Luke 7:41-43
41‘A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42When they could not pay, he cancelled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?’ 43Simon answered, ‘I suppose the one for whom he cancelled the greater debt.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘You have judged rightly.’
Blog Discussion Question: Is Jesus saying we should sin more so that we might then in turn love God more?
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5 comments:
NO! Jesus died for our sins, but it still pains God for the sins that we do. So why would he want us to sin more when it still causes Him pain. It could almost be like those "WOW" conversion stories as Pastor Pat discussed a few weeks ago during the Lenton service. As for myself, I have grown up in the church and do not have a real "WOW" moment of giving my life to Chirst, but I do know of people who have. It seems like the people who have some of those "WOW" moments had "greater" sins and then they "saw the light". They seem like they have much more love because of the "high" they are on. Those of us who don't have that "WOW" moment does not mean we do not have that same love, but we are not on such a "high" it seems like and showing that love. Hope this didn't stray from your path too much Pastor Jerry.
KevKat, You indeed did have a WOW moment. I was there. When you were touched by Jesus and He spoke to you at baptism you were never the same. You maybe didn't feel it, but I did and you will soon understand.
I think the preceeding story which initiated the parable deserves reading (vs. 36-40). One ususally finds or thinks of the Pharisees "trying to trap Jesus", but here Jesus was invited to dinner and He went. How did Jesus hear what Simon "said to himself" about the kind of woman who was touching him? Maybe this question is as rhetorical as "Should we sin more so we can love God more?"
From the parable I agree that one undoubtedly showed more gratitude, but for me the more important point is NEITHER could repay and BOTH were cancelled.
So apparently this Simon is Simon a Pharisee, not Simon Peter? Since Jesus agreed with this Simon's response, this Simon must have thought BEFORE he spoke unlike the usual responses from Simon the disciple.
As KevKat said, we all experience the touch of Jesus differently. I doubt that neither the woman OR Simon were the same again.
Notice rjq that I put quotes about around "WOW" moment. "WOW" meaning some time and place that you can personally remember as an adult or teen even some. Yes, I would agree that my actual "WOW" moment was at my baptism, but due to the people in my life such as you I have always considered Christ to be the center of my life. Thank you!!
Just a note....the blog discussion question is only meant to be a starting point for discussion in case people don't know where to start with their comments. So, if you have a comment that has nothing to do with the discussion question....that is fine!
Paul addresses this very question in Romans 6, and his response is that when we were Baptized we died to sin and we arose to new life.....kind of like when a butterfly emerges from the cocoon it would be foolish for it to conduct its life like a caterpiller (How do you spell that?????). It'a a butterfly now. In Baptism we are children of God, not children of our sins....Read Romans 6:1-5.
The other thing that occurs to me is that the question that Jesus asks is much like which is worse to lose the state championship football game by 30 or by one point on the last play. Either way it is a huge loss. Once you discover what a huge loss our brokenness from God is, it really doesn't matter if it is shattered in pieces of broken in just a couple. It is a huge loss. Thanks be to God, that his forgiveness is there...and that is what we need....no matter how broken we are.
Wow!
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