The raising of the widow’s son (7:11–17) is an optional reading at Mass on the memorial of St. Monica (August 27), whose persistent prayers for her son, St. Augustine, led to his conversion. Augustine later wrote: “While she constantly wept over me in your sight as over a dead man, it was over one who though dead could still be raised to life again; she offered me to you upon the bier of her meditation, begging you to say to this widow’s son, ‘Young man, arise, I tell you,’ that he might live again and begin to speak, so that you could restore him to his mother.”a
St. Augustine’s mentor, St. Ambrose, understands the widow as Mother Church: “Let the Mother of the Church weep for you, she who intercedes for all as a widowed mother for only sons, for she suffers with the spiritual grief of nature when she perceives her children urged on to death by mortal sins.”b St. Augustine himself makes this interpretation: “His widowed mother rejoiced over that young man brought back to life. About people daily restored to life in the spirit their mother the Church rejoices.”c
a. Augustine, Confessions 6.1.1, trans. Maria Boulding, WSA I/1 (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 1997), 135.
b. Ambrose, Exposition of the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke 5.92, trans. Theodosia Tomkinson (Etna, CA: Center for Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, 1998), 186–87.
c. Augustine, Sermon 98.2, in Sermons, trans. Edmund Hill, 11 vols., WSA III/4 (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 1990–97), 4:43.
[7:13–15]
As the Lord of life (see 24:34), Jesus takes the initiative and springs into manifold action: he sees the woman, is moved with pity, tells her not to weep, comes forward, touches the open coffin, and tells the young man to arise. His outreach is in keeping with the spirit of Old Testament commandments regarding care for widows (Deut 14:28–29; 24:17, 19–21; 26:12–13), but by showing pity (or “compassion,” RSV), he also fulfills his own command: “Be merciful” (Luke 6:36). His compassionate care includes one extra detail: after raising the son, Jesus gave him to his mother, exactly as Elijah had done (1 Kings 17:23). The promise of Jesus’ beatitude is thus fulfilled: “Blessed are you who are now weeping, / for you will laugh” (Luke 6:21).
BIBLICAL BACKGROUND
Elijah and Elisha Prefigure John, Jesus, and the Apostles
All four Gospels mention Elijah, and two of them present John the Baptist as the fulfillment of Elijah’s promised return (Mal 3:23–24).a Only Luke mentions Elisha (Luke 4:27), the prophet who succeeded Elijah and received a double portion of his spirit when he was taken away into heaven (1 Kings 19:16, 19–21; 2 Kings 2:8–15). On one level, these two prophets prefigure the relationship between John and Jesus. John goes “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17) to prepare the way for Jesus (7:27, quoting Mal 3:1). The Spirit descends upon Jesus at his baptism, and John is taken away (Luke 3:20–22). On another level, the two prophets prefigure the relationship between Jesus and the apostles. After Jesus ascends to heaven, the apostles receive his Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 1–2).
Thus, Jesus is like both Elijah and Elisha (Luke 4:25–27),b two prophets who performed miracles and ministered to Gentiles (7:1–10; 1 Kings 17:8–16; 2 Kings 5:1–14). Like Elijah, Jesus spends forty days in the desert (Luke 4:2; 1 Kings 19:8) and raises a widow’s son from the dead (Luke 7:11–17; 1 Kings 17:17–24). Jesus is thought to be Elijah (Luke 9:8, 19), and Elijah appears with him on the mount of transfiguration (9:30). Jesus is also contrasted with Elijah: he does not call down fire from heaven (9:54–55; 2 Kings 1:10, 12) and gives opposite instructions regarding discipleship (Luke 9:62; 1 Kings 19:20).
