Saved by Faith
Luke 7:36 - 8:3
June 17,
2007
7:36 - 8:3
One of the Pharisees asked
Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the
Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. And a woman in the city,
who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s
house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. She stood behind him at his
feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them
with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with
the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to
himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what
kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.”
Jesus spoke up and said to him,
“Simon, I have something to say to you.”
“Teacher,” he replied, “speak.” “A certain
creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other
fifty. When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them.
Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “I suppose
the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And
Jesus said to him, “You have judged
rightly.” Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon,
“Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you
gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears
and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I
came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head
with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell
you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown
great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.”
Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves,
“Who is this who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman,
“Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Soon afterwards he went on through
cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom
of God. The twelve were with him, as well as
some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary,
called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the
wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided
for them out of their resources.
One of the many things that I have
learned over the years through Bible study and listening to others who are
walking the walk is that Jesus used every
opportunity he had to teach others about the awesome love and forgiving
power of God.
Once again, we have the opportunity to
listen to his lesson on Salvation by Faith. It is a lesson that we need to
hear more than one time.
In the ninth grade, we had a saint for our English
teacher. She had been in the school system for many years and she had
encountered every form of ninth grader one could imagine. She loved her
students and she loved sharing her knowledge of the English language with
her students. The first semester was literature and she brought it to life
for our class. The second semester was “grammar” as we called it back in
the dark ages. Mrs. Waters did everything in her power to make it exciting
and challenging. We would argue with her about the repetition of the
class. Diagramming sentences after the first day does get old. How many 14
or 15 year old kids see it as an important function in one’s life? We saw
it as being something boring and a waste of our time. I mean “how many
ways can a person conjugate a verb?” It did not strike our interest in
those days. Yet, Mrs. Waters never gave up on us she continued to find a
way to challenge us and grow us in our knowledge of the written English
language. That is one of the reasons that I still believe she was a saint
in our midst. She would try multiple ways to teach us the written
language.
Jesus understood that
there were many persons that he was encountering each day that did not
believe He had anything to offer to them. There were many who were curious
about him but who were not interested in learning what he was trying to
teach them. Jesus used every opportunity to
open up their eyes and hearts so that they could and would receive the
word of God into their lives.
He used the activities of the day that Luke shares with
us to teach Simon and the disciples about Faith. Simon had invited Jesus
into his home to talk about theology. What is theology? It is talking
about God and God’s
relationship to humanity. Simon invited Jesus
into his home so that they could talk about God
and so that he could maybe understand the thoughts of
Jesus a little better. Simon knew the customs
of his day. He knew that if you invited someone into your home that you
were to greet him or her with a kiss of welcome and you were to offer him
or her a chance to wash the dust off of his or her feet. Yet, Simon did
not offer any of those long-standing traditions to Jesus.
He invited him into his home but he treated Jesus
as if he were below Simon’s status.
Along came a woman who had heard that
Jesus was in Simon’s home. She entered into
the home and knelt down at the feet of Jesus
and washed his feet with perfume and dried his feet with her hair. She
went the second mile in welcoming Jesus.
Simon did not like this person. She was known to be a sinner. It was
embarrassing to him that she would enter into his home. It was also
embarrassing to him because she greeted Jesus
with the expected welcome.
He objected to her because he considered her a sinner.
He is also considered her to be beneath him.
Jesus used Simon’s
objections and feelings of superiority to teach Simon and all who were in
that place a powerful lesson. It is a lesson that we need to hear many
times along our journeys of faith.
Jesus taught the lesson
through his story about two persons who were in debt. One owed a large sum
of money and the other owed a small sum of money. Neither one could repay
their debts. The one who was holding their note forgave them both. There
is no doubt in my mind that both of them were grateful for the forgiving
spirit of their debt holder. The one who received the greatest gift was
the one who owed the most. The woman was indeed a sinner. She had sinned
in the sight of God. She sought forgiveness
and was forgiven by God. She had been saved
by her leap of Faith. She had stepped away from the ways of the world and
stepped into the ways of God as revealed
through Jesus of Nazareth and she was
accepted into the family of God. Like the one
who owed the most she was grateful to God for
God’s forgiving power and she showed her
gratefulness through her actions in Simon’s home.
