Lucas 7

ARC · Chapter 7/24

1E, depois de concluir todos estes discursos perante o povo, entrou em Capernaum.

2E o servo de um certo centurião, a quem muito estimava, estava doente, e moribundo.

3E, quando ouviu fallar de Jesus, enviou-lhe uns anciãos dos judeos, rogando-lhe que viesse e curasse o seu servo.

4E, chegando elles junto de Jesus, rogaram-lhe muito, dizendo: É digno de que lhe concedas isto,

5Porque ama a nossa nação, e elle mesmo nos edificou a synagoga.

6E foi Jesus com elles; mas, quando já estava perto da casa, enviou-lhe o centurião uns amigos, dizendo-lhe: Senhor, não te incommodes, porque não sou digno de que entres debaixo do meu telhado;

7Pelo que nem ainda me julguei digno de ir ter comtigo; dize, porém, uma palavra, e o meu creado sarará.

8Porque tambem eu sou homem sujeito á auctoridade, e tenho soldados sob o meu poder, e digo a este: Vae; e elle vae; e a outro: Vem; e elle vem; e ao meu servo: Faze isto; e elle o faz.

9E Jesus, ouvindo isto, maravilhou-se d'elle, e, voltando-se, disse á multidão que o seguia: Digo-vos que nem ainda em Israel tenho achado tanta fé.

10E, voltando para casa os que foram enviados, acharam são o servo enfermo.

11E aconteceu, no dia seguinte, que Jesus ia a uma cidade chamada Nain, e com elle iam muitos dos seus discipulos, e uma grande multidão;

12E quando chegou perto da porta da cidade, eis que levavam um defunto, filho unigenito de sua mãe, que era viuva; e com ella ia uma grande multidão da cidade.

13E, vendo-a, o Senhor moveu-se de intima compaixão por ella, e disse-lhe: Não chores.

14E, chegando-se, tocou o esquife (e os que o levavam pararam), e disse: Mancebo, a ti te digo: Levanta-te.

15E o defunto assentou-se, e começou a fallar; e entregou-o a sua mãe.

16E de todos se apoderou o temor, e glorificavam a Deus, dizendo: Um grande propheta se levantou entre nós, e Deus visitou o seu povo.

17E correu d'elle esta fama por toda a Judea e por toda a terra circumvisinha.

18E os discipulos de João annunciaram-lhe todas estas coisas.

19E João, chamando dois dos seus discipulos, enviou-os a Jesus, dizendo: És tu aquelle que havia de vir, ou esperamos outro?

20E, quando aquelles homens chegaram junto d'elle, disseram: João Baptista enviou-nos a dizer-te: És tu aquelle que havia de vir, ou esperamos outro?

21E, na mesma hora, curou muitos de enfermidades, e males, e espiritos máus, e deu vista a muitos cegos.

22Respondendo então Jesus, disse-lhes: Ide, e annunciae a João as coisas que tendes visto e ouvido: que os cegos vêem, os coxos andam, os leprosos são purificados, os surdos ouvem, os mortos resuscitam e o Evangelho annuncia-se aos pobres.

23E bemaventurado aquelle que em mim se não escandalizar.

24E, tendo-se retirado os mensageiros de João, começou a dizer á multidão ácerca de João: Que saistes a ver ao deserto? uma canna abalada pelo vento

25Mas que saistes a vêr? um homem trajado de vestidos delicados? Eis que os que andam com preciosos vestidos, e em delicias, estão nos paços reaes.

26Mas que saistes a vêr? um propheta? sim, vos digo, e muito mais do que propheta.

27Este é aquelle de quem está escripto: Eis que envio o meu anjo adiante da tua face, o qual preparará diante de ti o teu caminho.

28Porque eu vos digo que, entre os nascidos de mulheres, não ha maior propheta do que João Baptista; mas o menor no reino de Deus é maior do que elle.

29E todo o povo que o ouviu e os publicanos justificaram a Deus, tendo sido baptizados com o baptismo de João.

30Mas os phariseos e os doutores da lei rejeitaram o conselho de Deus contra si mesmos, não tendo sido baptizados por elle.

