New Testament Commentary - Luke 7

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 7 Jesus heals the centurion's servant—He raises from death the son of the widow of Nain—John Baptist extolled as more than a prophet—A woman anoints Christ's feet, and he forgives her sins.
1 NOW when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum. 2 And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die. 3 And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant.		1^a D&C 128:20; 2^a Mark 9:2 (2-13); Luke 9:29 (28-36); John 1:14; 2 Pet. 1:16 (16-19); TG Jesus Christ, Glory of;
4 And when they came to Jesus, they besought him ^ainstantly, saying, That he was worthy for whom he should do this: 5 For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue. 6 Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof:		1^a D&C 128:20; 2^a Mark 9:2 (2-13); Luke 9:29 (28-36); John 1:14; 2 Pet. 1:16 (16-19); TG Jesus Christ, Glory of;
7 Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed. 8 For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.		1^a D&C 128:20; 2^a Mark 9:2 (2-13); Luke 9:29 (28-36); John 1:14; 2 Pet. 1:16 (16-19); TG Jesus Christ, Glory of;
9 When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in ^aIsrael. 10 And they that were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick.		1^a D&C 128:20; 2^a Mark 9:2 (2-13); Luke 9:29 (28-36); John 1:14; 2 Pet. 1:16 (16-19); TG Jesus Christ, Glory of;
11 ¶ And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people. 12 Now when he came nigh to the gate of 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. 13 And when the Lord saw her, he had ^acompassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.
14 And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. 15 And he that was ^adead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.
16 And there came a ^afear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath ^bvisited his people. 17 And this rumour of him went forth throughout all Judaea, and throughout all the region round about. 18 And the disciples of ^aJohn shewed him of all these things.
19 ¶ And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another? 20 When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another? 21 And in that same hour he ^acured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave ^bsight.
22 Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the ^apoor the gospel is preached. 23 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be ^aoffended in me.
24 ¶ And when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak unto the people concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind^a? 25 But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously ^aapparelled, and live delicately, are in kings' courts. 26 But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet.	24^a A reed shaken with the wind In Isaiah 42 there is a 'servant song' which does speak Messianically concerning the putting upon the 'servant', the 'elect', God's spirit, which is a reference to placing the Holy Ghost upon God's servant as a mantle. The Jews should have been aware of this representation that the spirit of God is placed upon a prophet of God. In that same chapter it speaks of the working of such a servant by and through that spirit placed upon them that 'a bruised reed shall he not break' and 'the smoking flax shall he not quench', such as the 'wind of the spirit would do. Thus Christ's reference here is to the workings of the spirit through the servant of God, which in this application he applies it to John the Baptist. And he goes on to state that John was not only a prophet, but much more, in that he was that special messenger which was to be sent before the coming of the Messiah.
27 This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my ^amessenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 28 For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is ^aleast in the kingdom of God is greater than he.
29 And all the people that heard him, and the ^apublicans, justified God, being baptized with the ^bbaptism of John. 30 But the Pharisees and lawyers^a ^arejected the counsel of God ^bagainst themselves, being not ^cbaptized of him.	30^a Pharisees and lawyers The Pharisees are they who would sit in the judgment seat upon the Jews, thus they are said to sit in that seat of Moses. And the lawyers are the 'scribes' who facilitated or presented the case before the judges. Thus there is a parallel between the Pharisees of Jesus day and the 'rulers', judges, elders or princes of the Jews in past ages. The system first begain with Moses selecting out 70 elders of Israel to aid in so processing the judgments of Israel in the wilderness. By the time of Lehi, the entrenched system was such that these 'rulers', 'elders' or 'princes' of the court of the religious law did possess more power and authority than did King Zedekiah. In the Book of Mormon there was also such a parallel of a system of 'judges' or 'rulers' of the law and the 'scribes' or 'lawyers'. Alma and Amulek face such a corrupt system of Judges and Lawyers in the city of Ammonihah. For the most part with but a couple of exceptions, the Pharisees and scribes or lawyers of the Jewish Sanhedrin of Jerusalem in association with the 'chief priests' were of such a corrupt nature as were the judges and lawyers of Ammonihah, with the exception of the High Priest of the Church, Alma. And it most exactly paralleled that system of corrupt priests, elders and the associated lawyers which constituted the 'rulers' and 'princeses' or 'Sarim' of the days of Lehi and King Zedekiah.
31 ¶ And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like? 32 They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have ^amourned to you, and ye have not wept.
33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil. 34 The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! 35 But wisdom is justified of all her children.
36 ¶ And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to meat. 37 And, behold, a ^awoman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster ^bbox of ointment, 38 And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and ^aanointed them with the ointment.
39 Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner. 40 And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on.
41 There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred ^apence, and the other fifty. 42 And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly ^aforgave them both. ^bTell me therefore, which of them will love him most?
43 Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. 44 And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
45 Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are ^aforgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.
48 And he said unto her, Thy sins are ^aforgiven. 49 And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that ^aforgiveth sins also? 50 And he said to the woman, Thy ^afaith hath saved thee; go in ^bpeace.