Disciples, Crowds and Pharisees (Luke 5, Jeff Kliewer)

A Crowd Pressing in to Hear the Word of God

Lord, we need you. We need you desperately. We need you in this place right now to open our minds to your word, that our minds would not be darkened by the evil one. We need protection from the enemy.

We need minds that are keen to do your will, Lord. We need you among us now. In our own strength, we can't understand your word. In our own strength, we can't apply your word. We can't be doers of the word.

Lord, we need your grace to us now. So Lord, please just remove distractions from our minds. Focus our hearts upon your word, and we thank you for this word. It is such life to our bones. It is joy to us, Lord.

Thank you for your word and for this opportunity to open and receive from it. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. So, from the year 2004 until 2011, I lived on a street called Orleans Street. In Philadelphia, it was one of the rougher parts of this country, and there was a time when there was a block party on Orleans Street.

My family came home from running some errands in the morning, and we got back in the afternoon to see that the whole street was crowded with people. I pictured it like a school of fish just swimming together.

It was so densely packed. So many people on the street, but there was one car left on the block, and that was ours. So I had to get into our car and slowly part the sea, part through the school of fish and move slowly to get off the block.

As I came to the end of the block, I rolled down the window and said hi to the block captain, Shauna. I said, sorry, I didn't know there was a block party today, and she said, no problem. But her friend, being drunk, came up behind her with an angry look on her face, and she was holding a beer in her hand.

And she took the beer and threw it in my face right through the car window, splashed across me, and I was flabbergasted. I couldn't believe that she had done that. But anyway, I just said, okay, and I just drove off real slowly and parked the next block up, and I just sat there, drenched with beer, looking in my rearview mirror at the sea of people on Orlean Street.

And the thought occurred to me that these who are in my rearview mirror, this little picture I'm looking at, are like sheep without a shepherd, like a school of fish just swimming wherever one goes. It was the dance music, just reverberating through, anybody want to get up and dance?

It was just, it was thumping. I mean, it was loud, and people were dancing, and there were kids riding their bicycles in and out of people. It was a lot of fun, and yet there was so much violence and anger and hatred in people's hearts.

As I sat there, I prayed. And as I got out of my car and walked through the sea of people, I had a dream, a vision in my mind, to do the same kind of thing, a party, only for the gospel. And so in this sea of people, about six months later, we had come and gathered Christians together to throw a block party.

And we actually got a boat and put it on the street so people could come up inside the boat to get face painting done. And then there was a row of chairs by a tent that we called the gospel tent. And like fishermen dropping their lines in the sea, we sat there in the chairs, and one by one, people came.

The crowd came to the gospel tent, and we told about a Savior who died and who rose from the dead. And one by one, people would bow their heads and pray to receive Christ. And we did this year after year.

That was the first of our many block parties, so that we would see hundreds of people pray to accept Christ. The crowd was like a school of fish. When the leader fish darts this way, the whole school moves with it.

It's amazing to watch a school of fish swim underwater. Have you ever seen it before?

They move in unison.

The crowd was like that. And sheep are like that. They flock together. But here's one thing I noticed over the years. Not all who prayed to accept Christ became Christians. You see, many of them were just following the crowd.

When the crowd went to the gospel tent, they went to the gospel tent. And when others bowed their heads to accept Christ, they bowed their heads to pray the same words from their mouths. But their hearts may not have been in the prayer that they were offering.

So crowds are that way. Crowds move with leadership. They follow shepherds. They're like schools of fish. Crowds are that way. In Luke chapter 5, we're introduced to a crowd. We're also introduced to a fisherman.

And we're commanded, like Peter, to become fishers of men. And yet there's a third group in Luke 5, and that's the Pharisees. They introduce themselves in this chapter, and they are like sharks. They seek to kill.

They're self-righteous. They think they're okay. They have no need for Jesus. And yet they're killers at heart. So Luke chapter 5, we see three groups introduced. The Pharisees come into the picture as the sharks.

We have crowds that are an important message for us to learn from. And we have disciples. Those who truly come and follow Christ, leaving behind everything. Let's go into it. Luke chapter 5, verse 1 through 3 to begin with.