31E disse o Senhor: A quem pois compararei os homens d'esta geração, e a quem são similhantes?

32São similhantes aos meninos que, assentados nas praças, clamam uns aos outros, e dizem: Tocámos-vos flauta, e não dançastes; cantámos-vos lamentações, e não chorastes,

33Porque veiu João Baptista, que nem comia pão nem bebia vinho, e dizeis: Tem demonio;

34Veiu o Filho do homem, que come e bebe, e dizeis: Eis ahi um homem comilão, e bebedor de vinho, amigo dos publicanos e dos peccadores.

35Mas a sabedoria é justificada por todos os seus filhos.

36E rogou-lhe um dos phariseos que comesse com elle; e, entrando em casa do phariseo, assentou-se á mesa.

37E eis que uma mulher da cidade, uma peccadora, sabendo que elle estava á mesa em casa do phariseo, levou um vaso de alabastro com unguento;

38E, estando detraz, aos seus pés, chorando, começou a regar-lhe os pés com lagrimas, e enxugava-lh'os com os cabellos da sua cabeça; e beijava-lhe os pés, e ungia-lh'os com o unguento.

39E, quando isto viu o phariseo que o tinha convidado, fallava comsigo, dizendo: Se este fôra propheta, bem saberia quem e qual é a mulher que o tocou, porque é peccadora.

40E Jesus, respondendo, disse-lhe: Simão, uma coisa tenho a dizer-te. E elle disse: Dize-a, Mestre.

41Um certo crédor tinha dois devedores; um devia-lhe quinhentos dinheiros, e outro cincoenta.

42E, não tendo elles com que pagar, perdoou-lhes a ambos a divida. Dize pois qual d'elles o amará mais?

43E Simão, respondendo, disse: Tenho para mim que é aquelle a quem mais perdoou. E elle lhe disse: Julgaste bem.

44E, voltando-se para a mulher, disse a Simão: Vês tu esta mulher? Entrei em tua casa, e não me déste agua para os pés; mas esta regou-me os pés com lagrimas, e m'os enxugou com os seus cabellos.

45Não me déste osculo, mas esta, desde que entrou, não tem cessado de me beijar os pés.

46Não me ungiste a cabeça com oleo, mas esta ungiu-me os pés com unguento.

47Por isso te digo que os seus muitos peccados lhe são perdoados, porque muito amou; mas aquelle a quem pouco se perdoa pouco ama.

48E disse-lhe a ella: Os teus peccados te são perdoados.

49E os que estavam á mesa começaram a dizer entre si: Quem é este, que até perdoa peccados?

50E disse á mulher: A tua fé te salvou: vae-te em paz.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Jesus heals a Roman centurion's servant from a distance, raises a widow's son in Nain, and answers John the Baptist's doubt by confirming that he is the Messiah. A sinful woman anoints his feet with tears and perfume, and he praises her faith and forgives her.

Explanation

The centurion's faith ('just say the word,' v.7) impresses Jesus because it comes from a pagan foreigner, showing that genuine faith does not depend on ethnicity or religious standing. The raising of the young man in Nain, moved by Jesus' compassion for the widowed mother (who would be left without support), foreshadows his power over death. The scene with the sinful woman, in contrast to the coldness of the Pharisee host, illustrates that whoever is forgiven much, loves much. Today's lesson is that genuine gratitude is born from recognizing how much one has been forgiven.

