Extravagent Love
Shepherd and lost sheep (Irish) Thessaloniki 1978
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A Woman Washes Jesus’ Feet
36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, so Jesus went into the Pharisee’s house and sat at the table. 37 A sinful woman in the town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house. So she brought an alabaster jar of perfume 38 and stood behind Jesus at his feet, crying. She began to wash his feet with her tears, and she dried them with her hair, kissing them many times and rubbing them with the perfume. 39 When the Pharisee who asked Jesus to come to his house saw this, he thought to himself, “If Jesus were a prophet, he would know that the woman touching him is a sinner!”
40 Jesus said to the Pharisee, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”
Simon said, “Teacher, tell me.”
41 Jesus said, “Two people owed money to the same banker. One owed five hundred coins[a] and the other owed fifty. 42 They had no money to pay what they owed, but the banker told both of them they did not have to pay him. Which person will love the banker more?”
43 Simon, the Pharisee, answered, “I think it would be the one who owed him the most money.”
Jesus said to Simon, “You are right.” 44 Then Jesus turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? When I came into your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss of greeting, but she has been kissing my feet since I came in. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she poured perfume on my feet. 47 I tell you that her many sins are forgiven, so she showed great love. But the person who is forgiven only a little will love only a little.”
48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
49 The people sitting at the table began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
50 Jesus said to the woman, “Because you believed, you are saved from your sins. Go in peace.”
The Group with Jesus
8 After this, while Jesus was traveling through some cities and small towns, he preached and told the Good News about God’s kingdom. The twelve apostles were with him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of sicknesses and evil spirits: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out; 3 Joanna, the wife of Cuza (the manager of Herod’s house); Susanna; and many others. These women used their own money to help Jesus and his apostles.
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Personal
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15 ‘We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 16 know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in[a] Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
17 ‘But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin?
Absolutely not!
18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a law-breaker.
19
‘For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!’[b]
Extravagant Grace
A religious leader called Simon invites Jesus to his home for a party. Jesus seems to like parties. We don’t know why this Pharisee invited Jesus to a party. Perhaps he was an admirer of Jesus (as Nicodemus was). But Simon didn’t do the courteous thing, no greeting kiss, no baby wipe for his feet, no anointing oil to show respect to the distinguished Rabbi. Could Simon have been trying to trap Jesus into saying something the religious leaders could use against him? More likely is that Simon is into the celebrity and name-dropping culture of that day. A kind of Queens Birthday Honours list. Invite the young Galilean for a meal and the poor could come into the courtyard and watch the great and the good having a party! The poor may even get some leftovers from the party.
Enter stage left an unnamed woman who anoints Jesus’ feet. She doesn’t want to be in the limelight, she doesn’t anoint his head, she anoints his feet. She stands behind Jesus, not in front. And she stood weeping. Why did she weep? Jesus explains that through a parable that exposes Simon’s bad attitude and her gratitude. It also reveals Jesus’s extravagant Grace.
We sit here this morning and we probably all know we are sinners saved by grace. But stop for a minute and appreciate what Jesus is teaching here. First a context note, a Denarii is equivalent to a day’s wage. ‘Two debtors: one owes 50 and one owes 500 Denarii.’ The debts are cancelled and the point is that the one whose great debt was cancelled is overwhelmed and back at the party, this woman stands weeping, Jesus says her sins which were many are forgiven! And the woman stands weeping…. such power, the power of extravagant grace.
Have you ever been moved by this forgiveness (or do you think you’re not that bad)? Jesus reads Simon’s mind, he is blinkered, he thinks he is not as bad as the woman who has done lots of wrongs.
He feels better than those who don’t come to church every week, he feels better than those who don’t give much into the collection, he feels better because he is doing loads in the church but she is doing nothing. (Is this getting a bit personal for you?). Simon is exposed…he knows everything about religion, liturgy, theology, temple worship and law but the woman knew how sinful she was and she wept under the power of Christ’s extravagant grace, his unconditional (agape) love.
