October 12, 2025 • 22 mins
JesusX30 Challenge—Scene 12: SHOCKWAVES THROUGHOUT GALILEE
1. Key Texts
• Matthew 8:5–13 — The Centurion’s Servant
• Luke 7:1–10 — The Centurion’s Faith
• Luke 7:11–17 — The Widow’s Son at Nain
• Luke 7:18–35 — John the Baptist’s Question
• Matthew 11:20–24 — Woes to Unrepentant Towns
• Luke 7:36–50 — The Anointing Woman
• Isaiah 35:5–6; 61:1 — Messianic signs of restoration
2. Outline / Notes
Date & Place
• Spring 28 AD—still the dry season in Galilee.
• Movement spreading from Capernaum (Jesus’ base) through Nain and Bethsaida.
• Trade routes, fishing villages, and Roman patrols create rapid word-of-mouth circulation.
• Jesus’ fame “goes viral” across the region—he’s now known in every town and synagogue.
Main Accounts
Capernaum—Centurion
• A Roman officer humbly appeals to a Jewish healer—a shocking role reversal.
• The centurion’s understanding of authority becomes a model of faith.
• Jesus praises him publicly: “Not even in Israel have I found such faith.”
• The Empire’s representative becomes the first Gentile example of Kingdom allegiance.
Nain—Widow’s Son
• A funeral procession for a widow’s only son—symbolizing total loss and vulnerability.
• Jesus halts the crowd, speaks directly to the dead, and restores the young man to life.
• The crowd exclaims, “God has visited His people!”—recognizing the arrival of God’s reign.
John the Baptist’s Question
• From Herod’s prison, John sends messengers: “Are you the one who is to come?”
• Jesus responds with Isaiah’s language: “The blind see, the lame walk, the dead are raised…”
• Strategic ambiguity: Jesus lets the signs speak for themselves to avoid premature execution.
Bethsaida & Chorazin—Refusal to Respond
• Despite miracles, these towns remain unmoved.
• Jesus rebukes them sharply: even pagan cities would have repented.
The Anointing Woman (Luke 7:36–50)
• A Pharisee invites Jesus to dinner; an uninvited “sinner” interrupts.
• She kneels, weeps, and anoints his feet with perfume and tears.
• Public recognition of the unseen: she becomes a living parable of mercy and devotion.
3. Main Point
• Scene 12 marks Jesus’ transition from local teacher to public phenomenon.
• Miracles, rumors, and controversy send shockwaves throughout Galilee.
• Responses divide:
– The Centurion—faith.
– John—doubt.
– Bethsaida—apathy.
– The Woman—love.
4. Exegetical Insight
• Greek: Exousia (authority)—“the power to act.” The centurion recognizes in Jesus the same command structure he exercises in Rome.
• Aramaic: “Young man, arise” (Luke 7:14) = a command that echoes creative power itself.
• Intertextual echo: Isaiah 35 & 61—the prophetic template Jesus uses to identify his mission to John.
• Social insight: The “sinner woman” scene reverses purity hierarchies—Jesus elevates devotion above reputation.
• Structural observation: Luke’s sequence—faith (centurion), life (widow), doubt (John), rejection (towns), love (woman)—mirrors the escalating revelation of Kingdom inclusion.
5. Reflection Questions
• Where do you see yourself in this scene—faithful centurion, doubting prophet, indifferent towns, or weeping woman?
• How does Jesus’ growing fame challenge your understanding of success and influence?
• Have you ever felt unseen or uninvited like the woman in the Pharisee’s house? How does Jesus’ response speak to you?
• What miracles or mercies of God have you ignored because they didn’t come in the form you expected?
6. Action Step / Challenge
• Read Luke 7 slowly this week—trace the movement from power to compassion.
• Reflect on how Jesus’ authority is shown through mercy rather than dominance.
• Do one intentional act of seeing and affirming someone who’s been overlooked.
• Journal or post a short reflection on how Jesus’ “viral” compassion changes how you define influence.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:09):
Have you ever watched something or someone go from a small town
story to national news overnight?
These days we call it going viral.
One day it's a name you've neverheard of.
Next day it's on everyone's radar and you see this person
who used to be just a genuinely caring person gain instant fame
(00:29):
and fortune and all of a sudden they no longer remember the
lowly people they grew up with or who are sitting on the
sidelines of the famous circles they now live in, right?
It's rare that someone like thisstill has time for all of those
who are on the sidelines, but but occasionally you still see
it. What's up everybody?
Welcome to the Jesus X30 challenge.
(00:51):
I am Tyson put off and this is Scene 12.
We're following my 3 volume bookproject on Jesus's Life in
Messianic campaign. All three volumes are available
now in print and ebook, so grab those wherever you buy your
books. I remember when I was boxing out
of Eastside Boxing Club in Kansas City, MO.
I've been showing up to the gym in the evenings and working out
(01:14):
by myself, working the bags, jumping rope, doing all the
skills work. And one night I remember working
the top and bottom bag, which isa small bag connected to the
floor and the ceiling with theseelastic straps.
So when you hit it, it bounces in the direction you hit it.
