Lesson 11
The Attacks begin
Luke 5:27-39
Me- I have not said it in a while but this section is only an example of the opening of the lesson. You may insert your own personal experiences here.
I am sure that there is not a single one of us who does not feel he or she has been rejected or attacked at some point. Sometimes they are unprovoked. There have been other times when we may have actually brought them on ourselves. One such experience occurred many years ago when I was still working. Having worked in purchasing for a number of years, I believed I understood how that function could benefit an organization if done properly. For some reason that I do not understand to this day upper management did not agree with me. It was a struggle the entire time I stayed with them to try to do my job. At one point my director even told me that the organization did not care how other companies did things that the practices in place at that time were not going to change. She even went so far as to hint that if I wanted to see things done differently that I should look for another job. A side note: Since I have retired some of my ideas have been put into place. They have organized in such a way as to allow Purchasing to operate as it should.
We-
The church can be guilty of rejecting and attacking as well. All over this country and even in our own church this has gone on. Many times it will focus on the Pastor. A church will call a new man to come to be its spiritual leader. Especially when a church has plateaued or is declining we expect the new person to come in and do whatever is necessary to turn things around. Sadly, when he begins to monkey with the ways things have always been then some in the congregation begin to criticize his ideas and may attack him personally. He may be viewed as a great preacher but no one hears what he has to say because he has stepped on that which is sacred to that body.
Eventually he will either weather the storm, choose to leave or be voted out. No matter what happens there are deep hurts and scars left in the lives of everyone concerned that will take a long time to heal. The worse scenario is that all of the conflict may lead to a church split or its demise.
In the last two lessons we have seen Jesus healing those who were rejected by society because of their physical condition. Today we will get a picture of a different type of rejection leading to an attack on Jesus.
God-
Luke 5:27-28
Luke wrote that Jesus noticed Levi. Notice may not be a strong enough word to picture what actually took place. Jesus was probably familiar with Levi (Matthew). On that particular day He looked at Levi intently. He would have watched him as he went about his task of collecting taxes for the Roman government. One may even wonder if Jesus had taken note of the way he handled his business. Could he be one who was actually honest in his transactions? His tax booth was most likely located along the shoreline of the Sea Of Galilee. He was there to collect taxes from the fishermen as they came in from their work.
It is strange that Jesus would want Levi to follow Him as a disciple. The fact that Levi was a tax collector would make him one of the most despised men in all of Israel. Tax collectors were appointed by the Romans to collect the taxes due them. Today they would be considered a person who had purchased a franchise. Once he had paid for the privilege he was allowed to charge any amount of taxes he desired. Anything over the amount due the Romans would go into the pockets of the tax collectors. Most of them thus would become wealthy men at the expense of his fellow countrymen. They therefore were rejected and outcast in society, not unlike a leper.
To Levi Jesus issued a simple command, “Follow Me.” He immediately left the tax booth and the taxes he had collected and followed after Jesus.
- What made Jesus take notice of Levi? (He would be out of place in a place of fishermen.)
- What attributes might Levi have possessed that would have caught the attention of Jesus?
- What was his primary responsibility? (To collect taxes for the Roman government)
- How would the people feel about such a man?
- Why? (Because most of them abused the position and used it as a way to get wealthy.)
- In what way was Levi like the leper and paralytic? (He would have been one rejected and an outcast of society.)
Luke 5:29
As would be expected, Levi wanted to share the good news with those who may have been his colleagues. He invited both tax collectors and a group of individuals called sinners. More than just being a party, he wanted them to have an opportunity to hear experience being with Jesus. From Luke it is learned that it was a large crowd. This may say something about Levi. Apparently he was well respected among those with whom he worked and associated. With his own he was not an outcast.
- Why would Levi invite those he did to the celebration?
- Who were in attendance?
- Why did he invite tax collectors and sinners?
- What does the fact that it was a large crowd say about Levi? (He was well respected by his peers.)
Luke 5:30
The Scribes and Pharisees would not have attended such a celebration. They had no respect for those in attendance. Anyone who did not walk in their circle were held in contempt and totally disregarded. Notice that they did not confront Jesus personally but went to the disciples to register their complaints. They could not understand why a man who was a rabbi would associate with the dregs of society.
- Why would the Scribes and Pharisees not attend such a celebration? (They would never associate with sinners.)
- Why would religious leaders avoid and ignore such people? (They would become ceremonially unclean to be involved with them. Never would they have done the things that Jesus did in healing a leper or paralytic even if they had the power to do so.)
- How were the actions of the Scribes and Pharisees, like the way we often handle conflict? (We do not approach the person with whom we have a conflict but go to others to complain.)
- What was their problem with Jesus?
- How much like the Pharisees are we?
