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Jesus Accepts Real Sinners

Pastor: 

Pastor Mike

Sermon Date: 
June 20, 2010
Bible Passage: 

Luke 7:36-50

                Legends are a part of life. Given enough time and repeated by enough people, any rumor can become a legend. The broken-down house on the corner is haunted. Who saw a ghost? No one. But that’s what they say. Flash your lights at a mysterious dark car at night and you’ll be followed and killed. Wow! Who died that way? I don’t know. But that’s what I heard. Walk under a ladder and you’ll have bad luck. That happened to you? Well, no, but everyone knows that. Crossing black cats, breaking mirrors, throwing salt over your shoulder, knocking on wood, Friday the 13th, find a penny, pick it up, all day long you’ll have a legend. Yes, every culture has them.

                The church is no exception. Over the last few thousand years, legends have developed about Christians and among Christians. “I heard” and “They say that” and “It’s in the Bible somewhere” help legends become the beliefs of well-meaning people. Take Christmas, for example. How many wise men visited the baby Jesus? Three! Where is that in the Bible? I don’t know, but it’s there somewhere. No, it’s not. When did the wise men first see Jesus? Right after he was born. That’s why my grandma had the little wise men figurines there by the manger. And where’s that in the Bible? Well, everyone knows it’s in there. No, it’s not. Adam and Eve sinned by eating an apple. Legend. Money is the root of all evil. Legend. Jesus looked like this (hold up classic Jesus painting). Definitely legend.
                Yes, the Christian church has its fair share of legends, common beliefs that just aren’t true. Some are harmless. The number of wise men really doesn’t affect our faith. But other legends can and do distort the gospel message. That’s why we cannot let them infect urban churches and creep into the suburbs. We must not let them become bumper sticker sayings among us. This sermon series is about destroying biblical legends before they destroy us.
                Today’s legend is the most destructive of all. Here it is: “Jesus only accepts neat and tidy people.” You’ll hear that in various forms and phrases—“She wouldn’t really fit in at our church.” “I can’t believe he’s taking communion.” “They need to get their act together before they come to Jesus.” “God wouldn’t let someone like that into heaven.” Or “I can’t come to church yet. I can’t pray yet. I have to fix some things first.”
                Unfortunately, that legend isn’t new. When Jesus walked our earth 2,000 years ago, it was alive and well. And it became the sticking point of today’s gospel lesson. Look at what happened in Luke 7:36. “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.” The Pharisees were the V.I.P.’s of 1st century religion. Their name came from the Hebrew phrase for “set apart” and that’s what they believed. They were convinced God had set them apart from “real” sinners because they were such good, godly people.
                But that made things rather awkward when an uninvited guest showed up at the V.I.P. party. “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.” Women who lived notoriously sinful lives didn’t make Pharisee guest lists. And yet this woman showed up. A known sinner. A reputation. Not the church-type. And yet she showed up. She must have stuck out like a bearded preschooler. And how she made a scene! In the 1st century, dinner guests would recline on low couches with their heads close to the table and their feet facing outwards. And this sinful woman stands back by Jesus’ feet and quietly sobs. Her tears drip off her cheeks and spatter on Jesus’ feet, to the horror of the host. Guests gawk as she turns her long hair into a towel to dry his feet. They gasp as she pours perfume and kisses his feet again and again. This is a shameless act of devotion.
                “This woman does not belong here,” the Pharisees hiss in their minds. And that’s when the host repeats the legend. “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."  Did you hear it? “If Jesus were truly from God, he would not let a woman like that near him because God only accepts good, neat, tidy, religious people like me.”
                But Jesus doesn’t like legends. Especially when they undermine the message of forgiveness. So Jesus exposed the lie. “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, [about $84,000] and the other fifty [about $8,400]. 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.”  The story is simple enough. The more you realize you’ve been forgiven, the greater your thanks will be. Even a Pharisee could figure that out.
“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."  Jesus’ pulls the rug out from under Simon’s proud feet. “Simon, do you know which guest I have a problem with tonight? You. You’ve been a thankless host because you are a self-righteous snob who thinks he hasn’t sinned since 17 A.D. That’s why you don’t love God. You don’t believe he’s forgiven you of very much. 
But this woman. She cries and pours and dries and kisses because she knows how messy her life is. And she believes that I forgive her. “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." Jesus’ levels the legend. The crowd is shocked. The host is shocked.   Jesus forgives sins. And he forgives the sins of messy, notorious sinners and sends them off in peace.
