The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
June 16, 2013 - Pastor Adam Moline
2
Samuel 11:26-12:10, 13-14 Galatians 2:15-21, 3:10-14 Luke
7:36-8:3
Grace, mercy and
peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our text today is from the Gospel lesson just read, especially these
words, “And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Thus far our text.
Dear friends in
Christ. If I were to ask you today, “How
much sin do you have, that needs to be forgiven?” what would your answer
be? “Well pastor, I attend church fairly
regularly, I put money in the offering plate, I try not to swear too much, I
don’t steal or murder, I’ve never been arrested, well, except that one time,
but you know we were kid’s at the time.
I think I’m doing pretty well pastor.
Thanks for asking!” Or would your
answer be a little different? I sin all
the time, every moment of every day. I
am guilty before God. I am a sinner,
before God and before my fellow man.
Dear friends, the
first answer, is the answer of the prominent Pharisee in our text. He had convinced himself that he had obeyed
God’s law as well as humanly possible, and perhaps he is right in that
sense. He didn’t see his own guilt, but
was quick to see the guilt of others.
And seeing others guilt, he was quick to judge it. He didn’t hang out with the quote, “Sinful
crowd.” He wasn’t seen with those who
weren’t in the “in” crowd. If he
perceived someone to be “of a lesser quality” than himself, he persecuted and
avoided them. It’s the truth, hear his
words in our text today, “If this Jesus guy were really a prophet,
he would have known who and what sort of woman this lady is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”
The truth is, very
often, that’s what we do. Why? Because it is easier, and more pleasant to
judge the sin of someone else than it is to look at our own selves in the
mirror honestly. We’d rather see that
other person’s transgressions than admit that we’re wrong as well. We’d rather say, “I myself know better than
you. I am a better person than you. Look how holy I am, with all the things that
I do for God, and for everyone else.” We
like to say, “I am God’s gift to the world.
But the woman in
our text today takes a completely different posture in relation to Jesus. Instead of telling him how wonderful she is,
she kneels behind the Lord Jesus, weeping.
She bends down and wipes his feet with her hair, and kissed his feet, in
complete and total recognition of the situation. She’s even unable to speak to her Lord,
because of the grief her sin has caused in her life. All she can do, is sit at the Lord’s feet,
and await his mercy.
We don’t know what
this woman’s sin was. She obviously was
infamous in town because of it. Everyone
in town knew who she was, “there goes that woman, the sinner.” That’s how the Pharisee in our text addresses
her as well. What sin did she
commit? Was she an adulterer? Was she a thief? Did she gossip, or lie, or skip
synagogue? Had she been involved in a
murder? Or was she just an outcast? The truth is, dear friends, it doesn’t matter
what her sin was. What matters is that
she knew it was there, she was aware of her guilt and was honest about it. And she begged the Lord Jesus for mercy.
And mercy is
exactly what the Lord wants to give. He
doesn’t have time for the self-important or self-absorbed. He doesn’t give a hoot about the person who
is so confident in their own self-righteousness as to miss their own guilt,
however great or small. Jesus comes only
for sinners. He comes only for the sick,
the weak, and the despairing. He comes
for those like this woman, and He does give them mercy.
He gives them
mercy by his own death and sacrifice on the cross. When he forgives this woman, he knows she
will be forgiven, because he knows that he will die for her. He knows that he will be nailed for her sake,
beaten for her sake and die on her behalf – all so that she may truly be
forgiven. And knowing that, she says to
her confidently and with surety, “Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
So I’ll ask the
question again now dear friends. What
sin do you have, which needs to be forgiven?
The truth is we are so chalk full of sin that we have no case to plead
for ourselves. We aren’t holy. We don’t really do that well. We don’t care for our neighbors, and most of
the time we don’t really care for God that much either. We are sinners. We are just as guilty, if not more so than
that woman in our text today. Lord have
mercy upon us! We are sinners! We have sinned in thought word and deed, by
what we have done and left undone!
That’s what we confess each week isn’t it?
And so what can we
do to save ourselves? Nothing? We have no case to make before God. All we can do is sit at his feet, beg his
forgiveness, beg for his mercy, and trust his words to us as well. Jesus is clear, he tells us, “I forgive you
all your sins, because I die for you. I
set you free by my own punishment. I
bleed for you. I die for you. I give you forgiveness. By my wounds, you are healed.
And Christ gives
us that forgiveness in tangible means.
He sends pastor’s to forgive any sin you confess. He’s washed you in water and His Word, so that
your sin might drown and die. He gives
you his own body and blood, to eat and drink, why? For forgiveness of your sins – all of
them! Nothing is too big for him to take
care of. There’s nothing that can’t be
forgiven. Its all, ALL, made right in the
blood of Jesus.
Christ comes only
for the sinner, dear friends, which means he comes for you. He comes to forgive. He comes to wash. He comes to feed you. He comes to make you well. Yes, even for you, a sinner, has Jesus died
and rose again. Your faith in Him and
him alone has saved you. Go now, in His
peace. Amen.
