GET TOGETHER- LOVE AS MUCH AS YOU HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN
Lu 7:40 -50 “And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” So he said, “Teacher, say it.” “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. “And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?”Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.” Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. “You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. “Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. “Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
Does the enemy often remind you of your sinful past? I wonder how much before she met Jesus had this woman often thought that there was no place for forgiveness for her sins. I wonder how many times that she had heard the voice of condemnation tell her that her sins were to many and to bad to be forgiven from.
She must have been desperate and hurting pretty bad to crash this dinner at the home of Simon the Pharisee. He and some other Pharisees were testing Jesus about His theology over dinner on this occasion. Well he and his friends are about to get a real good theology lesson that they most likely were not expecting from Jesus.
Let’s go back in the story and see what the woman does when she comes busting uninvited into Simon’s house. Lu 7:37,38 And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.
Most commentators believe that she was a woman that either could have been a prostitute or was known as one who had a reputation for committing sexual sin. She pours out oil on the feet of Jesus. This would have been something that would have been very expensive. She also kisses His feet. This would have been considered outrageous for a woman to do that. And yet her motive is pure. Somewhere she has heard about Jesus. Somewhere she has heard of the mercy and compassion of Jesus.
Jesus had basically been insulted by Simon. When He came to his house there was no kiss of greeting that was customary in that part of the world in Jesus day when a guest visited someone in their home. There was no water to wash His feet that had trod upon dirty streets often littered with animal dung. However, there was a desperate sinner that would come on the scene and give Him the honor that He was due.
There are many key points in this passage. Today I am not going to expound on all of them. But what I want to focus on is when Jesus tells Simon that those who have been forgiven much love much.
She knew that her sins were many. He pronounces those sins as forgiven. Have you ever thought about how many of your sins that He has forgiven? Is your response like her response one of total abandonment in worship and not being concerned about what the self-righteous religious may be thinking?
Or perhaps you are like I was at one time. You may be thinking that your sins are too many and too bad to be forgiven. I can remember when I thought that. But someone told me that one drop of His precious blood was enough to wipe mine and anyone else’s slate clean that would repent and put their faith in Him to save us from our sins.
If you have never been forgiven of your sins I urge you today to do as this woman and come to the feet of Jesus and give Him everything about your life. You can then here those precious words that He spoke to her: “Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
For those of us that have been forgiven may we never forget just what He has done for us. And may we just as this woman did pour ourselves out in worship with everything that we have. Certainly, if she could do it in the house of a Pharisee how much more can we do it in the House of God and everywhere else that we are. Love Him as much as you have been forgiven!
Let us Pray
Lord Jesus this woman was desperate. To be honest we all are desperate without you. Today may our worship and our praise be as a desperate people that have been snatched from the pits of Hell and have been redeemed, forgiven and given life abundant, and life eternal.
In Jesus Name
Amen
We love you all. May God bless you!
Your Friend/Kinfolk
Preston