Fun facts

  • A widow with no son in first-century Jewish society was left without any economic safety net, which explains the intensity of Jesus' compassion in the scene at Nain.
  • The woman's gesture of wiping Jesus' feet with her own hair was considered extremely intimate and even scandalous, since respectable women kept their hair covered in public.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Lucas 7:1This verse bridges the long discourse of the previous chapter and the next episode: Jesus finishes speaking to the people and enters Capernaum.
  2. Lucas 7:2The servant especially valued by the centurion was gravely ill, near death — the text already signals that the relationship between the two went beyond the usual bond between master and slave.
  3. Lucas 7:3It is significant that a Roman officer asks for help through Jewish elders as intermediaries — a sign that he had a good relationship with the local Jewish community.
  4. Lucas 7:4The elders plead earnestly, arguing that the centurion deserves this favor — they speak up for him with genuine conviction.
  5. Lucas 7:5A centurion was an officer in the Roman army, normally a Gentile — not part of the Jewish people. That he himself had paid for the local synagogue’s construction shows he was the kind of foreigner who admired and supported the Jewish faith without formally converting, what the Jews called a God-fearer.
  6. Lucas 7:6Despite being a Roman officer with authority, the centurion considers himself unworthy to receive Jesus in his house — an unusual gesture of humility from someone with so much power.
  7. Lucas 7:7He does not even consider himself worthy to go to Jesus in person; he asks only for a word from a distance, trusting that this is enough to heal the servant.
  8. Lucas 7:8The centurion understands well how a military chain of command works: he gives an order and it is carried out, without him lifting a finger. So it seems natural to him that Jesus, too, would not need to come to his house — a word from a distance would be enough to heal the servant.
  9. Lucas 7:9This is one of the rare moments when Jesus is said to marvel — and the reason stands out: the strongest faith He had ever seen did not come from within Israel, but from a Roman foreigner.
  10. Lucas 7:10The messengers return and find the servant already healed, without Jesus having to go to the house — the healing happens by word alone, exactly as the centurion had believed.
  11. Lucas 7:11Another episode begins here: Jesus goes to Nain, a town in Galilee, accompanied by disciples and a large crowd.
  12. Lucas 7:12Losing an only son meant, for a widow of that time, also losing her support and the only social protection she still had — without a husband and without a son, she was left essentially helpless. It is this total helplessness, not just the pain of loss, that moves Jesus to act.
  13. Lucas 7:13Unlike other healings, no one asks Jesus for anything here — it is His own compassion, seeing the widow’s situation as she lost her only son, that moves Him to act on His own initiative.
  14. Lucas 7:14Touching the bier of a dead man would make anyone ritually unclean, but Jesus does it anyway, directly commanding the dead young man to get up.
  15. Lucas 7:15The detail of Jesus giving the young man back to his mother echoes the same scene of Elijah returning to the widow of Zarephath the son he had raised from the dead, in 1 Kings 17.
  16. Lucas 7:16The crowd’s reaction — “a great prophet is risen up among us” and “God hath visited his people” — uses the same language of “visiting” that already appeared in Zechariah’s song in chapter 1.
  17. Lucas 7:17News of this resurrection spreads through all of Judea and the surrounding regions.
  18. Lucas 7:18John’s disciples, since he was in prison, bring him a report of everything Jesus had been doing.
  19. Lucas 7:19Even though he had recognized Jesus at the baptism, John, now in prison, sends word to ask directly whether He is really the one who was expected — perhaps because Jesus’s ministry did not look like the political liberation many expected from the Messiah.
  20. Lucas 7:20John’s disciples repeat the question exactly as it was sent, word for word, when they arrive before Jesus.
  21. Lucas 7:21Jesus answers first with action, not words: He heals many people right there, on the spot, in front of John’s own messengers.
  22. Lucas 7:22Jesus’s answer lists signs that point directly to Isaiah’s prophecies about the time of the Messiah — the blind seeing, the lame walking, the dead being raised — letting John draw his own conclusions from the evidence.
  23. Lucas 7:23This blessing acknowledges that Jesus’s way of acting might not match what many people expected of the Messiah, and it asks that this not become a stumbling block to faith.
  24. Lucas 7:24Jesus asks the crowd what they expected to see in the wilderness: a reed shaken by the wind is an image of something weak and unstable — clearly not a description of John.
  25. Lucas 7:25He did not wear fine clothing either — that kind of luxury belonged to those who lived in palaces, far from John’s austere lifestyle in the wilderness.
