Luke 7

₁When Jesus had finished talking to the people, He went to the town of Capernaum. ₂There was a Roman officer who had a very good servant, but the servant was very sick. He was almost dead. ₃They told the officer about Jesus and he sent some of the Jewish_leaders to ask Jesus to please come and heal his servant. ₄The Jewish_leaders came to Jesus and they begged Him and said: ‘This officer is a very good man. Can You please come and heal his servant? ₅The officer loves Jewish people and he has built a synagogue for us.’

₆Jesus went with them. When He got near the officer's home, some of the officer's friends came to Jesus. The officer had sent a message to Him and said: ‘Lord, You don't have to come to my home. I am not a Jew. I am not good enough for You to come into my home. ₇That is why I did not come to You myself. I am not good enough. You can just say that my servant must be healed and he will be better. ₈I am also a man who must do what an important officer tells me to do and I have soldiers who do what I tell them. If I tell one of my soldiers to go, he goes, and if I tell another soldier to come, he comes. If I tell my slave to do something, he does it.’

₉When Jesus heard what the officer said, He was surprised. He looked at the people who walked with Him and He said to them: ‘I tell you: I have not seen one person in Israel who believes as strongly as this officer.’

₁₀When the officer's friends went back to his house, they saw that the servant was better. He was not sick anymore.

₁₁Not long after this, Jesus went to the town of Nain. His disciples and a lot of other people went with Him. ₁₂When Jesus came near the gate of the town, He saw people walking to a grave. They carried the body of a widow's only son, who had died. They were on their way to bury him. There were many people of the town with her. ₁₃When the Lord saw her, He felt sorry for her and He told her: ‘Don't cry.’

₁₄Jesus went to the coffin of the young man and He touched it. The men who carried the coffin stopped. Then Jesus said: ‘Young man, get up.’ ₁₅The young man, who had been dead, sat up and he started to talk. Then Jesus gave the boy back to his mother. ₁₆All the people were amazed and they were afraid when they saw what had happened. They praised God and said: ‘A great Prophet is here with us.’

They also said: ‘God has come to help his people.’ ₁₇They told the people in the province of Judea and all the places near that town what Jesus had done there.

₁₈The disciples of John the Baptist told him about the things that Jesus had done. John called 2 of his disciples ₁₉and he sent them to the Lord to ask Him: ‘Are You the Christ who must come? Or must we wait for another One?’ ₂₀John's disciples came to Jesus and they said: ‘John the Baptist sent us to You to ask: “Are You the Christ who has to come, or must we wait for another One who will come?” ’

₂₁Jesus was healing a lot of people who were sick. He also chased_evil_spirits_out of people and He healed many blind people, so they could see again. ₂₂Jesus told John's disciples: ‘Go and tell John what you see and what you hear: Blind people can now see, cripple people can walk, lepers are healed, deaf people can hear, people who have died live again and poor people hear the Good_News that Jesus is the Christ. ₂₃And God will bless everyone who continues to believe in Me.’

₂₄When John's disciples went back to him, Jesus told the people something about John. Jesus asked: ‘You went to see John when he was in the desert. What did you think you would see? Did you think you would see a person bowing like a reed in the wind? No. ₂₅Did you think you would see a rich man who has beautiful and expensive clothes? No. The people who wear beautiful clothes that cost a lot of money live in the palaces of kings. ₂₆But what did you think you would see? A prophet? Yes. I tell you: You saw more than a prophet. ₂₇God talked about John in the Old_Testament when He said:

₂₈I tell you: There is no person who is more important than John. Not one of all the people who were born on earth is more important. But where God in heaven is King, all the people are more important than John the Baptist, even the people who are less important than everyone else.’

₂₉All the people, even the tax-collectors, knew that they were full of sin and that God's way was right. They asked John to baptise them. ₃₀But the Pharisees and the teachers_of_the_Laws did not listen to God and they did not ask John to baptise them. They did not accept God's plan to save them.

₃₁Jesus said: ‘What can I say about the people who live today? What are they like? ₃₂They are like children sitting in the market place and they say to other children: “We have played wedding music for you with a flute, but you did not want to dance.” And the other children say: “We have played a sad song for you, but you did not cry and mourn.” ₃₃The people did the same to John and to Me. John the Baptist did not drink wine and he often fasted and you said: “There is a devil in John.”

₃₄Now I, the Son of man, eat and drink and you say: “He eats too much. He drinks too much. He is a friend of tax-collectors. He is a friend of sinners.” ₃₅People who believe really know what wisdom from God is.’

₃₆One of the Pharisees invited Jesus to come to his house to eat. Jesus went to the Pharisee's house and He sat down to eat. ₃₇There was a bad woman in that town. Everyone knew that she was bad. They told her that Jesus was eating at the house of the Pharisee. She took a jar of expensive perfume ₃₈and she sat at Jesus' feet. She cried and cried and she wet his feet with her tears. Then she dried his feet with her hair and she kissed his feet. She then poured all the perfume out onto his feet. ₃₉The Pharisee who invited Jesus saw it and he said to himself: ‘If this Man was a prophet, He would have known that this woman, who is touching Him, is a bad woman.’

₄₀Jesus said to the Pharisee: ‘Simon, I want to tell you something.’ Simon said: ‘Teacher, tell me.’ ₄₁Jesus told him a parable. He said:

₄₃Simon said: ‘I think the man who had to pay the most money.’ Jesus said: ‘You are right.’

₄₄Then Jesus turned to the woman and He said to Simon: ‘Do you see this woman? When I came into your house, you did not give Me water to wash my feet, but this woman has washed my feet with her tears and she dried my feet with her hair. ₄₅You did not kiss Me when you greeted Me, but this woman continued to kiss my feet from the time that I came in. ₄₆You did not pour perfume on my head, but this woman poured perfume on my feet. ₄₇That is why I tell you: God has forgiven all the sins that she has done. That is why she loves Me so much. You think you do not have a lot of sins, but God has forgiven you. That is why you are not very thankful and why you do not show a lot of love for God.’ ₄₈Jesus said to the woman: ‘I forgive your sins.’

₄₉The people who were with Jesus at the table started to talk to each other and they said: ‘Who is this Man that forgives sins?’ ₅₀But Jesus said to the woman: ‘You have believed that I can forgive you. That is why God has saved you. Go, you will have peace in your heart.’