This section of Luke's Gospel records Jesus revealing Himself further to the people. Luke presented Him as the fulfillment of prophecies about God's gracious intervention into life (e.g., Isa. 61:1-2a; cf. Luke 4:18). Jesus met many needs of people, both physical and spiritual. Luke pictured Jesus showing compassion on a Gentile, a widow, and a sinful woman. The multitudes generally regarded these gracious acts as evidences of a divine visitation. However the Pharisees viewed them with suspicion.
"In his ministry Jesus intervenes on the side of the oppressed and excluded, assuring them that they share in God's salvation and defending them against others who want to maintain their own superiority at the expense of such people. The groups for whom Jesus intervenes are not sharply defined and delimited. They include a number of partly overlapping groups. In his ministry Jesus helps the poor, sinners, tax collectors, women, Samaritans, and Gentiles. Each of these groups was excluded or subordinated in the society to which Jesus spoke, and the Lukan narrator seems to be especially interested in Jesus' ministry to these people."217
This incident shows Jesus extending grace to a Gentile. It would have helped Luke's original Gentile readers to appreciate that Jesus' mission included them as well as the Jews. It is another case in which Jesus commended the faith of someone (cf. 1:45; 5:20). Luke continued to stress Jesus' authority and the power of His word (cf. 4:32, 36). The similarities between this incident and the conversion of Cornelius are striking (cf. Acts 10).
"His story is thus an example of the fact that God is willing to accept all men alike and that everyone who fears him and performs righteousness is acceptable to Him (Acts 10:34f.)."218
The good relations between the Jews and this Gentile also show their compatibility, an important lesson for early Christians since there were Jewish Gentile tensions within the early church. Jesus also noted the unbelief that characterized the Jews generally, another important factor that the early church had to deal with.
7:1 This verse is obviously transitional. It helps us appreciate the fact that people generally (Gr. laos), not just disciples, were listening to the Sermon on the Mount, at least the last part of it (cf. Matt. 7:28). The Greek word that Luke used to describe the completion of Jesus' teaching on that occasion is eplerosen, which means "fulfilled."He thus implied that this teaching was a fulfillment of prophecy about the Messiah, perhaps that He would preach good news to the poor (4:18; 6:20; Isa. 61:1).
7:2-3 These verses are unique to Luke's account. They give detail about the character of the centurion. He had a personal concern for his slave whom he honored and respected (Gr. entimos), which was unusual and commendable. This affectionate regard is also clear in his use of the Greek word paisto describe the servant (v. 7). This word elsewhere sometimes describes a son (John 4:51). The centurion also enjoyed the respect of the Jews in Capernaum so much that he felt free to ask some of the local Jewish leaders to approach Jesus for him (cf. 1 Tim. 3:7). Normally the Jews did not like the Roman soldiers who occupied their towns. The slave was evidently too sick to bring to Jesus. Matthew described him as paralyzed and in great pain (Matt. 8:6).
7:4-5 The village leaders explained to Jesus why they were interceding for the centurion. Their affection for him is obvious and quite untypical, as was a Roman soldier's affection for the people of Capernaum. Any person in this centurion's position could have enriched himself honestly.219Consequently the fact that he was so generous with the Jews shows his selfless concern for their welfare. Early Jewish Christian readers should have concluded that since Jews thought this Gentile worthy of Jesus' help they should see no problem with accepting similar people into the church.
7:6-8 It seems unusual that the centurion would send for Jesus and then tell Him not to come. Apparently his humility moved him to do so (cf. 3:16). He felt unworthy that Jesus should enter his house. He may also have wished to spare Jesus the embarrassment of entering a Gentile's house since many Jews would have criticized Jesus for doing so. He even felt unworthy to meet Jesus outside his house.
However the main point of the centurion's words was his recognition of Jesus' authority. He viewed Jesus' relationship to sickness as similar to his own relationship to his subordinates. He saw both men as operating in a chain of command under the authority of others but also in authority over others. Jesus could bid sickness to come, to go, and to behave, as this soldier ordered his slaves. Jesus only needed to issue an authoritative command, as the centurion gave orders, and the sickness would depart. This man not only viewed Jesus as having authority over sickness, but he even believed that Jesus' spoken word would be sufficient to affect a healing.
