Introduction
In last week’s passage we saw that the Lord Jesus is God’s Spirit-Anointed and Conquering King. Do you remember? He went into the synagogue in Nazareth, where he read from Isaiah 61, where Isaiah spoke about someone who was coming who would be anointed with God’s Spirit to preach good news to the poor and to proclaim freedom for the captives. And after reading from the Scriptures, the Lord Jesus sat down and told the people who had gathered there that this scripture had been fulfilled in their hearing that day. It had been fulfilled in their hearing because he was the one Isaiah was speaking about. He was the one who was anointed with God’s Spirit. He was God’s Spirit-Anointed King who had come to proclaim and to provide freedom for us — freedom from our sin and misery in this world.
And so, he sets us free from our sin, because he paid for our sins with his life when he died on the cross; and through faith in him we receive forgiveness from God so that God will never ever hold our sins against us. And then he also sets us free from our misery in this life. And so, after telling us about the Lord’s time in Nazareth, Luke told us about his time in Capernaum, where he set a man free from an evil spirit; and where he healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever; and he healed many other people who were suffering from all kinds of sickness; and he drove out many other demons. And so, he conquered sickness and he conquered evil spirits and he set the people free from their misery.
And what he began to do in Capernaum, he will bring to completion when he comes again in glory and with power to cast the devil and his demons into the lake of fire to be tormented day and night forever; and to renew the heavens and the earth; and to raise his people from the dead; and to renew them throughout in body and soul; and to give them everlasting life in the new creation to come, where there will be no Devil or demons to hurt us and where disease and death will be no more.
We saw last week that the Lord Jesus is God’s Spirit-Anointed and Conquering King. And so, we should give thanks to God the Father for loving us so much that he was prepared to give us such a great King. And since he is our King, then we should not only trust in him for salvation, but we should also obey him in our daily lives and seek to honour him in all we do and say. And we should look forward to his coming, because when he comes again we will reign with him over the new heavens and earth to the glory of God our Father.
Today we’re going to study the passage we read a moment ago, which contains three miracle stories. In the first part — verses 1 to 11 — we have the miraculous catch of fish. In the second part — verses 12 to 16 — we have the healing of a leper. And in the third part — verses 17 to 26 — the Lord healed a man who was paralysed and could not walk. So these three stories are linked together by the miracles which the Lord performed. I’m going to go through the three parts and then, afterwards, we’ll think about the significance of what we’ve read.
Verses 1 to 11
Let’s turn first of all to verses 1 to 11. Luke tells us that the Lord Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. That’s another name for the Sea of Galilee. And the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. At the end of last week’s passage, the Lord Jesus said to the people in Capernaum that he had to move on from there, because he had to preach the good news of the kingdom of God in other places. Since he is God’s Spirit-Anointed and Conquering King, he must go and proclaim and provide freedom in other parts of the country. In a sense, he’s like Joshua from the Old Testament. Remember Joshua? He became the leader of God’s people after Moses. And Joshua led the people through the River Jordan and into the Promised Land of Canaan. And although Joshua was not a king, he was nevertheless God’s Conquering Leader in those days, because he led the people in victory over their enemies and he drove the pagan nations from out of the Promised Land. And the Lord Jesus is like him, because wherever he went he drove away the effects of the fall by casting out demons and by healing people of their sickness and by proclaiming and providing freedom for the people.
And crowds of people were listening to the Lord. But you know what a crowd is like, don’t you? Everyone is moving forward, trying to get a little nearer to the front to get a better view and to hear better what’s been said. The people were no doubt pushing one another and pressing against each other; and perhaps some were afraid that they would be crushed; and perhaps the Lord was being pushed as well. And so, he looked around and saw at the edge of the water two boats which had been left by some fishermen, who were now washing their nets.
In those days, the way to catch fish was for the fishermen to drag a large net behind their boat; and the fish would swim into the net and get caught so that they couldn’t get out again. But as well as catching fish, the nets would also gather up weeds and silt and debris. And so, after a night’s fishing, the fishermen would have to clean their nets and remove bits of dead fish and all the weeds and silt and whatever else had got caught up in the nets. And so, these fishermen were cleaning their nets after a night’s fishing.
And when the Lord saw the boats, he got into one belonging to Simon Peter, and he asked him to put out into the water. And having put a little distance between himself and the crowd, he sat down and continued to teach the people from the boat.
