In his inaugural homily, Pope Benedict XVI similarly commented:
Today, too, the Church and the successors of the apostles are told to put out into the deep sea of history and to let down the nets, so as to win men and women over to the gospel—to God, to Christ, to true life. . . . There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the gospel, by the encounter with Christ. There is nothing more beautiful than to know him and to speak to others of our friendship with him.b
a. John Paul II, Novo Millennio Ineunte 1, 15, 38.
b. Benedict XVI, homily for the inauguration of his pontificate, April 24, 2005, in The Essential Pope Benedict XVI: His Central Writings and Speeches, ed. John F. Thornton and Susan B. Varenne (New York: HarperCollins, 2007), 35.
[5:8–10]
The full name Simon Peter is therefore used here in view of his selection and future mission as an apostle (Luke 6:14). Also introduced are James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who as apostles together with Peter are about to embark on a totally new kind of fishing partnership, and who as a trio will accompany Jesus at certain key moments in his ministry (8:51; 9:28).
BIBLICAL BACKGROUND
Fishing on the Lake of Gennesaret
Luke uses the name “Lake of Gennesaret”a (5:1; see 8:22–23, 33) for the seven-by-thirteen-mile body of freshwater that the other Gospels call the “Sea of Galilee” (Matt 4:18; 15:29; Mark 1:16; 7:31) or the “Sea of Tiberias” (John 6:1; 21:1). In the Old Testament, it is called the “Sea of Chinnereth” (e.g., Num 34:11; Josh 12:3; 13:27). Gennesaret is the fertile area bordering the northwestern shore of the lake, south of Capernaum (Matt 14:34; Mark 6:53).
The names of villages along the lake are one indication that fishing was an important industry (and remains so today). Bethsaida (Luke 9:10) can mean “house of fishing,”b and the Greek name for Magdala (8:2) was Taricheae, meaning a center for salting fish. Fishermen might work together as partners (5:10) in a cooperative. However, their business was heavily taxed, and they had to purchase fishing rights from the local tax collector.c The Gospels describe fishing with a hook (Matt 17:27) and nets (e.g., Mark 1:18; John 21:6), such as a casting net (Matt 4:18) and a dragnet (Matt 13:47–48). In Luke 5, certain details—nighttime fishing, two boats, washing the nets—suggest the use of trammel nets (three-layer nets that trap fish swimming through the coarser mesh of the outer layers and into the finer mesh of the middle layer).d The boats were probably like the first-century boat found in the muddy shore in 1986, when a drought lowered the water level. This twenty-seven-by-eight-foot wooden boat with mast and sail had a crew of five or more (see Mark 1:19–21), and is similar to the boat depicted in a first-century mosaic found at Magdala.e
a. See 1 Macc 11:67; Josephus, Jewish War 3.463, 506, 516.
b. Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel according to Luke, 2 vols., AB (New York: Doubleday, 1981–85), 1:765.
c. K. C. Hanson and Douglas E. Oakman, Palestine in the Time of Jesus: Social Structures and Social Conflicts, 2nd ed. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2008), 99.
d. Mendel Nun, The Sea of Galilee and Its Fishermen in the New Testament (Ein-Gev: Kinnereth Sailing Company, 1989), 28–40.
e. Shelley Wachsmann, The Sea of Galilee Boat: A 2000 Year Old Discovery from the Sea of Legends, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, MA: Perseus, 2000), 302–22.
Simon’s reaction is one of astonishment at this sudden experience of the awesome power and presence of God. Whereas earlier he called him “Master” (5:5), recognizing his authority as a teacher (v. 3), he now goes a step further and addresses Jesus as Lord (1:43; 2:11)—the first person in the Gospel to call him by this important title (see the sidebar, “Jesus the Lord,” p. 115). He confesses that he is a sinful man, not unlike Isaiah who, after seeing a vision of the Lord God, recognized that he was “a man of unclean lips” (Isa 6:5).4 Depart from me, Simon tells Jesus, acutely aware of his own unworthiness. However, it is precisely individuals who recognize their sinfulness that Jesus has come to call (Luke 5:32). Do not be afraid, he tells Simon, in words previously addressed by angels to human beings (1:13, 30; 2:10), words that Jesus will frequently address to people in the Gospel (8:50; 12:7, 32). Jesus then explains what Peter’s future mission involves: From now on you will be catching men. Fishing is an image of the work of evangelization, like the “fishers of men” phrase found in the parallel verses (Matt 4:19; Mark 1:17). However, the verb that Luke uses emphasizes that Peter and the other fishermen will be catching people alive. Their mission will be to lead people to new life (see Acts 5:20; 11:18).
