Day 10 - A humble submission.

Jesus forgives much - Luke 7:36-50

Jesus is getting dinner with the pharisees. They're probably decked out in their fine pharisee regalia, proud to be looking so good and proud that they were deemed so important that Jesus got dinner with them. They're also probably trying to find more ways to judge and condemn Jesus, because they didn't like how often His loving compassionate nature showed up their legalism. 

Then a woman comes in and kneels at Jesus' feet, pouring perfume on His feet, kissing them, and weeping. And she wasn't just any woman, she was a "woman who lived a sinful life," which I'm pretty sure means prostitute. And the pharisees get their panties in quite a wad at this one, how could Jesus allow Himself to be touched by someone so unclean? "If only he knew who she is and what she does, he'd never allow himself to be so close to her, let alone touched!" they whisper to each other. 

Jesus hears them, of course, and He tells them about love and forgiveness. This woman was, granted, "very sinful." She had done many sinful things, but that meant that she had also been forgiven much. And because she had been forgiven so much, she understood the freeing gift she had been given, and loved Jesus so much more. 

"Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little," said Jesus.

"Perhaps if we were able to feel the weight of the sin that was lifted off her shoulders, we would weep as well."

Oh how great being freed from our burdens is. 

Question timeee

-How does your response to forgiveness compare to this woman's response?

It absolutely pales in comparison. My response to Jesus' forgiveness is not nearly grateful, humble, or just in utter awe of His love enough. I get to tempted into thinking "I haven't done any 'really big' sins." And in that thought, I don't get to recognize how much I have been given. It's something I've actually been thinking and praying about a lot recently, but this passage really showed me how much I'm not thanking Jesus. It shouldn't just be a recognition of how much He did for us, it should be a on-our-knees, weeping, totally humble, heartfelt cry of gratitude. Because we haven't just been forgiven, we've been freed from death. We has been given life when we deserved a cross. 

-Who do you most identify with in this story: Simon the Pharisee, the woman weeping at Jesus' feet, or someone at the table simply taking it all in? Why?

I think at this point, I'm in between someone just sitting at the table and the woman at Jesus' feet. Definitely closer to just being an observer, but growing closer to being the woman. That's how I want to be, though, and that's how I'm asking God to change me, because every day I should just be in utter awe of how much He loves me and how great the freedom He has given me is. 

-In what ways do you struggle to receive God's forgiveness for sins you've committed in your past? As it relates to your life, in what ways do you put a limit upon Jesus' mercy?

You know who's really good at lies, deception, twisting truths, making you feel guilty and never letting you forget a single thing you've done wrong? Satan. That's his sick little game. Everytime you're getting a bit down, feeling like you've failed, or just having a moment of dwelling in your own selfish world and letting everything seem way worse than it is...Satan pounces. He fills your mind with every little thing you've ever done. He reminds you of that time you messed up, that failure, that sin, that time you totally disappointed God, that moment when, oh  man, you really screwed up. How could you do that? How could you be so bad? Oh man, how could you do that to God? How dare you? You're worthless, you suck. How could you? You're too bad. You can't be forgiven, not this time. How can you even say God loves you? Does He? I mean...look what you've done. And if He does love you, He still remembers all those times you seriously messed up. He knows you failed, you know you failed, and don't you forget it. 

Yeah. That's what Satan likes to do. Down the rabbit hole we fall, with no bottom and no end, spiraling, the past flying at you from the walls, oozing out of the cracks, reminding you of all those times, all those time you failed. 

Satan really likes to get us when we're down and make it hard to stand back up. That's where I struggle. I fear failure, I don't want to disappoint God, and it's easy to look back at my sins and beat myself up about it, shame myself for thinking or doing those things, and tell myself I'm too much of a failure, I've messed up too badly this time.

-What does this passage communicate to us about Jesus?

The great part of the story. The truth, that we can never mess up to badly, fail to many times, or be "too bad" for Jesus to forgive us and love us. That He will always stoop down and wipe away our tears, pick us back up, and love us. But we need, also, to recognize how much He has loved and forgiven us, and humbly bow before Him as we thank Him. Jesus forgives everyone and frees us from our burdens of sin (and if we think they are small, then our pride is a far bigger burden than we'd realized). His love knows no bounds.

Basically...Jesus rocks :)