What are we praying for our students? | Luke 7:36-50 | Revd Dr James Robson

Welcome back some. Welcome for the first time,

everyone else. Lovely to have you back here.

It's an incredible joy. The college has been

very empty for quite a long time. I came across

a thought -provoking quotation recently. This

is what it says. Victoria is in on Augustine's

secret. I'm going to give you 30 seconds to think

for yourself what that is all about. Victoria

is in on Augustine's secret. Down to talk to

each other. You can think on your own or talk

to a neighbour. Okay, I can see some laughter.

Let me put this quotation in its wider context.

First of all, St. Augustine, he made the point

that human beings are creatures of desire. What

or whom do we long for? Famously, you made us

for yourself and our heart is restless until

it finds its rest in you. And then there's the

quotations context. The marketing industry is

able to capture, form and direct our desires

precisely because it has rightly discerned that

we're embodied, desiring creatures whose being

in the world is governed by the imagination.

Marketers have figured out the way to our heart

because they get it. They rightly understand

that at root we are creatures who are orientated

primarily by love and passion and desire. In

sum, I think Victoria is in on Augustine's secret.

It's a quotation from a book by James K .A. Smith.

I guess many of you have come across him, or

if you haven't, you will be. In another of his

books, You Are What You Love, he said, what if

instead of starting from the assumption that

human beings are thinking things, we started

from the conviction that human beings are first

and foremost lovers? His point then, he said,

Christian discipleship frequently starts off

on the wrong foot here as we preach and educate

and train and do youth work and even parent according

to the wrong model. We assume that people change

through learning different things, whereas actually

they grow through loving different things. And

so he protests about a model of ministry narrowly

focused on filling heads. So we're like heads

with on legs like that. And we stuff our heads

full of knowledge, convinced we can think our

way to holiness. It's like brains on stalks.

You know, I'm thinking at this moment, is Oak

Hill telling me on my very first day that thinking.

There's no value in learning things. Are you

kidding me? Of course not. Just to be clear,

of course not. Learning and knowing are fundamental

to loving in that sense. We come to love someone

by learning about them, by getting to know them.

Unless you go on one of these TV programmes in

which case you get married at first sight. But

our hearts, our love, our desires are foundational.

And we're going to see that no clearer than Luke

Luke 7 · chapter mention

chapter 7. So if you've got a Bible accessible,

we're in Luke chapter 7, verses 36 to 50. Luke

Luke 7:36–50

7, 36 to 50. Let me read it. When one of the

Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him,

he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined

at the table. A woman in that town who lived

a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at

the Pharisee's house, so she came there with

an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind

him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his

feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with

her hair. kissed them and poured 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 who's touching him, what kind of

woman she is, that she's a sinner. Jesus answered

him, Simon, I have something to tell you. Tell

me, teacher, he said. Two people owed money to

a certain moneylender. One owed him 500 denarii

and the other 50. Neither of them had the money

to pay him back, so he gave the debts of both.

Now which of them will love him more? Simon replied,

I suppose the one with the bigger debt forgiven.

You have judged correctly, Jesus said. Then he

turned towards the woman and said to Simon, Do

you see this woman? I came into your house. You

did not give me any water for my feet, but she

wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with

her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this

woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped

kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head,

but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore

I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven,

as her great love has shown. But whoever has

been forgiven little, loves little. Then Jesus

said to her, Your sins are forgiven. The other

guests began to say among themselves, Who is

this who even forgives sins? And Jesus said to

the woman, Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.

So Jesus is invited to the house. At this point,

we don't know his name, an unnamed Pharisee.

Pharisees have made quite an appearance in Luke's

gospel up to this moment. Back in chapter five,

they frogged to hear Jesus. They came not just

from Galilee, but also from Judea and from Jerusalem.

You could imagine they were intrigued. But when

what they found was deeply challenging and deeply

troubling. They were troubled by his claims.

So do you remember when Jesus said to the paralysed

man, friend, your sins are forgiven? They began

thinking to themselves, who is this who speaks

blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?

It wasn't just his claims. It was who he ate

with. And later in chapter five, when Jesus went

to the Levi, the tax collector's house, there

were lots of tax collectors and others that were

there. And then Luke tells us the Pharisees,

the teachers of the law who belong to their sect,

complained to Jesus' disciples. Why do you eat

and drink with tax collectors and sinners? And

then, of course, there was his lack of observance,

his lack of fasting. They didn't like the fact

Jesus' disciples weren't fasting and praying.

And they weren't often, but instead they were

eating and drinking. And then there was, of course,

his Sabbath observance. As Jesus' disciples went

through the cornfields, disciples began to rub

the ears of corn. And some of the Pharisees asked,

why are you doing what's unlawful on the Sabbath?

And Jesus answered them again. And so they watch

his every move in chapter six. They were looking

for a reason, says Luke in chapter 6, verse 7.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were

looking for a reason to accuse Jesus. So they

watched him closely to see if he would heal on

the Sabbath. Sure enough, he did. So the result,

6 .11. But the Pharisees and the teachers of

the law were furious and began to discuss with

one another what they might do to Jesus. She's

got that backdrop as the Pharisee, we don't know

his name yet, invites Jesus to his house for

a meal. What do you make of that? Is he intrigued?

