Λουκᾶν 7·18 Καὶ ἀπήγγειλαν Ἰωάννῃ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ περὶ πάντων τούτων. καὶ προσκαλεσάμενος δύο τινὰς τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ ὁ Ἰωάννης 19 ἔπεμψεν πρὸς τὸν κύριον λέγων· σὺ εἶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἢ ἄλλον προσδοκῶμεν; 20 παραγενόμενοι δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν οἱ ἄνδρες εἶπαν· Ἰωάννης ὁ βαπτιστὴς ἀπέστειλεν ἡμᾶς πρὸς σὲ λέγων· σὺ εἶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἢ ἄλλον προσδοκῶμεν; 21 ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ὥρᾳ ἐθεράπευσεν πολλοὺς ἀπὸ νόσων καὶ μαστίγων καὶ πνευμάτων πονηρῶν καὶ τυφλοῖς πολλοῖς ἐχαρίσατο βλέπειν. 22 καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· πορευθέντες ἀπαγγείλατε Ἰωάννῃ ἃ εἴδετε καὶ ἠκούσατε·
τυφλοὶ ἀναβλέπουσιν, χωλοὶ περιπατοῦσιν,
λεπροὶ καθαρίζονται καὶ κωφοὶ ἀκούουσιν,
νεκροὶ ἐγείρονται, πτωχοὶ εὐαγγελίζονται·
23 καὶ μακάριός ἐστιν ὃς ἐὰν μὴ σκανδαλισθῇ ἐν ἐμοί.
And his (John’s) disciples reported to John about all these things. And summoning a certain two of his disciples, John send them to the Lord saying, “Are you the one who is coming or do we wait for another?” And after coming to him, the men said, “John the Baptist sent us to you saying, ‘Are you the one who is coming or do we wait for another?’” In that hour, he healed many from diseases, plagues, evil spirits, and gave many blind people the ability to see. And answering, he said to them, “Go, report to John what you saw and heard:
blind people are receiving sight, crippled people are walking,
lepers are cleansed, and deaf people are hearing,
dead people are raised up, poor people are having the good news brought to them.
And blessed is whoever is not offended because of me.” Luke 7:18-23
This is the 1st blog in a series that deal with Luke 7:18-35. My pastor, Shane Brown, preached on this passage, and I decided to blog on the passage as it is so powerful. As I translated this, there are some surprises in the text that I would like to bring out.
δύο τινὰς (certain two)
τινὰς means “any one” or “a certain one”. It’s plural in this passage and must mean “two certain disciples”. This could indicate that John summoned his closest two disciples. He had a very important question that he wanted answered, so it’s possible that he chose two men that he could fully trust to get those answers he so desperately needed.
ὁ ἐρχόμενος (the one who is coming)
This is referring to ἔρχεται δὲ ὁ ἰσχυρότερός μου (but one who is stronger than I am is coming) in Luke 3:16
ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ὥρᾳ (in that hour)
This is an idiom that means “during that time”.
μαστίγων (plagues)
This word also means “to beat with a whip” That should give you a big perspective of what the ancients really thought of plagues.
blind people are receiving sight, crippled people are walking,
lepers are cleansed, and deaf people are hearing,
dead people are raised, poor people are receiving good news.
These phrases are placed in poetry styling because they are allusions to passages in the Book of Isaiah. John would have recognized what Jesus was referring to by how he said it.
ἐθεράπευσεν πολλοὺς ἀπὸ νόσων καὶ μαστίγων καὶ πνευμάτων πονηρῶν (he healed many from diseases, plagues, evil spirits)
You can get a feel for how the ancients looked at sickness just by how they are grouped together with evil spirits. The idea may be that diseases and plagues possessed people Just like evil spirits possess people. He healed them from... or the cured them from...
One final noteJohn’s disciples had already told him what Jesus was doing (verse 18a), but he still had his doubts. He was so concerned with this, he chose “a certain two of his disciples” to get his question answered. Luke reinforces this need by writing John’s question twice in the text. When an author does that, it’s a very important question that demands a BIG answer. I would say that Jesus cured any doubt that John may have had when his disciples informed him of what they had seen and what they had heard. That answer was fulfillment of prophecy.
See Stephen's most excellent Blog on this subject.
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