Luke 5 Devotional

Unworthy and Still Called

“I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.””Luke 5:32 (BSB)

Simon has fished all night and caught nothing, but because Jesus tells him to, he lets down the nets again (5:5). The catch is so large that the nets begin to tear and two boats start to sink (5:6-7). Simon falls at Jesus' knees and asks him to leave, because he is a sinful man (5:8). Seeing who Jesus is has shown Simon who he is.

Jesus does not leave. He tells Simon not to be afraid and gives him a new work: from now on he will be catching people (5:10). The pattern repeats. Jesus touches a leper, forgives a paralyzed man before healing him, and calls Levi from his tax booth (5:13, 5:20, 5:27-28). When critics complain about the company he keeps, he answers that a doctor comes for the sick, and he came to summon sinners to turn back (5:30-32). Knowing your unworthiness is no reason to keep your distance from Jesus. Sinners are exactly the ones he came to call.

To think about: When you become aware of your own sin, do you tend to pull away from Jesus or come closer, and what would coming closer look like today?