Luke 6:1-5 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. 2 Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” 3 Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”  5 Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
 
HAVE you ever considered that God’s law as recorded in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy points to God’s grace – his unmerited favor – into our lives? This passage refers to two grace elements in God’s law. First, God graciously commanded a Sabbath to be remembered each week. This is God’s favor to the Jews – and now to us – as a good day to consider the Lord has blessed us with a beautiful world to inhabit, good work to do and other blessings we rarely take time to notice.
    Think about the impact of this rest day for the Jews. Egypt had enslaved God’s people. They had worked continuously under some very harsh conditions: Exodus 1:14 with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly. What an extraordinary gift to be commanded, “But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.” (Exodus 20:10) Did the Jews see this as a restrictive rule? Or did they grasp God’s kindness?
    Second, God’s law also graciously permitted hungry travelers to pluck grain to eat from the fields along a road. Deuteronomy 23:25 If you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to his standing grain. The understanding is, “Take to eat as needed but no more.”
    Our good God permitted rest for weary workers and basic food for hungry travelers. These are the physical ways of salvation. Our Lord gives us the pattern of physical life to prepare us to enter eternal life.
    But God’s grace wasn’t enough for the over-zealous Pharisees. They had added 39 rules to God’s Sabbath law! God’s straightforward commands became an impossible pathway that led to destructive legalism in the Pharisees’ corrupted system.
    As Jesus responds, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” he was clear. God requires no instruction from us. We are to listen, learn, love and live into his gracious, righteous truth. 
 
Prayer: Thank you, Father, for your gracious Scripture. You love me in so many ways. I praise you for your favor of salvation in my physical body and eternal soul. Amen. 

Luke 5:36-39 He told them this parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’”
 
A childhood memory recalls my mother patching rips in my everyday pants with cloth from other worn out pants. It was good to extend their use for several months. Of course, it was only a matter of time the repaired pants would be too worn to wear. It was not good to keep wearing the old worn out clothes – even if they were comfortable!
    Jesus did not want the Jews to keep wearing the old, worn out, comfortable traditions that tore from their relationship with the LORD God. Jesus’ message pointed to the new: Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” The law taught the Jews the essence of life was to love God and to love others. The Pharisees’ practice of patching new laws and traditions into God’s perfect law formed a weak, worn-out garment of love-stifling rules.
    We thank God Jesus has given us a new garment of praise, as he promised: Isaiah 61:3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion – to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
    Rejoice and be glad! Who wants to wear the old clothes when we can live under Jesus’ eternal new clothes? Revelation 21:5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Yes, the cross proves Jesus’ words are trustworthy and true. Believe his words and live. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
 
Prayer: Thank you, Jesus, for your garment of praise over my soul. I rejoice in the new life you have given to me. I pray I always remember and live in your love. In you name I pray. Amen.

Luke 5:33-35 They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.” 34 Jesus answered, “Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? 35 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”
 
AS in so many conversations with the religious establishment, Jesus simplifies the differences between religious habits and God’s truth. God had not commanded fasting as a common practice. His law did require the Jews to fast on the Day of Atonement. This was a special time of repentance and worship to remove the sin from Israel. One could fast at other times for special times of prayer and supplication to God.  Fasting was not required in common worship and teaching experiences.
    Our Lord uses the marriage example to encourage his disciples to “eat” of all he has to teach while he is with them. No one fasts at a wedding feast. Jesus, the bridegroom of the church, wants his disciples to feast on his words.
    John emphasizes Jesus feeding his truth to the world: John 6:35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”  And there is the powerful “eating” instruction from our Lord as he declared the New Covenant: Luke 22:19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
    Today, in the Spirit’s power, we can feast daily on Jesus’ nourishing words. We consume his sacrifice in faith. We can also fast from our daily food to consider our Lord’s suffering and his salvation. Rejoice that you can feast with the Bridegroom forever.
 
Prayer: Thank you, Father, for feeding to me the eternal Bread of Life through the Son and the Spirit. Amen.  

