Today in God’s Word

Today in God's Word—July 2023

East Tallassee Church of Christ

July 29, Luke 5

After Jesus borrowed Peter’s boat for a pulpit, the carpenter took the fishermen out to catch some fish. It went against conventional fishing wisdom, and followed a frustrating night of failure. The fishermen were cleaning the nets to try again the next night. But Peter, because Jesus said so, went out into the deep and let down the nets again. In a way fishermen would understand, Jesus told them, “I can do what you can’t.” Soon, the nets were breaking, and the boats were sinking. Peter fell down in fear and astonishment at Jesus’ knees (was the boat knee-deep in fish?) and acknowledged the holiness of Jesus. When they returned to shore, that demonstration of Jesus’ power led a group of professional fishermen to leave the catch of a lifetime behind to follow him.

The disciples saw the power displayed in awesome ways in the following days. In compassionate response to the pleas of a leper, Jesus touched the unclean man (how long had it been since the afflicted man had been touched?), said he was clean, and he was. When the friends of a paralyzed man tore through the roof to get their friend to Jesus, everyone was amazed when the fellow got up, rolled up his mat and walked home.

Not everyone was thrilled by the displays of power or by the things he said. When Jesus told the paralyzed man his sins were forgiven, the Pharisee observers were unwittingly close to confessing Jesus as God. They said, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” They were so close! But their preconceived notions about their righteousness and what Messiah should be kept them from connecting the obvious dots about his identity. They separated themselves from the “sinners,” but Jesus called a tax collector to be one of his disciples, and then had the audacity to go to a party at his house with all his sinner friends. Jesus explained it to them, but they couldn’t fathom associating with such sinful people.

Two general reactions to these remarkable displays of power and wisdom emerge in Luke’s narrative. He described the first general reaction among the public with words such as astonishment, amazement, awe and glorifying God. People were celebrating and admitting they had seen extraordinary things. The disciples were a special category of positive response, leaving behind the lives and livelihoods they knew to follow this Galilean. But the Pharisees had a different reaction. They accused Jesus of blasphemy. They grumbled about his associations and demanded that he conform to their frame of reference and practice.

As you read the story and see the polar opposite responses to Jesus, which do you think yours would have been had you been there? Which response is showing in your life right now? Are you following him?

From The Abiding Companion: A Friendly Guide for Your Journey Through the New Testament, Copyright © 2010 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.