On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret. And he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.

Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land, and he sat down and taught the people from the boat. So imagine this scene. The crowd is so dense that they're pressing in to hear Jesus, and Jesus is getting backed up closer and closer to the water.

People are leaning in to hear what he has to say, the word of God. Now this body of water, Luke calls it what? The lake of Gennesaret. It's also called the sea of Galilee. Why would the other apostles call it a lake, a sea, but Luke calls it a lake, the lake of Gennesaret.

Could it be that, remember, Luke was the traveling companion of Paul. It picks up and halfway through the book of Acts, he starts traveling with Paul. And so those journeys across the sea, the Mediterranean sea, was in Luke's mind.

Luke knew what a sea was, and this 15 mile by 7 mile lake is a lake to Luke. He knows what shipwreck is like. He knows what it's like to be lost at sea. He knows what a body of water that is a sea is really like.

So he calls it a lake. It's the lake of Gennesaret. And there's two boats behind him, one of them belonging to Peter. So Jesus, being crafty here, says, Peter, let me get into your boat. He gets into the boat and they push off from the crowd a little bit to create a little bit of space.

And he sits down as a teacher would and begins to share the word of God with them. Notice, the crowd is drawn to the teaching. Crowds are interested in teaching. Crowds are interested in new ideas. So here you have a crowd of people that are coming in to hear Jesus teach.

They're interested. They're not against him.

They're curious.

People and crowds are naturally curious about new ideas and teachings. They want to hear what is being said. But we'll find out later that's not enough. Moving on now, Luke 5, verses 4 through 11. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.

And Simon answered, Master, we toiled all night and took nothing. But at your word, I will let down the nets. You notice the rote obedience here. He doesn't really want to do it because he's a fisherman.

I mean, Peter knows fishing. If there's anything Peter knows, it's fishing. He grew up on the shore. Jesus grew up in the hills. Peter grew up on the shore. He knows fishing. And he knew that he had been out all night.

Any of you that were on the summer fishing trip last summer knows what this feels like. We were out all night long. Throw the line down, nothing. Our whole group caught nothing all night. I think that had something to do with our lack of skill, but also the waters were, the waves were about as high as the boat.

It was really scary out there that night. I was glad to get my feet back on the shore. But if someone had said to me, let's go back out and throw out your line, I would be expecting, okay, I'll do that, but I'm not going to catch anything.

And that's Peter's mindset here. Listen, I know.

Okay, fine.

It's your word.

I'll do it.

So he drops his net, verse five and verse six, and when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them and they came and filled both the boats so that they began to sink.

But when Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus's knees saying, depart from me for I am a sinful.

Man, O Lord.

For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken. And so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, do not be afraid.

From now on, you will be catching men. And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

Wow, what a story.

They take this catch of fish that's so large that Peter is overwhelmed by it. And we'll get into what this teaches us about being a disciple in just a moment. But notice, here, they catch fish. The Greek word for fish is ichthys, ichthys.

Have you ever been driving down the road and the car in front of you had a fish symbol on it? And you say, there's a Christian. The Greek word for fish is ichthys. And so as early as the first century, Christians began to use the fish symbol for Christians.

Why did they do that? Well, the word ichthys, they took and made into an acronym so that the I, it came from the Greek word Iesus, the name Jesus. And the C-H, Christos. And the T-H, Theos. And the next letter Y, Hwios.

And finally, the S in ichthys, Soter. Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior. They took the letters of the Greek word ichthys and built an acronym from it to identify their Savior, Christ. And so when they were under persecution, one of the Christians would draw a half fish in the sand with their foot.

And if another Christian saw them do it, they would complete the other side of it, identifying one to another that they were safe with each other. They belong to ichthys, to Christ. Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.

Here in the text, notice what Jesus says to Peter, verse 10. Do not be afraid. From now on, you will be catching men. They identified themselves like being caught fish. Tertullian, who was an early Christian after the first generation of believers, Tertullian kind of took over as a leader.

He said, we little fishes, after the image of our ichthys, are born in the water. And as early as the first century, believers would identify themselves with that ichthys.

Sign.

