Washing Jesus Feet

LUKE — LESSON 7

Scripture for this lesson will be taken from Luke 7 and Matthew 11.

In Luke chapter 6, Jesus was in Galilee going from town to town teaching the people and healing the sick and afflicted. He is still in Galilee and at the beginning of chapter 7, He is in the town of Capernaum on the northwest coast of the Sea of Galilee.

[Luke 7:1-8] When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. 2 There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3 The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” 6 So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

This passage is very interesting and shows us a lot about the social society in Galilee at that time. A Roman centurion was a man who had 100 Roman soldiers under his authority. He was not likely a Roman citizen himself because the Roman army was made up of hired mercenaries until after 44 AD and these events occurred in the 30’s AD. The centurion had heard about Jesus healing people and he sent some Jewish elders to ask Jesus to come and heal his servant. These men are likely members of the synagogue that the centurion had built for them and were probably what they called, “God fearers.” God fearers were men who were gentiles but knew about the God of Israel and believed but were not Jewish Proselytes. The centurion understood that Jews did not socialize with Gentiles, so he sent Jewish elders to speak to Jesus and he believed that as a Jew, Jesus would not want to enter a Gentile’s home. Out of respect for these beliefs, he simply asked Jesus to speak the words that his servant would be healed and he would be healed. Being an officer who commanded 100 men, he understood authority and he believed that Jesus had the power and authority to command a person to be healed and it would be done even from a distance, that Jesus could just say it and the servant would be healed.

[Luke 7:9-10] (9) When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” (10) Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

Jesus is amazed at the faith of the gentile Centurion. He is the Messiah that the Jews have been waiting for and praying that He would come for hundreds of years. They had all the Old Testament scriptures telling about Him, yet they had no where near the faith nor the understanding of Jesus’ power that this gentile Roman soldier had. Jesus honored the Centurion’s faith and healed his servant. This instance of healing is a little different from what Jesus usually did. A person was healed because of their faith but this time the servant was healed because of his master’s faith.

[Luke 7:11-17] (11) Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with Him. As He approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out — the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. (13) When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.” (14) Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” (15) The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. (16) They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” (17) This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.

Jesus left Capernaum and went to Nain which lies southwest of Capernaum. As Jesus and the people following Him interred the town gate there was a funeral procession going out. They were carrying the body on a bier with the family, friends and mourners following. The woman’s husband had previously died and this was her only son. In that time there were very few ways for a woman to survive without a man in her family so the death of her son was devastating for this woman. Jesus felt her despair and had compassion for her. His tender and caring words, “don’t cry,” are so precious. Jesus then touched the bier and told the man to get up. As the people watched with wonder, they called Jesus a great prophet, recalling the Old Covenant prophets Elijah and Elisha who had both raised the dead. Jesus’ fame grew all over Judea and Galilee.

[Luke 7:18-27] (18) John’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, (19) he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else? (20) When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’” (21) At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. (22) So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. (23) Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” (24) After John’s messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? (25) If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces. (26) But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. (27) This is the one about whom it is written: “‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’

John the Baptist was in prison in a place called Machaerus on the east side of the Jordan River. John had been preaching against Herod Antipas the ruler over that region, because he had married his niece and his brother, Phillip’s wife. This was against Jewish law. Herod had John arrested to shut him up. John had baptized Jesus and seen the Holy Spirit descend upon Him, but John, like all the Jews were expecting the Messiah to establish His kingdom on earth when He came. They were looking for the Messiah to build an army, overthrow the Romans and establish the kingdom of Israel like it was in the time of King David. Jesus was not doing that. John was having doubts and possibly thought Jesus would come and rescue him from prison. Jesus told the men who had come from John to go back and tell him what they had seen, what Jesus’ ministry was about. To tell John that Jesus was healing the sick, the blind, the lame, those with leprosy, the deaf and raising the dead to life again.

Then Jesus made an odd statement: “Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” [Luke 7:23] Jesus had not at this time publicly admitted that He was the Messiah, but many of the people believed that He was. I think that Jesus was telling them not to lose faith because His ministry was not what they had expected. After John’s messengers left Jesus affirmed John’s ministry. He plainly stated that John the Baptist was the prophet who was foretold to announce to the Jews that the Messiah had come. But the Jews were looking for Elijah to come because of the scripture from Malachi 4:5: “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.”

Matthew tells us a little bit more about this than Luke does.

