Bible Classes
Luke 7 :: Inclusion and Recognition :: Capernaum and the Pharisees’ House
Series: The Jesus WayThe teaching about the Kingdom of God on the level place (Luke 6) leads Jesus in Luke 7 into a new place that will be one in a series of steps whereby Jesus shows his openness to the outsider. In other words, for the next few chapters we see that Jesus includes those whom others might exclude. We will see that the countercultural expansiveness of his ministry is a challenge and opportunity for those disciples who are following him on His Way. His encounters with the centurion in Capernaum and with the sinful woman in the Pharisee’s house in Luke 7 are both events in which Jesus includes the outsider by going to serve them where they are. His example in these places might lead us to ask: what are separations or boundaries between us and those who we might serve? Whom do we look down on, and why?
Luke 7: Inclusion of the Centurion at Capernaum
Capernaum was a city on the northwest bank of Lake Tiberius (the Sea of Galilee), where we read that Jesus traveled as he begins his ministry. The house of Simon Peter at Capernaum is mentioned several times in the Gospels (e.g., Matt 17:25), and was discovered in 1968 during excavations of the ancient town.
Given its frequent mention, Capernaum was a base of operations for the ministry of Jesus in Galilee. Archeology and ancient texts indicate that Capernaum was a bustling city for trade and travel due to its location and had a diverse population due to location for trade and travel. It was a fishing town on the lake, with excellent farming land in the surrounding area, and was populated and prosperous enought that it had a was home to a tax office (Mt 9:9), a royal official (Jn 4:46), and a centurion and his contingent (Lk 7:1)
The outsider that Jesus encounters in Luke 7 is a centurion. The centurions were the professionals of the Roman army. A Roman army legion (~5000 troops) had 10 cohorts of 480. A cohort had six centuries of 80 men (not 100 as the name implies). The century was subdivided into 10 smaller units of eight men who roomed and messed together. In addition, a legion had 120 mounted men.
As we read the story in Luke 7:1-10, we realized that a question is whether the centurion is “worthy” of Jesus’ help. On the one hand, the elders say he is worthy (7:4). On the other hand, when he encounters Jesus, the centurion asserts that he is “not worthy.” The reasons for these assessments are important. As you read the passage, ask yourself: how is it that the centurion “worthy,” but also “unworthy?”
In the ancient world, as today, the worth or “worthiness” of someone was measured by distinct cultural standards e.g., socio-economic status, ethno-racial identity, national-political allegiance, gender, religious adherence. It is apparent from this passage with the Centurion that Jesus reorganizes human values by God’s standards. There was a conventional sense in which the Gentile centurion was “unworthy” to eat with Jesus. Jews were prohibited from eating with Gentiles or even entering their house because of concern over unclean food, idolatrous action, and intermarriage. Reading into the Gospel, one easily realizes that there were various groups considered an outsider or outcasts among the Jews, including Samaritans, people with leprosy, and tax collectors.
These concerns were partly rooted in social stigmas and in Scriptural traditions, like Moses’ command that the Israelites do not intermingle or intermarry with the Gentile peoples who occupied the Promised Land (e.g., Exodus 34:12-16)
Why is Jesus amazed at the centurion in Luke 7:9? The answer is that Jesus identifies “faith” in the centurion. Jesus’ reaction indicates that Jesus includes the Gentile among those who may be pleasing to God. His acknowledgment of the saving faith of the Gentile (evidenced by the healing of the Centurion’s servant) foreshadows the inclusion of the Gentiles among the people of God in the church, as will be described in the book of Acts.
So, in the life of Jesus, Capernaum is a place for serving outsiders. Capernaum is a location where Jesus shows the value of “the unworthy” and includes “the outsider” (the Roman centurion) with the care that Jews would normally show to those inside the conventional or natural boundaries of concern (e.g., his Jewish friends and family). Jesus shows this concern for the outsider in three ways that can also inform our own walk on the “Jesus Way.”
Jesus paid attention. “And Jesus went with them” (7:6).
Jesus was affected. “When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him” (7:9).
Jesus acted. “And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well” (7:10).
How can we serve outsiders? Like Jesus, we serve outsiders when we are generous with our attention, attitude, action. These are three ways we serve the outsider. Stated differently: we hear them, sympathize with them, and share with them. Think of people who are outsiders to your group, your clique, your “comfort zone.” How can you include them among those whom you love in thought and action?
What do the following passages teach about Christian inclusion of those who are different than us?
Matthew 5:43-48; Romans 15:1; 1 Corinthians 9:22; Peter 2:18
Luke 7:36-50: Jesus and the Woman in the Pharisee’s house
After another healing account (7:17) and an encounter with John the Baptist’s disciples, which affirms that Jesus is a friend to outsiders like “tax collectors and sinners” (7:34), we come to the concluding scene in chapter 7, in which Jesus enters a Pharisee’s house and forgives a woman. From this scene, we learn that we should recognize who people truly are on the inside and should not judge them only by external qualities, such as job position or even reputation.
As you read over the story in Luke 7:36-50, notice the complex features of the narrative. What is the character of Simon the Pharisee? What kind of place is his house? What is surprising about the woman’s actions? What does Jesus’ parable teach about the situation?
The character of the Pharisee is better understood by reference to eight historical facts about the Pharisees. First, the Pharisees were one of the three leading Jewish “schools of thought” (along with Sadducees and Essenes) according to the Jewish historian, Josephus (37-100 AD). Second, Josephus says they “prided themselves on their adherence to ancestral customs and claimed to observe the laws of which God approved” (Ant 17.41). Third, the Pharisees are opponents of Jesus in the New Testament. Fourth, they were part of the established leadership in Jerusalem, but not in control. Five, they were traditional and non-revolutionary. Six, they accepted life after death and resurrection, unlike the Sadducees, who were of a higher social station. Seven, they use purity regulations (rituals and traditional boundaries) to maintain social order. And finally, the Pharisees sought to purify society through political influence.
Given these traditional qualities of Pharisees, we see that Jesus encounter with the woman inverts (turns upside down) the judgments that we might initially have about the Pharisee in Luke 7.
It might appear that the Pharisees is the one who loves Jesus by showing a risky hospitality to him. It might also appear that the woman is the intruder into the house, separated from the Pharisee and Jesus by her reputation for sin, which is unspecified in the passage, but is often assumed to be prostitution. But the reality is different than this initial and misguided appearance of things. The reality is that the woman is the one who loves Jesus and takes the risk in coming to Jesus and showing a genuine hospitality to him by wiping his feet with her tears (an act that Jesus explicitly contrasts to the Pharisee’s inadequate hospitality in verses 44-46). Though it appears that the woman is the intruder, separated by sin, it turns out that the woman is the insider, forgiven and faithful because of her acknowledgment of her sin, while the Pharisee is the one who does not love Jesus and is sinfully judgmental. Finally, though it at first appears that Jesus does not have the power to recognize who the woman is, the reality is that Jesus does have the power to recognize and to forgive.
The point is that Luke’s story about the Pharisee’s house is about recognizing the reality about people and situations, and not conforming to conventional or preconceived notions about who or what is right or wrong.
What do the following passages teach about recognizing spiritual realities versus worldly appearances?
1 Samuel 16:7; Matt 7:1-6; Acts 4:13; James 2:1-7
- Luke7.mp3 (19.04 MB)
