Luke 7,36-50 4123
11. Trinitatis 58
Samuel, Prophet ✠ 1010 bc
Bernard of Clairvaux, France, Hymnwriter, Theologian, and Abbot, ✠ 1153 (19. in Treasury)
20. August 2023
1. ℣ God is in His holy habitation:
℟ He is God who setteth the solitary in families (Psalm 68,5).
O God, our Trust and Helper; we call upon You and plead for mercy, that You may deliver us from sin and every evil. Amen. (Psalm 28,7b.1a.2a Gradual)
2. »One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and He went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 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. 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.“ 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 [$29,000 at $7.25 x 8 hours. A denarius was a day’s wage.], and the other fifty [$2900]. 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.“ 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, because she loved much. But the one to whom little is forgiven little loves little.“ And He said to her: „Your sins have been forgiven.“ Then those who were at table with Him began to say among themselves: „Who is this, who even forgives sins?“ And Jesus said to the woman: „Your faith has saved you; go in peace.“«
3. In the conventional Jewish worldview in Jesus’ day it was held that the Pharisees were righteous and justified men who had God’s forgiveness and salvation. Sinners were unrighteous and unjustified people who would bear God’s anger and wrath. There was a general distain among the Pharisees towards the sinners, particularly tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers and Gentiles, because these individuals did not keep the law of Moses. The Pharisees adhered to a strict interpretation of the Torah and the tradition of the elders; they would not associate or eat with these sinners.
4. While Jesus held many things in common with the Pharisees, especially a great respect for the Scriptures, He had heated disagreements with the Pharisees on how to treat sinners. Jesus said: »I must preach the gospel of the reign of God, for I was sent for this purpose. Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not arrived call the righteous, but sinners to repentance« (Luke 4,43; 5,31-32).
5. The reign of God is about justification: how is a person justified and righteous before God? The Pharisees epitomized the self-righteous path whereby one earns God’s righteousness. The Pharisees insisted that they have merited righteousness in their keeping, and obedience to God’s covenant: they tithed, fasted, sacrificed and lived a moral life as Moses taught. For the Pharisees: God’s mercy is not given but earned. Jesus taught that righteousness is imputed: you cannot earn it nor merit it; God gives you His mercy.
6. The self-righteous path leads away from God. A person simply cannot do enough to overcome death, hell, the Devil, sins and give the conscience peace (Apology 4, 277 (156 )). The Old Testament makes this abundantly clear: animals must be daily and yearly sacrificed to cover sin; it could never stop because those sacrifices were not perfect in taking away sins, (Hebrew 10,4).
7. The imputed righteousness path is from God and leads to God. There is a sacrifice that can fully and perfectly cover a person’s sin: God Himself must be the sacrifice, and for God to become the sacrifice, He must be born a man. Adam, a man, brought sin into the world, and Jesus, the Second Adam, brought forgiveness to the world. »For by a single sacrifice, Jesus has completed for all time, those who are being sanctified« (Hebrews 10,14).
8. All self-righteous Pharisees will leave the house of God unjustified, and unforgiven; all sinners who fall on the mercy of Jesus will leave the house of God justified and forgiven. Everyone who trusts in Jesus alone, and His righteousness will by faith receive the promised gift of imputed righteousness as his or her own.
9. The gospel changes people, those who have received the mercy and forgiveness of Christ, reciprocate in kind with love to others. A sinful woman showered Jesus with love as evidence of her forgiveness that Jesus graciously lavished upon her. The tax collector who bowed before God entreating His mercy received that very mercy from his God who observed him of his many sins and declared him justified and righteous in His Divine sight.
10. Jesus redeemed the world by humbling Himself. »Though He was in the form/nature of God, He did not regard equality with God a thing to be regarded but emptied Himself by having taken the form/nature of a slave [this statement is always true] being been appeared in the form/nature of men He humbled Himself having become for Himself obedient/submissive to the point of death, death on a cross« (Philippians 2,6-8). Jesus’ love surpasses all human comprehension: He loves all, and He has purchased forgiveness for all. »For our sake God the Father made Jesus to be sin who knew no sin so that in Him we may become for ourselves the righteousness of God« (2. Corinthians 5,21). »The blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from unrighteousness« (1. John 1,7).
11. As ones who have been forgiven a great sinful debt by Jesus, let us abound in love for one another. For one who is forgiven much, loves abundantly, and the one who loves abundantly shows that Jesus is a gracious and merciful Savior.
12. Though our sins are many,
With God there is abundant grace;
His helping hand will always carry,
Us to a secure, safe place,
Our Wonderful Shepherd alone is He,
Who shall His Israel redeem and free
From each sinful thought and deed. (Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir selk 257,5 2021 Martin Luther 1524 nach Psalm 130)
This is most certainly true.
13. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.
14. Let us pray. O Lord God, we pray Thee to keep us from all self-confidence and vainglory and to bestow upon us Thy great grace of humility and self-forgetfulness; to Thee may we look up, in all that we do, alike for the will and for the power; and to Thee may we ascribe with a sincere heart all the praise. Amen. (11. Trinity, Vespers Collect 1. The Daily Office. Copyright © 1965 Concordia Publishing House.)
To God alone be the Glory
Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm
✠
All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, Septuaginta, Vol. I and II 2. Revised Edition © 2006 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
Evangelisch-Lutherisches Kirchengesangbuch. Copyright © 2021 Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche, Hannover.
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