Missionary Renegade: The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Sunday, 24 April 2016 – "Prayer Tip: Jesus and the ‘Sinful’ Woman"

Sunday, April 24, 2016

The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Sunday, 24 April 2016 – "Prayer Tip: Jesus and the ‘Sinful’ Woman"

Daily Scripture: Luke 7: Anointing His Feet

36-39 One of the Pharisees asked him over for a meal. He went to the Pharisee’s house and sat down at the dinner table. Just then a woman of the village, the town harlot, having learned that Jesus was a guest in the home of the Pharisee, came with a bottle of very expensive perfume and stood at his feet, weeping, raining tears on his feet. Letting down her hair, she dried his feet, kissed them, and anointed them with the perfume. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man was the prophet I thought he was, he would have known what kind of woman this is who is falling all over him.”

Prayer Tip:

I think one of the most difficult things for me when I know the background of someone who has messed up or “fallen” in what seems to be a big way is that I can’t forget that background. It’s one thing to forgive and take-a-while-to-forget if someone has personally offended me. It’s quite another to use people’s past mistakes to define them when those mistakes had nothing to do with me. I can be gracious and compassionate and loving toward them, but deep down, my default focus is on that one thing. I try hard to not act any differently toward someone whose sin I might be focusing on than I do toward anyone else, but I am certain I don’t always succeed.

Scripture tells us God forgives and forgets our sins (Isaiah 43:25, Jeremiah 31:34, Hebrews 10:17). How can I be more like that? Through prayer. By asking God to let me forget the sins of others so I no longer identify people by their sins.

Holy God,

Thank you for not only forgiving our sins, but for forgetting them – as if they never happened. Help us to follow your example to forgive and forget. This is often difficult for us, especially when we’ve been hurt deeply. There are times we can’t imagine that we could possibly forgive, but we know that with you all things are possible. Lord, fill us with your Holy Spirit and give us the power to forgive and forget as only you can.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.[ - Angela LaVallie Tinsley, Funeral and Prayer Ministry]
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Sunday, April 24, 2016 Second Chances – Stories of Restoration and Redemption

“Jesus and the Sinful Woman”

Scripture: Luke 7: Anointing His Feet

One of the Pharisees invited Jesus to eat with him. After he entered the Pharisee’s home, he took his place at the table. Meanwhile, a woman from the city, a sinner, discovered that Jesus

was dining in the Pharisee’s house. She brought perfumed oil in a vase made of alabaster.

Standing behind him at his feet and crying, she began to wet his feet with her tears. She wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and poured the oil on them. When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw what was happening, he said to himself, If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. He would know that she is a sinner.

Jesus loved “sinners”

Monday, 25 April 2016

Matthew 21: The Story of Two Sons

28 “Tell me what you think of this story: A man had two sons. He went up to the first and said, ‘Son, go out for the day and work in the vineyard.’

29 “The son answered, ‘I don’t want to.’ Later on he thought better of it and went.

30 “The father gave the same command to the second son. He answered, ‘Sure, glad to.’ But he never went.

31-32 “Which of the two sons did what the father asked?”

They said, “The first.”

Jesus said, “Yes, and I tell you that crooks and whores are going to precede you into God’s kingdom. John came to you showing you the right road. You turned up your noses at him, but the crooks and whores believed him. Even when you saw their changed lives, you didn’t care enough to change and believe him.

Luke 15: The Story of the Lost Sheep

1-3 By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.” Their grumbling triggered this story.

In Matthew 21, Jesus’ enemies from the religious “establishment” of his day were challenging his right to teach as he did. We see their attitude reflected in the complaint voiced in Luke 15.

Far from backing off, Jesus told them that “sinners” (including prostitutes) were more open to true spiritual change than the self-righteous people who refused to change their own hearts and lives while despising the “sinners.”

• Two sons—one rebellious at first, but obedient in the end, the other one saying the right words while inwardly he doggedly went his own way. When Jesus spoke positively of “sinners” (and specifically of “prostitutes,” whom he named in explaining his story’s point), he was observing the gap between how we look outwardly and what goes on inside us.

Jesus’ story didn’t cover all options, but which of the two sons in this story do you identify with more? What does it take to be an obedient child of God both outwardly and inwardly?

• Resurrection’s purpose keeps us focused on God’s call to reach out to “non-religious and

nominally religious people.” At times that would no doubt have led the “Pharisees and legal xperts” in Luke 15 (or their modern equivalents) to grumble that “this church welcomes sinners.” Do you believe you would qualify to join a church that did not welcome “sinners”?

How comfortable are you if you meet a “sinner” in worship or at another church activity?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for caring about and welcoming “sinners.” I’m thankful that there is a place for me in your heart and in your Kingdom. Amen.

“Fallen women” in Jesus’ family tree

Tuessday, 26 April 2016

Matthew 1:2-6 Abraham had Isaac,

Isaac had Jacob,

Jacob had Judah and his brothers,

Judah had Perez and Zerah (the mother was Tamar),

Perez had Hezron,

Hezron had Aram,

Aram had Amminadab,

Amminadab had Nahshon,

Nahshon had Salmon,

Salmon had Boaz (his mother was Rahab),

Boaz had Obed (Ruth was the mother),

Obed had Jesse,

Jesse had David,

and David became king.

