The Gospel according to Luke (7)
6:24 to 7:28

    The woes mentioned by the Lord Jesus in this context 
are in the nature of a warning to His disciples of the things 
of this life that can cause them to go astray and become 
unfaithful and unfruitful.  Prosperity can so often be bought 
by disloyalty to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures.  This 
can result in a false security, self-indulgence and being 
wholly occupied with the things of the present, and then the 
future accountability to God is forgotten.

    A faithful following of the Lord by a disciple would 
often lead to poverty with all its tests and shortages.  It 
could lead to unpopularity and loneliness.  A faithful 
disciple was never likely to obtain universal popularity.  
'Woe to you when all men speak well of you' Christ 
warned (verse 26).  Should a servant get different treatment 
from His Master?  He would be rejected, and the disciple 
must not be surprised if he gets the same treatment.  On the 
other hand popularity can be obtained by agreeing with 
everybody and pleasing them.  Many a minister gets his 
popularity by giving the congregation what they want, 
rather than what they need, that is the truth of God's 
Word.  The apostle Paul foretells and warns that, at the end 
of this age, people will not put up with sound doctrine, but 
will gather around themselves teachers who will say what 
their itching ears want to hear (2 Tim. 4:3,4), which 
certainly is not the truth.

    This will probably result in the praise of men now, but 
rejection by the Lord, the righteous Judge, of all service 
and witness in the future life.  Christ now shows what the 
disciples' attitude must be to their enemies.  There must 
never be rendering evil for evil.  Rather love must be 
rendered for evil suffered.  If money is lent, repayment must 
not be expected.  Unbelievers can lend money if they get 
repaid; there is no virtue in this.
    
    'But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them 
without expecting to get anything back.  Then your reward will be 
great, and you will be the sons of the Most High, because He is 
kind to the ungrateful and wicked.  Be merciful, just as your 
Father is merciful' (verses 35,36 N.I.V.).

    God's reward is stressed again and such will be 
evidently in their conduct 'sons of the Most High'.  This 
teaching concerning enemies is not confined to the Sermon 
on the Mount.  The apostle Paul does not hesitate to 
include it in the practical section of Romans:
    
    'Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Do 
not repay anyone evil for evil. If your enemy is hungry, feed him; 
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. Do not be overcome 
by evil, but overcome evil with good' (Rom. 12:14-21 N.I.V.).

    The Apostle is definitely basing this teaching on the 
Sermon on the Mount.  All is really summed up in the 
Golden Rule, 'Do to others as you would have them do to 
you' (Luke 6:31).  Other teachers, such as Philo and 
Confucius, could see that this was ideal conduct of man to 
men, but none of them could give others the necessary 
wisdom and strength to keep it!

    The next thing that Christ deals with is criticism.  The 
verb krino, to separate, gives us in English critic, criticism, 
criticize, discriminate and is often translated 'judge' in the 
Authorized Version.  The Lord's command here is 'Do not 
criticize' and by this He does not mean that we are not to 
form opinions, or fail to recognize what is right and wrong 
judged from the standpoint of the Scriptures, but we must 
not become censorious, and harshly assess other people's 
thoughts or ways.  Why?  Because we are far from perfect 
ourselves and if we do it, it is nothing more than one sinner 
criticizing another sinner.

    Possibly this is the most common failing among 
Christians and has always been so.  Paul states in Romans 
2:1 :
    
    'O for wherein thou judgest (criticize) another, thou 
condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest (criticize) doest the same 
things' (A.V.).
    
    'Who are you to judge (criticize) someone else's servant?  To 
his own master he stands or falls' (Rom. 14:4 N.I.V.).
    
    'You, then, why do you judge (criticize) your brother? O For 
we will all stand before God's judgment seat' (Rom. 14:10 
N.I.V.).

    And the Apostle concludes by saying:
    
    'Therefore let us stop passing judgment on (criticizing) one 
another' (Rom. 14:13 N.I.V.).

