January 7, 2020
Luke 7:44-50
Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
New International Version (NIV)
Do you know what the worst sin is?   The one you or I do not commit.  Have you noticed, as I have, that we may think of other people as worse sinners, often on the basis of some external criterion?  My generation and the generation older than me often thought of externals like tattoos or hair length/color or piercings as outward signs of some inward rebellion.  This is often not the case at all.

Everyone in the town knew that the woman washing, kissing and anointing Jesus’ feet had a bad reputation.  The Pharisee Simon who hosted Jesus not only categorized the woman as a sinner, but also demoted Jesus because Jesus seemingly didn’t realize it.  It never occurred to him that Jesus knew the woman and still loved her, until Jesus told him a parable about two who owed different amounts of money to a lender.  Both were forgiven their debts.  Jesus asked, “Who would love the lender more?”  Simon’s answer that the one who owed the most money would love more, convicted him of his own sin of judgment. 

Here is the good news:  we are all worse off than we thought and more loved than we ever dreamed.  It took the same blood of Jesus to forgive each of us and all of us.  Can we believe that the God who forgave us can forgive anyone anything that they have done?  We must.  There is hope in this.  We can be forgiven.

One word of caution:  we may wrongly conclude after reading a story like this that Jesus is saying, “All is forgiven to everyone even if they want to continue in the same sins.”  God has set the woman free from both the penalty and power of her sin.  Jesus doesn’t forgive her just because she loves him.  She loves him because she knows she is forgiven.  The woman has turned from her former life.  We must not cheapen grace by defending the continuing sins of others by saying, “Everybody is already forgiven.”

No one is beyond God’s forgiveness.  And no one may presume upon God’s forgiveness as though God were endorsing their sin as okay.  But if we knew how much God has forgiven us, we would love him greatly, even more than we do.
Pray with me:       
Father, we thank you that you are the kind of Father who forgives our sin.  Reveal to us those times that we judge others by their outward appearance or our own cultural perceptions.  Help us to distinguish between external appearance and the hearts of people.  Let us so celebrate the forgiveness we have found that we share it with others by forgiving them.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.  
Join us in memorizing the Word.  Scripture for this week:    
Matthew 5:3-4 
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
Our 2020 Every Day with Jesus readings will follow the Foundations New Testament reading plan.  Copies of the reading plan are available at Tallowood Baptist Church, or download your copy at REPLICATE.ORG 
We would love for you to join us as we read the New Testament through this year, five chapters a week.  In addition I will continue my long-standing practice of reading one Psalm a day through the year.  Use Robby Gallaty’s H. E. A. R. plan to study each chapter (also found at REPLICATE.ORG). Highlight verses which speak to you, explain what they mean in your own words in a journal, apply them to your own life, then respond by doing what God tells you to do.  
Joyfully, 
Duane 
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