So Tertullian began to teach that we are like fish that have been caught up out of the water to belong to Christ, our ichthys. Here in the text, Jesus tells Peter, you from now on will be catching men.

And so that raises the question, what does it mean to be a caught fish? It means that the hook of God's gospel has taken root in you and pulled you out of the.

Water.

There is a difference between a school of fish swimming in the water and a caught fish. The difference is the caught fish no longer swims in the water. The caught fish has come out from the water. And now Jesus has made that fish something entirely new.

You catch men, a living man drawn out of water. That water pictures death. It pictures being lost. And yet the catching of a man out of the water is the making of a disciple. It's a complete break from the world that you once knew.

Let's see this in the text. So we know what a crowd is. A crowd is interested in the things of God. They'll hear the words of God. But notice the difference between being part of a crowd and being a disciple.

Look now at verse 7 through 11. They filled the boat so they began to sink. This is the miracle that the whole crowd sees. Everybody sees that. It's not just Peter who sees this. There's many fishermen who take note of this.

People on the shore that had been crowding. The crowd sees the miracle and they love it. I mean, we can eat these fish. We can feed our kids with this fish. We can take these fish to the market and we can be rich.

This is the greatest catch of fish that these fishermen had ever seen. It's a lucrative thing. It's an exciting thing. And the crowd loves it. But notice the first thing of the making of a disciple, verse 8.

But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down. He's not jumping for joy. He's falling down at Jesus' knees.

And listen to what he says.

Now, there's no talk about sin here. There's nothing condemning that Jesus said. He didn't condemn Peter. But look at Peter's reaction. Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. The first mark of a true disciple, one who has been caught by the hook of the gospel, is that you recognize how wretched you are.

In the Old Testament, there was a man named Isaiah who saw a vision of God. And in his vision, the train of God's robe filled the temple with glory. And there were cherubim and seraphim singing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

And the eyes of Isaiah were fixed on God, however much he was allowed to see. His reaction was not to run and jump and celebrate. His reaction was to fall down like a dead man and say, I am undone. I am undone.

I am taken apart, because I am a sinful man. The first mark of a disciple is one who has come to the end of himself or herself. Have you come to the end of yourself? Have you fallen down in the presence of God and recognized how desperate you are?

How desperately you need something from God. I'm a wretched man. And apart from my Savior, I go to the Earth. I die. I get buried in the Earth. Peter, in the presence of Jesus, when his eyes now are open to see who he's really dealing with.

I mean, think about it.

All night long, while Peter was fishing, Jesus was communicating with those fish. He was saying, don't go in that net. Peter's catching nothing tonight. Jesus controlled those fish that they wouldn't go into those nets all night long.

And then at his word, somehow, not audibly in front of Peter, but Jesus, in his divine nature, tells all the fish within a five-mile radius to swim into Peter's net. Peter's eyes were open to say, who is this that I'm dealing with?

And the thing that overwhelmed him was the holiness of Jesus. The holiness, holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty. His first reaction as he comes to the end of himself, he thinks of his own mind and where that goes.

He thinks of his own actions and he becomes aware of his sin. But Jesus doesn't leave him buried in his sin, does he? Notice the second thing of a disciple. The second mark of a disciple is they've been touched by grace.

The love of God comes to that dead sinner and speaks comforting words. It gets filled out in the course of the gospel. We'll learn more about what it means that Jesus would die in Peter's place and rise from the dead and offer forgiveness of sin and eternal life when Peter repents and believes.

But as much as is revealed here, Peter understands the comfort. Look at the comfort of Jesus' words. Peter is aware of his own sinfulness. Verse nine, for he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken.

And so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, do not be afraid. That's gospel truth right there. If I were to stand in the presence of God, I'd die.

But this Savior speaks now, do not be afraid. Words of comfort, words of life. Do not be afraid, from now on you will be catching men. There's a final thing about being a disciple. Once pulled out of that death that is the water of this world, and given new life by the comforting words of the gospel, this disciple goes forth as a changed person.

Peter used to be a fisher of men, a fisher of fish, excuse me. He's now a fisher of men. Everything is different now. You used to spend all night fishing for fish, now you'll spend all night praying. And when you rise, you'll preach.

