Life

The Gospel for Low Lifes, According to Jesus

So far we have seen John the Baptist and Jesus set the stakes way high – surprisingly high -- in response to people who have it together. What will His response be to people who obviously don't have it together?

 

I must confess that I had a hard time letting my title stand. I actually have a harder time loving the self righteous than I do loving the unrighteous, and I really find it distasteful to call anyone a “low life.”

 

Yet the woman featured in today's blog is clearly presented as just that – a known woman of ill repute. Luke leaves her nameless and describes her as, “a woman in the city who was a sinner.” (Lk 7:37) The Pharisee host gave himself permission to reduce his opinion of Christ, because, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.” (Lk 7:39) And even Jesus describes her as one whose sins “are many” (vs 47) and who needs much forgiveness in comparison to Simon, His Pharisee host, who needs little. She was society's trash – a low life, whose sins were public and on display.

 

His final word!

 

“Your faith has saved you, go in peace.” (vs 50) And before that, “Your sins have been forgiven.” (vs 48) And before that, “For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much.” (vs 47)

 

Why is there no, “But.”

 

“But, go clean up your act. “

 

Or

 

“But, make sure you don't return to your previous lifestyle.”

 

Just,

 

“Go in peace!”

 

I can feel it as I write. Her slumped shoulders lifting. Her downcast eyes and tear stained face now cautiously turned up, looking for His eyes. “Could it be true?” The smile breaking forth and the tears, now of joy, flowing again. Release! Release! Release! Blessed sweet release!

 

I am sure she went! In peace – forgiven – rescued by Jesus.

 

How could He? Why did He? What happened here anyways?

 

If you haven't read it by now, you should. We are talking about Luke 7:36-50.

 

There is lots of neat stuff here. Like how Simon thinks in his head, and has Jesus answer him out loud. And how Jesus makes Simon look like the low life in the story. But blog posts are supposed to be short.

 

Why does Jesus forgive her? Because she loves Him much!

 

The house

 

She goes, uninvited, into the home of a well reputed Pharisee who would not so much as touch her clothing. He has guests of his own kind gathered. This is not a safe place for her.

 

The alabaster vial of perfume

 

She hears that He is in there, picks up her perfume, and enters the house. There is nothing happenstance about this. She has heard about Him, recognized who He is, perhaps seen Him minister with compassion and authority to others, and is on a mission to express her love for Him, and seek forgiveness. He has her heart, and is her only hope.

 

The language of her body

 

She is weeping. Too broken to touch His head or His torso, her tears falling on His feet, she keeps wiping them off with her hair, all the while kissing his feet and anointing them with her perfume.

 

She says nothing. She doesn't need to!

 

Why does Jesus forgive her? Because He can forgive whomever He wants.

 

This is what has the Pharisees floored. For the moment they forget about the sinful woman making a public display at Jesus feet. Their murmuring is now not about her, but about Him. “Who is this man who even forgives sins?”

 

She knows who He is, but they do not!

 

My Hebrew professor in seminary once said something that so surprised me, I have never forgotten it. “There is no sacrifice for the sin of the high hand.” Premeditated things like murder and adultery are dealt with by stoning and by the absence of an atoning sacrifice.

 

King David committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered her husband, Uriah. In Psalm 32, and Psalm 51 and II Samuel 11,12 there is no mention of him taking a lamb or a bull to the tabernacle in search of atonement. Instead he speaks in the Psalms of acknowledging His sin to God and being blessed with forgiveness. It was all he could do.

 

And it is all she can do. If she had taken a lamb to the priest at the temple, the priest would have turned her away. (Assuming that she was an adulteress.) The priest can only offer forgiveness under the law, and there is no provision for her under the law.

 

When Jesus says, “Your sins have been forgiven you,” He is placing Himself above the law (a higher authority than the High Priest) and equal with His Father. He can forgive whomever He wants.

