The Consequence of Forgiveness

Introduction:

Good morning church. It is a great privilege to be here this morning. When I started to go to Bible college Austin began to ask me to do communion devotions. With much hesitation, I said yes. Church, when I tell you that I wanted to tell Austin no to doing these devotions, I am telling you that I really wanted to say no. I have struggled with a deep anxiety of public speaking for a long time now. You may then be thinking to yourself, well Will, why have you gone into something such as ministry which requires so much public speaking? Really the only answer I can give to this is God, and that when I can’t God can. And so, through much stress, preparation, and prayer, I have done multiple communion devotions and now lead in a speaking role in the ministry God has blessed me to be a part of with YFC. However, that has not stopped me from turning down Austins multiple requests to get me to preach a sermon for my first time. That is until one day very recently. The biggest difference this time was that Austin was no longer asking me to preach, but this time he was telling me I would be preaching. Although I may not have liked it, this was understandable to me as during this time, as we know he has taken some time off to focus on his family as Sarah will bringing along their fourth child. I want to thank Austin for making me step out of my comfort zone and helping me to remember that even when I can’t, God can. Will you pray with me.

Alright, this week we will be continuing in the sermon series called, “Meals with Jesus.” The specific meal that we will talk about this week comes from Luke chapter 7:36-50. What I find to be interesting here is that this invitation was extended to Jesus from a Pharisee. A Pharisee was a religious group who prided themselves on their belief that they were separate from others. In other words, that they were more righteous than others. And for those of you who do not know, Jesus and this group of people did not always get along. And the Pharisees were even very hostile towards Jesus. And so, we have to wonder as to why this Pharisee brought Jesus over to his house. Though there are a few views as to why this is one that many hold, that I heard from a preacher was the idea that the Pharisees brought Jesus in an attempt to trap Him into condemning himself. Or possible that after Jesus got done teaching at the synagogue it was the custom to invite them over for a dinner party. We of course are uncertain as to the complete nature of this, but either way what we do know is that Jesus went.

Let’s move into the Scripture, Verse 36:

I want to start by setting the story up for us. The custom of hospitality at this time was a bit different than what it is now. When a guest would come over to your house you would provide for them water to clean their feet. And if you were a little more well off and could afford a servant at this time, then you would provide your guest with a servant to do this very thing for them. This was important because your guest would likely have dirty feet from their travels on the primarily dirt paths that the people had to walk on. Many people would have been wearing sandals or if they were a little poorer even went around with bare feet. Another custom of hospitality at this time was to greet your guest with a kiss on the cheek. Both customs will become important later as we will see. We also see here that Jesus reclines at the table to eat with the Pharisee and the other guest whom the Pharisee had invited. At this time when you ate, you would not sit at your dining room table on a chair as we do now. Rather you would lean against the table, leaning upon your left arm, as you laid your feet behind you away from the table. All these things set up the rest of our story.

Verses 37-39 go like this.

We see here a very emotional woman enters into our story. And this emotional woman goes to Jesus’s feet which were sprawled about behind him away from the table and begins to do some things which you and I might consider to be very strange. In fact, I do not think I can imagine my wife crying on my feet and then wiping my feet with her hair. Nor do I ever think my wife would kiss my feet. Neither I nor she would enjoy this very much. However, this does not stop this emotional woman from doing these very things. What is really important here is why this woman was doing the things she was doing. We will touch more on this woman later. But for now, what I really want to point out here are the thoughts of the Pharisee. The very thoughts which Jesus heard as if they were spoken out loud. “If He were a prophet, He would have known what manner of woman this is that touches Him, for she is a sinner.” For she is a sinner. Jesus could not have possibly been a prophet in this man’s mind. After all the whole town knew the type of woman she was, a disgusting sinner. The Pharisee knew it, she knew it, and as I just mentioned the whole town knew it, and likely treated her like it, making her an outcast. And if Jesus did not know what everyone else knew, how worthless and disgusting of a sinner this woman was, He could not possible be a prophet…. Church, do we ever label others like this, and in doing so make excuses as to why we should not care to try and bring these people to Christ? After all, they are just worthless sinners who are worse than you and I? And you know this, and they know this, and the whole town knows this, right? Wrong, this woman here was an outcast, who was likely to have been the town prostitute, and as we will see here shortly, Jesus did not view her as the Pharisee and as the rest of the town did, nor does he view those who we consider to far off to be as we do either. Let’s us continue onto.

