Luke Reading (#14)

Take a few minutes to catch up and pray that God would bless you through the reading of His word.

Read Luke 5:27-39

[5:27] After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” [28] And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

[29] And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. [30] And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” [31] And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. [32] I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

[33] And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” [34] And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? [35] The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” [36] He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. [37] And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. [38] But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. [39] And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

Observation

• Where was Levi (v. 27)? What did Jesus command him to do? How did Levi respond (v. 28)?
• Who came to Levi’s party (v. 29)? How did the Pharisees respond (v. 30)?
• What question did the Pharisees ask Jesus about the party (v. 30)? How did Jesus respond (v. 31-32)?
• What was the difference between the disciples of John, the Pharisees, and the disciples of Jesus (v. 33)? How does Jesus illustrate the reason for that difference (v. 34-35)?
• Look at the parable that Jesus tells v. 36-39.
  • What things does no one do (v. 36-37)? Why don’t they do it?
  • Where must new wine be stored (v. 38)?
  • What does no one do after drinking old wine (v. 39)? Why not?

Interpretation

• Look at how Levi responds to Jesus. 
  • What must he have understood about Jesus that made him willing to leave everything to follow after him?
  • Why did Levi have a party for his friends?
• Why were the Pharisees annoyed by Jesus’ choice of dinner companions?
  • Who are the “well” and the “sick” in Jesus’ statement in v. 31? Who is the physician?
  • What did Jesus come do (v. 32)? What is repentance? 
  • Is Jesus saying that some people are righteous and therefore don’t need to repent (v. 32)?
• Why were the Pharisees annoyed that Jesus’ disciples didn’t fast (v. 33)?
  • What was the significance of fasting?
  • Who is the bridegroom?
  • Why wouldn’t you fast when the bridegroom was around?
  • When would Jesus’ disciples need to fast?
• What is the point of the parable that Jesus tells in v. 36-39? What is the new thing and the old thing that are now incompatible?

Application

• Have you been willing to leave everything in order to follow Jesus? Is there anything that you are clinging on to?
• Do you see yourself as “sick”? A sinner in need of repentance? How does v. 32 help Christians to 
• Are we in a period of time where the bridegroom is with is? How should we act in light of v. 33-35?

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