Luke 5:1-39
Cast and drama.
Luke, Tiberius, Zephaniah, Jesus, Simon. A leper, Pharisee 1&2, Crowd voice
[Sound: Door knock open and close]
Luke (maybe a little out of breath: I made it back with as much paper and ink as I could manage to find at this late hour.
[Sound: heavy thud as he drops his bundle. Makes relief sound.]
Hosea (laughing): I’d say you had enough to copy the entire set of the scrolls of the law and prophets.
Zephaniah: While you were out, Tiberius and I were discussing where each of us were at the time that the Master called his first disciples.
Hosea: Though I tried to follow John the Imerser when I had a chance, I was still under apprenticeship to old Jonas. Mending the nets, rowing across the lake, and taking care of the grunt work for the fishers.
Zephaniah: As many of us did in those days, we eagerly sought the Messiah. John’s teaching in the wilderness about repentance seemed to be the words of the prophet.
Hosea: It turns out we were both at the river to witness the baptism of Jesus. I couldn’t stay. I had to rush back to the lake before sun down, and get nets mended for the catch the next morning.
Zephaniah: Tiberius and I didn’t know each other back then, but after the baptism, I began to notice my good friend Andrew was absent. It wasn’t like him to drift away from John and his students. Especially after a sermon like the one John gave that day.
Luke: where did Andrew go?
Zephaniah: Back to Gennesaret.
Luke: Where?
Zephaniah: To Gennesaret, where Andrew’s family had their fishing business.
Luke (confused): But I thought that was the sea of Galilee. .
Hosea (laughing) It is, my friend. Gennesaret is the old Hebrew name that the local Jewish people call it. The Romans call it Tiberius, but the local Greek people call it Galilee. .
Luke: Gennesaret. I like it.
Zephaniah: it was after the healing that Jesus had been doing. I was still near the lake, and looking for Andrew.
Hosea (fade out):And I was working the nets, and let me tell you, it was one long night of hard work and nothing to show for it in the morning.
[Sound: writing affect]
Zephaniah: On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.
Hosea: Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
Jesus: “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
Hosea: And Simon answered,
Simon (with a little skepticism, or sarcasm.): “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”
Zephaniah: And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying,
Simon (maybe fearful, or astonished): “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
Zephaniah: For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken,
Hosea: and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon,
Jesus: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”
Zephaniah: And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
[Sound: transition affect]
Hosea: And let me tell you. My 15 year old self had plenty of choice words for those guys! Walking off the job and leaving us hired hands to deal with those boats alone! All those nets to mend.
Luke: but it sounds like you made plenty of money on all the fish.
Hosea: Well, there was that. Young apprentices usually don’t get to share in the profits of a catch. You just work for your wage. But with Simon, James, and John walking away, it was about then that old Jonas and Zebidee began to let some of us, who proved to be top workers, in on the family business.
Luke: I see. I suppose they were getting too old to keep the business going when their sons walked away.
Hosea: Exactly.
Zephaniah: After calling those first disciples, the Master began going from town to town in the area to preach and to heal people.
(Fading out)
[Sound: Writing affect.]
Zephaniah: While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him,
Leper: “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”
Zephaniah: And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying,
Jesus: “I will; be clean.”
Zephaniah: And immediately the leprosy left him.
And he charged him to tell no one,
Jesus: tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”
Zephaniah: But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities.
[Sound: transition affect]
Luke: Was this normal for Jesus? Healing so many people??? All the time??? Even on my busiest day as a doctor, I can’t imagine treating more than a few dozen patients.
Zephaniah: The Master not only treated them, he healed them.
Hosea: when I stop to think about my hardest days on the lake. Endless hours mending nets. Straining every muscle to save an overloaded, sinking boat, or the work of rowing hard to survive rough storms, it doesn’t compare to the . hours the Master put in to heal all those people.
Luke: When did he ever find time to rest?
Zephaniah (fading out): I can tell you, it was difficult enough just to break away from the endless crowds, but sometimes it could get worse. The Master had gotten the attention of religious leaders from all over the nation.
[Sound: Writing affect]
Zephaniah: But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said,
Jesus: “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
Zephaniah: And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying,
Pharisee1: “Who is this who speaks blasphemies?
Pharisee2: Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Zephaniah: When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them,
Jesus: “Why do you question in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, `Your sins are forgiven you,´ or to say, `Rise and walk´? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” –
Zephaniah: he said to the man who was paralyzed –
Jesus: “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.”
Zephaniah: And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying,
Crowd voice: “We have seen extraordinary things today.”
[Sound: transition]
Hosea: how are you holding up Luke, my friend? You look like you might have a question, or need something. (laughing) Don’t tell me you’re out of paper.
Luke: What? Paper? No, I have plenty of that. I noticed that the pharisees didn’t challenge the healing of the lame man.
Zephaniah: Why would they? It wasn’t on a Sabbath. However, they were a little upset over Jesus claim that his sins were forgiven.
Luke: it was because of the faith of the man, right? Or was it because of the faith of his friends as well. Besides, what’s the big deal over forgiving sins anyway?
Zephaniah: Don’t you see? If a man suffers because he sinned, who has he sinned against?
Luke: the injury could come either at the hand of man, or from God.
Zephaniah: Yes, but whether the injury was inflicted by a man, or by God, who has the authority and ability to forgive the sin, and restore the body?
Luke: ultimately, all sins are against God. Even if the man who was wronged forgave a sin done to him, he would be powerless to take away the consequence.
Zephaniah: But God has that power, to both forgive, and to heal. For Jesus to make the claim that the injury of the paralyzed man was linked to sin, and that his faith brought him to forgiveness, that meant Jesus claimed to have God’s authority.
Luke: And that upset the pharisees.
Zephaniah: And it would only get worse. For example, let me tell you about Levi, and how the Master called him.
(Fading out)
[Sound: Writing affect]
Zephaniah: After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him,
Jesus: “Follow me.”
Zephaniah: And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. 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. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying,
Pharisee: “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
Zephaniah: And Jesus answered them,
Jesus: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
Zephaniah: And they said to him,
Pharisee: “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.”
Zephaniah: And Jesus said to them,
Jesus: “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”
Zephaniah: He also told them a parable:
Jesus: “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. 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. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, `The old is good.´”
[Sound: Transition affect]
Luke: Jesus sure put them in their place didn’t he Tiberius?
[Sound: snore affect]
Luke: Tiberius? Now how could our big, strong fisher fall asleep through a story like that one?
Zephaniah (chuckling):I’m sure it isn’t the interest in the story, as much as it’s due to the late hour.
Luke: Oh my! How did it get so dark so quickly!
Zephaniah: Let’s all take a break, and get a fresh start in the morning.
Hosea: (startled awake, snorting and confujsed): Morning! Quick, Gert the boats into the water! Man the nets.
Luke and Zephaniah: Laugh.
Hosea: hey… where am I? what did I miss?
“Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”
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