Like Elisha, Jesus heals lepers (Luke 5:12–16; 17:11–19; 2 Kings 5:1–14), raises the dead (Luke 7:11–17; 2 Kings 4:32–37), saves debtors (Luke 7:36–50; 2 Kings 4:1–7), and feeds a multitude (Luke 9:10–17; 2 Kings 4:42–44). Besides being a worker of miracles, Elisha is a model for Jesus because he was a prophet who was anointed (1 Kings 19:16). Being a prophet is thus part of Jesus’ mission as Messiah, as he announced in Nazareth, quoting the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, / because he has anointed me” (Luke 4:18; Isa 61:1).
a. Matt 11:13–14; 17:11–13; Mark 9:12–13; see Mark 1:6; 2 Kings 1:8.
b. Richard B. Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2016), 237–43.
[7:16–17]
All in the two originally separate crowds are now united in a response of praise, as they glorified God (see 5:26). Jesus, who had implicitly referred to himself as a prophet (4:24), is now publicly recognized as a great prophet, suggesting the prophet like Moses that God promised to raise up (Deut 18:15). Indeed, Jesus has arisen. This verb, the same as in Jesus’ command to the dead man to “arise” (Luke 7:14), foreshadows his own resurrection from death (24:6, 34). As a prophet, Jesus is like Elijah, who raised the son of the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:17–24), and Elisha, who raised the son of the Shunammite woman (2 Kings 4:32–37). As “Lord” (Luke 7:13), Jesus is greater than these prophets, healing by his own word rather than by praying to God. In the saving help that Jesus brings, God has visited his people, as in the days of Moses (Exod 4:31; 13:19 RSV) and as prophesied earlier in the Gospel (Luke 1:68, 78). Because of the miracle, Jesus’ fame continues to spread (4:14, 37; 5:15).
Reflection and Application (7:11–17)
Bereavement ministry. In the Psalms, we read: “The LORD . . . comes to the aid of the orphan and the widow” (Ps 146:9). Jesus the “Lord” (Luke 7:13) aided a widow and had compassion on her. How can we extend Jesus’ compassion to the widows and widowers in our communities, especially those left alone or with limited means of support?
John the Baptist’s Messengers and Jesus’ Witness to John (7:18–35)
18The disciples of John told him about all these things. John summoned two of his disciples 19and sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” 20When the men came to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?’” 21At that time he cured many of their diseases, sufferings, and evil spirits; he also granted sight to many who were blind. 22And he said to them in reply, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. 23And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”
24When the messengers of John had left, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John. “What did you go out to the desert to see—a reed swayed by the wind? 25Then what did you go out to see? Someone dressed in fine garments? Those who dress luxuriously and live sumptuously are found in royal palaces. 26Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27This is the one about whom scripture says:
‘Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
he will prepare your way before you.’
28I tell you, among those born of women, no one is greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” 29(All the people who listened, including the tax collectors, and who were baptized with the baptism of John, acknowledged the righteousness of God; 30but the Pharisees and scholars of the law, who were not baptized by him, rejected the plan of God for themselves.)
31“Then to what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? 32They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another,
‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance.
We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’
33For John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine, and you said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ 34The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ 35But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”
OT: Exod 23:20; Isa 35:5–6; 61:1; Mal 3:1–2, 23
NT: Matt 21:31–32; Mark 1:2; Luke 1:17, 76; 3:4, 16; 4:18; 16:16. // Matt 11:2–19
Catechism: the one who is to come, 453; John the Baptist, 523, 719; good news to the poor, 544; Jesus’ signs, 547
Lectionary: Luke 7:18–23: Wednesday Third Week of Advent; Anointing of the Sick; Luke 7:24–30: Thursday Third Week of Advent
[7:18–20]
The two miracles involving people who were about to die or died (7:2, 12) set the stage for a discussion of Jesus and his mission (“the dead are raised,” v. 22). First, disciples of John ask Jesus about his identity (vv. 18–23). Next, Jesus explains John’s role in God’s plan, thus indirectly indicating who he himself is (vv. 24–28). Finally, Jesus reflects on the divided response to John and himself (vv. 29–35).
