SUNDAY 26TH JULY 2020
WORD FOCUS: GRATITUDE FOR GRACE
TEXT: Luke 7:47 “Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little…..”
One of the most significant ways that we receive God’s generosity is through the gift of forgiveness. Jesus demonstrated the nature and extent of that forgiveness in this story. The woman sought Jesus because she recognized who He was – The Christ. She knew that He to whom she had come to was able to make her whole; she approached then, not to the head of the Lord, but to His feet; she who had walked long in evil sought now the steps of uprightness. First, she shed tears, the heart’s blood; and worshipped the Lord’s feet with the duty of confession. She wiped them with her hair, she kissed, and she anointed them: she spake by her silence; she uttered not a word, but she manifested her devotion. Simon, Jesus’ host, observed Jesus’ acceptance of the woman’s ministrations and thought that this proved Jesus was not a prophet. Ironically, Jesus read his thoughts. So Jesus related to Simon the short parable and Simon was forced to acknowledge that the one who has been forgiven most loves most. Jesus points out to Simon how little love he had shown for Jesus. He had not washed his feet, as was the appropriate for an honoured guest, nor had he anointed him, and he did not realize who Jesus was; he did not ever acknowledge Jesus as a prophet. Moreover, Simon did not recognize that he was in need of a Savior, that “there is none righteous, No not one…” Romans 3:10
The woman however, knew that she was a sinner and she had faith that Jesus could forgive her. Even if Simon the Pharisee was a good, upstanding person with much less to forgive, than the woman, this story only serves to emphasize the fact that the Christian who begrudges God’s generosity to the outcast is in great need of forgiveness. It was the woman, not the “clean” Pharisee who went away with Jesus’ forgiveness and Jesus blessings, “Go in peace” when you understand the much you have been forgiven, gratitude springs up from within you and be grateful for the graces He’s bestowed on us daily.
MEDITATION: Psalm 103
STUDY THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
1 COR 13; 2 KGS 7:3-20; JONAH 2
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Godhead Interdenominational Ministry