And picture the result when all of this comes together. I'm sure Peter had a flashback on the day of Pentecost. When he stood and preached in the city of Jerusalem, and 3 ,000 believed and were baptized.

That water splashing over person after person, these fish coming out of the water, new and different. He's fishing for men. He catches 3 ,000 fish on the day of Pentecost. There's symbolism here. The miraculous catch of fish, you will be fishing for men.

So the big idea about a disciple, it's one who's come to an end of himself. Ruined by an awareness of my own sin. And then encountering this grace that there's a God who loves even you. Sinner, dear sinner, he loves you.

And if you will repent of your sin, leave that behind and come to this Christ. He will make you new and everything will change. You'll come out of that water and you'll be alive forevermore. These are the marks of a true disciple.

Now let's continue in the text because the crowds continue on. And we'll be introduced to the sharks at the end of this chapter. Verses 12 and following. While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy.

And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him saying, I will be clean. And immediately, the leprosy left him.

What a picture that is of the making of a disciple. Leprosy pictures sin. There is a physical healing that happens here. But once again, it means something even greater. Leprosy infects a body, and it spreads through a body, and it brings death.

But Jesus says, be clean, and heals a man of leprosy. Notice that when the leper came to Jesus, he fell at his feet. A picture of humility. And Jesus raises him up clean, and new, and alive. Like Peter, now a fisher of men, now this is a man cured of leprosy.

Picturing the making of a true disciple. Following 14 and on. And he charged him to tell no one. This is the messianic secret that you see through the synoptic gospels. Probably to keep the crowds from overwhelming them.

He's not to tell anyone, but go and show yourself to the priests and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them. But now, even more, the report of him went abroad. And great crowds gathered to hear him, and to be healed of their infirmities.

But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. Notice verse 15, the crowd is back, right? And what is it that they're interested in here? They're interested in miracles. Crowds love to see miracles.

Crowds love to get things from Jesus. If you have a sick mother-in-law, you want her to be healed. You bring her, and the crowds gather to see what can be received. What they can get from following Jesus.

Contrast that now with what we saw in Peter, verse 11. They left everything and followed him. This is the difference between a disciple and a mere member of the crowd. A disciple is willing to leave everything behind to gain Christ.

The crowd is willing to go to Jesus to see what they can get from him. They wanted miracles in this case. Nothing wrong with wanting miracles. If someone's sick, you pray for them, you want that healing.

But it stops here at this point. Verse 17 and following. On one of those days, as he was teaching, sharks and teachers. It says Pharisees, doesn't it? Here is the first introduction of the sharks in the water.

Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. Just flashing back in my mind now to those crowds on Orleans Street.

There were sharks on Orleans Street too. Religious folks, one time a Cadillac of men pulled up alongside somebody that I knew on Orleans Street, and his name was Jose. He was sitting there on the corner, outside of a corner store.

These guys were dressed in all black, head to toe. They looked like ninjas or something. And they got out and they surrounded this guy. I was like, man, what's going on? But they just started talking and they brought out their Bibles.

And one by one, they tried to convince Jose that he is a member of one of the lost tribes of Israel and the true chosen ones of God. And they are Hebrew Israelites, the true chosen ones of God. And so I went to that corner store just to kind of hear what's going on.

I bought myself a day's soda, got my orange soda, and came out. And just kind of listened in, and then I was like, what's up, Jose? And next thing I knew, I was in the conversation. Wouldn't you know that one of these Hebrew Israelites, it's a cult, it's prominent in the inner city, turns to me and says, God hates you and so do I.

Angry when he said it too. Very intimidating, surrounded by five or six guys. And he said, put out your arm. And I was like, all right, so I stretch out my arm. He said, he put his arm next to mine. He said, what color is your skin?

And I said, I guess it's white. I thought he was a racial kind of thing in that. He said, no, it's red, because you're Esau. And Jacob I loved, and Esau I hated. Your skin is red, you're a descendant from Esau.