Luke 5:29-32 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” 31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
 
THERE are times in ministry when I have sat at a meal with people of the church or with others I don’t necessarily know. As I ate and talked with them, a great longing in my heart desired everyone present would personally experience a close, loving relationship with Jesus. I wanted to wrap my arms around all to say, “Jesus loves you very much. I pray you know and enjoy his love.”
    Luke and the other gospels tell us Jesus often sat with his people. Perhaps the desire to love on God’s people at a meal is a small slice of Jesus’ love and compassion for those with whom  he ate.
    We can more deeply understand Jesus’ emotions for his people with these words from Luke 13:34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” In the Hebrew language, this repetition, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem”.  indicates a deep longing for the sinner to repent and become his own as the LORD God created them to be.
    Jesus knows their sin is deep. Their sin is the reason he goes to them. There is no reason to go to the sinless – if such a person existed. Clean people don’t need a bath.
    That day in Levi’s home, Jesus sat with men who had committed great sin against his people. Yet, he sat down with them. He talked with them. He fellowshipped with them. He loved on them. Surely the righteous Lord could have spoken of and condemned their sin. But he was intent to seek and to save them.
    Sometimes we need to go into those kinds of places to sit with people who live apart of God. They are lost because they do not know the way. Our work must not separate them from Jesus through self-righteous attitudes. But by our love we are to embrace them with the gospel.
 
Prayer: Grant me a love as yours, Lord. Teach me to teach the lost of the way to Christ. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
    

Luke 5:27-28 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, 28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
 
A few lessons back, we read of the Lord calling Peter, Andrew, James and John. They, too, left everything in response to Jesus’ call, “Follow me.” Now Jesus walked into a busy marketplace in Capernaum to call Levi, who we more commonly known as Matthew. Levi rises from his tax collector’s booth to join with the Lord. Just as with the healed cripple, this is the Lord’s very personal gift of faith, forgiveness and saving grace.
    No appointed disciple earned the Lord’s command, “Follow me”. In fact, if Jesus would reject anyone, it would have been Levi. Tax collectors were among the most despised people in Israel. The Jews viewed tax collectors as men who robbed them for self-enrichment. Tax collectors were their own authority, rewarded for filling Rome’s treasury. Rome’s depletion of Israel’s resources was one of the most severe effects this mighty power had over the tiny nation.
    Calling Matthew was one more way Jesus expressed God’s release of the captives into the favor of his salvation. We can understand the anointing of such righteous servants as Zechariah, who was John the Baptist’s father, and Mary, Jesus’ mother, but who would call the unrighteous? God would. And we all must thank God he does. Otherwise, who would be saved?
    Jesus-called and Spirit-powered, Matthew fulfilled God’s plan. Matthew’s gospel helps the Jews understand the many ways Jesus fulfilled the prophets’ Messiah promises. Because of Matthew’s work, we know the great Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), the incredible resurrection of many after Jesus’ own resurrection (Matthew 27:52-53) and f Jesus’ promises of his return to establish his rule with his apostles (Matthew 19:28-29).
    Matthew followed Jesus into the revelation of his good news to redeem the world. Let’s be eager to do the same. Respond to the good news of the good Lord Jesus. He has come to command you, “Follow me.” even if you think, “I’m not worthy.”
 
Prayer: Lord God, lead me on the path of righteousness for your name’s sake. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. 

Luke 5:20-21 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” 21 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
 
