The Women Following Jesus - Luke 8:1-3 - January 29, 2023

 Luke 8:1-3 The Women Following Jesus

Good morning! I’m very glad to be with you all this morning, this truly is the best part of my week. This has been a challenging week, nothing out of the ordinary, just life happening. And when I sat down to study this week in preparation for this sermon I admit, my first thought was “Lord, I could use something easy, a text that will preach itself.” Maybe the parable of the Sower, that’s an easy one! 

Well, maybe next week will be easy. Today we are going to look at Luke 8:1-3, the parable of the Sower is Luke 8:4-8. So turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 8:1-3, page 864 in the pew Bibles.

Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.

Let’s pray.

One of the main reasons that I preach book by book, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse is so that we don’t skip over little portions of Scripture like this. 

It would be  very easy to gloss over these verses as a mere introduction to the next few verses that contain a wonderful and powerful parable from Jesus but God’s Word, the Bible, is God’s words recorded for us and as Paul wrote, in 2 Timothy 3:16-17,

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work…

So these three little verses have meaning and they are profitable for us to consider.

First we must consider the work of Jesus on earth.

Though Jesus death on the cross and resurrection from the grave are the culmination of His work it was preceded by His work of proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom of God. Verse 1 says:

Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.

Jesus spent three and a half years preaching about the kingdom of God, a kingdom of grace and a kingdom of righteousness by faith in Him. He spent three years teaching people how to be citizens of that kingdom and them when the time came, He gave His life on the cross that we could all enter it through faith in Him alone. No amount of good works or right living can gain us access to His eternal kingdom and save us from the destruction that we deserve, only faith in Jesus Christ.

And during those Three years of ministry He called the twelve whom He called Apostles, and trained them, not only about the kingdom itself but He trained them to preach the Good News after His death and resurrection and return to the Father.

These twelve were unschooled, ordinary men, fishermen, tax collectors, regular guys that Jesus called into an extraordinary work. After His return to the Father Jesus sent the Holy Spirit and filled these men, with the exception of Judas of course. He filled these men with the Holy Spirit and empowered them to do the work of proclaiming the kingdom of God just as He had trained them to do, and they did, and it changed the world! You can read about that event in Acts 2.

But the Twelve were not the only ones with Jesus.

And the twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.

There are three women named here, Mary Magdalene, or Mary from Magdala in the region of Dalmatia, and Joanna, who, along with Mary Magdalene and one other Mary were among the first to see the resurrected Christ. There is also Susanna who is not mentioned again by name in Scripture, as well many other faithful women.

So imagine this, what does this group look like?

What we see here is a circle of men and women, of brothers and sisters, with the Lord Jesus in the center. This is the seed and the design of the church.

Men and women united in faith around the Lord Jesus.

Paul wrote in Galatians 3:26-29,

26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Though men and women are called to different roles within the church, and, sometimes unfortunately, the roles for men are much more clearly defined than that of women, we are all one in Christ. That means that our standing before God is the same through faith in Jesus, there are no classes of citizens in His kingdom just His children.

So what were these women doing, Mary, and Joanna, and Susanna, as well as all the other unnamed women that were with Jesus? 

And the twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.

Remember what Jesus said about the woman who anointed His feet and wiped them with her hair?

She was forgiven much and so she loved much. Like that woman, these women had been given and forgiven much and so they loved much. That woman humbly gave what she had to Jesus as a blessing to Him. In her case it was her tears and a flask of costly ointment, and in the case of these women in our text they provided for the needs of Jesus and the Apostles out of their financial means.

These women stand as monuments of Christ’s power and mercy. Jesus is the Great Physician of both body and soul. What these women were doing was responding positively to His healing and the message about Jesus’ kingdom. They were bound by gratitude to serve Him and His gospel.

They stand as a great example for all of us.

These women willingly sacrificed what they had to provide for the needs of our Savior and His Apostles, and this has been the pattern for the church ever since.

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:7-11,

7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk? 8 Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? 10 Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. 11 If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?