Verses 40-43

Jesus comes at Simon the Pharisee here with a parable. One of the most simple parables in Jesus’s teaching. Two men owed someone some money, one owed a lot more than the other, however, they both had debts in which neither of them could pay. Yet, they both were told that their debts would simply be forgiven. Not because they had anything to pay with, nor because they had done anything, but because the one who they owed the money to simply could. And we see that Jesus wanted to get the perspective of Simon the Pharisee on who would have more love towards the one who forgave them their debts. Of course it was the one who owed the most money. And the Pharisees answers Jesus in an almost annoyed way, as says he supposes the one who owed the most money would. And he was right and Jesus tells him as so and this leads us into

Verses 44-46

Do you guys remember the customs of hospitality we talked about earlier? The Pharisee failed to do these very simple things. And Jesus, while looking at the emotional woman, told Simon the Pharisee all he had failed to do in which this woman did herself.

Let’s continue.

Verses 47-50

This story is such a beautiful example of turning to God. This emotional woman, as we know was so emotional that she cried all over Jesus’s feet. Having no towel, and not wanting to disrespect the Lord, she wiped his feet with her hair. Not even concerned with the thoughts of the others, only focused on the great love she had for Jesus. She then kissed his feet and anointed them with oil. I believe that this woman either had a personal encounter with Jesus before this or that she heard him speaking to the crowds. She has understood her sins and understood Jesus’s message about the forgiveness of sins through Him. This is why this woman is here, this is why she is so emotional, this is why she has so much love, because in Jesus there is no longer any condemnation in sin, but forgiveness in love. The very condemnation she received from those around her, she did not receive from the one whom it mattered. I must point out to you church that the love of this woman was the consequence of her forgiveness, not the cause. I want to say that again, the love of this woman was the consequence of her forgiveness, not the cause.

Church, I have to ask you what are the consequences of your forgiveness that you have received through Christ? We all know the cause, what Jesus had to go through so that you and I might be forgiven. But are the consequences in your life from that forgiveness we have received even close to this emotional woman? Is there a measure of love in your life that comes from this forgiveness in Christ Jesus? If not church I need you to take a good look at this woman and the dire need she had for forgiveness, the very dire need we all have, which led to her emotional response of love, which we should all have.

Jesus looked at this emotional woman, that those who sat next to them thought within themselves about how disgusting of a sinner she was, and Jesus tells her here the most important words that anyone could ever hear, “Your sins are forgiven.” Your sins are forgiven.” And of course, those who were present began to think within themselves against Jesus, and Jesus heard this as if they said it out loud. Yet He paid them no attention, and with His eyes still fixated on this woman he told her that her faith has saved her… her sins were forgiven, her faith has saved her, and she loved Jesus greatly as a consequence of this great cause, that forgiveness of sins is through Christ Jesus our Lord.

I believe that some of you today are missing out on this experience of this emotional woman. There are some of you today who have not received the forgiveness that there is in Christ. Just like this woman heard, “your sins are forgiven.” You and I need to be able to be told the very same thing. At the very end of our passage Jesus tells the woman to go in peace. This a peace that can only be know through the forgiveness of sins in Jesus. Have every one of you received this forgiveness?

I also think that there are some in here that have not yet understood the true magnitude of your sins, the true magnitude of what Jesus did to forgive your sins, and therefore the consequences of this forgiveness in your life’s are not as evident as they should be. Is it possible that unlike this woman, who had so much love because she understood how much she had been forgiven, that you have not understood how much God has had to forgive you for you to be forgiven? I say this not in condemnation, but in encouragement, so let us be like this emotional woman in this beautiful story. Let us receive these beautiful words, “Your sins are forgiven.” And in doing so let the consequences be to love greatly. And of course, this will not be easy for you, nor for me, but we must remember that even when we can’t God can.

Let us pray