Series 1: Parables of Kingdom Truths-The Two Debtors

Series 1: Parables of Kingdom Truths

The Two Debtors

Luke 7:36–50

36 And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat.

37 And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,

38 And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.

39 Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.

40 And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on.

41 There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.

42 And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?

43 Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.

44 And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.

45 Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.

46 My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.

47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

48 And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.

49 And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also?

50 And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.

Jesus taught some of His best lessons through parables, or stories with a spiritual application.

This series will take a close look at four of those parables: the Two Debtors, the Talents, the Prodigal Son, and the Rich Man and Lazarus.

As we look into these sacred stories, we will see the amazing love of God coupled with His unblemished holiness.

Icebreaker: What is your most prized possession?

I. JESUS TAUGHT IN PARABLES

Once Jesus hung up His carpenter’s apron, He walked into a ministry of teaching the world around Him about the kingdom of God.

Jesus chose to teach many of His lessons as stories, or parables.

Parables were stories about people or things most people would understand.

They were the lenses Jesus gave to the people He taught to give them a glimpse of the glory of the kingdom of God.

He shared one such parable with a holy man named Simon.

A. The Woman with the Alabaster Box

As the setting sun tossed long shadows on the streets, Simon came bursting through the door.

His servants had seen that look before.

That look meant overtime.

Right after Simon burst through the door, another man followed him, followed by a crowd who had been following Him.

The servants scurried back into the kitchen and dipped out more soup for all of Simon’s guests.

Simon was called a Pharisee.

He was one of the holy men in Israel who kept the Law to its fullest extent.

He was conscious to dot every i and careful to cross every t.

He was especially curious about this man Jesus, who grew up in Nazareth and had just raised a widow’s dead son back to life.

Simon had been taught that only God can work those wonders.

How did Jesus?

Simon wanted to know if everything everyone was saying about Jesus was true.

Was He really the Messiah, or was He just another man trying to be God?

While they sipped their soup and talked, one more guest made her way in.

She quietly wound through the crowd and stopped at Jesus’ filthy feet.

Tears flooded her flushed face.

Simon’s servants looked at each other, wondering which one of them would have to be the bouncer.

As she wept, her tears fell on Jesus’ feet, washing off some of the dust from the dusty city streets.

She knelt down and let her long, dark hair down as she began to wipe her tears with her hair.

She cracked open a beautiful alabaster box she brought with her and poured her sweet perfume on Jesus’ feet.

This worshiping woman kept weeping and pouring perfume and kissing Jesus’ feet.

The whole time, she had not whispered a word, but her worship screamed of her love for Jesus and thankfulness for what He had done for her.

No one else in that room really knew what He had done for her, but they all knew what she had done.

She was a notorious sinner.

A holy and even uncomfortable hush fell as everyone heard only the soft weeping of this wicked woman.

Simon the Pharisee was appalled.

He wanted to stand and yell, “Sinner!”

But he just sat there and pulled his religious robes tight against his chest.

There was no way Jesus could be a prophet, else He would have known how filthy and unworthy this woman was.

Simon began devising a way to toss Jesus and His wicked worshiper out of his holy house.

Jesus knew exactly what Simon was thinking, so Jesus broke the uncomfortable silence and weaved this parable.

B. The Parable of the Debtors

A man loaned money to two people—five hundred pieces of silver to one, fifty pieces of silver to another.

Unfortunately, when it came time to pay their creditor back, neither one of them could.

The creditor knew what that meant.

The debtors knew what that meant.

Unpaid debt carried the threat of dark days in debtors’ prison, slaving away for masters they neither knew nor loved until they had paid back the last denarius.

They gulped, knowing they were helpless to help themselves, but their creditor freely forgave them both and canceled their debts.

They were free to go.

Their debts were forgiven.

This was too good to be true.

Then Jesus looked into Simon’s dark brown eyes and asked him, “Now Simon, which of the debtors do you think loved him more after that?”

C. Simon’s Response

Simon was savvy.

Jesus was good at asking questions to which He already knew the answers.

Simon swallowed hard and answered weakly, “I suppose the one whose larger debt was forgiven.”

Jesus smiled.

Simon relaxed a little, and Jesus nodded, “You’re right, Simon.”

Then Jesus turned to look at the weeping woman who was still pouring perfume on Him and kissing His feet.

Jesus then asked Simon, “Do you see this woman?

Simon, when I came in your house this afternoon, my feet were dusty from walking the streets.

You rushed me past the basin and towel and into the dining room.

You motioned for me to sit down as you announced who I am and why I’m here, but you never once offered to wash the dust off my feet.”

Jesus continued, “But look at this woman.

She has flooded my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.

And Simon, you didn’t greet me with a kiss (a simple, standard sign of hospitality), but since she came in here, she has not stopped kissing my feet.

And you didn’t even offer to anoint my head with oil, but she broke a beautiful alabaster box of more beautiful and expensive perfume, and she poured the perfume all over my feet.”

The room was silent as Jesus paused for seconds. It felt like hours.

“You are right about one thing, though.

She is a sinner.”

Hearing Jesus call her a sinner made her shudder.

She knew she was not worthy to wash His feet, but she hoped Jesus did not know her past or her present.

But He clearly did.

How would He respond?

Would Jesus judge her like the others judged her?

Perhaps like Simon had?