God wishes Simon’s idea had died, but unfortunately the legend still lives. Sometimes the words come out of “Christian” mouths—Those people don’t belong here—but more often the legend is repeated in our minds. I didn’t think I believed the legend until I saw a musical two years ago. Jesus Christ Superstar is a Broadway show based on the life of our Savior. Near the beginning of the show, a sultry woman in a red dress strode onto the stage. She came close to Jesus, embracing him, stroking his hair, and something didn’t feel quite right. She was a little too sensual to be next to my Savior, a little too…messy. Now get her a modest dress, sit her in a padded pew, and put a hymnal in her hands and I’ll be more comfortable. But that’s the legend! That’s the old Pharisaical feeling that messy people shouldn’t come close to Christ.
I wonder if you’ve ever heard Simon the Pharisee whisper in your heart in the same way. “Two kids, no wedding ring, and she’s in our church?!” “There are kids like that in my daughter’s class? Honey, I think we need to find a better “Christian” school.” “He’s was in jail? And they’re letting him take communion…next to me?!” The legend of the Pharisees can be repeated among us, too. But Jesus’ story about the debtors reminds us we all are in debt. Whether you are the messy, notoriously sinful woman or a proud, self-righteous Simon, you have a debt. I do, too. And none of us can pay it. God should set all of us apart in hell for the spiritual debt we owe.
But Jesus’ story also comforts us with a greater truth. “Neither of [the debtors] had the money to pay [the lender] back, so he cancelled the debts of both.” Our God cancels debt.  He forgives sins. In fact, the Bible is very clear that God has already forgiven the sins of the entire world. Theologians call that objective justification—God has objectively forgiven every debt, great and small, of every man, woman, and child in history. Here’s the proof—“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” “Jesus is the sacrifice for our sins and not only for ours, but for the sins of the whole world.” “God was reconciling [making peace] with the world in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.”
That’s why your hands were stamped this morning. “Forgiven.” I could ask our ushers to stamp every person today “Forgiven” without even knowing who would come because Jesus Christ died and forgave the sins of the whole world. He’s not waiting until you’re good enough. He’s not withholding forgiveness until you shape up and ask for it. He already has forgiven you. That is an objective truth. Are you messy? Have you been godless? God forgives and accepts people like you, too. In Christ, your reputation does not have the last word. Your Redeemer does.
Now please don’t assume this means all people are saved. Some people, like the Pharisees, don’t benefit from that objective forgiveness because they reject Jesus. Instead of taking hold of their forgiveness in faith, they cling to their sin or self-righteousness and therefore throw heaven away. They live proud, unchanged, unrepentant lives.
But for we who believe, who know how much we’ve been forgiven, we love much. We fix our eyes on the cross, that stamp of forgiveness on our hearts, and we pray, “God, give me an opportunity to love like that woman. Give the chance to wipe your feet and to pour out my most expensive perfume for you. Open doors for me to love as you loved, to forgive as you forgave, to accept as you accepted.”
As Christians and as a Christian church, there are good ways for us to do that, to debunk the legend and live the truth of the gospel. By God’s grace, I’ve already seen it among you. Last year, an ex-junkie visited our church. His brain had been fried like an egg by drugs. He wasn’t your stereotypical church-goer. I visited him and asked him if he was going to heaven after all the garbage he’d done. “Absolutely,” he immediately replied, “Jesus died for my sins. I believe in him. And I’m not who I was.” When he came back to church, a number of our members were incredibly kind to him. Two in particular befriended him and even when they learned his story, accepted him as a brother in Christ. They helped kill the legend.
As a Christian church, we strive to do the same. T avoid the impression that this is a country-club for cardigan-wearing Pharisees. To give the impression this church is hospital for sick sinners who are healed by Dr. Jesus’ every week. How do we do give that impression? We confess and embrace. We confess we were in debt, too. We confess we depend on the cross for our spiritual life. We confess we have been set apart, not by our own good works, but by the love of God who cancelled our debt and allows our souls to shout, “I’m debt free.” And then we embrace repentant sinners, no matter how messy they were or are. Pray for her. Invite him to lunch. Study the Bible with them. Play volleyball with her. Sit next to him in church.  Watch his illegitimate kids. Help her after the divorce. Drive him to his AA meeting. Be a fried of sinners just like your Savior is.
Let’s make this legend disappear as real sinners find real acceptance in us and in our church. Amen.
 

 

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Eastside Evangelical Lutheran Church and School
2310 Independence Lane Madison, WI 53704
Phone: 608-244-3045 info@eastsidelutheran.orglogin