Is he trying to trap Jesus? Is he curious? It

was a big deal to get someone over for a meal.

Hospitality? We don't really quite know. We've

got that kind of shadow in the background. But

what about the other person here, the woman?

Well, she'd obviously got quite a background,

hadn't she? We get that very clearly. The language

of being a sinner, probably a prostitute. I don't

know, I've got quite a number of questions here.

How did she get in? Did she kind of tailgate

the stewards? Don't do that with the library,

incidentally, and academic centre. No tailgating.

How did she get the perfume? Was it part of her

profession? Pretty awkward. Not that surprising,

was it? The Simon was really put out. After all,

the Pharisees really cared who they act with.

That was precisely the complaint about Jesus

earlier on. Look at her devotion. She bought

an alabaster jar of perfume. I don't know what

alabaster was. Do you know what alabaster is?

maybe you've done some speaking on this and thought

about it it's just let me this is a little bit

of research a soft translucent gypsum stone historically

used to hold expensive ointments perfumes and

oils and of course remember in that day they

would recline to eat and so prop themselves up

on one elbow and she wets his jesus feet with

her tears and she wipes them with her care she

kisses them and pours perfume on them It's pretty

embarrassing, wouldn't you feel? Certainly for

Simon. Awkward, but incredibly beautiful. She

risked ridicule and more beside. And the Pharisee,

he's still, of course, the Pharisee. He's trying

to get his head around this. How do I make sense

of this? So I know the teacher. He's supposed

to be a prophet, but he doesn't seem to be aware

of who this woman is. And then he thinks, I kind

of want to say something, but I can't really

as the host. I can't be rude to my guest. So

instead, he thinks to himself. He knows who the

woman is. He's sure as anything Jesus doesn't.

So he ends up muttering almost under his breath.

If this man were a prophet, he would know who

is touching him and what kind of woman she is,

that she's a sinner. I love Luke's little irony

here when he puts in what happened to that. Do

you notice what he says next? Jesus answered

him. He knows exactly what's going on in his

head and answers what is going on in his head.

This so -called prophet who can't be a prophet

because he doesn't know. Simon, I have something

to say to you. Two people owed money to a certain

money lender. One owed him 500 denarii, about

75k on today's terms, we think, something like

that. 75 ,000, quite a lot. The other 50. Neither

of them had the money to pay him back, so he

cancelled the debts of both. Now, which of them

will love him more? Have you ever, in your life,

confronted a host? When you've been around for

a meal, invited around for a meal, have you ever

confronted your host? Have you ever been confronted?

You just don't do this, do you? But Jesus is

extraordinary. Do you see this woman? Of course

he does. Everyone does. I mean, you can't miss

her. Who couldn't perfume the smell filling the

air? The crying, the sobs, you can imagine punctuating

the conversation. There's that awkward silence.

The sounds. He calls out the host. And this is

one of the fundamental things that are going

on here. What a difference it was between the

woman and Simon. So Jesus comes into Simon's

house. Simon doesn't give him any water at all.

not even for his feet. But the woman wet his

feet with her tears, wiped them with her hair.

I know some of you have been to Uzbekistan or

that central Asia over the summer. I don't know

if any of you have been to Middle Eastern cities

where you have open -toed sandals and your feet

get pretty dirty, don't they? Not a thing you

did. Done. But she with tears of repentance.

And then Jesus... So Simon didn't give Jesus

a kiss. Well, kissing was customary. Greet one

another with a holy kiss. And she kissed his

feet, not his cheek. And she kept on doing so.

This was, again, this was dirt. He didn't do

that. Or Simon didn't put oil on Jesus' head.

Sometimes hosts did it. It wasn't that common

to do, but of course, sometimes some hosts did

it. But she takes his alabaster perfume on her

feet and doused it. So you see, Simon, The host

does nothing that a host should do, a good host.

Who is the real host who's offering hospitality?

It's the woman. Which of them will love him more?

Jesus makes it very, very clear. The right response

is extravagant love for Jesus. So the heart of

our discipleship, back to that early quotation,

is love. It is love for Jesus Christ. Yes, we

care here massively about our understanding,

our knowing, our learning, our thinking, our

studies. We want you to be better equipped to

serve the Lord and we need to, as Andrew so rightly

said, we learn so much from you. But more than

anything else, we want to grow in our love for

Jesus Christ, don't we? That's the heart. That's

everything. We get to know Christ better through

our studies, through our conversations, through

one another. We grow in our love for him and

this passionate devotion seen in action. And

you notice it's not. conscious and sort of self

-conscious it's heartfelt one of the strange

things about being in a college like this is

we can you can gradually conform to what everyone

else does because that's what peer pressure does

but you notice this extravagant devotion was

entirely unselfconscious desires reordered heartfelt

love for the person But this isn't self -generated

love from the inside. What's the engine for that

love? Look at verse 47. I tell you, her many

sins have been forgiven as her great love has

shown. But whoever's been forgiven little loves

little. So the woman loves much because she's

been forgiven much. You'll know this so well,

going in many of our ministry situations, people

think, if only I do these things, if I only love

Jesus a lot and show I really love him, then

perhaps he might accept me. And of course, that's

exactly 100 % the opposite way around. It's precisely

because we know what Jesus Christ has done for

us that we love him. He makes the point very

plainly. It's the one who has had the bigger

debts cancelled who will then love him more.

