{"id":70474,"date":"2019-02-15T19:19:32","date_gmt":"2019-02-16T02:19:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=70474"},"modified":"2019-02-16T20:19:48","modified_gmt":"2019-02-17T03:19:48","slug":"new-testament-notes-41-43","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-notes-41-43.html","title":{"rendered":"New Testament Notes 41-43"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"fishing<\/a>
An early photograph of fishermen on the Sea of Galilee \u00a0\u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Luke 5:1-11<\/a><\/p>\n

Compare Matthew 13:1-3; 4:18-22; Mark 4:1-2; 1:16-20; John 21:1-11<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

On one level, it seems a fairly insignificant miracle. \u00a0But it\u2019s a teaching moment.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re impressed by a miraculous catch of fish?\u201d Jesus implicitly asks his astonished disciples. \u00a0\u201cDon\u2019t be afraid. \u00a0From this point on, you\u2019ll be catching men<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In after years, persecuted, harassed, traveling with difficulty even when not being threatened, encountering rejection, the apostles could look back on this experience and regain their confidence. \u00a0If Jesus promised them success, they would have<\/em> success.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But there was, perhaps, a very immediate and practical point to this miracle:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cProcessing fish and calling apostles on the Sea of Galilee\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Christ<\/a>
A Byzantine mosaic of Jesus healing a leper (Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Matthew 8:1-4<\/a><\/p>\n

Mark 1:40-45<\/a><\/p>\n

Luke 5:12-16<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We can only speculate as to why the Savior\u00a0asked the cleansed leper not to tell others of his miraculous healing. \u00a0Maybe Jesus hoped \u2014 in vain, as it turned out, since the formerly afflicted man couldn\u2019t contain his excitement at his new life \u2014 to have some quiet (Luke 5:15-16) and to be able to move about freely in the furtherance of his mission (Mark 1:45).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s interesting to me, though, that Jesus didn\u2019t actually ask the man to conceal<\/em> his cure. \u00a0Instead, all three synoptic accounts (John omits the incident) say that he directed the recovered leper to go to the temple priests and take the appropriate steps under the law of Moses \u201cfor a proof to the people\u201d or, perhaps more literally, \u201cas a witness to them\u201d \u00a0(eis martyrion\u00a0<\/em>autois<\/i>).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jesus didn\u2019t cure everybody. \u00a0Many people still became ill and died around the world, and presumably even in Palestine, during his ministry. \u00a0Physical healing\u00a0wasn\u2019t his principal mission. \u00a0But he cured some<\/em>, and he evidently did so as a \u201cwitness\u201d to his calling. \u00a0That\u2019s why John calls the miracles of Jesus \u201csigns.\u201d \u00a0They were precisely that. \u00a0They pointed toward an even more important kind of healing that was (and is) available to all.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Healing<\/a>
Jesus heals the blind and the lame near Capernaum (James Tissot)
Click to enlarge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Matthew 9:1-8<\/a><\/p>\n

Mark 2:1-12<\/a><\/p>\n

Luke 5:17-26<\/a><\/p>\n

Compare John 5:1-9<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Pharisees and teachers of the law are offended, scandalized, when Jesus tells the paralytic that his sins are forgiven. \u00a0\u201cWho, apart from God,\u201d they say, \u201ccan forgive sins?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

An excellent question. \u00a0Well worth pondering. \u00a0Indeed, that, I suspect, is the point.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Jesus then asks them which is easier \u2014 to tell a man to be healed or to tell him that his sins are forgiven.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The implied premise, of course, is that declaring somebody\u2019s sins forgiven is easy because it\u2019s impossible for anybody among us mortals to test whether God has<\/em> actually forgiven the person\u2019s sins or not. \u00a0There is no litmus test or chemical analysis or meter reading that will confirm forgiveness. \u00a0Talk is cheap, and such a declaration might be mere empty words.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

By contrast, the efficacy of a command to \u201cRise, take up your pallet, and walk\u201d is easily tested. \u00a0Empirical verification or disconfirmation will be quite unambiguous. \u00a0Either the paralytic gets up, rolls up his bedding, and walks away, or he doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

If he does, though, that remarkable fact will confirm that Jesus has power to heal \u2014 and will very strongly imply that his other statement, about the forgiveness of sins, is also likely to be valid.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Which will suggest that Jesus is, in fact and as amazing as it may sound, God.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

As John says, the miracles of Jesus are signs<\/em>, pointing beyond themselves to something even more important.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from Richmond, Virginia<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Luke 5:1-11 Compare Matthew 13:1-3; 4:18-22; Mark 4:1-2; 1:16-20; John 21:1-11 \u00a0 On one level, it seems a fairly insignificant miracle. \u00a0But it\u2019s a teaching moment. \u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re impressed by a miraculous catch of fish?\u201d Jesus implicitly asks his astonished disciples. \u00a0\u201cDon\u2019t be afraid. \u00a0From this point on, you\u2019ll be catching men.\u201d \u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3337,3328,3331,3325,1369,3334,2625,3007],"class_list":["post-70474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cure","tag-fish","tag-forgiveness","tag-galilee","tag-jesus","tag-leper","tag-new-testament","tag-new-testament-commentary"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Testament Notes 41-43<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Luke 5:1-11 Compare Matthew 13:1-3; 4:18-22; Mark 4:1-2; 1:16-20; John 21:1-11   On one level, it seems a fairly insignificant miracle.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-notes-41-43.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Testament Notes 41-43\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    Luke 5:1-11 Compare Matthew 13:1-3; 4:18-22; Mark 4:1-2; 1:16-20; John 21:1-11   On one level, it seems a fairly insignificant miracle.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-notes-41-43.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-02-16T02:19:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-02-17T03:19:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/01\/633px-Fishing_on_the_Sea_of_Galilee_4701740564_2.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-notes-41-43.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-notes-41-43.html\",\"name\":\"New Testament Notes 41-43\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-02-16T02:19:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-02-17T03:19:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"    Luke 5:1-11 Compare Matthew 13:1-3; 4:18-22; Mark 4:1-2; 1:16-20; John 21:1-11   On one level, it seems a fairly insignificant miracle.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-notes-41-43.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-notes-41-43.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-notes-41-43.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New Testament Notes 41-43\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Testament Notes 41-43","description":"    Luke 5:1-11 Compare Matthew 13:1-3; 4:18-22; Mark 4:1-2; 1:16-20; John 21:1-11   On one level, it seems a fairly insignificant miracle.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-notes-41-43.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New Testament Notes 41-43","og_description":"    Luke 5:1-11 Compare Matthew 13:1-3; 4:18-22; Mark 4:1-2; 1:16-20; John 21:1-11   On one level, it seems a fairly insignificant miracle.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-notes-41-43.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2019-02-16T02:19:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-02-17T03:19:48+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/01\/633px-Fishing_on_the_Sea_of_Galilee_4701740564_2.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-notes-41-43.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-notes-41-43.html","name":"New Testament Notes 41-43","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-02-16T02:19:32+00:00","dateModified":"2019-02-17T03:19:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"    Luke 5:1-11 Compare Matthew 13:1-3; 4:18-22; Mark 4:1-2; 1:16-20; John 21:1-11   On one level, it seems a fairly insignificant miracle.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-notes-41-43.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-notes-41-43.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/new-testament-notes-41-43.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New Testament Notes 41-43"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70474\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}