Luke 7:36-50 - The Parable of the Two Debtors

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It's always an honor to be able to worship with you all, and I think Will lied just now.

I don't know if I'm the favorite. Maybe the most available, but favorite.

It's kind of a long shot. I know who y'all have had in the last couple months.

I am not the favorite. I'm not my favorite.

So I'm glad to be with y'all. Last time I was here, we were wrapping up year three on the campus.

Since then, we've begun year four.

For me, the ministry is in its ninth year at UAH, and we are so thankful to be there.

I just want to, while I have a chance, say thank you for the ways that you have cared for us

and the way you've ministered to us, our family, since we've been here,

and also to the campus and to the city.

We are so thankful for your ministry with us and your partnership.

It's an honor to serve with you at UAH.

The Lord's blessed in our work this semester.

It's been so much fun meeting new students and seeing folks get involved,

and thank you for being with us on that campus.

We come this morning to Luke chapter 7.

Luke 7 · chapter mention

We're considering one of the parables that Jesus told in the context of a very interesting story.

Luke chapter 7, beginning in verse 36.

Luke 7 · chapter mention

One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and took his place at the table.

And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house,

brought an alabaster flask of ointment.

Standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears

and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.

Now when the Pharisee, who had invited him, saw this, he said to himself,

If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him,

for she is a sinner.

And Jesus, answering, said to him,

Simon, I have something to say to you.

And he answered,

Say it, teacher.

A certain moneylender had two debtors.

One owed 500 denarii and the other 50.

When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both.

Now which of them will love him more?

Simon answered,

The one, I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger debt.

He said to him,

You have judged rightly.

Then turning to the woman, he said to Simon,

Do you see this woman?

I entered your house and you gave me no water for my feet,

but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not ceased to kiss my feet.

You do not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much.

But he who is forgiven little, loves little.

And he said to her,

Your sins are forgiven.

Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves,

Who is this who even forgives sins?

And he said to the woman,

Your faith has saved you.

Go in peace.

The grass withers and the flowers fade,

but the word of our Lord will stand forever.

Would you pray with me for a moment?

God, as we consider this passage, it's a hard passage,

it's a heavy one, and it is a convicting one.

Would your spirit so move in this place that we see

the accumulation of our own debt before you?

That we see the one who can forgive that debt

and how he makes the way possible?

I pray, Jesus, that you would be exalted through our time together,

that you would humble us, you would encourage us,

you would point us heavenward to see the gracious God who forgives sins.

I pray that you would, and we ask for Jesus' glory only.

In Jesus' name we ask.

Amen.

I came across an article not too long ago from the Wall Street Journal.

Not that I read that, but if I did,

I did come across this article about student loan debt.

It was pretty interesting to me because I work on the college campus.

And the name of the article literally was,

Congrats, Class of 2015.

You're the most indebted ever.

And it runs through the statistics of student loan rates

on the college campus these days.

And I know we have a number of our students

and probably other college students here this morning.

So take note, the average student loan debt from last year's class was $35,000.

That's the average.

And the article went on to say that 70% of the graduates graduated with debt.

So, you know, 30% didn't,

but 70% of last year's graduates incurred a lot of student debt.

It was interesting to me.

Kelly and I just paid off our student loans about a month ago.

We just finally sent our final payment in, and we went to Troy.

You know, it's pretty inexpensive.

There's a lot of student debt out there.

We know something about debt as a culture.

Kelly and I also, Kelly's my wife,

she and I take a Financial Peace University class right now,

just trying to understand money better

and making a plan for our girls for college and those kind of things.

And I'm learning in this Financial Peace University class,

if you've ever listened to the Dave Ramsey show or taken this class,

you know, at the end when people pay off their debt,

there's that little ceremony that takes place in Nashville.

You know what I'm talking about?

You've heard it on the radio.

Maybe you've been to the studio where the people come on his show

or they'll call in, and what is it that they scream?

We're debt free!

And it's just this huge celebration.

They're jumping up and down and crying and hugging,

and there's people in the coffee shop clapping for them.

And it's really exciting.

Now, the student loan debt, we know something about that.

We know something about credit card debt and mortgages and car loans.

And in this passage, there's a debt incurred.

And in this passage, there's a celebration.

Someone is screaming, I'm debt free,

and it's not who you think it would be.