Simon had not learned the lesson at that point.
Jesus was trying to teach him that all have
fallen short of the grace of God. He also was
trying to teach Simon that it was by one’s faith statement that one
entered into a relationship with God.
Jesus looked at that woman
with great compassion and said to her: “Your faith
has saved you; go in peace.”
Many of us today try to earn our
journey with God. The fact is that we cannot
earn it. It is a gift given freely by God to
all who will accept it. It is hard for us to accept a free gift. If
someone gives us something, we immediately want to give that person
something in exchange for our gift. That is not God’s
way for those who will follow His Son Jesus.
God desires for all of us to take a leap of
faith and take his hand. He invites us to invite him into our lives. It is
by faith one enters into that eternal relationship with
God. They are words that we need to keep
repeating to ourselves so that we will know them and accept them everyday.
After hearing the gospel explained,
people often say, "You mean there's nothing I can do to deserve it? That's
too easy." It seems natural for people to object to the idea that
God's unmerited favor can be given so freely
to unworthy sinners. Many, unfortunately find it difficult to trust and
believe in a God who offers salvation as a
free gift.
There is a marvelous story about the
Bible teacher G. Campbell Morgan. One day a coal miner came to him and
said, "I would give anything to believe that God
would forgive my sins, but I cannot believe that He will forgive them if I
just ask Him. It is too cheap." Morgan said, "My dear friend, have you
been working today?" "Yes, I was down in the mine." "How did you get out
of the pit? Did you pay?" "Of course not. I just got into to cage and was
pulled to the top." "Were you not afraid to entrust yourself to that cage?
Was it not too cheap?" Morgan asked. "Oh no," said the miner, "it was
cheap for me, but it cost the company a lot of money to sink the shaft."
Suddenly the truth struck him. What had not cost him anything -- salvation
-- had not come cheap to God. This miner had
never thought of the great price God paid to
send His Son so He could rescue fallen humanity. Now he realized that all
anyone had to do was to "get into the cage" by faith.
The woman got into that cage that day
as she welcomed Jesus into her life.
Jesus used her actions of faith to teach
Simon the theologian that the faith journey is more than just talking
about God. It is surrendering one’s life to
God. It is giving God
complete control. It is surrendering one’s will to the will of God. I know
that you have seen the bumper sticker that states: “God
is my co-pilot.” The author of that one has it backwards.
God is not the co-pilot.
God is the pilot of our lives when we
surrender our beings to Him. By faith, we give our all to
God. By Faith, God
gives His all to us. His all is Jesus of
Nazareth who came into this world to receive God’s
children back into the family of God through
faith.
The necessity of the new birth was
lived out in the woman’s actions in this story and by the words that
Jesus spoke to her. It was also vividly
portrayed in the life of George Whitefield. At 16 he became deeply
convicted of his sin. He tried everything to become acceptable to
God. He wrote, "I fasted for 36 hours twice a
week. I prayed formal prayers several time a day and almost starved myself
to death during Lent, but only felt more miserable. Then by
God's grace I met Charles Wesley, who put a
book in my hand that showed me from the Scriptures that I must be 'born
again' or be eternally lost." Finally, Whitefield understood that he had
to trust in Jesus Christ.
He believed and was both forgiven and changed. After he became a preacher,
he spoke at least a thousand times on the subject, "You must be born
again."
That spiritual birthday happened for
the woman in this story when she showered her love upon
Jesus and opened up her life to him. It
happens everyday to us when we shower our love upon
Jesus and open up our hearts, souls and minds to Him. Our journey
then becomes a faith journey that marks a day or many days in our lives
when we celebrate our birth in Christ by
faith.
The followers of
Jesus are saved by Faith! May we learn to share this wonderful news
with others so that they to may know the joy of salvation by faith!
In the name of the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit.
Amen
