Luke 7

Luke 7 shows Jesus’ authority and compassion in several settings: a Roman officer’s servant is healed with a word, a widow’s son is raised, and John the Baptist’s messengers are answered. Jesus then speaks about John and about a generation that refuses both John and Himself. The chapter ends at a Pharisee’s table, where a forgiven woman’s love shows what grace does.

Luke 7:1

Jesus has just finished the Sermon on the Plain. He now goes back to Capernaum, the town by the Sea of Galilee that served as His base. Words come first in Luke’s order, and deeds follow. The teaching is about to be shown in action.

BSA: concluded (“finished speaking, ended all His sayings”): Jesus had said everything He meant to say before moving on to act.

Luke 7:2

A centurion, a Roman officer over about a hundred soldiers, has a slave who is dying. The man was a Gentile and a soldier of the occupying power. Yet he cared deeply for a servant, who was treated as property by most people of that day.

BSA: highly valued (“dear unto him”): The slave was precious to his master, which explains the officer’s urgent concern.

Luke 7:3

The centurion does not approach Jesus himself. He sends Jewish elders, perhaps because he did not think a Gentile should presume to ask. He has heard about Jesus and believes that Jesus can help. His request is simple: come and heal.

BSA: heal (“to save, to rescue”): The word used here also means to save, so the request is for rescue from death.

Luke 7:4-5

The elders make a case based on merit. They say he is worthy because he loves Israel and paid for the synagogue. Jesus will go with them, but the centurion himself will say something very different about his worthiness. Grace, not deserving, is what he will rely on.

BSA: worthy (“deserving, suitable”): The elders speak of what the man has earned, which sets up the contrast with his own view of himself.

Luke 7:6

As Jesus nears the house, the centurion sends friends with a humble message. He calls Jesus Lord and says he is not fit to have Him under his roof. A Jew entering a Gentile home would also have faced ritual difficulty, and the centurion may have been sparing Jesus that.

BSA: worthy (“sufficient, deserving”): He feels he is not enough to receive such a guest, and that humility is part of his faith.

Luke 7:7

He did not even think himself fit to come in person. So he asks only for a word from Jesus. He believes Jesus’ command is enough, and no visit or touch is needed. His faith rests on who Jesus is.

BSA: servant (“child, attendant”): The word can mean a child or a dear attendant, which fits the tenderness the centurion shows.

Luke 7:8

The centurion explains with an example he knows well. He obeys his superiors and his soldiers obey him, so a command carries the full weight of the one who gives it. He sees that Jesus’ word carries the authority of God, and that sickness must obey it.

Greek: ἐξουσίαν (exousian, G1849) — “authority, right to command.” This is not mere power but the right to give orders that must be obeyed. The centurion recognizes that Jesus holds that right over sickness itself.

Luke 7:9

Jesus is amazed, and the Gospels rarely say this of Him. He turns to the crowd and says He has not found such faith even in Israel. The Gentile outsider trusts Him more simply than His own people do. It is a first sign that the good news will go far beyond Israel.

BSA: faith (“trust, confidence in God”): Faith here is simple confidence that Jesus’ word is enough.

Greek: ἐθαύμασεν (ethaumasen, G2296) — “marveled, was astonished.” It is the word for real wonder. Jesus is moved with admiration at this man’s trust.

See also: Matthew 8:10-12.

Luke 7:10

The messengers go back and find the slave well. Jesus never entered the house or spoke to the servant. His word worked at a distance, just as the centurion had believed it would. His trust was not misplaced.

BSA: good health (“whole, being uncorrupt and true in body”): The servant was made fully well and sound, with nothing lacking.

Luke 7:11

Jesus goes on to Nain, a town in Galilee, with His disciples and a large crowd. The crowd is following for the teaching and the miracles. They are about to meet a very different crowd, one that is mourning.

BSA: crowd (“gathered people”): Many people were gathered around Jesus, which prepares for the two crowds that meet at the gate.

Luke 7:12

At the town gate a funeral procession comes out. The dead man is the only son of a widow. She has lost her husband and now her one child, and in that world that meant losing her support and her future. Luke wants us to feel how heavy her sorrow is.

BSA: only son (“unique, one-of-a-kind child”): He was the one and only child, so nothing could replace him.

See also: 1 Kings 17:17-24.

Luke 7:13

Luke calls Jesus the Lord here. He sees the woman, and nobody has asked Him for anything. His heart is moved and He tells her not to weep. Only the One who is about to undo her loss could say that.

BSA: compassion (“to pity”): His pity is not distant sympathy. It moves Him to act.

Greek: ἐσπλαγχνίσθη (esplanchnisthē, G4697) — “was moved in His inward parts, felt deep compassion.” The word comes from the gut, the seat of strong feeling. Jesus feels her grief deeply, in His own body.

Luke 7:14

Jesus touches the bier, or open coffin. A touch like that normally made a person ritually unclean, but Jesus is not made unclean. The bearers stop. He speaks directly to the dead man, and His word is a command.

