Ministry and Questions About John

Healing the Centurion’s Servant

(Mt 8:5-13; Lk 7:1-10)

^7:1After he finished this message, he went to Capernaum. ²A centurion’s valued servant was sick, laid up at home paralyzed and tormented terribly, about to die. ³The centurion heard about Jesus, and sent elders of the Jews to ask him to come get his servant through it. ⁴When they got to Jesus, they urged him earnestly, “He deserves doing this for him. ⁵He loves our nation and built us a synagogue himself.”

Jesus said, “I’ll come and heal him,” ⁶and went with them.

While they were still a good ways from his house, the centurion sent friends, “Sir, don’t bother coming. I don’t deserve to have you under my roof. ⁷I didn’t even consider myself worthy of coming to you personally. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁸I’m directed by the authority of superior officers myself with soldiers under me. I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; to a servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

⁹When Jesus heard that, he was amazed, and turned around to the crowd, “I haven’t found faith like this even in Israel. ¹¹Many will come from the east and the west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; ¹²and citizens of the kingdom themselves will be thrown out in the dark. There’ll be bitter crying and gnashing of teeth.” ¹⁰When the ones sent got back to the house, they found the servant healed.

Raising the Widow of Nain’s Son

(Lk 7:11-17)

¹¹Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain. His disciples and a large crowd were going along. ¹²As he got near the town gate, people were carrying out a widow’s only son, and a sizable crowd of townspeople was with her. ¹³When the Lord saw her, he felt sorry for her, and told her not to cry. ¹⁴He went and touched the bier, and the pall bearers stopped. He said, “Young man, get up.” ¹⁵The dead boy sat up and started to talk, and Jesus gave him to his mother. ¹⁶Fear gripped them all, and they glorified God: “A great prophet has arisen among us; God has visited his people.” ¹⁷News about him spread all over Judaea and the surrounding countryside.

John’s Question and Jesus’ Comments on John

(Mt 11:2-19; Lk 7:18-35)

¹⁸John’s disciples reported to him in prison what Messiah was doing. He called two of them ¹⁹and sent a question to the Lord, “Are you the one that’s coming, or are we supposed to wait for somebody else?” ²⁰The men went to Jesus, “John the Baptist sent us to ask you, ‘Are you the One that’s coming, or are we supposed to wait for somebody else?’”

²¹At the time, Jesus was healing people from sicknesses, afflictions, and evil spirits, and granting sight to a number of blind people. ²²He answered them, “Go tell John what you see: the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor are hearing the good news. ²³Blessed is the one that’s not disappointed in me.”

²⁴After John’s messengers left, he said to the crowd,

“What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed waving in the wind? ²⁵What did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? People dressed in expensive clothes and living in luxury are in palaces. ²⁶“What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, and more than a prophet. ²⁷This is the one the scripture refers to,

‘I’LL SEND MY MESSENGER BEFORE YOU

TO PREPARE your ROAD AHEAD OF YOU’ [Mal 3:1].

²⁸Nobody ever born is greater than John, but the least in God’s kingdom is greater than he is.” 12From John’s time till now, aggressive people have been trying to bring in the kingdom of heaven by force. ¹³All the prophets and the law prophesied till John. ¹⁴If you’re willing to accept it, he is the Elijah that’s to come. ¹⁵Whoever has ears, let him hear.

²⁹When the people and the tax collectors heard that, they acknowledged God’s righteous requirements, because they had John baptize them. ³⁰But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s intentions for them by not having him baptize them.

31“What are people like today? ³²They’re like kids sitting in a marketplace, calling to one another:

‘We played a flute for you;

you didn’t dance.

We sang a funeral song;

you didn’t cry.’

³³John the Baptist came, not eating bread or drinking wine, and you say, ‘He’s got a demon.’ ³⁴The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘A glutton and a drunk, a pal of tax collectors and sinners.’ ³⁵Wisdom becomes obvious from what it produces.”

Cities Denounced for Unbelief: The Great Invitation

(Mt 11:20-30)

²⁰He began to denounce the towns where many of his miracles happened, because they didn’t repent.

²¹“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that happened in you had happened in Tyre and Sidon, they would’ve repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. ²²It’ll be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on judgment day than for you.

²³“And Capernaum, you won’t rise up to heaven, will you? You’ll go down to hell. If the miracles that took place in you had happened in Sodom, it would’ve remained till today. ²⁴On judgment day it’ll be more bearable for the area around Sodom than for you.”

²⁵Then Jesus said,

“I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from the wise and intelligent, and revealing them to infants. ²⁶Yes, Father, you delighted in doing it that way.”

²⁷“The Father has handed everything over to me, and nobody knows the Son but the Father, and nobody knows the Father but the Son and whoever the Son wants to reveal him to.

²⁸“Come to me, you that labor and are overloaded; I’ll give you rest. ²⁹Put my yoke on, and learn from me. I’m gentle and humble, and you’ll find relief. ³⁰My yoke fits right, and my load is light.”

In the House of Simon the Pharisee

(Lk 7:36-50)

³⁶A Pharisee invited Jesus to eat with him. He went in the Pharisee’s house and sat down. ³⁷A woman of ill repute in town learned Jesus was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house. She brought an alabaster cruise of ointment, and ³⁸stood behind him at his feet crying. She started to wet his feet with her tears, wipe them with her hair, kiss them, and anoint them with the ointment. ³⁹When the Pharisee saw it, he thought to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he’d know who she is and what kind of woman is touching him—a prostitute.”

⁴⁰Jesus responded, “Simon, a question.”

“What’s that, Rabbi?”

⁴¹“A money lender had two clients that owned him money. One owed five hundred denarii; the other owed fifty. ⁴²When they couldn’t pay him back, he forgave them both. Which loved him more?”

⁴³“I suppose the one he forgave more.”

Jesus said, “That’s right.”

⁴⁴He turned to the woman and said to Simon,

“You see this woman? I came in your house; you didn’t give me any water, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵You didn’t give me a kiss, but from the time she got here she’s been kissing my feet. ⁴⁶You didn’t anoint my head with olive oil, but she anointed my feet with perfumed ointment. ⁴⁷So, I’ve forgiven her many sins because she loved a lot. The one forgiven little loves little.”

⁴⁸He told her, “I’ve forgiven your sins.”

⁴⁹The ones reclining at table with him started saying to themselves, “Who is this that forgives sins?”

⁵⁰He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”