Pastor Dan Eddy

Matthew 7:1-6 and Luke 7:36-50

Do you see the person who needs forgiveness?

10-17-10

THE GOSPEL READING………………………………Luke 7:36-50 NIV

P: The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, the 7^H Chapter:

C: Glory to You, O Lord.

³⁶Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. ³⁷When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, ³⁸and 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.

³⁹When 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."

⁴⁰Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you."
      "Tell me, teacher," he said.

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

⁴³Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled."
      "You have judged correctly," Jesus said.

⁴⁴Then 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. ⁴⁵You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. ⁴⁷Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."

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

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

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

P: This is the Gospel of the Lord.

C: Praise to You, O Christ.

I. Introduction – Playing the Devil’s advocate

(Pause for about 10 second)

You know something…after reading this text for the umpteenth time…I have to admit to you that I think Jesus was wrong here. Yeah, you heard me correctly…I think Jesus was wrong.

Cause I mean…come on…if this were anyone else speaking these exact same words about forgiveness we would take the side of the Pharisee. Imagine you’re the Pharisee for a moment. A good person. One who does what’s right. That’s you, correct?

So you went through the time and expense to hold a big dinner at your house…got the house clean spotless…paid big bucks for all the food and drink…wanted to make sure all the details were attended too…including making your guests as comfortable as possible. You sacrificed much.

And how does it turn out? Some prostitute ends up crashing your party. You didn’t invite her. She came into your house. And then poured perfume over one of your guests. How would you react? Yeah that’s what I thought.

But we give this woman a pass, and frown upon the Pharisee just because this is happening to Jesus.

What that woman did was hurtful, thoughtless and inconsiderate to the Pharisee and his guests. She was trespassing, causing disorder, and whatever she was doing to Jesus with the perfume…well we don’t want to get into that.

And think about your own life…all the people who are hurtful to you, thoughtless and inconsiderate. From the idiot you cut you off in traffic, to the employer who is trying to work you to death with no pay increase, to those nasty teachers at school, to the family member, spouse, child, parent…who just keeps hurting you over and over with their words and actions.

Why should you or I forgive any of them? Oh…I know what you’re thinking…because Christ died for my sins so I should forgive others. Well, that’s just not realistic in our lives or world today.

So you and I have every right to be uptight, frustrated and angry? (Long pause) And what will it get us? What will we accomplish from holding grudges?

You see the message of today’s two readings is not to burden you with rules and regulations, but is to provide relief from the hurts you feel from others in your life.

That’s what Jesus is trying to convey in these texts.

II. Obstacles to forgiveness

You see we suffer from two problems when it comes to forgiving others. One is we forget a lot of the sins we have committed in thought, word, and deed. And two, we remember far too clearly the sins committed against us. As a result, we see others sins against us as greater than our own. It’s a perception problem.

So let’s take our Pharisee. He probably would never think of crashing someone else’s party. So, because that was done against him that was far worse than forgetting to offer Jesus some water for His feet or a customary kiss. And the Pharisee’s mistakes certainly didn’t rise to the level of engaging in regular fornication, like l’m sure this woman did.

And I’m sure most of us holding grudges against others consider ourselves as better than the person with whom we are holding the grudges.

You may be thinking: “That family member yells at me all the time…I would never yell back at them.” Or “That person owes me money…I would never forget to pay someone back.” Or “That person said nasty things about me…I would never do that to them.”

Really…you’ve never yelled at anyone, never forgot to pay someone back, or never gossiped about anyone.

You may be thinking: “Oh…I may have yelled but that’s because they yelled first.” Or “It’s not my fault the other person forgot to remind me to pay them back.” Or, “I wasn’t gossiping because it was the truth”. Never mind it ruined their reputation.

III. God’s standards of judging

What Jesus is basically saying in Matthew 7 is the standard by which you are judging others will be the standard by which you will be judged by Him. (Repeat).

The Pharisees were notorious for judging other people by higher standards than they judged themselves. Hence, Jesus’ words in looking for a tiny piece of sawdust in someone else’s eyes while you are being blinded by the whole plank of wood in your eyes. In other words, your own non-acknowledgement of the severity and level of your sin is blinding you from forgiving someone who has sinned against you. Because you commit more sins against God and others then others sin against you.

Recently, I had the privilege to spend some time with the Confirmands on Sunday morning. We got onto the subject of forgiveness, and I made up a scenario. I said pretend that I broke into your home and stole $500. And imagine that your father or mother unconditionally forgave me for doing that.

But the $500 was going to be used to send you to your favorite summer camp, buy you your favorite clothes and other items. And now that’s not going to happen, because the $500 is gone. And imagine that it’s Sunday morning and there’s only one seat left in the sanctuary and it’s next to you and I come to sit next to you…how would you feel about me? And one of the Confirmands said “I would be angry at you.” I appreciated the honest response.

