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A Sinner - Luke 7
A Sinner - Luke 7
While eating with a Pharisee, a woman entered the house and cleaned Jesus dirty feet with her tears and wiped them dry with her hair. Observing this the Pharisee said in his heart: "IF Jesus were a prophet He would know ‘what sort of woman’ was who touched Him (39). In the Pharisee’s viewpoint this woman was a ’sinner’. This description of a person appears several times in the gospels. It of course has a very basic meaning of one who has sinned, yet that doesn’t seem to be the meaning as used the NT writers. It may mean one that is a ‘persistent and intentional’ sinner. When used by the Pharisees, it seems to be those who didn’t walk according to THEIR standards and rules. The problem is that in making that distinction, the Pharisees then ‘justified themselves’ in their conduct before God.
They thus ended up putting aside the law of God in order to keep their rules (Matt. 15:3). They weighted the various laws and then pick and chose WHICH they would follow. Yet they gave importance to minor things and ignored things that Jesus said were the ‘weightier’ matters (Matt. 23:23). Jesus however didn’t tell them to pick the weightier matters, rather He instructed them: "These you ought to have done and NOT neglected the rest." Again, Jesus warned that “… whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:19-20).
The problem wasn’t that this woman sinned and the Pharisee didn’t. They both had sinned but they didn’t both understand that they were sinners. To turn to Jesus for forgiveness one must acknowledge his guilt. Like the prodigal son, one must come to himself and return saying ‘I have sinned’. The woman readily acknowledged such and found forgiveness from Jesus. The Pharisee would continue justifying himself and remain unforgiven by Jesus.
Are we like the woman or the Pharisee? How do we tell the difference? When one is reproved and his sin is made known unto him, it brings forth godly sorrow and repentance. When one hardens his heart and refuses to make the needed changes in his life he will face the judgment and condemnation of God.
"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8–10).
Hugh DeLong
