CHAPTER 7

(A.D. 31)

THE SPOKEN WORD

¹Now when He had ended all His sayings in the audience of the people, He entered into Capernaum.

²And a certain centurions (an officer in the Roman army, a Gentile) servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die.

³And when he heard of Jesus (better translated, and when he had heard about Jesus), he sent unto Him the Elders of the Jews (he evidently thought that they would have more sway on Christ than he would as a Gentile), beseeching Him that He would come and heal his servant.

⁴And when they came to Jesus, they (the Elders of the Jews) besought Him instantly, saying, That he (the centurion) was worthy for whom He should do this (portrays the basis on which most people expect an answer; but prayer is never answered on this basis):

⁵For he loves our nation, and he has built us a Synagogue (evidently this Gentile was sick of the pagan ways of Rome, and had become very interested in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob).

⁶Then Jesus went with them. And when He was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him (Matthew says the centurion came personally; Luke states here that he came by deputation; both statements are true; for his messengers represented him, and also the word him as is given in Verse 9 supports the belief that the centurion followed his messengers and, in his anxiety for his servant, repeated the message he had given them to deliver), saying unto him, Lord, trouble not yourself: for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof (not knowing exactly what the Jews had told the Lord, he wanted Christ to know exactly who he was, a Gentile, which carried with it many connotations):

⁷Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto You (seems to be the stage that the centurion now approaches Christ personally): but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed (proclaims a level of faith seldom, if ever, equaled by anyone in the Bible, at least of this nature).

⁸For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers (proclaims the meaning of spiritual authority, and from a Gentile at that!), and I say unto one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it (the authority of this centurion came from Caesar; likewise, all authority possessed by Believers comes from the Lord; also, unlike the centurion, authority held by Believers is never to be exercised over other people, but rather over spirits of darkness [Lk. 10:19]).

⁹When Jesus heard these things, He marvelled at him (records one of the two instances when Jesus marveled, the other being at unbelief [Mk. 6:6]), and turned him about (will use him as an example), and said unto the people that followed Him (who followed Jesus), I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel (all of this tells us that only unbelief or faith, with all their attendant results both negative and positive, are the occasion in the Eyes of God for astonishment).

¹⁰And they who were sent (the friends of Verse 6), returning to the house, found the servant whole who had been sick.

RAISING THE DEAD

¹¹And it came to pass the day after (after the healing of the centurions servant), that He went into a city called Nain; and many of His Disciples went with Him, and much people (recorded only by Luke).

¹²Now when He came nigh to the gate of the city (about to enter the city), behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.

¹³And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.

¹⁴And He came and touched the bier (refers to a wooden frame on which the dead were laid, wrapped in folds of linen, with the entire apparatus carried on the shoulders of four men; it was against the Mosaic Law to touch anything pertaining to death; however, this didnt apply to Jesus, for His touching the bier portrayed His touching and defeating death itself, which He would do on the Cross of Calvary): and they who bear him stood still (in His Presence, everything must stop, including death). And he said, Young man, I say unto you (presents His Deity), Arise (speaks of His Resurrection Power, which will be used shortly to raise all of the Sainted dead [I Cor. 15:51-55]).

¹⁵And he who was dead sat up, and began to speak (what a scene that must have been). And He delivered him to his mother (she could now dry her tears; as well, this represents the great meeting that will one day take place in Heaven between loved ones).

¹⁶And there came a fear on all (such power was incomprehensible): and they Glorified God (everything that Jesus did brought Glory to God), saying, That a great Prophet is risen up among us (in that, they were correct, but only partially so; He was God and, therefore, their Messiah, but that they could not understand); and, That God has visited his people (proclaims a Truth, but in far greater degree than they imagined).

¹⁷And this rumour of Him went forth throughout all Judaea, and throughout all the region round about (pertained to the debate as to Who He actually was; in other words, was this the Messiah?).

¹⁸And the disciples of John showed him of all these things (they told John all about Christ).

