Simply Forgiven: Luke 7:36-50

Focus Passage: Luke 7:36-50 (NIV)

36 When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured 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 who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Tell me, teacher,” he said.

41 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

44 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. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

49 The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

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

Read Luke 7:36-50 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

When I compare the different gospel timelines of Jesus’ life, when I get to this event in the gospel of Luke, I am intrigued. While the other three gospel writers include a similar event to this one, they all place this event close to Jesus’ crucifixion week, and they emphasize the woman’s gift of perfume as foreshadowing Jesus’ upcoming death.

But Luke includes his event earlier on in his gospel, and death isn’t really even brought up. Instead, Luke draws our attention onto a parable and teaching that happened at this point that none of the other gospel writers mention in their respective records of this event.

This makes me wonder if there were two very similar events that happened at different points in Jesus’ ministry, or if Luke wants to help us see something different in this event. In Luke’s timeline, it may have made more sense to include the one event earlier than it actually happened, at a point where many of Jesus’ teachings are included, because Luke wanted us to learn something about God’s character here rather than one more example of foreshadowing the upcoming death.

Whether this was one or two events, Luke draws our attention towards an important teaching and truth that the other gospel writers missed or chose not to include: Those who have only been forgiven a little, only love a little, while those who have been forgiven a lot love a lot more.

The big point Jesus is making in Luke’s record of this event is found in verse 47, where Jesus says, “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.

Luke wants us to focus in on forgiveness. While the cross has God opening the way for forgiveness and salvation through Jesus’ sacrifice, Luke wants to draw our attention onto the gift of forgiveness that God offers to all of us – and onto the truth that those who have been forgiven little will love a little, but whoever has been forgiven much will show great love and devotion.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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How God Sees You: Luke 7:36-50


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As we continue reading Luke’s gospel, we come to an event that may be in the other gospels, or it may not be. From the details, it is difficult to be certain. This is because one of the big details of this event is found in the other three gospels, but that is about the only thing this event shares. The events in Matthew, Mark, and John almost certainly describe the same event, but Luke’s version takes a completely different direction.

The event in question is when a woman comes and anoints Jesus’ feet shortly before His crucifixion. While the other three gospels place this event near the cross, Luke places a very similar sounding event early on in Jesus’ ministry and Luke draws our attention onto a very different set of details from this event which prompts me to lean towards the event in Luke being a different event than the other gospels.

Let’s read what happened and discover what we can learn from Luke’s gospel describing Jesus’ feet being anointed. Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 7, and we will read from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 36, Luke tells us:

36 When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured 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 who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Tell me, teacher,” he said.

41 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

44 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. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

49 The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

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

One of the big reasons I see this event being a separate event from the event Matthew, Mark, and John include is that nothing is even hinted at in Jesus’ response about the woman’s gift preparing Him for burial. Instead, the big context of Luke’s version of this event teaches on forgiveness, and on how we shouldn’t judge others. It also isn’t a great stretch in my mind to think that two different women would want to honor Jesus by pouring perfume on Him.

It also isn’t a stretch in my mind to think that Jesus visited Simon’s home more than one time either.

However, it also isn’t difficult for me to think that this was one event and Luke’s gospel focused on one theme Jesus wanted us to learn from this event, while the other gospel writers use this event to foreshadow Jesus’ death, burial, and to give context for Judas deciding to be the betrayer.

With that said, what can we learn from Luke’s unique details?

As I shared earlier, Luke’s version of this event focuses on how it is unwise for us to judge or look down on others, and to emphasize forgiveness. While we don’t know what prompted Simon the Pharisee to invite Jesus to his home, if this is the same Simon of the other gospels, Matthew and Mark describe him as a leper, implying that Jesus cured him of his leprosy.

If this is the same Simon, then it is interesting to see his response when the woman comes and pours the perfume on Jesus’ feet. The first thing we see Simon do is subtly judge or look down on Jesus because of His interaction with this woman. Verse 39 describes this by saying Simon said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.

While more people than just Simon appeared to look down on this gift, or a gift very similar to this as the other gospel writers emphasize, Simon’s first angle of judging is judging Jesus by association.

