June 16, 2024; Day 1 of Week 12

Daily Dose of Hope

June 16, 2024

Day 1 of Week 12

Deuteronomy 6-9; Luke 7

Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope Church daily Bible reading plan.  Happy Father's Day to all the dads, granddads, and spiritual fathers out there.  You are loved and appreciated!!!  With that, let's get right into our Scripture.  

In Deuteronomy 6, we read the Shema, which is essentially the heart of the law.  Verses 4-9, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. 

The Shema recognizes the uniqueness and oneness of God. There aren't other gods but only one true God.  God calls his people to love him and obey him with every part of their being.  He called the ancient Israelites to this this and he calls us to do this as well.  Jesus took the Shema and added an important element.  In Matthew 12:30-31, Jesus says this: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’  The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  There is no commandment greater than these.”  Yes, we love God with our whole being but we also love others.  In fact, love of God is demonstrated by love of others.  As Christians, we cannot separate the two. 

The Shema is a prayer that Jewish families for thousands of years have said daily and it is often the earliest prayer that Jewish children are taught.  It is repeated over and over again to ensure that the next generation will know it and live it.  While I don't think we need to write the commands of Jesus on our foreheads, how do we ensure the next generation will know who they are in Jesus?  Even if you don't have children or your children or older, all of God's people, the whole church, bears responsibility for teaching and guiding the next generation.  Pray about how God may be calling you to mentor, teach, or bless the younger generation. Are you called to volunteer in children's ministry?  Maybe there is a child in your own life to which God is leading you to disciple and teach. Maybe you currently have younger children or teenagers. How is learning about Christ woven throughout your family's daily routine?

In Deuteronomy 7-9, we find Moses reiterating God’s laws as they prepare to enter the land of Canaan.  There is another emphasis on eliminating God’s enemies as they enter the land (again, a bit hard to swallow), but there is more focus on trusting God and following him only.  The people are reminded of the golden calf and how it angered the Lord.  They are reminded that they belong to God.  They are entering into the next part of their journey and they have to remember who and whose they are.  Otherwise, it could go totally awry.

We’ve been talking about our journey as a church lately at New Hope.  As we move into a new season, we also need to remember that we belong to God and we are his church.  May we know who and whose we are, listen to God’s voice, and boldly step into the next part of our church journey.

Let’s move on the Luke 7.  This is a great chapter filled with much substance.  However, I really want to focus on the last portion of the passage when Jesus is anointed by a woman.  Basically, this woman crashes a fancy dinner party with a group of Pharisees who wanted to have some deep religious discussion with Jesus.  What do we know about this woman?  We don’t know her name but we do know that she is described as sinful.  Many scholars have assumed she was a sex worker but that is not a definite.  There are other sins.  But it becomes obvious that Simon knew her and knew her reputation, which is kind of curious.  But whatever her history, she knew Jesus and is incredibly grateful to him (she has had some kind of encounter with Jesus and her life has been changed).  She brings an alabaster jar of perfume, of very high value at the time, and she stands at his feet weeping. Then, she gets down on her hands and knees, lets her hair down, and wipes his feet with her tears.  She kisses his feet as well, and pours the perfume on them.  Keep in mind, this sort of behavior, especially the intimate nature of the touching, would have been very taboo.

The Pharisees aren’t so thrilled that Jesus is allowing this woman to touch him and the judgment in the room is heavy, so Jesus tells a story.  He tells this story about two men who owed money.  One owed 500 denarii and the other 50.  In my research, I found varying accounts of how much this would have been.  Generally, 50 denarii would have been about 2 months wages, 500 would have been about 2 years wages.  Basically, a lot of money.  In the story, neither man can repay the money.  Generally, what happened in the ancient world when you couldn’t pay your debts?  Well, you were enslaved.  You (or your children) had to work as a slave to the person you owed until it was paid off.  It was called debt bondage and it still exists in some parts of the world today.  Two months of wages would have taken some time to work off but two years worth of wages would have taken a long, long time (years) to work off.  But in the story, the moneylender forgives both the men.  It was kind of shocking really.  That didn’t happen much and the listeners would have known that.

But Jesus is wanting to teach them in this moment.  In the midst of this awkward meal, where this woman has made herself incredibly vulnerable and broken all these social taboos, Jesus sees something much deeper.  What does he want them to understand?  The amount forgiven is related to the amount of love returned.   If you feel like you don’t have that much to be forgiven, then you aren’t going to be that grateful when the slate is wiped clean.  But if you have a tremendous debt, a heavy debt, something that will keep you in bondage for years, well, you are going to be incredibly grateful when that debt is forgiven.  And that’s exactly what this woman has experienced.  Whatever her debt was, it was big.  And she is overwhelmingly grateful, so grateful that she acts very inappropriately.  She does things that are awkward and too intimate.  The woman is basically making a fool for herself.  But it’s truly beautiful, because she is so grateful for Jesus’ mercy – there is obviously something really difficult or painful in her past or present – and she doesn’t care what others think.  She has received forgiveness.  Jesus isn’t embarrassed or even surprised.  He sees her gratefulness and her sincerity.  He could care less about the awkwardness of the moment.  He sees her heart.  And we know, God cares about our heart. 

Jesus then contrasts the lack of hospitality of the Pharisee with the extravagant hospitality of this woman.  And he makes a point of emphasizing how her many sins have been forgiven.  Jesus isn’t saying that her actions at the meal led to the forgiveness.  Rather, she received forgiveness (and we don’t know when), and her actions at the meal are a very public, very dramatic act of love toward Jesus in response.  He has offered her freedom and so she is overflowing with gratitude and love.

Of course, the other guests are really concerned with Jesus forgiving her sins.  They say, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”  Forgiving sins was, after all, something that only God could do.  But I have to say, I love how Jesus just ignores them.  He is focused on this woman.  Jesus cares for individual human beings.  Yes, God so loved the world that he gave his only Son --- but he also loves you and me.  He is focused on this particular woman.  He values her.  He loves her.  And he says, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Keep this in mind:  Jesus welcomes us all to his awkward dinner party.  All of us, we are invited to sit around the table with Jesus, as members of his family.  Regardless of what tables you have been turned away from in your past, at Jesus’ table you are accepted, wanted, chosen.  If you have said yes to Jesus, then you are a child of God and you are part of his beautiful, weird, awkward, diverse, unique, imperfect family.  That’s us, we are brothers and sisters in Christ, and we will spend eternity together.  We get to do life together NOW and in the future.  So if you have held off extending forgiveness or asking for it, offering grace, demonstrating love, then go ahead and do that now.  Y’all, we are a family and that’s huge. 

Let’s chat again tomorrow.

Blessings,

Pastor Vicki