She was blown away by the reality that she is loved and accepted as she is NOW, not because she will become something else. That is Extravagant grace!
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15 ‘We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 16 know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in[a] Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
17 ‘But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin?
Absolutely not!
18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a law-breaker.
19
‘For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!’
Looking specifically at Galatians 2:15-21, what does grace mean? Paul says a person is ‘justified by faith in Christ’ in verse 16.
Justified is one of those jargon words - the best explanation is ‘made right with God’ because of the cross (just-as-if-I’d never sinned).
Grace is the greatest undeserved, unexpected, for no reason gift we could ever hope for. Grace is greater than a surprise 60th Birthday party, which we sprung on my wife this year (2022).
I like the gifts that are unexpected, for no reason gifts, the undeserved gifts, the just because you’re struggling gifts, an exam coming up, an illness, a sadness and you get a surprise gift or card, those are the ones that melt you, the ones you can never repay because they’re nothing to do with duty, but you can’t repay them.
Grace says for no reason I, though a gentile, I am adopted into his family - grace is to say this is no longer me but Christ living in me (Galatians 2:19) - grace is to be transformed from being sinful in the eyes of God (Galatians 2:20) into being justified (just as if I’d never sinned). Righteous) because of Jesus.
Grace is a word we use all the time but Jesus never defined it or analysed it. He lived it in his ministry and he explained it by telling stories: A father waiting, longing for the return of the prodigal (grace). A person owing a 500 denarii debt is let off! (Pictures of extravagant grace).
I am the type who, from time to time, deserves divine telling’s off and punishments of penance but I find when I come back to Jesus with sin and shame …I find the debt is paid, 500 denarii cleared and… I weep.
“ Grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us more. No amount of crusading on behalf of righteous causes. Grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us less; no amount of racism or pride or porn or adultery or even murder. Grace means that God already loves us as much as an infinite God possible can love’
Philip Yancey
A story:
A man dies and goes to heaven. St. Peter meets him at the Pearly Gates and say's, "Here's how it works. You need 100 points to get into heaven. Tell me all the good things you have done, and I give points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you get to 100 points, you’re in."
Okay," the man says, "I was married to the same woman for 50 years and never cheated on her."
Wonderful," says St. Peter, "that's 3 points."
Three points?" He says, "OK, I attended church all my life, giving a tithe and servitude."
Terrific!" says St. Peter. "That's worth 1 point."
"1 point? OK, I started a soup kitchen in my town and worked in a shelter for the homeless."
Fantastic, that's good for two more points" he says.
"2 points!" The man cries. "At this rate, the only way to get into heaven is by the grace of God!"
St. Peter smiled. "Well done that’s your 100 points! Come on in!"
A humourous demonstration that says, it is only by grace can we enter.
If you think you can’t change or that you have messed up too many times...please hear it again God’s extravagant Grace….. forgives and forgives and doesn’t know when to stop forgiving.
Extravagant Gratitude
I used to be in our Junior School choir and once we got to the final of the Portadown Music Festival and we sang ‘When Johnny comes marching home again,’ with gusto… I felt like I was performing in the Royal Albert Hall - I can still remember the buzz.
I can still remember the words of those songs, I don’t remember the name of our music teacher but she certainly got the best out of us, scrawny, fidgety, spotty kids. We sang like larks, strangely, I can’t remember the teacher’s name…. I can picture her… with her back to the audience, facing us, arms waving and her face smiling, exaggerating and mouthing the words for us….getting the best out of us. Strangely, I can’t remember her name.
