The Gospel of Luke

by Pablo T. Gadenz

  The Call of Levi and the Bridegroom’s Banquet (5:27–39)

  27After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” 28And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him. 29Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them. 30The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31Jesus said to them in reply, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. 32I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”

  33And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same; but yours eat and drink.” 34Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.” 36And he also told them a parable. “No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one. Otherwise, he will tear the new and the piece from it will not match the old cloak. 37Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. 38Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins. 39[And] no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

  OT: Isa 54:5–8; 62:4–5

  NT: Luke 7:34; 15:1–2; John 3:29; Rev 19:7, 9. // Matt 9:9–17; Mark 2:13–22

  Catechism: Jesus eats with sinners, calling them to repentance, 545, 574, 588, 1443; detachment from riches, 2544, 2556; fasting, 1430, 1438, 2043; Jesus the physician and bridegroom, 1503, 796

  Lectionary: Luke 5:27–32: Saturday after Ash Wednesday

  [5:27–28]

  Jesus calls a tax collector to become his disciple. Tax collectors were agents of a “chief tax collector” (19:2) and in Galilee were under the tax administration of Herod Antipas. Since Capernaum was near the border with Philip’s territory and by the lake, it had a customs post for collecting tolls as well as taxes associated with fishing. Herod also collected taxes on the land and its produce. The overall tax burden, including the Roman tribute (20:22) and the temple tax (Matt 17:24), was probably a third or more of a person’s income.7 Since the collection system encouraged corruption, tax collectors were generally despised and considered sinners (Luke 5:30), though Luke often depicts them as repentant (see comment on 3:12–13).

  The tax collector’s name in Luke and Mark is Levi but “Matthew” in Matthew. It is generally agreed that they are two names for the same individual. The name “Matthew” appears in Luke’s list of the twelve apostles (6:15).

  Levi responds wholeheartedly to Jesus’ invitation to follow him, leaving everything behind as the first disciples did (5:11). Jesus will later summon all his disciples to this radical detachment: “Everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple” (14:33).

  [5:29–32]

  Levi gives a great banquet for Jesus, the first of many meal scenes in Luke that point ahead (or back) to the Last Supper. Another controversy with the Pharisees surfaces, because Jesus is eating with tax collectors and sinners. In response, he compares himself to a physician (4:23). This implies that sin is the real illness and that “tax collectors and sinners” are the sick who need healing: “I saw their ways, / but I will heal them” (Isa 57:18). Jesus has just taught this lesson by forgiving the paralyzed man’s sins before healing him physically. By eating with tax collectors and sinners (see Luke 7:34; 15:1–2; 19:5), Jesus does not condone their sins but calls them to repentance. At the end of the Gospel, Jesus will commission his disciples to continue this mission by proclaiming repentance and forgiveness of sins (24:47).

  [5:33–35]

  A further controversy arises in the same setting, as Jesus is asked why his disciples eat and drink, rather than fast often and offer prayers like the disciples of John and of the Pharisees (see 18:12). Jesus responds by describing himself as the bridegroom (see John 3:29). The combination of “fasting and prayer” was seen earlier with the widow Anna (Luke 2:37), who was a representative figure for Israel awaiting redemption. There, Jesus was implicitly presented as the kinsman redeemer who becomes Israel’s bridegroom (see comment on 2:36–38). The same background clarifies this passage. Jesus is the bridegroom redeemer foretold by Isaiah: “As a bridegroom rejoices in his bride / so shall your God rejoice in you” (Isa 62:5; see 54:5–8). The wait is over, so it is time not to fast but to feast. Indeed, the context of Levi’s “great banquet” suggests that with Jesus the time for the messianic wedding banquet has arrived (see Isa 25:6–8; 55:1–3; Rev 19:7, 9)!

