NOTES for Luk 5:17-39
17 And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. |
18 And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. |
19 And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. |
20 And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. |
21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? |
22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts? |
23 Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk? |
24 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. |
25 And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. |
26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day. |
27 And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me. |
28 And he left all, rose up, and followed him. |
29 And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them. |
30 But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? |
31 And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. |
32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. |
33 And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink? |
34 And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? |
35 But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. |
36 And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. |
37 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. |
38 But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. |
39 No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better. |
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One of the Gospel's constant qualities is newness. In every age, regardless of the degree to which it has been "Christianized," the Gospel has always turned out to be "new wine in old wineskins," tearing apart people's settled ideas about the world and about God. People always have ideas about justice, about the rules of religious life, about what is permissible and what is not. Therefore, when Christ comes to them, for whom the only rules are God's love, He inevitably comes into conflict with those whose religious ideas have obscured God, those who do not want to believe in the forgiveness of sinners and cannot understand that the sick are closer to the physician than the healthy, or those who consider themselves healthy.
And it is important to remember that this newness of the Gospel must without fail be revealed and recognized by us as well, and not only by Jesus' contemporaries, so that the paradox of His Message can also blow open our little world, opening it toward God.
Readings for 24 February 2026
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