Needing Jesus

Luke 7:36-8:3New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman

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.”

The Parable of the Sower

8 After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; 3 Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

In today’s sports landscape, there is a constant discussion of who the G.O.A.T. is.  That’s an acronym that the kids are using these days meaning the “Greatest Of All Time.”  Sports broadcasters and fans alike are always discussing if this team from 30 years ago could beat a team from today and which former players are better than the current ones.  And when they get bored with that discussion they move onto discussing which players from an era should be on the Mt. Rushmore of any given sport.  Flip on sports talk radio and it is likely you will hear such a discussion on any given day.  This resonates with our scripture for this morning because Jesus makes the point to a pharisee named Simon that this woman washing his feet is one of the great ones.  But we may gasp, oh no, we may roll our eyes, we may judge, whisper and gossip and say to one another, “This women is a sinner.” (in a old church lady voice from SNL)  Yes, that’s right, many a times in Jesus’ ministries the great ones were sinners.  Jesus asks Simon, the Pharisee, in verse 41 and 42, ‘“Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 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?”’  I had to laugh but when I think about this it is no wonder I love God so much.  If you are struggling to love God, there is only one logical conclusion..... You don’t sin enough. :)

I don’t think Jesus wants us running around sinning like crazy so we can feel his love more.  That’s not the point of this story from Luke.  There is this cycle that our faith takes us through.  Now, sometimes this cycle scares us so we abandon ship and jump overboard.  The cycle can become mundane and underappreciated over time causing us to slip away from faith.  For those strong in their faith, and also for those who are weak, this cycle happens every day.  We will discuss this cycle in more detail in a bit but we first must  look at the two main characters in this story from Luke.  There is such a contrast.  First, we are introduced to Simon, a Jewish Pharisee of pretty high standing.  William Barclay concludes that Simon must have been an entertainer of guests and that he was trying to patronize Jesus.  The other character was a sinful woman.  By all accounts, a prostitute.  So this story not only  gives us quite a contrast in people but also a stark contrast in how they viewed Jesus.  Simon didn’t think anything was wrong.  It is probably safe to say that Simon most likely never felt the weight of his sin.  It all likelihood, Simon sinned and treated people more poorly than did the sinful woman.  In all likelihood, Simon was entitled and felt that he was above sin.  Simon never gave his shortcomings and sin a second thought.  Again, Simon never felt the weight of his sin.  Simon held himself in high esteem, he thought he was a good man in the eyes of his fellow man and God.  He never felt the need to seek God’s forgiveness because he didn’t think he needed it.  On the other hand, the woman was so overwhelmed when she saw Jesus face to face.  Barclay speculates that the woman most likely heard Jesus speak recently from the back of a crowd and then she had the opportunity to meet him face to face.  When that meeting took place she broke down.  She was willing to give Jesus all she had.  She used her tears to wipe Jesus feet.  Do you know how many tears it would take to clean the feet of someone who walked in sweaty, dusty old leather?  She then uses her hair to wipe his feet clean and lastly she pours expensive perfume on his feet.  Have you ever cried at the feet of Jesus?  Have you ever wiped those disgusting feet clean?  I have cried at the feet of Jesus, once.  In all honesty, this should be an everyday occasion.  The weight of my sins dropped me to my knees and brought me tears enough to clean Jesus’ feet....Once.  Again, this should happen every day.  We should be so dang thankful that we cannot help but to be driven to our knees in thanks and appreciation!

This is where pride comes into play.  It is ok to take pride in your children, your faith, your church, your community, etc.  Pride is a good thing.  It is a sign of strength and confidence.  But just like everything else, too much of it leads us down paths of sin, exclusion, thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought.  Barclay has this to say, “The one thing which shuts a man off from God is self-sufficiency.”  How true?!  Simon shut himself off from God because he didn’t acknowledge his need to be in communion with God.  The cycle I was referring to earlier is the cycle that persists when we see how much we need God.  We see God’s glory, drop to our metaphorical knees, even though it ought not be, and thank God for his glory, grace, forgiveness and love.  Usually we are prompted to do this by some sort of difficult life event or a recurring sin will often remind us of our reliance on God.  We drop to our knees, seek forgiveness, vow to improve, change or abstain from whatever sin or vice we keep getting ourselves into.  Then we mess up.  We have to start over.  If you love God as much as I do, in other words if you sin as much as I do, then you are starting over all the time.  The first few times, this cycle is life changing because we have this pride and confidence that we can conquer anything with God’s help which is great but the cycle starts over because we lose sight of the fact that we don’t only need God’s help but we need help of the community around us.  We quickly go from the prostitute to the Pharisee.  We quickly go from needing God to being self-sufficient and then back again.  Or at least we ought.  See, this cycle is what we are called to.  This cycle is not a bad thing.  Jesus doesn’t call us to sin more to find this overflowing forgiveness.  Quite the contrary, “...the strange thing is that the better (aka reliant on God) a person is the more they feel their sin.”  Barclay continues, “It is true to say that the greatest of sins is to be conscious of no sin; but a sense of need will open the door to forgiveness of God, because God is love, and love’s greatest glory is to be needed.”  Today, open that door to forgiveness by telling God exactly how much you need him.  And after we do that, if we could stop judging each other based on our individual needs from God that would also benefit society as a whole.  Our faith says that we ought to be driven to our knees but our pride keeps us from being that vulnerable.  A fear of what others will say also keeps us showing and telling others how much we need Jesus.  I am standing in front of you today telling you how much I need Jesus.  

Do you know what keeps people from going to church?  Yep, you guessed it, it’s the hypocrites that fill the pews.  While I hate this statement and this argument it makes perfect sense.  But we aren’t hypocrites because we sin, mess up  and fall short.  That is part of the human condition, we all do those things.  We become hypocrites when we no longer need Jesus to help us.  We become hypocrites when we become like Simon instead of the woman who cleaned Jesus’ gross feet.  Jesus said, “But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”  Being aware of who you are in Christ makes you more aware of who you are and how much you need God.  Charles Spurgeon said, “It is better to be the lowest servant of Christ than to be the greatest of men and remain slaves to your own lusts, or to be mere men-pleasers.”  Drop to your knees and let go of everything keeping you from needing God.  Amen.