  26. Lucas 7:26Jesus confirms that John really was a prophet, and even more than that — raising his role above that of any ordinary prophet.
  27. Lucas 7:27Jesus identifies John as the fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy about a messenger sent ahead to prepare the way — the same role the angel had already announced to Zechariah in chapter 1.
  28. Lucas 7:28The statement is deliberately paradoxical: no one born of woman is greater than John, yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than him — it contrasts greatness by the old standards with the new status that comes from belonging to the kingdom.
  29. Lucas 7:29The common people and the tax collectors, by accepting John’s baptism, acknowledged in practice that God’s plan was right.
  30. Lucas 7:30The Pharisees and the teachers of the law, however, by refusing the baptism, rejected that same plan of God for themselves — a direct contrast with those who accepted John’s message.
  31. Lucas 7:31Jesus introduces a comparison to describe that generation’s fickle attitude toward both John and Himself.
  32. Lucas 7:32The image of children in the marketplace, complaining because no one dances to the music or mourns with the wailing, describes people who are pleased by no approach at all, whatever it is.
  33. Lucas 7:33John lived in total fasting, neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and for this they said he had a demon — rejected for the austere extreme of his lifestyle.
  34. Lucas 7:34Jesus, by contrast, ate and drank normally, and for this they called Him a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners — the same generation rejecting both opposite styles.
  35. Lucas 7:35This statement suggests that, in the end, the true worth of both John and Jesus will be recognized by the results of their lives, despite the criticism of the moment.
  36. Lucas 7:36Eating reclined at the table, as was customary at banquets of the time, rather than sitting as we do today, is the setting for this meal in the house of the Pharisee who invited Jesus.
  37. Lucas 7:37The alabaster jar was a common container for storing expensive perfume — the woman brings an item of significant value for this gesture.
  38. Lucas 7:38A woman letting her hair down in public was, on its own, a shocking gesture by the customs of the time — respectable women kept their hair bound or covered. Combined with the jar of expensive ointment, the whole scene is an act of extravagant devotion that exposes the woman to everyone’s judgment there, which is exactly what the Pharisee takes note of.
  39. Lucas 7:39The Pharisee thinks to himself that if Jesus were really a prophet, He would know what kind of woman is touching Him and would not allow it — not realizing that Jesus knows exactly who she is and still accepts the gesture on purpose.
  40. Lucas 7:40Jesus calls Simon by name, showing that He knows more than the Pharisee supposed, and offers a parable in answer to his silent judgment.
  41. Lucas 7:41A denarius was roughly a day’s wage for common labor. Five hundred denarii represented almost two years’ pay — an enormous debt next to the fifty — and it is this difference in scale that supports Jesus’s argument about gratitude in proportion to the forgiveness received.
  42. Lucas 7:42Neither debtor can pay, and the creditor forgives both their debts — Jesus’s question aims exactly at the issue of gratitude in proportion to the size of the forgiveness.
  43. Lucas 7:43Simon correctly answers that he would love more the one who had the larger debt forgiven, and Jesus confirms that he judged rightly.
  44. Lucas 7:44Jesus contrasts Simon’s lack of basic hospitality — not even water for His feet, a common courtesy for travelers tired from the road — with the woman’s extravagant devotion, as she washed His feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.
  45. Lucas 7:45Simon did not give Jesus the customary kiss of greeting between host and guest, while the woman never stopped kissing His feet from the moment she arrived.
  46. Lucas 7:46Simon did not anoint Jesus’s head with oil, an ordinary gesture of hospitality, while the woman anointed even His feet with expensive ointment — each contrast widens the gap between the two.
  47. Lucas 7:47Jesus sums up the lesson: her many sins are forgiven, and that is why she loved much; whoever is forgiven little loves little — linking gratitude to the size of the debt that was forgiven.
  48. Lucas 7:48Jesus personally declares forgiveness to the woman, not as an abstract idea from the parable but as something said directly to her.
  49. Lucas 7:49The other guests at the table wonder among themselves who this is who even forgives sins — the same doubtful reaction that already appeared at the healing of the paralytic in chapter 5.
  50. Lucas 7:50Jesus closes by telling her that it was her faith, not the costly gesture itself, that saved her, and He sends her away in peace.

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