Reckless Love

Big Idea

Love shows through action when forgiveness is grasped

We should love much because we have been forgiven much

Love Jesus recklessly for his total forgiveness

Reckless Love

“I would do anything for love - but I won’t do that” - who remembers that famous line?

If you were making a top-10 of the world’s greatest acts of love, what would you put in there? What about:

King Nebuchadnezzar

His Queen, Ameetis, was homesick. Around 600 B.C., she married King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon for political reasons. But the Babylonian landscape - modern-day Iraq - was a dull flat desert, and she missed her home country, lush and mountainous. So Nebuchadnezzar commissioned the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, spectacular planted terraces that seemed to float in midair. The gardens were hailed as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. All for the love of his queen. Not bad, ‘eh? Your very own wonder of the world. Or what about..

Wagner, famous composer-dude

On Christmas morning in 1870, Wagner secretly assembled 17 musicians on the stairs leading to the bedroom of his wife. As she slept, they started to play (with Wagner conducting) a piece he had written just for her. How’s that? Your own composition and orchestra? Or what about this:

King Edward 8th

Back in the day, when a royal marrying an actress from an American TV drama was still was a big “no-no”, it came as a huge shock when in 1938 King Edward abdicated the throne - gave it up - to marry the love of his life, a commoner. Edward gave up his whole life to marry Wallis Simpson, an ordinary American, shunned by the royal family. How’s that for an act of love? Giving up a throne?!

Amazing. But what about you: what’s your greatest act of love in your whole life? I bet there are some awesome stories in this room. Maybe a great icebreaker in smallgroups this evening! [pause]

Well, today we’re going to see a great act of love - one directed towards Jesus. And it’s not just something that makes us go “awwwwwww” - it’s one that has something pretty profound to teach us.

If you’ve not been with us before, we’ve been working our way through the story of Jesus’ life, following the Gospel of Luke, one of the four biographies of Jesus contained in the Bible. Grab a bible, find Luke Chapter 7, and let’s read the next part of the story together. Page xxxxx, chapter 7 - that’s the big number - verse 36 - that’s the small one.

3 Reading

5 Turning the page

Story so far: lots of miracles; deliverance from evil spirits, healing, even a resurrection from the dead. Last week Jesus pointed John to these signs - signs which show who Jesus is.

Now the story moves on and we should notice there’s no physical healing or deliverance from evil spirits in this section. Just a meal. Jesus is about more than these signs; the signs point to something - Something even bigger and more significant. Something which this unlikely hero, this notorious woman sinner, has grasped.

6 An unlikely hero

Woman isn’t sick. Woman isn’t possessed (though her actions shock). Woman’s just pouring out love.

Who is she? we don’t really know. No name. What has she done? No detail. v37 “A woman in that town who lived a sinful life” is all we have. It seems that everyone knows - this pharisee, Simon; the people of the town; Jesus. Everyone knows - but no-one bothers to tell us. Why? because it’s not important. who she is and what she’s done wrong isn’t the point. It’s what’s been done for her.

7 You might wonder how she got in but in those days meals like this were open; anyone could come and listen (but not eat!)

She doesn’t say a word. But her actions speak louder than any words she could have said.

This woman pours out her love for Jesus - v38 reads like it’s a developing series of actions which take a while to get through. weeping; wiping; kissing; perfume.

Her behaviour! It’s not dinner party etiquette at all - it’s seriously over-the-top; perhaps a years’ wages worth in that bottle! Done now - can’t put it back.

9 A telling response

What does watching Simon think? Keep away, sinner - I don’t want to catch anything

(a sinner’s a sinner; she’s had her three strikes, she’s out - can’t weasel your way back in here young lady no matter what)

But Jesus doesn’t keep her at a distance - he accepts her love; he could have pulled away from her; he could have told her to stop, to get out. But he does more than just accept her love - he welcomes it; Simon thinks that’s because he’s clueless - doesn’t really know who she is. But it turns out Simon’s the one that’s clueless.

Jesus knows something Simon doesn’t - well, ok, more than one thing:

First, he know what Simon’s thinking - he answers his thoughts v40

Second, he knows what she’s thinking. He knows why she’s acting this way.