Figure 5. Magdala boat mosaic (first century AD). [© Baker Publishing Group]
Figure 6. Galilee boat (first century BC or AD). [Rafael Esquen]
[5:11]
Luke highlights how Peter and the others followed Jesus after seeing his miracles and hearing his preaching (compare Matt 4:18–22; Mark 1:16–20). Rather than specifying what they left in following Jesus (e.g., their nets, their boat, their father Zebedee), Luke simply says that they left everything, emphasizing the radical nature of Christian discipleship (see Luke 5:28; 14:33).
Cleansing of a Leper (5:12–16)
12Now there was a man full of leprosy in one of the towns where he was; and when he saw Jesus, he fell prostrate, pleaded with him, and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” 13Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I do will it. Be made clean.” And the leprosy left him immediately. 14Then he ordered him not to tell anyone, but “Go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.” 15The report about him spread all the more, and great crowds assembled to listen to him and to be cured of their ailments, 16but he would withdraw to deserted places to pray.
OT: Lev 13–14; Num 5:2–3; 2 Kings 5:1–15
NT: Luke 4:27; 7:22; 17:11–19. // Matt 8:1–4; Mark 1:40–45
Catechism: Jesus as Lord, 448; Jesus hears the prayer of faith, 2616; Jesus withdraws to pray, 2602
Lectionary: Friday after Epiphany
The following block of six passages (5:12–6:11) closely parallels Mark’s Gospel (Mark 1:40–3:6) in content, order, and even wording at times. There nonetheless are elements unique to Luke that highlight aspects of his message. For example, the earlier reference to Elisha’s healing of Naaman the Syrian (Luke 4:27) has prepared readers for the cleansing of the leper here (see also 17:11–19).
BIBLICAL BACKGROUND
Jesus the Lord
The Hebrew name of God, †YHWH (Exod 3:14–15; 6:2–3), was translated in the †Septuagint as kyrios, “Lord,” and is generally rendered with small capitals—“LORD”—in English versions of the Old Testament. In Luke, the word kyrios occurs about a hundred times, many more than in the other Gospels. About forty of these refer to God (e.g., Luke 1:6; 2:22; 10:21; 20:37). Another forty or so (which the NABRE also translates as “Lord” in almost all cases) refer to Jesus (e.g., 6:46; 7:6; 9:54; 10:39; 24:3), including cases where the †synoptic Gospel parallels lack the title (7:19; 22:61). The approximately twenty remaining occurrences are mainly in parables, where the word is translated “sir,” “master,” or “owner” (14:22; 16:3; 20:13), and the character so called may represent God (20:15) or Jesus (12:36).
At times, there is an overlap in the title’s application to God and Jesus. For example, Isaiah foretells one who will “prepare the way of the LORD” (Isa 40:3), meaning the Lord God of Israel. However, since Jesus is also called “Lord” in the Gospel’s early chapters (Luke 1:43; 2:11), when Luke later quotes this Isaiah passage to describe John the Baptist, the term “Lord” points to Jesus as well (3:4; also 1:76). Also important are the occurrences where people like Peter, the leper, the centurion, and Zacchaeus address Jesus as “Lord” (5:8, 12; 7:6; 19:8). Regardless of what these individuals understood about Jesus at the time—that is, whether kyrios was simply a polite address: “Sir”—the title carries a deeper meaning in Luke’s narrative, since the Gospel was written at a time when Christians were already worshiping Jesus a
s “Lord” (e.g., Rom 10:9; 1 Cor 12:3; Phil 2:11). In summary, Luke’s intention with his almost equal use of the word kyrios for God and for Jesus is to lead his readers to understand the divine identity of Jesus.a
a. C. Kavin Rowe, Early Narrative Christology: The Lord in the Gospel of Luke (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2006; Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009), 34–117, 147, 208–18; Richard B. Hays, Reading Backwards: Figural Christology and the Fourfold Gospel Witness (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2014), 63–66.