 

For the record, I know that He does that on the basis of His own atoning sacrifice, yet to come! But I see no evidence that she knows that, or needs to know that. There is certainly no evidence that He points her in that direction. And He certainly could have, because He knows exactly where He is going. So He forgives her without pointing her back to the shadow of the atonement (the Old Testament sacrificial system) or pointing her forward to the reality of the atonement (His own sacrifice on the cross). He just forgives her, plain and simple!

 

There is yet another thing, perhaps the more breathtaking.

 

If I meet a stranger, and He tells me how he has sinned against his wife, and I say, “I forgive you,” what is that? Nothing! He will not go away forgiven, and unless he is a fool, he will not go away feeling forgiven. Why not? Because he has not sinned against me. So I can not forgive him.

 

When David is dealing with the guilt of committing adultery with Bathsheba, and murdering her husband, he says to the Lord, “Against You and You only I have sinned!” (Psalm 51:4) That sounds ridiculous. How could it be more clearly not true? He violated the marriage of Uriah, and Bathsheba – a sin against both of them. He took the life of Uriah, a sin against Uriah, and any who loved him or depended on him. Yet he says, “Against you and you only I have sinned!” What can he mean?

 

He means that he gets it! While His sin certainly violated many, first and foremost, it violated their Creator, and the forgiveness that counts has to come from Him! When a vandal sprays paint over a priceless painting, he violates the painting, but his action most importantly expresses contempt for the painter and the owner. God is both the painter and the owner of men and women and their marriages.

 

This woman knows intuitively that to which the Pharisees are blind. Jesus is God. Her sins, which are many, are against Him. Thus, He can forgive her!

 

And He does!

 

And He does without requirement, simply on the basis of her faith or her love! We see a heart, now upside down to the way it used to be. There is no tension between her and John the Baptist or the rich young ruler or lawyer.

 

Eternal life is for those whose hearts belong to Jesus.

A Horse, My daughter, and a Mirror

We have a horse. She's a big horse. My 9 year old daughter whom we affectionately call Bishkybobs loves horses. And I love my 9 year old daughter.

 

I once found a stool from the house out in the pasture. She had taken it there to climb up on Bonnie, our horse. On another day, I happened to look up and saw her with her 4 year old sister hoisted onto Bonnie and her leading. She has attempted to saddle Bonnie without my help, though the saddle is too heavy, the horse too tall, and she too weak to put it on, or to cinch it up. She goes out in the pasture to visit Bonnie often. She feeds her apples and carrots. We have had to make a rule that she can only use blemished apples in order to keep some apples for the family.

 

Bonnie is tame, and well trained, but was once a trail riding horse, and knows that there are humans that she does not have to obey. My daughter is one of those humans. When my daughter rides her, there comes a point where Bonnie has had enough and she just quits, or worse.

 

The ache of my daughter's heart is to have a horse that she can ride.

 

My heart is inclined towards her.

 

One day, a few weeks ago, a neighbor was over, telling us about a man who had died, leaving 17 horses, trained for saddle and harness. His children had no interest and the horses were going to be sold at auction, at prices much below their value.

 

Bishkybobs heard.

 

At first, many times a day, “Daddy, can we get one of those horses?” Then once a day, and now probably once a week.

 

My heart is inclined towards her. I find myself looking for ways to buy her one of those horses.

 

It doesn't make any sense. We already have a horse that is only good for looking at and being petted. With a firm hand, it could be good for much more, but my daughter is too young to be firm enough. I have experience with horses. I know that another horse would likely end up just like the first one. And it costs money to feed a horse.

 

Yet, I look forward to her getting old enough, so that I can get her a horse that she can ride.

 

Bishkybobs brother Bones is only mildly interested in horses. Sometimes -- rarely, he goes along with Bishykbobs to visit Bonnie, but it's just a way to pass the time. If he asks me for a horse, I will just grunt some reason that he can't have one, and know that by tomorrow it will be forgotten.