Jesus’ parable: two debtors; denari = week’s wage so both serious, neither could pay; both forgiven. What’s Jesus’ point? People love in proportion to what has been done for them

Jesus’ analysis v44-46: she’s loved him far more than Simon. A whole list of comparisons. Simon actually scores zero - not clear whether he should have done all those things, or whether he just could have done them - but either way, Simon’s had plenty of opportunity to demonstrate love towards Jesus - and apart from inviting Jesus to the meal in the first place, he’s not done anything.

why? From the parable, Simon doesn’t think he owes anything or has received anything

11:30 Forgiven through faith

The woman’s at the very opposite end of the spectrum [move]. She obviously knows she had a massive debt - it seems everyone else does too. But she also knows she’s found massive forgiveness - so she’s expressing this massive love. And she knows it’s Jesus who has done this - he’s the one she’s shamelessly pouring out this astonishingly audacious love on.

Now it’s important we see that her love is the response to how good God is, not the cause of his goodness in forgiving; it’s free grace that’s on display here. Parable is clear on this. Jesus explanation clear v47 “her many sins have been forgiven - as her great love has shown”; Jesus’ declaration v48 clear in the original language - it’s in what’s called the perfect tense, used to describe past completed actions with present significance. Jesus isn’t forgiving then and there - he’s declaring it’s already done - for her benefit and those around her.

How’d this forgiveness happen? What led to that cancelling of debt? Parable doesn’t give us much to go on - the moneylender just chooses to forgive. Jesus puts his finger on her faith v50: what does he mean by her faith? Very Christian-y word. Her confidence that Jesus is able and willing to forgive her, that he has the authority, the power, the right to do that, to cancel that debt - and that he has enough love and care for her specifically to do that for her. That’s her faith, that’s what she trusts in, what she’s confident of, what Jesus says has saved her and now means she can go in peace; that all is once more put to rights for her.

14 Free, total forgiveness

So what? There’s two big things I want us to take away from this passage. Two things it says loud and clear that we need to hear:

First, Jesus offers free and total forgiveness to us all.

All debtors

Notice how in the parable they are both debtors, not one just about solvent and the other in debt. Both debtors.

Notice how is wasn’t that the one with a smaller debt could cover it if he just was given enough time - where the other was truly stuck. Both were debtors. Neither could pay.

Do you know that truth here today, that you, and me, all of us, we’re debtors? That we’ve an obligation to live in the way God wants us to - and it’s an obligation we have all failed at.

Do you understand that our situation is hopeless? That we’ve failed in our obligations towards God and there’s no way at all we can fix it, nothing we can do that will make it right, no way we could ever repay that debt, dig ourselves out of that hole.

Put your faith in God’s mercy through Jesus

If that’s you, have you put your faith in God’s mercy towards us through Jesus, have you taken hold of his offer of free and total forgiveness? It was the woman’s faith that saved her, Jesus said.

If you’ve never really consciously done that, chosen to put your faith in Jesus; if you’ve never really dared to trust that he is able and willing to forgive you, no matter what you’ve done, why not do that right now?

There’s nothing to sign, no special act required, no test to pass, no magic words you have to use. It’s just taking that step of faith inside your heart, saying “yes” to God’s offer of forgiveness through Jesus. You could do that right here, right now. It only takes a moment. Let me give you that moment right now: Ten seconds of silence for you: why not take that step. [10 sec] If you did business with God today, please tell someone. Tell me if there’s no-one else. Promise I won’t bite.

16:30 Grasp his total forgiveness

If you’ve put your faith in God’s mercy through Jesus and accepted his offer of forgiveness, if you’ve done that today or some other day, it’s really important for us to grasp that Jesus’ forgiveness is total, that it goes all the way, covers everything, done deal. You can see that in the parable: there’s no debt-repayment plan; it’s all cancelled, right now. You can see that in Jesus’ reaction to the woman: he doesn’t keep his distance, waiting to see if she’s really serious about turning over a new leaf, seeing if she will stick at it for at least a few months before letting her get close. It’s done, all done, right away - and now she’s welcomed.

Jesus doesn’t keep his distance from us - but sometimes we can keep our distance from him. We can go over and over in our heads how we have failed him and how vast our mistakes have been, how weak our faith seems and how large our doubts, how hard it is to change and how little progress we seem to be making. We can look at ourselves and think we need to keep our distance.

But think about this: if Jesus really has paid off our debts - all of them. In full. On day one - then every time we act like we’re still in debt, every time we behave like we’re still in his bad books, like he couldn’t or shouldn’t use us, like we should still keep our distance, we’re throwing his gift of grace back at him. I don’t believe you paid it. I don’t think you should have paid it. I don’t think you paid enough, that your payment is powerful enough to overturn things so totally. That’s what it’s like.