It tells you if you're punching straight on and it it whips back
(01:35):
and forth really quickly at you and, and unpredictably.
And man, I was good. I was accurate with my punches
and I knew it. But that evening as I was
working on that bag, I remember a bunch of dudes watching me
work this bag and. And I just remember I'm this
small town white kid from Kansasat this old school boxing gym on
(01:56):
Prospect Ave. in Kansas City, MO.
And these dudes were legit boxers.
They were fighters, They were cool and I was none of those.
It's home working out and one ofthe guys comes up to me and he
says hey, come here. And so I do.
And I'm not sure what they're going to say.
I'm thinking they're going to make fun of me, you know,
(02:16):
looking like a a wannabe boxer or a try hard as I've heard my
kids say. And one of them asked me, have
you ever boxed before? And I say, you know, not
formally. I've done martial arts,
kickboxing, stuff like that. And they say, bro, you've got
skill. We saw you on the bag and you
look like you've been boxing fora long time.
(02:37):
And now you've got to understandthat this is this is a pretty
tough time in my life. I've moved back home.
I'm going to Community College, studying mechanical engineering.
I'm not sure if that's what I want to do for my career.
Dad had just been diagnosed witha really tough health situation.
I'm working in his Body Shop. So when these guys approach me
(02:59):
and they're real boxers and they're cool and they recognize
me, it's a big deal. And after that they start
working me directly into their own workouts and, and they can
see that I'm also really analytical and see things a
certain way, even if I may not be as athletic as they are.
And so I start actually working with them, giving them feedback
(03:19):
on tactics and footwork and workouts and, and becoming
sparring partners with them. And they run my corner at my own
boxing matches or in in workoutsagainst other gyms.
And man, it was awesome. And they'll never know the
impact they had on me at that point, but they're taking the
time to recognize me, elevated me at a point in my life when I
(03:42):
was in a deep pit. Up to now, Jesus has been
steadily building momentum. He's been teaching and healing
and challenging assumptions. But here, the activity and the
reaction both intensify. We're not just watching people
gather to listen anymore. We're watching the movement
spread in every direction. Miracles that can't be ignored,
(04:04):
rumors that run ahead of Jesus, questions even from John the
Baptist, and growing resistance from those who don't want their
system disturbed. And the pace is picking up.
The reach is is widening and thetension is definitely building.
And Jesus is no longer just a teacher drawing interest.
He's no longer just a rabbi withhis own circle of rabbinic
(04:26):
students. He's becoming a force that
people either follow or push back against.
So it's still the dry season of spring 28 AD.
The roads are open. The heat is setting in.
Travel is is up and running again.
And through all of this, Jesus is on the move.
He's weaving through key Galilean towns.
(04:47):
He's making campaign stops. Capernaum, remember, is his home
base. It's a busy fishing town
positioned on a major trade route.
It's it's a crossroads where Roman soldiers, tax collectors,
local merchants and fishermen all rub shoulders.
It's also a good place where influence, good or bad, can
spread quickly. Name is a much smaller, more
(05:08):
rural place. It doesn't have Capernaans
profile, but it's going to become the stage for one of the
most striking demonstrations of power in Jesus ministry.
Bethsaida is familiar territory for some of Jesus's disciples.
It's where they grew up and worked, and it's seen first hand
some of Jesus's works. But familiarity, remember it
(05:31):
doesn't always translate into faith.
In each location, the reception is mixed.
Some respond with amazement and trust, others with hesitation,
and some with outright resistance.
So let's look at the story of the Centurion.
We begin in Capernaum. Matthew 8 and Luke 7 record
(05:52):
this. He sends word asking Jesus to
heal his servant, and he does sowith what appears to be a lot of
humility. He acknowledges that Jesus has
authority over these illnesses. The centurion is a Roman
officer. He's an agent of the occupying
power. Normally a man in this position
(06:12):
would be the one giving orders and expecting compliance, not
requesting help from a Jewish rabbi.
But he does anyway. And Jesus response is equally
remarkable. He not only agrees to help, but
he publicly praises the man's faith.
OK, now this man may be powerful, but he's not an
insider, not in Jesus world. He's the enemy.
(06:35):
But Jesus praises the man's faith and says he's not found
such trust even among God's own people.
And in so doing, Jesus does morethan heal the servant of this
man, right? He disrupts the social script.
The centurion, the one who should be in the role of the
patron, becomes the supplicant. He becomes the one asking Jesus
(06:56):
for help. And in responding, Jesus forms
this unexpected bridge that could have strategic value in a
town under Rome's watch. And we talked about that in a
previous scene. He basically gets this centurion
on the hook. The centurion now owes Jesus a
favor. So moving to the next town in
name. Here, the scene is intimate, but
(07:18):
it's no less significant. A funeral procession is moving
through the village, and it's a widow's son.
Her only son has died, and she'sa widow.
And in the ancient world, think about this.
Her loss is more than just this personal grief.
It's economic and social devastation.
She has no husband now. Her only son has died.
(07:38):
So she's she's finished. She faces poverty and
vulnerability. She can't take care of herself.
She can't tap into her Social Security or her retirement.