    Yet he tells us there is a form of criticism which is 
allowable, namely self-criticism, 'if we judged (criticized) 
ourselves, we would not come under judgment' (1 Cor. 
11:31), that is the Lord would not have to judge us, but 
criticizing others is usually more pleasant than criticizing 
one's self!  May we all receive the Lord's wisdom so that 
we are severe on ourselves, but loving and merciful where 
others are concerned.  This is further enforced by the 
illustration of one who can see a speck of sawdust in his 
brother's eye, but is oblivious to the plank that is in his 
own (verses 41,42), and this, said the Lord, must surely be 
removed first.  On the other hand, generosity and 
forgiveness to others will be rewarded bountifully by the 
Lord.  He will respond in 'good measure, pressed down, 
shaken together and running over' (verse 38).

    Those who do not respond in this way are 'blind' and 
when they try to teach and lead other blind people, both fall 
into a pit.  It would seem that Luke made a break at the end 
of verse 38, because he inserts 'He also told them this 
parable' (verse 39).  Luke uses the word parable some 15 
times, both for crisp proverbs and for the longer narratives.  
Christ now gives the illustration of good and bad fruit trees.  
This He gave on various occasions.  The fruit of each tree 
reveals its character.  After all, this is its final test (compare 
John 15:1-8).  A bad tree can only give bad fruit, whereas a 
good tree will surely produce good fruit.  The same idea is 
repeated in Matthew 7:16,20, 'by their fruits ye shall know 
them'.  And fruit stresses actions, not just words, and this 
great sermon is all about the practical response of the 
believer.  This is enforced in the last parable that Luke 
quotes, concluding the address, which deals with wise and 
foolish builders.  Christ asks why some people called Him 
Lord, but did not put into practice what He said?  It is not 
sufficient just to hear His words; they must be followed by 
obedience, otherwise there was no 'fruit'.  Those who 
'hear' and 'do' are likened to a builder who digs deep for 
the foundation until he reaches solid rock, so that when 
gales and floods occur, the house is not damaged in any 
way.  Those who merely hear have no such solid 
foundation.  They are on shifting earth or sand.  When the 
storms arise, the house collapses and is destroyed.  
Matthew records the same illustration and contrasts the 
building on sand and building on firm rock (Matt. 7:24-27).
Chapter 7.

    The seventh chapter begins with an account of the 
healing of the centurion's servant or slave who was 
evidently valued highly by his master (7:2).  There is a 
similar account in Matthew 8:5-13, but it is abbreviated.  
Luke gives the story in detail, but Matthew presents a 
summary.  And this probably accounts for seeming 
differences.  Centurions are uniformly pictured in the New 
Testament as men of good character (Matt. 27:54; Acts 
10:22 etc.).  This one was probably a Gentile commander in 
the forces of Herod Antipas, who kept foreign troops.  He 
had a real affection for his paralysed servant, and he loved 
the Jewish nation and had built them a synagogue.  He was 
obviously an unusual type of Roman.

    A centurion was a military officer in command of 50-100 
men, according to the size of the legion of which it was a 
sub-division.

    The outstanding point about this man was his modesty.  
He was in a position of authority and gave orders to those 
under his command.  But he evidently recognised that the 
Lord, with His wonderful teaching and power to heal, was 
greater than himself, and thus he could only request Him to 
come and help in this time of great need; he could not 
command Him.  His faith was such that he felt it was not 
necessary for Christ to see the young fellow, His word 
would be sufficient even at a distance.

    Both great faith and great unbelief caused the Lord to 
marvel (Luke 7:9; Mark 6:6), so much so that He declared 
that the centurion exhibited a faith He had not found in 
Israel!  That faith was honoured, for when the men who  
had been sent returned to the house, they found the 
paralytic boy completely cured.

