An Altogether Different Reality

July 21, 2015

An Altogether Different Reality

         

“Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them” (Luke 7:38).

Parable of Two Debtors - Luke 7:36-50

“The Kingdom of God is coming!” As he journeyed across Israel, Jesus announced that the Kingdom of God was bursting forth. However, the expectations of many of the people differed from the reality of God’s Kingdom. Simon the Pharisee was quite pleased with his life, and he thought of the Kingdom of God as an extension of his present reality. The unnamed woman in today’s reading thought otherwise. For her, the Kingdom of God was an altogether different reality, full of exceeding joy, forgiveness of sins, and love. Simon not only just didn’t get it, he opposed a kingdom that would welcome the likes of the unnamed woman who dared to offer such extravagant hospitality to Jesus when Simon declined to offer even the basic, customary hospitality for a dinner guest. In response, Jesus told the parable of Two Debtors.

Like Simon, our attitude about sin is one of the greatest obstacles we encounter as we seek the life in Christ. Too often today, people think of sin as something they ‘have to’ give up in order to be saved. Jesus doesn’t think of sin as something we have to give up in order to come into the Kingdom of God; sin is something we get to give up in order to enter into new life in Christ. Sin is not just a nuisance or a simple difference of opinion about morality. Sin cuts to the core of our being, and is a compelling force within us vying to be the operating system of our life. Sin is so insidious, so destructive of life, that the Apostle Paul teaches the only way to overcome the power and practice of sin is to surrender our lives to be crucified with Christ. (See Romans 6 and Galatians 2)

In our story today, Simon the Pharisee saw the woman clothed in her former sinful life; Jesus saw her as a new resident of the Kingdom of God, clothed in righteousness. The woman saw herself clothed in joy, love and forgiveness because her sins had been forgiven.

This episode and this parable confront me with the reality that there is not a nickel’s worth of difference between me and the Pharisee and me and the woman. There is a huge temptation within me to think God is getting a pretty good deal when he gets me, because I think my sins are few, and for the most part inconsequential. However, the reality is that my sins are just as deadly, just as shameful as the Simon’s and the woman’s sins. The question is whether I will remain seated in my arrogance or will I, upon receiving the Master’s forgiveness, humble myself at his feet in love and adoration, in celebration of my righteousness.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.