What’s Love Got To Do With It? Pt. 2

 A “sinful woman” bathing the feet of Jesus with her tears as He dined with a Pharisee.

Her love… devotion… courtesy… respect… tears of joy…

Luke 7:26-47 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to come to his home for a meal, so Jesus accepted the invitation and sat down to eat.  A certain immoral woman heard he was there and brought a beautiful jar  filled with expensive perfume.  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.  When the Pharisee who was the host saw what was happening and who the woman was, he said to himself, “This proves that Jesus is no prophet. If God had really sent him, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”  Then Jesus spoke up and answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.” “All right, Teacher,” Simon replied, “go ahead.”  Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people — five hundred pieces of silver to one and fifty pieces to the other.  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?”  Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.” “That’s right,” Jesus said.  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.  You didn’t give Me a kiss of greeting, but she has kissed my feet again and again from the time I first came in.  You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint My head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.  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.”

 

I believe not a one of us can truly perceive how precious Jesus Christ is, and the glory of the gospel, except the brokenhearted.   As Jesus said in Mark 2:16-17 “And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eat with tax collectors and sinners, they said unto His disciples, ‘How is it that he eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?’  When Jesus heard it, He said unto them, ‘They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick:  I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’ “  The Pharisee Simon (in Luke 7:36-47 above)  must not have been among that group of Pharisees that day because instead of rejoicing in the beauty of the woman’s repentance, his thoughts focused to her former sinful life.

Christ, by a parable, forced Simon the Pharisee to acknowledge that the greater sinner this woman had been, the greater love she ought to show to Him when her sins were pardoned.

Sin is a debt to Almighty God; and we are all sinners!  Some sinners are greater debtors; but whether our debt be more or less, it is more than we are able to pay.   Without the free forgiveness our gracious Savior  purchased with His blood and that He  freely bestows on every one that believes in Him, none of us would escape the wrath to come!

God is ready to forgive because Jesus Christ purchased pardon for those of us who believe in Him.  His gospel promises it to them, and His Spirit seals it to repenting sinners, and gives them the comfort.

Let us keep far from the proud spirit of the Pharisee, simply depending upon and rejoicing in Christ alone, and so be prepared to obey Him more zealously, and more strongly to share the message of the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ unto all around us.

The more we express our sorrow for sin, and our love to Christ, the clearer evidence we have of the forgiveness of our sins. What a wonderful change does grace make upon a sinner’s heart and life, as well as upon his state before God, by the full remission of all his sins through faith in the Lord Jesus!

The love this woman showed the Savior represents several very important truths lacking in the lives of many Christians today.  The perfect example of why it is so important is found in the Book of Revelation regarding the church at Ephesus.

Revelation 2:3-5 ”  I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary.  But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.  Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.  If not, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place, unless you repent.

♥Streim