I remember Mr Turner the Head Teacher and my Maths teacher - he once made a fool of me in class. I remember Miss Creighton, she lost he temper with me and threw the blackboard rubber at me. I remember the name of the teacher who made my cousin Rosemary wait till the end of the lesson when she needed to go to the toilet. Unfortunately, she couldn’t wait and by the end of the lesson, she didn’t need to go to the toilet! That teacher’s name was Miss Waters! But I can’t remember the name of the teacher who led our school choir to glory in the Portadown Music festival. What has that got to do with Luke 7:36?
The drama of the story invites us to focus on the unnamed woman who anoints Jesus’ feet. It’s obvious from the story that she would not want to be in the focus, she doesn’t anoint his head, she anoints his feet. Her humility perhaps thinking she wasn’t worthy to anoint his head. This woman is not aware that she is in the focus, she stands behind Jesus, not in front. This woman is only conscious of showing her love for her Lord Jesus, no matter who was watching. She is weeping, plus, no self-respecting woman would let her hair down in public (Palestine AD30).
She didn’t think of that minor social detail; all she thought of was loving Jesus and expressing her adoration by anointing his feet. She took the most precious thing she possessed, a jar of expensive ointment and used it all on Jesus. In doing this she teaches us, that true love, does not count the cost, true love only thinks of giving, and is focused on the recipient.
Why did she do it? Extravagant gratitude…thanking Jesus for forgiving and helping her.
Jesus declares this to be an extravagant loving act that she will be known for all time (Mark 14:9)
Paul goes down in history as a bible great…but this woman didn’t leave us any words just this one action… she anointed the feet of Jesus our Saviour. This act so completely focussed on Jesus, not a drop of worldly benefit would arise… nothing could justify this spillage except love alone. It was an absurd act of extravagant gratitude… just for love alone. Jesus in Mark 14v9 said ‘what she has done is a beautiful thing.’
Who else in history anointed king Jesus… who else anointed him for burial? To me she is a role model, not a waster of money… this woman inspires me.. she gave all she had…. I want to give all I have for Jesus…. She wasn’t bothered by how she looked in her weeping and her adoration for Jesus… I want to be ‘not bothered’ by how my love for Jesus looks to others.
She became known for this one loving act nothing more, nothing less…
She loved our Lord extravagantly. I want to be known…not for being Irish or disabled or a Chaplain... I want to be known for my love for Jesus.
How will you be remembered…in this church… in your neighbourhood…. Is there something you are putting before your love for the Lord? Bring that to Jesus….
Extravagant Servitude
Finally, we find in this story an outpouring of Extravagant Servitude.
These last three verses are very interesting. They tell us that Jesus and the disciples were supported by a group of women.
Not because they needed to be supported. God could have provided for them miraculously. But not this time. There is no mention of synagogues now, Jesus was on an open-air preaching tour, hillside and lakeside. There was no lack of audience - see Luke 7:11, 7:24, 8:4, 8:19, 8:40, 8:45.
In the Audio there is an interview with Jennie Burke here. Jennie tells a story of how some people in took charge of a plot of allotments in Wakefield to work together in serving their local community.
During his three-year ministry, Jesus received the servitude of people who had been forgiven, helped and healed
Agape love gives and receives. These women were able to bless the Lord by their servitude.
This list of women includes Mary Magdalene, Joanna wife of Chuza (Herod’s Right-hand man), Suzanna and many others. Such a diverse group of people who came together to serve the Lord and his purposes (and the disciples). It is heart-warming to read about this diverse group ministering to the Lord Jesus Christ and the Disciples.
What a picture for today’s church, a diverse group of people who came together to serve the Lord.
Remember John 13 and Jesus washing feet? What was going on there? Were they learning to serve or learning that servitude is also about humbly receiving? Agape love is unconditionally loving, giving and receiving.
Many people who are prominent or lead acknowledge that they could not hold office for one week if not for the servitude of people behind the scenes. Every gift you have to offer the Lord can be used in the service of Jesus Christ: Car mechanic, gardener, tea and coffee, crèche and S.School, healing ministry and worship ministry; extravagant servitude is a lynchpin of ministry.
