Luke 7
This chapter, through a series of stories, looks at a single question: Who exactly is Jesus?
We begin with the centurion, whose servant is lying sick and about to die. In addition to being a centurion, he is clearly a man of considerable influence and wealth. Yet he readily acknowledges Jesus as “Lord” and professes his confidence in Jesus’ authority over disease without hardly blinking. Next, Jesus raises the widow’s son from the dead. Luke writes that the onlookers “were filled with awe and praised God, saying ‘A great prophet has appeared among us.’”
John and his disciples are the next to wonder: Is Jesus “the one”, or is it someone else? Jesus hands the question back, in the same way that he has been forcing the question on every other observer. What do you see? What do you hear? What conclusion do you draw?
Finally, we find Jesus dining at Simon’s house, when a “sinful woman” comes in and begins bawling at Jesus feet. I suspect this interruption put a hard stop to any intellectual conversation that was taking place, leaving Simon awkwardly alone with the thought, “If this man were a prophet…” He is apparently comfortable addressing Jesus as “Teacher”, but a prophet, ehh, maybe not.
And now we come to the real zinger: After reading Simon’s mind and giving a brief discourse on forgiveness, Jesus verbally forgives the woman of her sins. As the words echo in their heads, the guests are forced to ask, “Who is this, that even forgives sins?”
The same question is forced upon us. Who is this?