[5:12]
What will happen when a man full of leprosy encounters Jesus who is full of the Holy Spirit (4:1)? “Leprosy” can refer to many kinds of skin diseases, not just the medical condition of leprosy (Hansen’s disease). People with such skin diseases were considered ritually unclean and had to live separately, so that others would not touch them and become unclean themselves (Lev 13:45–46). The man therefore comes to Jesus in need of physical healing but also ritual cleansing in order to be restored to the community. He takes a risk by meeting Jesus not outside but in one of the towns. Like Peter in the previous passage (Luke 5:8), the leper falls before Jesus and addresses him as Lord. As in many other miracle stories, he makes an act of faith in Jesus’ ability to heal him: if you wish, you can make me clean.
[5:13–14]
Because Jesus’ mission is to “let the oppressed go free” (4:18), he replies, I do will it, using the same word translated “wish” in the leper’s request. However, Jesus here does not accomplish the healing simply by his word—Be made clean—as on other occasions (4:35; 5:24). Instead, a gesture accompanies the words: Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. As a result, the leprosy left him immediately. The significance of Jesus’ gesture is that rather than becoming unclean, Jesus by his touch both heals and cleanses. Here and also later in other miracles involving cases of ritual impurity (Num 5:2)—the healing of the woman with hemorrhages and the raising of Jairus’s dead daughter (Luke 8:40–56)—Jesus displays “a contagious purity”5 through touch, as power goes forth from him (see 6:19; 8:46). His command, Go, show yourself to the priest, is the concrete way for the cleansed man to be readmitted to the community, by offering the sacrifice prescribed in the law of Moses (Lev 14:1–20) and having his cleansed status publicly recognized.
What does all this say about Jesus? Certainly, as later miracles will also show, he is a prophetic figure like Elisha, who healed Naaman the leper (Luke 4:27). Jesus refers to himself as a “prophet” (4:24; 13:33), as do others (7:16; 9:8, 19; 24:19). The contagious purity manifested by Jesus’ touch is distinctive, however, and suggests that he is also a priestly figure who is the means of cleansing and source of holiness, analogous to the temple, the altar, and the high priest.6
[5:15–16]
Jesus’ fame continues to spread all the more, as many others come to listen and to be cured. Jesus, however, would withdraw to deserted places to pray. The Greek verb forms indicate that going off to pray was his customary behavior. Indeed, Luke frequently mentions Jesus at prayer, often in places of solitude (see comment on 3:21). Therefore, before teaching his disciples about prayer with his words (11:1–4), Jesus does so by his example.
Healing of a Paralyzed Man (5:17–26)
17One day as Jesus was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was with him for healing. 18And some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed; they were trying to bring him in and set [him] in his presence. 19But not finding a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the stretcher through the tiles into the middle in front of Jesus. 20When he saw their faith, he said, “As for you, your sins are forgiven.” 21Then the scribes and Pharisees began to ask themselves, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who but God alone can forgive sins?” 22Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them in reply, “What are you thinking in your hearts? 23Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 24But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.” 25He stood up immediately before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God. 26Then astonishment seized them all and they glorified God, and, struck with awe, they said, “We have seen incredible things today.”
OT: Isa 35:6; 43:25
NT: Luke 4:18; 7:22, 48–50; John 5:1–18; Acts 3:1–10; 14:8–13. // Matt 9:1–8; Mark 2:1–12
Catechism: Pharisees, 574–76; sacraments as powers from Christ, 1116; Son of Man, 440; Jesus heals and forgives, 589, 1421, 1503; sacrament of forgiveness, 1441, 1484; silent prayer, 2616
Lectionary: Monday Second Week of Advent
LIVING TRADITION
The Priesthood of Jesus
In commenting on Jesus’ command to the leper, the early Church writer Origen speaks of him as high priest: “Go, therefore, show yourself to the priest, that seeing you he may know that you were made clean, not through the observances of the Law, but by the operation of grace; not by the shadow that is the earthly priest, but by the heavenly splendor of the High Priest.”a Similarly, St. Bonaventure gives as one of the reasons for Jesus’ command “that the priestly dignity of Christ and the grace of the . . . new priesthood may be made known to them, a grace that not only can declare that someone has been cured, but also can cure.”b Whereas modern biblical scholarship has generally been skeptical that Christ is portrayed as a priest in this and other Gospel passages, the increased study of first-century Judaism in recent years has led to a rediscovery of this idea: for instance, “Jesus’ touching a leper without incurring uncleanness (5:12–16), his forgiving sins (5:17–26), his assumption of Davidic priestly status (6:1–10)—all these are symbolic indicators that Luke thought of Jesus as a kind of high priest. . . . The Gospel closes . . . with an account of Jesus’ ascension, where Jesus takes on a benedictory and therefore high-priestly posture.”c
a. Origen, Fragments on Matthew, in The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers, ed. and trans. M. F. Toal, 4 vols. (repr., Swedesboro, NJ: Preservation Press, 1996), 1:302 (translation adapted).
