What Jesus Did

And Jesus added, "The Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath."

—Luke 6:5 NLT

Key Thought


There were four great attributes of the Jewish faith in Jesus' day: the Temple in Jerusalem, circumcision of all Jewish males, “keeping kosher” with dietary/health restrictions, and keeping the Sabbath. There is no way to emphasize how radical Jesus' statement would have sounded in the ears of those who heard it, especially those who hated him. He was declaring himself more...

 

One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grainfields, his disciples broke off heads of grain, rubbed off the husks in their hands, and ate the grain. But some Pharisees said, "Why are you breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?" Jesus replied, "Haven't you read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He went into the house of God and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests can eat. He also gave some to...

 

[Jesus said,] "But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. 'The old is just fine,' they say."

—Luke 5:39 NLT

Key Thought


The Israelites in the wilderness are a great example of it, but we all have a tendency to do it — we look back on the past, what we once had or did, with nostalgia and imagine it better than it was. The Israelites had been slaves in Egypt but wanted to go back to Egypt because they imagined it was better than what they were...

 

Then Jesus gave them this illustration: "No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and uses it to patch an old garment. For then the new garment would be ruined, and the new patch wouldn't even match the old garment. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the new wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine must be stored in new wineskins."

—Luke 5:36-38 NLT

Key Thought


Jesus' point is clear. Don't try to limit the...

 

Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax collector's booth. "Follow me and be my disciple," Jesus said to him. So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him. Later, Levi held a banquet in his home with Jesus as the guest of honor. Many of Levi's fellow tax collectors and other guests also ate with them. But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus' disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with such scum?" Jesus...

 

But the Pharisees and teachers of religious law said to themselves, "Who does he think he is? That's blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!" Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, "Why do you question this in your hearts? Is it easier to say 'Your sins are forgiven,' or 'Stand up and walk'? So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins." Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, "Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!" And...

 

One day while Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and teachers of religious law were sitting nearby. (It seemed that these men showed up from every village in all Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem.) And the Lord's healing power was strongly with Jesus. Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside to Jesus, but they couldn't reach him because of the crowd. So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man...

 

Then Jesus instructed [the man who was healed of leprosy] not to tell anyone what had happened. He said, "Go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed." But despite Jesus' instructions, the report of his power spread even faster, and vast crowds came to hear him preach and to be healed of their diseases. But Jesus often withdrew to the...

 

When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, "Oh, Lord, please leave me — I'm such a sinful man." For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed. Jesus replied to Simon, "Don't be afraid! From now on you'll be fishing for people!" And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.

—Luke 5:8-11 NLT

Key...

 

In one of the villages, Jesus met a man with an advanced case of leprosy. When the man saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground, begging to be healed. "Lord," he said, "if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean." Jesus reached out and touched him. "I am willing," he said. "Be healed!" And instantly the leprosy disappeared.

—Luke 5:12-13 NLT

Key Thought


We see two powerful facets of this healing in a simple, yet astounding, story. First, we see an...