D. Gratitude for God’s Forgiveness

Simon was not as wicked as this woman, but he was not as thankful as her either.

Perhaps our testimony is the same as Simon’s.

Maybe we have been blessed to be part of a godly family all our lives.

Perhaps our testimony is God has kept us from scars He does not have to heal us from.

If so, we should be abundantly thankful because we have been abundantly blessed.

Thankfully, God loves and forgives sinners like Simon and sinners like us.

Thankfully, we have the opportunity to show God gratitude for His forgiveness through our worship.

Why do you think Simon was more focused on the woman’s heinous sin rather than his own?

But what if our story is more like her story?

Perhaps we have a past we are not proud of but cannot erase, piling up one sin upon another until we cannot bear to wake in the morning because of the crushing weight of our guilt.

But along came Jesus, and He forgave us of our sins—all our sins.

If her story is our story, we should be abundantly thankful because we too are abundantly blessed.

That is why we should follow her lead and fall at Jesus’ feet in extravagant worship.

What does extravagant worship look like in our day?

Would a simple raised hand and song have been enough for the woman to show her gratitude to God?

II. THE POWER OF LOVE AND FORGIVENESS

A. The Woman’s Act of Love

Jesus answered Simon’s question before Simon had a chance to ask it.

“That’s why she has shown me such love. But Simon, a person who has been forgiven of a little will only love a little.” (See Luke 7:47.)

This act of worship was no act; this was love.

Washing Jesus’ feet with her tears, drying them with her hair, anointing His feet with precious perfume, and even kissing His feet were all ways of showing Jesus how much she loved Him.

Jesus said, “Your sins are forgiven.

Your faith has saved you.

Go in peace.” (See Luke 7:48–50.)

Peace.

It had been years since she really felt peace, but just hearing Him say the word gave her peace her soul craved.

She never felt better.

Simon never felt worse.

Simon saw sinner; Jesus saw forgiven.

That stirred up a firestorm.

Simon’s religious colleagues nearly choked on a bullock bone.

No one could forgive sins, especially hers, but God.

How dare He purport to be equal with God.

This was blasphemy.

Moses would roll over in his grave if we could find it.

While they steamed over proper theology, they forgot one simple theological truth: all have sinned.

B. All Have Sinned

Romans 3:23 says it as succinctly as possible, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

All of us, even the best of us, have sinned.

Truth be told, all of us still sin (I John 1).

That is never a license to sin, but it is a sobering reminder that we have no share in self-righteousness.

Without the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we are no better than the worst sinner our sanctified minds may think of.

All our sins forged the same hammer that nailed Jesus to the cross.

While the human consequences of sin may be different, only the imputed righteousness of Jesus takes care of the eternal consequences of sin.

Some sin seems to be harmless.

A husband clicks where he ought not while on a business trip.

A student takes a little pill to take the edge off.

We shout out a few unkind, unclean words in traffic.

Surely God does not care about those.

Our society certainly does not.

Society even divides crime into two categories: misdemeanor and felony.

But what about to God?

Does God care about a little lie like He does about first-degree murder?

Does He see all sin the same?

The consequences in the courtroom may be different, but the consequences in our souls are not.

All have sinned, and sin separates us from God.

All our sins nailed Jesus to a cross.

Whether we are Simon or this worshiping woman before she was a worshiper, we all need to repent and get right with God.

It is being born again, regenerated by the transforming work of the Spirit, that brings us into covenant with God (Ephesians 2).

That is our only hope for forgiveness.

How would we view sin differently if we saw it through God’s eyes?

C. No Sin Is Too Big for God to Forgive

The good news is God still forgives.

That was music to her ears.

It should be music to ours.

If you wrecked your life and others’, God still wants to forgive you.

And He will freely forgive you if you will repent.

We do not need to beg God because God wants to forgive us and free us from guilt.

That is one of the main reasons He came from Heaven to Earth to give His life on Calvary. He came to freely forgive.

D. I Will Express My Love for Jesus Because He Forgives My Sins

When we realize how much we have been forgiven, it will show up in how we worship Jesus and love Him.

When we realize the depth of the pit from which we were dug, it will show in the depth of our devotion to Him.

Sometimes our worship calls us to jump for joy in red-hot Sunday services.

Other times that worship calls us to bury our faces in the carpet at the altar and weep when we realize just how merciful Jesus is and how sinful we have been.

If we could ask this woman from Luke 7, she would tell us that wholehearted worship is rarely, if ever, prescribed or pretty.

But it is worship.

And worship is the only right response to Jesus for the forgiveness He has showed to us.

How do you express your love for Jesus for His forgiveness?

Jesus has given all of us the greatest gift any of us could ever receive.

He has given us the gift of forgiveness, even the gift of salvation.

A simple thank you card does not seem sufficient.

Neither does an hour on Sunday to sing a few songs and listen to a sermon.

We will reflect the depth of our gratitude to God for His love through our worship.

Let us give God wholehearted worship and thanks for all He has done for us.

Let us live our lives to love the one who gave His life to love us.

When we worship greatly, we remember that we have been forgiven greatly.

When we worship little, perhaps we think we have only been forgiven little.

But we have been forgiven of much more and given much more than we truly know.

May this parable of these two debtors and the stark contrast between self-righteous Simon and the once sinful, now worshiping woman teach us that all of us have sinned, all of us have been forgiven, and all of us should live all our lives to love and worship Jesus.