 

But if he asks me for a rope, or a hammer, or an electric train set, my heart will tilt towards him, same as it does for Bishkybobs. Because I know his heart too!

 

I am a good Dad. But my good-dadness is just a cloudy mirror of my heavenly Father's good-dadness. Jesus says, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!” (Mt 7:11)

 

I have been reading the book, “Fasting,” by Scot Mcknight. In it he makes the point that fasting moves the heart of God, not because it's fasting, but because the fasting expresses the wholeheartedness of the seeker. In much the same way, persistence, or sacrifice also shows the heart of the seeker. In other words, there is no formula – “Do this and then that, and God will answer.”-- but rather God's heart is inclined towards His children, when He sees that their heart is in their request. (Cf Jeremiah 29:13) From what I know of my heavenly Father, and from what I see in the mirror of my Father's heart – my own heart – this makes sense to me.

 

A few weeks ago, I preached a sermon on this, entitled, “Does God believe you?” We tend to think that if we are to pray in faith as the Bible instructs, the point of the “in faith” is whether or not we have confidence in God. Perhaps of equal importance is whether He believes us. Halfhearted prayers are not likely to tilt his heart towards us.

 

Sometimes people come and tell me of some need or another. As they leave, I say, “I will pray for you.” Then I have a crisis of integrity. Knowing myself to be scatter brained and forgetful, I pray, right then and there, on the spot, to make sure that I fulfill my word. And then I forget about it. I am not wholeheartedly beseeching my Father on behalf of my friend. I am avoiding feeling guilty.

 

The point of that prayer is to absolve myself of the responsibility to pray. And guess what! My heavenly Father knows it! If I look in the mirror, I am guessing He will answer with a grunt, at best.

 

The beauty of all of this is the realization that my heart impacts my Father's heart, and because His heart is inclined towards me, He grants me the longings of my heart.

 

The challenge is the realization that He can't be manipulated. Mouthed words are meaningless to Him when they come from a cold, lukewarm or disinterested heart. What I ask for may even be a good thing, but He knows when my heart is not in it.

 

The comfort in this is that this does not put me in the drivers seat. Though my heart is inclined towards her, Bishykybobs still does not have a horse that she can ride. She waits on my tenderhearted wisdom. And I wait on His.

 

This view allows prayer to have all the simplicity and complexity of a parent child relationship. If, with all my heart, I ask for poison, He will, with all His heart, deny my request. If I am not ready for it, He will wait. If I am ready but people around me aren't, He will hold off till they are, or just say, “no,” because they won't be, or work in their hearts so that they will be.

 

If you have been reading these blogs, you have read my “Personal Lament,” and my “Communal Lament.” You know that I have been praying for an Acts-like personal and church experience for a quarter of a century. Not praying as a religious duty, but praying out of an aching heart. My prayers have had an ebb and flow to them, but they have never ebbed away, and often the flow is intense. My heavenly Father has never seen me lose interest.

 

But after my sermon, “Does God believe you?” I had been asking that question of my own prayers, and getting frustrated. What could I do to show Him I meant it? I have been learning to fast, but so far a fast is not a natural expression of an intensely heartfelt need, for me.  It was, in the culture of the Bible, but it isn't, yet, for me.

 

I went to a “Desiring God” conference last week. During worship, I was processing that question, and God met me.

 

“What can I do to make my heart obvious to Him? Wait a minute, my heart is obvious to Him. He doesn't need to pay attention to my words, or my actions, or my posture or anything. He knows my heart before I know it and more fully than I know it. If He doesn't believe me, it will be because it is not true of me, not because I didn't make the right display.”

 

And then,

 

“But it is true.”

 

And then,

 

“He knows my heart!”

 

And then,

 

“My son, I believe you!”

 

And then,

 

I wept.

 

And now,

 

I rest and pray!

 

Content in the knowledge that He has heard me and that His heart is tilted towards me, I wait.

 

But I am still pestering Him.