Bible School · The Gospels · Class 51 of 89
The One who was to come: a centurion, a widow, John and a sinful woman
Luke 7 · about 21 minutes
By the end of this class you should be able to
- Describe the four scenes of Luke 7 and the question each raises about who Jesus is.
- Explain the centurion's understanding of authority and why Jesus says he has not found such faith in Israel.
- Identify the Old Testament background of the raising at Nain (1 Kings 17) and of Jesus' answer to John (Isaiah 35 and 61).
- Explain Jesus' praise of John, including the use of Malachi 3:1, and his comment on the generation that rejected both.
- Interpret the parable of the two debtors and the debated meaning of 7:47.
Read the passage
7When Jesus had concluded His discourse in the hearing of the people, He went to Capernaum. 2There a highly valued servant of a centurion was sick and about to die. 3When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to ask Him to come and heal his servant. 4They came to Jesus and pleaded with Him earnestly, “This man is worthy to have You grant this, 5for he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” 6So Jesus went with them. But when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends with the message: “Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy to have You come under my roof. 7That is why I did not consider myself worthy to come to You. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell one to go, and he goes; and another to come, and he comes. I tell my servant to do something, and he does it.” 9When Jesus heard this, He marveled at the centurion. Turning to the crowd following Him, He said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” 10And when the messengers returned to the house, they found the servant in good health. 11Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain. His disciples went with Him, accompanied by a large crowd. 12As He approached the town gate, He saw a dead man being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. 13When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said, “Do not weep.” 14Then He went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. “Young man,” He said, “I tell you, get up!” 15And the dead man sat up and began to speak! Then Jesus gave him back to his mother. 16A sense of awe swept over all of them, and they glorified God. “A great prophet has appeared among us!” they said. “God has visited His people!” 17And the news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding region. 18Then John’s disciples informed him about all these things. 19So John called two of his disciples and sent them to ask the Lord, “Are You the One who was to come, or should we look for someone else?” 20When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to ask, ‘Are You the One who was to come, or should we look for someone else?’” 21At that very hour Jesus healed many people of their diseases, afflictions, and evil spirits, and He gave sight to many who were blind. 22So He replied, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. 23Blessed is the one who does not fall away on account of Me.” 24After John’s messengers had left, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the wind? 25Otherwise, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? Look, those who wear elegant clothing and live in luxury are found in palaces. 26What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27This is the one about whom it is written: ‘Behold, I will send My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way before You.’ 28I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John, yet even the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” 29All the people who heard this, even the tax collectors, acknowledged God’s justice. For they had received the baptism of John. 30But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John. 31“To what, then, can I compare the men of this generation? What are they like? 32They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to one another: ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ 33For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ 34The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at this glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.” 36Then one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to eat with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37When a sinful woman from that town learned that Jesus was dining there, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume. 38As she stood behind Him at His feet weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears and wipe them with her hair. Then she kissed His feet and anointed them with the perfume. 39When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, He would know who this is and what kind of woman is touching Him—for she is a sinner!” 40But Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, Teacher,” he said. 41“Two men were debtors to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42When they were unable to repay him, he forgave both of them. Which one, then, will love him more?” 43“I suppose the one who was forgiven more,” Simon replied. “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. 44And turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give Me water for My feet, but she wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45You did not greet Me with a kiss, but she has not stopped kissing My feet since I arrived. 46You did not anoint My head with oil, but she has anointed My feet with perfume. 47Therefore I tell you, because her many sins have been forgiven, she has loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” 48Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49But those at the table began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” 50And Jesus told the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Open Luke 7 in the reader (BSB)01Background
Luke, the physician and companion of Paul according to early tradition (), wrote this Gospel and Acts to give Theophilus and other Greek-speaking readers an orderly account that would assure them of what they had been taught (). The date is disputed: the early 60s AD, or about AD 80 to 90 if Luke used Mark and wrote after the fall of Jerusalem. is largely drawn from the material that Matthew and Luke share and that Mark lacks, which is usually explained by a common sayings source called Q; some scholars reject Q and explain the overlap in other ways. The centurion and the question from John have parallels in and 11. The raising at Nain and the story of the sinful woman are found only in Luke.