    It was not long afterwards that Christ visited a town 
called Nain, which was about eight miles south-west from 
Nazareth.  As He was nearing it, a funeral approached Him.  
It was of a young man who was the only son of a widow.  
Her mourning for her only child expressed her extremity of 
grief.  She was weeping and the Lord, knowing 
immediately the whole situation, was affected.  And saying 
to her, 'Don't cry', He went up and touched the coffin to 
make the bearers stop, and it came to a stand-still.  He then 
spoke to the corpse and said:
    
    'Young man, I say to you, get up!'

    The young fellow not only sat up, but began to talk, thus 
demonstrating that he was really alive again.  Then the Lord 
Jesus gave him back to his mother.  What a marvellous gift 
that must have been to her!  No wonder all were filled with 
awe and praised God.  They said, 'God has come to help 
His people' (verses 11-16).  And again we are told that the 
Lord's fame spread throughout Judaea and the 
surrounding country.

    Such news was bound to come to the ears of the Baptist, 
languishing in the dungeon of Machaerus (Luke 3:20).  
Luke 7:18-35 runs parallel with Matthew 11:2-19.  He had 
been long enough in prison for him to begin to wonder over 
the way events were shaping.  Had he not announced over 
and over again that the heavenly kingdom was near with the 
presence of the King?  If this was so, how came it about 
that he was in prison?  He was evidently completely 
mystified and sent to Christ saying: 
    
    'Are you the One Who was to come, or should we expect 
someone else?' (verse 19).

    This was at a time when the Lord had cured many who 
had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits and given sight to 
many who were blind (verse 21).  So He said to John's 
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 
cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is 
preached to the poor.  Blessed is the man who does not fall away 
on account of Me' (verses 22,23 N.I.V.).

    We shall have difficulty in understanding this unless we 
realise the object and importance of the miracles Christ 
performed in His ministry to Israel.  Miracles of themselves 
proved nothing, for the Bible makes it clear that Satan can 
perform miracles (Rev. 13:11-15).  Rather it was that the 
Lord Jesus performed just those miracles that the Old 
Testament had predicted that Messiah would accomplish at 
His coming (Isa. 35:3-6).

    They were evidential miracles, doing this very thing, and 
so were a witness against the animosity of the religious 
leaders in their opposition and rejection.  John the Baptist 
was evidently puzzled, for he had proclaimed that the 
Messiah had arrived and the earthly kingdom was near.  So 
momentarily doubt crept in, but the Lord knew that a 
reminder about His confirmatory miracles would restore the 
Baptist.  At the same time He gave a gentle warning about 
the possibility of falling away because of the searching and 
testing quality of His claims.  The word 'offended' of the 
Authorized Version is skandalizomai, which has the double 
sense of to entrap and trip up, and as used in the New 
Testament always means causing to sin.

    As soon as the messengers returned to John, the Lord 
Jesus began His eulogy of him.  He challenged the people 
concerning him.  Did they think he was going to be like a 
reed blown this way and that by the wind?  He certainly 
was no changeable weakling!  Or was he going to be finely 
dressed as though coming from a royal palace?  Christ 
continued:
    
    'But what did you go out to see?  A prophet?  Yes, I tell you, 
and more than a prophet.  This is the one about whom it is 
written: "I will send My messenger ahead of You, who will 
prepare Your way before You."' (verses 26,27 and Mal. 3:1 
N.I.V.).
    
    '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' (verse 28 N.I.V.).

    John was indeed a prophet, that is a spokesman for God, 
a forth-teller, not necessarily foretelling the future, but 
giving God's truth.  But, the Lord said, he is more than a 
prophet, because he was at the same time forerunner of the 
Messiah, preparing the way for Him; he was Messiah's 
messenger as well.

    Yet, in spite of his greatness, one who is least in the 
kingdom of God is greater than he.  These words of the 
Lord have puzzled many, but they apparently mean that 
John was greater than all others in character, but the least in 
the kingdom of God surpasses him in privilege.  The Baptist 
is the end of one age, 'until John' (Luke 16:16), and he 
points to the beginning of the age of the Messiah.  John was 
not in the kingdom, for that was future, but anyone who 
finds his place in this kingdom attains a privilege higher 
than that which John enjoyed.

STUART ALLEN