Luke 71-50
Jesus reveals the worst sin (rejection of God) in the world. Sin in the heart is invisible and so is its ruler,the devil rules the world in a way that does not appear harmful to humanity. All our human senses have been sold to the world or to the devil. It is Jesus the Messiah who alone reveals the sinfulness of rejecting God in order to deliver us from our blindness, and all evil schemes of the devil; to a new life which starts here on earth – God’s Kingdom.
Here Jesus reveals the effects of sin;
1) Religion
Deceit and death belong together, i.e. they originate from one source the devil who rules this earthly world with all his cunningness and power. Look at the Centurion, though not a Jew but a proselyte, is the only one who felt his unworthiness (the effect of a true religion) in the presence of the great Jewish teacher. This was unprecedented. How the high and powerful worldly ranking proselyte could be knowledgeable about his sinfulness, well above the Jewish worshipers of Israel, could not be explained. How and where he obtained this knowledge no one can tell.
It is this deep feeling of his sinfulness which attracted the Lord Christ to attend to his issue. Further still how the Centurion’s heart recognized Jesus’ divine power over his sins and death is a question for all religious people to consider. Modern religious believers have no guilt or burden of sin.Having the true knowledge of God’s divine power over sin and death is the main reason why Luke sketched the centurion’s story. Contriteness, the deep feeling of his sinfulness, is all that Jesus looked for; and when Jesus heard these things about the centurion – he had this to say;
“I say unto you, I have not found so great a faith, no, not in Israel.” (note the emphasis) .This knowledge of God over sin and death led Luke to also sketch the events in the little town of Nain. There we see and feel the pathos evoked by sin and death. Death is the very power of sin which catches every living soul at a certain point in time.
Its prey in this case was being taken out of the city, but on this occasion, death met with One who was far greater than death itself. The widow was heartbroken, had lost her only son, the presence of the crowd and sympathy could not lighten her burden.“Stop sobbing”, Jesus told the woman; “Young man, to thee I say, rise up”. Jesus speaks to the dead youth as though death hears and obeys, so true with the heavenly voice. God’s power over sin and death is the reason why the world still exists for the few who would be saved.
Over and above the deceitfulness of the Jewish religiosity, Jesus reveals the divine power as it worked in the centurion proselyte who realized the worthlessness of his military ranks and power in this world.
The deceit of the world with all its religious activities have so far failed to reveal the sovereignty of Christ over sin and death so that humanity may turn to God, who alone has power over sin and death.
Jesus rules over sin and death as he did in the little town of Nain.Sin is rejection of God and Christ is the only divine power to reveal and overcome sin and death. For this reason, Jesus sent the message to the Baptist and said; the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised; but most importantly; to the poor in heart like the Centurion, the Gospel is preached and blessed is he who comes to Christ in repentance.
This message was particularly intended for the messengers of John and for our own salvation.To the whole religious Jewish nation, Jesus could not see or find a man of faith as this proselyte centurion. How about all the Jewish religious people? – Silence
2) Human Wisdom
The world is a generation with no conviction of sin and death. We act as though we are in control of our lives, our health, and so no worry at all about sin and death. For this reason, Jesus states that parishioners will go only to popular places of worship, like reeds which are swayed by every wind of doctrine, that is, yielding to every popular opinion. This was Jesus’ view of the Jewish religious people of the day and still applies today.
There is no human being without sin. All are sinners but there is failure to connect death as due to sin. We do not think of death anymore, all fear is removed due to modernism (i.e. health systems etc.).
Many church leaders are honorable men, upright in society, honest in large and small matters but lacking in the knowledge of the purpose of the law, which is the conviction of sin, leading to repentance. Instead, many are more interested in praise and worship, our human abilities and wisdom.
People may flock to such church leaders, for different reasons; their style, popular opinions, promises of rewards by their prayers, favors of popularity, attractive praise and worship music, etc. All these on their own are good, but without the conviction and guilt of sin, there is no repentance, no salvation.
This conviction of sin was John’s great ministry of preparing people’s hearts for the Lord.Without Law that convicts of sin, we are like the children with their games in a marketplace.Some children piped for their friends, the wedding game, but the other children would not join them in the game. Then the same children played another game; loud wailing, a prominent cry at funerals; but still the other children refused to join in this other game.
Like these children is our generation, Jesus states. Some refused to join John the Baptist; they called him morose, ill-tempered, and intolerable and turned away because of his ascetic life. Likewise, in the golden days of Jesus, when God sent the Messiah; many instead played the games of fasting and the rigorous tradition of Sabbath.
What they called for in John the Baptist, they condemned in Jesus; and what they condemned in John the Baptist, they demanded in Jesus.With the same slanderous tongues, they attributed a demon to John and called Jesus a glutton of a man, a friend of publicans and sinners.
In the same way our generation has formed the different groups dependent on their thoughts, inspirations of individuals with traditions, emotions, etc., instead of conviction of sin leading to repentance, faith, hope, and joy as fruits. The result being no longer one church but many different religious groups and congregations.This is the silly way the wisdom of the men of our generations have justified their actions; and the masses mercilessly follow in this blindness.
The council of God required repentance which was fixed and planned in John the Baptist and together with Jesus’ work, both were rejected. The golden years are still with us, together with the baptism of repentance. We have them in the Word of God which alas, has also been accorded different and varied treatments and interpretations. This is the wisdom of our generation.
3) The debt of sin (consciousness of sin)
The debt or consciousness of sin is the quality which God looks for in the soul of man. It is not so much the quantity or volume of sin, but the lack of consciousness of sin which is the abomination to God.Those who sin least and least fragrantly often feel their burden of sin much more than the wicked do; and the sins like pride, selfishness, hypocrisy, unbelief etc.; are often not felt at all, let alone the sin of the human race – Adam’s sin.
We are all debtors; God is the creditor and sin is the debt.Only a few today are conscious of their debt because much of our actions are dependent on our rational thinking which justifies all action while forgetting all about the pending death.
We try to reason everything out at every turn; but reason and logic are the height of unreason if we do not come to the realization that the debt of sin is the cause of death.
With a big debt of sin, a woman with knowledge that only Jesus could lift off her burden entered Simon’s house. The burden weighed so heavily that she owned nothing that could lift the burden off her shoulders.She, being a member of the household, took her only valuable item; perfume; knelt and poured it on Jesus’ feet, if only Jesus could lift the burden. An act of deep self-humiliation and self-denial. She counted it as nothing compared to what Jesus could do for her.
In this way she laid her repentant soul at Jesus’ feet. She had realized her deprived condition of eternal death associated with her sins. Jesus said to her: “Dismissed have been your sins”. (Verse 48) Turning her sins to Christ is all that she needed to do.
The rain causes wetness, but wetness does not cause the rain. Love for Christ follows after we deem ourselves sinners and acknowledge that he alone can set us free.
Jesus greatest mission among all other things is to remit sins. To receive remission from God is to receive remission from Jesus as God’s son. She was confident Jesus could pardon her. Her Love was the evidence of her knowledge and burden of sin. We can see Love in its works, faith and pardon cannot be seen. These three; faith, love and pardon are born of the true knowledge of God and the Lordship of Christ.
Only the woman was saved. Silence remains with regards to Simon, the Pharisees and the rest of the guests and relatives.
