2 Samuel 11:26-12:10,13-15; Luke 7:36-8:3, Psalm 32; Galatians 2:15-21
David had done something bad – really bad. It wasn’t the first time he had married another man’s widow but it was the first (and only) time he’d had her husband killed to make her a widow so that he could marry her. Until Nathan tackled him David was not aware of the enormity of his action and just how seriously God was taking what he’d done. Dispatching Uriah had been so easy that it seemed everything was going David’s way. David’s state of mind was such that Nathan felt he had to be very careful in confronting him. Nathan did brilliantly and, thanks to David’s heart for God, the king took on board what the prophet was saying. David accepted both God’s forgiveness and the consequences of his actions, and his relationship with God was restored. Some of the psalms he wrote reflect that experience and his own testimony of confession and forgiveness (see Psalms 32 and 51).
It’s easy for us having heard the whole story to be critical of David for doing such a dreadful thing. But when we look honestly at ourselves we have to admit how easy it is to excuse ourselves for all sorts of things that are actually quite serious offenses against God and against others.
We don’t have the before story of the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet except that she had a reputation as a sinner. We don’t know what her sin was either. Nor do we know her identity. Many have suggested that this was Mary Magdalene but Mary is named in the next paragraph in the group that followed and supported Jesus and there is no indication that the woman in this story then followed Jesus. What we do know is that whatever her sin was she knew God had forgiven her (even if her community hadn’t). And she must also have figured that in thanking Jesus she was thanking God. Probably she had already met Jesus.
This woman responded in a way few others did. Why did she do what she did? She was very aware of her sins. I’d say that her community made sure she was aware and I suspect they gave her no hope of forgiveness. They certainly weren’t going to forgive her and no one expected God to forgive her either. Then she met Jesus who assured her of God’s forgiveness. What a huge relief from a massive burden! She went from the bottom to the top in an instant. She was overwhelmed by the extravagant generosity of God in forgiving her. Her action in giving such expensive perfume showed that she was contrite, humble, hope-filled, full of faith and as generous as she was grateful.
Simon the Pharisee, on the other hand, showed none of this woman’s contrition, faith, gratitude, humility or generosity. Simon showed he thought he didn’t need forgiving. He wasn’t ‘a sinner’ – not in his eyes, anyway. Jesus clearly thought otherwise. But before we judge Simon let’s consider whether we aren’t thinking in the same vein.
Each of these stories includes a parable. Each parable is designed to make someone aware – of sin and of forgiveness. Jesus’ parable contrasts two people, one of whom was forgiven 10 times more than the other. Some comments from David Lose:
“The obvious analogy is to the woman who has been bathing his feet with tears. She apparently has been forgiven much, perhaps ten times what others have been forgiven. Which explains why she is devoting herself to Jesus, weeping as she does. She is overcome by gratitude, the kind of gratitude understood only by someone who has been given everything.
“But is forgiveness really everything? Can it possibly be worth that much? Consider: forgiveness is, at heart, the restoration of relationship. It is releasing any claim on someone else for some past injury or offense.That’s why the analogy to a debt works so well. Forgiveness cancels relational debt and opens up the future. Which is why it’s so important, so valuable.
“But it’s also something more. Forgiveness also gives you back yourself. You see, after a while, being indebted, owing others, knowing yourself first and foremost as a sinner – these realities come to dominate and define you. You are no more and no less than what you’ve done, the mistakes you’ve made, the debt you owe. When you are forgiven, all those limitations disappear and you are restored, renewed, set free. So, yes, forgiveness is everything.” -David Lose, Dear Working Preacher, 2013.
Now I’m going to ask you a very challenging question. The question is: Was David more like Simon the Pharisee or more like the woman?
Like Simon, David was not self-aware until Nathan visited and he was wealthy and powerful.
The woman was quite the opposite but both she and David realised how much they needed forgiveness.
A sinner, me?
Simon defined the woman as ‘a sinner’. What did he mean? He meant, I think, that she was known to do or have done things that he considered a God-fearing person would not do. Things that Simon probably had not done. Simon felt that any sin on his part was minor and easily dealt with compared to this woman. The Pharisees had sin all taped up and defined in detail. There were things that a good Jew would never do. But Jesus showed that God cares about our attitudes as much as our actions and in this respect these supposedly good Jews were found seriously wanting as far as God was concerned.
What Simon and his fellow Pharisees didn’t see is that what they did – and said and thought – was just as bad as anyone else and that they were just as much in need of God’s forgiveness as the worst sinner they could think of. We can be inclined to the same perception – making light of our own sin while pointing the finger at someone else. In fact it has been noted that this tends to go with wealth and power. They say power corrupts and it does. Powerful people tend to have rules and standards for other people to keep to while exempting themselves. But it’s not just the powerful; we can all do it.
What’s the solution? To be vigilantly honest with oneself. None of us get it right all the time. We need God’s help all the time and we need God’s forgiveness most of the time. There will be times when we need one another to help us see what we’ve done. We need Nathan or Jesus to point out our mistake. I hate it when that happens and I think everyone is like me on this so if you’re taking Nathan’s role please be as tactful as he was, but don’t not do it.
Forgive? Me?
The flip-side of this coin is when any of us think, “My sin is so bad I could never be forgiven.” We do this especially when there is someone in our life who hasn’t forgiven us and/or someone we are unable to forgive. Most of all it is because we’re really struggling to forgive our-self. Many people live in misery because they never get release from their burden of misdeeds. Their problem is the opposite of Simon’s. He diminished his errors; these people amplify theirs. And they wallow in their misery saying, “Woe is me, I’m unforgivable.”
The woman in Luke’s story may have thought that way. Understandably from the way she was treated. But Jesus taught her otherwise. He proved she was forgiveable by forgiving her. And she got it, she appreciated it, she enjoyed it, she celebrated it and she found a way of thanking him that was as generous to him as he’d been to her.
Is anyone unforgiveable? Well, is anything too hard for God? Simple answer, No, nothing is impossible for God. If you think you’re unforgiveable do you know what you’re saying? You’re saying that God is not big enough, powerful enough or loving enough to deal with your sin. In that case you just don’t know God well enough, yet. A couple of verses of Scripture to help you:
1 John 1:8,9,10
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us. But if we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing. If we say that we have not sinned, we make God out to be a liar, and his word is not in us.
So no more “I haven’t sinned” and no more “I’ve sinned so badly God can’t forgive me”. No more “I don’t need to be forgiven” and no more “I can’t be forgiven”. Rather, trust God to keep his promise – to forgive our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing. You’ve trusted him with your life, you can trust him with everything in it.
Another Scripture: Galatians 2:19,20
I have been put to death with Christ on his cross, so that it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. This life that I live now, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me.
And what is the result of his giving his life? Forgiveness for every person for every sin. The whole of this passage that these two verses come from emphasises that forgiveness is not something earned or deserved but a gift of grace that we can receive as a result of Christ’s death on the cross.
So seek and accept God’s forgiveness.