What’s amazing to me is the humility of our Lord to allow Himself to become so poor that He depended on the generosity of others. He truly did make Himself nothing and took on the form of a servant.

But what a blessing it is to bless the Lord in this way, what a blessing it must have been for these women to give of themselves to feed the Lord and His church.

And as humbling as it was for the Lord to live in such a way as to depend on the benevolence of others it took still another measure of humility to accept their gifts. The One who said that it is more blessed to give than receive allowed these dear saints to experience that blessing by receiving their offering.

The One who multiplied the loaves and fishes for five thousand plus other people allowed somebody else the blessing of providing the bread.

I see in that a picture of the gospel. We come to Jesus in faith, from all different places and backgrounds, and through faith in Jesus He fills us with His Holy Spirit and makes us into things and puts us into places we could never have imagined before we knew Him. 

These faithful women, in their gratitude for what Jesus did for them, gave of themselves to bless the Lord and were forever immortalized on the pages of Scripture. 

We certainly will never be added to the pages of Scripture by name but we can still give of ourselves out of gratitude to the Savior for what He has done for us, whether that is our time, our talents, or our treasure.

Amen.

Simon and the Sinful Woman - Luke 7:36-50 - January 22, 2023

 Luke 7:36-50 Simon and the Sinful Woman

Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 7:36. We are going to be looking at verses 36-50 and that’s on page 864 in the pew Bibles.

I hope you all appreciated Lou Going’s message last week, I know I did. I had never even heard the expression “justified by faith,” before I took Lou’s theology class at BICS. One statement that he made that was especially powerful to me personally was that “God loves you, He doesn’t merely put up with you, He loves you!” It’s a powerful thought, at least to me.

Well that theme of justification by faith is certainly present in our text for this morning, so let’s look at it together.

36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. 37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” 40 And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.” 

41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” 44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” 50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Let’s pray.

So in this account we have three characters, Jesus obviously, a Pharisee named Simon who invited Jesus over for dinner, and a woman of the city who was a sinner.

All we know about Simon the Pharisee and the sinful woman are right here in this text, they don’t appear elsewhere in Scripture, at least not by name. The woman here is not to be confused with Mary from Bethany who was the sister of Martha and Lazarus who also anointed Jesus with oil and wiped His feet with her hair, that account can be found in Matthew’s Gospel. There is also no evidence in Scripture that she is Mary Magdalene as is a popular but incorrect assumption. All we know is that she was a woman from the city that Jesus was in at the time and that she had a pretty bad, though well deserved, reputation. 

As often happens with any story, those that hear it have a tendency to identify with one of the characters, seeing themselves reflected in them. I wonder, as we look at this account, whom we each identify with. Each of the three characters expresses an attitude that we can take a lesson form. But don’t worry, that doesn’t make this a three point sermon!

We are first introduced to Simon, a Pharisee. Simon expresses judgment, not sound judgment, or good judgment, Simon passes judgment both on Jesus and the woman who entered his home.

 It’s clear from the text that, at least initially, Simon had not made up his mind about Jesus. It’s possible that his intentions for inviting Jesus over for supper were not pure, maybe he was looking to better his social standing by having this well known rabbi in his house, it’s also possible that he was merely curious and wanted to question Jesus himself within the confines of his home instead of the public square.

It’s also clear from the text that this dinner was far from private as banquets in that day tended to be more open than a dinner party we might have. There were other guests there at the table as well as those from around the city that wanted to hear the conversation, or who wanted to catch a glimpse of Jesus, and that included the sinful woman.

36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. 37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”

So it appears that Simon’s mind was made up after watching this display and he made his judgment about Jesus as well as the woman. He decided that Jesus could not possibly be a prophet because he did not display the power nor the holiness of a prophet. Simon decided that since prophets know what is hidden and shudder at the contact of that which is unholy that Jesus was disqualified. Jesus either didn’t know or didn’t care what kind of woman it was that was touching Him.

But Jesus, knowing this man’s heart and his thoughts answered his judgment.

