Chapter 5:27-39 Call of Levi (Matthew)

5:27 And after these things He went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and He said unto him, Follow Me.
and He said unto him, follow Me - of all the publicans that were there, he singled out Levi, or Matthew, and directed His discourse to him, and called him to be a follower of Him: an instance of powerful, special, and distinguishing grace.....This Levi, or Matthew, was a tax collector; not like those of our own day, but one who farmed the taxes for the Roman governor, and made what he could for himself out of them; at least, that is what many of the “publicans” did.

5:28 And he left all, rose up, and followed Him.
And he left all - Καταλιπων - completely abandoning his office, and every thing connected with it. He who wishes to preach the Gospel, like the disciples of Christ, must have no earthly entanglement.

5:29 And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them.

A great feast - Δοχην μεγαλην, A splendid entertainment. The word refers more properly to the number of the guests, and the manner in which they were received, than to the quality or quantity of the fare. A great number of his friends and acquaintance was collected.

5:30 But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against His disciples, saying, Why do Ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?

why do Ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? - The other evangelists represent these as saying, why does He, or your Master, eat with such? doubtless, they included both Christ, and His disciples; though they chiefly designed Him, and to bring an accusation against Him, and fix a charge upon Him, in order to render Him odious to the people.

It seems that there can never be a great wonder wrought by Christ without somebody or other objecting to it. 

I suppose that the sun never rose without annoying thieves, who would like a longer time to perpetrate their deeds of darkness; and no miracle of mercy is ever wrought without somebody finding fault with it for some reason or other.

5:31 And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.
And Jesus answering, said unto them - Knowing that they aimed at Him; they that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick: suggesting hereby, that as such who are in good health, who are free from all diseases, wounds, bruises, and putrefying sores, stand in no need of the advice and assistance of a physician, or surgeon, but such who have either distempers or sores on their bodies; so they, the Scribes and Pharisees, who, in their own opinion, were free from the disease of sin, original and actual, and touching the righteousness of the law, were blameless, stood not in any need of Him, the physician, who came to cure the maladies of the souls, as well as of the bodies of men; but such persons, who not only are sick with sin, but sick of it, who are sensible of it, and desire healing: and therefore this was the reason of His conduct, why He conversed with sinners, and not with the Scribes and Pharisees; His business, as a physician, lying among the one, and not the other;

5:32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
I came not to call the righteous - Such as the Scribes and Pharisees were in their own apprehension, and in the esteem of others, who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous, and submitted not to the righteousness of Christ.

5:33 And they said unto Him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but Thine eat and drink?

why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers? set times apart frequently for fasting and prayer.

5:34 And He said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?
can ye make the children of the bride chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? signifying, that He was the bridegroom, and His disciples the children of the bride chamber; and that as it is unreasonable to expect, and morally impossible, that persons, attending the festivals of a nuptial solemnity, should be engaged in severe fastings; 

5:35 But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.

But the days will come - And that in a very little time, as they did:
when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them: as their master, John, was taken away from them, and now in prison, and therefore it was no wonder they mourned and fasted; signifying, that in a short time He, the bridegroom of His church and people, should be taken away by death.
and then they shall fast in those days; mourn, and be humbled, of which fasting was, a sign, for the death of their Lord, and on account of the many afflictions and persecutions they should endure for His sake.

5:36 And He spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old.

He would not put new cloth upon an old garment, nor new wine into old bottles; He would not, as soon as ever he had called them out of the world, put them upon the strictnesses and austerities of discipleship, lest they should be tempted to fly off. 

When God brought Israel out of Egypt, He would not bring them by the way of the Philistines, lest they should repent, when they saw war, and return to Egypt, Exodus 13:17. 

So Christ would train up His followers gradually to the discipline of His family; The disciples will be tempted to think their old way of living better, till they are by degrees trained up to this way whereunto they are called.

5:37 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.

The new wine will burst the bottles - These old bottles would not be able to stand the fermentation of the new wine, as the old sewing would be apt to give way.

5:38 But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.

And both are preserved; both these renewed ones, who are preserved unto the kingdom and glory of Christ;

5:39 No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.

