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Shoreline of Lake of Gennesaret = Sea of Galilee at Capernaum looking SW to the Arbel
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Luke 5.1-11 is the designated Revised Common Lectionary Text for the 5th Sunday after Epiphany in Year C which occurs on February 6, 2022. It recounts Jesus' calling of his first disciples (Simon, James, and John), but Luke has decided to reorder the story he inherits from Mark considerably. Luke put Jesus' 'inaugural' address first at 4.16-30, an event that doesn't happen until chapter 6 in Mark. Then Luke 4.31-37 picks up Mark 1.21-28 where Jesus casts out an unclean spirit in the Capernaum synagogue followed by Jesus' stay at Simon's house with the healings he performs there and the subsequent Galilean ministry. (Mark 1.29-39 // Luke 4.38-44) Note that in Mark, Jesus called Simon, Andrew, James, and John before he did anything in Capernaum. In Luke, Jesus has already stayed at Simon's house before he calls him as a disciple! Why would Luke do this? In Mark, Jesus calls the first disciples, and they mysteriously begin to follow him without any explanation why. In Luke, they have already seen Jesus perform a number of miracles, including the catch of fish in the story at hand, and so when he calls them to follow him, it does make good sense.
I have a compilation of translations of Luke 5.1-11 including my own. Though Luke is usually precise with his grammar, this story evidences a strong oral character. There are incomplete sentences, brief exclamations, explanatory asides... Again, most English translations smooth it all so that it reads well, but I encourage you to look at my translation which I think 'sounds' in English much more like the Greek actually 'sounds.' Let me know what you think!
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