It's pretty interesting, the one who gets the debt

and the one who doesn't in this passage.

Here's the context.

Jesus had just finished preaching,

and he's going from town to town,

preaching the message of the kingdom of God,

and he's becoming pretty famous at this point,

maybe even infamous.

And there's some people who are responding to his message,

very excited about what he has to say,

and others who are very offended,

especially those religious types,

the Pharisees in this passage,

because they believe that they're not really

in that much debt to God.

They've done a pretty good job of maintaining

kind of the status quo of spirituality.

And this Jesus comes along,

and they say, well, we don't murder.

We don't commit adultery.

And Jesus comes along and says,

you say you don't murder,

but have you ever been angry in your heart

that you've committed murder?

You say you don't commit adultery,

but have you ever lusted after a woman

that you have committed adultery in your heart?

And they knew that the result for murder would be death,

and the result for adultery would be stoning

or something worse.

And they thought, this guy has to be done away with.

And so they would go in here and teach,

hear him teach and figure out ways to trap him.

And so that's why the impromptu dinner party.

This is nothing but a trap.

The Pharisee says, hey, Jesus,

would you like to come over to my house for lunch today?

And Jesus accepts.

He knows it's a trap, but he accepts the invitation.

And he goes.

Now, here's a little bit more context.

They're sitting in this kind of room.

There's a table, but they don't have chairs.

They're kind of leaning against the table.

And this isn't like some house up on Montecino

with a nice, fancy dining room.

This is on the street side, really.

And so Jesus would have been at the table

with these very important people having this dinner,

but there would be others who would just kind of come and watch

because he's kind of famous at this point.

Well, as they're sitting at the table

and kind of leaning out,

and their feet on the outside of the table,

this woman comes in,

and she begins to go to Jesus' feet,

and she starts crying.

And she breaks out this oil and begins washing her feet.

She lets down her hair and wipes his feet with her hair.

And everyone, you would be very uncomfortable, right?

They were very uncomfortable.

The Pharisees were even offended,

and you heard the guy kind of murmur under his breath,

does this guy, he says he's a prophet.

He doesn't even know who this woman is.

And so Jesus says, I have a story to tell you.

The way I want to kind of, that was my intro.

Don't get too nervous or anything.

We're not going to spend that much time on every point.

But the way I've kind of got this outline

is I want to go through the three questions

that are asked in this passage.

There's three questions that are being asked.

The first two are by Jesus.

And he goes on and tells this story,

and he asks a question at the end of it.

And the question is, which will love more?

The parable again, in verse 41,

very short parable Jesus tells,

a certain moneylender had two debtors.

One owed 500 denarii and the other 50.

When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both.

Now, which of them will love more?

So in this parable, there's a certain moneylender

who had a couple people who owed him debt.

Now, kind of to bring it in modern terms,

the first would have owed about two months' worth of wages

and the other about 20 months' worth of wages.

So you have significant debt for both,

both a debt that can't easily be repaid,

the first two months and then maybe

kind of a year and a half worth of debt.

It's a really simple story

to make a couple of interpretive points early on.

One is this.

Jesus is clearly teaching that all of us are in debt to God.

And that's the point he's going to get at here.

But all of us are in debt to God.

Now, the point is, all of us are in debt to God.

Everyone owes God something.

And the way that he's made us,

he's called us to perfection.

We are created in God's image.

And what we owe him in order to maintain

a relationship with him is a perfect union.

And so every time and in every way

that we have continually sinned against God in any way,

we have accumulated debt before God.

We can run this down.

You may feel that yours is only two months' worth

or maybe you feel it's 18 months' worth

or 20 or more.

But even if we run down our own list of debt

from today only,

just using,

Jesus said,

the greatest commandment is love the Lord your God

with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Let's just think about it today.

In the last four hours of today,

has there been a moment

where we have not loved the Lord our God

with all of our heart?

Has there been that moment

like there was in my house this morning,

the Sunday morning rush?

You know it?

And I get upset and angry

that everyone's not,

I was not loving my family.

I was not loving God with all of my heart.

Have you had those moments even today?

What about with all of your strength?

Has there been even a moment

where you haven't done

all that you could do for the Lord today?

With all of your mind,

has your mind wandered?

Have you gone to your mini to-do list?

Have you already kind of given yourself

to fears and anxieties this morning?

You see how this works.

