The Healing of the Centurion's Servant
After Jesus finished teaching the people, he traveled to the town of Capernaum. In that town lived a Roman centurion who had a servant he cared deeply about. This servant had become very sick and was close to death. When the centurion heard that Jesus was in town, he sent some of the Jewish community leaders to find Jesus and ask him to come heal his servant. These leaders approached Jesus and begged him earnestly to help. "This Roman officer deserves your help," they told Jesus. "He genuinely loves our people and even paid to build our synagogue for us." Jesus agreed to go with them. As they walked toward the centurion's house, they were still some distance away when the centurion sent friends to meet them with a message for Jesus: "Lord, please don't go to all this trouble for me. I'm not important enough for you to come into my house. That's also why I didn't come to you myself—I'm not worthy of that either. But you don't need to come at all. Just speak the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I understand how authority works. I'm a soldier who takes orders from those above me, and I have soldiers who take orders from me. When I tell one soldier to go somewhere, he goes. When I tell another to come, he comes. When I give my servant a command, he does it." When Jesus heard this message, he was amazed by the centurion's response. He turned to the crowd that had been following him and said, "I'm telling you the truth—I haven't found faith this strong anywhere, not even among the people of Israel." The friends returned to the centurion's house and found that the servant had been completely healed.
Jesus Raises the Widow's Son at Nain
Soon after this, Jesus traveled to a town called Nain. His disciples came with him, along with a large crowd of people. As they got close to the town gate, Jesus saw a funeral procession coming out. A dead man was being carried on a stretcher - he was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the town walked with her in her grief. When the Lord saw the widow, his heart filled with deep compassion for her. He said to her gently, "Don't cry." Then he walked over and touched the stretcher where the dead man lay. The men carrying it stopped walking and stood perfectly still. Jesus spoke directly to the dead young man: "Young man, I'm telling you - get up!" Immediately, the dead man sat up on the stretcher and started talking! Jesus then presented him back to his mother, alive and well. A powerful sense of wonder and fear swept through everyone who witnessed this miracle. They praised God with loud voices, saying, "A great prophet has come to us! God himself has come to help his people!" The news of what Jesus had done spread rapidly throughout all of Judea and into every surrounding area.
John the Baptist's Question and Jesus' Answer
John's followers came and told him everything that was happening. After hearing these reports, John chose two of his disciples and sent them to Jesus with an urgent question: "Are you the promised one we've been waiting for, or should we keep looking for someone else?" When these men reached Jesus, they delivered John's message exactly as he had given it: "John the Baptist sent us to ask you: Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" Right at that moment, Jesus was busy healing many people who suffered from sickness, painful conditions, and evil spirits that tormented them. He also restored sight to many who had been blind. After witnessing all of this, Jesus turned to John's messengers and said, "Go back to John and tell him what you've seen and heard with your own eyes and ears. Tell him that blind people are receiving their sight, those who couldn't walk are now walking, people with leprosy are being made clean, deaf people can hear again, the dead are being brought back to life, and the poor are hearing the good news of God's kingdom. And tell John this: God will bless anyone who doesn't lose faith in me or turn away because of who I am."
Jesus' Testimony About John the Baptist
After John's messengers had gone away, Jesus turned to the crowds and began talking to them about John the Baptist. "What did you go out into the desert to see?" he asked them. "Did you expect to find a weak person who bends whichever way the wind blows? No, that's not what you went to see. Then what did you go out there looking for? Someone wearing expensive clothes and living comfortably? No—people who dress in fancy clothing and enjoy luxury live in royal palaces, not out in the wilderness. "So what did you actually go out to see? A prophet? Yes, that's exactly right, and I'm telling you John is much more than just a prophet. He's the one the Scripture talks about when it says, 'Look, I'm sending my messenger ahead of you to prepare your way.' I'm telling you the truth: no one who has ever been born is greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least important person in God's kingdom is greater than John." When the people heard this—including the tax collectors who were usually despised—they agreed that God was right and just, because they had been baptized by John. But the Pharisees and the teachers of religious law rejected what God wanted for them, because they had refused John's baptism. Jesus continued, "What can I compare the people of this time to? What are they like? They're like children sitting around in the town square, calling out complaints to each other. They say, 'We played happy music for you, but you wouldn't dance. We sang sad funeral songs, but you wouldn't cry.' "When John the Baptist came, he lived simply—he didn't eat regular food or drink wine—and you said, 'He's possessed by an evil spirit!' Now the Son of Man comes, eating and drinking normally, and you say, 'Look at him! He's a glutton and a drunk, and he spends time with tax collectors and sinners!' But wisdom proves itself right through all the people who follow it."
The Sinful Woman Anoints Jesus' Feet
One day, a Pharisee invited Jesus to share a meal at his house. Jesus accepted the invitation and went to the man's home, where he took his place at the dinner table. Word spread through the town that Jesus was eating there, and a woman who was known for her sinful life heard about it. She brought with her a beautiful jar made of alabaster, filled with expensive perfume. She came to the house and stood behind Jesus, near his feet, and began to cry. Her tears fell onto his feet, and she used her own hair to wipe them dry. Then she kissed his feet and poured the perfume over them. The Pharisee who had invited Jesus watched all of this happening. He thought to himself, "If this man really were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman this is who's touching him. He would know she's a sinner." Jesus knew what the Pharisee was thinking and spoke to him directly. "Simon, I have something I want to tell you." "Go ahead, Teacher," Simon replied. Jesus said, "There once were two men who both owed money to the same lender. One man owed him five hundred silver coins, and the other owed fifty coins. Neither man could pay back what he owed, so the lender decided to cancel both debts completely. Now tell me, which of these two men do you think will love that lender more?" Simon answered, "I suppose it would be the one who had the bigger debt canceled." "You're exactly right," Jesus told him. Then Jesus turned to look at the woman, but he kept speaking to Simon. "Do you see this woman? When I came into your house today, you didn't offer me water to wash my feet, but she has washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You didn't greet me with a kiss, but from the moment I arrived, she hasn't stopped kissing my feet. You didn't put oil on my head as you would for an honored guest, but she has poured perfume on my feet. This is why I tell you that her many sins have been forgiven—and that's why she has shown such great love. But someone who has been forgiven only a little will show only a little love." Then Jesus spoke directly to the woman: "Your sins are forgiven." The other guests at the dinner began whispering among themselves, "Who does he think he is? How can he forgive sins?" But Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace."