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Report a TypoLuke ◦ Chapter 7
1When Jesus had finished teaching the people, he entered Capernaum.2A Roman centurion had a servant he valued highly, who was very sick and about to die.3The centurion had heard of Jesus and sent some Jewish leaders to ask Jesus to heal his servant.4They came to Jesus and made an earnest appeal, "Please heal his servant; he is truly worthy, and besides, we owe him,5for he has shown great love to our people and even built our worship center."6So Jesus went with them. But as they neared the house, the centurion sent friends to tell him, "Sir, I did not mean to inconvenience you, so and I don't deserve the honor of having you visit my home.7I didn't even consider myself worthy to come to you myself. I know that all you need to do is simply say so, and my servant will be healed.8I am a man who understands authority: I obey my orders, and my soldiers obey me. I tell this one, 'Go' and he goes; and another, 'Come,' and he comes. When I tell my servant, 'Do this,' he does it."9When Jesus heard the confidence in him, he was deeply moved, and turning to the crowd, said, "I tell you plainly, I haven't found another person in Israel whose confidence in me is as great as his."10Then the men who had been sent went back to the house and found the servant completely well.11Shortly thereafter, Jesus went to the town of Nain, followed by his interns and a very large crowd.12As he neared the town gate, a funeral procession was leaving the town; the corpse was the only son of his mother who was already a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her.13When Jesus saw her, his heart was filled with compassion, and he said gently, "Don't cry."14Then Jesus walked over and put his hand on the coffin, and those carrying it stopped. He said, "Young man, I tell you, get up!"15The dead man sat straight up and began to talk, and Jesus returned him to his mother.16The crowd was overwhelmed with awe and praised God. "A mighty spokesman of God has come to us," they said; "God has come to heal his people."17After this, news about Jesus spread like wildfire throughout Judea and the surrounding country.18John's students told him everything Jesus was doing. He called two of them19and sent them to Jesus to ask, "Are you the One who God promised to send, or should we look for another?"20When the students came to Jesus, they said to him, "John the Baptist sent us to ask you, 'Are you the One who God promised to send, or should we look for another?'"21As they stood watching, Jesus demonstrated God's methods: he cured many people of disease, infections and mental oppression, and to those who were blind, he gave sight.22Then he turned to John's students and said, "Go back and tell John what you have witnessed here: The blind see, the paralyzed walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Remedy is given freely to the poor.23Happy and healthy is the person who doesn't reject me."24After John's students left, Jesus turned to the crowd and spoke about John: "What did you go to the desert to see? A standup comic blowing around from one idea to the next?25No? Then what did you go to see? A fashion show? No! Fashion is indulged by those living in luxury and in palaces.26Then what did you go out to see? One of God's spokesmen? Absolutely! And I tell you plainly, he was even more.27This is the one of whom it was foretold; 'I will send my spokesperson ahead of you to prepare the hearts and minds of the people for your arrival.'28 "I tell you plainly, no person born on earth prior to John has had a more important role in God's plan to save humanity than John the Baptist. Yet, even those with the least role on earth who are in the kingdom of heaven will be greater than he is here."29All the people, including the tax collectors, whose minds had been immersed in the truth brought by John — and thus were immersed by him in water — and who heard Jesus' words, praised God's way as right.30But the Pharisees and those theologians who taught a legal religion rejected God's design and plan for their healing, for they had refused to immerse their minds in the truth John brought.31 "How can I describe what the people living today are doing? To what can I compare them?32They are like children who sit around picking on each other, trying to promote themselves by finding fault in those beside them: If one child plays a happy song, the others refuse to celebrate with them; if another child plays a sad song, the others laugh and refuse to mourn with them.33 "You are like these children — bent on finding fault. John lived very strictly: he fasted and drank no wine, and you mocked him calling him 'evil' and 'demon-possessed.'34And when the Son of Man came, spending time with people, socializing, eating and celebrating, you say, 'He's a glutton, a drunk, and a friend of apostates and addicts.'35But God's wisdom is shown to be true by the transformed lives of those who embrace it."36One of the Pharisees invited Jesus to his home for dinner, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table.37A local woman who had been living an immoral life learned that Jesus was at the Pharisee's home and she brought an alabaster jar of perfume.38She stood by Jesus' feet weeping, and began washing his feet with tears. Then she dried his feet with her hair, kissed them, and poured the perfume on them.39When the Pharisee in whose home they were dining saw this, he thought to himself, "If this man was really from God, he would know what a vile and sinful woman was touching him."40Jesus, knowing his thoughts, turned to him and said, "Simon, I want to tell you something." "Please, Doctor, tell me," he replied.41 "There were two people, and both owed a banker money. One owed him five thousand dollars, the other only fifty;42but neither had any money to pay him back, so the banker canceled both debts and absorbed the loss. Which of the two do you think will love him more?"43Hesitantly, Simon replied, "I would think the one who had the larger debt canceled." "You are absolutely right," Jesus confirmed.44Then Jesus looked toward the woman, but spoke to Simon: "Do you see this woman? Even though I am in your house, you did not provide water to wash my feet; but she has washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.45You did not welcome me with a kiss, but this woman, from the moment I arrived, hasn't stopped kissing my feet.46You did not anoint my head with inexpensive olive oil, but she has anointed my feet with the most expensive ointment.47Understand how reality works: She has been forgiven much, and having received this forgiveness, she loves much. But he who accepts only a little forgiveness, loves only a little."48Then Jesus reassured her, "You are forgiven; your sinfulness has been removed."49The other guests began to mumble, "Who does he think he is to claim to forgive and remove sin?"50Smiling, Jesus said to the woman, "Your trust in me has healed you; go with a mind restored to peace."