WWUTT 2307 Jesus Calls Sinners to Repentance (Luke 5:27-39)

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The Pharisees challenged Jesus' disciples when He was eating with tax collectors. Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?

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And Jesus says, I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance when we understand the text.

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You are listening to When We Understand The Text, an online Bible ministry so that we may know all the riches freely given to us by God.

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For questions and comments, send us an email to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the Gospel of Luke, we're finishing up Chapter 5 today and looking at two of three challenges that the

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Pharisees make of Jesus. We're going to begin first with Jesus calling

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Levi the tax collector to follow Him. This is verses 27 to 39. Hear the word of the

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Lord. After this, he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth.

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And he said to him, follow me. And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

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And 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.

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And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?

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And Jesus answered them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

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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

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Pharisees. But yours eat and drink. And Jesus said to them, can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?

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The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.

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He also told them a parable. No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment.

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If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins.

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If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed.

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But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one, after drinking old wine, desires new, for he says, the old is good.

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Now, if you've watched any portion of the show, The Chosen, which is the

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TV show, The Serial, that is an account of Jesus and his disciples, but it's

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Dallas Jenkins' creation. This is loosely based on Jesus and the disciples in the

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Bible. He's telling his own story here. It's not the biblical narrative. If you've seen the show, then you know the version of Matthew, the disciple

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Matthew, that he has created is this autistic guy who's actually very ignorant of the scriptures, which is astonishing.

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If Jenkins wants to take some creative liberties and put

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Matthew on the spectrum of autism, fine. Whatever. I think it's a silly gimmick because basically all he did was he saw that Levi, or Matthew, was a tax collector, so that means he's good with numbers.

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Well, who else is good with numbers? Autistic people are sometimes good with numbers, so I'm going to make

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Matthew autistic. I just think that decision is absolutely ridiculous. But what's more appalling about it is that he makes

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Matthew ignorant of the scriptures. Matthew had a brilliant grasp of the scriptures when you read the

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Gospel of Matthew. Matthew, of course, is Levi. I bring that up because you have Levi here,

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Levi the tax collector at his booth, that is called by Jesus to follow him, and leaving everything, he rose and he followed

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Jesus. There is a scene in The Chosen that demonstrates this, and Peter can't stand

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Matthew, or Levi, and says, Why are you calling this guy? He's different.

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And Jesus responds, Get used to different. And that's become a slogan of the show, which I love, actually, because that is exactly what that show is.

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It's a different Jesus. This is a different telling of Jesus and his disciples, nothing like what it is that we have in the

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Bible. Here, where you have Levi at his tax booth, Jesus tells him to follow him, and leaving everything, verse 28, leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

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Now, that's consistent with what we saw at the start of the chapter, with Jesus saying to the rest of the disciples,

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From now on, you will be catching men. Well, the rest of the disciples, I mean, Peter and Andrew, James and John, though Andrew's not mentioned, we know he's there because of what's said in the other

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Gospels. In this particular instance, it's just Peter, James, and John, but they're the first disciples that Jesus calls to himself.

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And after making this miraculous catch, Jesus says to them, From now on, you'll be catching men.

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Follow me. And they drop everything, even this incredible fishing catch that they've just hauled in.

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They leave all of that, and they follow Jesus. He commands it, and it's so. You see that with the calling of Levi toward the end of this chapter.

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He calls Levi, says follow him. Levi, just like Peter, James, and John did, he leaves everything, and he follows

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Jesus. And Levi even goes as far, verse 29, as making a great feast in his house.

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And there was a large company of tax collectors and others at table with them.

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Now, what was so offensive about having tax collectors there? You've probably heard this, and you may know, the tax collectors were dishonest.

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They were made up of Jews. So we're talking about Jewish tax collectors here who were collecting taxes on behalf of whom?

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They were collecting taxes on behalf of Rome. And so those tax collectors would also take a little bit off the top for themselves.

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They would charge more than the Roman government was requiring, and then the extra they would keep for themselves.

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Now, nothing is said to us about Levi doing that. It doesn't say that he was a dishonest tax collector in that way.

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He may have been completely faithful to follow the rules. We don't know. The scripture doesn't tell us.