  However, alluding to his death, Jesus says that there will come a time when the bridegroom will be taken away (see Isa 53:8; Acts 8:33). Then they will fast. Indeed, after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension, early Christians practiced fasting (Acts 13:2–3; 14:23).8 Contemporary Christians can thus ask themselves: “What role should fasting or other acts of self-denial play in my life?”

  [5:36–39]

  Jesus continues with a parable, a comparison that teaches spiritual truths using an image or story drawn from daily life. Here there is a double parable with two images—a new cloak and new wine—which illustrate Jesus’ reply to the question of fasting. The spiritual truth is that with the coming of Jesus, something new is happening. Specifically, at the Last Supper, Jesus will take the cup (with wine) and establish the “new covenant” in his blood that will be “shed” (22:20).9 Therefore, a new response is required; fresh wineskins are needed. One cannot simply continue with the old ways.

  After this emphasis on the new, the curious remark that the old is good, not found in the †synoptic parallels, seems at first glance to say instead that the old wine and the old ways that go with it are to be preferred. Rather, the point of this saying is that people, such as the Pharisees, who are satisfied with the good things of the old, such as the law, are not very willing to accept the fulfillment of those things in the New Covenant that Jesus establishes.

  Reflection and Application (5:27–39)

  Going forth to the outskirts. Jesus reached out to “tax collectors and sinners.” The Church must do likewise, as Pope Francis explains: “In fidelity to the example of the Master, it is vitally important for the Church today to go forth and preach the Gospel to all: to all places, on all occasions, without hesitation, reluctance or fear.” And again: “All of us are asked to obey his call to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the ‘peripheries’ in need of the light of the Gospel.”10

  Two Sabbath Controversies (6:1–11)

  1While he was going through a field of grain on a sabbath, his disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. 2Some Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” 3Jesus said to them in reply, “Have you not read what David did when he and those [who were] with him were hungry? 4[How] he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering, which only the priests could lawfully eat, ate of it, and shared it with his companions.” 5Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.”

  6On another sabbath he went into the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. 7The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely to see if he would cure on the sabbath so that they might discover a reason to accuse him. 8But he realized their intentions and said to the man with the withered hand, “Come up and stand before us.” And he rose and stood there. 9Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” 10Looking around at them all, he then said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so and his hand was restored. 11But they became enraged and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.

  OT: Exod 20:8–11; 34:21; Lev 24:5–9; Deut 5:12–15; 23:26; 1 Sam 21:2–7;
1 Kings 13:4, 6

  NT: Luke 13:10–17; 14:1–6. // Matt 12:1–14; Mark 2:23–3:6

  Catechism: Jesus and the sabbath, 581–82, 2173

  [6:1–2]

  The last two controversies involve the sabbath. In the first (vv. 1–5), Jesus’ disciples are picking the heads of grain as they walk through a field, something permitted in the Torah: “When you go through your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pluck some of the ears with your hand” (Deut 23:26). They are rubbing them in their hands in order to remove the husk around the grain. However, since it is the sabbath, some Pharisees object that the disciples’ actions amount to unlawful harvesting (Exod 34:21).11

  The Pharisees’ zeal for sabbath observance was motivated by the belief that disobedience would lead to disaster for the whole nation. Indeed, as punishment for disobedience (Deut 28:15, 36–37, 63–64), Israel had gone into exile and Jerusalem had been destroyed: “If you do not obey me and keep holy the sabbath day . . . I will set fire to its gates . . . and it will consume the palaces of Jerusalem” (Jer 17:27). In Jesus’ time, the effects of exile still continued, since Israel’s tribes were scattered and the land was controlled by a Gentile oppressor. In order to hasten Israel’s restoration, therefore, obedience was necessary, especially with regard to observances like the sabbath that safeguarded Israel’s identity. However, these Pharisees failed to see that in Jesus the time of restoration was at hand.

