This portion of Chapter 5 contains three stories and a teaching section. This is part of a longer section of the gospel that continues into the next chapter in which Jesus responds to criticisms of him and his ministry. Having related typical events in the ministry of Jesus that have resulted in his fame and growing popularity up to this point, Luke turns to typical criticisms of him. These should not be viewed as a chronological account of events in the life of Jesus, but a relating of typical controveries which surrounded his ministry. Luke is not providing a “biography” of Jesus for the reader, but a “gospel” – a telling of the “good news” of Jesus. Clues to when Luke is relating typical events are his use of terms like “on one of those days,” “after this,” “on a sabbath,” “on another sabbath.” According to Interpretation commentary, “Luke is saying, “I have related to you some of Jesus’ activities that generated great popularity; now here is the other side of what was going on.” First, Jesus is heals a paralyzed man by first “forgiving his sins” eliciting severe criticism by the Pharisees, and then by telling him to “stand up and walk.” The Pharisees believed it blasphemous for anyone but God to forgive sins, blind to the presence and power of God in Jesus. Jesus shows his power to forgive sins and to heal. Next, Jesus calls Levi, a tax collector, to follow him, which he does. Then there is a “great banquet” at the home of said former tax collector, where there are many tax collectors present, eliciting more criticism and complaints from the Pharisees. I wonder if some, or all of these tax collectors were among those who had gone out to receive the baptism of John as related in chapter 3? That would certainly explain Levi’s response to the call of Jesus. (Levi is identified as Matthew in Matthew 9:9-13.) Here the Pharisees complain that Jesus eats and drinks with “tax collectors and sinners.” Finally, in response to the question as to why the disciples of John and those of the Pharisees “fast and pray,” while the disciples of Jesus eat and drink,” Jesus teaches that something new is happening. The disciples of John and of the Pharisees, and the Pharisees themselves, are so tied to their “forms” of religious piety that they cannot see or hear the new revelation of God as announced and made present in Jesus.
I am confused by the last verse “And no one after drinking old wine desires new; for he says, ‘The old is good.’” This follows the implication that Jesus’ teaching is the new wine. It seems to imply that any one raised on teachings pre-dating Jesus will be unable or unwilling to embrace the teachings of Jesus.
Jerry, this is a very good observation. See my reply to Jan Christensen’s comment below. When we think about how difficult it is to abandon any tradition, but especially a religious tradition, in order to take up something new, even something as seemingly simple as changing from the traditional to the contemporary wording of the Lord’s Prayer, we might get a small glimpse of the difficulty faced by faithful religious people who heard Jesus. They were steeped in the traditional good works of Judaism, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, but Jesus questions the formalization and rote doing of the religious practice, thereby threatening their understanding of God and of themselves. Tough stuff to take! But for those who could “drink the new wine” there were new wineskins to put it in, and a whole new understanding of the relationship between God and human beings.