4th Sunday after Pentecost, June 12, 2016
NKJ Luke 7:36-50
… 40 And Jesus answered and said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you."
So he said, "Teacher, say it."
41 "There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 "And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?"
43 Simon answered and said, "I suppose the one whom he forgave more."
And He said to him, "You have rightly judged."…
Some have said that we’re living in a culture of debt. Not death—but debt, D-E-B-T. Everybody owes somebody something—how about you? Perhaps there’s a mortgage, maybe a car payment or two? And what about those student loans, right? And what about all the “unsecured” debt? The credit cards? What about that time when things got so tight you wound up going to one of those “payday loans” places? Or maybe you never did that. Maybe you don’t have much debt at all except for the mortgage on the house.
Either way, how would you feel if your bank all of a sudden wrote you a letter saying, “Your debt has been paid in full. Please stop sending us payments every month”?
One night at a dinner party two thousand years ago, Jesus told a parable—a story—about a creditor and two of his debtors. He told it to a man by the name of Simon the Pharisee because Simon had some pretty mixed up ideas about how certain kinds of debt—namely, the debt of our sin—is handled by God. And in Jesus’ parable today we’re reminded that an important characteristic of true faith in God is repentance. In other words the believer has repentant faith.
I. Repentant faith sorrows over our debt of sin.
The thing about repentant faith is that it sorrows over our debt of sin. Listen again to the parable that Jesus told Simon the Pharisee. “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty” (v. 42). A denarius was roughly a day’s wage. So if you owed five hundred denarii, your debt was almost two years worth of your salary! On the other side, if you owed fifty denarii, you owed almost two months’ pay. Only the debt that Jesus is talking about isn’t really about money. He’s talking about the debt we have before God Himself.
So which debt is yours? Maybe there are some of you today who know that you’re one of those who owe a lot! Did you notice that we’re never told what the actual sin of the sinful woman was? Why? So you can fill in the blank with your own sin. Maybe you did something terrible one time that earned you a reputation. And maybe, once you had that reputation you found yourself living up to it time and again. So when you look back on your life now, you see this huge debt of sin. A debt that keeps you up at night, fearful of what’s going to happen when that debt comes due!
On the other side of it, perhaps some of you, when you look at your life, you see yourself more in the category of somebody who doesn’t owe that much. After all, you’re not a bad person. You realize you’re not perfect—after all, nobody is, right? But at least you’re not as bad as those other people (like those rotten politicians).
But that kind of thinking is just mixed up! Didn’t you listen to the parable? When it came time to pay the creditor, both the one who owed a lot and the one who owed a little “had nothing with which to repay” (v. 42). You may have sinned more or less than me, but we have the same problem: we can’t pay it off! God tells us in the Bible that our righteous acts are like filthy rags! They’re worthless, all tainted by sin! It doesn’t matter how big the debt is if you can’t pay it back! Whether you owe $50 or $500—if you can’t pay it back, it might as well be a million dollars!
And then it sinks in, doesn’t it? The reality that we can’t pay our debt of sin. All that’s left for me is to stand at the feet of my Lord and weep. Believers have repentant faith—faith that sorrows over the debt of sin.
II. Repentant faith lovingly clings to Christ’s forgiveness.
Repentance is sorrow over sin—but that’s not all that it is though! The repentant tears of a believing heart are sorrow mixed with joy and love. Repentant faith lovingly clings to Christ’s forgiveness. Forgiveness is real! When neither debtor had the ability to repay their debts, what did the creditor do? He “freely forgave them both” (v. 42)! They hadn’t done anything to deserve it. He just graciously counted their debts as being paid!
But the thing is, when a creditor forgives his debtors, it’s not like the debt just disappears. The debt still has to be paid. So who pays it? The creditor does! Which is what Jesus did! As the Son of God, Jesus took the debt of our sin on Himself and paid it all by offering up His life in our place at the cross! Jesus Christ is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but for the sin of the whole world! We know it not because Jesus died—but because He rose! The broken seal on Jesus’ empty tomb is our seal from God that your sins are forgiven—the debt paid in full!
So then, in light of the forgiven debt, Jesus asked a question: “Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him more?” (v. 42). And Simon the Pharisee answered, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more” (v. 43). Makes sense, right? If you owe somebody fifteen dollars and that person forgives your debt, you’re happy, “Just don’t expect me to do cartwheels or anything, right?” On the other hand, if you got a certified letter from your mortgage holder telling you that your house debt has been paid in full—wouldn’t everyone you met would know how wonderful that creditor was for forgiving your debt?
And so when you see that sinful woman, not just weeping at Jesus’ feet, but getting down on her hands and knees and washing His feet with her tears and drying them her hair, when you see her covering Jesus’ feet with kisses and pouring fragrant oil on them—it all makes sense, right? This isn’t a woman trying to earn her way back into God’s good grace! This is a woman who loves much because she’s been forgiven much! The heavy burden of guilt from her sin has been taken away! Yes, the sorrow is still there—but there’s also joy because this woman is lovingly clinging to the forgiveness that Christ has given her.
There’s a connection between our sorrow over our sin—and the faith that lovingly clings to Christ’s forgiveness. You can’t have one without the other. Unless you realize just how sinful you really are, you will never have the kind of love that this woman had for Jesus. The forgiveness Jesus has for you is never going to be worth that much. On the other hand, a life of repentance isn’t just about being sorry. It’s also about believing in the midst of your tears that God forgives you through His Son Jesus Christ. It’s a life that shows the love inspired by the forgiveness you have received. It’s the life of love that seeks to humbly serve the Lord and works at treating other sinners with compassion and mercy.
But make no mistake; repentant faith isn’t something that you and I do by ourselves. It’s born in us—born in us by the Holy Spirit working on our hearts in Word and Sacrament. Sorrow over sin is born in us by the power of God’s Law, the Law that points out every last one of our sins. And in the power of the Gospel—the good news of sin-debt paid in full, the Holy Spirit pours out the love of God into our hearts, creating and sustaining faith in our Lord—faith that receives and clings to Christ’s forgiveness, faith that loves much because we’ve been forgiven much! Believers have repentant faith as God’s gift to us—faith that lovingly clings to Christ’s forgiveness.
You and I may live in a culture of debt—and some, if not many of us, are under heavy loads. But not when it comes to the debt of our sin. Our debt is “graced” away, paid in full by the blood of Jesus, so that what He says to this woman is true for all believers: “Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Amen.