She's finished. So Jesus, Caesar, he feels
compassion and he stops the procession.
He tells her, don't we? Which already people are like,
dude, get out of the way. Get out of the way and stop
(07:59):
humiliating this grieving mother.
And then he addresses the dead man directly.
Young man, I say to you, arise. And Luke tells us that the man
sits up and begins to speak, andJesus gives him back to his
mother. For the crowd, this is more than
a moment of joy. It's a confrontation with death
itself. Unlike the prophets Elijah and
(08:22):
Elijah who called on God when raising the dead in ancient
Israel, Jesus speaks on his own authority in this moment, the
implications unavoidable. This is power that belongs to
Jesus. This is not power that he's
borrowing from another. This is not him petitioning God
(08:43):
to give him power to raise the man from the dead.
This is Jesus confronting death himself on his own power.
And news travels quickly in prison.
John the Baptist, here's what Jesus is doing and sends
messengers with a question, Are you the one who is to come, or
should we be looking for anotherone?
This is in Luke 7. And it's a revealing moment.
(09:04):
I think John's earlier preachinghad been really fiery.
Remember images of axes at the root of trees and chaff being
burned with unquenchable fire. And he seems to have expected
the Messiah to bring immediate judgement.
But now from his cell, he's in prison.
Remember, he hears reports of healings and exorcisms and meals
with tax collectors in the styleof Jesus's campaign.
(09:27):
Doesn't look quite like what John seems to have anticipated
this point. And this is interesting too,
because John has known Jesus hisentire life.
Remember, they're cousins. And in fact, I think there's a
good reason from the Gospels to think that John has had a
pivotal role in actually helpingJesus to understand his own
identity as the Messiah and as the Son of God.
(09:47):
And John's been sort of Jesus campaign strategist throughout
Jesus's life, too. He's Jesus's mentor in a lot of
ways. So it's intriguing to me.
And I still can't figure out whyexactly.
And I'm not going to make any definitive claims here.
So I still can't figure out why John now has some genuine
questions about whether Jesus isreally who John believed Jesus
(10:09):
was. He's in prison, after all, for
starting a revolution that primed the way for Jesus to
launch his own movement. And Jesus's reply is indirect,
but I think it pointed. He tells John's messengers to
report what they've seen. The blind see, the lame walk,
the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised,
and the poor have good news proclaimed to them.
(10:31):
OK, so if you know your Bible right now, John is drawing on
the language of Isaiah's prophecies, where Isaiah says
that the coming Messiah is goingto bring sight.
He's going to set captives free.He's going to heal, declare
liberation to make the point that these acts are the signs of
the kingdom's arrival. And Jesus is saying, if you, if
that's what you're seeing happening, the Kingdom is here
(10:52):
and you've got the right guy. It's not an easy answer it it
leaves John to connect the dots.But it's an answer grounded,
invisible, verifiable reality, not abstract claims.
It's also a little cryptic. Jesus knows strategically that
he can't just come out and say, yes, I'm the Messiah, I'm the
son of God, or he would have done that.
You notice he doesn't do that throughout the Gospels,
(11:14):
especially early on. He even tells people sometimes,
hey, you know who I am? Don't tell anybody.
He doesn't come out and say I'm the Messiah, I'm the son of God.
If he does, he's dead. His movements finished before it
starts. And while he knows that he's
heading to the cross soon, he also knows he's got work to do
before that happens. He's got to build his following,
establish his movement layout how he wants his new society to
(11:37):
operate. So he's, he's OK getting himself
in hot water to this point, but he can't get himself into
boiling water just yet. So he responds here like he does
in a lot of places. He tells parables and and
answers questions rhetorically. He he speaks in a cryptic way
that requires John to connect the dots and to realize that
(11:57):
Jesus is who John knows him to be.
He's him. Jesus is him.
Elsewhere, the response is a little less inquisitive and more
dismissive. In Matthew 11, Jesus rebukes
Bethsaida and Corazine for theirrefusal to respond.
These towns have seen his works first hand, and yet they they
(12:18):
remain unmoved. And his warning is stark to
them. If cities with reputations for
wickedness, like Tyre and Sidon,had witnessed such works, they
would have repented, Jesus says.But you haven't, and you've seen
my works. A rejection here isn't neutral.
It's an active resistance to God's intervention.
It's seeing what God has done and rejecting him anyway.
(12:41):
When we talk about someone's influence, suddenly expanding,
our minds might go to social media.
Something something going viral.But this isn't just a 21st
century phenomenon. History is full of examples of
people whose impact moved from local to widespread almost
overnight. In 1955, as we talked before, a
42 year old seamstress named Rosa Parks refused to give up
(13:05):
her seat to a white passenger ona bus in Montgomery, AL.
She was the first to resist segregation, but her arrest
became the spark for what was known as the Montgomery Bus
Boycott. And local newspapers jumped on
this, reported it immediately. And within days this was
national news. Within weeks, it was the spark
(13:28):
of a growing movement that wouldreshape the civil rights
landscape. And it wasn't that Parks
suddenly became a different person.
Her convictions were already there.
