Luke 7:18-35

Living Bible

¹⁸The disciples of John the Baptist soon heard of all that Jesus was doing. When they told John about it, ¹⁹he sent two of his disciples to Jesus to ask him, “Are you really the Messiah?^[a] Or shall we keep on looking for him?”

^20-22The two disciples found Jesus while he was curing many sick people of their various diseases—healing the lame and the blind and casting out evil spirits. When they asked him John’s question, this was his reply: “Go back to John and tell him all you have seen and heard here today: how those who were blind can see. The lame are walking without a limp. The lepers are completely healed. The deaf can hear again. The dead come back to life. And the poor are hearing the Good News. ²³And tell him, ‘Blessed is the one who does not lose his faith in me.’”^[b]

²⁴After they left, Jesus talked to the crowd about John. “Who is this man you went out into the Judean wilderness to see?” he asked. “Did you find him weak as grass, moved by every breath of wind? ²⁵Did you find him dressed in expensive clothes? No! Men who live in luxury are found in palaces, not out in the wilderness. ²⁶But did you find a prophet? Yes! And more than a prophet. ²⁷He is the one to whom the Scriptures refer when they say, ‘Look! I am sending my messenger ahead of you, to prepare the way before you.’ ²⁸In all humanity there is no one greater than John. And yet the least citizen of the Kingdom of God is greater than he.”

²⁹And all who heard John preach—even the most wicked of them^[c]—agreed that God’s requirements were right, and they were baptized by him. ³⁰All, that is, except the Pharisees and teachers of Moses’ law. They rejected God’s plan for them and refused John’s baptism.

³¹“What can I say about such men?” Jesus asked. “With what shall I compare them? ³²They are like a group of children who complain to their friends, ‘You don’t like it if we play “wedding” and you don’t like it if we play “funeral”!’^[d] ³³For John the Baptist used to go without food and never took a drop of liquor all his life, and you said, ‘He must be crazy!’^[e] ³⁴But I eat my food and drink my wine, and you say, ‘What a glutton Jesus is! And he drinks! And has the lowest sort of friends!’^[f] ³⁵But I am sure you can always justify your inconsistencies.”^[g]

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Luke 7:19 the Messiah, literally, “the one who is coming.”
Luke 7:23 Blessed is the one who does not lose his faith in me, literally, “Blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over me.”
Luke 7:29 even the most wicked of them, literally, “even the tax collectors,” i.e., the publicans.
Luke 7:32 You don’t like it if we play “wedding” and you don’t like it if we play “funeral,” literally, “We played the flute for you and you didn’t dance; we sang a dirge and you didn’t weep.”
Luke 7:33 He must be crazy, literally, “He has a demon.”
Luke 7:34 has the lowest sort of friends, literally, “is a friend of tax gatherers and sinners.”
Luke 7:35 But I am sure you can always justify your inconsistencies, literally, “But wisdom is justified of all her children.”