Big Idea: All of us are debtors to God, whether big or little. But faith in Christ saves us. Key to salvation is forgiveness. Those who love Christ [and his people] most, like the sinful woman, show they’ve been forgiven much. Their response shows their gratitude for their salvation. Those who love only a little, like Simon, show they’ve been forgiven little (if at all).
Meet Simon. CEO of a large company. Well respected in his community. Treasurer of the local surf lifesaving club. Coaches junior Rugby League. P&C President. Donates hundreds of thousands of dollars to kids ward at the local hospital. Father of the year twice.
A new religious figure has come into Simon’s community. . More influential than Oprah. Wiser than Dr Phil.
Simon wanted to check out what this new guy was saying. He was doing some amazing things. He was saying strange, puzzling even shocking things. He was claiming big things for himself. But he was talking with great authority. Whenever he spoke everyone stopped and listened. He looked like the real deal. So Simon wanted to check him out for himself. Simon goes along and watches him work. He is speechless. Everything they were saying was true. He was even more impressive than the media hype. The things he was doing and saying, Simon had never seen anything like it. So Simon plucked up his courage. Nervously he walked up to the new teacher. And he invited him back to his place for lunch. Even more amazing was that the new teacher said yes.
So Simon rang around his mates. All of them wealthy business men and very important men from the local community like him. Like Simon they all wanted to check out the new teacher. Once inside Simon’s mansion they were all sitting around eating and talking and asking the new teacher many questions. It was a very fancy lunch and everyone was being very polite.
Without warning a new guest turns up who was definitely not invited. A Woman. A tall brunette, a very attractive woman. The attention of the men around the table can no longer to be said to be completely on the new teacher. They are checking out the new arrival. And then Simon recognises who it is.
“Oh no!!” It’s her. Not here, not today not her please!!! It was her. The topic of every gossip magazine. Every week the tabloids would follow her scandals. Everyone knew what she had done. Surely this teacher knew! Surely he knows. Hasn’t he heard the stories, the scandals, the time in rehab. What about the affairs, the lies, and the wrecked relationships.
OK Simon, just be calm. Keep it together man Put on a brave face. Don’t let her wreck the night.
“OK everyone, please sit down. Our meal is prepared. And I would like to welcome our new teacher, Joshua Ben-David."
Oh no, why is she crying? No, no don’t cry. You know I can’t handle women crying.
Hey, she is crying on Joshua! She is crying on his feet. That’s a lot of crying. Why does she have to make a scene here. Come on Simon… Focus, Focus. You are letting her take over your dinner party. It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to, not you!
“Well friends as I was saying, Joshua here is the newest and latest teaching sensation to come to Galilee. And I’ve invited him here to dinner to check him, I mean, to dialogue and discuss the new and latest teachings."
Woah, what’s she doing with her hair. Down it comes. Uh oh, this is not good. What’s she doing at Josh’s feet. She is kissing his feet. Hey, I wouldn’t touch those feet… tinia, and blisters and sweat. She is smooching his feet.
Oh oh… what’s that. That’s chanel number 9. I bought I tiny vial of that stuff once. Oh man, what a waste. Just dump it all over his feet.
Woah, that’s a bit risqué. She is hanging over his feet, wiping them with her hair. And this teacher, this holy man of God is just taking it, just lapping it up. Could this get any worse?
I’ve just described what a man in the bible was thinking when he saw this stuff happening in his own house. Let me read this part of the bible to you.
Reading: Luke 7:36-50, Essential Jesus 27.7-28.6
As you have probably worked out by now the new religious teacher was Jesus. And this nameless women was a notorious sinner. Think of a woman with a reputation. We have words for such a woman. I'm sure you've heard them. A 'prostitute' is one of the nicer words. It is a woman like that who has entered the house, the dining room, uninvited and unasked.
And the way this woman shows her love for Jesus is shocking to that culture. In that culture, nice girls didn’t let down their hair like that. It’s like going out on Saturday night wearing that short skirt or plunging neckline when your dad has said 'No way!--back to your room and put some clothes on'. Simon’s response is simply shock and scandal.
You don't have to be a genius to know what Simon thinks: 'She is a sinner'. And Jesus will agree there. But Jesus knows what Simon thinking. For he is God in the flesh. And Simon’s thinking is profoundly wrong. He is mistaken at a very fundamental point. He thinks the woman is a sinner. Well, he’s got that bit right. But Simon also thinks that he is different. She’s a sinner, but he thinks he isn’t. Or if Simon is a sinner, his sins don't matter as much as hers. She is a hopeless case, but he is not. And Jesus will uncover Simon’s wrong thinking with a little parable.
Jesus story is simple. There were 2 men. They both had debts to a money lender. One man owed in today’s money, $10,000. The other man owed $100,000. One clearly has a bigger debt. But the important thing is this: Neither of them had the money to pay him back (verse 42).