Her courage was already there. But the right combination of
action and timing and courage and visibility made her story
unavoidable. That's where Jesus is in scene
(13:49):
12. He's been building momentum,
sometimes quietly, sometimes abrasively.
But now the combination of a Roman officers faith, the
raising of a widow's son, and the public rebuke of entire
towns and the the persistent questions from John the Baptist
have made his campaign impossible to ignore.
So what began in back roads and in fishing villages is now the
(14:13):
subject of discussion everywherefrom prison cells to tax offices
and from synagogues to city gates and all the way down to
the temple. For all the public noise in this
scene, miracles that make headlines, crowds pressing in
and public confrontations, the most enduring image, though,
might be the quietest. 1 So we're at the home of a Pharisee
(14:35):
for dinner in Luke 7, and an unnamed woman walks in and her
reputation is already known. She's branded a Sinner.
She brings an alabaster jar of perfume, and she stands behind
Jesus at his feet and begins to weep.
Her tears fall at his feet. She wipes them with her hair.
She kisses them and pours out the perfume.
(14:57):
And she doesn't make a speech. She doesn't plead her case, She
doesn't try to earn her way intothe conversation.
She just loves him in the only way she knows how.
The host of this this dinner party, he sees a scandal, but
Jesus sees value. He, he tells a short parable
about two debtors, 1 owing much,one owing little, and asks which
(15:19):
will love more when the dead is forgiven.
And the answer is pretty obvious.
And Jesus connects it directly to this woman and and what's
happening here at his feet. And he says her many sins have
been forgiven, as her great lovehas shown.
So this is a moment that says something to every person who
has ever felt unseen or dismissed or left out of the
(15:40):
important conversations. In the swirl of public debate
and high profile miracles and political implications, Jesus
notices the one person no one else wanted in the room.
And not only does he notice her,he defends her.
He honors her devotion and he writes her into the story that
we still talk about today. And it's interesting because we
(16:02):
don't know this woman's name, but we really don't know anyone
else who was in the room that day at the dinner party.
I remember dinner parties were big deals.
They were banquets. They were situations in which
we, someone of power and someonewith honor, invited other people
with power and honor and wealth and prestige to show this is who
I am, this is my community. And we don't know any of them.
(16:26):
I think that's kind of a, an ironic, that's kind of a
theological irony, right? There are people throughout
history whose names are forgotten, who had power, who
had wealth, who had prestige, who had honor.
We don't know this woman's name,but we know her story.
And Jesus makes sure that she isnot the one forgotten.
(16:47):
And I think Scene 12 makes something else clear.
As Jesus's profile grows, responses to him divide.
Some welcome him with trust, like the Centurion who
understood authority when he sawit.
Some are intrigued but unsure, like John sending questions from
his prison cell. Others reject him outright, like
Bethsaida and Corazine. Entire communities who saw the
(17:09):
works, but they were unmoved. And no matter how famous or
infamous in the eyes of some Jesus became, He always sees
those whom others overlook. Those whom others push aside
look down on in shame. And he honors and recognizes the
unseen publicly. Miracles in this scene aren't
just acts of kindness. They're public signs that demand
(17:30):
a response. Jesus is always doing things out
of genuine, heartfelt love and compassion for people.
But when he does or says things,it always puts people in a
position where they have to respond to that in one way or
another. To accept them is to acknowledge
Jesus's authority. To ignore them is to resist the
(17:51):
arrival of His Kingdom. There's no neutral ground.
I still remember the night I heard that Princess Diana had
died. Some of you who are my age or
older will remember this. I was in high school, coming
home late, turned on the little TV in my room.
It had had a little built in VCRplayer that I'd gotten for
(18:12):
Christmas. We didn't have cable at that
point, so my options were limited as to which channels I
could watch. Or I'd put in my Bruce Lee VHS
tapes and watch those until I fell asleep.
We had Channel 4, five, 9/11, 1941.
Channel 50 was the Christian channel.
Channel 62, every station had the same breaking news that
(18:32):
night that Princess Diana was gone.
She was famous for all kinds of reasons.
Her royal wedding, her style, her celebrity.
The sort of modern Disney story of a young woman becoming a
Princess. And that's what most people knew
about her, which made her death so shocking.
And that's all I knew about her too.
(18:52):
But years later I learned about a side of her life I had never
seen in those headlines and the side of her that showed her
quiet in her personal work with AIDS patients long before it was
socially acceptable. Especially among the Christian
and conservative communities where AIDS was often seen
through this really cruel and misguided lens of being a divine
(19:16):
curse on so-called sinners. It was in the late 1980s and
fear and stigma surrounded AIDS.Again, for those of you my age
or older, you remember AIDS in in the 80s was, was a death
sentence. And so there was a lot of fear
and stigma surrounding it. And many people avoided even
(19:37):
touching someone with the disease.
It was incurable, socially shameful, and theologically
viewed as a curse. But Diana, one of the most
famous women in the world, walked into the ward, sat down
on the bed next to an AIDS patient, and shook his hand
without gloves, without hesitation.
And it wasn't a staged photo op.She wasn't just making a speech
(20:00):
about compassion. She was practicing it in the
most personal and human and vulnerable way.