THE Pharisees, who saw themselves as God’s law protectors, immediately rejected Jesus’ claim to forgive sins: “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy?” To merely grant forgiveness to somebody was even a momentous change in God’s law. Forgiveness required the Jews to go through a ceremonial process of repentance and sacrifice to be forgiven. The Pharisees were correct. Only God can forgive: Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
    Yes, the Pharisees question was a very good question to protect the law and to affirm God’s authority. It is likely Jesus was even hoping they would ask this to show they were faithful stewards of God’s law.
    To help the Pharisees know he is surely the God who forgives, Jesus responded to their questions with his own question: Luke 5:22 “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?” Reading their minds that condemned him, Jesus announced the LORD’s power was in that room: Psalms 94:11 The LORD knows the thoughts of man; he knows that they are futile. Then Jesus expanded the LORD’s favor over the man from the spiritual to the physical: Luke 5:24 “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”  
    “Son of Man” is Jesus’ direct reference to himself as one from heaven. According to Daniel 7:13, Son of Man is the one given all authority from the Ancient of Days – the LORD God. The man’s restored physical body affirmed Jesus’ sovereign power to heal the man’s soul. The healing also affirmed Jesus’ forgiveness.
    Physical healing, miraculous and wonderful, is but a small picture of God’s healing forgiveness. Jesus wanted the Jews to believe in the central purpose of  his incarnation, “Your sins are forgiven.”
    Luke closes this manifestation of God’s kingdom come to earth with the crowd’s response. Luke 5:25 Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26 Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”
    Are your eyes open to see the remarkable things the LORD is doing?
 
Prayer: Thank you, Jesus, for your remarkable, eternal healing of my soul. Amen.
 

Luke 5:18-20 Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19 When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. 20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
 
THE man couldn’t walk, but the Lord could see he stepped in faith. So sure was the crimpled man of Jesus’ healing, he must have insisted the men who carried him, “Dig through the roof and lower me to the floor.” The man’s helpers worked hard and even broke property and etiquette rules as they opened a flat, tiled roof to put their friend at the head of the line at Jesus’ feet. Jesus response, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” is completed in Mark 2:10 “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . .” He said to the paralytic, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”
    Remember, too, the leper from Luke 5:12 While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 13 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.  
    This desperate man was a rule breaker, too. He disobeyed God’s law regarding those with skin disease: Leviticus 13:45-46 “The person with such an infectious disease must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and cry out. ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ 46 … He must live alone; he must live outside the camp.” God said a leper should look like a mess, so people will avoid him! Still, he desperately, faithfully went to Jesus.
    Third, consider, also, the woman who bled for 12 years (Luke 8). She  broke through the crowd to touch the Master’s cloak for her healing. The Levitical law said she must separate  herself from others because she was unclean. But Jesus announced: Luke 8:48 “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”
    How did the three healed, forgiven people have such faith to strive toward Jesus? The apostle Paul gives us an answer in Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. God gave faith to the cripple and his helpers, to the leprous man and to the bleeding woman. They had not earned such healings. They even broke the law! Yet God had chosen them to receive a life-transforming gift. With their faith gift in their heart, they went to the one who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases. (Psalm 103:3) “Your sins are forgiven.” is the greatest healing of all.
    How about you? The Bible tells us all who went to Jesus for healing were healed. Has God given to you a faith to go to  him for forgiveness and healing? Yes, forgiveness and healing go together. The One who has the power to do both awaits you. The Holy God has called you into a holy relationship with him.
 
Prayer: Father in heaven, I believe in your power to forgive my sins and to heal my diseases. Into your will I submit my life. Amen. 

Luke 5:17 One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick.
 
PHARISEES came from all over Israel to hear Jesus! He surely taught many things. And he even healed. Do ou think the teachers were impressed?
    It is likely the teachers criticized, even condemned Jesus’ gracious work because Jesus knew their hearts: “Beware the teachers of the law.” (Luke 20:46a), Jesus warned, condemning their prideful behavior and severe taxes even on widows. And, of course, the Pharisees were among those who conspired to kill Jesus. The Pharisees had lost their original mission to protect the Lord’s law in Israel.
    The office of Pharisee was formed during the 400 years between the Old Testament and Jesus’ ministry. Israel was continually under foreign rule. Some were very evil men who even desecrated God’s temple in Jerusalem. They enslaved the Jews both physically and morally with their evil political and religious practices.
    In response, the Jews sought ways to keep God’s law and his knowledge alive, separated from the evil invaders. In fact, “Pharisee” means to separate oneself from anything that is not of God’s law. Thus, Pharisees wrapped themselves in God’s commands to protect themselves and the Jews from the enemy. The Pharisees were formed with the same just cause that Scripture teaches us today: 1 Peter 1:14-15 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do.  
    But then, as our sin nature is prone to do, the Pharisees added their own laws to God’s laws. Religious restrictions grew as each generation wanted to make their mark on the Jews’ behavior. God’s grace was no longer evident among the Jews.
    To counter that legalism, Jesus stressed the greatest command is to “Love the Lord your God.” (Matthew 22:37) With love, God gave the law as a means of protecting, not imprisoning his people.
    As we look back and judge the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, we must consider two questions: First, ask yourself, “Do I separate myself from evil”
    Second, we must ask ourselves, “Is there any way I put religious restrictions above God’s grace and love?” The answer to both questions requires a loving study of God’s gracious words to know his true answers.
 
