A Broken and Contrite Heart (Luke 7:36-50)

"Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” (Luke 7:41-42)

Our Lord Jesus was invited to dinner by a Pharisee named Simon and went to his home. While the meal was served a woman who lived a sinful life of prostitution in the town came in to the dinner table and stood behind the Lord at His feet weeping. She was bringing an alabaster jar of perfume. She wept and wept until her tears made Jesus’ feet wet. Then she wiped them with her hairs, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

Simon the Pharisee was offended by it, saying to himself “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” (Luke 7:39)

Knowing what he was thinking, Jesus told him a parable. In the parable, both people couldn’t pay the owed money back to the moneylender but were forgiven the debts. Jesus asked Simon, “Which of them will love him more?” He replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.” Our Lord consented to him, saying “You judged correctly.” (Luke 7:41-43)

Now Jesus explained what was really going on in this incident. Simon didn’t give water to wash His feet nor kissed Him when Jesus entered the house as guest. But the woman wet His feet with her tear and wiped out with her hair and didn’t stop kissing His feet. Simon didn’t put oil on Jesus’ head but the woman poured out perfume on His feet. (Luke 7:44-46) And Jesus said to Simon these words.

“Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” (Luke 7:47)

Here we can see full of grace and truth in our Lord Jesus Christ. What Simon did to Jesus was not polite nor courteous at all. He didn’t pay any respect and honor to the invited guest who was the Son of God. Though Jesus deserved to be honored and glorified as the Son of God, He was ill-treated and abused by the people of His own. Yet our Lord Jesus was so gracious to this man that he joined the dinner together in order to reach out to the fallen race. Paul says so aptly about our Lord’s humility and obedience to the Father in heaven in the Epistle of Philippians.

“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:6-8)

At the same time was full of truth manifested in Him. He shone the light of truth to Simon by telling what was really going on in his heart and mind toward the invited guest. Jesus also explained how much the Father in heaven honored the sinful woman. It’s indeed and truly a sober searching light, breaking in the hearts of men. Nothing is hidden to the eyes of the Lord God Almighty.

“For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.” (Luke 8:17)

What God sees is not religious activities nor pious languages and sacrifices. Our God searches a broken and contrite heart, a broken spirit, says King David (Psalm 51:17). That’s the interpretation of our Lord Jesus for the woman and her unorthodox acts.

Our Lord Jesus is always fully of glory as the Father in heaven is. As the Son glorified the Father, so the Father did the Son. When Simon did not glorify Jesus, the Father in heaven sent the woman to glorify the Son. “Father, glorify your name!" Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." (John 12:28)

As Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem as King, riding on a donkey, the people praised and shouted, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Then some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” Jesus replied, “If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” (Luke 19:38-40)

The Son Jesus Christ was glorified this way by the Father. Although the woman lived a sinful life, by the abundant grace of the Father she highly honored and respected Jesus as the Son of God who truly understood her. So, she poured out herself (everything) unto the Lord Jesus because she thought it was a reasonable thing to do for Him. God honored her as a true worshiper, proclaiming the eternal forgiveness of her sins and giving her continually overflowing peace.

Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (Luke 7:49-50)

A Gentle Whisper to the Poor (Luke 7:18-35)

When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’” (Luke 7:20)

It shows even John the Baptist could fall into doubt on the Messiah. When he was told everything about Jesus, he sent messengers to Jesus, asking “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” The mighty rugged prophet had a sensational ministry, giving the baptism of repentance in the Jordan water. His message stirred up the nation and all people from every side of country came to him to be baptized. Tax collectors, soldiers, peasants, women and children, religious leaders, and young and old were thronging to see this man.

Angel Gabriel told Zechariah the news of the birth of his son and added a strange statement, saying “And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:17)

Who was Elijah? He was the prophet in the northern kingdom Israel when Ahab was king. He prophesied no rain in the land three and a half years. He not only stopped the rain but also he prayed to begin raining in the land. Because of this, he became the stench of King Ahab. He was very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. When the nation and people deserted the Jehovah God and worshipped the idol Baal, he challenged four hundred fifty prophets of Baal on the Mount Carmel.

The prophet stood alone in the midst of over four hundred of Baal worshipers and yet he demonstrated there was a God who could hear and act in the human events, bringing down the fire of the Lord from heaven and consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. Then, the prophet slaughtered all of the prophets of Baal in the valley of Kishon.

Ironically, the mighty prophet was afraid and fled for life for Queen Jezebel vowed to kill him. He travelled forty days and forty nights and reached Horeb, the mountain of God and hunkered down in a cave. God came to him and asked, “What are doing here Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:8-9) He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” (1 Kings 19:10)

It is so encouraging and comforting that our God never rebuked Elijah or called him a coward but understood him, touched him, and even fed him by an angel.