So it's not love then cancelled, it's cancelled

then loved. Forgiveness is the engine for that

love. So we don't love to be forgiven, but because

we are forgiven. This also makes a very striking

point. Everyone needs forgiveness. It's easy

to kind of think, ah, well, I may not be the

500 denarii person, but maybe I'm a bit like

Simon, I'm the 50 denarii person. Maybe Simon

was forgiven a little bit. He's quite a good

person, really. He's respectable. But there's

no indication Simon's forgiven at all. All of

us are 500 denarii people. And again, you arrive

new in a college like this and we can project

our upright image that we're basically got it.

We're sorted. We're on the Simon's side in that

sense. But there's far from the reality. Simon

was entirely unable to see the scale of that

sin. And maybe that's true of us. We may not

have the history of the woman, but we play out

our sins in other ways. I was just reflecting

on this. There's the kind of self -righteousness

that Pharisees are legendarily known for. That

sense of pride. I'm an Oak Hill student now.

I'm an Oak Hill faculty member now. I've somehow

made it. I've arrived in the hierarchy of religious.

Pecking order, for want of a better word. I'm

self -important. I'm now a somebody and will

those nobodies. I don't have to associate with

them anymore. Or selfish ambition. It's my agenda,

my ways, the sacrifices on the way and the sacrifices

that other people have had to have. Or the raw

greed, the lust for more and enslaving addictions.

Or we can have all these things under the veneer

of religious respectability. So let me push it

a bit further. Imagine if someone like this woman

turned up in our churches. Would they say, here

is a place where I'm accepted, welcomed and loved?

Or would they say, that's the last place I'd

go. I'd feel worse if I went there. And if that's

the reality, maybe our church is a bit more like

Simon than we'd like to admit. The church is

a hospital for sinners, not an exhibition for

saints. It's not a place where the righteous

come to display their righteousness with the

pastor or vicar or worker being the exhibition

organiser or leader or the centre of the exhibit.

But it's a different way. It's not like there

are some people who've got the white coats on

dispensing medicine and someone else who are

receiving the treatment. We're all receiving

that. We all need that forgiveness. I'd love

to tell you a little story about a bit of WhatsApp

from a friend, Rob. Rob came to preach here in

chapel last year. He was involved with church

planting on an estate in Plymouth. And it really

was a place for those right on the edges. In

Whitley, on the edge of Plymouth, it was one

of those. um post -second world war where the

whole place had been raised because it was a

naval base concrete monstrosities 8 000 people

in this sink estate two people with meaningful

contact with the church you enter church plant

on the estate and this is one of his whatsapps

a little group of people were praying for him

i thought it really struck me hi everyone It

was a privilege to baptise more friends on Sunday,

plus two more people came to faith this week.

Please pray for Jade and Jackie. Like all of

us, there's a road ahead of them. So we pray

the seed find good soil. Jackie, three months

sober, is already helping a friend of hers see

who is now seven days off heroin and coming again

this Sunday with two kids. We've been praying

together over the phone. Please join me in those

prayers. As a church, we're cranking up the dial

on freedom and changing, starting with the power

of the sower. Please pray for guidance for me

in how and what to teach and how we as a church

support one another. I would hope that having

more openly messy lives in the middle of the

church encourages, capital letters, everyone

to see their need. But do please pray that the

more sorted folk don't just focus on helping

those poor, sick other people. The constant fight

is against churchiness. Please pray I won't get

distracted from what Jesus is doing. And please

protect us all from trying to get new life to

conform. I become more like us when we all need

to be more like Jesus. Thank you. Isn't that

right? It's in a nutshell. Goodness me, I feel

in the nursery slopes for this. forgiven much,

loves much. The forgiveness that we have in Christ,

the forgiveness we're going to become more richly

aware of over the next weeks, months, years,

as our studies, with our church history classes,

our doctrine classes, our biblical languages,

New Testament, just part of the community life

and everything else. The forgiveness that proclaims

who Jesus is, the one who forgives us, is the

beautiful person of Jesus Christ. And so if we

come to know him better, as we come to know ourselves

better, we're going to realise how much. We're

500 denarii and some people. And it's a prayer

that whatever else goes on, when we finish here,

we'll love him more. Let's pray. Lord Jesus Christ,

we do thank you and praise you. your uncomfortable

guest, but a truth -telling, loving, kind, welcoming,

forgiving guest, one who calls out but also welcomes.

Lord, we know that in a place like this, there

are unique pressures. May we not experience other

contexts, whether it be to be self -conscious,

rather than showing unbridled devotion, but to

be respectable rather than to be, like everyone

else here, sick and in need of healing, sinners

in need of forgiveness. So do pray by your Holy

Spirit. Help us to love you more. Have you right

first and foremost in our hearts and our minds.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.