Luke chapter 7. Being dead isn’t the end. Jesus encounters a funeral procession and is moved with compassion for the mother of the deceased, a widow.
Jesus said “don’t cry” and to the son he said “get up”. And the story for the widow and her son changed.
In a similar way God had compassion on my mom. When I was 11 I was in a car accident. My sisters Kitti and Judi , my foster brother Rodney and my sisters boyfriend Paul(?) were headed to Pendleton from Milton-Freewater. It was a dark and foggy night. We didn’t make it to Pendleton that night. A couple of miles out of town our truck hit a car head on and then we were immediately hit again by the car we were passing. The impact tore the cab of our truck off the frame and it was tossed out in the field. We were all alive. Busted up but alive.
It was a busy foggy night. Before it was over I understand that there were 17 cars piled up in the crash. It was busy at the hospital. I was on a gurney in the hall when my mom arrived. She saw doctors checking me then leaving me. She asked if it was okay to talk to me they said “it doesn’t matter now” and walked away. My mom touched my leg and I started coughing. The doctors turned on their heels and rolled me into ER. What my mom didn’t know was that I was dead. By the time I got to the hospital I was clinically dead. No pulse, not breathing, dead.
But being dead isn’t always the end.
The story about the boy being raised back to life isn’t really the one I wanted to talk about but it gave me an opportunity to share my story.
I want to talk about a notoriously bad person and how they were changed.
Read the story of the woman who lead a sinful life, Verses 36-50.
“One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!” Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.” “Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied. Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?” Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.” “That’s right,” Jesus said. Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume. “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Luke 7:36-48 – NLT
Jesus came to save sinners. Jesus did not come to reward self righteous folks. In life There seems to be those two camps; People who claim goodnesses of themselves and declare themselves better than others, and believe that they are in no need of help, then the other are those who know and understand their own failures, admit them and seek forgiveness for them.
Which camp are you in? Need change? Need forgiveness? As for me, I know my sin and I know a savior who has forgiven me.
Hear what Jesus said to her. “Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you ; go in peace.” Weep in repentance and be forgiven. I did. I was and am.
Peter’s Posts 