In that moment, her fame didn't create distance, it created a
spotlight for someone the world had pushed into the shadows.
She used the platform, she had to say, without even using
words. I see you and you matter.
(20:22):
Jesus is as viral as you could be in 1st century Galilee.
He's known in every village, He's discussed in every
synagogue. He's questioned by political and
religious leaders. And yet, in the middle of all of
the public momentum, he stops. For an unnamed woman with a
broken reputation, someone in the room would rather pretend
wasn't even there. In a scene full of action, it's
(20:46):
easy to focus on the big public moments, the ones that make
news. But the dinner scene reminds us
that the Kingdom Jesus is building has space for those who
have no titles, no official role, no platform.
A lot of us feel like we're on the edges of the room, sometimes
unnoticed or underestimated. But we're not.
(21:06):
She wasn't invited to the table,but she still came close to
Jesus. She didn't have the right
credentials, but she still had love for Him.
And that's what Jesus honored. The movement Jesus started
changes the world on a grand scale, but it always stops for
individuals. It makes room for your and my
devotion even when no one else sees it, even when it doesn't
(21:27):
seem to count in the eyes of others, for our dedication, for
our donation, even when the big donors and the big lenders get
all the recognition. So in the middle of the noise,
the debates, the pressures of life, I want you to remember
that the Kingdom is measured notonly by crowds gathered or by
systems challenged, but also by the quiet, faithful love that
(21:51):
Jesus never overlooks. At the start, we talked about
someone going from a small localstory to a name everyone knows.
In scene 12, Jesus reaches that tipping point, his words and
actions sending ripples across Galilee, crossing boundaries of
class and culture and geography.But for all of the public
shockwaves, he never loses sightof the person kneeling in love
(22:14):
at his feet, whom nobody else inhis circles, nobody else of his
stature, would dare let near them, much less touch them.
And that's the balance of Jesus's mission.
It shakes the world while holding space for the overlooked
Lake Omad. Go and learn.
Come back for scene 13 of the Jesus X30 Challenge.
Have you ever watched something or someone go from a small town
story to national news overnight?
These days we call it going viral.
One day it's a name you've neverheard of.
Next day it's on everyone's radar and you see this person
who used to be just a genuinely caring person gain instant fame
(00:29):
and fortune and all of a sudden they no longer remember the
lowly people they grew up with or who are sitting on the
sidelines of the famous circles they now live in, right?
It's rare that someone like thisstill has time for all of those
who are on the sidelines, but but occasionally you still see
it. What's up everybody?
Welcome to the Jesus X30 challenge.
(00:51):
I am Tyson put off and this is Scene 12.
We're following my 3 volume bookproject on Jesus's Life in
Messianic campaign. All three volumes are available
now in print and ebook, so grab those wherever you buy your
books. I remember when I was boxing out
of Eastside Boxing Club in Kansas City, MO.
I've been showing up to the gym in the evenings and working out
(01:14):
by myself, working the bags, jumping rope, doing all the
skills work. And one night I remember working
the top and bottom bag, which isa small bag connected to the
floor and the ceiling with theseelastic straps.
So when you hit it, it bounces in the direction you hit it.
It tells you if you're punching straight on and it it whips back
(01:35):
and forth really quickly at you and, and unpredictably.
And man, I was good. I was accurate with my punches
and I knew it. But that evening as I was
working on that bag, I remember a bunch of dudes watching me
work this bag and. And I just remember I'm this
small town white kid from Kansasat this old school boxing gym on
(01:56):
Prospect Ave. in Kansas City, MO.
And these dudes were legit boxers.
They were fighters, They were cool and I was none of those.
It's home working out and one ofthe guys comes up to me and he
says hey, come here. And so I do.
And I'm not sure what they're going to say.
I'm thinking they're going to make fun of me, you know,
(02:16):
looking like a a wannabe boxer or a try hard as I've heard my
kids say. And one of them asked me, have
you ever boxed before? And I say, you know, not
formally. I've done martial arts,
kickboxing, stuff like that. And they say, bro, you've got
skill. We saw you on the bag and you
look like you've been boxing fora long time.
(02:37):
And now you've got to understandthat this is this is a pretty
tough time in my life. I've moved back home.
I'm going to Community College, studying mechanical engineering.
I'm not sure if that's what I want to do for my career.
Dad had just been diagnosed witha really tough health situation.
I'm working in his Body Shop. So when these guys approach me
(02:59):
and they're real boxers and they're cool and they recognize
me, it's a big deal. And after that they start
working me directly into their own workouts and, and they can
see that I'm also really analytical and see things a
certain way, even if I may not be as athletic as they are.
And so I start actually working with them, giving them feedback
(03:19):
on tactics and footwork and workouts and, and becoming
sparring partners with them. And they run my corner at my own
boxing matches or in in workoutsagainst other gyms.
And man, it was awesome. And they'll never know the
impact they had on me at that point, but they're taking the
time to recognize me, elevated me at a point in my life when I
(03:42):
was in a deep pit. Up to now, Jesus has been
steadily building momentum. He's been teaching and healing
and challenging assumptions. But here, the activity and the
reaction both intensify. We're not just watching people
gather to listen anymore. We're watching the movement
spread in every direction. Miracles that can't be ignored,
(04:04):
rumors that run ahead of Jesus, questions even from John the
Baptist, and growing resistance from those who don't want their
system disturbed. And the pace is picking up.