If we just start going through the list,

the debt is stacked against us

even in a few hours.

Then the second commandment,

love your neighbor as yourself.

Do we even need to begin running it down?

The point is Jesus is saying,

everyone, everyone owes a debt to God

and it's more than any of us can pay.

So Jesus asks the Pharisee this question,

which of the two who are forgiven of their debt

will love him more?

And the guy answers correctly,

the one I suppose for whom he canceled the larger debt.

That's the right question.

That's the right answer to the question,

but he doesn't get it.

That's right.

The one who understands the significance of their debt

will love the one who forgave their debt even more.

That's right.

But he doesn't get it.

And so Jesus asks a second question.

Do you see this woman?

Now this is about to get really hard for Simon,

this Pharisee,

and it's going to get uncomfortable for us

because there's this woman who's in the room.

Most scholars kind of agree

that this woman wasn't just some woman.

This is a woman who was very reputable in the community,

a lady of the night to put it delicately.

Many would say that she has kind of given of herself

to many in that community in all the wrong ways

and she is coming into this room,

bringing all of her guilt and all of her shame

and going into a place that would be extremely,

you think they were uncomfortable.

She would have had to be terribly uncomfortable

to walk into this room with all these religious types

and to lay down at Jesus' feet

as if to say it doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter what they think,

but she lays down at Jesus' feet

and she begins to weep.

Why?

What is going on with this woman?

Something within her has changed.

Now this is total speculation,

but I wonder if she had just heard Jesus teach.

I don't know how long it was

before this passage that Jesus gave the Beatitudes.

There's only a chapter before ours in this book,

but when Jesus said things like,

blessed are the poor,

for yours is the kingdom of God,

and blessed are the hungry,

now for you will be fulfilled.

And he said, blessed are you who weep,

for you will laugh.

And I wonder if she saw herself as poor.

Poor in probably actual poverty,

which is probably why she ended up

in the position that she did.

Poor in spirit.

Poor in her shame

because of her regular giving of herself

over and over again.

And hating that part about herself.

Feeling outcast and low

and full of guilt

and self-hatred

and fear.

And she hears,

blessed are you

who are poor.

For yours is the kingdom of God.

Maybe she heard,

blessed are you

who are hungry.

And she saw herself as hungry.

She knew she wasn't satisfied

with what her life had offered her.

She knew that this felt like

it was not giving her

any kind of purpose

or hope,

her joy

or peace of any kind.

And she heard Jesus say,

blessed are you

who are hungry,

for you will be satisfied.

And she heard Jesus say,

blessed are you

who weep.

And she wept.

She wept literally

in this passage

and she wanted to laugh.

And so she found Jesus.

She found him.

She came to him.

And she poured out her oil

and she let down her hair.

Two things, by the way,

that she would have only done

in the most dark moments

of her life previously.

And she laid down

all of who she was

at the feet of Jesus.

And she just cried

and it didn't matter

who saw it.

Because now she felt safe

for the first time.

And so Jesus turns

to Simon

and he says,

do you see this woman?

She got it.

The Pharisee missed it.

The prostitute got it.

She knew she owed

more than 20 months

worth of wages.

And so she loved

forgiveness

so much more.

Because she understood

the cost.

Jesus goes on

to start laying out

the contrast to Simon

to make it even more clear.

To show that the religious one

is the one who missed

but the sinner is the one

who's getting it right.

And he gives these contrasts.

He says,

you didn't even give me water.

Which would have been

a custom of the day

to wash his feet with.

But she began

to wet my feet

with her tears.

You didn't give me a kiss

when I arrived.

Which of course

was another custom

of the day.

But she began

to kiss my feet.

You, Pharisee,

didn't anoint my head

with oil.

but she broke open

her oil

and poured it

on my feet.

There's one person

in the room

who got it

and the others

who didn't.

I came across this quote

from Lewis,

C.S. Lewis this week

from Mere Christianity

when he says,

the sins of the flesh

are bad

but they are the least

bad of all sins.

All the worst pleasures

are spiritual.

The pleasure of putting

other people in the wrong.

Of bossing

and patronizing

and spoiling sport

and backbiting.

The pleasures of power.

The pleasures of hatred.

There are two things

inside me

competing with

the human self

which I must

try to become.

They are the animal self

and the diabolical self.

The diabolical self

is the worst of the two.