In prison (3:20), John is informed about all these things Jesus is doing. Perhaps he is wondering if he will experience the “liberty to captives” proclaimed by Jesus in Nazareth (4:18). Accordingly, he sends two of his disciples to ask the Lord a question about his identity: Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another? John himself had referred to one mightier than he who was coming (3:16), but it appears that he now has doubts whether Jesus is the one. His question asks whether Jesus is the Messiah whom the Jewish people were expecting to come, in fulfillment of Old Testament promises (see the sidebar, “Messianic Expectations,” p. 179). Jesus is indeed the Messiah, as Peter will later recognize (9:20), but he does not come in the manner that some expected—for example, as a conquering king. In response, Jesus clarifies his identity and mission as Messiah.
[7:21–23]
Jesus responds first with deeds—that is, his miracles—not so much ones done earlier but those he did at that time (literally, “in that hour”): he cured many of their diseases (as in 4:40; 6:18) and evil spirits (4:31–37; 6:18), and he also granted sight to many who were blind. Jesus then adds his verbal response, so that the two disciples, having both seen and heard, can return as witnesses to tell John. Jesus’ words echo his reading from Isaiah in Nazareth and summarize his miracles: the blind regain their sight (4:18; 7:21; Isa 61:1 LXX), the lame walk (Luke 5:17–26), lepers are cleansed (5:12–16), the deaf hear (see comment on 11:14), the dead are raised (7:11–17), and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them (4:18; 6:20). Jesus’ words also refer to various prophecies of Isaiah, which he is now fulfilling: “Then the eyes of the blind shall see, / and the ears of the deaf be opened; / Then the lame shall leap like a stag, / and the mute tongue sing for joy” (Isa 35:5–6; also Isa 26:19; 29:18–19; 42:7). All of these things are happening at the present time. Therefore, there is no need to look for another. The Messiah, the one who is to come, has already arrived!
Jesus’ response has striking similarities to a manuscript fragment found at Qumran that mentions the “anointed one” and then lists the Lord’s marvelous deeds: to give “sight to the blind,” “make the dead live,” and “proclaim good news to the poor.”6 Jesus’ answer is thus consistent with certain other Jewish expectations of the signs that would accompany messianic times.
Jesus concludes with a beatitude: blessed is the one who takes no offense at me. It could also be translated: “Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me” (NIV). Perhaps John had “stumbled” in his expectation. He had announced “the coming wrath” of the one who would burn the chaff in fire (Luke 3:7, 16–17). Jesus will indeed speak about wrath and fire, but later (12:49; 17:29–30; 21:23). For now, John must understand, as Elijah before him, that the “Lord” (7:19) is not always to be found in fire (see 1 Kings 19:12).
[7:24–25]
After explaining his own identity, Jesus clarifies John’s role. He asks several rhetorical questions: Is John a reed swayed by the wind? Is he someone dressed in fine garments? Clearly not, since John was just the opposite. John was not swayed by political pressure when it came to censuring Herod (Luke 3:19). His ascetical life in the desert was well known (7:33), even if Luke does not mention John’s rough clothing of camel’s hair (Mark 1:6). With these questions, Jesus is likely contrasting John with his enemy, Herod Antipas. Around AD 20, the tetrarch of Galilee had minted coins to mark the founding of his capital city, Tiberias, where he built one of his royal palaces. The coins had the image of a reed, which were common to the area by the Sea of Galilee. To his critics, however, a reed could easily describe the wavering character of Herod.7 Moreover, the Gospel later records the fine garments associated with Herod when he mockingly clothes Jesus with “resplendent garb” (Luke 23:11).
Figure 8. Coin with reed of Herod Antipas.
[7:26–27]
With the third rhetorical question—is John a prophet?—Jesus affirms who John really is (see 20:6). However, John is also more than a prophet because of his unique role as precursor to the Messiah. Just as Jesus explained his own identity by alluding to Scripture (7:22), so now he combines two texts from Scripture to explain John’s role as messenger (Exod 23:20; Mal 3:1). By recalling the journey to the promised land, the Exodus text suggests that John announced the way leading to a new exodus (see Luke 3:4–6; the sidebar, “Isaiah’s New Exodus Fulfilled in Luke-Acts,” p. 84). The context of the passage from Malachi recalls the figure of Elijah (Mal 3:23), in whose spirit and power John was sent to prepare for the Messiah (see Luke 1:17, 76). The you mentioned in these texts, for whom John is preparing, is now understood to be Jesus himself. Indirectly, Jesus thus reaffirms that he is the Messiah.
