My focus today is on Luke 7:47-48 – “Her sins, which are many, are
forgiven – for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”
And He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Let us pray … Grace and peace to you from God our Father
and from the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 1:7b). …
An unwelcome encroachment of technology: … Prompts. There are
prompts for English or Spanish, to reach the directory or to leave a message. There
are command prompts in DOS and Windows, Linux and UNIX. But today’s prompt is
the question, “What prompts you?” We’ll
ask that question to 3 people in today’s readings. … What prompted David, the preachers
from Jerusalem and Jesus? Finally, like the woman who sinned, what prompts you?
First, sin prompted David. I am sure you are familiar with
the story of David, Bathsheba and her husband, Uriah, a soldier under David’s
command. If not, sometime this week, read Second Samuel.
Each new section of Samuel begins with storybook phrases: After
the king was settled in his palace. … Then King David went in and sat
before the Lord. … In the course of
time. … The words that open the story of David, Bathsheba and Uriah, “In
the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the
king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and
besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.”
One notices that David, who personally led his armies to
victory over the Arameans, Moabites, Edomites and others, now has the luxury of
sending others to fight so he can stay home in the king’s palace. God blessed
David with victories and now, his chosen one to lead Israel, could rule safely
while others fought for him. Yet, as we soon discover, rather than being
grateful to God, David takes God’s blessings for granted.
One evening sin entered David’s heart, and rather than
checking his temptation, he submitted to his desires. Sin prompted David to
send for Bathsheba. That one sin triggered an avalanche of deception, abuse of
power and murder.
Our story is not simply the sin of one man, but the sin of a
beloved king of a favored nation at the peak of power, illustrating that temptation
touches powerful rulers and the common man, including me.
When I ponder what prompted David to sin, do I reflect on how
I hide one sin by layering it with others? Do I cover my anger, jealousy or
pride with deceptive lies? Moreover, if I am in a position of power – (And who
is not?) – do I top off that first sin act with just one more so that no one
will discover my dastardly deed? Like David, rather than checking my desires,
do I submit to them? Do take God’s blessings for granted as David once did?
Of course, David cannot hide his sin from God. As David sent
for Bathsheba, the Lord sent for Nathan. As David’s plot trapped Uriah, Nathan’s
parable snares the king and extracts self-judgment. David sits in judgment of
the rich man, invoking God’s wrath upon this scoundrel. When Nathan exclaims, “You
are the man!” David, rebuked for his sins, admits, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
David’s sin, as a man, military leader, king and God’s
beloved, was despicable. He offended Uriah, who lost his life; Bathsheba, who
lost her husband; and God, whom David took for granted. God gave David every
blessing in life, and in turn, he took God’s gifts as if he earned them
outright.
For his sin, David is punished with his own anger. Ironically,
his four-fold punishment of the rich man who stole the poor man’s lamb resulted
in the premature deaths of his first four sons. Yet, God remained faithful. Our
merciful God forgave David of his sins.
We turn the page from Samuel to Galatians, which was Martin
Luther’s pet epistle because he found in “Paul’s
rejection of justification by works” support for his rejection of “salvation by good works”.[i]
We ask what prompted the preachers from Jerusalem to preach
another gospel. … Pastor Henke’s sermon from June 2 on Galatians succinctly summarized
the Law and Gospel. Recall his story about the man mired in mud, unable to
escape his situation by obeying Buddha or Confucius. Only by Jesus climbing
into the mud with the man, that is, God Incarnate coming to man – Christ’s death and resurrection – Christ’s sacrifice –
was he saved.
This was the Gospel Paul preached when he was in Galatia: that
one is saved only through what Jesus Christ did for us. Unfortunately, along
came preachers from Jerusalem who claimed that Paul taught a truncated form of
the Gospel. These Jerusalem preachers taught that justification is incomplete
without observing works of the Law. They claimed that Paul left them without
the guidance of the Jewish Law – all 613 commandments plus certain observations
– and that they needed to do these things to avoid falling into sin. Besides, they
claimed, in Jerusalem real apostles observe religious feasts and food laws.
Naturally, Paul railed against their doctrine, and reminded
the Galatians that as one born a Jew, he knew the Law. Paul correctly taught
that a strict observance of the Law would not lead anyone to salvation.
Only God – through what He did in Christ – prompted in Paul
the proper response. After he met the Risen Lord and put his faith in Him, Paul
died to the Law. He had to die to the Law so that he could put his faith in
Jesus Christ. This is what Paul wants his fallen
away followers of Christ to do. Die to the Law and put your faith in Christ
the Risen Lord. Be prompted not by the Law but by faith.
Believe me that no matter how much effort you put into something
– the Law, your job, your hobby, your passion – your ROI will always be less
than your original investment. Don’t believe me? Believe my friend, Shawn Banks.
Shawn is a successful executive and a scratch golfer. Shawn and I golfed
numerous times, and he once told me something that applies to golf and anything
else we do.
“No matter
how much you put into golf, you only get so much back. But no matter how much
you put into God, you always get back more than you put in.”
I think if the Galatians golfed, Paul could have used that
line on them. You can observe the Law religiously, but only faith in Christ
will lead to salvation.
That brings me to my third point. What prompted Jesus? … What
prompted Jesus to do anything? Love. He is Love Incarnate, what else prompts
him? So, what prompts him to dine at the home of a Pharisee? That is easy
enough to answer.
Imagine for a moment that you are able to look into the home
of Simon the Pharisee on a Friday evening around sundown. [ii] We are looking at a Sabbath Seder. For Simon the
Seder meal is an opportunity for an invited guest to teach. Simon has invited
Jesus as the guest of honor to teach because he thinks Jesus might be a
prophet. Jesus taught in their synagogues and in the homes of other Pharisees.
