Title Don't Take People by Their Appearance!
Contents
Sunday day sermon
Text: Luke 7:36-50
Title: Don't Take People by Their Appearance!
If we look at today's text, we can see that a Pharisee comes to Jesus and invites Jesus to his house if they come to his house and eat together. But the Pharisee who invited Jesus to his house did not even give him water to wash his feet when Jesus entered his house. (At that time, it was said that you must wash and eat everything to be clean, so the person who invited a guest to his/her house had to give the guest water to wash their hands and feet first.) However, this Pharisee invited Jesus to his house. They did not even provide water to wash their feet, let alone water to wash their hands. In short, this was an attitude of utter disregard for Jesus.
But after a while, something strange happened.
A woman who had been thoroughly rejected as a sinner (prostitute) by the people in that town heard the rumor that Jesus had come to a Pharisee's house, and brought a jar of perfume that she had been cherishing all her life. Soaking Jesus' feet with a towel, and then washing his feet with his hair. Then he kissed his feet and poured perfume on Jesus' head, adorning them and offering them. However, the Pharisee, who was watching all this from the side, thought to himself, “If this man had been only a prophet, he would have known at once what kind of woman this woman was touching...” it had been left
Jesus immediately recognized the Pharisees' thoughts as they were making such a complaint, and said to the Pharisees, "Simon, I have something to tell you. I lost, but because I had nothing to repay, I forgave both of them. Which of the two will love me more?” He answered and said, "I think he is forgiven much." And he said, "Your judgment is right." He turned to the woman and said to him, "Do you see this woman?" “When I came into your house, you gave me no water to wash my feet, but this woman wet my feet with her tears and washed them with her hair, and you did not kiss me, but I have not stopped kissing my feet since I came in. And you did not pour olive oil on my head, but he anointed my feet with perfumed oil!”
Then Jesus said to him with a firm voice, "Therefore I say to you, that woman's many sins are forgiven." “Because he loved me very much!” “Therefore, he who receives little remission loves me little!” These words of Jesus are saying that those who are fully aware of their sins will love Jesus a lot, but those who do not realize their sins cannot love Jesus that much because they believe that there is no forgiveness for them.
Today's Christians who read the text assert that I will never be as ignorant of the Lord as such a frivolous Pharisee. There will be some who say, "How can you tell the Lord to come to your house and not even give you water to wash your feet?" So, let's try a simple experiment to see if Christians today are living a completely different life from the Pharisees, or if they are the same type!
The reason is that if earthly humans are to have a heart that can see the haves and the have-nots from the same perspective, at least Christ must be seated in your heart. As I repeat, I want to make it clear that Christ has not come to anyone yet in the hearts of Christians. Therefore, as Christians who have not yet been regenerated by the Spirit of Christ, no one is compelled to act like a Pharisee. Therefore, if Christians today want to serve Christ, they want to kneel at the feet of Jesus like this harlot. One thing to note is that the Holy Spirit who is presently present in the spirits of Christians is the Spirit of the Father, not the Spirit of Christ.
Human cowardice is human cowardice in that, while acting like a dog with a tail down in front of the strong, he becomes infinitely high and proud in front of the weaker than himself. This is because Christians today, like the Pharisees at the time, believe in God (Jesus), but do not try to believe in God (Jesus) in their hearts, but judge and believe by their outward appearance, that is, people's outward appearance. The Bible speaks clearly. Because God is a spirit, he never takes a person for his outward appearance. Nevertheless, human beings do not try to read people's inner thoughts, but keep looking at their outward appearances and trusting them. As a result, it will be difficult to meet the Lord. This is because the Lord who comes before Christians comes into people's hearts like a thief, not someone who comes to us outwardly. He was saying that he would come like a thief.
But Christians today are shouting loudly that they will never reject the Lord like the Pharisees. Even though he is lying when he opens his mouth, he is still assuring that he is not lying. Even though nothing has changed compared to the life of the Pharisees. Today, while examining the content of the text, we should have an eye to thoroughly examine ourselves to see if I am living a miserable life like this Pharisee who invites the Lord to our house and does not even give us water to wash our feet.