Luke 5:31-32
Jesus did not let others answer for Him. He used a short parable to speak to the issue. On the surface it appears that His response indicates that the reason that the religious do not hear what He has to say because they are righteous men and He as the physician came to bring healing to those who were sinners. Underlying what was said, He was dealing who those who were lost but claimed that they were righteous. The Scribes and Pharisees saw themselves as one who the righteous ones and everyone else were sinners. In reality the religious leaders were in need of the great Physician and were no different from those they claimed were sinners.
- Why did Jesus not allow others speak for Him? (At that point the disciples did not even understand fully who He was.)
- How should we handle conflict that may involve us?
- How did Jesus respond?
- What was He really saying? (Only those who are self-righteous see themselves as not needing forgiveness.)
Luke 5:33-36
The religious leaders then tried a different tactic. Instead of criticizing Jesus directly they decided to get at Him through the actions of His disciples. According to the claims of those men both they and John’s disciples followed the tradition of fasting. They wanted to know why the disciples did not do the same. What they were saying was, you have not taught your disciples to follow the law, what kind of teacher are you?
Jesus responded with a parable. He equated what was happening to the Jewish marriage which was a time of celebration and joy. While the wedding celebration was going on, those with the bridegroom would not find it necessary to fast, which was a sign of contrition, because of the happiness all around them. In the words of Jesus there would come a time following His crucifixion and before His resurrection that the disciples would feel the necessity to fall down before God because of the uncertainty of their future.
Sadly, the Scribes and Pharisees had abused every facet of their religion. Fasting was certainly one of those situations. They did this act and other things they primarily did to show how pious they were. They would even put white powder on their faces so others would know that they were fasting.
- Having failed in the previous effort to discredit Jesus what was their new tactic?
- Why did they invoke John into their argument?
- What were they trying to prove about Jesus by making the claim that the disciples were not following the tradition of the Jews?
- Why did Jesus not answer their question directly but told them a parable? (He did agree with them that the disciples did not fast.)
- Why did He then use a parable to answer their claims? (To diffuse their reasoning.)
- How had the Pharisees used the practice of fasting?
- What picture did Jesus paint for those who were with Him?
- What does this parable say to you?
Luke 5:36
Jesus then told the men two more short parables that dealt with the idea that they were following a dead religion that would get them nowhere. The first spoke to the idea that would be familiar to them. They understood that you could not sew a piece of cloth that was not previously washed and shrunken onto an old garment that may have been washed a number of times. To do so would cause the old garment to have a larger tear. It was a picture of trying to patch the new teaching into an old practice of religion.
- Why did Jesus consider the Jewish religion dead? (It was based on an ideology of works leading to salvation.)
- Why did Jesus use a parable to explain where the Jews were going wrong?
- Why can you not patch the gospel of grace into a religion based on the works?
- Why does the religion of the Old Testament not work for mankind?
Luke 5:37-39
To emphasize the point He told another parable which is basically the same but using a different example. In that parable He spoke of new and old wineskins. Old wineskins cannot hold new wine because the gas from the fermentation process would cause the skins to burst. Only new wine can be put into new skins. Again He was trying to tell them that the teachings of the Old Testament were not for a new day. Sadly, the final picture Jesus paints is that those who believe as the Scribes and Pharisees believed did not want to hear the radical teachings of Jesus. Man loves the status quo especially when it comes to religion.
- Why did Jesus tell the same parable in two different ways? (To emphasize the point of the good news He was bringing to man.)
- What did the final words of Jesus mean?
- Why do we have trouble with change?
- What kind of change did Jesus bring to the world?
You-
- Every opportunity you have look around to see who may be potential leaders in the church.
- Be careful that you do not judge someone because of their appearance.
- Remember the Bible says if you have a problem with someone you are to deal with them personally and not through someone else.
- Do not get caught up in the status quo when it hinders the growth of God’s kingdom.
- Be deeply committed to Christ and do not just put on an act to impress others. God sees through that kind of person.
We-
The church is to be the place where outcasts and those who feel rejected by those around them can find a place where they are accepted and loved. We have seen three examples of different people from varied backgrounds who came to Jesus and received healing in both body and spirit. It is interesting how Jesus called all kinds of people to be His disciples. Most of us if we were trying to put a leadership team together would select individuals who had nothing in common. Like every church it is important to remember that we do not decide who becomes a follower of Christ. Every person comes to Jesus with the same needs. We are all sinners who need the saving power of Jesus. He is the unifying force in everyone’s life.
To continue with this idea, those who look down on others and reject them see others as inferior to themselves. It is so easy to become self-righteous because do the right things and no the nomenclature, when our hearts may not be truly in tune with God. Humility leads to the realization that we are equal and Christ must do a work in all of hearts. Let us look at others in the same way that Jesus did and His church will grow spiritually.