Luke doesn’t tell us what he said to the people. He’s more interested in what happened after the sermon was over. So, according to verse 4, after he finished speaking, the Lord told Simon Peter to put out into the deep water and to let down his nets for a catch. Perhaps he’d noticed that, although they were cleaning their nets earlier, which indicates that they’d been fishing, there was no sign of any fish. Last night’s fishing trip had been unsuccessful. But now, if they listen to him, it will be different. So, put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.
And Simon replied: ‘Master’, he said, ‘we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.’ One of the commentators (Edwards) says that here we hear the voice of a professional fisherman, who has had a frustrating night, without catching anything; and he knows that there’s no point fishing during the day, because when it’s daylight, the fish can see the nets and avoid them. So, the professional fisherman thinks there’s no point in going fishing at this time of the day. And imagine if I came into the place where you worked and began to tell you how to do your job. You wouldn’t like it, would you? You’d perhaps think to yourself: ‘Colin, stick to preaching. That’s your job; and so, stop sticking your oar into what I’m doing, because you don’t know anything about how to do my job.’ That’s what you might think if I tried to tell you how to do your job; and I wonder if Simon Peter thought something similar. Whether he did or not, he said that he would do it, ‘because you say so.’ In other words, you’re the boss. Since you’re the boss, I’ll do it.
And look at verse 6. When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. And they had to signal to their partners in the other boat to come and lend a hand. And look at verse 7: when the others came to help them, both boats were so full of fish that they began to sink.
And Simon Peter’s reaction is surprising, isn’t it? Instead of expressing his wonderment, he instead expressed contrition. He said: ‘Go away from me, Lord, I am a sinful man.’ It’s interesting that he calls him ‘Lord’. Earlier he had referred to Jesus as ‘Master’, which means ‘boss’. Now he refers to him as ‘Lord’. And when people in those days talked about the Lord, they were talking about the God of Israel, who made the heavens and the earth in the beginning and who rescued his people from Egypt. When people in those days mentioned the Lord, that’s who they were referring to. And here’s Peter and he’s applying the title ‘Lord’ to Jesus. And he’s overcome by a sense of his own sinfulness. So, he’s not proud. He’s not full of himself and his own importance or goodness. He’s been humbled by the presence of the Lord Jesus.
And yet there’s something else which is surprising. We’re expecting the Lord to say something to him about forgiveness. But he doesn’t do so. Instead the Lord tells this man, who has been humbled, not to be afraid; and that, from now on, he will catch men instead of fish. And so, they — everyone who was with Simon Peter — pulled up their boats onto the shore and they left everything where it was and followed him. They were done with fishing, because the Lord had called them to serve him.
Verses 12 to 16
Let’ go on to the second part of today’s passage which is verse 12 to 16. And Luke tells us of a time when the Lord was in one of the towns. And a man came along who was covering with leprosy. The little footnote beside the word leprosy in the NIV tells us that the Greek word translated leprosy refers to various kinds of skin disease. But to have any kind of skin disease in those days in Judah was a terrible affliction, because such people were regarded as unclean. That is, they were regarded as ceremonially unclean. And since they were ceremonially unclean, they weren’t allowed to go into the temple. So, they were cut off from worship and they were cut off from the sacrificial system for the forgiveness of their sins. And since ceremonial uncleanness could be passed from one person to another, people with a skin disease had to avoid other people. You can read about all the rules and regulations in Leviticus 13 and 14. And in verse 45 of Leviticus 13 it says that the person with a skin disease must wear torn clothes and let his hair be unkempt and he must cover the lower part of his face and he must cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ Tearing your clothes, leaving your hair in a mess, wearing a mask, and crying out in this way were all for the benefit of other people to tell them to stay away. Stay away, because this person has a skin disease and you don’t want to catch their uncleanness. And Leviticus 14 goes on to say that, as long as a person has the disease, he remains unclean. And he must live alone.
So, that’s the fate of all those with a skin disease. They were regarded as ‘the living dead’, because just as people became unclean if they came into contact with a corpse, so people became unclean if they came into contact with someone with a skin disease. And although Leviticus 14 contains regulations for cleansing people who have been healed of their disease, the Jews thought that healing someone from a skin disease was as difficult as raising the dead.
And so, that’s the background to this story. It’s therefore unusual to hear that this leper came to the Lord, when the Lord was in one of the towns. Normally lepers and those with a skin disease were not allowed to enter a town. But presumably this man had heard about the Lord Jesus and how he was able to conquer all kinds of sickness. And so, the leper was prepared to do what was forbidden in order to see the Saviour. And we can imagine the crowds of people around the Lord Jesus scattering whenever they saw this man coming along. No one wanted to get too close to him in case they were infected and made unclean. And when he eventually saw the Lord, he fell down before him with his face to the ground. So, here’s another humble man. Simon Peter was humble in the presence of the Lord, declaring himself to be a sinful man. And this leper humbled himself before the Lord.