[Matthew 11:11-15] (11) Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. (12) From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it. (13) For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. (14) And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. (15) Whoever has ears, let them hear.

God had not sent a prophet to Israel in over 400 years, the time between Malachi and Matthew. John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament prophets. Jesus plainly states here John was Elijah. Most people accept that John was sent in the spirit and power of Elijah to fulfill this mission. But Jesus was saying that the prophecy from Isaiah had been fulfilled by John the Baptist.

[Isaiah 40:3] (3) A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

[Luke 7:28] (28) I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

The kingdom that Jesus came to establish is a spiritual kingdom, not earthly kingdom. John the Baptist was of the Old Covenant. Jesus stated that John was the greatest of men to be born of a woman. Those who are born in spirit through the blood of Jesus Christ into the Kingdom of God are greater than John the Baptist.

[Luke 7:29-35] (29) All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words, acknowledged that God’s way was right, because they had been baptized by John. (30) But the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John. (31) Jesus went on to say, “To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? (32) They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other: “‘We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.’ (33) For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ (34) The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ (35) But wisdom is proved right by all her children.”

Many of Jesus’ followers had previously been followers of John the Baptist and were baptized by him. These followers accepted and believed Jesus’ words but the Jewish religious leaders that were following Jesus around continued to find something to use against Him. Jesus said of John, he did not drink wine nor eat bread and they called him a demon. John was a nazarite from birth which meant that he never drank wine. He was different and they did not accept him as a prophet of God. Jesus the Messiah came and he drank wine and ate with sinners and they called Him a drunkard and a sinner. Those doing the judging were not wise which time would prove.

[Luke 7:36-39] (36) When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. (37) A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. (38) As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. (39) When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is — that she is a sinner.”

The identity of the Pharisee whose home Jesus was invited to dinner is unknown except from verse-40 where Jesus addresses him as Simon. The sinful woman is sometimes identified as Mary Magdalene, but there is absolutely no evidence for that. The woman is only stated to be a well known as a sinner, which most interpret to mean she was perhaps a prostitute. When she washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair and put perfume on his feet, her actions reflected extreme care and humility. The story is very similar to the story of Mary, the sister of Lazarus’s at Bethany, when she wiped Jesus’ feet with her hair. This incident with the sinful woman appears to have taken place in Galilee. Mary and Martha and Lazarus lived in Bethany near Jerusalem in Judea. The point is that the Pharisee invited Jesus probably to try to learn more about Him and possibly to find something to use against Him. The sinful woman’s actions were done out of love and respect for Jesus, a marked contrast between the Pharisee and the sinful woman.

[Luke 7:40-50] (40) Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. (41) “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. (42) Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” (43) Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. (44) Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. (45) You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. (46) You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. (47) Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven — as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” (48) Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” (49) The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” (50) Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Jesus turned to Simon and told him a parable about two people who owed a man some money. One owed ten times as much as the other. When neither of the parties could pay their debt, the man forgave them both their debt. The Jesus asked Simon which of the debtors would love the man the most. The obvious answer was the one who had owed the most money.

If one of the Jewish religious leaders, a priest or an important Rabbi of that day such as Gamaliel had come to Simon’s house he would have had a servant to wash their feet, greeted them with a kiss and had their head anointed with oil. Men greeting other men with a cheek kiss is still a custom in some eastern European countries. These acts were done by a gracious host for an important and respected guest. But Simon did none of these things for Jesus. That tells us that Simon did not really accept Jesus as a true prophet of God. Simon, the Pharisee judged himself to be righteous and the woman sinful. Jesus judged the woman to be sinful, but because she knew she was a sinner but believed in Jesus, her sins were forgiven. Simon did not recognize himself to be a sinner; therefore his sins were not forgiven. Other guests at the dinner began to question who Jesus was and why He could forgive sins. Only God can forgive sins. Then Jesus told the woman she had been saved by her faith, to go in peace.

What we can learn from Luke 7:

The focal lesson from this passage is forgiveness. The question is what keeps people from seeking forgiveness from Jesus today?

1. They don’t believe in God or Jesus.

2. Pride, lack of humility.

3. They think they have to get their lives straight before they can ask for forgiveness.

4. They can’t forgiveness themselves, therefore they don’t deserve forgiveness.

Jesus loves us the way we are. All we have to do is recognize our sin, repent and ask for forgiveness.

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