We are the chosen ones, and you, white men, are the enemy of God. The Hebrew Israelites teach a racial salvation, which is, of course, contrary to everything that Jesus taught. The tearing down of the wall between Jew and Gentile, Ephesians chapter three.

It's a false gospel. But listen, they're prevalent in the inner city, and they're sharks in the water. It's not just them, Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons, who incidentally have a reverse racial message.

That the Lamanites descend from the pure white man who immigrated, and his brother who had darker skin were the evil ones. And eventually the evil ones wiped out all of the white ones, until finally the book that the last white guy buried was discovered by Joseph Smith.

So the Book of Mormon is very racist. In either case, a message of racial reconciliation over against other races. It's prominent in the inner city, and it's a false gospel. And yet these who come preaching it feel more self-righteous and more religious than anyone else in the street.

These are the sharks. We're introduced to them here in verse 17. It's gonna get crazy now, how they interact with Jesus. The power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal. Now, I just wanna make one quick comment here.

The power of Jesus is always with him to heal. The plan of God would have different times when Jesus would heal. But many people have gone off on a tangent from this verse and taught what's called canonic theology.

That in the kenosis, the emptying of Christ, when he came from heaven to earth to take on human flesh, that he left his divinity behind. And so now he could only do miracles when the Holy Spirit empowered him and gave him the power to do it.

That's not the case. Remember, this is the one who controls the fish and tells them when to swim and where to jump. Jesus has two natures always. Sometimes the scripture speaks to one aspect of his nature, his human nature in one case, or another case, his divine nature.

But even while he carries two natures all the time, and the scriptures might speak of Jesus growing in wisdom as a 12-year-old boy. Or it may speak to Jesus in very human terms. That speaks to his human nature, but it doesn't mean that he has lost his divine nature.

He has both all the time. It's just that the scriptures sometimes speak to one nature or the other. So, canonic theology is a heresy that says that Jesus was no longer divine while he was here on Earth.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. He can heal by his own power whenever he wants to. Here's the issue. He does so in common purpose with the Father and the Spirit. So Jesus is filled with the Spirit, and when it's the Father's will and the Spirit's plan, in perfect unity, that's the time that you'll see him healing.

And sometimes you'll have these outbursts of healing. It's not that he just got the force, like some Star Wars thing came over him, and now he can do these miracles. He's always God. And in the purpose of the Father, Son, and Spirit in perfect unity, we have an outburst of healing here.

The power of the Lord was with him to heal. And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus. But finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles in the midst before Jesus.

And when he saw their faith, he said, man, your sins are forgiven you.

Pause there.

Jesus spoke to a much greater need than the physical healing of this paralytic. Jesus is God. In flesh, he has the authority to forgive sins. And that is the great need of the crowd, and that is the great need of this paralyzed man.

But the scribes and Pharisees, keep reading, the scribes and Pharisees began to question, saying, who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone? They're right to ask that question, but they don't recognize that God is standing in their midst, God in flesh.

Only God can forgive sins. So when Jesus claims, your sins are forgiven. He claims that authority for himself to forgive somebody's sins. He is claiming to be God. Oftentimes, you'll hear, for example, Muslim apologists saying, well, Jesus never came out and claimed, I am God, worship me.

Nevertheless, throughout the scriptures, he receives worship from people, over and over again, from Mary, his own mother, in Matthew 28. He receives worship time and time again. And here, he claims the ability to forgive sins, which only God can do.

And when the Pharisees point that out, notice, he doesn't argue that that's the nature of his claim. He claims that by healing this paralytic, he will prove that he, in fact, has the right to forgive sins.

This is an overt claim to be God in flesh. So keep reading, verse 22. When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them. Why do you question in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, your sins are forgiven you, or to say, rise and walk?

But 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 bed, and go home. And immediately, he rose up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God.

And here's the crowd again. Amazement sees them all, and they glorified God, and they were filled with awe, saying, we have seen extraordinary things today. Jesus proves his divinity by exercising power over a paralyzed man's inept body.

He heals that person with a word, to prove that his word was true. He claimed the ability to forgive sins, and he proved it by raising up this man. And the crowd notices it, and they love it. They say, we have seen extraordinary things this far.

And herein is a warning for all of us.

