Luke 7–8

Jesus Heals a Centurion’s Slave

⁷After Jesus^w had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.^{* 2}A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly and who was ill and close to death. ³When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave. ⁴When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, ⁵for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us.” ⁶And Jesus went with them, but when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; ⁷therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed. ⁸For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me, and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.” ⁹When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and, turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”^{* 10}When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

Jesus Raises the Widow’s Son at Nain

¹¹Soon afterward^x he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him.^{* 12}As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow, and with her was a large crowd from the town. ¹³When the Lord saw her, he was moved with compassion for her and said to her, “Do not cry.”^{* 14}Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stopped. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!”^{* 15}The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus^y gave him to his mother. ¹⁶Fear seized all of them, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us!” and “God has visited his people!”^{* 17}This word about him spread throughout the whole of Judea and all the surrounding region.

Messengers from John the Baptist

¹⁸The disciples of John reported all these things to him. So John summoned two of his disciples ¹⁹and sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to expect someone else?” ²⁰When the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to expect someone else?’ ” ²¹Jesus^z had just then cured many people of diseases, afflictions, and evil spirits and had given sight to many who were blind.^{* 22}And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight; the lame walk; those with a skin disease are cleansed; the deaf hear; the dead are raised; the poor have good news brought to them.^{* 23}And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

²⁴When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus^a began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? ²⁵What, then, did you go out to see? Someone^b dressed in soft robes? Look, those who put on fine clothing and live in luxury are in royal palaces. ²⁶What, then, did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. ²⁷This is the one about whom it is written,

‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,

who will prepare your way before you.’

²⁸“I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John, yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” ²⁹(And all the people who heard this, including the tax collectors, acknowledged the justice of God,^c having been baptized with John’s baptism.^{* 30}But the Pharisees and the experts in the law, not having been baptized by him, rejected God’s purpose for themselves.)^*

³¹“To what, then, will I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? ³²They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another,

‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;

we wailed, and you did not weep.’

³³“For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon’;^{* 34}the Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’^{* 35}Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

A Sinful Woman Forgiven

³⁶One of the Pharisees asked Jesus^d to eat with him, and when he went into the Pharisee’s house he reclined to dine.^{* 37}And a woman in the city who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. ³⁸She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair, kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. ³⁹Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.”^{* 40}Jesus spoke up and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Teacher,” he replied, “speak.” ⁴¹“A certain moneylender had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.^{* 42}When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?” ⁴³Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And Jesus^e said to him, “You have judged rightly.” ⁴⁴Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.^{* 45}You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.^{* 47}Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven loves little.” ⁴⁸Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”^{* 49}But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” ⁵⁰But he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”^*

Some Women Accompany Jesus

⁸Soon afterward he went on through one town and village after another, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him,^{* 2}as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,^{* 3}and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who ministered to them^f out of their own resources.

The Parable of the Sower

⁴When a large crowd was gathering, as people were coming to him from town after town, he said in a parable: ⁵“A sower went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed some fell on a path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. ⁶Some fell on rock, and as it grew up it withered for lack of moisture. ⁷Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. ⁸Some fell into good soil, and when it grew it produced a hundredfold.” As he said this, he called out, “If you have ears to hear, then hear!”^*

The Purpose of the Parables

⁹Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant.^{* 10}He said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets^g of the kingdom of God, but to others I speak^h in parables, so that

‘looking they may not perceive

and hearing they may not understand.’

The Parable of the Sower Explained

¹¹“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.^{* 12}The ones on the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. ¹³The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe only for a while and in a time of testing fall away. ¹⁴As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. ¹⁵But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with endurance.

A Lamp under a Jar

¹⁶“No one after lighting a lamp hides it under a jar or puts it under a bed; rather, one puts it on a lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light.^{* 17}For nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed, nor is anything secret that will not become known and come to light.^{* 18}So pay attention to how you listen, for to those who have, more will be given, and from those who do not have, even what they seem to have will be taken away.”^*

The True Kindred of Jesus

¹⁹Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. ²⁰And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” ²¹But he said to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”^*

Jesus Calms a Storm

²²One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they put out,^{* 23}and while they were sailing he fell asleep. A windstorm swept down on the lake, and the boat was filling with water, and they were in danger. ²⁴They went to him and woke him up, shouting, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And waking up, he rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was a calm.^{* 25}Then he said to them, “Where is your faith?” They were terrified and amazed and said to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water and they obey him?”

Jesus Heals the Gerasene Demoniac

²⁶Then they arrived at the region of the Gerasenes,ⁱ which is opposite Galilee. ²⁷As he stepped out on shore, a man from the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had not worn^j any clothes, and he did not live…