Listen to this quote.

He says,

this is why a cold

self-righteous prig

who goes regularly

to church

may be far nearer

to hell

than a prostitute.

But of course

it is better

to be neither.

He adds.

Is that not exactly

the picture

of what this passage

is showing us?

The self-righteous one

misses it.

And so that's when

Jesus makes his big point.

Therefore I tell you

her sins which are many

are forgiven

for she loved much

but he who is forgiven

little loves little

and he turns to her

and he says

your sins are forgiven.

Who will love more?

The one who understands

the cost of what it

took to cancel

their debt.

And so that leads

to the final question.

This one was not

asked by Jesus though.

In verse 49

they begin to say

among themselves

who is this

who even forgives sins?

Now that is the question

right?

That

not just the question

of this passage

that is the question.

Who is this?

That's the question

for the last

at least 2,000 years.

The question that has

started wars.

The question that has

divided families.

The question that has

redirected careers.

That is the question.

Who is this?

It's a really good question

and if we start

to see the answer

that's kind of given

in this passage

the way we understand

our own debt

begins to change.

Because here's the premise

behind the question.

it isn't just

who is this guy

but it is

who is this guy

who can forgive sins?

Because they know

and we know

that there's only one

who can forgive sins.

It's the one

whom all sins

are against.

Let me illustrate

it a couple ways.

In Jesus' parable

who is the one person

in the parable

he tells

who can forgive

the debt

of those two?

It is the one

who gave them

the money.

Right?

Someone else

can't come along

and say

don't worry about it

your debt is forgiven.

No.

The one who

the debt is against

is the only one

who can forgive.

Now let me illustrate it

in a very silly way.

The only way

I know to illustrate anything.

Say I let you borrow

my new computer

and I have a fairly

new computer

and it's really nice

and I like it a lot

and I would never

let you borrow it.

But say I did

and you're just

going to borrow it

here after church today

I just need it

for the afternoon

we can get together

later and pick it back up

and I pretend to be nice

and yeah yeah yeah

you can borrow it

no worries.

And you set it

on top of your car

and you're kind of

fumbling around

and get your kids

in the car

and then you get

in the car

and you start

pulling out

of the parking lot

and then there goes

my computer

and it bursts

into a million pieces

in Southwood's

parking lot

and I'm over here

weeping in the corner.

But say in that scenario

there's a couple

of little points

to make here right?

Say someone else

Will for instance

comes alongside you

and says

hey don't worry about it

I forgive you.

It doesn't work

forgiveness doesn't work

like that.

There's only one person

in that silly illustration

who can forgive you

for breaking my computer

it's me.

The one whom

the problem is against

is the only one

who can forgive.

Does that make sense?

Very simple.

Now

the second point

to make

is forgiveness

is not arbitrary.

Someone has to pay

the cost

either way.

It's either you

or it's me.