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But nonetheless, tax collectors had a very bad reputation. They had a bad reputation just by virtue of the fact that they were collecting taxes on behalf of Rome.

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And Rome was the enemy of the Jews. These were their oppressors.

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And you're going to be collecting taxes for them? You're a traitor. That's the way they regarded these tax collectors.

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So they were inherently sinful, benefiting those that would oppress them.

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And so the Pharisees, verse 30, and their scribes grumbled at his disciples and said, Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?

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And really, those two terms are synonymous in the eyes of Pharisees. To call somebody a tax collector would also be to identify them as a sinner.

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We don't know what kind of reputation those others had, the others that are mentioned in verse 29, but we know that they had a sinful reputation in the eyes of the

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Pharisees, that they would ask this question in that way. Jesus answers them in verse 31.

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Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick. And he's not saying that the

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Pharisees are well. They just think they are. So if you don't think there's anything wrong with you, then what reason do you have to want to go to a doctor?

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I wouldn't be coming to you anyway because you don't think there's anything wrong with you. So those who are well have no need of a physician.

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You think you're fine. It's those who are sick that need a physician. And apparently all the people that are there, the tax collectors and sinners that are reclining at table with Jesus, are apparently people who know of their own sinful state and need for forgiveness and desire to receive that from Jesus who is eating with them.

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Remember, we just read previously about Jesus healing a paralytic. That was the account that we looked at yesterday.

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And not only did Jesus have the authority to heal this man, but it was to demonstrate that he had the authority to forgive his sins.

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He said, man, your sins are forgiven you. So here you have this account. Immediately after that, you have these tax collectors and sinners who are reclining at table with Jesus, and they know that they are sinners in need of forgiveness.

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That would be the implication that's being given here. They know that. The Pharisees don't know that. The Pharisees think they're all good.

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By my works, I'm justified. That's what they would say. I do everything right. What do I need to ask forgiveness for?

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It kind of reminds me of Donald Trump. I've never needed to ask forgiveness. I guess when I do something wrong,

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I'll ask for it. That was incredibly self -righteous of him. Whatever you think of him, the man is not a believer, though we should be praying that he would become a believer, that he would turn from his sin to the

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Lord Jesus Christ. And indeed, even a man like Donald Trump, who has had the reputation that he's had over decades of living a playboy lifestyle, even he can be forgiven of the evils that he has done.

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And so it is only those who know they need healing.

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Those are the ones to whom Jesus has come. I have come to call not the righteous, he says, but sinners to repentance.

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The righteous don't need to repent. And of course, there are none righteous, as we read about in Romans 3.

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The disciples just think they're righteous. We call that self -righteousness. Well, I'm not calling you then.

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If you think you're just fine and you don't need forgiveness, okay. We'll see how that plays out on Judgment Day.

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But for now, Jesus says, I am calling sinners to repentance. And those people that are sitting there at table with him,

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Jesus is calling them to repentance. He's not just reclining at table with tax collectors and sinners for the sake of reclining at table with sinners.

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That's not the reason why he's doing it. He's calling them to repentance. And we'll have other occasions that come up here in Luke where Jesus reclines at table with sinners and calls them to repentance and they don't repent and other occasions where they do repent.

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We'll see that come up. This is another reoccurring theme that happens here in the

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Gospel of Luke. And so Jesus is calling sinners to repentance. And if you have heard the call of Christ through the preaching of the gospel to you, then you likewise must turn from sin to the

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Lord Jesus Christ and no longer go back to your former way of sinfulness. Levi doesn't go back to his tax booth.

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He left everything that he had and he follows Jesus. And so now verse 33,

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And they said to him, The disciples of John, this is the Pharisees speaking here, of course.

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The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers. And so do the disciples of the Pharisees, even our disciples know to do that.

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But yours eat and drink. Like what's up with that? It's not presented as a question.

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It's almost presented to them as an accusation. Your disciples are not as good as our disciples, even

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John's disciples. They fast and offer prayers. But look at yours.

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And we would read this as happening in the same setting. It's still right there at Matthew's house with this great feast and tax collectors and sinners there in Jesus midst, reclining at table and eating with him.

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Now look at all your disciples. They are eating and drinking. They are celebrating. What do you guys have to celebrate? And Jesus said to them,

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Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?