7:9-10 Jesus' comment did not slander the faith of the Jews. One would expect them to have faith since they had the prophecies about Messiah in Scripture, but the Gentiles did not have that light. The centurion's belief in Jesus' authority was unusual, apparently because it rested on reports of Jesus' previous ministry alone. Essentially the centurion believed that Jesus was the Messiah. Jesus rewarded his faith by granting healing to his servant.
Jesus did not limit His healing ministry to people who believed that He was the divine Son of God. He evidently healed some people who expressed no understanding of His true identity simply because He chose to bless them (cf. John 9:11; Acts 10:38). Even the Twelve did not understand that as the Messiah Jesus was both God and man until God revealed that to Peter at Caesarea Philippi (Matt. 16:16). It may therefore be incorrect to conclude that this centurion became a believer in Jesus' deity here. He did believe that Jesus was at least a prophet of God, and probably he believed that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah. Jesus rewarded his faith because he responded as he should have to the information about Jesus that he had. That is essentially what Jesus had been teaching his disciples to do in the Sermon on the Mount. That is what Luke wanted his readers to do too.220
This miracle raised the popular appreciation of Jesus' authority to new heights. Luke also continued to stress Jesus' compassion for people, in this case a widow whose son had died, by including this incident in his Gospel. The importance of faith in Jesus is not strong in this pericope. However the motif of the joy that Jesus brings recurs. The incident sets the stage for Jesus' interview by John the Baptist's disciples that follows (vv. 18-23).
7:11 Jesus may have gone directly from Capernaum (7:1-11) to Nain. Nain was only about 20 miles southwest of that town. It lay on the northern slope of the Hill of Moreh that stood at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley. It was 6 miles south and a little east of Nazareth and is easily visible across the valley from Nazareth. The Hill of Moreh is a significant site because on its south side stood Shunem where Elisha raised the son of the Shunammite woman (2 Kings 4:18-37). Luke distinguished two groups of people who accompanied Jesus, namely His disciples and a large multitude of presumably non-disciples.
7:12 Friends were carrying the corpse out of the city gate to bury it outside the town as was customary. The fact that the widow now had no surviving husband or son meant that she was in desperate circumstances economically as well as emotionally (cf. 1 Kings 17:10). She would probably become destitute without someone to provide for her needs. The large retinue of mourners was common though it suggests that she had friends.
7:13 This is Luke's first narrative use of the term "the Lord"for Jesus (cf. v. 19; 10:1, 39, 41; 11:39; 12:42; 13:15; 17:5, 6; 18:6; 19:8; 22:61; 24:3, 34). It anticipates the title the early Christians gave Him (e.g., Acts 2:36), and in this story it anticipates the remarkable demonstration of His sovereignty that followed.
Luke noted Jesus' compassion for the woman, one of his characteristic emphases. The Lord's words expressed His compassion, but they proved to be far from merely hollow words of comfort. He would shortly give her reason not to weep but to rejoice.
7:14 The "coffin"(Gr. sorou) was a litter that carried the shrouded corpse. By touching it Jesus expressed His compassion, but His act also rendered him ritually unclean (Num. 19:11, 16). Probably His action told the bearers that He wanted to do something. So they stopped. Undoubtedly the residents of Nain knew Jesus, and His reputation was probably another reason they stopped. This was the first time Jesus restored to life someone who had died, according to the Gospel records. Again the simple but powerful word of "the Lord"proved sufficient to affect the miracle.
7:15 Luke probably wrote that the young man sat up and spoke to authenticate the resuscitation. Luke drew additional attention to the parallel incident when Elijah raised a widow's son by noting that Jesus gave the young man back to his mother (cf. 1 Kings 17:23). He had given him to her once at birth indirectly, but now he gave him to her again. This act further illustrates Jesus' compassion for the widow and His grace.
7:16 Again Luke noted that the result of Jesus' ministry was that fear (Gr. phobos) gripped the people (cf. 1:12; 5:26). This is a natural human reaction to a demonstration of supernatural power. They also praised God that this act of power had such a beneficial effect (cf. 2:20; 5:25-26; 18:43; 23:47).