And he begged the Lord, saying to him: ‘Lord, if you’re willing, you can make me clean.’ Notice that, like Simon Peter, the leper calls Jesus ‘Lord’. And notice as well that he asks if the Lord is willing to help him. I like to wind up Yvonne and the children. When they send me a text which says something like, ‘Can you turn off the oven?’ or ‘Can you pick me up?’ I reply, ‘I can.’ And they know that they then need to ask, ‘Will you?’ And this man already knows the Lord can help him. He knows that the Lord Jesus possesses the power to cleanse him from his skin disease. And so, he’s not asking that. He’s not asking, ‘Can you?’ He’s asking, ‘Will you?’ Will you help me? Will you cleanse me?
And the Lord, who is merciful and gracious and slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, was willing to help this man. And Luke tells us that the Lord reached out his hand and touched the man. And that’s remarkable, because no ordinary person would dare touch a person with a skin disease. To touch someone with a skin disease would mean that you would become unclean too. But that didn’t happen on this occasion, because when the Lord touched the man, and when he said, ‘Be clean!’, the leprosy left the man immediately. The Lord healed him of his disease. And afterwards, he told the man to go and show himself to the priest and offer the required sacrifices for his cleansing. Leviticus 14 tells us that before he could be declared clean and before he could therefore be re-admitted into society, a priest had to confirm that he had been cured of his disease; and then there were sacrifices to offer. And so, the Lord sent him to the priest to do what was necessary so that he could return to his home and family and to worship in the temple. This was now possible, because Christ had healed him of his disease.
And when people heard what he had done, crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.
Verses 17 to 26
We come now to the third and final part of today’s passage, which is verses 17 to 26. One day when the Lord was teaching, and when Pharisees and teachers of the law were there, some men came to him, carrying a paralytic on a mat. Because the house was so crowded, they went up on the roof and made a hole in it so that they could lower their friend down to where the Lord was standing. And Luke tells us in verse 20 that when the Lord saw their faith, he said to the paralysed man: ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven.’
The Pharisees and teachers of the law objected to this. It seemed to them that the Lord Jesus was blaspheming, because who can forgive sins but God alone? And so, in their mind, he was blaspheming because he was claiming that he could do something which only God can do.
And, in one sense, they were right: only God can forgive. But in another sense they’re wrong, because they did not realise that the Lord Jesus is God. God had come down to earth as one of us.
Jesus knew what they were thinking. And so, he asked them which is easier: to say ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say ‘Get up and walk’? Which is easier to say? It’s easier to say that you can forgive sins, because the result is invisible and there’s no way of knowing whether the person’s sins are forgiven or not. But saying that you can heal someone is harder, because the result is visible, isn’t it? Everyone can see immediately whether you were speaking the truth or talking nonsense. And to prove that he was able to do both, the Lord said the word; and immediately the paralysed man was healed so that he could get up and pick up his mat and walk away. And as he went home, he praised God. And everyone was amazed; and they praised God; and they were filled with awe and said: ‘We have seen remarkable things today.’
Forgiveness
As we turn now to think about the significance of these miracles, let me focus on the second two first: the healing of the leper and the healing of the paralytic. Both miracles make clear that the Lord Jesus is indeed God’s Spirit-Anointed and Conquering King who has come to proclaim and to to provide freedom from our sin and misery.
Both of these miracles are about forgiveness from sin. That’s obvious in the case of the paralytic, when the Lord declared him forgiven. It’s not so obvious in the case of the leper, until you realise that leprosy symbolised sin. Whoever had a skin disease in those days was regarded as unclean: ceremonially unclean. And all of the Old Testament laws and regulations about ceremonially uncleanness were designed to teach the people about their spiritual uncleanness. Ceremonial uncleanness was caused by leprosy, whereas spiritual uncleanness was caused by sin and disobedience. Whoever was ceremonially unclean needed to be cleansed before they could come into God’s temple. And whoever is spiritually unclean — which is all of us, because all of us disobey the Lord in thought and word and deed — whoever is spiritually unclean needs to to be cleansed from our sin and guilt before we can come before God in the new heavens and earth to live with him forever. Unless we’re cleansed from our sin, we will be sent away from God’s presence to be punished forever.
