In yesterday's
TG, (
http://tiny.cc/Lamb_Lesson ) I pictured the difference between a forced and voluntary sacrifice. I imagined voluntarily offering myself to God, as a response to God's mercy given me. Today, I wonder about my grasp of God's mercy.
Luke writes of an incident (7:36-50) where a woman came to Jesus while he dined in the home of Simon, a Pharisee. She wept over his feet, wiped them with her hair, poured perfume on them, and kissed them. When Simon saw this, he questioned (to himself) Jesus' "prophetness" since he obviously didn't know "what kind of woman he allowed to touch him this way." Jesus responded with a brief parable:
"A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. "When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both."
Jesus then asked Simon which debtor would love more in response to the forgiveness of their debts. When Simon answered that the one forgiven more would love more, Jesus continued his lesson, saying:
"You have judged correctly . . . 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. "You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. "You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume.
Jesus took the Pharisee down a few notches, didn't he? He did so point by point as He compared the Pharisee's treatment of Him against the woman's treatment. The woman's offering included expensive perfume, blatant public humbling of herself, and risk of malignment and worse from the piously religious. Simon's sacrifice included lunch, but with Simon criticizing Jesus to himself, and using the woman's worship as another opportunity to see himself as better than her (or at least her worse than him).
In so teaching, does Jesus reveal a variable in the formula we got from Romans 12:1? If we, by God's mercy, offer ourselves as living sacrifices, but "God's mercy" becomes a variable ("forgiven much" v. "forgiven little") wouldn't that make our living sacrifices variable as well? As in Simon's answer above, would those who have been given greater mercy offer more, and those given less mercy offer less?
Applied to Romans 12:1, the formula could look like this: "I urge you therefore, by the level of mercy you have been given, to offer yourself in like kind as a living sacrifice." Such variability can explain why some believers seem more sacrificial with their lives, while some believers seem less so. Have we known or seen some believers live like they see great mercy in that their great sinfulness has been forgiven by Christ's great work? They seem moved to respond as did the woman in Luke's story. On the other hand, have we not also seen others who live like they don't see such a great mercy in Christ's forgiveness?
I doubt that the work of Christ is variable. The Apostle John taught (1 John 2:2) that Jesus is the propitiation (the sacrifice that turns away wrath) "for the sins of the whole world." So why, in Luke's story, did two different people see themselves as so differently forgiven? I'm thinking that the variable lies in each individual's perception of his own need of forgiveness. Those who think that their load of sin isn't so bad might see themselves as forgiven, but not like those whose load of sin was nothing but an unforgivable wretched stench.
Father, we all know from the gospel that all of our sins have been paid for, and have thus been forgiven. And I thank you for such a forgiveness! But do I always see what an amazing or great forgiveness that has been? Do I, like the Pharisee, see myself as better than other sinners? Do I think that Jesus shouldn't deal with others while He should deal with me? Do I miss the fact that I too am like the woman and like the Pharisees of Jesus' day? Help me see the depth of my sinfulness so that I can see the height of your grace. Help me not compare my life and doctrine to those around me. Rather, help me compare my life to that of Your Son, and my doctrine to that as taught in your word, so that I can see my true failings. Help me know that my huge, impossible, unforgivable debt, has, in fact, been wiped clean by your gracious kindness. Help me, by that mercy, to stand with the body of me sacrifice living, holy and well-pleasing, and offer me to you.
Posted via email from We've Encountered a Terrifying Grace