6-11 David had Solomon (Uriah’s wife was the mother),

Solomon had Rehoboam,

Rehoboam had Abijah,

Abijah had Asa,

Asa had Jehoshaphat,

Jehoshaphat had Joram,

Joram had Uzziah,

Uzziah had Jotham,

Jotham had Ahaz,

Ahaz had Hezekiah,

Hezekiah had Manasseh,

Manasseh had Amon,

Amon had Josiah,

Josiah had Jehoiachin and his brothers, and then the people were taken into the Babylonian exile.

The way Matthew wrote the genealogy at the start of his gospel showed one effect of Jesus’ model in relating to prostitutes. In that male-dominated world, most genealogies only listed male ancestors. Yet Matthew purposely included women. And at least three of the women he included had a history of some kind of immoral behavior–Tamar (cf. Genesis 38), Rahab (cf.Joshua 2, 6:22-25) and Bathsheba (cf. 2 Samuel 11-12).

• Tamar’s story showed how men saw prostitutes. The patriarch Judah heard that unmarried Tamar was pregnant (by him, though he didn’t know it), and said, “Bring her out so that she may be burned” (Genesis 38:24). No one said they should burn the man who had bought

her sexual company! She proved that she was pregnant by Judah himself, and in the end he treated her honorably (by the standards of his day). Have you ever seen a double standard that judged a woman more harshly than a man for the same action? Do you think

that reflects what Jesus would want?

• In John’s gospel (cf. John 8:41), we find a subtle but clear sign that Jesus’ enemies at times taunted him as an illegitimate child. No doubt they also claimed his mother had been sexually immoral when she conceived him. How might those human experiences, as well as his divine compassion and sense of mission, have helped to shape the compassion with which Jesus related to women who, in addition to their culture’s devaluing of all women, faced the scorn of the “righteous” for violating moral standards?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, even before we got to see you living as one of us, you were extending grace to Tamar, to Rahab and to Bathsheba. Remind me that your grace and compassion are a part of your eternal character, and reach all the way to me. Amen.

A disturbing dinner intrusion

Wednesday, 27 April 2016

Luke 7: Anointing His Feet

Luke called the uninvited woman at Simon the Pharisee’s home “a sinner.” Women in that day had many fewer options (they couldn’t, for example, embezzle, or run a dishonest business), so the term “sinner” almost always meant a prostitute. As she entered the scene, something important had already happened (we’ll find out more later in the story). Without a thought for how it would look, she began to express her profound love and gratitude to Jesus.

• There was no air-conditioning in New Testament times. It was common in the rather warm climate for the doors and windows to stand open, especially in larger homes, to catch any cooling breeze. Yet it took boldness for this “woman from the city” to walk directly into the Pharisee’s dinner party when she saw Jesus there. Do you believe her tears were more likely a sign of sadness or joy? How would you expect Jesus to respond to her actions?

• Scholar William Barclay wrote, “For a Jewish woman to appear with hair unbound was an act of the gravest immodesty…. The fact that this woman loosed her long hair in public showed how she had forgotten everyone except Jesus.”1 Have you ever sensed that you

are limiting your expression of love and gratitude to Jesus out of a fear about “how it will look”? How important is it to you to care about what other people will think of you?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, keep me as attuned as this woman was to your presence. And help my heart to feel, and express, the same kind of love for you that she showed. Amen.

1William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Luke. Revised edition. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1975, p. 95).

Jesus knew the woman’s history—and Simon’s heart

Thursday, 28 April 2016

Luke 7: Anointing His Feet

40 Jesus said to him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Oh? Tell me.”

41-42 “Two men were in debt to a banker. One owed five hundred silver pieces, the other fifty. Neither of them could pay up, and so the banker canceled both debts. Which of the two would be more grateful?”

43-47 Simon answered, “I suppose the one who was forgiven the most.”

“That’s right,” said Jesus. Then turning to the woman, but speaking to Simon, he said, “Do you see this woman? I came to your home; you provided no water for my feet, but she rained tears on my feet and dried them with her hair. You gave me no greeting, but from the time I arrived she hasn’t quit kissing my feet. You provided nothing for freshening up, but she has soothed my feet with perfume. Impressive, isn’t it? She was forgiven many, many sins, and so she is very, very grateful. If the forgiveness is minimal, the gratitude is minimal.”

Simon the Pharisee took it as a given that a good person would shun sinners, and that therefore Jesus didn’t know anything about this “sinner” at his feet. That was consistent with the kind of religious training Simon would have had. But he was mistaken—Jesus knew all

about the woman’s heart, and about Simon’s. Jesus made that plain by telling a story about the gratitude and love in a person’s heart, rather than the person’s outward rectitude.