Judging someone by association is something that is common in this culture, and while there is a level of validity in thinking this way, Luke’s event and Jesus’ counter message to Simon push back saying that context matters.

The reason we know context matters is God associates with sinners. Jesus came into this world because God loves sinners. While God doesn’t love the sin, that isn’t going to stop Him from seeking out the sinner.

While it is a cliché to say that God loves the sinner but He hates the sin, this is true. However, too often, this phrase is shared is a less than ideal way, or it is heard in a judgmental way. It is entirely possible for someone to hear this phrase and think “God will only love me when I don’t sin”.

This phrase, while easy to remember and share, has another angle where it is challenging. In our world today, though perhaps this has been the case for every generation and culture in history, a person’s actions gets connected with their identity. We see this most clearly and innocently when we identify a person with their occupation, such as a builder, a baker, or an engineer. It also extends to physical attributes, like having long or short hair, black or blonde hair, being shorter or tall, being of a certain ethnicity, and other things like this. A person’s occupation and physical characteristics becomes a part of what identifies them.

However, it doesn’t stop there, if a person has a tendency to act a certain way, then that could become a part of their identity as well. This could include lying, stealing, bullying, or a host of other negative characteristics. If a person has accepted and views their identity as being simply what they do, then if what they do is considered a sin, saying that God loves sinners but hates the sin sounds just as judgmental as simply saying God hates those who sin. For many people, the identity of a sinner is wrapped up in the sin because our identities are most often focused on what we do.

What is rarely ever acknowledged in this phrase, while it really should be is that God sees everyone as being infinitely more than what they do or how they look. God looks past your physical characteristics, past your genes, and past your actions and He sees a child of God – or in other words, someone He helped create! God loves you regardless of who you are or what you do. However, God is never going to join you in doing something He would consider sinful.

The other angle of this theme of forgiveness is that forgiveness erases the debt imbalance. If two people have sins in their lives, and one person’s sins are significantly greater in number than the other person’s sins, forgiveness erases the debt and they are on the exact same level. Both debts have been erased. When God forgives our sin, it is like He erases our debt and all that is left is the essence of who we are that He loves. What we do, what we look like, or what is in our genes is not relevant when discussing God’s love.

Jesus assured this woman that her sins were forgiven, because He wanted her to move forward in a new life with God without the cloud of her past weighing her down. Jesus wants us to know that God has forgiven us because He wants us to begin or continue our lives with Him without the sins of our past weighing us down. God wants to redeem us out of sin and into new, eternal lives, with Him!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, continue seeking God first and know that when God looks at you, He loves who He sees you as over who you see yourself as. God sees you through His eyes, and His eyes look past the sin you have wrapped up into your identity. God’s desire is to help you see you as He sees you, and to fall in love with Him like He has fallen in love with you!

Discover who God really is by praying and studying the Bible for yourself. In the pages of the Bible, discover just how much God loves you. Don’t let anyone get between you and God because God wants a personal relationship with you, and for a relationship to be personal, it doesn’t include other people.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or let yourself be tricked into leaving where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Year in Luke – Episode 14: In a powerful event, discover how Jesus looks at humanity, at sinners, and at those He chooses to associate with while ministering in this world. Discover from Jesus’ response to a Pharisee just how loving God is, and discover who God sees when He looks at you!

Join the discussion. Share your thoughts on this passage.

God Wants Our Money: Matthew 25:14-30

Focus Passage: Matthew 25:14-30 (NLT)

14 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. 15 He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip.

16 “The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. 17 The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. 18 But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money.

19 “After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. 20 The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’

21 “The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’

22 “The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.’

23 “The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’

24 “Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. 25 I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’

26 “But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, 27 why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’

28 “Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. 29 To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. 30 Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Read Matthew 25:14-30 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

For our focus passage in today’s journal entry, we are looking at one of the many parables Jesus told His disciples. This parable has a similar sounding alternate version, that we have looked at in several past journal entries, but up to this point, we’ve not touched on this passage.