The reach is is widening and thetension is definitely building.
And Jesus is no longer just a teacher drawing interest.
He's no longer just a rabbi withhis own circle of rabbinic
(04:26):
students. He's becoming a force that
people either follow or push back against.
So it's still the dry season of spring 28 AD.
The roads are open. The heat is setting in.
Travel is is up and running again.
And through all of this, Jesus is on the move.
He's weaving through key Galilean towns.
(04:47):
He's making campaign stops. Capernaum, remember, is his home
base. It's a busy fishing town
positioned on a major trade route.
It's it's a crossroads where Roman soldiers, tax collectors,
local merchants and fishermen all rub shoulders.
It's also a good place where influence, good or bad, can
spread quickly. Name is a much smaller, more
(05:08):
rural place. It doesn't have Capernaans
profile, but it's going to become the stage for one of the
most striking demonstrations of power in Jesus ministry.
Bethsaida is familiar territory for some of Jesus's disciples.
It's where they grew up and worked, and it's seen first hand
some of Jesus's works. But familiarity, remember it
(05:31):
doesn't always translate into faith.
In each location, the reception is mixed.
Some respond with amazement and trust, others with hesitation,
and some with outright resistance.
So let's look at the story of the Centurion.
We begin in Capernaum. Matthew 8 and Luke 7 record
(05:52):
this. He sends word asking Jesus to
heal his servant, and he does sowith what appears to be a lot of
humility. He acknowledges that Jesus has
authority over these illnesses. The centurion is a Roman
officer. He's an agent of the occupying
power. Normally a man in this position
(06:12):
would be the one giving orders and expecting compliance, not
requesting help from a Jewish rabbi.
But he does anyway. And Jesus response is equally
remarkable. He not only agrees to help, but
he publicly praises the man's faith.
OK, now this man may be powerful, but he's not an
insider, not in Jesus world. He's the enemy.
(06:35):
But Jesus praises the man's faith and says he's not found
such trust even among God's own people.
And in so doing, Jesus does morethan heal the servant of this
man, right? He disrupts the social script.
The centurion, the one who should be in the role of the
patron, becomes the supplicant. He becomes the one asking Jesus
(06:56):
for help. And in responding, Jesus forms
this unexpected bridge that could have strategic value in a
town under Rome's watch. And we talked about that in a
previous scene. He basically gets this centurion
on the hook. The centurion now owes Jesus a
favor. So moving to the next town in
name. Here, the scene is intimate, but
(07:18):
it's no less significant. A funeral procession is moving
through the village, and it's a widow's son.
Her only son has died, and she'sa widow.
And in the ancient world, think about this.
Her loss is more than just this personal grief.
It's economic and social devastation.
She has no husband now. Her only son has died.
(07:38):
So she's she's finished. She faces poverty and
vulnerability. She can't take care of herself.
She can't tap into her Social Security or her retirement.
She's finished. So Jesus, Caesar, he feels
compassion and he stops the procession.
He tells her, don't we? Which already people are like,
dude, get out of the way. Get out of the way and stop
(07:59):
humiliating this grieving mother.
And then he addresses the dead man directly.
Young man, I say to you, arise. And Luke tells us that the man
sits up and begins to speak, andJesus gives him back to his
mother. For the crowd, this is more than
a moment of joy. It's a confrontation with death
itself. Unlike the prophets Elijah and
(08:22):
Elijah who called on God when raising the dead in ancient
Israel, Jesus speaks on his own authority in this moment, the
implications unavoidable. This is power that belongs to
Jesus. This is not power that he's
borrowing from another. This is not him petitioning God
(08:43):
to give him power to raise the man from the dead.
This is Jesus confronting death himself on his own power.
And news travels quickly in prison.
John the Baptist, here's what Jesus is doing and sends
messengers with a question, Are you the one who is to come, or
should we be looking for anotherone?
This is in Luke 7. And it's a revealing moment.
(09:04):
I think John's earlier preachinghad been really fiery.
Remember images of axes at the root of trees and chaff being
burned with unquenchable fire. And he seems to have expected
the Messiah to bring immediate judgement.
But now from his cell, he's in prison.
Remember, he hears reports of healings and exorcisms and meals
with tax collectors in the styleof Jesus's campaign.
(09:27):
Doesn't look quite like what John seems to have anticipated
this point. And this is interesting too,
because John has known Jesus hisentire life.
Remember, they're cousins. And in fact, I think there's a
good reason from the Gospels to think that John has had a
pivotal role in actually helpingJesus to understand his own
identity as the Messiah and as the Son of God.
(09:47):
And John's been sort of Jesus campaign strategist throughout
Jesus's life, too. He's Jesus's mentor in a lot of
ways. So it's intriguing to me.
And I still can't figure out whyexactly.
And I'm not going to make any definitive claims here.
