cliquez ici<\/a>!<\/p>\n
\nThe Pherisee and the Prostitute<\/h2>\n
(Luke 7:36-50)<\/em><\/p>\nWe owe to Luke, \u201cthe beloved doctor\u201d, this account in which Jesus teaches us by two contrasting lives \u2015a Pharisee and a prostitute\u2015 that cross paths in the most unexpected circumstance. Another example, in the Gospel of Luke, of Jesus using the same method of teaching is the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14). A true story and a parable! In both cases, self-righteousness is put in contrast with broken-heartedness, with the same outcome: the self-righteous remains unchanged, and the broken-hearted obtains forgiveness.<\/p>\n
Luke 7:36 tells us that \u201cone of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him; he went to the Pharisee\u2019s house and reclined at the table.\u201d Four verses down, we learn that this Pharisee\u2019s name was Simon. He was apparently a wealthy, or \u2015at least\u2015 a well-to-do man. There was nothing in common between them that could have motivated Simon to invite Jesus to have dinner with him, except for Simon to have the opportunity of taking a close look at Jesus, in order to find something to use against him; some evidence that he thought would prove Jesus to be not a prophet, but an imposter.<\/p>\n
That evidence, Simon thought he found it in Jesus\u2019 lack of reaction to an unbecoming gesture made by a woman, a prostitute! That woman intruded into the dining room where Simon was eating with Jesus when \u201cshe came with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.\u201d (Luke 7: 37-38)<\/p>\n
When Simon saw what was happening and observed the laissez-faire attitude of Jesus, he thought to himself, \u201cIf this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is\u2014that she is a sinner.\u201d
\nJesus who knows what\u2019s going on even in the minds of people \u2015because he is God manifested in flesh\u2015 told him, \u201cSimon, I have something to tell you.\u201d Simon became all ears. Jesus said to him, \u201cTwo people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both.\u201d<\/p>\n
As in the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus used an approach Socrates loved to use. It was called \u201cmaieutics\u201d. This method consists in asking a question to bring the interlocutor to find himself the answer. Jesus asked Simon, \u201cNow which of them will love him more?\u201d (Luke 7:41-42) The answer was too obvious for anyone to try to dodge it. \u201cI suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven,\u201d Simon replied. Jesus told him, \u201cGood answer!\u201d<\/p>\n
Then he proceeds to reproach Simon for his lack of hospitality toward him \u2015not that Simon did not know what to do, but he did not love Jesus enough to go to all that trouble for him. He said, \u201cSimon, do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven\u2014as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before he addressed his reproach to Simon, Jesus draws his attention on the woman: \u201cSimon, do you see this woman?\u201d Let us try to see her, to understand the weight of her action. She has so many lessons to teach us!<\/p>\n
\n- Her devotion was total. She came with an alabaster jar of perfume and poured it on Jesus\u2019 feet. This perfume was a vital part of her trade. She had to always be attractive and good-smelling for the next customer. Her gesture is an illustration of the song \u201cI Surrender All.\u201d<\/li>\n
- Her repentance was sincere. She wet Jesus\u2019 feet with her tears. She was overwhelmingly broken, afflicted over her sins. Many things afflict us in this life, but rare are those who are afflicted by their sins; who weep bitterly before God because of their wickedness.<\/li>\n
- Her conversion was real. She poured all the perfume on Jesus\u2019 feet. She did not keep a portion for herself for \u201cyou never know.\u201d She made no provision for a relapse into her former life. She made hers the words of this song: \u201cI have decided to follow Jesus; No coming back! No coming back!\u201d<\/li>\n
- Her humility was deep. Her hair was her womanly glory. She loosed it to wipe the dirt from her Savior\u2019s feet. That\u2019s a way to say, \u201cWhatever were gains to me I now consider loss (\u2026) because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ, my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ\u2014the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.\u201d (Phil. 3:7-9)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Simon, do you see this woman? By asking Simon if he sees the woman, Jesus wanted him to see not only her, but also himself. The point of the parable is that both the woman and Simon are in trouble. The two debtors of the parable were equally unable to pay, and both were graciously forgiven. It makes no difference, as far as the law is concerned, whether you owe 500 days labor \u2014almost 2 years\u2014 or 2 months worth of your salary. Both insolvent debtors must face the rigors of the law, which is imprisonment. That\u2019s what Scripture says: \u201cThere is no one righteous, not even one\u201d (\u2026) \u201cfor all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God.\u201d (Rom. 3:10, 23)<\/p>\n
The only difference between the woman and Simon is that she was aware of her moral and spiritual bankruptcy, but he was not. A little virtue can cause a man or a woman to miss the benefit of God\u2019s grace without which no one will enter heaven. Such was Simon\u2019s predicament. Such is the predicament of many people today who never come to realize how lost they are, because they keep comparing themselves with others. They are righteous in their own eyes and they don\u2019t bother to know how God sees them. They grade themselves, as it were, their own paper, instead of letting God grade it for them. So, where they think they deserve an A+, God gives them an F, \u201cfor all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.\u201d (Luke 14:11)<\/p>\n
The really important lesson of this story is this: what condemns us before God is not the amount of our sins, but the lack of awareness of them. Only those who are aware of their sins will hear God say to them,<\/p>\n
\u201cYour sins are forgiven\u201d<\/strong>
\n \u201cYour faith has saved you\u201d<\/strong>
\n \u201cNow, go in peace\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nHubermann Larose
\nAssociate Pastor<\/p>\n
\nSi vous voulez lire ce texte en fran\u00e7ais cliquez ici<\/a>!<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\nFood For Your Soul
\nby Reverend Hubermann Larose<\/p>\n
Si vous voulez lire ce texte en fran\u00e7ais cliquez ici!<\/p>\n
The Pherisee and the Prostitute
\n(Luke 7:36-50)
\nWe owe to Luke, \u201cthe beloved doctor\u201d, this account in which Jesus <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":23209,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-27191","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myredemption.org\/redemption\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myredemption.org\/redemption\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myredemption.org\/redemption\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myredemption.org\/redemption\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myredemption.org\/redemption\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27191"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/myredemption.org\/redemption\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27196,"href":"https:\/\/myredemption.org\/redemption\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27191\/revisions\/27196"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myredemption.org\/redemption\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myredemption.org\/redemption\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"come-and-see\"](\"https:\/\/myredemption.org\/redemption\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/pharisee.png\")
<\/p>\n