  [6:3–4]

  Jesus comes to his disciples’ defense by referring to the time when David, who was fleeing from King Saul, went into the house of God, took the bread of offering (1 Sam 21:2–7), and shared it with his companions who were hungry. On one level, the lesson seems to be that tending to human need takes precedence over sabbath regulations. Although this is true, as the rabbis would explain for cases where life is in danger,12 there is also a deeper lesson about Jesus’ identity.

  What David did apparently happened on a sabbath, when fresh loaves of this bread of the presence (also known as “showbread,” Exod 25:30) were set out on the gold-plated table in the tent of meeting, replacing the old loaves (Lev 24:8; 1 Sam 21:7). The comparison suggests that if David ate the priests’ bread on the sabbath, so can Jesus, the son of David (Luke 1:32; 18:38–39), do what he is doing on the sabbath. Jesus thus points to his identity as the Davidic Messiah, whose authority surpasses David’s, as he will later explain by quoting Psalm 110 (see Luke 20:41–44). Moreover, only the priests could lawfully eat the loaves (Lev 24:9), but according to Psalm 110, the king in the line of David was also a type of priest (Ps 110:4; see 2 Sam 6:13–14), like Melchizedek who foreshadowed him (Gen 14:18).13 Jesus similarly unites the dignity of priest and king.14

  There may also be a subtle eucharistic allusion in the passage. The combination here of “bread” with the verbs “took” and “shared” (literally, “gave”) occurs again at the feeding of the five thousand and the Last Supper (Luke 9:16; 22:19).

  [6:5]

  Jesus’ final pronouncement also indicates that the main lesson regards his identity: The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath. Like his first use of the “Son of Man” title when he forgave sins (5:24), this second occurrence involving the sabbath highlights Jesus’ divine authority: Who but God alone has authority over the sabbath (Gen 2:2–3)? Later uses of the title (e.g., Luke 21:27; 22:69) will clarify that Jesus has this divine authority as the “son of man” prophesied by Daniel (Dan 7:13–14).

  [6:6–7]

  The next sabbath controversy (Luke 6:6–11) involves a healing (see 13:10–17; 14:1–6) and occurs back in the synagogue, where there is a man with a hand that is withered. Only Luke mentions that it is the right hand, perhaps to show that the man represents Israel waiting to be “restored” (6:10), still languishing in exile “by the rivers of Babylon”: “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, / let my right hand wither!” (Ps 137:1, 5 NRSV). Jesus’ opponents, the scribes and the Pharisees (Luke 5:21, 30), watched him closely (14:1; 20:20), ironically fulfilling Scripture: “The sinner will closely watch the righteous” (Ps 37:12 NETS). Their concern for sabbath observance has degenerated into observing their neighbor so as to accuse him.

  [6:8–9]

  Jesus again realized their intentions (see Luke 5:22). Addressing their hypocrisy head on, he tells the man to come up and stand in the sight of everyone. He asks a question that reveals his intentions and exposes those of his opponents. Jesus the Savior (2:11) has clearly come to do good and save life. His opponents, however, have come to do evil and destroy life, hardly a fitting way to observe the sabbath!

  [6:10]

  “Stretch out your hand”: Jesus again heals by his word of command. The man obeys and his hand is restored. For Jesus, who has come to proclaim the jubilee time of liberty for the oppressed (4:18), there is no better day for restoration than the sabbath, the weekly jubilee day of rest (see 13:16). Moreover, the verb “restore” (with its related noun form) is often used to refer to divided Israel’s restoration and regathering (Hosea 11:11 LXX; Jer 16:15 LXX; Acts 1:6; 3:21). The division of the tribes of Israel had begun with the separation into the northern and southern kingdoms. At that time, the king of the northern kingdom, Jeroboam, told the people to forget Jerusalem and its temple, and he set up his own rival sanctuaries (1 Kings 12:28–30). However, when he then stretched out his hand, it withered, until a prophet interceded for him that it be restored (1 Kings 13:4, 6). Now, with the healing of the man who stretches out his withered hand, Jesus gives a sign that his jubilee program of Israel’s restoration has begun.15

  [6:11]

  However, Jesus’ opponents view things differently and become enraged (literally, “filled with fury” [NRSV]) as they consider what they might do to Jesus. In Nazareth, the people were similarly “filled with rage” (4:28 NRSV). Jesus’ words continue to provoke opposition that foreshadows his passion.