The setting is Galilee in the first year or two of the ministry. Capernaum was a town on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, in the territory of Herod Antipas. A centurion commanded about a hundred soldiers; this one was probably in Antipas's service, though Luke does not say. Nain was a village a day or so's walk from Capernaum, near Mount Moreh south of Nazareth. John the Baptist had been imprisoned by Herod Antipas (), and he sends disciples to Jesus from prison. Simon the Pharisee's dinner is a formal meal with a teacher as the guest, where uninvited people could stand around the edges to listen.
02Outline
- The centurion's servant healed by a word
- The widow's son raised at Nain
- John's question from prison and Jesus' answer
- Jesus on John, and a generation that rejects them both
- The sinful woman at Simon's table and the two debtors
03How to read it
reads as a single movement in four scenes, tied together by the question of who Jesus is. People respond to him in different ways: a Gentile soldier trusts, a widow is given back her son, a prophet in prison asks, and a woman weeps while a Pharisee questions. The structure leads to the climax, the surprising pronouncement in . The pattern of the whole is that outsiders and the humble see, while the confident and the religious often do not.
Two principles help with the chapter.
- First, the miracles are signs as well as acts of mercy. Luke places the raising at Nain so that the crowd's reaction, 'a great prophet has arisen', is heard against the memory of Elijah, and Jesus' answer to John lists the miracles as the fulfillment of Isaiah.
- Second, parables and pronouncements should be read in their setting. The story of the two debtors answers a Pharisee's unspoken thought and is meant to make him see the woman as Jesus does.
The sinful woman episode has a parallel danger. It is easy to confuse it with other anointing stories. , and tell of an anointing at Bethany in the last week, with a different host and setting. Luke's story takes place earlier in Galilee and Jesus' host is Simon the Pharisee. Most interpreters treat these as different events, though some scholars identify them. The woman is not named in Luke, and the later tradition that she was Mary Magdalene has no basis in the text; Luke introduces Mary Magdalene as a separate person in .
04What the text says
Verses 1–10
After the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus enters Capernaum. A centurion has a servant he values highly who is sick and near death. He sends Jewish elders to ask for help, and they commend him: he loves our nation and built our synagogue. As Jesus nears the house the centurion sends friends to say that he is not worthy to have Jesus under his roof, and that Jesus need only say the word. He understands authority: he is a man under authority with soldiers under him, and they do what he says. Jesus marvels and tells the crowd that he has not found such faith even in Israel. The friends return and find the servant well. has the centurion speak to Jesus directly, which is a difference of presentation, not substance, since a messenger's word was the sender's word.
Verses 11–17
At Nain Jesus meets a funeral. A widow's only son is being carried out. Jesus sees her and his heart goes out to her. He says, Do not weep, touches the bier (an act that would make a person ritually unclean) and says, Young man, I say to you, arise. The dead man sits up and begins to speak, and Jesus gives him to his mother. The wording echoes , where Elijah gives the revived boy to his mother. Fear seizes the crowd, who glorify God, saying that a great prophet has arisen and that God has visited his people. The news spreads through Judea. The word 'Lord' appears here as Luke's narrator title for Jesus ().
Verses 18–23
John's disciples tell him all these things, and John sends two of them to ask Jesus whether he is the one who is to come or whether they should look for another. This is a real question from a man in prison whose expectations of a coming judgment () do not match what Jesus is doing. Jesus performs healings before their eyes and tells them to report what they have seen and heard: the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news preached to them. This echoes and 61:1. He adds a beatitude for the one who does not stumble because of him. It is a gentle word to John.
Verses 24–35
When the messengers leave, Jesus speaks to the crowd about John. He was not a reed shaken by the wind or a man in soft clothing; he was a prophet and more than a prophet. He is the messenger of , sent to prepare the way. No one born of women is greater than John, yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater. Luke notes that all the people and tax collectors had justified God by receiving John's baptism, while the Pharisees and lawyers rejected God's purpose for themselves. Jesus compares this generation to children in the marketplace who complain that nobody danced to the flute or mourned at the dirge. John came neither eating nor drinking and they said he had a demon; the Son of Man came eating and drinking and they called him a glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Wisdom is vindicated by all her children.
Verses 36–50
A Pharisee named Simon invites Jesus to dinner. A sinful woman of the city, learning he is there, comes with an alabaster jar of perfume, stands behind him weeping, wets his feet with her tears, wipes them with her hair, kisses them and anoints them. Simon thinks that if Jesus were a prophet he would know who she was. Jesus answers the thought with a story: two men owed a moneylender, one five hundred denarii and the other fifty, and neither could pay, so he forgave both. Which will love him more? Simon answers that it is the one forgiven more. Jesus then contrasts Simon's lack of water, a kiss and oil with the woman's tears, kisses and perfume. He says her many sins are forgiven, for she loved much, and the one forgiven little loves little. He says to her, Your sins are forgiven. The guests ask who this is who even forgives sins, and Jesus tells her that her faith has saved her and to go in peace.
05Key terms
- the one who is to come ho erchomenos
- A messianic title, from the Old Testament expectation of the one who comes in the name of the LORD (). John's question uses it.
- moved with compassion splanchnizomai
- To feel deeply in the gut. Luke uses it for Jesus at Nain () and for the Samaritan and the father in his parables.
- visited episkeptomai
- To look upon and come to help. The crowd says God has visited his people (), recalling Zechariah's song ().
- blessed is the one who is not offended skandalizo
- To stumble or be caught by a trap. John is gently warned not to stumble over a Messiah who heals before he judges.
- sinner hamartolos
- In the Gospels a person whose life or trade made them notorious, and who was regarded as outside the covenant community.
- faith has saved you he pistis sou sesoken se
- Salvation in Luke is bound to trust in Jesus. The same words are spoken to others in , and .
06In the whole Bible
shows a pattern that runs through the Bible: the Lord visits his people, and the response determines whether his coming is joy or judgment. The cry that God has visited his people () takes up Zechariah's prophecy in , and in the Old Testament God's visitation can mean either rescue or reckoning (; ).
The chapter teaches that faith can be found beyond the boundaries where it is expected. The centurion's trust in Jesus' word anticipates the Gentile mission in Acts, and Jesus' comment that he has not found such faith in Israel is a warning that heritage does not replace trust. The doctrine of forgiveness appears in the story of the two debtors: forgiveness is a gift that creates love, and it cannot be earned. The question of how love and forgiveness relate in is one of the most debated in the chapter.
The promise to John and the pronouncement on the least in the kingdom show that the kingdom is a new stage in God's plan. John is the greatest of the prophets who looked ahead, while those who live after the coming of Christ stand in the fulfillment. The Bible's teaching on the kingdom is both already and not yet; the signs in show that it has begun.
07Where Christ is
This chapter is fulfillment made by Jesus himself. His reply to John in echoes Isaiah's promises that the blind will see, the lame leap and the poor hear good news (; ). He answers a question about his identity by pointing to what he does. By applying to John in he places himself as the Lord for whom John prepared the way: in Malachi the messenger prepares the way for the Lord who comes to his temple.
The raising at Nain is an echo of Elijah raising the widow's son at Zarephath and giving him back to his mother (), and the crowd rightly says that a great prophet has arisen. Yet Jesus does not pray, as Elijah did (), and he does not stretch himself over the body; he speaks, and the dead obey. His word has authority over death. The centurion also grasps that Jesus' word carries authority like a commander's, and Jesus praises his faith.
The last scene presents Jesus as the one who forgives sins. The guests ask who this is, and Luke leaves the question open for the next chapters to answer. The Old Testament teaches that God alone forgives (; ), as the scribes say in . Jesus speaks forgiveness with his own authority, and he says to the woman that her faith has saved her.
08How traditions read it
Jesus' words in are read in two ways. The Greek can be taken to mean that her love is the evidence that she has been forgiven, as the story of the debtors suggests (the one forgiven more loves more), or that her love is the cause of her forgiveness. Protestant interpreters, including most Reformed and Lutheran writers, hold that the woman's love is the result and proof of forgiveness already received, which fits the parable and , which credits her faith. Some Catholic writers have read the verse to show that love is part of what disposes a sinner to forgiveness, though Catholic teaching also holds that forgiveness is a gift of grace. The parable and the closing words favor the first reading, which this class follows.
09Review questions
- What reasons does the centurion give for saying Jesus need only speak the word, and why does Jesus say he has not found such faith in Israel?
- Which Old Testament story lies behind the raising of the widow's son at Nain, and how does Luke's wording point to it?
- How does Jesus answer John's question in , and which passages of Isaiah does his answer echo?
- How does Jesus use of John, and what does he say about John and the least in the kingdom of God?
- What does the parable of the two debtors say to Simon, and how do the two readings of differ?
Prepared with AI assistance. A scholar's review is still to come; if you spot anything to correct, please tell us.
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