Surely the prophet was disappointed and depressed after the dramatic and crucial fight on the Mount Carmel according to his viewpoint. He would have expected something dramatic to happen in the nation followed by the Carmel challenge like a huge turnover to God from King to shepherds. Instead, he had to run for life and hide in the cave. Nothing happened in Israel to the eyes of prophet even after all witnessed how God in heaven manifested in power and might.

God taught Elijah kindly and patiently how God was working in the midst of degradation and depravity in Israel. There were a great powerful wind, an earthquake, and then a fire but the Lord was not in them. After the fire came a gentle whisper in which Elijah could hear. The Lord revealed a amazing truth to the prophet, saying “Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.” (1 Kings 19:18)

Even the mighty prophet Elijah did not know that there were not seventy but seventy times one hundred in Israel who had not bowed down to Baal. John the Baptist might have the similar problem Elijah had. He did a great and sensational ministry in Israel and even baptized Jesus the Messiah whom he called “the Lamb of God!” He might have expected Jesus to do even greater things as the Promised One to come in Israel.

When our Lord Jesus was asked such a question, He replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” (Luke 7:22-23)

Our Lord Jesus did not come to satisfy what we wanted but to do the will of the Father in heaven. Jesus said to His disciples, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” (John 4:34) What our Lord Jesus said to John was the quotation from the prophecy of Isaiah. Christ Jesus was not interested in building a popular and gigantic ministry to human eyes but in building a new man in God.

Our Lord Jesus labored and toiled even to the point of death in order to make a new creation in Him. He demolished the old man in Adam on the cross and made the new man in Him with the power of resurrection. The blind will receive sight back and walk in the light, not in the darkness. The lame will walk straight without stumbling. The leprosy will be cleansed and washed away. The deaf will hear clearly and no more in confusion. The dead will be raised when they hear the voice of the Lord.

The good news is proclaimed to the poor, not to the rich. It doesn’t mean financially poor or rich at all. As Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, it means the poor in spirit. The good news is the good news to the poor because they reached the point where they learned of the secret of life that never lies on their capabilities but on the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s the new man what the Lord Jesus made through the death, burial, and resurrection.

The new man in Christ Jesus does not say what he can do but admit that he can do nothing by himself. He always fixes his eyes on Jesus Christ who is the pioneer and perfecter of faith and endures in the midst of pressures and struggles until the Lord Jesus works out. Hang on tough! It’s because our Lord is living and working to fulfill all the scriptures according to the divine plan made before the time began.

“To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.” (Jude 1:24-25)

“Young Man, I Say to You, Get up!” (Luke 7:11-17)

“When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.” Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” (Luke 7:13-14)

Jesus went to a town called Nain 25 miles southwest of Capernaum. This city still exists in the name of Nein. It means ‘green pastures’ and ‘lovely’ in Hebrews. As Jesus approached the town gate the dead person was carried out in the funeral procession. It was a seemingly normal part of life because it could be seen anywhere in the earth. But it was not a usual one because the dead man was the only son of his mother and she was a widow.

This is the most sorrowful and devastated scene in our human community. No wonder a large crowd from the town was with her, at best trying to comfort the widow who lost the only son. Our Lord saw the grief-stricken mother and His heart went out to her and said, “Don’t cry.” This is the voice of the Creator who made the heavens and the earth.

Our Lord was not grieved by the death of man at all because He is the life and the resurrection. He was deeply moved and troubled because He saw how much the people were suffering by the power of death. Hearing the news of the death of Lazarus, Jesus went to Bethany where his sisters Martha and Mary lived. There our Lord was deeply moved and wept for the people who were gripped with the fate of death.

“When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ‘Where have you laid him?’ he asked. ‘Come and see, Lord,’ they replied. Jesus wept.” (John 11:33-35)

The green pastures and lovely place turned into grey barrenness and dry wilderness where the power of death was forcefully smearing and covering over the lost race. That is why our Lord Jesus was sent, particularly to Nain to demonstrate the power of life and resurrection and to make it truly green pastures and lovely place.

So, when our Lord Jesus said, “Don’t cry,” it meant there was no need to cry in the midst of sorrow and grief. Jesus was saying the woman to trust in God who said to Moses, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”  (Mark 12:26-27)

“Don’t cry.” It’s a command not a suggestion to humanity. Yes, the Lord Jesus commands not to cry because in Him there is no death but life in full.

