Luke 7

Luke 7:1-10 . CENTURION'S SERVANT HEALED.

4. he was worthy--a testimony most precious, coming from those who probably were strangers to the principle from which he acted ( Ecclesiastes 7:1 ).

5. loved our nation--Having found that "salvation was of the Jews," he loved them for it.
built, &c.--His love took this practical and appropriate form.

Luke 7:11-17 . WIDOW OF NAIN'S SON RAISED TO LIFE. (In Luke only).

11. Nain--a small village not elsewhere mentioned in Scripture, and only this once probably visited by our Lord; it lay a little to the south of Mount Tabor, about twelve miles from Capernaum.

12. carried out--"was being carried out." Dead bodies, being ceremonially unclean, were not allowed to be buried within the cities (though the kings of David's house were buried m the city of David), and the funeral was usually on the same day as the death.
only son, &c.--affecting particulars, told with delightful simplicity.

13. the Lord--"This sublime appellation is more usual with Luke and John than Matthew; Mark holds the mean" [BENGEL].
saw her, he had compassion, &c.--What consolation to thousands of the bereaved has this single verse carried from age to age!

14, 15. What mingled majesty and grace shines in this scene! The Resurrection and the Life in human flesh, with a word of command, bringing back life to the dead body; Incarnate Compassion summoning its absolute power to dry a widow's tears!

16. visited his people--more than bringing back the days of Elijah and Elisha ( 1 Kings 17:17-24 , 2 Kings 4:32-37 ; and see Matthew 15:31 ).

Luke 7:18-35 . THE BAPTIST'S MESSAGE THE REPLY, AND CONSEQUENT DISCOURSE.

29, 30. And all the people that heard--"on hearing (this)." These are the observations of the Evangelist, not of our Lord.
and the publicans--a striking clause.
justified God, being baptized, &c.--rather, "having been baptized." The meaning is, They acknowledged the divine wisdom of such a preparatory ministry as John's, in leading them to Him who now spake to them (see Luke 1:16 Luke 1:17 ); whereas the Pharisees and lawyers, true to themselves in refusing the baptism of John, set at naught also the merciful design of God in the Saviour Himself, to their own destruction.

31-35. the Lord said, &c.--As cross, capricious children, invited by their playmates to join them in their amusements, will play with them neither at weddings nor funerals (juvenile imitations of the joyous and mournful scenes of life), so that generation rejected both John and his Master: the one because he was too unsocial--more like a demoniac than a rational man; the other, because He was too much the reverse, given to animal indulgences, and consorting with the lowest classes of society. But the children of Wisdom recognize and honor her, whether in the austere garb of the Baptist or in the more attractive style of his Master, whether in the Law or in the Gospel, whether in rags or in royalty, for "the full soul loatheth an honeycomb, but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet" ( Proverbs 27:7 ).

Luke 7:36-50 . CHRIST'S FEET WASHED WITH TEARS.

37, 38. a sinner--one who had led a profligate life. Note.--There is no ground whatever for the popular notion that this woman was Mary Magdalene, nor do we know what her name was.
an alabaster box of ointment--a perfume vessel, in some cases very costly ( John 12:5 ). "The ointment has here a peculiar interest, as the offering by a penitent of what had been an accessory in her unhallowed work of sin" [ALFORD].