• We know Jesus is the “good guy” in the story. But if we’re honest, most of us “get” Simon’s reaction. “If Jesus knew about her,” he thought, “he couldn’t possibly accept having her anywhere near him.” Who are you more like: the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet, or the

Pharisee who thought he was much better than “her kind”? How does that affect your relationships with others and with God?

• Jesus saw in the woman a beloved child of God, cause for a party in heaven (cf. Luke 15).

Simon saw only a “sinner,” a person who didn’t deserve even a little attention or respect, much less love. Jesus specifically directed his story to Simon, to challenge his attitude.

Spend a few moments in silence and listen. Does Jesus have anything to say to you today (verse 40)?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, deliver me from the inner Pharisee who haunts my heart. Remind me of how much I need your grace, and how much of it I receive every day. Amen.

Great forgiveness = great love, great peace

Friday, 29 April 2016

Luke 7:43-47 Simon answered, “I suppose the one who was forgiven the most.”

48 Then he spoke to her: “I forgive your sins.”

49 That set the dinner guests talking behind his back: “Who does he think he is, forgiving sins!”

50 He ignored them and said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

This story had an unseen “prequel.” Verse 47 made it plain that this was not the first time Jesus had met this woman, and gave a clear idea of how he must have extended grace to her earlier. In the face of Simon’s judgmental spirit, he reiterated the forgiveness of her “many sins” that she’d already received. That gift of peace with God was the reason that her heart had responded with such great love.

• How did Jesus’ pointed contrast in verses 44-47 show the spiritual hollowness of Simon’s pious front? Simon couldn’t even treat an invited guest with the basic courtesies expected in his day. The woman, on the other hand, went far beyond any social or cultural norms. Do you agree with Jesus that the way we treat people (God’s beloved children) is the ultimate measure of our “righteousness,” beyond any other outward proprieties?

• Earlier (cf. Luke 5:17-26), Luke said that when Jesus told a man his sins were forgiven, the Pharisees muttered, “Only God can forgive sins!” There, as at the end of this story, Jesus did not disagree with them. As you learned about God, did you see God as mainly angry about sins, as indulgently excusing sins as “no big deal,” or as seriously compassionate and forgiving when we miss the mark? What difference does it make to how you live life with Jesus as your Savior and Lord that God forgives sins rather than excusing them?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I realize that like both people who were with Jesus in Luke’s scene, I owe a debt I couldn’t possibly pay. Thank you for forgiving me. Keep me forgiven and forgiving. Amen.

No stones, no condemnation

Saturday, 30 April 2016

John 8:3-6 The religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said, “Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?” They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him.

6-8 Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, “The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone.” Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt.

9-10 Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest. The woman was left alone. Jesus stood up and spoke to her. “Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?”

11 “No one, Master.”

“Neither do I,” said Jesus. “Go on your way. From now on, don’t sin.”

In verse 6, John made it clear that this wasn’t a random occurrence, but a set up by Jesus’ enemies to try to put him on the spot. Nothing much had changed since Tamar’s time—once again, the “prosecutors” seemed to think only the woman deserved punishment. (Her missing partner was probably the accusers’ ally. The woman was likely a prostitute they hired—that made it easier to catch her “in the act of committing adultery.”) But Jesus refused to play their

game of judgmental “righteousness.” Instead, he gave the woman mercy which pointed her toward to a new quality of life.

• Jesus told the woman’s accusers, in effect, “To condemn others, you’d need this credential: anyone who is sinless gets to cast the first stone.” (Jesus, of course, was the only person in the scene who would have qualified. But, precisely because he was sinless, he hadn’t come to throw stones—cf. John 3:17.) Given Jesus’ teaching and example, do you qualify to throw stones at anyone else? Does anyone? What steps can you take to make sure that in your home, your office, your church, stone-throwing becomes a thing of the past?

Prayer: Dear God, help me remember clearly how much it hurts when someone else throws stones at me. Help me learn from Jesus’ merciful example, and to every day grow more like him. Amen.

Family Activity: Jesus often shows us the power of forgiveness. Blow up one balloon for each family member. Place them in the center of the room. Invite each family member to choose a balloon. Ask each person to draw on it with a marker a picture or write words expressing something they have done wrong. Read 1 John 1:9 aloud. Explain: this means no matter what we do, we can truthfully tell God we are sorry and God will forgive us. Begin a time of prayer, asking God to forgive what you wrote on your balloon. Have each person pray, then pop his or her balloon, representing God forgiving and forgetting your sin. Thank God for forgiving our sins.

Prayer Requests"

Praise for the birth of Harper Charlene Thomas, 3/29

Praise for the marriage of Angela LaVallie and Kory Tinsley, 4/9

Prayers for Peace & Comfort for:

• Mike Neal and family on the death of his grandmother, Dorothy Neal, 4/18

• Jackie Tinsley and family on the death of her father, Richard Gibler, 4/17

•Debbie Goodin and family on the death of her mother-in-law, Nora Goodin, 4/9

•Nancy Ridge-Gardner and family following the death of her brother, Bill Herre, 3/16

•Deede Harris and family on the death of her father, Eves Cadwallader, 3/2

•Gayle Flick and family following the death of her father, Warren Call, 10/7