The Glory of His Second Galilean Tour

The Compassion of Christ · AD 29

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.

Psalm 34:18

On His second tour through Galilee, Christ came down from heaven to rescue the lowest of the low, showing that He is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. He appointed twelve apostles, preached blessing upon the poor and hungry, marveled at a centurion's faith, raised a widow's son, and forgave a weeping sinner. But His compassion for the outcast only offended the proud — and this tour, like the first, ended in His rejection by the scribes and even by His own family.

Read: Luke 6:12–49; Luke 7:1–50; Mark 3:20–35

Appoints the Twelve and Blesses the Poor

As with His first tour, Christ entered His second immersed in prayer. The evening before He left He walked from Capernaum up the Mount of Beatitudes and prayed alone through the whole night, laboring in intercession — not for Himself, but for those He had come to save. He was about to appoint apostles, and He would do nothing without the blessing of His Father and the power of the Spirit.

The next day He called His disciples up the mountain and appointed twelve of them to be His apostles, anointed with His authority to speak on His behalf and given His power to heal and cast out demons. Then He descended to a great crowd gathered from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, and after healing all who were sick, He preached.

The blessed, Christ taught, are those who see their emptiness before it is too late — the poor, the hungry, those who weep, and those hated for His sake — for their hunger and tears will be turned to eternal joy. But the scribes and Pharisees thought they needed nothing. They did not see themselves as poor or sick or captive, and so they could not receive a lowly Savior.

And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”

Luke 6:20

Heals the Centurion's Servant

Back at Capernaum, the city leaders begged Christ to come heal the dying servant of a Roman centurion who, though a Gentile, had built their synagogue. Moved with sympathy, Christ agreed to go. But as He neared the house, the centurion sent friends to stop Him, for he felt unworthy to have the Lord under his roof.

The centurion's humility did not weaken his faith — it revealed it. Just as he commanded soldiers with a word, he trusted that Christ needed only to speak the word and his servant would be healed, without ever entering the house. Here was a man who believed without needing to see or touch.

Christ marveled at the centurion's faith and warned that many would come from east and west to recline with Abraham in the kingdom, while the sons of the kingdom were cast out. Then He said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed,” and the servant was healed. This wealthy Gentile entered the kingdom not because he was rich and powerful, but because he was poor and needy in spirit.

When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.”

Matthew 8:10

Raises the Widow's Son at Nain

Soon after, Christ traveled about twenty-two miles to Nain, a village on the southern border of Galilee. As He reached the gate, a funeral procession was carrying out the only son of a widow who had already lost her husband. The Lord was moved with compassion at her grief and, without being asked, said to her, “Do not weep.”

Christ touched the coffin and said, “Young man, I say to you, arise,” and the dead son sat up and began to speak. Fear gripped the crowd, then gave way to rejoicing as they said, “God has visited his people!” The report spread so far that it reached even John the Baptist, imprisoned and beginning to doubt whether his cousin was truly the Messiah.

Christ then praised John as more than a prophet — indeed the greatest born of women, the messenger sent to prepare His way. Yet that generation would receive neither John, who came fasting, nor Christ, who came eating and drinking. They rejected the Lord precisely because He was meek and lowly, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.

And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”

Luke 7:13

Compassion Despised

Before leaving the region, Christ dined at the house of Simon the Pharisee. A notorious sinful woman came in weeping, wet His feet with her tears, wiped them with her hair, and anointed them with ointment. The Pharisee was disgusted, thinking a true prophet would never let such a woman touch him.

But Christ knew the Pharisee's thoughts. He told a parable of two debtors and drew out the truth: the one forgiven much loves much. The Pharisee had offered no water, no kiss, no oil, but this woman had not stopped honoring Him. Her many sins were forgiven, for she loved much.

As Christ traveled on with the Twelve and women who supported them — Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna — He returned again to Capernaum, so thronged that He could not even eat. His own family came to seize Him, saying He was out of His mind, while scribes from Jerusalem charged that He cast out demons by Beelzebub. He warned that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would never be forgiven.

When told His mother and brothers were outside, Christ looked at those seated around Him and redefined His true family. The blessed are not the self-righteous, nor even His natural kin, but those who do the will of God — those born again by the Spirit, in fulfillment of the new covenant promised through Jeremiah.

“Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

Luke 7:47

For Reflection

Down, down, down our Lord continued to climb throughout His ministry. His second Galilean tour ended, like the first, in rejection — dismissed as a madman by His family and charged with demon possession by the scribes. Yet He came not to bless the self-entitled and self-righteous, but poor, undone, and defeated sinners. He blessed the cursed by enduring their curse and the outcasts by becoming an outcast for them. This is the glory of His compassion.