Hill Country Bible Church

Reflection: Crazy in Love

Posted: Sep 23, 2009 by Kenneth Day

Denny started this sermon with Luke Chapter 7 with the story of a prostitute's encounter with Jesus.  While Jesus was dining at Simon's (a Pharisee) house,  she came in and with the sight of Jesus, she started to weep and wet Jesus' feet with her tears.   She used her hair to wash His feet.  Can you imagine this ridiculous scene?  This is one of the most sinful people in the city, and she is touching Jesus!  When Simon wondered why Jesus, a holy man, would let a prostitute touch him, Jesus tells a parable of a moneylender with two debtors that couldn't pay him.  He forgives both the debts, and Jesus asks which one will love him more.  Simon says, naturally, the one that owed him more.  Jesus says he is correct and the He forgives the woman's sins.

The parable is not about the debt.  The greater message  Jesus is trying to convey is sometimes we are so engrossed in our own piousness and goodness that we don't even realize that we owe Jesus anything.  The woman, who was full of sin that everyone could see, was completely broken in front of Jesus.   She understood that she is nothing and has nothing to offer Christ.  She recognized that she was full of sin.  The only option that she had was to be fully committed to the Christ.   We are all as sinful and spiritually bankrupt as the prostitute.  Do we see how full of sin we are?  Do we rely on Jesus as much as the prostitute?  Do we understand we owe Him everything?
I think that sometimes, my relationship with Jesus can be summed up by the fad t-shirt that says "Jesus is my Homeboy!"  I write off His gift for me and just think about how being a Christian can be so inconvenient.  I think of His death as something irrelevant and auxiliary to my daily life.  Oh yeah, that happened like thousands of years ago and, yeah, whatever.   I am so concerned about what is happening in my busy life that I forget about Jesus.  I act like Simon, so sure that I am better than others that I don't really need Jesus' love.
I am a sinner.  In God's eyes, I am completely unfit to be in His presence.  There is nothing that I could ever do to make that better.  But in His mercy, Jesus died for me so that we could be made new and left blameless by the blood of Christ.  Because of that I should give him everything!  All these things that I am worried about on a daily basis will disappear and mean nothing when I die.  Only the cause of Christ and my relationship with Jesus will remain.  I don't want Jesus to become weightless or unimportant in my life, because He is the only thing that really matters at the end of the day.  Denny's sermon reminded me that I want Jesus to be King of my life, so  that He is central to everything I do, and that I will refuse to serve any other master.  Denny put it this way: "The greatest failure is not failing in the things of this world, but failing in the things of eternity."
I encourage you to think about your relationship with the God-Man, and figure out where He is in your life.  What do you put in front of Jesus in your priority list?  What do you need to give up to Him so that you may serve Him better for His glory?