The Hard Cases Of Luke 7

There are hard things that come to us at times. We all experience it regardless. It rains on the just, just as the unjust. God never said it would be easy just because you’re saved, but what He did say is that He would never leave you or forsake you.

In verse 2 we begin to see a story about a centurion. He loved his servant and spent a lot of money on all kinds of doctors and anything else he could possibly help him. No matter the amount of money, his servant was about to die. He had a problem that he couldn’t fix.

Later we read about a widow woman that had an only son. He was sick and died. She didn’t have much to her name.

Then we read about John the Baptist. John saw Jesus coming from afar and knew right away that it was Jesus. He felt that he wasn’t worthy to take off Jesus’ shoes. He ended up in prison for no fault of his own. He knew that death was coming quickly and he begin to have doubts. The devil comes in and begins to throw his fiery darts of lies to get you to begin to doubt God. He just loves to tear down the children of God. John was in a tough spot and you’ve been there too. The enemy will beat you down to where you’ll begin to wonder if you’re saved.

A woman that was a rough sinner that everyone knew about. She was in the business of being a harlot. Maybe you’ve been there too in your job where you knew you would have to stand and felt like there was no hope of getting out.

In all of these cases, every one of them felt as if there was no hope. The centurion just about gave up hope. Then Jesus came on the scene. If you’re a child of God and you start to get down, look around because Jesus will be by your side. Just as John said, he felt that he wasn’t worthy of Jesus. The centurion’s faith is what caused Jesus to heal his servant. The widow had first lost her husband, then she lost her only son. On her way to bury her son weeping behind the casket, Jesus saw her. She never asked Jesus for help but He just came up from beside her and laid His hands on the coffin. They all stopped as Jesus spoke and told him to rise. Jesus never broke a sweat and her son just raised up out of the casket. John the Baptist had given everything that he had for Jesus. Yet he ended up in jail just as we get at times in a spiritual jail. John didn’t ask Jesus to get him out of jail. He didn’t dwell on the situation he was in because it didn’t bother him. He just wanted to make sure that it was God’s will for him to be in jail. John just wanted to be sure that he was following the right thing. Once he got his answer he received great peace. The harlot had to forget the things she had done and had to praise Him in public. In front of the men that she had been with she had to thank God. She walked in while every one of them watched her. She kept her eyes on Jesus and she began to wash Jesus’ feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. She had also brought some ointment, great expensive ointment, and anointed his feet with no intent of any of it being wasted or taken back to her home.