The people remembered the life-restoring miracles of Elijah and Elisha in that very neighborhood centuries earlier. They quickly concluded that God had sent them another prophet similar to them (cf. 1 Kings 17:17-24; 2 Kings 4:18-37). However calling Jesus a prophet was not the same as acknowledging Him as Messiah much less God. Their second exclamation did not necessarily mean that they acknowledged Jesus as God. It is an Old Testament expression meaning that God had sent help to His people (Ruth 1:6; cf. Luke 1:68). Some of the people may have concluded that Jesus was Immanuel, God with us (Isa. 7:14), but their words allow a broader meaning.
7:17 Luke concluded this pericope with a notation that the news (Gr. logos, word) about this incident radiated over that entire region (cf. 4:14, 37). The surrounding district probably refers to the area beyond Judea that included Perea where John heard of Jesus' mighty works (v. 18).
"Jesus' amazing healings and exorcisms contribute to the very rapid spread of his fame. Comparison of the following statements shows how the narrator conveys an impression of rapidly growing fame: After the exorcism in the synagogue of Capernaum, a report about him was going out to every place of the neighboring area' (4:37). After the healing of the leper, the word about him was spreading more' (5:15). In the next scene Pharisees and teachers of the law are present from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem' (5:17). This is surpassed in 6:17-18, where we hear of a great multitude of the people from all the Jewish land and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and be healed.' We reach the climax of this development in 7:17: And this statement about him went out in the whole Jewish country and all the neighboring region.'"221
In Acts the spread of the news about Jesus was to go from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
This incident doubtless became the basis for many people concluding that Jesus was either the fulfillment of the prophecy about Elijah's return (Mal. 4:5-6) or Elijah himself (9:8). Hopefully it brought others into a saving faith in Him.
It was only natural that these people had questions about who Jesus really was. Was He a prophet? Was He Elijah? Was He another former prophet? Was He "the Prophet"that Moses had predicted (Deut. 18:18)? Was He the Messiah? Was He Immanuel, "God with us"(Isa. 7:14)? Even John the Baptist began to have questions. On the one hand Jesus was fulfilling prophecy that indicated He was the Messiah. He was preaching righteousness, healing the sick, casting out demons, even raising the dead. However, He was not fulfilling other Messianic prophecies such as freeing the captives (John was one), judging Israel's enemies, and restoring the Davidic dynasty to power.
Luke included much about the controversy over Jesus' identity because it authenticates Jesus' identity and strengthens the confidence of disciples in their Savior. As witnesses of Jesus Christ, Luke's readers faced many hostile challengers of Jesus' identity. This section enables disciples to counter these challenges more effectively.
This incident, appearing only in Luke's Gospel, illustrates the truth just expressed in verse 35. Here is a case in point of what Jesus had just described happening (v. 34). Jesus reached out to a sinner only to receive criticism from a fastidious Pharisee. The love that the woman lavished on Jesus contrasts with Simon the Pharisee's lack of love for Him. The motif of Jesus' identity is also significant in this story since Jesus had forgiven the woman's sins, and this raised a question about His authority. Again Luke featured a woman in his narrative showing Jesus' concern for women. There are some similarities between this story and the one about Mary anointing Jesus' feet in Simon the leper's house, but that was a different incident (cf. Matt. 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; John 12:1-8).
". . . the story of the sinful woman in the Pharisee's house reminds us of the previous conflict over Jesus' authority to release sins, suggesting that this is a continuing conflict. This reminder may also help readers to recall Jesus' basic claim of authority to release sins in 5:24."224
7:36 We should not overlook the fact that Jesus accepted an invitation to dinner from a Pharisee. He did not cut all the religious leaders off simply because most of them rejected Him. He dealt with people as individuals. Simon appears to have been a critic rather than a disciple of His. Nevertheless Jesus accepted his invitation.
7:37 Social custom allowed needy people to visit such meals and to partake of some of the leftovers.225Moreover it was not unusual for people to drop in when a rabbi was visiting.226Luke gallantly omitted describing why the woman was a sinner, though the commentators love to guess. The point was that she was a member of the social class called sinners that the Pharisees regarded as treating the law loosely.
7:38 Jesus was probably reclining on a divan to eat with His head and arms close to the table and His feet stretched out away from it, as was customary at important meals. The woman's sacrificial gift and her tears raise questions the text does not answer. Was she grateful to Jesus for some act of kindness that He had showed her, or was she seeking His help? By constantly kissing (Gr. katephilei, the imperfect tense) Jesus' feet the woman was expressing her affection, respect, and submission (cf. 1 Sam. 10:1). Normally people anointed the heads of others, not their feet.