But both have the same problem. Both are bankrupt. Neither has any money at all to pay back their debt. If the debt was only $100, or $10, or $1, neither could pay it back. They have nothing to sell, to pay it off. No-one to help them. There’s nothing they can do. They are both in a hopeless situation.
I know some of you like the soup or the hot chocolate from the machine, just over there. It might keep you going between breakfast and morning tea. The soup or the hot chocolate is $2. That's a pretty good price, isn't it? But if you have no money, it doesn't matter whether it's 5c, $2, or $200. Unless someone is going to pay it for you, no soup for you. If it costs a paperclip, and you don't have a paper clip, you're going to have to wait until either someone with a paper clip pays for you, or you're going to have to wait till the tea trolley comes around for a cup of tea. You need someone else to pay for you, because you don't have a brass razoo.
We are all of us, like that with God. Think of our sins as a big debt. We all owe God something, because we've all sinned. Some of us might owe God $500 million dollars. Others of us might owe God $50 million. And someone, a really good person compared to the rest of us, might owe God $5 million. But none of us has two coins to rub together. It doesn't really matter.
Now, in Jesus' story, the moneylender, for some unknown reason, cancels both debts. The money lender is at least very generous and kind. Neither has to worry about repaying the money lender. Because both debts are wiped away.
Do you know what I think Simon’s problem was? I reckon Simon didn’t think he was a debtor to God. He thought was nothing like this woman. She clearly had many sins that needed forgiveness. But he was different. If he had debts, he figured he had enough money to pay them off. Maybe he thought, 'OK, even if I have debts with God, all of my good things will make up for it. I'm pretty religious. I'm pretty good. And I think Simon didn't think his sins were that big a deal.
But Jesus says to Simon (in a round about way), Simon, you might be a bible expert and religious and all that. But you aren’t that much different from this woman. Everyone knows about her sins – her debts to God. But you have plenty of sins too. AND YOU CAN’T PAY YOUR DEBTS EITHER. You don't even have a paper clip to pay God-- no matter what you think you've done. You can’t earn your forgiveness. You are a debtor to grace. You need a forgiveness you can never earn nor deserve. And that is the only forgiveness that God gives, and he is prepared to give it freely.
So what about you here today? Do you think you can pay off your debts to God? Do you think you have something to offer to God to pay for your forgiveness? Maybe if I try a bit harder, obey God a bit more, be a bit more religious, come to church more, pray more, bible more, don't eat this, don't say this, then maybe then I will earn God’s forgiveness. No no no no no. There is nothing we can offer God to pay for our forgiveness. No matter what spiritual money we think we’ve earnt to pay God off, Jesus' parable reminds us that we have nothing to earn God's forgiveness with. And everything we need for our forgiveness we receive as a gift. It was costly to Jesus. He paid for it on the cross. But it was free for us.
Jesus finishes his little parable with a question. Look at the last bit of verse 42.
Now which of them will love him more?" 43 Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled." "You have judged correctly," Jesus said.
Jesus is asking, who is most grateful for forgiveness? Who is most thankful that God has forgiven them. It’s people who have something that needs to be forgiven.
But a person who thinks they can pay back their debt won’t be desperate for forgiveness.
Are you a Simon? Do you think that you can pay off your sins yourself. I don’t know all of your sins. But I do know this. Like Simon, you have a debt to God. And you can’t pay it back.
But Jesus is in the business of paying back debts he didn't owe. Each of us owe God a debt we cannot pay. Jesus paid a debt he never owed. That is what Good Friday is about. Jesus went to the cross to pay our debts, by dying to take the punishment for our sin. Jesus died to pay the costly price of our forgiveness. Forgiveness is free to us, but not cheap. It cost the death of God's only Son.
Jesus tells us why this woman acted this way. She loved Jesus because God had forgiven her from her sins. A saved person will show love in their lives because they have been forgiven by Jesus.
And Simon doesn’t love Jesus because he has not been forgiven like her.
Maybe you are like Simon. Maybe the reason you don’t love is because you haven’t been forgiven yet? Well the solution to that problem is pretty straight forward. Come to Jesus Christ, confess your sins, and receive the forgiveness that he died to give you. Jesus' loved you and died for your forgiveness. And I want you and I together to understand that love.
But Jesus wants us to be very clear about what has saved this woman. This woman was not saved by her love. No, her love showed that she was forgiven. She has been forgiven much, so she loves much.
Rather, Jesus turns to the sinful woman and says: Your faith has rescued you, Go in peace. She has come to Jesus Christ for forgiveness and she receives it simply by trusting in Jesus. And our salvation is also by faith and faith alone. Love is the fruit of faith. And faith is the root of love.
Just as Paul says, ‘For it is by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works (Ephesians 2:8-10). The good works of love do not save. Rather they show that she has been freely saved. For we are only saved by grace through faith. And even this faith that saves us is God’s gift.
We owed a debt we couldn’t pay. And Jesus paid a debt he didn’t owe. And this is why we love Jesus.
Let’s pray.
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