And Christ is able to cleanse us of our guilt, because he gave up his life on the cross to pay for our sins and he shed his blood to cleanse us. Through faith in him, the stain of our guilt is washed away and we become clean. Just as the Lord took away that man’s leprosy, so he takes away our sin and guilt so that we can look forward to coming into God’s presence one day.
Renewal
The Lord is God’s Spirit-Anointed and Conquering King who came to free us from our sin. But he also came to free us from our misery. And the second two miracles are about that as well, aren’t they? Think of the misery of the leper and how he had to live alone and warn people to stay away from him. Think of the misery of the paralytic who was unable to walk and who had to rely on other people to carry him from one place to another.
This is not the way things are supposed to be. God did not make us to be sick and he did not make us to be lame. But because of Adam’s sin in the beginning, not only did sin come into the world, but misery came into the world as well. Suffering entered the world and spread to all of us and our lives here on earth are marked by sorrow and suffering and disease and death.
But here comes God’s Conquering King to set us free from our misery in this world and to restore God’s fallen and spoiled creation. The Lord Jesus set the one man free from his leprosy; and no doubt that man went on his way rejoicing. And the Lord then set the other man free from his paralysis; and he went away, praising God. And, as I said last week, Christ our Conquering King now gives us all kinds of medical professionals to help us when we’re unwell. And he surrounds us with all kinds of other people who have the knowledge and expertise and the willingness to help us and to ease our misery each day. And he gives us the hope of the resurrection from the dead and the hope of the renewal of all things and the hope of living happily ever after in the new heavens and earth.
Inward renewal
And he also renews us inwardly, doesn’t he? He renews us inwardly and he cleanses us from the presence of sin in our lives. Just as he removed that man’s leprosy, and just as he removed that man’s paralysis, so he removes sin from our lives more and more. He enables us by his Spirit to say ‘no’ to ungodliness and to do God’s will in our daily lives.
And because of the way his grace renews us inwardly, and makes us live in a new way, then he also renews our homes and families and our schools and colleges and our workplaces and our clubs and societies and our life together in the church. He renews those places by renewing us and by helping us to be obedient to him and to do what’s right.
And instead of causing misery wherever we go, because of the sinful and foolish things we do, he enables us to bring joy wherever we go, because of the good he enables us to do. The Lord Jesus Christ is God’s Spirit-Anointed and Conquering King who came to free us from our sin and misery in this life.
Fishing for men
But then, let’s go back to the first part of the passage. This miracle was different, wasn’t it? Normally the Lord performed a miracle in order to save someone from their misery. He gave sight to the blind and he made the lame walk and he removed leprosy and so on. He fed the hungry and he calmed a storm to save his disciples from drowning. But this miracle is different, because Simon Peter was not going to starve. His life didn’t depend on catching a large number of fish that day. So, what was the point of the miracle?
Since he was about to make Simon Peter a fisher of men, then I think this particular miracle was to teach Simon Peter that Simon and his companions must always listen to him, even when they think they know better. When the Lord told Simon Peter to let down his nets, Simon Peter no doubt thought it was pointless, because every experienced fisherman knows you can’t catch fish during the day: the fish can see the nets and so they avoid them. Simon Peter knew more about fishing than Jesus. Or so he thought until he did what the Lord commanded. When he did what the Lord commanded, he discovered that the Lord knows best; and that he should always obey the Lord, even when his word seems strange. And when Simon Peter obeyed the Lord, the result was the greatest catch of fish he had ever seen in his life.
The Lord called Simon Peter and his brother Andrew and James and John and the other apostles to be his preachers in the world. He was going to send them out into the world to proclaim the good news of salvation. And they went in obedience to the Lord and they did what he commanded them to do, even though the message they proclaimed seemed weak to some and foolish to others. And yet, the Lord blessed their efforts and he enabled them to catch hundreds and hundreds of men and women and boys and girls. You can read about what the Lord enabled them to do in the book of Acts.
And the Lord continues to send out his preachers into the world to proclaim the good news of salvation. And though the message still seems weak to some and foolish to others, the Lord Jesus Christ will ensure that all those destined for eternal life will hear and believe and be saved. The end is not in doubt, because the Lord will do it.
And if we ever doubt the power of the Lord to save sinners, then all we have to do is look at ourselves, because the Lord caught us. He caught us and he drew us to himself for salvation. And having caught us, he now works in us to free us from the presence of sin in our lives and from our misery in this life and all to the praise of his glorious grace.
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