The question is: would Simon and his Pharisee friends agree with Jesus’
teaching?
Jesus’ teaching moved one woman so deeply that even though
Pharisee table laws banned her from eating with them because she was unclean
that did not stop her from honoring Jesus.
While today’s text does not state that she had previously
heard Jesus, Luke implies that the woman was responding to Jesus’ earlier proclamation
of God’s forgiveness.[iii]
Greeting Jesus as the most honored guest, she is so overcome
with gratitude for God’s forgiveness that she begins to weep. Losing
perspective of her situation, she literally lets her hair down, and violates
the social mores of her culture by anointing Jesus. Unlike Simon, this woman truly
welcomes Jesus as a prophet from God who has come to forgive the worst of
sinners.
At this, Simon begins to question, even doubt, that Jesus is
a prophet. Yet, precisely when Simon doubts, Jesus begins to teach … about God’s
mercy and forgiveness.
Simon answered Jesus’ question correctly. The debtor who owed
an insurmountable amount loved the lender more. Then, he turns to the woman and
explicitly forgives her sins. While Simon and his invited guests debate Jesus’
teaching, He dismisses her in peace. Imagine the tumult!
The irony is that during a meal where forgiveness and
fellowship are offered, the invited but unrepentant guests reclining to eat
with Jesus do not receive forgiveness and exclude themselves from his
fellowship, while the uninvited guest comes as a repentant sinner and receives
Jesus’ forgiveness and welcomes his fellowship.
Our Lutheran founders addressed this passage in Article IV of
the Apology of the Augsburg Confession stating that the woman came to Jesus,
believing that she should seek the forgiveness of sins from Christ. This is the
highest way of worshipping Christ.”[iv]
The lesson for the Pharisees, the early Church and us is that
to be present at the Lord’s Table and to eat with Him means that we accept Him
as well as his gifts of forgiveness and fellowship.
In the Apology, we read that it is because of the woman’s faith
that she “receives the forgiveness of
sins, even though love, confession, and other good fruits ought to follow.”[v] In
other words, honor God for his mercy and respond to others in kind.
Honor God for his mercy and respond to others in kind. That
leads me to my last question: what prompts us?
Do we honor God for his mercy? If so, how do we honor
God for his mercy? We will never get the chance to wash Jesus’ feet with our tears
and dry them with our locks, but hopefully when we confess our sins to begin our
worship, we do so sincerely, and accept God’s mercy gratefully.
But what about that second part of the statement from the
Apology? As a forgiven sinner, how do I respond to others in kind?
How do I respond when my life is lived in a world that
demands increased profits and test scores? Where we compete for the top spot in
the job market and the line up? How do I respond to others in kind when life is
about making the boss and bottom line look good? Closer to home, how do I
respond to neighbors and family? As a forgiven sinner and family member, how do
I respond to others in kind?
Last Monday, I spent 5 hours cutting trees. At one o’clock, I
quit to shower and come to JW Anthony’s funeral. On the drive, I called Cindy
and told her what I did – and then remarked, “It’s all for you.” At this, she chuckled. “It’s true,” I said. “Everything
I do is about you. My life is about you.” Then I paused and asked, “And your life is about me, isn’t it?”
She chuckled again and agreed … But it is true, is it not? Our lives as
husbands and wives should be about our spouses. And when our children – no
matter what their age – witness this, they see that the foundation blocks of a
solid marriage are supported by the footer of forgiveness. Couples who honor
God for his mercy respond to others in kind beginning with one another and
radiate love to their children, family members, friends and fellow worshippers.
That is our response to the loving-kindness to God’s mercy.
But what happens when – as Pastor Henke mentioned last week –
when your life is reduced to rubble? Then what?
Those of you who read Donna Pyle’s story in the spring issue
of the Lutheran Woman’s Quarterly could not help feel for her. Donna’s life was
on course for smooth sailing. The Holy Spirit brought her to faith, and she was
serving him joyfully through her marriage, her career, the LWML and her
writing. Yet it soon became clear that the Lord was going to give Donna the
opportunity to look at her life and her faith in a way she never expected.
In December 2009 when she discovered that her husband was
leading a secret double life, her life changed forever. She recalls it as “’the day the F5 tornado hit my marriage.’ …
The divorce demanded Donna take another look at her world, her past, her
present, and future. For starters, after 19 years, she was now on her own.”
In addition to adjusting everything – from where to live, how
to manage finances and time, to changing wills and estate planning, there was
the emotional turmoil. She was so angry that she put a phone through the wall
and then discovered that she was no good at repairing sheet rock. “I just felt disbelief and overwhelming
sadness at the senselessness of what had happened,” she said. “My heart was shredded. I didn’t have it in
myself to forgive. It took God working in me and through me. And the most
wonderful thing that came out of the divorce is my complete understanding of
the need for forgiveness.”
Many are surprised when Donna shares her story of divorce and
forgiveness because it doesn’t fit in today’s culture. She doesn’t hold
anything against her ex-husband. She says, “There
is such a revenge mindset in our culture, but there is no benefit in that
whatsoever.”
Donna now writes and makes presentations on faith, and
encourages Christian women to re-examine their Bible study. She had no idea
what awaited her before or after the day that F5 tornado ripped through her
life and destroyed her marriage. Only God’s grace keeps her going. … God’s
grace keeps her going. …
So, let’s sum up. First, your sins are not so grave that God
cannot forgive you. Second, you will never achieve salvation by following a law,
an eight-fold path or five principles. Finally, Good News: God calls you to experience
divine mercy, to honor Him and to love others even when they reduce your life
to rubble because God’s grace will keep you going. … May God’s grace keep you
alive in the Spirit, and … May the peace of God which surpasses all
understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:7).