Prayer: Help me, Spirit, to know the difference between man-made rules and your remarkable truth that points to your love. In the Spirit’s power I pray. Amen. 

Luke 5:15-16 Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
 
DO you like to be alone with God? During his incarnation as fully man, Jesus desired alone time with the Father and Spirit. Even though Jesus could have filled his time with preaching, discipling and healing, he deliberately moved away from people to spend considerable time withdrawing to lonely places and praying.
    Is it difficult for you to be alone with God? We can easily find many reasons to avoid that alone time. Perhaps you find it easier to engage in your daily tasks and respond to others’ demands. Filling our schedule to satisfy the god of busyness can be our purpose.
    Or do you even feel unworthy to sit with your holy, loving God? You’re not confident or comfortable with what you would say to your Lord if you sat down as if he were next to you. Perhaps, too, you are weary of praying the same words, the same desires while you hear only silence from your Father?
    God has given us a need to be with him. Made in his image, a foundation of our existence is to reflect the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 13:14). One way to cultivate that love is to sit down alone with the One who loves you. As Jesus prayed in those lonely places, so must we. Alone time with God helps us move past our frailties to the One who says, “Come to me all you who are weary, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) Alone time is the best time to truly hear the Father’s great love for you. Alone time with God enables you to enter your daily life with Jesus’ rest, assured the loving God is with you.
 
Prayer: Thank you, Father, for inviting me to me alone with you. This is a most precious time of my day. I rejoice that you call me into such a personal relationship with you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Luke 5:12-14 While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 13 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him. 14 Then Jesus ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”
 
JESUS taught us to pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) More than words, this teaching is about two truths of prayer. First, we are to pray with faith in the Lord’s power to answer our prayer. Second, we must pray with submission to the Lord’s answer.
    This is how the leprous man approached Jesus. Notice the man is identified by his disease. The disease is so hideous it becomes the main reference of his personhood. He is no longer husband, father, brother, neighbor or friend. He has no hope but to hope in the Lord. The greatest longing of his life is to be healed.
    Yet, he does not demand the Lord’s mercy with such self-centered words as, “Lord, heal me or I won’t believe in you. Heal me, and I’ll commit my life to you.” Instead, faithfully and submissively he goes to Jesus with, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” He trusts the Lord will heal him if it is the Lord’s will to do so.
    Then Jesus acts into God’s will for the man. In the full power of the One who spoke the universe into existence, the Living Word decrees, “Be clean!” Reverently the man has submitted to the Lord’s will. Mercifully the Lord speaks his healing will into the man. God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.
    Then Jesus speaks of God’s will in another way. He commands the man, “Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”  God’s will for the healing is for the man to be a testimony of God’s mercy. The man must obey the laws of purification and cleansing for healed skin (Leviticus 14:1-32). When the man goes before the priest, the priest will know God has healed. In response, the man and the community of believers will praise and worship God. God is glorified.
    This, too, is God’s will on earth. Healing the leper and then directing him to the priest, Jesus is revealing the purpose and fulfillment of God’s will through his law and grace to heal his people of sin’s deadly sickness.
    Do you pray in faith, submissive to God’s will? The man’s request to Jesus is a righteous prayer model for us all. Have faith. Believe in God’s power. Trust his merciful will for your life. Submit to his answer. Live as the Lord commands.
 
Prayer: If it is your will, Lord, heal me of my sickness. In Jesus’ name. Amen