Quest 11
Yes. If you want your past to determine your future, it will.
You can be a victim of your past.
Or you can meet the one who has the power set you free of the past.
The answer can be found in a story of a host and a party-crasher.
The Invitation (7:36) - One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table.
The Party-crasher (7:37-38) - And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.
The Host (7:39) - Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”
The Parable on Love (7:40-43) - And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.” “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.”
The Application of the Parable (7:44-47) - Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”
1. What the parable is NOT saying:
The more you sin, the more you are forgiven, and thus, the more love you have. Romans 6:1-2 - What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
Your forgiveness is based on your love. Note Luke 7:48-50 - And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
2. The issue is your estimate of what you have been forgiven.
Simon estimated his debt of sin as small. He was blind to his own sin.
The woman estimated her debt of sin as great. She desperately needed forgiveness.
Every variation from God’s will is sin, and every sin is punishable by death:
Jeremiah 31:30 – Everyone will die for his own sin.
Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death.
How would you estimate your sin based on just these three verses (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)? Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
3. Forgiveness produces love.
This is what the whole scene with the woman is about.
Own your past, all of it, and take it to Jesus.
Love is the result of the release of the chains of the past.
Jesus has the power to forgive. Jesus can get past your past. Can you?
4. Christian, you’ve been forgiven. What kind of a host are you?
Simon was a rude host – no water for his feet, no greeting of a kiss, no oil for his head.
Just being “good” doesn’t make you a good host. Pride will blind the “good” person as well as the “bad.”
Christ lives in you (Galatians 2:20) - I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
There are hosts who don’t acknowledge him (prayer).
There are hosts who don’t listen to him (Bible).
There are hosts who are embarrassed by him (introducing him to others).
There are hosts who offend him (worldly living).