[7:28]
Jesus continues with a paradox. In view of John’s unique role, no one is greater than John—that is, during the age of “the law and the prophets” (16:16). However, with the advent in Jesus of the kingdom of God (4:43; 16:16), people are, as Paul says, “not under law but under grace” (Rom 6:14 RSV). They are “a new creation” (2 Cor 5:17) and “children of God” (Luke 20:36; Rom 8:14, 16). Therefore, the least in the new is greater than John, the greatest of the old. John is a bridge figure in salvation history, at the head of those “prophets and kings” of the past who longed to see the Messiah (Luke 10:24) but entering as just one more among many into the “kingdom of God” (13:28–29).
[7:29–30]
Luke adds a parenthetical remark explaining how the response to John has been divided. Those who listened to him, including tax collectors (see 3:12), acknowledged the righteousness of God. Literally, they “justified” or “vindicated” God, recognizing God’s righteous plan at work in John and responding to his call to repentance (3:3). Hence, they were baptized. In contrast, the Pharisees and scholars of the law, like Jewish leaders later in the Gospel (20:1–8), rejected the plan of God manifested in John. They thus refused to be baptized by him.
[7:31–34]
With a short parable, Jesus explains that those like the Pharisees who rejected John are also rejecting him. He refers to them as the people of this generation, a phrase with negative connotations (see 9:41; 11:29–32, 50–51; 17:25; Acts 2:40), which also recalls the evil generation that rejected God in the wilderness following the exodus (Num 32:13; Deut 1:35; 32:5, 20). They are compared to children who are supposed to be playing, but who neither dance (A)8 as at a wedding nor weep (B) as at a funeral. In other words, they respond neither to John the Baptist (B′), who fasted from food and wine (Luke 1:15; 5:33), nor to Jesus the Son of Man (A′), who comes like a bridegroom eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners (5:30, 34). Though there is “a time to weep . . . and a time to dance” (Eccles 3:4), the opponents of John and Jesus do neither; they do “not know how to interpret the present time” (Luke 12:56).
[7:35]
In contrast, Jesus will likely find a favorable hearing from “all the people who listened” to John and vindicated God (7:29). Using a proverb, he explains that they will be counted among all the children of wisdom, which likewise is vindicated. God’s wisdom, personified here as in the Old Testament, invites her “children” to “listen” (Prov 8:32). She “teaches her children” (Sir 4:11) now through Jesus, who is filled with wisdom (Luke 2:40, 52). He comes “eating and drinking” (7:34) so as to issue wisdom’s invitation: “Com
e, eat of my food, / and drink of the wine I have mixed” (Prov 9:5). Readers are also included in this invitation; they can thus ask themselves whether they are listening and responding to Jesus’ message and his messengers.
Jesus Pardons a Sinful Woman in a Pharisee’s House (7:36–50)
36A Pharisee invited him to dine with him, and he entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. 37Now there was a sinful woman in the city who learned that he was at table in the house of the Pharisee. Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment, 38she stood behind him at his feet weeping and began to bathe his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment. 39When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.” 40Jesus said to him in reply, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. 41“Two people were in debt to a certain creditor; one owed five hundred days’ wages and the other owed fifty. 42Since they were unable to repay the debt, he forgave it for both. Which of them will love him more?” 43Simon said in reply, “The one, I suppose, whose larger debt was forgiven.” He said to him, “You have judged rightly.” 44Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give me water for my feet, but she has bathed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45You did not give me a kiss, but she has not ceased kissing my feet since the time I entered. 46You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with ointment. 47So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence, she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” 48He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49The others at table said to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” 50But he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
The Gospel of Luke Page 19