So I still can't figure out why John now has some genuine
questions about whether Jesus isreally who John believed Jesus
(10:09):
was. He's in prison, after all, for
starting a revolution that primed the way for Jesus to
launch his own movement. And Jesus's reply is indirect,
but I think it pointed. He tells John's messengers to
report what they've seen. The blind see, the lame walk,
the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised,
and the poor have good news proclaimed to them.
(10:31):
OK, so if you know your Bible right now, John is drawing on
the language of Isaiah's prophecies, where Isaiah says
that the coming Messiah is goingto bring sight.
He's going to set captives free.He's going to heal, declare
liberation to make the point that these acts are the signs of
the kingdom's arrival. And Jesus is saying, if you, if
that's what you're seeing happening, the Kingdom is here
(10:52):
and you've got the right guy. It's not an easy answer it it
leaves John to connect the dots.But it's an answer grounded,
invisible, verifiable reality, not abstract claims.
It's also a little cryptic. Jesus knows strategically that
he can't just come out and say, yes, I'm the Messiah, I'm the
son of God, or he would have done that.
You notice he doesn't do that throughout the Gospels,
(11:14):
especially early on. He even tells people sometimes,
hey, you know who I am? Don't tell anybody.
He doesn't come out and say I'm the Messiah, I'm the son of God.
If he does, he's dead. His movements finished before it
starts. And while he knows that he's
heading to the cross soon, he also knows he's got work to do
before that happens. He's got to build his following,
establish his movement layout how he wants his new society to
(11:37):
operate. So he's, he's OK getting himself
in hot water to this point, but he can't get himself into
boiling water just yet. So he responds here like he does
in a lot of places. He tells parables and and
answers questions rhetorically. He he speaks in a cryptic way
that requires John to connect the dots and to realize that
(11:57):
Jesus is who John knows him to be.
He's him. Jesus is him.
Elsewhere, the response is a little less inquisitive and more
dismissive. In Matthew 11, Jesus rebukes
Bethsaida and Corazine for theirrefusal to respond.
These towns have seen his works first hand, and yet they they
(12:18):
remain unmoved. And his warning is stark to
them. If cities with reputations for
wickedness, like Tyre and Sidon,had witnessed such works, they
would have repented, Jesus says.But you haven't, and you've seen
my works. A rejection here isn't neutral.
It's an active resistance to God's intervention.
It's seeing what God has done and rejecting him anyway.
(12:41):
When we talk about someone's influence, suddenly expanding,
our minds might go to social media.
Something something going viral.But this isn't just a 21st
century phenomenon. History is full of examples of
people whose impact moved from local to widespread almost
overnight. In 1955, as we talked before, a
42 year old seamstress named Rosa Parks refused to give up
(13:05):
her seat to a white passenger ona bus in Montgomery, AL.
She was the first to resist segregation, but her arrest
became the spark for what was known as the Montgomery Bus
Boycott. And local newspapers jumped on
this, reported it immediately. And within days this was
national news. Within weeks, it was the spark
(13:28):
of a growing movement that wouldreshape the civil rights
landscape. And it wasn't that Parks
suddenly became a different person.
Her convictions were already there.
Her courage was already there. But the right combination of
action and timing and courage and visibility made her story
unavoidable. That's where Jesus is in scene
(13:49):
12. He's been building momentum,
sometimes quietly, sometimes abrasively.
But now the combination of a Roman officers faith, the
raising of a widow's son, and the public rebuke of entire
towns and the the persistent questions from John the Baptist
have made his campaign impossible to ignore.
So what began in back roads and in fishing villages is now the
(14:13):
subject of discussion everywherefrom prison cells to tax offices
and from synagogues to city gates and all the way down to
the temple. For all the public noise in this
scene, miracles that make headlines, crowds pressing in
and public confrontations, the most enduring image, though,
might be the quietest. 1 So we're at the home of a Pharisee
(14:35):
for dinner in Luke 7, and an unnamed woman walks in and her
reputation is already known. She's branded a Sinner.
She brings an alabaster jar of perfume, and she stands behind
Jesus at his feet and begins to weep.
Her tears fall at his feet. She wipes them with her hair.
She kisses them and pours out the perfume.
(14:57):
And she doesn't make a speech. She doesn't plead her case, She
doesn't try to earn her way intothe conversation.
She just loves him in the only way she knows how.
The host of this this dinner party, he sees a scandal, but
Jesus sees value. He, he tells a short parable
about two debtors, 1 owing much,one owing little, and asks which
(15:19):
will love more when the dead is forgiven.
And the answer is pretty obvious.
And Jesus connects it directly to this woman and and what's
happening here at his feet. And he says her many sins have
been forgiven, as her great lovehas shown.
So this is a moment that says something to every person who
has ever felt unseen or dismissed or left out of the
(15:40):
important conversations. In the swirl of public debate
and high profile miracles and political implications, Jesus
notices the one person no one else wanted in the room.
And not only does he notice her,he defends her.
He honors her devotion and he writes her into the story that
we still talk about today. And it's interesting because we
(16:02):
don't know this woman's name, but we really don't know anyone
else who was in the room that day at the dinner party.
I remember dinner parties were big deals.