40 And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.” 

41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” 44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

Providing water to wash the feet of guests, greeting them with a kiss, and anointing their heads with oil was customary in First Century Palestine, these were common gestures that Simon had neglected. The simple things like greeting your guests with a handshake or a hug, and taking their coat, offering them a drink, that’s what Simon neglected to do for Jesus.

But this woman, in her humility and love for Jesus, washed His feet with her own tears, continually kissed His feet, and anointed them with fragrant ointment. Simon displayed no love for Jesus while the woman humbly displayed great love for Him.

Jesus’ parable, as they often do, exposed the heart of Simon.

41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.”

In this whole exchange, our tendency is to focus on the actions of the woman and how she expressed her great love for Jesus because she had been forgiven for so much, she was the greater debtor. But Simon also missed a very important point, there were two debtors who couldn’t pay their debts, but the moneylender extended grace to both and cancelled the debt of both. Simon was blind to his own sin as was evidenced by his expression of zero love for Jesus, not even the customary welcome that any guest would expect.

Ray Stedman said, “It is impossible to love until you understand how much you have been forgiven.”

Though Simon answered Jesus correctly, that the debtor with the greater debt would love the moneylender more, he was wrong about everything else.

He was wrong because he judged that Jesus was not a prophet, say nothing of being Messiah.

He was wrong because he decided that he was better than that sinful woman and was offended at her presence.

He was wrong because he didn’t realize nor recognize his own debt of sin and his own inability to repay it.

He was wrong because he didn’t extend grace because he didn’t understand grace.

He was wrong because he didn’t love Jesus.

Like I said before, we tend to identify with characters in stories, most often the heroes, but if we’re honest, there are plenty of times that we are more like Simon than we are the repentant woman.

John Calvin wrote, “Simon’s mistake lies only in this: Not considering that Christ came to save what was lost, he rashly concludes that Christ does not distinguish between the worthy and the unworthy. That we may not share in this dislike, let us learn, first, that Christ was given as a Deliverer to miserable and lost people, and to restore them from death to life. Secondly, let every person examine himself and his life, and then we will not wonder that others are admitted along with us, for no one will dare to place themselves above others.”

Simon was just as unworthy as the woman to receive forgiveness, and so are we, and that is what makes God’s grace in Christ so amazing. 

We all stand as equals at the foot of the cross.

… [for] God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Amen.

Dirge-ing and Dancing - Luke 7:24-35 - January 8, 2023

 Luke 7:24-35 Dirge-ing and Dancing

Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 7. Today we are going to look at verses 24-35, and that’s on page 864 in the pew Bibles.

You may remember from last week that we dealt with Jesus’ interaction with the two disciples of John the Baptist when he sent them to Jesus to ask if He truly was the Messiah or if they should be waiting for somebody else. Jesus showed them by healing the blind, the deaf, the lame, by raising the dead, and preaching Good News to the poor that He was in fact the One that they were waiting for.

And that’s where we pick up the story this morning, Luke 7:24-35.

24 When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 25 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in kings’ courts. 26 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27 This is he of whom it is written, “ ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ 

28 I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” 29 (When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism of John, 30 but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.) 

31 “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, “ ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ 

33 For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.”

Let’s pray.

As I said last week, I have always found the question from John the Baptist perplexing but it’s clear that even John expected a different kind of Messiah, one who brought the fire of judgment not the grace of God. But even though John may have faltered, that didn’t disqualify him from his calling.

As soon as John’s disciples left the scene Jesus gives him a glowing commendation.

What did you go out into the wilderness to see, a reed shaken by the wind, some wimpy, wispy blade of grass, weak and unable to stand up whenever the wind blew? 

No, John the Baptist was strong in his message and his character. He was unyielding to the pressure of popular opinion. He had no qualms about standing up against the establishment and calling them a brood of vipers.

What did you go out into the wilderness to see, some fancy guy in fine robes, dignified in the eyes of men, outstanding in his cultural relevance, and walking on a red carpet?

No, John the Baptist was far from culturally relevant in his appearance or his message. Cultural relevance was totally irrelevant! Culturally relevant, finely dressed people are easy to find in the palace, in the places of societal importance. Not John, he was out in the wilderness, out in the desert.