Are you keeping your distance? Jesus’ forgiveness is total. Don’t underrate it, don’t throw it back in his face.

18:30 Lavish, reckless love

So first thing, Jesus offers free and total forgiveness to us all.

Second thing: the only right response is lavish, reckless love.

Remember the scene here: it’s a major event for the town; this Simon was probably pretty highly respected - pharisees were impressive people. Jesus was certainly a well-known figure by this stage, drawing crowds wherever he went. You have to imagine most of the town is there at the dinner - remember these are open events; everyone can come and listen in. There are crowds here - crowds who know who this woman is - crowds who know what this woman has done. She’s notorious in this town.

And then she makes a huge scene. Crying and weeping on the honoured guest. Letting her hair down - now that’s not just an expression in those days. It’s seriously immodest, sending signals decent people simply wouldn’t send. All the kissing. And then the perfume; a year’s wages, poured out on smelly feet, the scent. It’s totally unmissable - right at the centre of a crowd.

You’ve got to give it to her: this woman has serious guts. She’s putting how she feels on public display in front of everyone. Of course there will be consequences for her. People will talk. Everyone will know what she’s done and where she stands. She must know what they’re going to think of her - and yet she just doesn’t care.

That’s lavish, reckless love. That’s the only right response to forgiveness

20:15 When’s the last time you poured out love for Jesus like that?

We’re pretty ordinary people leading pretty ordinary lives. Not that remarkable. Not that dramatic. Not that noticeable. I think a lot of us would identify with this woman in terms of being forgiven by Jesus - and being so thankful for that, feeling love for him as a result. But let’s be honest, we’re a pretty reserved bunch, really, not that expressive. Not much weeping or kissing or perfume going on here. Maybe we’re a bit more extravagant inside our heads and hearts - and God sees that, He knows that.

But let me ask you this: what’s the most reckless thing you’ve ever done out of love for Jesus? What’s the most outrageous, most shocking way you’ve poured out your love for him? When’s the last time you just didn’t care what people thought of you - you did it anyway? When’s the last time you didn’t care what it cost - you did it anyway?

This woman poured out a year’s salary on Jesus’ feet. When’s the last time you poured out a year’s salary on Jesus? [pause]

We live such ordinary, unremarkable lives most of the time. Does that really make sense? [pause]

21:45 What if you’re not feeling it?

Now you might be thinking “what if I’m just not feeling it?”, right? What if the reason my life looks so normal, so unexpressive, is because I’m just not feeling this massive love on account of this massive debt I’ve been forgiven. So I could go and do something crazy, but it’d just be faking it, not done out of love. I’ve been thinking about this one through the week.

One way we could use Jesus’ parable would be to notice we have just a little love, and think well, that’s because I’ve only got a little debt which has been forgiven. Never killed a man so it’s not earth-shattering forgiveness, just pocket change, really.

And then we might think ok, perhaps I need to go out and run up some bigger debts to get forgiven more so I can love some more?Have you ever heard the phrase “testimony envy”? That when you hear other people’s faith stories yours just seem so minor and boring by comparison. Is there something to that? Should we go get ourselves some serious trouble so we can get some serious forgiveness and then feel some serious love?

Of course not. That’d be throwing God’s grace back at him just the same as acting like we’re not fully and finally forgiven.

22:45 So what can we do if we’re just not feeling it?

We’ll talk about this some more in our groups this evening - but the best thought I’ve had on it is we need a better grasp on the scale of our own debt. I need to get a better grasp on the scale of my debt.

I mean, what do we think of as registering, as crossing the line, growing our debt? murder. adultery; these are big ticket items. other stuff’s small change, no big deal. But when God ranks things, you know what he puts right at the top of the list? That we are to love him. With all our heart, mind, soul and strength. All the time. How's that going for you? That’s his #1.

You see, we’re not failing on minor trivia; Like a driving test with a bad three-point turn; late with the indicators. This is like running someone down but still thinking you passed. We’ve got the scale all wrong when we think we don’t have too much of a problem. We - all of us - we have a huge problem, a huge debt. And we’ve been offered a huge forgiveness through faith in Jesus.

So I wonder if the best thing to do about not feeling it is to spend some time reflecting on just how big our debt really is, how completely we fail at the things that God puts top of the list. And then remember that total forgiveness, totally free, and let that wash it all away. Let’s see if that doesn’t breed in us some more potent love which we can pour out.

First thing, Jesus offers free and total forgiveness to us all.

Second thing: the only right response is lavish, reckless love.