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Yeah. Good luck trying to stop that party. A wedding is supposed to be a big celebration.

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And you're going to tell them that they can't eat and drink. And of course, what is Jesus implying here?

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The bridegroom has come. That's Jesus Christ, of course. And the disciples are celebrating.

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Our Savior is here. He's right here with us. How could we not be happy about that?

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Matthew is happy because he's been called to follow the Savior. He's sharing this good news with even his fellow co -workers, other tax collectors, and others who are sinners, that they might be there and hear the testimony of Jesus Christ and so come to know the answer to their sin problem.

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They might come to receive forgiveness of their sins. We can't even go into the temple. We get ostracized by the

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Pharisees when we go into the temple. It's probably what they're thinking. But we can come to the one who himself has the authority to forgive sins, which was just stated in the previous miracle in the healing of the paralytic.

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So they're excited to be there. They're eating and drinking because they are celebrating that the

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Savior is there and they can have their sins forgiven. And so Jesus says, the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them and then they will fast in those days.

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So soon Jesus will not be with them anymore and then they will go back to fasting and praying. But at least during the time that Jesus is with his disciples for his earthly ministry, they don't fast.

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I was going to say they don't eat and drink. They don't fast. We don't have any account of them fasting. Jesus fasted when he was out in the wilderness for 40 days.

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But the disciples never fast, even when they eat the Passover meal. Jesus is going to be arrested and he's going to be tried and he's going to be put to death just hours from that point.

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But he still enjoys a last meal with his disciples. He doesn't even fast over that regarding what he's about to endure.

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He feasts with them. He even says to the disciples, I have looked forward to eating this meal with you.

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And then, of course, institutes the Lord's table at that particular Passover meal.

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So there's no fasting during this time of the disciples with Jesus. It will eventually go back to that.

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But for now, they're celebrating that the Savior is here. And then verse 36, he told them a parable.

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No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new and the piece from the new will not match the old.

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Now, where is Jesus going with this particular parable? What is being meant by this? It's given in two parts, of course.

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You've got the garment illustration. And then in verse 37, you've got the wineskin illustration.

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No one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins.

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The wine will be spoiled and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.

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And no one, after drinking old, desires new. For he says, the old is good.

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So why does Jesus give this parable? What is this supposed to mean? What's interesting about this, Jesus doesn't give the explanation for the parable.

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And you might find that several different commentaries might say something different. But what appears to be the case here, because Jesus is talking to the scribes and the

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Pharisees, who have their ways, and they're identifying that Jesus and his disciples don't follow in their ways.

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Hence the statement previously in verse 33, even the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don't fast.

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So explain that one. And so Jesus gives them a parable as an explanation for that.

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No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment.

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If he does, he tears the new. So now the new is messed up.

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Something's been taken away from the new now to try to patch up the old. And the piece from the new will not match the old.

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The two are not going to be able to go together. Now I've heard this parable explained in this way, that this is in reference to the old has passed away and the new has come.

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So everything in the Old Testament, the law, the prophets, all of that has passed away. The new has come.

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Jesus, who has accomplished all of this, who is instituting something new, and we have the church.

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So Israel is out. The church is in now. And that's not really the understanding of this at all.

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Jesus is not talking about the law passing away because as Jesus said in Matthew 5, verse 17,

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I have not come to abolish the law and the prophets. I have come to fulfill them. So for him to put that off and say, yeah, you don't even have to pay attention to that anymore would be to contradict the statement that he makes in the

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Sermon on the Mount about fulfilling the law and the prophets. So what does this mean then about old and new?

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Well, Jesus is talking again to the Pharisees. So he's talking about their old ways.

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He's not talking about the old way of the Old Testament, the old temple way, the old tabernacle way, because the

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Pharisees weren't even following that way. They had twisted and manipulated that way.

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The things that the Pharisees were doing were not in keeping with the law of God. So Jesus is talking about their old way, their old ways.

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Your ways of doing things are not going to work with the way that I am doing things.

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Now, what Jesus was doing was certainly new. It was a fulfillment of the old, but it's new.

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It's a new covenant. Remember what's said in Jeremiah 31, a new covenant I give you.

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And Jesus even says at the Lord's table when he gives the cup, when he has the disciples divide up the cup and then announces the cup, he says that this cup represents the new covenant in my blood.