JOHN THE BAPTIST

¹⁹And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Are You He Who should come? or look we for another? (At times, Faith waivers, even in the strongest, as evidenced here by John. It is only the Master Who never turns aside from the path of right. Quite possibly, John the Baptist was puzzled. If Jesus was truly the Messiah, why didnt he deliver him from prison?)

²⁰When the men were come unto Him (unto Jesus), they said, John Baptist has sent us unto You, saying, Are You He Who should come? or look we for another? (Even though John may have temporarily doubted, no criticism is in order, as the answer of Christ projects!)

JESUS ANSWER

²¹And in that same hour (when the disciples of John the Baptist came to Him)He cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many who were blind He gave sight (miracles, as miracles, did not accredit Jesus to be the Promised Messiah; what did accredit Him was that He worked the miracles predicted of Him in the Scriptures [Isa. 29:18; 35:4-6; 61:1-3]; the false prophet will also work amazing miracles [Rev. 13:13]).

²²Then Jesus answering said unto them (proclaims Him not answering their question until everyone around Him had received their healing or deliverance), Go your way, and tell John what things you have seen and heard (were things never seen and heard by any previous generation); how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the Gospel is preached.

²³And blessed is he (begins this mild rebuke regarding Johns questions, and is actually given in the form of a Beatitude), whosoever shall not be offended in Me (would not find an occasion of stumbling in the manner in which Christ had actually come).

JESUS SPEAKS OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

²⁴And when the messengers of John were departed, He began to speak unto the people concerning John (Jesus did not want the people to think less of John because of these questions), What went you out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind? (Christ will now build up John as no other man, and that despite his temporal doubting.)

²⁵But what went you out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? (John was clothed with Camels hair, a crude garment.) Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings courts (if John had compromised his Message, he would have been Herods preacher; instead, he was Herods prisoner).

²⁶But what went you out for to see? A Prophet? Yes, I say unto you, and much more than a Prophet (this one statement places John in a category all to himself; at that moment, the people may have thought less of him, but not God!)

²⁷This is he, of whom it is written (Jesus always took people to the Word), Behold, I send My messenger before Your face (before the face of Christ), which shall prepare Your way before You (John the Baptist prepared the way for the Lord to be introduced).

²⁸For I say unto you, Among those who are born of women there is not a greater Prophet than John the Baptist (all the Prophets before said that Jesus was coming; John said, Behold, He is here [Jn. 1:29]; he introduced Christ, which made him greater): but he who is least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he (since the Cross, the New Covenant affords us far greater privileges than those had under the Old Covenant, of which John was a part [Heb. 8:6]).

²⁹And all the people who heard Him, and the Publicans (tax-collectors), justified God (proclaimed the fact that God had done a glorious thing by sending John to precede Christ, and prepare the way for Christ), being baptized with the baptism of John (the Baptism of Repentance; proclaims the fact that Jesus recognized the fact of the Salvation of those baptized by John because they truly had repented).

³⁰But the Pharisees and lawyers (those who argued the Law of Moses) rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him (they refused to admit they needed to repent).

³¹And the Lord said, Where unto then shall I liken the men of this generation? (This was the generation of Jesus day, which had rejected both the Ministry of John and Ministry of Christ.) and to what are they like? (The Lord will answer His Own Question in the following Verses.)

³²They (the religious leaders of Israel) are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and you have not danced; we have mourned to you, and you have not wept (proclaims the two methods used by the Lord to reach Israel, His Ministry and the Ministry of John the Baptist, both to no avail).

³³For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine (refers to Johns austere lifestyle spent in the desert); and you say, He has a devil (presents the response of the religious leaders of Israel to the Message of John demanding Repentance).

³⁴The Son of Man is come eating and drinking (refers to the lifestyle of Jesus as being totally opposite to that of John); and you say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber (this was not what Jesus was, but what they said He was; they also claimed that He performed His Miracles by the power of Satan), a friend of Publicans and sinners! (For a change, they now proclaim something truthful of Jesus. He was a friend to these groups; however, being their friend did not mean that He partook of their lifestyles, or even condoned them.)

³⁵But wisdom is justified of all her children (the children of wisdom in this case are the two methods used by the Holy Spirit, i.e., wisdom, to reach Israel; we speak of the Ministry of John the Baptist and of Christ; both were rejected by Israel, and Israel went to her doom).

