Reflections on Luke 7

 

Luke 07 (Contemporary English Version)

1. After Jesus had finished teaching the people, he went to Capernaum.
   
2. In that town an army officer's servant was sick and about to die. The officer liked this servant very much.
   
3. And when he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish leaders to ask him to come and heal the servant.
   
4. The leaders went to Jesus and begged him to do something. They said, "This man deserves your help!
   
5. He loves our nation and even built us a meeting place."
   
6. So Jesus went with them. When Jesus wasn't far from the house, the officer sent some friends to tell him, "Lord, don't go to any trouble for me! I am not good enough for you to come into my house.
   
7. And I am certainly not worthy to come to you. Just say the word, and my servant will get well.
   
8. I have officers who give orders to me, and I have soldiers who take orders from me. I can say to one of them, 'Go!' and he goes. I can say to another, 'Come!' and he comes. I can say to my servant, 'Do this!' and he will do it."
   
9. When Jesus heard this, he was so surprised that he turned and said to the crowd following him, "In all of Israel I've never found anyone with this much faith!"
   
10. The officer's friends returned and found the servant well.
    
11. Soon Jesus and his disciples were on their way to the town of Nain, and a big crowd was going along with them.
    
12. As they came near the gate of the town, they saw people carrying out the body of a widow's only son. Many people from the town were walking along with her.
    
13. When the Lord saw the woman, he felt sorry for her and said, "Don't cry!"
    
14. Jesus went over and touched the stretcher on which the people were carrying the dead boy. They stopped, and Jesus said, "Young man, get up!"
    
15. The boy sat up and began to speak. Jesus then gave him back to his mother.
    
16. Everyone was frightened and praised God. They said, "A great prophet is here with us! God has come to his people."
    
17. News about Jesus spread all over Judea and everywhere else in that part of the country.
    
18. John's followers told John everything that was being said about Jesus. So he sent two of them to ask the Lord, "Are you the one we should be looking for? Or must we wait for someone else?"
    
19. (SEE 7:18)
    
20. When these messengers came to Jesus, they said, "John the Baptist sent us to ask, 'Are you the one we should be looking for? Or are we supposed to wait for someone else?' "
    
21. At that time Jesus was healing many people who were sick or in pain or were troubled by evil spirits, and he was giving sight to a lot of blind people.
    
22. Jesus said to the messengers sent by John, "Go and tell John what you have seen and heard. Blind people are now able to see, and the lame can walk. People who have leprosy are being healed, and the deaf can now hear. The dead are raised to life, and the poor are hearing the good news.
    
23. God will bless everyone who doesn't reject me because of what I do."
    
24. After John's messengers had gone, Jesus began speaking to the crowds about John: What kind of person did you go out to the desert to see? Was he like tall grass blown about by the wind?
    
25. What kind of man did you really go out to see? Was he someone dressed in fine clothes? People who wear expensive clothes and live in luxury are in the king's palace.
    
26. What then did you go out to see? Was he a prophet? He certainly was! I tell you that he was more than a prophet.
    
27. In the Scriptures, God calls John his messenger and says, "I am sending my messenger ahead of you to get things ready for you."
    
28. No one ever born on this earth is greater than John. But whoever is least important in God's kingdom is greater than John.
    
29. Everyone had been listening to John. Even the tax collectors had obeyed God and had done what was right by letting John baptize them.
    
30. But the Pharisees and the experts in the Law of Moses refused to obey God and be baptized by John.
    
31. Jesus went on to say: What are you people like? What kind of people are you?
    
32. You are like children sitting in the market and shouting to each other, "We played the flute, but you would not dance! We sang a funeral song, but you would not cry!"
    
33. John the Baptist did not go around eating and drinking, and you said, "John has a demon in him!"
    
34. But because the Son of Man goes around eating and drinking, you say, "Jesus eats and drinks too much! He is even a friend of tax collectors and sinners."
    
