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Lucas 7

BLIVRE · Chapter 7/24

1E depois de acabar todos os seus discursos aos ouvidos do povo, ele entrou em Cafarnaum.

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

3E quando [o centurião] ouviu falar sobre Jesus, enviou-lhe uns anciãos dos judeus, rogando-lhe que viesse curar o seu servo.

4Eles vieram a Jesus, e rogaram-lhe com urgência, dizendo: Ele é digno de lhe concederes isto,

5porque ele ama a nossa nação, e ele mesmo construiu a nossa sinagoga.

6Jesus foi com eles; mas quando já não estava longe da casa, o centurião enviou-lhe uns amigos, dizendo-lhe: “Senhor, não te incomodes, porque não sou digno que entres abaixo do meu telhado.

7Por isso que nem mesmo me considerei digno de vir a ti; mas diz uma palavra, e o meu servo sarará.

8Porque também eu sou homem subordinado à autoridade, e tenho soldados sob o meu comando, e digo a este: 'Vai', e ele vai; e a outro: 'Vem', e ele vem; e a meu servo: 'Faz isto', e ele faz”.

9Quando Jesus ouviu isso, admirou-se dele; então se virou, e disse à multidão que o seguia: Digo-vos que nem mesmo em Israel achei tanta fé.

10E quando os que foram enviados voltaram para casa, acharam com boa saúde o servo antes doente.

11E aconteceu no dia seguinte, que [Jesus] ia a uma cidade chamada Naim, e com ele iam muitos de seus discípulos e uma grande multidão.

12E quando chegou perto da porta da cidade, eis que levavam um defunto, filho único de sua mãe, que [era] viúva; e com ela [ia] grande multidão da cidade.

13Quando o Senhor a viu, comoveu-se de intima compaixão por ela, e disse-lhe: Não chores.

14Então se aproximou, tocou o caixão (e os que a levavam, pararam), e disse: Jovem, a ti eu digo: levanta-te.

15E o defunto se sentou e começou a falar; e ele o entregou à sua mãe.

16Todos se encheram de temor, e glorificavam a Deus, dizendo: “Um grande profeta se levantou entre nós, e Deus visitou o seu povo!”

17E essa sua fama correu por toda a Judeia, e por toda a região em redor.

18E os discípulos de João lhe anunciaram essas coisas.

19Então João chamou dois de seus discípulos, e os enviou a Jesus, dizendo: “És tu aquele que havia de vir, ou esperamos outro?”

20E quando aqueles homens vieram a ele, disseram: “João Batista nos enviou a ti, dizendo: 'És tu aquele que havia de vir, ou esperamos outro?'”

21E naquela mesma hora ele curou a muitos de enfermidades, males, e espíritos maus, e a deu vista a muitos cegos.

22E Jesus lhes respondeu: Ide, e anunciai a João as coisas que tendes visto e ouvido: que os cegos veem, os mancos andam, os leprosos são purificados, os surdos ouvem, os mortos ressuscitam, e aos pobres é anunciado o Evangelho.

23E bendito é aquele que não se ofender em mim.

24E quando os mensageiros de João se foram, [Jesus] começou a dizer às multidões acerca de João: Que saístes para ver no deserto? Alguma cana sacudida pelo vento?

25Mas que saístes para ver? Um homem vestido de roupas delicadas? Eis que os que [vestem] roupas delicadas e vivem no luxo estão nos palácios reais.

26Mas que saístes para ver? Um profeta? Sim, vos digo, e muito mais que profeta.

27Este é aquele de quem está escrito: Eis que envio o meu mensageiro adiante de tua face, o qual preparará o teu caminho diante de ti.

28Pois eu vos digo, que dentre os nascidos de mulheres, não há profeta maior que João, o Batista; mas o menor no reino dos céus é maior que ele.

29E todo o povo e os publicanos ouviram, concordaram que Deus era justo, e foram batizados com o batismo de João.

30Mas os fariseus e os estudiosos da Lei rejeitaram o conselho de Deus contra si mesmos, e não foram batizados por ele.

31E o Senhor disse: “A quem, pois, compararei as pessoas desta geração? E a quem são semelhantes?

32São semelhantes às crianças sentadas na praça, que gritam umas às outras: 'Nós vos tocamos flautas, mas não dançastes; nós vos cantamos lamentações, mas não chorastes'.

33Porque veio João Batista, que não comia pão, nem bebia vinho, e dizeis: 'Ele tem demônio';

34Veio o Filho do homem, que come e bebe, e dizeis: 'Eis um homem comilão e bebedor de vinho, amigo dos publicanos e dos pecadores'.

35Mas a sabedoria foi considerada justa por todos os seus filhos”.

36E um dos fariseus lhe pediu que comesse com ele; então entrou na casa do fariseu, e sentou-se [à mesa] .

37E eis que uma mulher da cidade, que era pecadora, quando soube que ele estava na casa do fariseu, trouxe um vaso de alabastro de óleo perfumado.

38E estando atrás, aos seus pés, chorando, começou a molhar-lhe os pés com lágrimas; e os enxugava com os cabelos da sua cabeça; e beijava-lhe os pés, e os ungia com o óleo perfumado.

39E quando o fariseu que o havia convidado viu [isso] , falou consigo mesmo: Se ele fosse profeta, saberia quem e qual é a mulher que o toca; porque ela é pecadora.

40E Jesus lhe respondeu: “Simão, tenho uma coisa a te dizer”; e ele disse: “Dize-a, Mestre”.

41[Jesus] disse: “Certo credor tinha dois devedores. Um lhe devia quinhentas moedas de prata, e o outro cinquenta.

42Como não tinham com que pagar, perdoou-lhes [a dívida] de ambos. Dize, pois, qual deles o amará mais?”

43Simão respondeu: Tenho para mim que aquele a quem mais perdoou. E ele lhe disse: Julgaste corretamente.

44Ele se voltou à mulher, e disse a Simão: Vês tu esta mulher? Entrei na tua casa, e não me deste água para os pés; porém esta molhou os meus pés com lágrimas, e os enxugou com os seus cabelos da cabeça.

45Tu não me beijaste; porém esta, desde que entrou, não parou de me beijar os pés.

46Não ungiste a minha cabeça com óleo, porém esta ungiu os meus pés com óleo perfumado.

47Por isso te digo, os muitos pecados dela são perdoados, porque muito amou; mas ao que pouco se perdoa, pouco ama.

48E disse a ela: Os teus pecados são perdoados.

49E os que estavam sentados começaram a dizer entre si: Quem é este, que até perdoa pecados?

50E disse à mulher: A tua fé te salvou; vai 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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