And then I had the Confos each recite a line from the Lord’s Prayer: One student said, “Our Father who art in Heaven.” The next “Hallowed be Thy name.” “Thy kingdom come.” “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” “Give us this day our daily bread.” “And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” And I said, “Stop!! Does anyone know what that last line means?” There was silence in the room. Jesus is saying as often as I forgive others that how often I want you to forgive me, Lord.

If we fail to forgive others like Christ forgave you at the Cross, gave you that forgiveness at your baptism, affirms that forgiveness in His Word and in His Word through the bread and wine of His real body and blood…if we fail to forgive others like Christ has forgiven you…then we treat His gift of grace cheaply.

It would be like taking a perfect Grade A cut of prime rib beef, cooking with herbs and spice just right, and giving that whole juicy steak to an angry, vicious dog OR taking your most expensive piece of jewelry and throwing into the smelly, putrid mud that the pigs roll around in on the farm.

When you don’t forgive others who have sinned against you…you will tear apart the everlasting life Jesus has given you by faith alone. And what will you really gain? (Pause) Nothing. But you will eventually lose everything.

IV. Embracing Christ’s Forgiveness

If you haven’t figured it out…our forgiving other people is NOT conditioned on them asking for forgiveness. Why? Because when Christ died on the cross…He did it for everyone…very person that has lived, is living and will ever live on this earth…regardless of ethnicity, religion, geographic location or political status. He died for all. He forgave all, even if all do not want His forgiveness.

Unfortunately…many have and will reject it. But His love is unconditional and so should be our forgiveness to all who have sinned against you and me. And if they are never sorry then let Christ Jesus judge them…not you and me.

And if they should want your forgiveness that Jesus gave you…don’t sit there and judge the sincerity or wording of their confession. Accept it…offer God’s forgiveness with these very simple words. “The Lord Jesus Christ forgives you and loves you and so do I.” Please say that with me.

Oh what relief that Word of God can have on your ears and theirs…on your heart and theirs.

If we work on correcting our sinfulness by first embracing His forgiveness and living it everyday, then we will be in a better position to help others who have sinned against us or others.

Think of it this way…who has more credibility to talk about to you about diets and fitness? An overweight out-a-shape person, who eats Twinkies and potato chips? Or, someone who has toned muscles who eats a well balanced diet.

Jesus is saying “Stop judging, start forgiving more in your heart, and then work with others to verbally pass on Christ’s forgiveness, showing it by forgiving them and asking for their forgiveness.”

Let go of the grudges, embrace Christ’s love. It’s an ongoing process where Satan will tempt you to un-forgive someone.

I remember a few years ago I was watching a TV program and something in the show reminded me of an argument Berta and I had seven years prior to that. It was an argument that was resolved and forgiveness had been extended to each other. But I needed to ask God to forgive me for not wanting to keep that forgiveness.

The more you appreciate God’s forgiveness in Christ Jesus the more you will pass it onto others regardless if they want it. And the more you realize that, the more you’ll want that forgiveness renewed each week here in worship, so you can pass it onto others.

The key here is empathy and humility. If we are not humbled by our own sins…then how can we possibly be in a position to forgive others who have sinned against us?

I mean do we ever wonder why people who hurt us are doing that? It’s a lot more than they don’t like us…or want to see us hurt. It involves thinking beyond our own needs. Walk in their shoes to better understand why they behave the way they do…not to excuse their actions but to really forgive them. People filled with pride for themselves are not ready to confess their sins, let alone receive His forgiveness.

Jesus empathizes with you. He is human like you. He lived a life of humility. He knows what pain and frustrations you’re going through. He experienced much pain when He walked in the earth in the flesh…and that flesh was pounded to the cross.

But just as He understands your pain…He is ready to give relief…through the power of His resurrection given through His Word here today…in the Sacrament you will receive in a moment…so that when you pray and meditate on His Word you are ready to forgive others…especially the ones who have hurt you the most.

Enjoy the relief of Christ’s forgiveness and live that relief passing that forgiveness to others.

V. Conclusion

Our Gospel text this morning doesn’t tell us how the Pharisee reacted to Jesus’ Words. How are you going to react in extending His forgiveness to others? Do you see the people in your life who need His forgiveness?

Let us pray:

Forgive us Lord when we think we know better than You

When we see others sins against us as greater than our own

Prepare our heart to confess our sins against You and others

And for You to let them go

Let us humbly judge others in love

And let us forgive freely

Like You have freely forgiven us in Christ Jesus.

Amen.