Who Is This Man That Goes Around Forgiving Sins … His Name is Jesus!

Ezra 1; Psalm 84; Psalm 85; Luke 7
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Scripture

Luke 7

Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman

36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. 37 When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. 38 Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.
39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”
40 Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.”

“Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied.

41 Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. 42 But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”

43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.”
“That’s right,” Jesus said. 44 Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.
47 “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” 48 Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”

49 The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?”

50 And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Observation

Have you ever noticed how much of the Gospels involves Jesus and his encounters with the Pharisees? This story is centered around a meal at the home of a Pharisee and Jesus was one of the invited guests. I say that He was one of the invited guests because from the conversation that we have between Jesus and the one that had invited Him we can see that the Pharisees didn’t go out of his way to make Jesus feel special. In fact Jesus contrasted the way He was treated by the sinful woman that had been washing His feet to the lack of attention of the person that had invited Jesus to his home.

Evidently this Pharisee named Simon had invited Jesus to his home either just to trick Jesus or maybe because it was a way for him to get attention for himself, but it wasn’t out of any love for Jesus. And Jesus nailed him and the other Pharisees at the meal with the story of a man that had canceled the debts of two men, one that had a small debt and the other that had a very large debt and Jesus nailed them with this question, “who do you think loved that man more after he canceled their debts?” The Pharisee saw that he was being compared or contrasted to the sinful woman and Simon nor the other Pharisees liked what Jesus showed them about themselves.

And Jesus is still going around forgiving sins even today!

Application

I will be open to sharing about “His Forgiveness” with someone today.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank you for forgiving me of my sins. Help me not to be like the Pharisees in today’s passage. I pray that you direct me to someone that needs to hear about Your Forgiveness. Thank you for all the students that came to pray this morning at “See You at the Pole” both at our academy and at every school around our country. I thank you for their courage and their commitment to You.

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