Luke 7 Study Notes

7:1 Capernaum was Jesus’s headquarters for his ministry in Galilee (4:14-9:50).

7:2-3 A centurion was a commander of a hundred men in the Roman army. This centurion was apparently a compassionate man, deeply concerned about the illness of his servant. He reached out to Jesus through some local Jewish elders (either recognized leaders in the community or respected older men). In the parallel passage in Mt 8:5-10, the centurion approached Jesus directly.

7:4-8 The Jewish elders were willing to intervene with Jesus because they considered the centurion a truly worthy man. Though he was a Gentile, he loved Israel and had spent time and money constructing a synagogue in Capernaum. The centurion did not consider himself worthy of being in Jesus’s presence, but he had faith that Jesus could heal his servant, even at a distance. He understood the spiritual authority Jesus commanded because he understood military authority (I . . . am . . . under authority, having soldiers under my command).

7:9-10 Jesus was amazed that the faith of the Gentile centurion was greater than the faith of any he had found in Israel. The centurion’s faith was rewarded; his servant was restored to good health by Jesus.

7:11-12 Nain was about six miles south of Nazareth, where Jesus grew up. Jesus’s arrival coincided with a funeral procession for the son of a widow, who was left childless and without a means of financial support.

7:13-15 Jesus acted out of compassion for the widow in bringing her son back from the dead. By custom Jewish funerals included an open coffin, but anyone who touched the corpse became ceremonially unclean (Nm 19:11). This is the first of several times that Jesus raised a person from the dead (Lk 8:40-56; Jn 11:38-44).

7:16-17 The phrase a great prophet has risen probably refers to Elijah (1Kg 17:17-24) and Elisha (2Kg 4:18-37) raising people from the dead. God has visited his people does not necessarily mean that the people at this early date believed that God had become a man in the person of Jesus (Jn 1:14). It can mean simply that the power of God had been experienced among his people. The fact that the report about this miracle reached Judea looks ahead to Jesus’s journey to Jerusalem (9:51-19:44).

7:18-20 John the Baptist had to be told all these things because he was in prison (see note at 3:20). John’s question grew out of confusion more than doubt. On the one hand, Jesus certainly did the works of the Messiah. On the other hand, he had not acted to overturn Roman rule or free righteous prisoners, as the Jews expected the Messiah to do. So John decided to send two of his disciples to clear up the confusion by asking Jesus, Are you the one?

7:21-23 Verse 21 is a summary of the miracles Jesus was doing in his ministry, serving as a lead-in to his response to the question from John the Baptist’s disciples. The things Jesus told John’s disciples to report that they had seen and heard went beyond the prophecy of the Messiah in Is 61:1-2 (e.g., the dead are raised). Blessed looks back to 6:22.

7:24-28 The crowds were apparently asking Jesus why John the Baptist’s messengers had come to him. So Jesus explained the significance of John and his ministry. He was not one who fit in with current thought or comfortable surroundings, and he had nothing to do with royalty and its excesses. Instead, he was a prophet and, beyond that, the forerunner for Messiah (my messenger ahead of you; see Mal 3:1). No mere human to that point was greater than John the Baptist. However, even the least Christian of the new covenant era (the coming form of the kingdom of God), beginning with the day of Pentecost (Ac 2), would have greater spiritual resources than John due to the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

7:29-30 All of those who had repented and been baptized (see note at 3:2-3) by John acknowledged God’s way of righteousness (John’s message as forerunner to Jesus). But the Pharisees and experts in the law, who would not repent and humble themselves to be baptized by John, rejected the plan of God regarding salvation.

7:31-35 Jesus declared that it was impossible to please the people of his generation. They would not respond to the playing of a flute (a happy sound) or the singing of a lament (a sad sound). John the Baptist led a very strict lifestyle, but he was accused of having a demon. By contrast, Jesus was accused of living loosely and eating with sinners and thus was called a glutton and a drunkard.

7:35 The phrase wisdom is vindicated by all her children means that the teachings of John the Baptist and Jesus will be shown correct by all those who live (and live well) by following their teachings.

7:36-38 It is not clear whether the Pharisee who invited Jesus into his home wanted to learn from him, as did Nicodemus (Jn 3:1-2), or was seeking to trap him. The unnamed woman was probably a prostitute (sinner) who heard Jesus preach and repented. Reclining meant resting on your side, with your feet facing away from the table. Though she said nothing, her tears and her willingness to give the expensive perfume to anoint Jesus’s feet were an eloquent testimony of her gratitude to Jesus.

7:39 The Pharisee who had invited Jesus into his home could not conceive that a true prophet would associate with this kind of woman—a known sinner. Being a Pharisee required him to be separated from sin and sinners like her.

7:40-43 A denarius (plural denarii) was the wage for a day’s work in the first century. Jesus showed that he knew what Simon, the Pharisee, was thinking. The point of Jesus’s story was simple: a person who is forgiven more appreciates it more.

7:44-47 Jesus drew a contrast between the Pharisee and the woman. Simon had failed to provide water to wash his feet, had given him no kiss of hospitality, and did not anoint his head with oil—all things she had done. Jesus did not mean that the Pharisee had little sin to be forgiven but that he did not think of himself as a sinner while the woman was profoundly aware of her sinfulness.

7:48-50 Based on her actions, which reflected true repentance of sins, Jesus forgave the woman who anointed his feet. He made it clear that her faith had saved her (see Eph 2:8-9). Once again, his authority to forgive sins was questioned (see note at 5:21-25).