  In summary, these two sabbath controversies primarily concern Jesus’ identity rather than merely sabbath observance. “Jesus was not just another reforming rabbi, out to make life ‘easier’ for people. . . . The issue is another one altogether.”16

  Reflection and Application (6:1–11)

  The real presence. “You are to set the Bread of the Presence on the table before me continually” (Exod 25:30 NET). These “loaves,” explains St. Cyril of Alexandria, foreshadowed the Eucharist, “the bread that comes down from heaven to be set forth upon the holy tables of the churches.”17 “In his Eucharistic presence [Jesus] remains mysteriously in our midst as the one who loved us and gave himself up for us” (Catechism 1380 [citing Gal 2:20]). Catholics express their faith in Jesus’ eucharistic presence among them, for example, by genuflecting toward the tabernacle upon entering a church or making the sign of the cross when passing a church. How conscious am I of Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist?

  1. On listening to Jesus’ words, see Luke 6:47; 10:39.

  2. Markus Bockmuehl, Simon Peter in Scripture and Memory: The New Testament Apostle in the Early Church (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012), 116–17. John’s Gospel recounts a post-resurrection miraculous catch of fish, which similarly points to the mission of Peter and the Church (John 21:1–19).

  3. François Bovon, Luke, trans. Christine M. Thomas, Donald S. Deer, and James Crouch, 3 vols., Hermeneia (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002–13), 1:171–72.

  4. The German philosopher Rudolf Otto insightfully recognized the similar response of Isaiah and Peter to the awesome divine presence; see Otto, The Idea of the Holy, trans. John W. Harvey, 2nd ed. (1917; repr., Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1958), 50. See also Catechism 208.

  5. Tom Holmén, “A Contagious Purity: Jesus’ Inverse Strategy for Eschatological Cleanliness,” in Jesus Research: An International Perspective, ed. James H. Charlesworth with Petr Pokorný (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009), 199–229.

  6. Holmén, “Contagious Purity,” 211, 222–23, 225; Crispin H. T. Fletcher-Louis, “Jesus as the High Priestly Messiah: Part 2,” Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus 5 (2007): 64–
70.

  7. James D. G. Dunn, Jesus Remembered (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 311.

  8. According to the Didache, a manual of Christian instruction generally dated to the first century, Christians fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays (Didache 8.1).

  9. Apart from the current passage, this is the only other occurrence of the word “new” in Luke’s Gospel. Moreover, the verb for “shed” is the same verb as the spilled wine here.

  10. Francis, Evangelii Gaudium (On the Proclamation of the Gospel in Today’s World) 23, 20.

  11. m. Shabbat 7:2.

  12. m. Yoma 8:6.

  13. Joseph Lozovyy, Saul, Doeg, Nabal, and the “Son of Jesse”: Readings in 1 Samuel 16–25 (New York: T&T Clark, 2009), 181–82.

  14. Origen, Homilies on Samuel fragment 10, in SC 328:166–67.

  15. Michael E. Fuller, The Restoration of Israel: Israel’s Re-gathering and the Fate of the Nations in Early Jewish Literature and Luke-Acts (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2006), 243–44; Scott W. Hahn, Kinship by Covenant: A Canonical Approach to the Fulfillment of God’s Saving Promises (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009), 450n27.

  16. Bruce Chilton and Jacob Neusner, Judaism in the New Testament: Practices and Beliefs (London: Routledge, 1995), 143.

  17. Cyril of Alexandria, Homilies on Luke 6:3, in Commentary on the Gospel of Saint Luke, trans. R. Payne Smith (repr., Astoria, NY: Studion, 1983), 121 (translation adapted).