35. Yet Wisdom is shown to be right by what its followers do.
    
36. A Pharisee invited Jesus to have dinner with him. So Jesus went to the Pharisee's home and got ready to eat.
    
37. When a sinful woman in that town found out that Jesus was there, she bought an expensive bottle of perfume.
    
38. Then she came and stood behind Jesus. She cried and started washing his feet with her tears and drying them with her hair. The woman kissed his feet and poured the perfume on them.
    
39. The Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this and said to himself, "If this man really were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him! He would know that she is a sinner."
    
40. Jesus said to the Pharisee, "Simon, I have something to say to you." "Teacher, what is it?" Simon replied.
    
41. Jesus told him, "Two people were in debt to a moneylender. One of them owed him five hundred silver coins, and the other owed him fifty.
    
42. Since neither of them could pay him back, the moneylender said that they didn't have to pay him anything. Which one of them will like him more?"
    
43. Simon answered, "I suppose it would be the one who had owed more and didn't have to pay it back." "You are right," Jesus said.
    
44. He turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Have you noticed this woman? When I came into your home, you didn't give me any water so I could wash my feet. But she has washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.
    
45. You didn't greet me with a kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet.
    
46. You didn't even pour olive oil on my head, but she has poured expensive perfume on my feet.
    
47. So I tell you that all her sins are forgiven, and that is why she has shown great love. But anyone who has been forgiven for only a little will show only a little love."
    
48. Then Jesus said to the woman, "Your sins are forgiven."
    
49. Some other guests started saying to one another, "Who is this who dares to forgive sins?"
    
50. But Jesus told the woman, "Because of your faith, you are now saved. May God give you peace!"
    

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    Through both word and deed, Jesus continued to establish two things: He was the Messiah, and the appropriate response to Him is repentance and faith. His miraculous works, served as His credentials to verify who He was. And He began to expand on these works in this chapter. He did so first by remotely healing the centurion's servant. The centurion not only believed the Messiah could heal his servant but that He didn't have to be present to do so. In response to this faith Jesus healed the servant without completing His journey to the centurion's house.

    
    

    Jesus further expanded His miracles by raising a man from the dead.  This got the attention of the people and "fear came over" them. (7:16) They recognized that "God has visited His people." (7:16) Thus, word of Jesus became even more widespread. Evidently due to these reports of Jesus, John the Baptist sent some of his disciples to Jesus to ask, "Are You the One who is to come, or should we look for someone else?" (7:19) Jesus' response was a reference to Isaiah 61:1-2 which He had read when attending the synogogue in Nazareth: "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and freedom to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of our God's vengeance; to comfort all who mourn."  

    
    

    This passage was well-known by the Jews as a reference passage regarding the Messiah. Jesus' response to John's disciples was to "Go and report to John the things you have seen and heard: The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with skin diseases are healed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news preached to them." Jesus was saying to John through his disciples, to consider whether or not He was fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy concerning the Messiah. This, too, was the message Jesus was trying to convey to the Jewish community at large through His miracles and His teaching.

    
    

    We are told by Luke that those who had been baptized by John the Baptist unto repentance "acknowledged God's way of righteousness." But the religious leaders who had rejected John's baptism also "rejected the plan of God for themselves." (7:29-30) In this, Jesus compared them to whimsical children. They didn't like John because he didn't eat or drink, claiming he had a demon, but neither did they like Jesus because He did eat and drink, claiming Him to be a friend of sinners. Jesus concluded by saying the wisdom of His ministry did not need the validation of the religious leaders. Those who followed Him were validation enough.

    
    

    The final account in chapter 7 makes the point that one will not have an appreciation or love for Jesus unless they experience His forgiveness. Those, such as the scribes and Pharisees, who were not repentant, did not have an appreciation or even a respect for Jesus. This final account of the chapter told of Jesus attending a dinner at the home of a Pharisee. The host did not even extend to Jesus the usual courtesys offered guests in one's home. But the woman who crashed the dinner party did for Jesus what the host had failed to do. She did so because she had experienced His forgiveness and loved Him because of it. The host had not been repentant and thus had not received Jesus' forgiveness nor gained even an appreciation for Him.