But She Is A Sinner

Luke 7: 36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat.37 When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. 38 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. 39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”

When I came to Jesus and He gave me a clean slate and received me as His own, I came Just As I Am. Finished! Jesus' work on the cross was complete. Finished. Jesus spoke those very words from the cross and it is recorded in John 19:30 When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Leave it up to weak, stupid, religious humans to "miss the point!" Keep in mind only those who admit they are sinners will honor Jesus as He needs to be honored as Savior and Lord. The fault of those who are religious is they are "little gods" and they are spoken of in scripture and not in a very good way. Grace is never understood by those who are religious because their reasoning cannot accept something so complete and pure because they are running it through their human filter and that filter is polluted.

Part of crucifying the old self or the flesh is dying to the human way of reasoning and taking on God's righteousness and God's way of looking at things...and people. Religious people think they are superior to other people and they look down their noses at those "sinners." May we never be that way and may our hearts and our reasoning line up with Jesus and not the Pharisees. Jesus goes on in the next few verses to explain the why.

40 Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.” “Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied. 41 Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. 42 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?” 43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.”“That’s right,” Jesus said. 44 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. 45 You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.

47 “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.” 48 Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”

Something to realize here is Jesus is not just responding to this Pharisee's words, but to his thoughts, because Jesus can read the motives and not just the words. Scary huh? The heart condition is at the core of this Pharisee's problem and his heart was not right, even though he was very religious. In the story, Jesus explains the truth of receiving this gift known as salvation and how it affects us. The woman realized nothing more than this, that Jesus was her only hope and she was thankful for the hope He offered and honored Jesus. If we honor Jesus and honor Him as she did, we will see our salvation and other people's sins in a different light. In the light of His grace and forgiveness. Churches would be full of people of redeemed people lifting His Name and glorifying who He is and then going to a lost and dying world, full of sinners, and telling them about the wonderful Savior, Jesus.

If we are religious we are going to be looking more at people's sins than offering them the forgiveness that only Jesus can give. Instead of giving up on God because our faith is based on what we can understand, we should go "all out" and just surrender to the one who has given us something beyond compare. God is judge and jury and He says all is paid in full ready to be received and offered to all who will come. Especially sinners. lol.

It might be good to fall at the feet of Jesus, metaphorically, and repent and admit that we need His great love to see other sinners like we need to and get on with this sold-out life we live for Jesus. In this position, He becomes Savior and Lord, and we become saved sinners who are thankful, and out of this thankful heart, we accept other sinners and show them how to be saved, just like we were. We hate the sin but love the sinner....Just like Jesus. That way when we see a sinner we do everything we can to present them Jesus, and let His Spirit go to work. Just believe what Jesus says and all will fall into place. No more saying But They Are A Sinners.

The Pilgrimage Continues,

David Warren