Looking at ourselves thru the prism of a character study from Luke 7

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Looking at Ourselves thru the Prism of a  Character Study” Luke 7:36---

 

    Some of us would probably confess to people watching.  Whether you are at a shopping mall, or an airport or watching beach volleyball we have all people watched.  You learn a lot about people and human nature by watching others.   In this incident in the Gospel of the woman “ a sinner”---so called and of Simon the “ Pharisee” we see opportunities for spiritual growth and love as we people watch  but some  unfulfilled. 

 

    The woman may have heard of Jesus when he talked about eternal life and said, “ Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”  She followed the Lord to the house of a Pharisee who had invited Jesus to dinner.

 

   Simon did invite Jesus.  At least he checked the block out of curiosity perhaps in allowing Jesus into his home.  But he failed to show any of the proper customs of the day in welcoming a visitor.  No greeting with a kiss, no oil for the head, and no water to wash his feet.  How many of us do this?  A formal nod to the church, a nod to Jesus but what is behind that?  Moralism is not Christianity. In  our little book by Joseph Alleine in the evenings, A Sure Guide to Heaven we learned that conversion “ does not lie in moral righeousness”  In other words an outward conformity to rules is not true grace in the heart necessarily .  Certainly rules are important. We can have a form of godliness without the power.  2 Timothy 3:5

 

    Simon “  could not see her as she was because he was looking at her as she used to be. That is a common trouble with Christian people.”  G Campbell Morgan, The Great Physician.    She used to be a harlot.  That is what it meant when it said,  she was a “ sinner”.  Now how do you get over that view?  We characterize people.  Oh they are such and such are that kind of person.  Well maybe, yes.  Maybe , not.  People do change.  That is what the church is all about and if we look at our fellow human beings in only one way, we have missed the boat completely about how Christ changes people.  “ God’s great concern was that the sinner should find forgiveness and freedom from pollution in order to the fulfillment of the highest ideal of life.” ( Morgan)

 

   What is at the heart of this story?  We read how Jesus talked with Simon and asked him about forgiveness.  In other words, Simon you are not judging correctly.  He got the point of the story though ---the one who owed the most and had his debt forgiven loves the most.  Jesus forgives sin.  He forgives our sin every day and some of us have come from further places than others.  We owe more to God in that sense.  We can never repay the debt that has been cancelled.  W. E. Sangster, the English Methodist said it this way about sin, “   It is a recurrent tragedy of our race that we do not realize the sinfulness of sin.  We call our sins ‘mistakes’ , ‘ weaknesses ‘ , ‘ slips’ and even when we use the right word----‘ sin’ we use it lightly.  What is sin?  This is sin!  It is sin that takes the holy God----incarnate here on earth---and treats him as no beast should be treated.  ….You have been guilty of the same sins which nailed him to the cross…gossip, greed, bigotry, fear, slander…they added up to this.  It took the Cross to make you realize what sin really was.”

 

    We do people watch.  That is what we started out talking about today.  It would be better to do that with the heart of Jesus knowing that some are coming from different places and need our compassion.  Some know better and need our gentle admonition.  All of us need to learn what it means to love with the love of Jesus.  We have been forgiven much.  We have been loved by our Lord in His calling of us to serve.  Let us do God’s will with His love and service, and not our own.  That does not give spiritual results as we know.  But with the crucified Savior we can show people there is new opportunity and a new way to live under a risen Savior.

 

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