Luke 7:41-43 “(41)There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. (42) And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? (43) Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.
In the verses above, the bold words were spoken by Jesus to a Pharisee named Simon. Jesus posed a question to Simon regarding the sinner woman who had just come and worship by washing Jesus’ feet with her tears, drying His feet with her hair and anointing Him with the contents of an alabaster box. Simon, internally, expressed that Jesus couldn’t be Holy because if He were then he surely wouldn’t have let the likes of that sinner woman touch Him. Jesus responded by asking which of two debtors would love their creditor more when their debts were forgiven. Simon rightly judged that the one who had the lager debt forgiven would love the one who forgave more than the other debtor.
Jesus rebuked Simon by conspicuously bringing to light the fact that this woman who USED to be a sinner showed such open and unreserved worship because she was forgiven much. Yet, although Simon INVITED Jesus to dine with him, he didn’t not perform the traditional customs that a host was expected to give to a guest that was invited (washing of the feet, a kiss of friendship upon the cheek, and anointing with oil). Simon, bing a Pharisee certainly would have performed these rites with gladness if he thought that Jesus was worthy of them; but although he called Jesus by the title Master, Simon treated the Lord more like a novelty or sideshow act than someone you invested into your home.
These diametrically opposed viewpoints led to entirely different experiences for the two involved in this account. However, although we all should worship Christ as the woman did, many treat Jesus the same today as Simon did then. Why? Lack of understanding. So with that in mind, today’s devotion is, “Why We Treat Jesus the Way we Do.”
1) How Tainted Sin Left You – the woman knew how vile and wicked her life was before God; yet Simon, ever the religious man, thought he had merited the favor of God because of how he loved his life. God made it very clear that sin is the opposite of all things pertaining to God. We love to hear of how majestic, Holy, Divine and Wonderful God truly is … but we forget that we were the embodiment of all things opposite to God before salvation. Regardless of how you lived you life in the eyes of man before salvation, God saw us all for the vile and cursed souls that chose to embrace everything that He was not. We were so wicked in our depravity that the only payment with enough value to pay our debt was the very blood of the Only Begotten. In fact, on this very day of the year some 1,988 years ago the Creator was beaten beyond recognition, stripped of raiment and flesh, suspended between Heaven and Earth and willing gave His life for you in the pitch black of a sunless day. With so great a payment required, so how can we delude ourselves into thinking that we were anything but vile before He saved us. Some treat Jesus like Simon because they think they weren’t as bad as others and weren’t forgiven as much as some. In truth, we all were as vile as any other… realizing that would cause us to worship as the woman did.
2) How we Perceive our Position – Simon invited Jesus to his house, after refusing to be baptized by Christ, in an attempt to learn more about Jesus to form a more detailed opinion of Him. He called Jesus “Master,” meaning “teacher” or “Rabbi,” because he knew that Jesus possessed knowledge that he did not. Yet, despite realizing that Jesus had something he didn’t, Simon never saw Jesus as LORD. Instead, Simon saw Jesus as a more learned scholar that had information of how to draw closer to God. The woman knew that Jesus not only had the answer, but HE WAS THE ANSWER to her problem. Read the full account and you’ll find that the woman washed Jesus feet FROM BEHIND! She revered Jesus so much that she dare not even ask Him to turn his chair so she could have better access to His feet. I can see her crawling beneath the chair or bench that Jesus sat on trying her best not to inconvenience the King of Glory. Nowhere do we find that she spoke a single word. She knew that compared to Jesus, she didn’t deserve to utter a word. Yet, she meekly and humbly entered the home of a stranger not to speak to Jesus but to crawl under His seat and do Him the honor that she was capable of performing. Im convinced that she didn’t make a noise in the carrying out of her worship. She knew she didn’t deserve to be there, but she took full advantage of the opportunity to bow before and worship Jesus.
I had a third point, but God said this was getting too long as is; so I’ll close with this thought. Some think that we deserve to be seated across the table from Jesus. Others crawl through inhospitable surroundings just to show reverence. Some people want to learn what Jesus knows so they can attempt to be Holy before God in the strength of their flesh. Others know it’s not by works of righteousness that we can do, but because of Jesus.
Today is the calendar day that He was lead as a lamb to the slaughter, because He loved you. We ought to enter into the sanctuary tonight with tear bursting eyes and alabaster boxes ready to obscurely present what we have to him in reverence. But some will walk in as if they are equals with Christ, ready to sit down across the table and treat Him as a uncooperative witness.
Your fellowservant in Christ,
Bro. Jordan Foster
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