Luke 5–6: Blessed Are You Who Are Poor": The Calls and the Sermon on the Plain

On one occasion, while Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret with the crowd pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats at the edge of the lake. The fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. Jesus got into the boat belonging to Simon and asked him to put out a little from shore. And sitting down, he taught the people from the boat.

When Jesus had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”

“Master,” Simon replied, “we have worked hard all night without catching anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to tear. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees. “Go away from me, Lord,” he said, “for I am a sinful man.” For he and his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were his partners James and John, the sons of Zebedee.

“Do not be afraid,” Jesus said to Simon. “From now on you will catch men.” And when they had brought their boats ashore, they left everything and followed him.

While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell facedown and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.

“Do not tell anyone,” Jesus instructed him. “But go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering Moses prescribed for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”

But the news about Jesus spread all the more, and great crowds came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. Yet he frequently withdrew to the wilderness to pray.

One day Jesus was teaching, and the Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. People had come from Jerusalem and from every village of Galilee and Judea, and the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick.

Just then some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They tried to bring him inside to set him before Jesus, but they could not find a way through the crowd. So they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

But the scribes and Pharisees began thinking to themselves, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Knowing what they were thinking, Jesus replied, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk?’ But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on the earth to forgive sins...” He said to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home.”

And immediately the man stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. Everyone was taken with amazement and glorified God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Levi got up, left everything, and followed him.

Then Levi hosted a great banquet for Jesus at his house. A large crowd of tax collectors was there, along with others who were eating with them. But the Pharisees and their scribes complained to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

Jesus answered, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Then they said to him, “John’s disciples and those of the Pharisees frequently fast and pray, but yours keep on eating and drinking.”

Jesus replied, “Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.”

He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will tear the new garment as well, and the patch from the new will not match the old.

And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will spill, and the wineskins will be ruined. Instead, new wine is poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’ ”

One Sabbath Jesus was passing through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick the heads of grain, rub them in their hands, and eat them. But some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

Jesus replied, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, took the consecrated bread and gave it to his companions, and ate what is lawful only for the priests to eat.”

Then Jesus declared, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

On another Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees were watching him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath.

But Jesus knew their thoughts and said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and stand among us.” So he got up and stood there.

Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” And after looking around at all of them, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and it was restored.

But the scribes and Pharisees were filled with rage and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

In those days Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. When daylight came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated as apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James son of Alphaeus and Simon called the Zealot; Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Then Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there, along with a great number of people from all over Judea, Jerusalem, and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, and those troubled by unclean spirits were healed. The entire crowd was trying to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

Looking up at his disciples, Jesus said:

Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For their fathers treated the prophets in the same way.

But to those of you who will listen, I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone takes your cloak, do not withhold your tunic as well. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what is yours, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”

Jesus also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.

Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own eye? How can you say, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while you yourself fail to see the beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. Indeed, figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor grapes from brambles. The good man brings good things out of the good treasure of his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil treasure of his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.

Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and acts on them: He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid his foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the torrent crashed against that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.

But the one who hears my words and does not act on them is like a man who built his house on ground without a foundation. The torrent crashed against that house, and immediately it fell—and great was its destruction!”