The Pharisees and the Jesus Authority
Luke 5:27-6:11 – September 19, 2021
The Paralyzed Man & The Pharisees
5:20-26. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”
But what of the Pharisees?
5:27-28 Levi, aka Matthew, would become one of the twelve apostles. Levi responded instantly; he was ready to believe.
5:31-32. They imagined they had no need of Jesus or repentance. They were unaware of their own sickness. When I read righteous in verse 32, in my head I heard self-righteous and immediately thought of Luke 18:9-14 and Revelation 3:17-18. This is something we too must be aware of in our own thinking as we go through life with our many financial blessings as in Proverbs 17:5.
5:33-35. Jesus was using a Jewish tradition to make His point, the attendants of the bridegroom do not fast while the bridegroom is with them, but they fast when the bridegroom leaves the wedding party with his bride.
Seemingly without pause Jesus speaks two parables to them to address their way of thinking of salvation as a works process in their legalistic mind set and how they really do not want to change.
5:36.No one
Jesus is telling the Pharisees and the teachers of the law that His good news does not match their old practices and rituals. The old ways must be replaced completely with the new Godly way of life as we learn in 2 Corinthians 5:17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! And in Ephesians 4:22, You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
As well as in Colossians 3:9-10, Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Then to drive the point home even more Jesus continues with the parable of the wineskins.
5:37-38. no one
But Jesus is not really talking about wine here and the Pharisees and the teachers of the law likely understood what He was saying, namely the “new wine” here represents His in all its power, and the “wine-skins” are men and women who receive His good news of the kingdom of God.
5:39. no one
Here Jesus gives us a picture of how traditional Jews – Pharisees and law givers – likely viewed the changes Jesus was bringing. So Jesus uses a common saying to describe them.
6:1-4. Jesus reply was a rebuke to them as He referred to 1 Samuel 2l:1-6 when David gathered showbread from the tabernacle with the okay of the priest there even though it was a technical violation of the law, so now the Pharisees would have to condemn David if they wanted to condemn Jesus and His disciples.
The rabbinical rules for the Sabbath went way beyond what was intended. Many thought they could be holy and justified in the sight of God if they were able to observe all the self-imposed rules for the Sabbath. As for eating the grain in the field that was permitted by Deuteronomy 23:24-25.
6:5. Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
What do you think Jesus wanted them to understand when He said that? Clearly this is way past the comparison to David. He has already said He is the Son of Man and now He extends that to mean He has the right to regulate what takes place on the Sabbath for He is the Lord of the Sabbath.
6:6-10. Jesus presented a choice between doing good and doing evil on the Sabbath, not between doing good and doing nothing. He saw the failure to do good as in itself evil.
The Pharisees disagreed as we read in v11.
6:11 They could not properly comprehend what they had seen with their own eyes. They could only see that their rules were not being followed to the letter.
When we look at the Greek we find it reads literally, “they were filled with madness [or, mindless fury, anoia].” The impression is that these Jewish leaders are at their wits’ end and do not know what to do.
CONCLUSION: John 1518-19.