A closer Luke

"Two men were in debt to a banker. One owed five hundred silver pieces, the other fifty. Neither of them could pay up, and so the banker canceled both debts. Which of the two would be more grateful?"


The above is taken from Luke 7, and the passage we studied last night. But what exactly is Jesus saying here? The obvious answer to his question is the man who owed more, but we can take more from this with a closer look.

Our Uncover notes say this:
"Jesus often taught in parables - stories cleverly designed to uncover a truth. In this parable, he is trying to help Simon see that the woman has been forgiven because she recognised her sin and received God's message of grace. But Simon's self-righteousness and spiritual pride makes him blind to his own sin. Simon doesn't grasp that God loves sinners (himself included!), and that forgiveness is offered to all who sincerely repent."


In the story, the difference between Simon and the sinful woman isn't that one is more sinful than the other - both have rejected God's rule, just as every other person who's ever lived has. The difference between the two is that only the sinful woman has grasped how serious her sin problem is.


Simon thinks he's sorted. As a Pharisee, he would have made use of rituals and practices which enabled God's people to become right with him. The problem with the Pharisees was that whilst their attention to detail was brilliant, they'd lost sight of the reason behind their religious practices - God, and his promise of deliverance. They'd replaced God's promise with their own practice.


The sinful woman? She throws herself on Jesus' mercy and gives him the most expensive thing she owns. What a picture! She is more grateful for Jesus' forgiveness because she knows what it means to have the slate wiped clean. Simon cannot be as grateful because he cannot see past his pride to see that his own sinful heart needs cleaning.


My living for Jesus needs to be motivated by what he's done, rather than by what I fail to do. Getting this wrong turns the gospel on its head - it becomes all about us working our way up. His sacrifice is of far greater significance than any sin we could ever commit - and thank God for that!


So the challenge to us is two-fold: Firstly we need to be aware of how sinful we are, and secondly we need to be aware of how far Jesus' forgiveness stretches. Once we grasp these two, the message of the cross looks all the more awesome.