Luke 7

¹ When he had come to the end of al he wanted the people to hear, he went into Capernaum.

² A centurion there had a servant, a favourite of his, who was sick and near death.

³ Having heard about Jesus he sent some Jewish elders to him to ask him to come and heal his servant.

⁴ When they came to Jesus they pleaded earnestly with him saying, 'He deserves this of you,

⁵ because he is wel disposed towards our people; he built us our synagogue himself.'

⁶ So Jesus went with them, and was not very far from the house when the centurion sent word to him bysome friends to say to him, 'Sir, do not put yourself to any trouble because I am not worthy to have you under myroof;

⁷ and that is why I did not presume to come to you myself; let my boy be cured by your giving the word.

⁸ For I am under authority myself, and have soldiers under me; and I say to one man, "Go," and he goes;to another, "Come here," and he comes; to my servant, "Do this," and he does it.'

⁹ When Jesus heard these words he was astonished at him and, turning round, said to the crowdfol owing him, 'I tel you, not even in Israel have I found faith as great as this.'

¹⁰ And when the messengers got back to the house they found the servant in perfect health.

¹¹ It happened that soon afterwards he went to a town cal ed Nain, accompanied by his disciples and agreat number of people.

¹² Now when he was near the gate of the town there was a dead man being carried out, the only son ofhis mother, and she was a widow. And a considerable number of the townspeople was with her.

¹³ When the Lord saw her he felt sorry for her and said to her, 'Don't cry.'

¹⁴ Then he went up and touched the bier and the bearers stood stil , and he said, 'Young man, I tel you:get up.'

¹⁵ And the dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him to his mother.

¹⁶ Everyone was fil ed with awe and glorified God saying, 'A great prophet has risen up among us; Godhas visited his people.'

¹⁷ And this view of him spread throughout Judaea and al over the countryside.

¹⁸ The disciples of John gave him al this news, and John, summoning two of his disciples,

¹⁹ sent them to the Lord to ask, 'Are you the one who is to come, or are we to expect someone else?'

²⁰ When the men reached Jesus they said, 'John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, "Are you the onewho is to come or are we to expect someone else?" '

²¹ At that very time he cured many people of diseases and afflictions and of evil spirits, and gave the giftof sight to many who were blind.

²² Then he gave the messengers their answer, 'Go back and tel John what you have seen and heard:the blind see again, the lame walk, those suffering from virulent skin-diseases are cleansed, and the deaf hear,the dead are raised to life, the good news is proclaimed to the poor;

²³ and blessed is anyone who does not find me a cause of fal ing.'

²⁴ When John's messengers had gone he began to talk to the people about John,

²⁵ 'What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swaying in the breeze? No! Then what did you goout to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? Look, those who go in magnificent clothes and live luxuriously are tobe found at royal courts!

²⁶ Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet:

²⁷ he is the one of whom scripture says: Look, I am going to send my messenger in front of you toprepare your way before you.

²⁸ 'I tel you, of al the children born to women, there is no one greater than John; yet the least in thekingdom of God is greater than he.'

²⁹ Al the people who heard him, and the tax col ectors too, acknowledged God's saving justice byaccepting baptism from John;

³⁰ but by refusing baptism from him the Pharisees and the lawyers thwarted God's plan for them.

³¹ 'What comparison, then, can I find for the people of this generation? What are they like?

³² They are like children shouting to one another while they sit in the market place: We played the pipesfor you, and you wouldn't dance; we sang dirges, and you wouldn't cry.

³³ 'For John the Baptist has come, not eating bread, not drinking wine, and you say, "He is possessed."

³⁴ The Son of man has come, eating and drinking, and you say, "Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friendof tax col ectors and sinners."

³⁵ Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.'

³⁶ One of the Pharisees invited him to a meal. When he arrived at the Pharisee's house and took hisplace at table,

³⁷ suddenly a woman came in, who had a bad name in the town. She had heard he was dining with thePharisee and had brought with her an alabaster jar of ointment.

³⁸ She waited behind him at his feet, weeping, and her tears fel on his feet, and she wiped them awaywith her hair; then she covered his feet with kisses and anointed them with the ointment.

³⁹ When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, 'If this man were a prophet, hewould know who this woman is and what sort of person it is who is touching him and what a bad name she has.'

⁴⁰ Then Jesus took him up and said, 'Simon, I have something to say to you.' He replied, 'Say on,Master.'

⁴¹ 'There was once a creditor who had two men in his debt; one owed him five hundred denari , the otherfifty.

⁴² They were unable to pay, so he let them both off. Which of them wil love him more?'

⁴³ Simon answered, 'The one who was let off more, I suppose.' Jesus said, 'You are right.'

⁴⁴ Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, 'You see this woman? I came into your house, andyou poured no water over my feet, but she has poured out her tears over my feet and wiped them away with herhair.

⁴⁵ You gave me no kiss, but she has been covering my feet with kisses ever since I came in.

⁴⁶ You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

⁴⁷ For this reason I tel you that her sins, many as they are, have been forgiven her, because she hasshown such great love. It is someone who is forgiven little who shows little love.'

⁴⁸ Then he said to her, 'Your sins are forgiven.'

⁴⁹ Those who were with him at table began to say to themselves, 'Who is this man, that even forgivessins?'

⁵⁰ But he said to the woman, 'Your faith has saved you; go in peace.'