So what did you go out to see, a prophet? *DING, DING!* John was a prophet and more. 

What made John a special kind of prophet is that he was Messiah’s herald, preparing His way. The other prophets of the Old Testament prophesied about Messiah with symbols and shadows from a distance but John was up close, even at the door.

Jesus quotes Malachi 3:1, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ 

When Jesus confirms this He is saying a lot more than just who John is.

Johannes Riggenbach wrote, “He is, if ye will hear, Elijah who is to come as Malachi prophesied; and before whom is Elijah to go prepare the way? Malachi says: ‘Before God Himself.’ What does Jesus therefore testify about Himself when He says that John has gone as Elijah before Him? Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

I’ve said it before and I‘ll say it again so we don’t waste time with subtlety: Jesus is God and John was His herald preparing His way, a prophet who was prophesied about.

Jesus also gave Him this ringing and curious endorsement: 28 I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

Can you work out that math for me? No one born of women is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he?

I really wanted the “greater’s” to be two different Greek words so as to explain this a little better but they’re not. How is John the greatest ever born and yet somehow not greater than the least in the kingdom of God?

Even though John was written about in the New Testament he is still and Old Testament prophet, he was still looking forward to the redemption through Jesus. John was beheaded in prison before Jesus was crucified, he didn’t witness His resurrection, he didn’t get to experience the tongues of fire on Pentecost.

It’s not that John wasn’t included in the kingdom of God through faith in Jesus but his station and his work was still under the Old Covenant.

JJ vanOosterzee wrote, [Jesus] speaks of the least of His disciples, and this not only so far as they appear as apostles or evangelists, but without any distinction. He thinks of their preeminence above the most distinguished men of the Old Covenant, the array of whom closed with John. They had, through the light of the experience of His redeeming power, deeper insight into the nature, the course of development, and the blessings of the kingdom of heaven, than had been the portion of John.

Now when Jesus makes this bold statement about John’s greatness and the greater-ness of those in the kingdom of God those listening to Him had two very different reactions.

29 (When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism of John, 30 but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)

The people who believed John and were baptized for the repentance of sin, looking forward to the coming of Messiah “declared God just,” meaning that they declared that God’s will that called them sinners in need of repentance was right. He was right then and He is right now.

The Pharisees and the experts in the Law were a different story. Instead of embracing the will of God, which called them sinners, they rejected the purpose of God for themselves. 

Why? Self-righteousness.

Over and over in the New Testament we can see this group representing self-righteousness, whether it’s the Pharisees and teachers of the Law in this case or the Sadducees and Elders of the people in other places. 

Unfortunately, this group is still alive and well today. They made not be called Pharisees or Sadducees but the spirit is still there. 

They don’t want to hear about judgment from John and they don’t want to hear about grace from Jesus because in either case they would have to admit their own sin and sinfulness. Good thing we’re never like that!

Jesus said in verse 31 “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation [meaning this self-righteous group of Pharisees and teachers of the Law], and what are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, 

“ ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ 

33 For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.”

What is Jesus saying, what is He comparing the self-righteous to? He is saying that He played a happy, joyful, gracious tune, but they didn’t want to dance, John sang a dirge, a sad song played on an organ in a funeral home but they didn’t want to weep.

Neither one of them could move this group with their message, either the message of judgment as with John, or the message of grace as with Jesus, because both messages would force them to accept their guilt and they wanted nothing to do with that.

It wouldn’t have mattered who played the song or what kind of music it was, if it pointed out their guilt and sin they would not dance and they would not weep. The same is still true today.

The gospel gets watered down because nobody wants to hear about their guilt and without guilt there is no need of grace.

It’s those who have the wisdom from God to humbly see the truth of our sinfulness and our need of saving by the grace of God through Christ’s work on the cross that show that God’s wisdom is just.

Is that you? Do you recognize your guilt before God, do you recognize your need for His grace? Have you asked for His forgiveness? He will forgive you, He will make you new, He will make you His own. All you have to do is ask Him.

Amen.