What a Chapter! First there was the servant who was so faithful and diligent, so trustworthy that he inspired his master to seek a healing for him. There was the centurion, a Roman soldier who had first learned to follow so that he could lead, so caring of a servant that he was willing to seek help from an itinerant Jewish teacher.
Then there was a dead man made alive and given back to his widowed mother. And John the Baptist, in prison for his outspokenness, and his disciples, turning their attention from the one who led the way, to the Chosen One sent by God to lead all.
Last there was a meal with the self-righteous religious and the town sinner. And in the middle of it all walked one man, Jesus the Christ. His reactions to those He encounters in Luke 7 touch my soul.
First, he was amazed at the centurion’s faith, “I tell you I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” And He healed the centurion’s servant.
Next, He was touched by the grief in a widowed mother at the loss of her only son, “his heart went out to her and he said, ‘Don’t cry.’” And He raised the dead.
Then He greets the disciples of His cousin John, and declares to the crowd, “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.” And He sent encouragement and peace to the troubled.
Last, He’s confronted by a self-righteous Pharisee and courageously loved by a sinful woman. And He taught a lesson to the self-righteous Pharisee and forgave the sins of the woman.
Jesus loved people. Every person who came to Him received exactly what they needed from His Hand, healing, confirmation of faith, comfort, restoration, reassurance, encouragement, admonition, or forgiveness
We are no different from these people in Luke 7, when we come to the Lord, He treats us as individuals with individual needs and desires. He meets us where we are. Thank you, Lord.