Greek: ἐγέρθητι (egerthēti, G1453) — “be raised, get up.” This is the same word used for rising from death. Jesus simply commands the dead man to rise, as one with authority over death.

Luke 7:15

The dead man sits up and speaks, so he is truly alive. Jesus does not keep him or make a show of it. He gives him back to his mother. The widow’s hope is restored, and Jesus shows Himself Lord over death.

BSA: began (“to commence speaking”): Speech starting at once shows that the life was real and complete.

Luke 7:16

Awe falls on the crowd, and they praise God. They call Jesus a great prophet, remembering how Elijah and Elisha raised the dead. They are right that God is at work among them, though Jesus is more than a prophet.

BSA: visited (“cared for, looked upon with favor”): God has come near to look on His people with favor and to help them.

Greek: ἐπεσκέψατο (epeskepsato, G1980) — “looked upon, visited with care.” This is the language of God coming to rescue His people, not merely paying a call.

See also: Luke 1:68.

Luke 7:17

The report goes through Judea and the surrounding region. Word of Jesus travels far beyond Galilee. John the Baptist, who is in prison, will also hear of it.

BSA: news (“report, rumor”): The report was spreading by word of mouth, from town to town.

Luke 7:18-19

John’s disciples tell him what Jesus is doing. John is in prison, and he sends two of them to ask whether Jesus is the Coming One or whether they should wait for another. Jesus is not doing what John had expected, and John asks honestly.

BSA: the One who was to come (“the Expected One, the Coming One”): This was a way of naming the promised Messiah that people were waiting for.

See also: Matthew 11:2-3.

Luke 7:20-21

The two men repeat John’s question word for word. Jesus does not answer at once. Right then He heals many people, frees some from evil spirits and gives sight to the blind. He lets the evidence speak.

BSA: afflictions (“plagues, pains”): The word suggests suffering that feels like a blow or a scourge.

Luke 7:22

Jesus tells them to report what they have seen and heard. His answer echoes Isaiah’s promises of the age when God would come to save. The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise, and the poor are told the good news. The signs themselves answer John.

BSA: good news (“the gospel, a message of salvation”): The message is that God is saving, and it is given first to people who have nothing. poor (“those who are humble, in need”): The poor are those who know their need and have nothing of their own to offer.

See also: Isaiah 35:5-6; Isaiah 61:1.

Luke 7:23

Jesus adds a gentle warning to John, and to every doubter. Blessed is the one who is not tripped up by Him. The Messiah may not act as people expected, and a person can be offended by that. The blessing belongs to those who keep trusting Him anyway.

BSA: fall away (“stumble, be offended”): The danger is taking offense at Jesus because He does not fit our expectations.

Greek: σκανδαλισθῇ (skandalisthē, G4624) — “be tripped up, take offense.” The root word means the trigger of a trap. Jesus is warning against being caught by doubt over how He chooses to act.

Luke 7:24

When the messengers leave, Jesus speaks to the crowds about John, so that they will not think less of him for asking. He asks what they went out to the wilderness to see. A reed shaking in the wind pictures a weak, easily moved man, and John was nothing like that.

BSA: wilderness (“deserted, uninhabited place”): John preached far from the cities, and people had to travel to hear him.

Luke 7:25

Jesus asks again whether they went to see a man in soft clothes. Such men live in palaces, not in the wilderness. John wore rough clothing and lived simply, and he is now in prison for telling the truth. He did not live for comfort.

BSA: luxury (“self-indulgence”): John’s life was the opposite of self-indulgence.

Luke 7:26-27

They went out to see a prophet, and Jesus says John is more than that. He is the messenger who was foretold, sent to prepare the way for the Lord Himself. Jesus quotes Malachi and applies it to John. John’s role was to point to the One who was coming.

See also: Malachi 3:1; Luke 1:76.

Luke 7:28

No one born of women is greater than John, Jesus says, who stood at the threshold of God’s saving work. Yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. Christians read this as showing the privilege of those who live in the full light of what Christ has done.

BSA: least (“smallest, most humble”): Even the humblest person in the kingdom shares in something greater than John saw.

Luke 7:29-30

The ordinary people and even the tax collectors had been baptized by John, and they agreed that God was right. The Pharisees and the experts in the law refused his baptism, and so rejected what God was offering them. Humbling ourselves before God lets us accept His way.

BSA: acknowledged (“justified, declared righteous”): By accepting John’s baptism they declared that God was in the right. purpose (“plan, counsel”): God had a plan for them, and refusing John meant refusing it.

Greek: ἐδικαίωσαν (edikaiōsan, G1344) — “justified, declared right.” Literally, they declared God righteous. By repenting, they agreed with God’s verdict on their lives.

Luke 7:31-32

Jesus compares this generation to children playing in the marketplace. One group plays at a wedding and the other plays at a funeral, and the others refuse to join either game. The people want to set the terms and will not respond to what God sends.

