Luke 5

We see Jesus attracting more and more people in Chapter 5 with his teaching and healing, plus a new dimension to his ministry -- the calling of disciples. We also begin to get a closer look at those being healed. In the process, we see that belief and faith are factors in these healings.

Faith or belief is not explicitly mentioned as Jesus' first disciples are called, but do you think it is a motivating factor in their decision to follow him? Examine those stories involving Simon Peter and brothers James and John (v. 1-11) and Levi (v. 27-32). What indications of faith do you see? Do you see anything that's surprising or extreme? How do you feel about their responses?

On Sunday, let's try and come up with a working definition of faith that we will be able to apply to the stories of Jesus as we go forward. I think we're given a simple but effective picture of faith in the story of the leper who is cleansed by Jesus (v. 12-13). Perhaps you can look at that as you think about how we should define faith.

It isn't until Jesus is faced with the paralytic at the start of the next healing story that Luke mentions the concept of faith (v. 20). And then Jesus immediately ties it to the forgiveness of sins. Where have we heard about forgiveness of sins before? In 3:3, when Luke describes John the Baptist preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus later (v. 31-32) restates his purpose as calling sinners to repentance.

But such talk concerns the Pharisees and teachers of the law, who are mentioned for the first time in v. 21. They consider his words blasphemy because only God can forgive sin. These Jewish religious leaders will be a presence throughout the rest of the book, often as critics and plotters against Jesus.

Also introduced in this chapter are parables, the stories Jesus tells to illustrate his ideas (v. 36-39). Preceding that are two other brief passages where his words are somewhat cloaked (v. 31-32, 34-35). In addition, Jesus gives himself a title -- can you spot it?

Let's talk Sunday about what we think these passages, the parable and the title mean.