Saved by Faith, Sola Fi

June 16, 2013


SECOND LESSON: Galatians 2:15–21 [“The righteous shall live by faith.”]
We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
L: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
C: Alleluia, Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Alleluia, Alleluia!
P: The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, the Seventh Chapter.
C: Glory to you, O Lord.
GOSPEL LESSON: Luke 7:36—50 [The forgiveness of a sinful woman]
One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.
Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”
And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”
And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”
“A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.”
And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.”
Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”
And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?”
And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
P: This is the Gospel of our Lord.
C: Praise to you, O Christ.

There are a number of people we need to look at today. First Jesus of course, then the woman who washed his feet with her tears and anointed them with ointment, then Simon the Pharisee, then St. Paul, and then finally you and I.

Jesus was invited to dinner by Simon the Pharisee. In those days people did not sit on chairs at the table, rather they reclined on couches. A low table would be set in the center of the room, and then couches would be placed around the table. People would lie with their face toward the table and their feet would be stretched out like the spokes of a wheel. And so it was easy for the woman to come up behind Jesus to wet his feet, to kiss them and to anoint them with precious perfume-like oil. Simon knew about this woman and he called her a sinner. For the Jews, a sinner was anyone who did not keep the Law of Moses, the Torah. This included Gentiles, and Jewish sinners who did business with the Gentiles. We do not know the woman’s full background, but Simon had no respect for her. Something happened in her life when she met Jesus. She knew Jesus was a holy prophet, and so she knew her sin. She was very sorry for her sin and in Jesus she found forgiveness and relief from her guilt. In Jesus she found salvation and peace. And so I think that her tears were no longer tears of remorse and repentance, but rather tears of joy and thankfulness and love toward Jesus. The aromatic oil was a sign of respect and service to Jesus.

And this becomes a teaching moment for Simon. Jesus told a little parable.

“A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.”

And Jesus said to him, “You have judged rightly.”

Then Jesus told Simon that the woman was doing a wonderful thing for Jesus because her large debt of sin had been forgiven. “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” Then Jesus himself does what seems scandalous to those at the dinner table. He forgave the sins of the woman. Every good Jew knew that the Law of Moses demands a sacrifice for sins to be forgiven, and only priests could perform this purification ritual. They did not know who Jesus was and they did not understand the real meaning and the real power of the Old Testament sacrifices. And so they grumbled around the table, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?”

　　Of course we know the answer: Jesus is the Christ, the Savior who died on the cross to forgive the sin of the world. But they did not yet know this. But they did know that Jesus was a prophet from God. Their grumbling around the table might have disturbed the woman who had done this beautiful service for Jesus. But Jesus reassures her with these beautiful words that we too have learned to love, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

This religious thinking of the Pharisees was very strong, and was held by many people. It is the dominant religious thinking of every religion. It is the dominant thinking of non-religious people, too: You are saved by works of the law. You get ahead in the world by working hard. You have to work hard to get to heaven. Lazy sinners go to hell. Social misfits are to be shunned. There is no such thing as a free-lunch.

There are many Pharisees even in the Church. St. Paul found them in the town of Galatia. We can find them here in Okinawa, too. We Lutherans are proud that we proclaim salvation by faith alone without the works of the law. St. Paul wrote, “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” But even we Lutherans must always be careful not to fall into the slavery of the Law. We must not become employees of the Law.

At the time of the Lutheran Reformation, this was a slogan: “Salvation by Faith Alone,” “Sola Fide” in Latin. It sounds a bit like the Marine motto: “Semper Fidelis,” “always faithful,” and maybe it has a similar meaning: we live by our faith, we live faithfully. At the time of the Lutheran Reformation, this was important. The medieval church had made a lot of rules about indulgences, rituals, relics, and masses. It was all to earn salvation by what we people do. Then Martin Luther found those words of St. Paul in the Letter to the Galatians. It changed him from being a religious Pharisee to being a free person living in and by the grace of God. He felt joy like the woman to whom Jesus had spoken, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

All of Christendom today is indebted to the Lutheran Reformation. Everyone says that we are saved by faith. But then they add to that all sorts of denominational rules and special denominational teachings. They are no better than Simon the Pharisee. The Christians Church is filled with religious bigots and prejudice. Jesus said to Simon,

“A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.”

And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.”

People like Simon who have been forgiven only a little, forgive others only a little. It is hard for people who are basically good people to forgive gross sinners. Maybe that is why preachers always point out the sins of the congregation. It is to make people realize the seriousness of sin. People might think that their sin is not so bad, but how do you measure how bad it is? If you measure your sin in comparison with other sinners, then you are like a Pharisee trying to measure yourself according to the Law. God must measure us. The judgment of Holy God says that your sin is so bad that you must die. To forgive your sin, God sent Jesus Christ to die in your place. That is the measure of your sin: it is the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.

When we realize how large a debt was forgiven, we should be like the woman who washed the feet of Jesus with her tears. The gratitude and joy become service of love for God and for others. We are free. “Sola Fide” and “Semper Fidelis.” It is our faith, but it is God who is always faithful. It is God who loves us always. That is our way of life as a Christian.

“Sola Fi!”

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church


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