I love the line

if any of you

ever watched

The Office

before it was taken

away from all of us

when Michael Scott

learns of the great

debt that he's in

the bankruptcy

episode

you know this one

and Toby

tells him

that there's really

only one way

to get out of this

debt

it is to declare

bankruptcy

and he walks

out of his office

and he looks around

the office

and kind of

takes it all in

and then he goes

I declare

bankruptcy

and everyone's

just looking at him

and Toby says

you can't just

declare it

that's not how

debt is forgiven

someone has to

take the debt

on in order

for debt

to be cancelled

so in the

situation

of forgiveness

who is the one

who takes

the debt

on

it's the one

offering

forgiveness

this is why

forgiveness is hard

by the way

in relationships

in marriage

with kids

on the campus

with students

roommates

like forgiveness

is very difficult

for us

because you know

why

it's saying

I will set

you free

from the debt

you owe me

for the thing

that you done

and I'm going

to take that

on myself

and not hold

it over you

anymore

that's why

forgiveness is hard

because it is

costly

to us

that's a whole

nother sermon

but it's so

difficult

so who is

this

who can

forgive sins

you know

what the answer

simply has to be

the one

whom sins

are against

this

Jesus

has to be

God

that's the only

thing that makes

sense

and so that means

if your sins

and my sins

are stacked

and they are

accumulated

and our debt

is against us

and it is against

a holy God

then there's one

who's come along

and says

your sins

are forgiven

how

can Jesus

forgive sins

there's only one way

by taking the debt

on himself

forgiveness

is not

arbitrary

someone has

to pay

this semester

as we've gone

through various

parables

in RUF

I've

kind of been

working this

theme with our

students

another

Lewis reference

when he

says that

there's only

one way

that Hamlet

can ever

interact

with Shakespeare

he says

if Hamlet

wants to

get to know

Shakespeare

you know

Hamlet's

the character

Shakespeare

is the

playwright

he said

if Hamlet

ever wants

to get

to know

Shakespeare

it's only

if Shakespeare

writes himself

into the

story

and I

take parables

to be

God

writing himself

into the

story

and I

think a key

way to

interpret

and understand

parables

is to look

to where

the storyteller

inserts himself

into the

story

it doesn't

work that

way every

time

but here

we have

Shakespeare

writing himself

into the

play

where is

Jesus

he's

the

money

lender

the only

way he

can forgive

the debt

is taking

it on

himself

so how

does

Jesus

take the

debt

on

himself

it's

where the

cross

stands

in history

isn't

it

scripture

tells us

that without

the shedding

of blood

there is

no forgiveness

of sins

we also

learn in

the New

Testament

that the

wages

of our

sin

is

death

that

means

the only

way

debt

is ever

cancellated

is if

someone

dies

for it

if

someone

sheds

their

blood

for it

it's

the only

way

debt

cancellation

isn't just

declared

it is

absorbed

and so

Jesus

takes on

our debt

on himself

he takes

on the

wages

of our

sins

when he

takes on

the cross

so that

paid in

full is

written

the cross

our

eternities

forever

it's

the only

way

our

sins

are

forgiven

and so

when Jesus

says

blessed are

the poor

and blessed

are the hungry

and blessed

are those

who weep

we have to

see that

Jesus says

that because

Jesus

became poor

so that

we would

be satisfied

he left

the riches

and comforts

of heaven

came into

earth

gave it

all

became poor

in his

poverty

so that

we might

become rich

in him

it's the

only way

riches

are offered

Jesus

became

hungry

he went

into this

world

hungry

for hope

and for

peace

and for

purpose

in life

all of

these things

that we

are hungry

for

he

became

hungry

for

on our

behalf

so that

we might

be

fulfilled

and

satisfied

in him

Jesus

said

blessed

are those

who

weep

and Jesus

wept

he did

he wept

at the

reality

of death

when his

friend

Lazarus

died

he

sweated

blood

in the

garden

no doubt

tears were

on his

face

when he

took

the

nails

Jesus

wept

so that

you

who

weep

over

your

sin

and

brokenness

you

who

weep

over

the

hardships

that

this

world

offers

us

on a

daily

basis

over

the

relationship

strains

and struggles

over the

insecurities

and fears

over the

perpetual

sins

that we

just

can't

seem

to get

rid

of

you

who

weep

will

laugh

with him

in his

glory

that is

the hope

that Jesus

offers us

I think

it's so

ironic

that at

the beginning

of the

story

the Pharisee

is murmuring

who

is

this

guy

thinks

he's

a

prophet

and

at

the

very

end

they're

saying

who

is

this

guy

who

even

forgives

sins

I want

to close

with three

questions

for you

and for

me

too

the

first

is

this

do

you

know

this

man

do

you

know

this

Jesus

I'm

convinced

that there

are two

types of

people

in this

passage

those

who

say

God

owes

me

something

and

those

who

know

they

owe

everything

to

him

Lewis

called

it

