A Roman military officer who has never met Jesus sends word that he doesn’t even need Jesus to show up in person — just say the word, from wherever He is standing, and it will be enough. A funeral procession runs straight into Jesus on the road, and a grieving mother gets her only son back alive before the burial ever happens. A prisoner in Herod’s dungeon, uncertain even now whether he backed the right man, sends two friends to ask Jesus to His face. And a woman with a reputation the whole town already knows crashes a dinner party thrown by a man who despises her kind, and washes Jesus’s feet with her own tears in front of every guest at the table.
A study in Luke 7 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 23 min read
I Have Not Found So Great Faith
This site’s own study of Matthew 8 already told the centurion’s story in full.
“Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof: … but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.”
Luke 7:6-7
“The centurion did not question the Saviour’s power. He did not even ask Him to come in person to perform the miracle.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 315
“When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.”
Luke 7:9
A Gentile soldier, outside the covenant, outside the law, outside everything the Jewish elders standing beside him could claim — and it is his faith Jesus holds up as the standard the whole nation has yet to reach.
Young Man, I Say Unto Thee, Arise
“And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people. Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.”
Luke 7:11-12
“As they draw near, a funeral train is seen coming from the gates. With slow, sad steps it is proceeding to the place of burial. … The deceased was the only son of his mother, and she a widow. The lonely mourner was following to the grave her sole earthly support and comfort.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 318
Two crowds meet head-on at the city gate — one following Jesus toward Nain, hoping for something, the other carrying a dead man out of it, hoping for nothing at all.
“And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.”
Luke 7:13-15
“‘He came and touched the bier;’ to Him even contact with death could impart no defilement. … In clear, authoritative voice the words are spoken, ‘Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.’ That voice pierces the ears of the dead. The young man opens his eyes.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 318
No request is made of Jesus here. No one asks Him to intervene, the way the centurion did or the way a ruler of the synagogue will later fall at His feet. He simply sees a widow’s grief, and acts, before she has even noticed He is there.
“And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people. And this rumour of him went forth throughout all Judæa, and throughout all the region round about.”
Luke 7:16-17
“He who stood beside the sorrowing mother at the gate of Nain, watches with every mourning one beside the bier. He is touched with sympathy for our grief. His heart, that loved and pitied, is a heart of unchangeable tenderness. His word, that called the dead to life, is no less efficacious now than when spoken to the young man of Nain.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 319
This is the second time in three chapters Luke has shown Jesus meeting death directly — and it will not be the last. The word that raised the young man of Nain is the same word every believer is promised will one day be spoken over their own grave.
Art Thou He That Should Come
This site’s own study of Matthew 11 already told in full what happens next, so this study keeps it brief.
“And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another? … Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.”
Luke 7:19, 22
“The works of Christ not only declared Him to be the Messiah, but showed in what manner His kingdom was to be established.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 217
John, from a prison cell, does not get a private assurance whispered just to him. He gets an answer built entirely out of what his own messengers can see with their own eyes and report back faithfully.
“For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
Luke 7:28
Luke closes this section with a detail Matthew’s own account of the same day does not include — a note on how differently the ordinary people and the religious leaders responded to John’s ministry.
“And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him.”
Luke 7:29-30
Her Sins, Which Are Many, Are Forgiven
“And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat. And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.”
Luke 7:36-38
“Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.”
Luke 7:39
Ellen White’s own account in The Desire of Ages identifies this woman as Mary, and places this same conversation — word for word — in the house of Simon the leper at Bethany, shortly before the crucifixion, a scene already told in full in this site’s own study of Mark 14. There the questioning host is named directly.
“By curing Simon of leprosy, Christ had saved him from a living death. But now Simon questioned whether the Saviour were a prophet.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 566
Only Luke records the small parable Jesus answers him with — a scene that appears nowhere else in any Gospel.
“There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.”
Luke 7:41-43
“Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. … And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.”
Luke 7:47-48, 50
Simon had invited Jesus to dinner as an honor he was granting. He leaves the story having received, without asking for it, a diagnosis of exactly what was wrong with his own heart — that the size of a debt forgiven is measured not by what a man has done, but by how much he loves the One who canceled it.
