TheTwo Debtors

Good morning and welcome to Our Daily Walk.

Audio version at http://tinyurl.com/2altzz

Two men sit in worship one Sunday with only a few pews between them. From the outside they look similar, yet there is a difference.

One man has been to worship thousands of times. He grew up being good and has done what was right all of his life. His motions are fluid, his mind is focused and his worship and praise to God is genuine.

The other man has been away for several years due to his own choice. Worship to him is not yet as familiar, but he gives his full energy and attention to serving his God. Riddled with guilt for the mistakes that led him away from God, he has now returned and is ever so thankful for finding the Father’s forgiveness again.

Both men worship a God that accepts each of them as righteous. Yet at times some in the assembly keep their distance from the man who was away due to his sins. They mistake his willingness to serve for a means of earning God’s favor. They do not realize that his eagerness to be involved is because God’s favor has already been extended to him.

Perhaps they have forgotten the gift of forgiveness for their own sins. But then they never sinned to the depths that this man had sinned. Or perhaps they are just uncomfortable being around someone who has so recently been a slave to sin.

In Luke 7:36-47 we find a story unfolding that included a kind of spiteful attitude toward those who were not as righteous as themselves.

Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee's house, and sat down to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.”

And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”

So he said, “Teacher, say it.”

“There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?”

Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.”

And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.” Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”

Jesus gives a rebuke to Simon the Pharisee. His thoughts had been heard by Jesus and He wanted Simon to put things into a better perspective. The short parable about these two debtors helps Simon to understand that when a greater debt is forgiven a deeper love will appear. It also reminded him that no matter how small the debt, we are still unable to pay it ourselves. We need to be freed from our debt of sin.

Simon was busy being possessive of Jesus’ time. After all, it was his house and Jesus was his guest. A new perspective was needed.

We need to remember today that it is the body of Jesus, not our body, to which we belong. It is God’s house, not our house, in which we gather to worship. With a proper perspective we each will be too busy thanking the Lord for our forgiveness to give any thought to others who have been less righteous than ourselves.

On Our Daily Walk today, may we never forget that we are totally incapable of earning our forgiveness or working off our sins. We, like these two debtors, are all indebted to our Father for the wonderful gift of forgiveness.

Our thought for the day: “He that cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven.”

May God bless you on your daily walk.

© Our Daily Walk, Mike Baker, 2007. Permission is granted to copy these articles provided they are not sold and the author's name and copyright are included.