BSA: dirge (“lamented, mourned”): A dirge is a funeral song, played to call for mourning.

Luke 7:33-34

John lived a strict life, fasting and apart from others, and they said he had a demon. Jesus came eating and drinking with people, and they called Him a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of sinners. The charges contradict each other, since people who do not want to hear will always find a reason. Jesus does not deny being the sinners’ friend, and that is part of His grace.

BSA: friend (“one who shows affection and loyalty”): What was meant as an insult is true, and it is good news.

Luke 7:35

Wisdom is proved right by her children, meaning that God’s way is shown to be right by those who follow it. The tax collectors and sinners who responded to John and to Jesus are the evidence. The results speak for themselves.

BSA: vindicated (“proved right, justified”): The changed lives of those who responded show that God’s wisdom is true.

Luke 7:36

One of the Pharisees invites Jesus to dinner, and Jesus accepts. He is willing to sit at the table with anyone, the respectable and the disreputable. Luke has already shown Him with tax collectors, and now He eats with a Pharisee. The guests reclined on couches around a low table.

BSA: reclined (“sat down, leaned back”): At banquets people lay on their sides, with their feet stretched out behind them. That is why the woman can reach His feet.

Luke 7:37

A woman known in the town as a sinner hears that Jesus is there and comes in with an alabaster jar of perfume. Such meals were often open for onlookers to come and watch. She comes as she is, bringing the one thing she has of value.

BSA: sinful (“morally corrupt”): Her reputation was known to the whole town, so she came knowing how she would be seen.

Luke 7:38

She stands behind Jesus at His feet and weeps. Her tears fall on His feet and she dries them with her hair, which was an unusual, even improper, thing for a woman to do in public. She kisses them and pours perfume on them. This is love without words, poured out freely.

Greek: κατεφίλει (katephilei, G2705) — “kissed warmly, kissed again and again.” The word suggests repeated, tender kissing, not a single formal greeting. It shows how deep her devotion was.

Luke 7:39

Simon thinks to himself that a real prophet would know what kind of woman this is and would not let her touch Him. He is judging both her and Jesus. Jesus does know, and He receives her anyway. Simon sees only her sin, and Jesus sees the woman.

BSA: sinner (“one who has missed the mark, disobeyed God’s law”): The word means falling short of God’s standard, which is true of every person, Simon included.

Luke 7:40-42

Jesus answers Simon’s unspoken thought with a story. Two men owed a moneylender, one five hundred denarii and the other fifty. A denarius was about a day’s wage, so both debts were large. Neither could pay, and the lender forgave both. Which will love him more?

BSA: forgave (“freely pardoned, showed kindness to”): The debt is cancelled as a free gift, with no payment.

Greek: ἐχαρίσατο (echarisato, G5483) — “forgave freely, as a gift.” It comes from the word for grace. The lender cancels the debt as a gift, not as something earned.

Luke 7:43

Simon answers carefully, saying he supposes it is the one forgiven more. Jesus tells him he has judged correctly. Simon has just agreed to a principle that exposes his own heart, though he does not yet see it.

BSA: judged (“formed an opinion, made a decision”): Simon reasons his way to the right answer, but he has not yet applied it to himself.

Luke 7:44-46

Jesus turns to the woman and asks Simon whether he sees her. Simon had provided no water for His feet, no kiss of greeting, no oil for His head, which were the usual courtesies. The woman gave all three, and gave them in far greater measure. Jesus sees what the host missed.

BSA: anointed (“poured perfume on”): She poured out costly perfume where Simon withheld even plain oil.

Luke 7:47

Her great love shows that her many sins have been forgiven. It is the sign of forgiveness already received, not its price. The one who knows little forgiveness shows little love. Whoever feels how much he owes loves much.

BSA: forgiven (“released, pardoned”): Her sins are let go and no longer held against her.

Greek: ἀφέωνται (apheōntai, G863) — “have been forgiven, and remain forgiven.” The tense describes something done in the past with lasting effect. Her sins are gone and they stay gone.

Luke 7:48-49

Jesus tells her directly that her sins are forgiven. The other guests are shocked and ask who this is, since only God forgives sins. That is exactly the question Luke wants the reader to ask. Jesus does not correct them. He acts as the One who can forgive.

BSA: forgiven (“released, left, sent away”): Her sins are sent away from her.

See also: Mark 2:5-7.

Luke 7:50

Jesus tells her that her faith has saved her and sends her away in peace. Her faith reached out to Him and He saved her. She came weeping, and she leaves with peace. That is what He gives to those who come to Him.

BSA: saved (“rescued, delivered”): She is delivered from her sin and its guilt, not just comforted.

Greek: σέσωκέν (sesōken, G4982) — “has saved, has rescued.” The tense shows a completed rescue whose result continues. It is the same word used for being saved or made whole.

See also: Ephesians 2:8.