the

Pharisee

the

self

righteous

one

and

the

prostitute

one

of them

gets

who

this

Jesus

is

and

what

they

have

done

for

him

and

the

other

misses

it

completely

do

you

see

him

do

you

know

him

do

you

see

yourself

as

poor

as

hungry

you

may

say

that

you

know

I'm

yeah

I

know

him

I'm

here

every

week

you're

the

guest

like

I'm

always

here

I

go to

the

programs

I do

the

Bible

studies

I'm

I

know

him

I

get

it

I

believe

many

of

the

Pharisees

would

have

said

the

same

thing

they

say

I

get

it

and

they

felt

that

God

owed

him

something

do

you

know

him

in

the

way

that

this

woman

does

the

second

question

is

this

maybe

you

do

say

I

do

know

him

I

have

a

relationship

with

God

the

question

is

how

are

you

responding

to

what

he

has

done

for

you

this

all

the

stuff

that

this

woman

did

in

this

passage

this

was

no

small

act

of

kindness

this

for

her

was

costly

worship

to

lay

down

at

the

feet

of

Jesus

to

pour

out

her

perfume

to

let

down

her

hair

she

risked

many

things

in

this

story

I've

mentioned

shame

a number

of

times

already

she

was

willing

to lay

down

her

shame

at

the

feet

of

Jesus

she

was

willing

to

risk

her

reputation

she

knew

people

knew

who

she

was

and

she

was

willing

to

go

anyway

there

was

even

a

financial

risk

here

pouring

out

this

perfume

how

are

you

responding

to

what

Jesus

has

done

what

is

he

asking

you

to

risk

for

him

that

you

are

just

not

willing

it

could

be

a

lot

of

the

same

things

right

maybe

he's

asking

you

to lay

down

your

shame

too

to have

that

awfully

hard

conversation

about

those

things

that you

struggle

with

that no

one

you don't

want them

to know

could it be

risking your reputation

for the sake of

going somewhere

that would make you a little

uncomfortable

hanging out with people

that others would just

kind of

wonder what is he

doing

is it

being that

guy at

work

who

who

doesn't

come in

this

weekend

for the sake

of that

project

because you

have something

planned with

your family

I don't

know

what is

God

calling

you

to

risk

it may

be your

comforts

it may

be your

perfect

plan

it may

be even

a

relationship

but if

we don't

understand

our debt

before

God

then

risk

will sound

a lot

more

like

duty

than

delight

and so

the last

thing

is this

the last

question

do you

see this

woman

this is a

hard

question

for those

in the room

there

and it's

a hard

question

for me

do I

see the

kind of

people

that

Jesus

loves

I

think

the

kind

of

people

Jesus

loves

looks

a lot

like

me

they

look

very

nice

on

Sunday

mornings

you

all

look

very

nice

I'm

pretty

sure

half

of

you

guys

are

wearing

the

same

shirt

I'm

wearing

we shop

at the

same

places

we

we've

got our

act

together

right

do you

see the

kinds

of

people

that

Jesus

loves

this

community

is

filled

with

the

type

of

people

Jesus

loves

even

this

church

is

filled

with

the

type

of

people

Jesus

loves

do you

love

the

kind

of

people

that

Jesus

loves

does

your

church

to

Southwood

I

love

the

many

ministry

partners

that

y'all

have

are

you

looking

for

opportunities

to

serve

with

some

of

these

partnerships

to

serve

the

kind

of

people

that

Jesus

loves

here's

the

thing

the

danger

in

that

whole

statement

that

I

just

described

is

now

we

think

that

we

are

the

better

people

and

we

can

go

down

to

those

people

who

Jesus

also

loves

you

know

we

can

condescend

to

them

if

we

really

need

to

and

feel

better

about

ourselves

I

think

the

reverse

is

true

I

think

until

we

start

to

see

that

we

are

the

kinds

of

people

that

Jesus

loves

the

prostitute

the

shame

the

fear

the

anxiety

until

we

start

to

see

ourselves

as

the

center

in

the

passage

we

will

never

begin

to

love

like

Jesus

loves

until

we

have

understood

that

we

have

been

the

one

that

it

cost

him

his

life

to

love

we

will

never

begin

to

love

anything

close

to

what

Jesus

loves

there's

two

types

of

people

in

the

passage

there's

probably

two

types

of

people

in

do

you

see

this

woman

who

is

this

man

I

pray

that

we

would

come

to

know

him

as

he

presents

himself

here

let's

pray

Jesus

your

words

are

troubling

because

I

so

identify

with

the

one

who's

uncomfortable

in

the

room

because

there's

someone

who

enters

it

rather

than

the

one

laying

down

crying

our

only

hope

for

debt

cancellation

is

to

rest

Jesus

in

the

work

that

you

did

on

the

cross

to

cancel

our

debt

forever

and

our

only

hope

to

continue

to

see

ourselves

as

broken

and

in

great

need

of

forgiveness

is

by

your

spirit

so

I

pray

that

you

would

do

that

in

our

hearts

this

week

show

us

our

sin

lead

us

to

Christ

over

and

over

again

Holy

Spirit

we

ask

humbly

in

Jesus

name

Amen

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