And All Was Forgiven...

"You don't want to master the Word of God. You want the Word of God to master you." 

Josiah started the night with that quote and it stuck with me. It's really interesting to think about how we try to mold the Word to fit our lifestyles, but really, when you think about it, the Word should be molding your lifestyle.

This past Sunday we did Fusion a little differently. Instead of the normal message, we took a turn in a direction that got you, as the body of Fusion and the body of Christ, to be a little more involved than usual. To put it simply; we had a night of discussion.
It was really awesome getting to hear all of the input from everyone and see how they perceived the passage we studied.

We studied Luke 7:36-50, which is titled [in my Bible, NIV], "Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman," and Josiah presented six questions to go along with the passage .
If you were not at Fusion on Sunday, I highly encourage you to read the passage and ask yourself these questions.

The first question:


     1. Which of the characters in the passage do you most identify with and why?

I think that a lot of the times, when we feel that we're at a good place with God, we think of ourselves as someone like Simon; someone who has everything figured out and just can't fail. Why would you associate yourself with a sinner, especially one who is rumored to be one of the worst? You probably wouldn't. Either you'd be too scared to approach them because who they are could rub off on you, or because you just don't to have anything to do with them. The problem is, though, that we weren't called to be in communion with God to just stay there. God pours out His love on us so we may pour it out on others, especially the lowest of the low. Of course we aren't like the sinful woman who has done so many awful things in her life that she could never really be forgiven for all of them. 

     2. Think of a time when you were forgiven for something. What did it feel like to know you were forgiven? How did it change your relationship with that person?

Oh wait. Yea, she can. Jesus died for the salvation of all sinners, remember? He didn't die for just the sinners who only committed a few sins. Nope. He died for everyone.
In verses 41 and 42, we see that the two men who owed a debt, one way more than the other, were both forgiven of their debts. The moneylender did not say the one who owed fifty denarii was cleared, but the one who owed five hundred was definitely not and still owed a huge debt. No, he said that both debts were canceled, regardless of the amounts. 

Jesus went on to ask Simon which man would love the moneylender more. Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled" (verse 43). Jesus confirmed his answer. 

Jesus then went on to compare that story with the sinful woman that had washed His feet, declaring that her great love had gained her a forgiveness of all her sins. A forgiveness that only the Father can give. 

Jesus also pointed out that "he who has been forgiven little loves little" (verse 47). Ouch. That's the brutal truth, though, straight from Jesus.

     3. What kind of person would be the "sinful woman" be if this were a scene at Fusion? What do you think your response would be? 

Well, I've pretty much laid out the fact that the sinful woman's great love and faith caused her to receive a great forgiveness that cleared her of all her sins. You may understand what I'm trying to say by reading it, but I don't know if you really understand the situation if it were you standing in the room with the sinful woman. Think about that for a minute. If you were standing in the same room, at Fusion, with a prostitute, what would be going through your mind right now. Would you be questioning why she felt so inclined to be there? Why she thought she could be there? What exactly would you do? Would you ignore her and hope she would just leave already, or would you reach out to her? Sorry for all the questions, but they need to be asked. What would you do?

Simon acted as if she had the plague. He was astonished that Jesus even allowed her near him, let alone to touch him with her hair, which is known to be a sign of intimacy. Really, Simon was holding the woman up to his standards, rather than letting Jesus decide where she stood in terms of holiness. Hmm.. Simon was trying to play God, huh? Trying to decide whether this woman was worthy of being in Jesus' presence? That doesn't seem right.

     4. How might her actions have embarrassed Jesus? How did Jesus receive this woman and her extravagant actions? What does this show about Jesus?

I don't think Jesus was at all embarrassed by this woman. In fact, when I read the passage, all I could see was this brilliant love towards the woman. He openly welcomed her and because of her great faith, He forgives all her sins. He looked at her with a passionate love for one of His children. He didn't look at her in disdain because of all the wretched sins she had committed. Her faith saved her life. 

The main thing I think that this shows about Jesus is that He definitely wasn't just a man. No way. We judge others so easily it seems ridiculous to even think about comparing ourselves with Christ. We are no match to His greatness. 

I think it also shows, though, that He forgives even the worst of sins. He gives you new life if you truly love Him and have faith in Him. Just because your past isn't the brightest, it doesn't mean you don't have a chance at forgiveness. 

Jesus embraced the woman in love. He didn't accept her sins, but He did accept her faith and love.

That reminds me of a song where the opening line is this,

"We were born to embrace not accept it"

Shouldn't we live so that we're embracing others in love. You all know that saying, "love the sinner, hate the sin," right? Yea. Same thing.

     5. How did Jesus compare and contrast the woman and Simon? Why did Jesus rebuke Simon? 

Ok, remember when I said that Simon looked at the woman like she was the scum on the earth? Well, I sort of said that. Anyway, Simon was trying to play God when he set the standards of which he thought the woman should live up to. He didn't see that she was forgivable, showing that he lacked love for her. I think it also showed a lack of faith in Jesus. If he saw the woman and someone who could not be forgiven, he doubted was Jesus was capable of, which is forgiving everyone. 

Simon condemned her as a sinner, as if saying that he wasn't and that he didn't need Jesus' forgiveness to get to heaven. It kind of sounds like he though that because of all the good things he had done in life, he was set for heaven. Not so much, buddy.
The woman, who knew she could not compare to Jesus, poured herself out to Him through her actions. She did not try and cover up what she had done, but she accepted the fact that she had and chose to seek forgiveness. She presented herself in the most vulnerable state of humility and laid her broken pieces at Jesus' feet. He saw that her heart had changed and knew that true repentance filled her. Jesus saw hope and life for a brighter tomorrow within the heart of this broken sinner. 

Simon lacked faith and love, the woman was full of it. Jesus saw that.

     6. Where is your heart in relation to Jesus today? Is it more like Simon's or more like the woman? 

When this question was asked, I immediately thought of both. I feel like we start out like Simon, full of pride and control, highlighting others' sins to direct the attention away from ours. It's the point of reckoning, where we become vulnerable and openly broken, when we are forgiven and given a humble and passionate heart like the woman's. 

It's a daily decision, though. Each day, we must choose to have the heart of Simon or the heart of the woman. 

Something I thought about when applying all of this to my life, was that I make excuses all the time. I make excuses to make the blow of whatever I did, a little less awful. 

That's just it, though! We make excuses all the time to make our sins less prominent, but because of forgiveness, we have no reason to do that. 

We don't need to keep making up reasons to make it sound better. Think about it, sin is sin, no matter the degree. 

Also, I thought about how pride plays into this. We often don't like to receive forgiveness, because to do that, we would have to admit we were wrong in the first place. That's not so easy, huh? 

Guess what? Christ is always right, so either we're with Him or we're not. 

Guess what else? Christ just wants to forgive you! He already knows what you did, so there's really no use in hiding from Him, but He still wants to forgive you. 

All of this talk about forgiveness reminded me of when Josiah talked about forgiveness a couple weeks ago. He recited this:

I have been forgiven, so now I can forgive.

It's up to you who you choose to live like; Simon or the woman?


Here's some music for you:

• "All The Faint Lights" - Steve Moakler
• "Hold My Heart" - Tenth Avenue North
• "When A Heart Breaks" - Ben Rector
• "The Reckoning" - NEEDTOBREATHE
• "Let Us Love" - NEEDTOBREATHE
• "Beautiful Things" - Gungor
• "Save Me" - Elenowen