There are several things we could focus in on within this passage, but in this journal entry, I want to focus on a question that many people might not have even thought of: Why did the man/master give the confiscated talent to the servant who had ten talents? Why not the servant who had doubled the investment to four talents?

I can easily understand the lazy servant having the talent taken away, but with the way the parable is written, one could easily conclude that God is behind the rich people getting richer, while not helping out those in the middle. Since I don’t know God’s mind, I won’t spend much time thinking or pondering this idea.

However, in the case of this parable, I wonder if the master simply chose the servant who had the most, because the extra talent would represent the least impact into his life. The servant who had 4 talents would have been bumped up by 25% if given the extra talent, whereas the servant who had 10 talents would have only been bumped up by 10%.

God knows that money has a way of amplifying an individual’s character, and the faster income/wealth increases, the harder it is for the individual to develop the solid character needed to not have the money corrupt them.

In my mind, it is likely that the master of this parable does not want to negatively impact the two productive servants, and because of this, he chooses the servant who this talent would have the least impact on.

Which leads us to the main point for this journal entry: God wants our money to be a blessing. He provides for what we need because He does not want our money corrupting our character.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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Walking to Jesus: Matthew 14:22-36

Focus Passage: Matthew 14:22-36 (GW)

22 Jesus quickly made his disciples get into a boat and cross to the other side ahead of him while he sent the people away. 23 After sending the people away, he went up a mountain to pray by himself. When evening came, he was there alone.

24 The boat, now hundreds of yards from shore, was being thrown around by the waves because it was going against the wind.

25 Between three and six o’clock in the morning, he came to them. He was walking on the sea. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified. They said, “It’s a ghost!” and began to scream because they were afraid.

27 Immediately, Jesus said, “Calm down! It’s me. Don’t be afraid!”

28 Peter answered, “Lord, if it is you, order me to come to you on the water.”

29 Jesus said, “Come!” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. 30 But when he noticed how strong the wind was, he became afraid and started to sink. He shouted, “Lord, save me!”

31 Immediately, Jesus reached out, caught hold of him, and said, “You have so little faith! Why did you doubt?”

32 When they got into the boat, the wind stopped blowing. 33 The men in the boat bowed down in front of Jesus and said, “You are truly the Son of God.”

34 They crossed the sea and landed at Gennesaret. 35 The men there recognized Jesus and sent messengers all around the countryside. The people brought him everyone who was sick. 36 They begged him to let them touch just the edge of his clothes. Everyone who touched his clothes was made well.

Read Matthew 14:22-36 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

In this incredible, miraculous event, Peter steps out of the boat when Jesus calls him to do so. Just doing this simple thing is incredible in itself, but what happens when Peter has left the security of the boat is something that each of us can relate with.

When God has called us to step out of our boat and come to Him, many of us are quick to do so. However, what happens after we take the first step – or perhaps we could call it that big leap of faith – is that our brain catches up to our actions and we begin to realize the leap we just took.

Likely before Peter’s mind had caught up with his faith-filled actions, he was out of the boat and walking towards Jesus. But then his mind caught up with the reality of what was happening. We read this transition happen at the beginning of verse 30, “But when he noticed how strong the wind was…

When Peter’s mind had caught up to his actions and pointed out to him that the wind had not stopped, and the waves were still crashing around him, he became afraid and this fear lead to him starting to sink. In that moment, Peter cries out to Jesus to save him and Jesus is there immediately with an outstretched hand.

When we look at this event, it might be easy for us to think that we should turn our minds off when we are moving in faith – but that is not what this passage is saying. In many ways, Peter’s mind was what got him to step out of the boat because it prompted him to tell Jesus to call him to step out of the boat. Jesus calls Peter’s mind’s bluff and this led to a body that was no longer protected by the boat.

Our minds can be our greatest asset to our faith, but this is only when we keep our focus on Jesus, and on how we can move forward with Him. When our mind wants to bring up doubts or fears, it is only then that our faith is truly known. It is in that moment where we learn what is stronger – our faith or our fear.

Jesus has called us to step out with Him, and in some ways, stepping out is the easy part. The difficult part is to keep our faith strong and focused as we walk on the journey Jesus has called us on!

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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