No man also having drunk old wine - "Wine", though not in the text....This is a proverbial expression, and which Luke only records; which may be applied to natural men, who having drunk the old wine of their carnal lusts and pleasures, do not desire the new wine of the Gospel, and of the grace of God, and of spiritual things, but prefer their old sins and lusts unto them: carnal lusts may be signified by old wine, both for the antiquity of them, being as old as men themselves, and therefore called the old man.

Chapter 5:12-26 The Leper and the Paralytic

5:12 And it came to pass, when He was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought Him, saying, Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.

This man is said to be full of leprosy; he had that distemper in a high degree, which the more fitly represents our natural pollution by sin; we are full of that leprosy, from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot there is no soundness in us.

5:13 And He put forth His hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him.

Ask him to touch thee also, poor leprous soul; thou who art full of sin, thou who art deeply conscious that the deadly disease of sin is upon thee incurably.

5:14 And He charged him to tell no man: but go, and shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

He charged him to tell no man - Those whom Christ hath healed and cleansed must know that He hath done it in such a way as for ever excludes boasting.

5:15 But so much the more went there a fame abroad of Him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.

[1.] By His preaching. They came together to hear Him, and to receive instruction from Him concerning the kingdom of God. 

[2.] By His miracles. They came to be healed by Him of their infirmities; that invited them to come to hear Him, confirmed His doctrine, and recommended it.

5:16 And He withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.
The tense of the verb implies that He often did this; it was His habit to withdraw Himself for private prayer even in his busiest times, and when He could occupy every minute with great advantage to the people. 

Thus He gathered new strength from above for each day’s work; and when there was most to be done, then He took most time to pray. 

It is an evil economy that tries to take time for other things that should be spent in prayer, for the shortening of prayer will be the weakening of our power.

5:17 And it came to pass on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.

There were Pharisees, and doctors of the law, sitting by; not sitting at his feet, to learn of Him; They sat by as spectators, censors, and spies, to pick up something on which to ground a reproach or accusation.

5:18 And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring Him in, and to lay him before Him.

And behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy - Four men brought him, as Mark says.

5:19 And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.

And when they could not find by what way - As by the door, or in at a window of the house: they might bring him in; to Jesus, in the house: because of the multitude; which was about the door, and all the fore part of the house: they went upon the housetop; by a ladder, or pair of stairs, which usually were on the outside of houses; the houses of the Jews being flat roofed: and let him down through the tiling with his couch, into the midst before Jesus; that is, they untiled the roof, or took away the tiles which were about the trap door, or passage, into the inside of the house; and so making it wider, let down the man upon his couch, or bed, into the middle of the room and of the people, just before Jesus, where He was sitting;

5:20 And when He saw their faith, He said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.

Christ, in what he said to this man, taught us, when we seek to God for health, to begin with seeking to him for pardon.

5:21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?

And the Scribes and the Pharisees began to reason - To think and say within themselves, and it may be to one another, in a private manner: Who can forgive sins but God alone? and if Christ had been a mere man, though ever so good a man, even a sinless one, or ever so great a prophet, He could not have forgiven sin; but He is truly and properly God, as His being a discerner of the thoughts of these men, and His healing the paralytic man in the manner He did, are sufficient proofs.

5:22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts?

But when Jesus perceived their thoughts - Being God omniscient;
He answering said unto them, what reason ye in your hearts? This He said, not as being ignorant what their reasonings were, for it is before said He perceived their thoughts, but to expose the wickedness of them.

5:23 Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?

Whether is it easier to say - thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, rise up and walk? Neither of them could be said by a mere man.

5:24 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (He said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.
But that ye may know, that the son of man - Whom the Scribes and Pharisees took for a mere man, in which they were mistaken;

5:25 And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.

And immediately he rose up before them - As soon as ever these words were spoken by Christ, the man, before sick of the palsy, finding himself perfectly well, got off of his couch, and stood up on his feet before the Scribes and Pharisees, and all the people: glorifying God; both for the healing of his body, and for the pardon of his sins; each of which he knew none but God could do.

5:26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day.

Strange things - Παραδοξα, paradoxes. A paradox is something that appears false and absurd, but is not really so: or, something contrary to the commonly received opinion. 

We have seen wonders wrought which seem impossible; and we should conclude them to be tricks and illusions, were it not for the indisputable evidence we have of their reality.