b. Bonaventure, Commentary on the Gospel of Luke 5.31, ed. and trans. Robert J. Karris, 3 vols. (St. Bonaventure, NY: The Franciscan Institute, 2001–4), 1:407 (translation adapted).
c. Nicholas Perrin, Jesus the Temple (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2010), 62–63. See also Vernon K. Robbins, “Priestly Discourse in Luke and Acts,” in Jesus and Mary Reimagined in Early Christian Literature, ed. Vernon K. Robbins and Jonathan M. Potter (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2015), 28–33.
[5:17]
In this first of a series of five controversies (5:17–6:11; compare Mark 2:1–3:6), the Pharisees, strict observers of the law (Acts 26:5), make their first appearance in the Gospel. They are Jesus’ opponents in this whole series (Luke 5:21, 30, 33; 6:2, 7) and later as well. They have come from the whole land of Israel together with teachers of the law, perhaps to investigate the reports they have heard. In their presence, Jesus’ teaching becomes the context for a healing miracle, a manifestation of the power of the Lord that is with him (see 4:14).
[5:18–19]
Whereas the leper approached Jesus on his own initiative, some men now bring to Jesus a man who was paralyzed. By his words, the leper expressed his faith that Jesus could heal him. These men express their faith by their undaunted efforts to bring him in through the roof.
[5:20]
Jesus sees their faith but also perceives that the man is in need of more than physical healing. The consequences of sin are more serious than those of illness (see 12:4–5), so Jesus addresses that condition: As for you, your sins are forgiven. The verb “forgive” (aphiēmi) corresponds to the noun “liberty” (aphesis) proclaimed by Jesus in Nazareth (4:18). Moreover, the phrase “as for you” is literally “man” or “human being” (anthrōpos). In a sense, the man’s situation of sin
and illness represents that of all human beings, children of Adam (a name that means “man,” “human being”). Although sin can result in bodily sickness (Ps 38:4), there is no explicit indication that the man’s illness was caused by his personal sins (see Luke 13:1–5; John 9:1–3). Still, illness and death, like personal sins, stem from the fallen human condition after the sin of Adam (see Catechism 1008, 1505). However, human beings are now being liberated by Jesus, the new Adam (see comment on Luke 3:38).
[5:21–24]
The controversy begins as the scribes and Pharisees think he is speaking blasphemies, equating himself with God. However, from the readers’ vantage point, they are ironically speaking the truth about Jesus’ divinity: Who but God alone can forgive sins? Reading their thoughts, Jesus responds with a pronouncement that his authority (exousia) includes the ability to forgive sins. He demonstrates this by healing the paralyzed man, using a simple command: Rise and walk. He also for the first time refers to himself as the Son of Man. The divine authority that Jesus here displays already points to the “son of man” in Daniel who receives “dominion” (exousia) from God (Dan 7:13–14 LXX). Several of Jesus’ later “Son of Man” sayings will clearly allude to this figure (Luke 9:26; 21:27; see the sidebar, “The Son of Man,” p. 181).
[5:25–26]
As with Peter’s mother-in-law, the healing works immediately. The verb stood up (like the verb “rise” in 5:23–24) is also used later for Jesus’ resurrection (see comment on 4:39). The man responds to his gift of new life by glorifying God, and everyone else likewise glorified God. By his life and mission, Jesus leads others to glorify God (see 7:16; 13:13; 17:15; 18:43) as they experience God’s saving action today (see 2:11; 4:21; 19:5, 9; 23:43).
The Gospel of Luke Page 15