JESUS AND THE WOMAN

³⁶And one of the Pharisees desired Him that He would eat with him (constitutes the enemy of the wisdom mentioned in Verse 35; this incident is peculiar to Luke). And He went into the Pharisees house, and sat down to meat (implies that Jesus was given no prominent place at the table and, as stated, had to find seating for Himself, which was an insult!).

³⁷And, behold, a woman in the city (probably was Nain), which was a sinner (we are given no further information), when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisees house (she evidently was determined to see Him), brought an alabaster box of ointment (very expensive, so she must have been a woman of means; however, her riches did not satisfy the hunger and thirst of her heart),

³⁸And stood at His feet behind Him weeping (signified Repentance; she had possibly witnessed Him raising the young man from the dead, and maybe heard His Message to the Pharisees and the lawyers; His Words had found a place in her heart), and began to wash His feet with tears (these were tears of sorrow and of joy sorrow because of her sins, and joy because this was the One Who could forgive those sins, and, in fact, did!), and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet (this was then a custom among the Jews, Greeks, and Romans; it was a mark of affection and reverence), and anointed them with the ointment (spoke of His Feet; as a sinner washed and anointed His Feet, likewise sinners gave Him the only crown He wore a crown of thorns).

³⁹Now when the Pharisee which had bidden Him saw it, He spoke within Himself (not out loud), saying, This Man, if He were a Prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is who touches Him: for she is a sinner (this man judged both Jesus and the woman; he was wrong on both counts; while she was a sinner, the Pharisee was, in fact, a greater sinner).

⁴⁰And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto you (the Holy Spirit told the Saviour what this man was thinking). And he said, Master, say on (is laced with sarcasm; therefore, he little expects the words of wisdom he will receive; he has already revealed the unbelief of his heart by using the words, this Man, if He were a Prophet...).

THE PARABLE

⁴¹There was a certain creditor (a moneylender) which had two debtors (individuals to whom money had been loaned): the one owed five hundred pence (about twenty thousand dollars in 2003 currency), and the other fifty (about two thousand dollars).

⁴²And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both (refers to the moneylender writing off the debts). Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? (Now comes the point illustrated by the Parable.)

⁴³Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And He said unto him, You have rightly judged (Jesus was appealing to this man on his own level).

⁴⁴And He turned to the woman (records the first instance of Jesus acknowledging the woman in any way), and said unto Simon, Do you see this woman? (The Lord speaks of her as a trophy of Grace!) I entered into your house, you gave Me no water for My feet (proclaims the studied insult now being noted): but she has washed My feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.

⁴⁵You gave Me no kiss (was a custom in those days): but this woman since the time I came in has not ceased to kiss my feet (Simon would not kiss the Face of Jesus, which denoted His Kingship; however, the Holy Spirit had the woman to kiss the feet of Jesus, denoting His Authority, Power, and Rule).

⁴⁶My head with oil you did not anoint (presents another custom of that day): but this woman has anointed my feet with ointment (this act, brought about by the Holy Spirit, signified Jesus as the Messiah [Lk. 4:18]).

⁴⁷Wherefore I say unto you, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven (Jesus is performing that which only the Messiah could actually do, and which Simon had denied, and Jesus now declares); for she loved much (what is wanting in order to love much is not sin, but the knowledge of it): but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little (every Believer must realize that he has been forgiven much; consequently, he will love much).

⁴⁸And He said unto her, Your sins are forgiven (the guiltiest who believe upon Christ shall enjoy assurance of Salvation and the conscious forgiveness of sin).

⁴⁹And they who sat at meat with Him began to say within themselves, Who is this Who forgives sins also? (His act of forgiving this woman, should have told them and, in fact, did tell them that He was the Messiah.)

⁵⁰And He said to the woman, your Faith has saved you (Jesus did not say to the woman, your love has saved you or your tears have saved you, but, your Faith has saved you); go in peace (should have been translated, go into peace; this was justifying peace, meaning this woman was justified before God because of her Faith in Christ).