7:39 Simon deduced that Jesus could not be a prophet since if He was He would not permit a sinful woman to do what this woman was doing. The touch of a "sinner"brought ceremonial defilement.
7:40 Simon had no reason to expect Jesus' words to him to have anything to do with what Simon had been thinking. Simon had concluded that Jesus could not tell sinners from non-sinners. He would now learn that Jesus knew what was in his heart (cf. 5:22). Simon politely addressed Jesus as "teacher"(Gr. didaskale, Luke's equivalent of "rabbi,"cf. 9:38; 20:21, 38; 21:7; 22:11), less than a prophet.
7:41-42 Jesus proceeded to tell His host a parable about two debtors. A denarius was worth one day's wage for an agricultural laborer. Regardless of the buying power of the money in view obviously both men owed considerable debts, but one was 10 times greater than the other. Jesus regarded love as the expression of gratitude.
7:43 The answer to Jesus' question may have been obvious to Simon though he seems to have known very little about forgiveness and love. However, he apparently knew that Jesus sometimes used questions to lure His critics into a trap. So he replied with uneasy reluctance allowing the possibility that the answer might not be as obvious as it appeared to be.
7:44-46 Jesus probably surprised Simon by making the woman the focus of his parable and by contrasting her with Simon. Moreover Jesus made her the heroine and Simon the villain, the opposite of how Simon thought. All the things Simon had failed to do for Jesus were courtesies that hosts frequently extended their guests. However Simon had not acted discourteously. He had just not performed any special acts of hospitality on Jesus.227The oil in view would have been olive oil that was plentiful and inexpensive. The woman, however, had gone far beyond courtesy and had made unusual sacrifices for Jesus out of love. Simon appears in the incident as the greater sinner of the two.
7:47 Jesus next drew a conclusion from what He had just said. The woman's great love showed that she had received great forgiveness. Jesus did not mean that she had earned great forgiveness with her great love. Her love was the result of, not the reason for, her forgiveness. This is clear from the parable (vv. 42-43) as well as from Jesus' later statement that it was her faith, not her love, that had saved her (v. 50). As a maxim, the intensity of one's love tends to be proportionate to his perception of the greatness of his forgiveness.
7:48 Jesus now confirmed to the woman what had already taken place. This was a word of assurance. Jesus used the perfect tense in Greek (sosoken). We could translate it, "Your sins have been forgiven and stand forgiven."She had evidently obtained God's forgiveness sometime before she entered Simon's house. Jesus was not now imparting forgiveness to her for the first time but was commenting on her forgiven condition. This is clear because throughout the story Jesus consistently regarded the woman as a forgiven person. Her acts of love sprang from her sense of gratitude for having received forgiveness. Jesus had earlier forgiven the sins of the paralytic man in Capernaum (5:20). Here he did not forgive the sins of the sinful woman but announced authoritatively that they stood forgiven.
7:49 Some of the people present mistakenly assumed that Jesus was forgiving the woman's sins. This again raised the question of who He was (cf. v. 39; 5:21). Jesus did not answer it nor did Luke. Those present and the readers could and can draw their own conclusion, which should have been and should be obvious by now.
7:50 Jesus concluded the incident by giving the woman a further word of encouragement and clarification. It was her faith, not her love, that had resulted in her salvation, of which her forgiveness was a part. Consequently she could depart at peace about her condition even though others might continue to regard her as a "sinner"(cf. 8:48; 17:19; 18:42). Here salvation has the larger meaning of spiritual deliverance. This is clear because of Jesus' previous comments about forgiveness and the lack of reference to physical deliverance (i.e., healing). Likewise the common Jewish farewell, "May God's peace be yours"(Judg. 18:6; 1 Sam. 1:17; 2 Sam. 15:9; 1 Kings 22:17; Acts 16:36; James 2:16), assumes a larger meaning when connected with spiritual salvation. This woman was able to go into a lasting condition of peace because of her faith (cf. Rom. 5:1).
". . . 7:36-50 is the first of three reported occasions (see 11:37-54; 14:1-24) on which Jesus is invited to dine at a Pharisee's house, and each of the three is a comparatively lengthy scene. This type-scene repetition suggests that this is a characteristic situation during Jesus' ministry and one of special interest to the narrator. Each of these scenes is an occasion of conflict."228
