One of my neighbors is a veteran pastor with over 50 years in ministry. I asked him, last Saturday, as we stood in my driveway, about his favorite sermon. Once he understood what I was asking, he quickly said that Luke 7 was his favorite passage to preach on.
If you don't know what that passage is about, it is the story of Jesus dining with a Pharisee. A prostitute comes in and immediately begins, with her long hair, wiping the feet of Jesus which have been wetted with her tears. I am giving the very short version, so go to Luke 7:36-50 and read the story.
The punch line is the KEY here. Jesus is called out by his host who thinks it improper to let a "sinful woman" touch him. Instead Jesus blesses the woman and forgives her sin!!
Whoa!
Here is a career prostitute and Jesus forgives her! When asked about it, Jesus replies, as usual, with a question, "41 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,[c] and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
So, my problem, so often, is I FAIL to recognize the extent to which I have been forgiven and fall into the same trap as the Pharisee. How can I condemn anyone, regardless of their life style, when I have been forgiven of so much?
"48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Thanks be to G^d for His abundant grace!
If you don't know what that passage is about, it is the story of Jesus dining with a Pharisee. A prostitute comes in and immediately begins, with her long hair, wiping the feet of Jesus which have been wetted with her tears. I am giving the very short version, so go to Luke 7:36-50 and read the story.
The punch line is the KEY here. Jesus is called out by his host who thinks it improper to let a "sinful woman" touch him. Instead Jesus blesses the woman and forgives her sin!!
Whoa!
Here is a career prostitute and Jesus forgives her! When asked about it, Jesus replies, as usual, with a question, "41 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,[c] and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.So, my problem, so often, is I FAIL to recognize the extent to which I have been forgiven and fall into the same trap as the Pharisee. How can I condemn anyone, regardless of their life style, when I have been forgiven of so much?
"48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Thanks be to G^d for His abundant grace!
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