Luke 7
COMMENTARY:
: 9 When Jesus heard these things, HE marveled at him, and turned HIM about, and said to the people that followed HIM, I say to you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. (4102 “faith” [pistis] means strong confidence in, reliance on, to believe in, trust, trustworthiness, honesty, proof, doctrine, belief in the Gospel or a state of certainty with regard to belief.)
DEVOTION: One of the great characteristics of Jesus was HIS honesty. HE said what HE meant. No one could doubt HE had a standard that needed to be met by everyman. HE didn’t have favorites. The standard was fixed.
HE didn’t have a different standard for the children of Israel and the Gentiles. HE wanted each to have faith in HIM. HE wanted them both to trust HIM. However, HE spent the majority of HIS ministry to the children of Israel. HE would only occasionally visit with Gentiles. HE, in fact, told the women who wanted her child healed that HE was only sent to the children of Israel. She stated that even the dogs get the crumbs that fell from the masters table. HE was amazed at her faith.
Now we have him helping a Gentile Centurion soldier. The soldier told Jesus that he wasn’t worthy to have HIM come into his house. He just wanted the LORD to say the word and his servant would be healed. This honor give to HIM made HIM make this statement found in this verse.
The Centurion’s faith was greater than the faith that HE had seen in all of Israel. This really says something. The children of Israel had the Old Testament and the prophets to teach them what faith was all about. However, the religious leaders of the days of Jesus were not teaching the truth. They were making their own rules for the common people to follow while they didn’t follow them themselves. They were hypocrites and Jesus called them on it.
CHALLENGE: True followers of the LORD will know the standard HE had set for them and are trying to follow it.
: 30 But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him. (114 “rejected” [atheteo] means despise, bring to nothing, disannul, cast off, refuse, set aside or regard as invalid.)
DEVOTION: The false religious leaders were not concerned with what John the Baptist said or what Jesus was saying regarding their relationship to the commands of God. They thought they were the authority and no one was going to tell them different.
We have people today who think that they are the final authority on what the Bible teaches. They are not concerned with sound doctrine but what they are teaching. Once anyone gets to the point where they think they are always right God doesn’t need to be involved.
Can you imagine telling God HE is wrong? There are many believers who think that they know exactly how God would act in a given situation. There are believers who think that they know the will of God for other believers. Warning regarding people who think they are gifted in a special area when those who are mature in the faith tell them that they don’t see the gift. That individual should listen to counsel. We have many men who think that they are gifted for ministry when in reality they should be plowing corn not preaching Christ.
There are many Christians or those who claim to be Christians who think that they can pick and choose which beliefs they will obey and which ones they will not obey. The Pharisees were a group that told everyone else what to do but wouldn’t do it themselves. They had a double standard. They had one standard for those who were in leadership and one for the common folks.
Jesus complimented the ministry of John the Baptist because he was preparing the way for HIS ministry. John lived as a prophet in the wilderness while Jesus taught in the city. Both ministries were of God. The Pharisees claims that John sinned in his lifestyle and that Christ sinned in HIS lifestyle. One of them should have been right but neither was in the eyes of the false religious leaders who always got it right.
CHALLENGE: Watch that you are not regarding as invalid teaching that comes from the Word of God. Identify the true counsel of God and follow it.
: 34 The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and you say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! (5314 “gluttonous” [phagos] means a voracious man, a person who is devoted to eating and drinking to excess, or a person who habitually eats excessively.)
DEVOTION: Habits come under the control of Jesus once become a follower of HIM. There are good habits and bad habits. The Pharisees gave instruction regarding what habits were good and which were bad.
They thought it was OK to cheat parents out of help from their children as long as the children kept giving their money to the synagogue. They said they could tell their parents all their money was dedicated to the LORD and so they didn’t have any to help their parents when they were in need.
They thought that most of the activities of worship should be done in public so people could praise them right away. God said they had their reward already on earth and would get none in heaven.
Here the Pharisees accused Jesus of two sins. HE was accused of being a glutton or eating too much food. Remember that HE fasted at times but the Pharisees fasted twice a week to be seen of men. They thought all truly religious leaders fasted twice a week and they didn’t see Jesus do that regularly. HE did fast forty days and nights before HIS temptation and we don’t hear of them doing it for that long. So HE ate too often for them.
The second accusation they had against Jesus was that He drank too much wine. HIS first miracle was to turn water into wine at a wedding. HE did sit down and drink wine with those who invited HIM to dinner. I believe it is better not to drink strong drink for the testimony of others and to be sure you don’t come under the influence of it. The Bible teaches that being drunk is a sin.
The third accusation against Jesus was that HE was a friend of tax collectors or publicans and sinners. They were a class of people that the Pharisees didn’t want to be around. They were not in their social status group. They were a group of religious leaders who had respect of persons. Jesus didn’t have respect of persons and those who follow HIM should not be a respecter of persons. Any class of people needs to be reached by believers. In India there is a group that is called Untouchables. They are the lowest in the Caste system in India. Those in other classes are not to do anything with them. The Pharisees had a caste system too.
We are not to have a caste system. We are to reach everyone in our world no matter what class. We are to help the poor and rich alike find their spot in the service of the King. We are not here to judge people – we are here to reach people.
CHALLENGE: It is not what people say about us but what the LORD says about us. HE knows our hearts and our actions.
: 39 Now when the Pharisees which had bidden him saw it, he spoke within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet would have known who and what manner of woman this is that touches him; for she is a sinner. (268 “sinner” [hamartolos] means devoted to sin, not free from sin, pre-eminently sinful, especially wicked, or heathen.)
DEVOTION: I just spoke at a funeral where I taught on the four different types of ground where seeds are planted. The first three grounds were liked to those who are unsaved. There are two grounds that are religious but unsaved: Stony and Thorny. The thorny ground was compared to those who are religious and legalistic. They are the Pharisees in the church. They have a lot of external rules to follow but are not internally changed to please the LORD. These individuals think that they are not sinners.
Jesus was invited to the home of a Pharisee. Remember the Pharisees were the religious leaders of the day. They made all kinds of rules that they called tradition. They were better than those around them in their own eyes. They were not devoted to sin. They thought they were perfect.
Jesus instructed them differently. HE is at a dinner with Pharisees and his disciples. A woman came into the house and washed Jesus feet. She was a woman who they thought was devoted to sin or a heathen. She was not fit to be in a Pharisee’s house. She was not fit to wash Jesus’ feet. The host knew what she was. The people at the feast knew what she was. Do we think that Jesus didn’t know what type of woman she was? HE did.
HE gave a parable to show why she was washing his feet. The parable was about two people who owed a debt to a creditor. One owed a lot and the other less. Jesus asked the question: “Tell ME therefore which of them will love him most?” The Pharisee, Simon, answered “the one forgiven most.” Jesus said it was the right answer.
She was forgiven much. The Pharisees thought they didn’t need forgiveness. Which camp are we in today? Do we appreciate what the LORD has forgiven us for today? How do we show our appreciation? How do we treat those who have sinned much? Do we look down on them like the Pharisees?
We are still people who sin each day. God has forgiven us of our sins. We should sin less, the closer we get to living the Christian life the way we are commanded. However, even we have times when we sin more than others even after we have learned more.
We need to be a forgiving people, if we want the LORD to forgive us and answer our prayers.
CHALLENGE: Help someone who is considered a terrible sinner that has become a follower of Christ. More than likely they are poor and in need of help. Even a bag of groceries would encourage them in the LORD. If you don’t know someone – ask your pastor if he knows a family like that.
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