We're a crowd, aren't we?

There's a crowd of people in this room, and there's crowds of people in churches all across America. But crowds love to hear new things, and to see new things, and to be a part of things, and are happy with the extraordinary things that Jesus does.

Not everyone in the crowd became a disciple. Not everyone sitting here, necessarily, is a Christian today. Crowds gather, and they're happy to be there. But the question is, have you come to that place where you say, I am ruined.

I am a sinner.

I need to repent, and my only hope is Jesus Christ. The crowds don't do that here. They're astonished, but they don't turn and repent. Notice who does, verse 27 and following. After this, he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, follow me.

Same words we saw from Peter and James and John earlier on. And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. Broad is the way that leads to destruction. Narrow is the path that leads to life, and few there are that find it.

There are many in the crowds who are still on that broad and easy way. But here, Matthew, the tax collector, leaves everything behind to follow Jesus. He finds that straight and narrow way, the path of genuine faith, genuine faith includes repenting from sin.

Turning away from sin in order to take hold of Christ as Savior from those sins. So unless a person has come to that point of being sick about their sin, their own sin, not somebody else's, sick about their own sin, and turned away from that thing to take hold of a Savior, there is no disciple.

A disciple is one who has turned in repentance to Christ. And Christ then makes that person new, drawn out of the water, given a new life. This is what happens to Matthew, the tax collector, also here called Levi.

Leaving everything, he rose and followed him. Now the last little section here, verses 29 to 39, is a description of the sharks. Jesus here is dealing with religious people. And just like it's not enough to be in the crowd to become a disciple, it's also true that religion and a sense of being good enough blinds many people to their need for a Savior.

That's how these people become sharks. Recognize the sharks are not the murderers. Maybe some of them were at heart. When I was on Orleans Street, there were drug dealers in front of our house for a six month period.

And I would go talk to them, especially when there was like one or two. In a group, they were too rowdy. But one or two, you find out these are just members of the crowd. They're out there selling because there's some kingpin over them.

And when you talk to them, they're just a sheep that's wandering and lost. They're just a fish that's in the school. One of them prayed and they never came back. And I praise God for that. I'm glad I never saw that young kid again.

But as soon as one of them would get arrested, another one would replace him the next day. It took a shootout on the corner for them to finally disperse. Some people died. We actually left Kensington because I looked out the window one night and saw police discovering a dead body in the cab right there on Orleans Street.

There are sharks in the water. There are murderers in the water. But those drug dealing kids, 18 year olds, are not who I'm talking about here. These are the religious ones. These in the text are the teachers of the law.

These are the guys who could recite to you the Torah from Genesis to Deuteronomy. These were the scribes that wrote so carefully that they didn't miss a jot or a tittle. These are so religious that they are self-righteous.

Listen to how Jesus deals with them. So Levi made him a great feast in his house and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples saying, why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?

Notice the first thing about sharks, about Pharisees. They can't be in the presence of sinners without looking down their noses at them. Do you see the self-righteousness of that? Jesus is eating and drinking in the same house as tax collectors and sinners.

And in their self-righteousness, looking down their noses at Jesus, they judge him for that. How does he sit and eat with them? Are you willing to associate with sinners? Are you willing to go where they are?

Are you willing to be kind to them? Are you willing to recognize that such are you? And apart from the grace of God that caught you out, you go where they go. It's only the grace of God that spared you, but the Pharisees,.

They don't see that.

They have a self-righteousness about others. Continuing on, and Jesus answered them. Don't you love how he reads their thoughts? Jesus answered them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And they said to him, the disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. But yours eat and drink.

Notice here in the text that the issue is disciples, and this is why I'm wanting to preach larger parts of scripture, to see some of the themes that run through Luke. Rather than taking just disconnected stories, I'm trying to, in this particular series, see some of the themes that draw out.

Earlier on, we see the making of a true disciple, Peter. He leaves everything and follows Jesus. Then we see Matthew, a true disciple. These are true disciples, different than the crowds. And here, the Pharisees bring up disciples.

Well, these disciples do this, and yours don't. These fast, and yours don't. Verse 34, and Jesus said to them, can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.