We are allowed to come to the Savior to ask for our sins to be forgiven. This daily devotional concludes the look at Simon’s dinner party where the woman was forgiven of her sins.
Nuggets
- Jesus deserves our worship.
- Jesus is God, so He can forgive our sins.
In the last devotion, we started looking at the time Jesus went to Simon’s house. An uninvited guest anointed His feet with oil
Simon had a problem with this. Jesus called Simon on some problems of his own.
Let's Put It into Context
“… So, which of them will love him more?’ Simon answered, ‘I suppose the one he forgave more.’ ‘You have judged correctly,’ he told him” (Lk. 7: 42-43 CSB)
Our one nugget from the last devotion is
• God loves all of us and will forgive us, but He will love the problem child more.
A Lesson on Hospitality When Greeting the Savior
“Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she, with her tears, has washed my feet and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but she hasn’t stopped kissing my feet since I came in. You didn’t anoint my head with olive oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfume. Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that’s why she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little, loves little” (Lk. 7: 44-47 CSB)
Jesus deserves our worship.
Hmmm. Didn’t Simon know hospitality etiquette of the day? Feet washing was part of their hospitality customs. It came after the bow, greeting, and the kiss. Water was provided so guests could wash their own feet, but normally a slave or servant would do it.
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Apparently, Simon forgot that part.
Pearse defended Simon — sorta. He wrote, “He has given Christ a very heartless welcome, and a very scanty entertainment. … There was no hint of enthusiasm, no whisper of affection; no token of any loving regard. … Yet do not put down this man as a hypocrite or a knave. Not at all. We overdo the character of the Pharisee, and so we destroy it altogether. This man is just a fair type of a great many religious people to-day — people who are quite willing to extend a kind of patronage to the claims of Jesus Christ, but who never put themselves much out of the way for Him.”
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Ouch! Don’t some do that? We invite Jesus in — never intending to totally submit to God. But we want to be seen as a disciple of Christ’s.
Or we may be sincere in wanting Jesus to be our Savior. We just want to have some say in the company we keep. Or we think that gives us permission to judge everyone else.
Sorry. We won’t be able to fool God. He knows our hearts. He knows when we are sincere.
When Jesus comes into our lives, we need to address Him as an honored guest. He deserves all the honor and glory that we can give Him.
Because of that, I am a little saddened that Pearse thought Simon should get a pass because that is the way others felt. That way of thinking will not get them to Heaven and may help them believe they don’t need to make any changes.
Simon’s treatment of the woman, however, was not going to be defended. We can’t be judge and jury regarding others’ relationship with God. God wants us to love others.
Cox made an interesting observation. When Simon looked at the woman, he only saw the sin. He didn’t see the woman herself.
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God wants us to see the person, not their actions. I would hazard that He also want us to see their potential for Him.
But because she loved much, those around her could see that played out. “But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works” (Jas. 2: 18 ESV).
We have to watch that we follow God’s directions in everything He is asking us to do. We won’t get a pass because we think we are religious enough. We have to work to make sure we are following His character.
Forgiving Sins Because He Is the Savior
“Then he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ Those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this man who even forgives sins?’ And he said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you. Go in peace’” (Lk. 7: 48-50 CSB)
Jesus is God, so He can forgive our sins.
Jesus told the woman twice that her sins were forgiven. He wanted to assure her that she could believe what He told her.
It isn’t enough that God tells us that we are forgiven. We have to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are.
The gospel says, according to Talmage, “… pardon for all, but especially for the chief of sinners.”
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It can be difficult to understand what is really meant by a saving faith, but it is very important to do so.. Bruce wrote, “A gospel of grace is a gospel which proclaims a God whose nature it is to give.” It does encompass feeling, actions, and tears.
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I am going to have to work through what Sadler and Grey were trying to say.
- “Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that’s why she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little, loves little” (Lk. 7: 47 CSB).
- “And he said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you. Go in peace’” (Lk. 7: 50 CSB).
Both Sadler and Grey questioned whether it was her love or her faith that saved her.
- But wouldn’t love be considered a work? If we do nothing to earn salvation, how can we be expected to love Him?
- Faith has to have a component of love included.
- There had to have been something that drew her to hear Jesus’ teachings and believe that He was the Messiah.
- But it is more than just love. It is repentance. Repentance is acknowledging our separation from God and expressing sorrow for breaking God’s laws and commandments by making the commitment to changing ourselves through obedience so that we no longer do the wrong things.
- She wasn’t saved because, as Grey said, she had “… the feelings of broken-hearted contrition, of genuine love, of all true devotion …” — those were evidence that she had been saved. Grey said it isn’t even submission.
- But it is repentance mixed with faith.
- We believe that God is pure, Jesus is a representative of that purity, and we are working toward and one day will be pure.
- But we know we are going to fail many times — even if we are diligent in our efforts — in trying to be pure like Him.
- We have the faith to believe that He will forgive us when we fail.
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When we ABCD, we do have a change in heart and mind, but it isn’t a total change yet. God doesn’t flip a switch, and our sinful nature is totally cut out of us. We have to navigate the Sanctification Road to become more like Him.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
But that is a work in progress. So, we are going to have to have faith that we will be sanctified — that we will become godly.
We are only saved because we accept God’s gift of salvation. Period. Not because we are a moral, good person.
My Ladies and I talked this morning about Grey’s assertion that submission and obedience were both works, therefore not part of salvation. One of my Ladies said he was just nitpicking. I tend to agree.
We are not saved by obedience to God’s laws. We can’t earn salvation by doing the do’s and not doing the don’ts.
But we really didn’t see submission as a work. We saw it more as our choice to accept the salvation. We may not know all that entails at conversion, but we have to sincerely show God that we are willing to give up our opinions to embrace his standards.
That isn’t a work. That is a choice.
We accept the Plan of Salvation because we have the faith that, even though we don’t understand everything, we are confident that we love God and ask Jesus to be our Savior. That will give us peace.
Making the Connections
We don’t know the woman’s name. That wasn’t the important part. The important part was her character. She was repentant. She had a broken, contrite heart.
Oh, yeah. We want to stay as far away from “the enemy” as possible. If we had been Jesus, we would have stayed far away from a Pharisees’ house.
But then we wouldn’t have been the Savior and Redeemer of all. Jesus was. He goes to those who invite Him in order to save them.
Pearce had it right. Jesus saves the good sinners and the bad sinners. As long as we genuinely ABCD, Jesus will save us.
Dods pointed out how quickly Jesus rose to defend the woman. He is just as quick in His defense of us.
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True, some may see Jesus’ argument as defending Himself. However, His whole purpose was to show that we needed the forgiveness only God can provide. Since forgiveness is an inward occurrence, it needed an outward expression for others to see.
How Do We Apply This?
What should we expect at the feet of Jesus? What the woman did — meeting Him and finding absolution.
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- Don’t let our spiritual pride stop us from coming to Jesus’ feet.
- We have to purposefully search for and seek Him.
- God will always forgive us when we sincerely ask.
- Sometimes, we still have to go eat with the Pharisees to witness to them.
- Don’t let our religion get in the way of any relationship — with God or with others.
What do you think?
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