What does Luke 7:1 mean?
Jesus has just finished the "Sermon on the Plain" (Luke 6:17–49). Much of His teaching involved the responsibility of God-followers to love their own persecutors. We don't know if the Sermon on the Plain is the same event that Matthew records as the "Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew 5—7). It could be, as "plain" can mean a high plateau. Most likely, Jesus would have delivered the same themes in many places as He travelled and taught (Mark 1:39; Luke 8:1).Luke mentions that Jesus spoke "in the hearing of the people" showing that the "Sermon on the Plain" was spoken to at least the "great crowd of his disciples" if not the "great multitude," not just the Twelve (Luke 6:17). The wording reflects Jesus' comparison between those who hear His words and follow them to those who hear and don't follow (Luke 6:47–49). The people have heard Jesus' words; now they need to decide whether to do them.
Capernaum was a town in the district of Galilee which was ruled by Herod Antipas. The town sits on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee and was the home of Peter and Andrew; it served as Jesus' homebase (Mark 1:21, 29).