Then Jesus went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” Lord Jesus did not call him, “Dead man” but “Young man” as if the man was sleeping. In Christ Jesus it is true that there is no death. It’s like a sleep, says Jesus. “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” (John 11:11)

Hearing the voice of the life and the resurrection, the dead man sat up and began to talk, showing that he was made alive. Jesus gave the man back to his mother. How did the people react at this? People were all filled with awe and praised God, saying “A great prophet has appeared among us. God has come to help his people.” (Luke 7:16)

God has appeared among us in the grief-stricken barrenness and wilderness to give true life. God has come to help the sorrowful people like us with the Lord of life and resurrection. No one dared to ask Jesus to raise the dead man. No one invited Jesus to come to the funeral. But God so loved the world that He sent His begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Such Great Faith Not Found Even in Israel (Luke 7:1-10)

“When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, ‘I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!’” (Luke 7:9)

Here we meet a Roman centurion who was dispatched to govern the town of Capernaum in Galilee when our Lord Jesus Christ was ministering His messianic work on the earth in the first century. The centurion was a pagan and yet he honored the Jewish people and maintained peaceable order and even built a synagogue for the Jews. When he paid his respect for the subordinate people he received back in the same manner. What our Lord Jesus says is universally true in the first century and throughout the centuries after centuries.

“Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” (Luke 6:38)

We shall not miss to note that this kind of thing had happened in the midst of possibly very tense circumstance in between completely different race and ranks. Traditionally the Roman Regiment was known as infamously and notoriously tough, hard-hearted, and cruel beings. This idea was completely out of picture here. The centurion was kind and generous, treating the people respectfully and truthfully.

Our daily newspapers are full of reports on murders, rapes, terrors, hurts, wounds, struggles, fights, cheatings, scandals, pollutions, and so on. It’s happening everywhere around the world including the civilized and law-abiding cities in America. This is even a cry of the children of light. At times we wonder where our God is, the God of order and justice. It is not difficult to see injustice stubbornly rampant rather than justice prevailing in our midst.

The Scripture asserts that our God does not slumber nor sleep. “He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” (Psalm 121:3-4) Our God is watchful and considerate what is going on in heaven and on earth and thus not even a single event or incident will be out of His sight. The episode of centurion in Capernaum shows that our God does not slumber nor sleep.

On behalf of his servant who was ill, the centurion asked his Jewish friends to tell Jesus for healing. On behalf of the centurion, the elders of town willingly and earnestly pleaded Jesus to come over to his house and to heal the servant. It is very unusual for the Jews to dare to ask Jesus, a Jew to visit to a Gentile household because no Jew was allowed to pass the threshold of the Gentile house. Jesus went with them without asking any questions.

It wasn’t far to the centurion’s house. On the way, the centurion sent the message through the friends, saying “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed.” (Luke 7:6b-7)

It is shown of the man’s tremendous reverence and respect for Jesus. First of all, he didn’t even come forward by himself to Jesus because he considered himself unworthy to come to Him. Hearing the news that Jesus was on the way, he realized that he would be making Jesus violated the traditions of Jews. So, he stopped Jesus not to come over but just to say the word because he thought he did not deserve to have Jesus come under his roof.

Most of all, this marveled our Lord Jesus and said, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” Jesus did not say, “I have found such a great man of faith.” Jesus said he found such great faith, not even in Israel. Firstly, we learn that Jesus sees faith not man. Our Lord wasn’t impressed by the fact that the centurion loved the nation and built a synagogue for them. But our Lord was amazed at the faith of him regardless of the race. Here is the account how the man came to conclude that Jesus did not have to come over but just said the word to heal the sick servant.

“For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” (Luke 7:8)

This is the ground of faith that our Lord Jesus was amazed. His faith did not rely on the physical presence of the Lord but on the word of Jesus. He believed in the authority and power of the word of Jesus beyond the proximity. He was a disciplined and trained solider, frequently receiving and issuing orders from the seniors to the juniors. He learned and understood the power of the word of mouth from the routine activities in life.

He applied the principle to the word of Jesus in which he found the highest superiority above all else. His faith in Jesus Christ the Lord reminds of that of Rahab the prostitute in Jericho who feared God in heaven above and on the earth below more than anything else and dared to risk her life to protect two Israeli spies and under her roof.

“When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.” (Joshua 2:11)

Jesus said He had not found such great faith, not even Israel because it is the model faith for anyone to come to the Father, first for the Jew and then for the Gentile. The centurion would be called “Abraham” in the New Testament because his faith was rooted in the word of God.

The result of such great faith was answered by the Father. “Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.” (Luke 7:10)