the
Crucifixion they are at their boats once more (@Joh
21:3). In such a business this is easily conceivable.
After pentecost, however, they appear to have finally
abandoned their secular calling.
@Lu
5:12-16. LEPER HEALED.
(See on Mt 8:2-4.)
15. But so, &c.--(See @Mr
1:45).
@Lu
5:17-26. PARALYTIC HEALED.
(See on Mt 9:1-8).
17. Pharisees and doctors . . . sitting by--the
highest testimony yet borne to our Lord's growing
influence, and the necessity increasingly felt by the
ecclesiastics throughout the country of coming to some
definite judgment regarding Him.
power of the Lord . . .
present--with Jesus.
to heal them--the
sick people.
19. housetop--the flat roof.
through the tiling . . .
before Jesus--(See on Mr 2:2).
24. take up thy couch--"sweet saying! The bed
had borne the man; now the man shall bear the bed!" [BENGEL].
@Lu
5:27-32. LEVI'S CALL AND FEAST.
(See on Mt
9:9-13; and @Mr
2:14.)
30. their scribes--a mode of expression showing
that Luke was writing for Gentiles.
@Lu
5:33-39. FASTING.
(See on Mt 9:14-17.)
The incongruities mentioned in @Lu
5:36-38 were intended to illustrate the difference
between the genius of the old and new economies,
and the danger of mixing up the one with the other.
As in the one case supposed, "the rent is made
worse," and in the other, "the new wine is
spilled," so by a mongrel mixture of the ascetic
ritualism of the old with the spiritual freedom of the new
economy, both are disfigured and destroyed. The
additional parable in @Lu
5:39, which is peculiar to Luke, has been variously
interpreted. But the "new wine" seems plainly to
be the evangelical freedom which Christ was introducing;
and the old, the opposite spirit of Judaism: men long
accustomed to the latter could not be expected
"straightway"--all at once--to take a liking for
the former; that is, "These inquiries about the
difference between My disciples and the Pharisees,"
and even John's, are not surprising; they are the effect
of a natural revulsion against sudden change, which
time will cure; the new wine will itself in time become
old, and so acquire all the added charms of antiquity.
What lessons does this teach, on the one hand, to those
who unreasonably cling to what is getting antiquated; and,
on the other, to hasty reformers who have no patience with
the timidity of their weaker brethren!
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