They were banquets. They were situations in which
we, someone of power and someonewith honor, invited other people
with power and honor and wealth and prestige to show this is who
I am, this is my community. And we don't know any of them.
(16:26):
I think that's kind of a, an ironic, that's kind of a
theological irony, right? There are people throughout
history whose names are forgotten, who had power, who
had wealth, who had prestige, who had honor.
We don't know this woman's name,but we know her story.
And Jesus makes sure that she isnot the one forgotten.
(16:47):
And I think Scene 12 makes something else clear.
As Jesus's profile grows, responses to him divide.
Some welcome him with trust, like the Centurion who
understood authority when he sawit.
Some are intrigued but unsure, like John sending questions from
his prison cell. Others reject him outright, like
Bethsaida and Corazine. Entire communities who saw the
(17:09):
works, but they were unmoved. And no matter how famous or
infamous in the eyes of some Jesus became, He always sees
those whom others overlook. Those whom others push aside
look down on in shame. And he honors and recognizes the
unseen publicly. Miracles in this scene aren't
just acts of kindness. They're public signs that demand
(17:30):
a response. Jesus is always doing things out
of genuine, heartfelt love and compassion for people.
But when he does or says things,it always puts people in a
position where they have to respond to that in one way or
another. To accept them is to acknowledge
Jesus's authority. To ignore them is to resist the
(17:51):
arrival of His Kingdom. There's no neutral ground.
I still remember the night I heard that Princess Diana had
died. Some of you who are my age or
older will remember this. I was in high school, coming
home late, turned on the little TV in my room.
It had had a little built in VCRplayer that I'd gotten for
(18:12):
Christmas. We didn't have cable at that
point, so my options were limited as to which channels I
could watch. Or I'd put in my Bruce Lee VHS
tapes and watch those until I fell asleep.
We had Channel 4, five, 9/11, 1941.
Channel 50 was the Christian channel.
Channel 62, every station had the same breaking news that
(18:32):
night that Princess Diana was gone.
She was famous for all kinds of reasons.
Her royal wedding, her style, her celebrity.
The sort of modern Disney story of a young woman becoming a
Princess. And that's what most people knew
about her, which made her death so shocking.
And that's all I knew about her too.
(18:52):
But years later I learned about a side of her life I had never
seen in those headlines and the side of her that showed her
quiet in her personal work with AIDS patients long before it was
socially acceptable. Especially among the Christian
and conservative communities where AIDS was often seen
through this really cruel and misguided lens of being a divine
(19:16):
curse on so-called sinners. It was in the late 1980s and
fear and stigma surrounded AIDS.Again, for those of you my age
or older, you remember AIDS in in the 80s was, was a death
sentence. And so there was a lot of fear
and stigma surrounding it. And many people avoided even
(19:37):
touching someone with the disease.
It was incurable, socially shameful, and theologically
viewed as a curse. But Diana, one of the most
famous women in the world, walked into the ward, sat down
on the bed next to an AIDS patient, and shook his hand
without gloves, without hesitation.
And it wasn't a staged photo op.She wasn't just making a speech
(20:00):
about compassion. She was practicing it in the
most personal and human and vulnerable way.
In that moment, her fame didn't create distance, it created a
spotlight for someone the world had pushed into the shadows.
She used the platform, she had to say, without even using
words. I see you and you matter.
(20:22):
Jesus is as viral as you could be in 1st century Galilee.
He's known in every village, He's discussed in every
synagogue. He's questioned by political and
religious leaders. And yet, in the middle of all of
the public momentum, he stops. For an unnamed woman with a
broken reputation, someone in the room would rather pretend
wasn't even there. In a scene full of action, it's
(20:46):
easy to focus on the big public moments, the ones that make
news. But the dinner scene reminds us
that the Kingdom Jesus is building has space for those who
have no titles, no official role, no platform.
A lot of us feel like we're on the edges of the room, sometimes
unnoticed or underestimated. But we're not.
(21:06):
She wasn't invited to the table,but she still came close to
Jesus. She didn't have the right
credentials, but she still had love for Him.
And that's what Jesus honored. The movement Jesus started
changes the world on a grand scale, but it always stops for
individuals. It makes room for your and my
devotion even when no one else sees it, even when it doesn't
(21:27):
seem to count in the eyes of others, for our dedication, for
our donation, even when the big donors and the big lenders get
all the recognition. So in the middle of the noise,
the debates, the pressures of life, I want you to remember
that the Kingdom is measured notonly by crowds gathered or by
systems challenged, but also by the quiet, faithful love that
(21:51):
Jesus never overlooks. At the start, we talked about
someone going from a small localstory to a name everyone knows.
In scene 12, Jesus reaches that tipping point, his words and
actions sending ripples across Galilee, crossing boundaries of
class and culture and geography.But for all of the public
shockwaves, he never loses sightof the person kneeling in love
(22:14):
at his feet, whom nobody else inhis circles, nobody else of his
stature, would dare let near them, much less touch them.
And that's the balance of Jesus's mission.
It shakes the world while holding space for the overlooked
Lake Omad. Go and learn.
Come back for scene 13 of the Jesus X30 Challenge.
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