Today, I am reading and commenting on  Luke 6-7.

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I have thought about this before but I have never quite known how to express it (or perhaps I did and have forgotten doing so).  In today’s passage, Jesus points out that both He and John the Baptist had called the same people to prepare themselves for the kingdom of God.  He also points out that they had different approaches, but were both condemned for the approach they took.  John the Baptist was an ascetic who separated himself from society in order to avoid being corrupted by sinners.  Jesus, on the other hand, joined in with sinners and spoke God’s message to them directly.  People condemned John the Baptist as a crazy man who stood outside of society, because he refused to associate with sinners (I am oversimplifying to make a point).  Then they condemned Jesus for associating with sinners.  What people overlooked was that both Jesus and John the Baptist considered everyone a sinner.  Something which Luke illustrates with his next account about the woman anointing Jesus with oil.  I believe illustrating that point is why Luke included that story immediately after this.  Jesus makes the point here that both approaches are acceptable.  Some of us are called to withdraw from society to live a simple life and illustrate how doing so can be a service to God.  While others of us are called to immerse ourselves in society while living a life dedicated to God.  In either case, we must speak God’s message to those who are hurting in society (which is everyone who has not been healed by Jesus).

I want to point out how Jesus, in the account of the woman who anointed His feet, gently points out to Simon the Pharisee that everyone has sinned and needs God’s forgiveness.  When Jesus tells Simon the story about the two debtors, Simon cannot have missed that Jesus was telling him that he was a sinner.  Perhaps the thing which touches me most in this story is that the way Luke tells it suggests that Simon became a disciple of Jesus, either prior to this point or later.  How do I know that Simon was a disciple of Jesus at some point?  How else would Luke know what he said to himself when he saw the woman anointing Jesus?  Clearly, Luke could only know that if Simon had shared that detail.  I further believe that Simon shared this story directly with Luke because Luke is the only Gospel writer who names him.  Simon had been one of those who considered himself pure and looked down on those who were more publicly sinful.  I genuinely think that Simon got the point of Jesus’ story and felt ashamed that he did not have the same level of love for Jesus as the woman whom he saw as a sinner did.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.