Lesson for May 5, 2021
The Life of Christ
Lesson 20
Jesus Returns to Capernaum
(Luke 7:1-50)
After Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount, He returned to Capernaum, the home base for His ministry. Luke records several events that took place while Jesus was in Capernaum.
Luke records two miracles that Jesus performed during His stay in Capernaum and during a brief trip to Nain, a short distance from Capernaum. The first is the healing of a centurion’s servant and the second is the raising from the dead a widow’s son. The compassion of Jesus for others is clearly seen throughout the Gospels, as it was when He performed these two miracles.
The healing of the centurion’s servant is an especially interesting story for two reasons. The first reason is that a centurion was a high-ranking official of the Roman government and the second reason is what Jesus said about the centurion’s faith. A centurion in the Roman army commanded about a hundred men. Centurions were known for their daring and courage in battle and were normally highly decorated soldiers. They were also involved in the training of new recruits and were known for their stern and demanding dispositions. With this in mind, it seems to be contrary to this man’s position as a stern commander with regard to his compassion for his servant. The second reason that makes this man such a seeming contradiction is that Jesus said that He had not seen this great of faith in all of Israel. Remember this centurion was a Gentile and most likely had no knowledge of the Scriptures and yet his faith exceeded that of the Jewish crowd that was following Jesus, including the religious scribes and Pharisees.
The second miracle that Luke recorded was the healing of the widow’s son while the son was being carried to the burial site. It is interesting to note that the dead man could not have exercised his faith to receive healing as many false “healers” claim as a prerequisite for being healed. On some occasions Jesus would say, “Your faith has made you whole” and other times He simply healed a person. The result of this miracle was far reaching, as the word about Jesus spread rapidly throughout the region of Judea. Those who witnessed this miracle simply called Jesus a great prophet, not yet recognizing that He was the Messiah. Our passage says that reverent fear came upon those who saw the miracle and they began to praise and give God thanks saying that God had visited His people.
As word of Jesus and His ministry spread, the disciples of John the Baptist brought him the news. John the Baptist, who had baptized Jesus and heard the audible voice of God say regarding Jesus, “This is my beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased,” now sent two disciples to question Jesus. It seems that some doubt had entered the mind of John the Baptist about the Messiahship of Jesus between the time he first met Jesus and this period of time, which finds John in prison. The question John asked through his disciples was “Are you the One or should we continue to look for another?”
Jesus’ reply to John’s disciples was not harsh as one might suppose. Jesus told these men to go back and report to John all that they had seen Jesus do, and tell him that “happy is the person who is not offended in Christ.” Offend in Greek is the word “skandalizo” (where we get the word scandal). The idea is that of being disgraced or ashamed. Jesus was telling John the Baptist that He was indeed the Messiah and for John not to ashamed to be counted with Him. Shortly after this, John the Baptist would be killed by a malicious ruler named Herod. We might ask how John could even question the fact that Jesus was the Messiah or why would Jesus have to tell Him not to be ashamed. The answer is the same today – the negative influence of Satan’s world system and lack of faith in God. Even the great prophet John the Baptist could succumb to human viewpoint thinking.
Jesus then did an amazing thing. He began to explain to His followers the purpose for which John the Baptist was born. Jesus had only kind, exalting words to say about John and his divine role as the forerunner of Christ. Jesus then used John the Baptist to teach and warn His followers. Jesus made a contrast between the person who truly is seeking to know God and the person who only pretends to be seeking God. The person who was seeking God was the one who followed John the Baptist and was baptized by him as a demonstration of their faith in the coming Messiah and His kingdom. The Jewish religious leaders rejected John’s message and refused to respond to the message of God given through John. The message was that the kingdom of God is at hand (the Messiah is among us). Therefore, everyone (including the Jewish leaders) was urged to repent (change their mind about God and His message of salvation), believe and be baptized by John (to demonstrate their faith).
Luke 7:35, summarizes the attitude of the Jewish leaders who were listening to Jesus – they lacked divine wisdom. They rejected John the Baptist, saying that he had a devil. They then rejected Jesus, saying He was a glutton, a drunk and a friend of sinners. Therefore, wisdom (personified) is vindicated (shown to be true) by her “offspring” (those who acquire wisdom). Those who followed God’s message as conveyed by John the Baptist and Jesus were exercising divine wisdom, whereas those who rejected the message of God (the Jewish leaders) lacked divine wisdom.
Divine Wisdom vs. Human Wisdom
(I Corinthians 1:18-31; 2:1-16)
Only a believer in Jesus Christ has the potential of possessing and utilizing the wisdom of God. Human wisdom is mere foolishness by comparison. Regardless of how hard a brilliant and intelligent unbeliever tries, he can never understand God or the things of God. The unbeliever has no system of spiritual perception. God can be understood only through Bible doctrine (a person can understand the concept of God by nature). Understanding the concept of God and knowing God is not the same thing.
Wisdom in Greek is “sophia” and means insight into the true nature of things. The same Greek word is used when referring to divine wisdom or human wisdom. The difference between a believer and an unbeliever is that the unbeliever lacks a human spirit, which is needed to gain insight into the true nature of God. The Greek word for spirit is “pneuma” and means wind, to blow and to breathe. It is used in Scripture for wind, for breath, for the human spirit and the Holy Spirit. The context determines its usage. It is the human spirit that is created and credited to the believer at salvation.
It is the human spirit that provides the believer with the ability to have a relationship with God, to learn, to understand and to apply Bible doctrine and to produce divine good. (Romans 1:9; 8:16; Job 32:8) An unbeliever does not possess a human spirit and is, therefore, unable to have a relationship with God, to understand spiritual things or to produce divine good. (I Corinthians 2:14) It is the human spirit that the Holy Spirit teaches, and this becomes the positive influence in your soul. Divine Viewpoint Thinking (wisdom) is the result of this influence and overrules Human Viewpoint Thinking when properly applied. The
soul of man has the potential to be corrupted since it contains free will. The human spirit, on the other hand, does not contain free will and, therefore, has no
potential for corruption. The creation of the human spirit also sets up a battle in the soul. This battle between the sin nature and the new spiritual nature is for the control of the soul. The question is who will win the battle, which is left to our volition. (Galatians 5:16-17; I John 3:9)