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So Jesus is doing something new. But what he's comparing with here is his way of doing things versus the

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Pharisees way of doing things, which is an old way of doing things. It's not Old Testament way of doing things, but it is their old way of doing things.

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And their ways are not going to match with Jesus' ways. They don't go together at all.

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Whereas you can't say that the Old Testament doesn't match with what Jesus does, because again, he's fulfilling the old.

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He's fulfilling the law and the prophets. He's not abolishing them. So you can't say the

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Old Testament doesn't match with what Jesus is doing when he's the fulfillment of what's being said in the

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Old Testament. So the contrast here is between the Pharisees ways versus Christ's ways.

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The Pharisees ways are the old, Christ's ways are the new. No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment.

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So Jesus is saying, I'm not here to patch up the stuff that you're doing. It won't fit.

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It doesn't work. If he does, he will tear the new and the piece from the new will not match the old.

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Our ways are not going to go together here. It's essentially what Jesus is saying to the Pharisees. They're rebuking

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Jesus and his disciples for eating with tax collectors and sinners. How dare you?

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They're unclean. They're not worthy of your company if you were truly a righteous man.

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So Jesus says, Well, I've not come to call the righteous. I've come to call sinners to repentance. Oh, yeah?

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Well, why aren't your disciples fasting and praying? Well, because the bridegroom is with them. And so then to explain both of these answers, it's like he goes,

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Look, okay. No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on the old. You're trying to get me to match up with your ways.

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I can't match up with your ways. They're so far off. What God has said is to be his way that my ways,

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Jesus says, since he's come in the will of the Father, my ways are not going to match up with your ways.

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And so you can't tear something off of a new garment and put it on an old garment. They won't go together.

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The new is now torn, and it won't even match with the old. And then you have the wineskin illustration.

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No one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed.

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But the new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. Again, Jesus has come to do something new.

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He's not doing something new with what the Pharisees were doing. No one after drinking old wine, he says, this is verse 39, no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says the old is good.

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And again, this goes back to where he says, I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

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The Pharisees think their way is righteous. The old is good.

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So I'm going to stick with the old. Well, sure. Then you're not going to drink the new wine that I have, that I am giving, because you think the old is good.

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And that ties right into this celebration that he's having with these tax collectors and sinners.

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They can drink this wine. They can celebrate because they know it comes from God, and they give praise to God.

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You're not giving praise to God. You glorify yourselves, Jesus would be saying to these

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Pharisees. So that's why your way and my way are never going to match up.

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They don't go together. I've not come to call you to repentance because you don't think that you need to repent.

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I've come to call sinners to repentance. And my friends, when we come to Christ, we can't try to take our old ways and match them with Christ.

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It doesn't work. The old is gone. The new has come. 2

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Corinthians 5 .17, If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

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The old is passed away. Behold, the new has come.

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And so if we are in Christ, we must walk in new life. No longer back to the old ways, our sins, our habits, our addictions, the wickedness that we were formerly walking in before we came to Christ.

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We must put all of that away. In Christ Jesus, we are new. And we must walk in his ways, in his step, following his path.

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Don't try to go back to the world. Don't try to go back to your sin. Don't even look at the sinful things that your flesh is tempted by and think, can

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I just bring a little bit of this in? Can I just enjoy this for a little bit? You're going to tear the new garment and try to match it with the old and the two do not go together.

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Be filled with new wine in new wineskins and don't go back to the old.

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Taste and see that the Lord is good. He is sufficient.

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He fulfills and satisfies our every need. As said at the beginning of Psalm 23, the

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Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we've read.

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And I pray and ask that it would stir in our hearts that desire for the new, that we would walk in the new, that we would embrace the new person that we are in Christ and desire to be that.

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Not going after the old ways, not going after the world, sins, old dead traditions that couldn't save us anyway, stuff that didn't even match up with what the

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Bible said. It was our own rules and regulations so that we could declare ourselves righteous. Let us not go back to any of that.

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Let us look to your word and your way and follow in your steps. As also said in Psalm 23, lead me in paths of righteousness for your name's sake.

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It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog, sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers, and offering commentary on the church and social issues.

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You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .tt .com. Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's word, when we understand the text.