Engaging With Jesus
Scripture Reading — Luke 7:36-50
“Her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
—Luke 7:47
How do we engage with Jesus? Do we invite him for dinner to have an intellectual conversation, or do we come weeping, seeking forgiveness, and trying to honor him?
Luke shares a story of two people who want to meet with Jesus. One is Simon the Pharisee, who is spiritually interested and wants to learn more about Jesus. The other is a woman who weeps at Jesus’ feet, wipes his feet with her hair, kisses them and pours perfume on them. Simon is a good moral citizen, and the woman is someone who has “lived a sinful life.” Simon approaches Jesus in an intellectual way over a meal; the woman expresses the deepest cry of her heart as she seeks freedom from her sin.
Simon is surprised that Jesus would accept this treatment from a sinner, yet we find that Jesus honors the woman. She receives forgiveness of sins, but we hear of no change in the spiritual condition of Simon.
Do we seek Jesus to affirm our own thinking and gain personal peace, or do we radically pursue him, asking for forgiveness and offering our best efforts in service to him?
Which sins do you tend to notice more—your own or those of others? Are you someone who knows how much you need to be forgiven? Give thanks today for God’s mercy—and for the grace to be merciful.
Jesus, thank you for blessing us with your presence. Hear our cry for mercy, and cleanse us from every impurity in our lives. For only in you can we find abundant life. Amen.
About the author — John Kuperus
Since he was young, John Kuperus has had a passion that everyone would know Jesus. Spreading the good news that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15) is very important to him. To be better equipped for missions, John attended Reformed Bible College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He applied these skills with marketplace evangelism in a business he started in Sussex, New Jersey. This calling continued to follow him, so John attended seminary and became a minister in the Christian Reformed Church, serving a church in Ontario for eight years. Currently he serves as a missionary for Youth with a Mission (YWAM). He witnesses Jesus changing lives as people walk out of the darkness into the light. John is married to Helen, and they have seven children.
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