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Your Faith has saved you
...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.”
(Luke 7:44-50 ESV)
This is a very famous story, and one that can be looked at from a great many perspectives. You can look at it from the perspective of the self-righteous and indignant host who was uncomfortable having a person of this sort in his home.
You can also look at it from the perspective of Jesus trying to make a point about his identity and authority, particularly, his authority to forgive sins. Or you can look at this story through the eyes of this penitent sinful woman. There is a lot to be learned in this story no matter how you look at it really.
However, I was struck this time around by the last statement of Jesus to this woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace”. What faith was Jesus referring to? It seems she was already forgiven when she came in, and that is why she was so thankful. And yet in the end Jesus tells her that her faith has saved her. What did she believe? And how was that faith expressed? Let’s look at these questions one by one.
What did she believe?
We have no real background or description of this woman nor do we have a name for this woman, all we know is that she was a known “sinner”. We don’t know if Jesus had any previous contact with her either, though it seems she knew about him. She was aware of her sinfulness,(It seemed there was no lack of people to remind her) but she was also aware, at least to some degree, that Jesus forgave and healed sinners.
She believed that Jesus could in fact forgive her, the Pharisees by contrast scoffed at the ability of Jesus to forgive sins. Only God could forgive sins, they would say - and they were right, and that is exactly the point. And that is what this pathetic woman understood and believed, and it moved her to action. Her faith was that she could be fully forgiven and restored, she believed that she was forgiven and it overwhelmed her.
How was her faith expressed?
The expression of faith or the response of faith is something that is often skipped over when faith is discussed. I suspect because preachers and teachers are afraid of conveying any hint of “works righteousness” and I get it, you have to be clear on the chicken and egg question. Which is first the chicken or the egg? Answer: God.
Our response of faith is a response to the grace of God that has already been given. Just like this woman’s thankfulness was a response to the grace that was already given. But here is where it gets interesting, when she came in crying with her gift was it because she was already forgiven or was it because she believed she would be forgiven? If you read the story carefully I think you will see that it is not entirely clear why she was so thankful and Jesus forgave her later in the story. (Though I believe that was more for the Pharisees benefit than hers)
The point I am trying to make is that faith and the response of faith cannot be separated into two neat piles that must not touch. Paul famously connected faith and the response of faith in Romans.
because,
if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
you will be saved.
For with the heart one believes and is justified,
and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
(Romans 10:9-10 ESV)
Get full access to On walking the Way at tompossin.substack.com/subscribe
So you see trying to separate the response of faith from the belief is futile. The one flows from the other like light flows from the sun. Jesus saw her faith in her actions she was both forgiven and saved exactly as Paul describes above. While it is true we are not saved by our works I think it is also true that we are not saved without them. They are truly inseparable.
The only danger here is if we would try to reverse the process, where we would attempt to work in order to be saved, rather than believe in the saving grace of God resulting in a response of faith.
This woman for all her faults, understood where the grace of God came from. The Pharisees that were present missed it entirely. Jesus is God’s expression of grace to humanity and this sinful woman believed that God’s grace through Jesus was enough, even for her. Her outrageous outpouring of love was her response of faith to her belief in the grace of God in Jesus. And Jesus responded by saying she was both forgiven and saved.
Walking this path today
To walk in the path of this woman it seems to me we have to examine ourselves to see if we are more like the Pharisees in this story or the forgiven and grateful woman. We need to examine our responses to see if they are based in trust in the grace of God or trust in ourselves, or anything else for that matter.
Love and good works will flow naturally from a heart that has been forgiven and set free. If we do not feel that way we just have to ask, “Do I really believe I am a sinner?”. And then, “Do I believe I am truly and fully forgiven?”.
When this woman answered yes to these two questions the response of love and faith followed naturally. To walk in the knowledge of the grace of God is to walk in both love and faith. This is the path to life.
Have a great week!
Get full access to On walking the Way at tompossin.substack.com/subscribe
View all episodes
By Tom Possin...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.”
(Luke 7:44-50 ESV)
This is a very famous story, and one that can be looked at from a great many perspectives. You can look at it from the perspective of the self-righteous and indignant host who was uncomfortable having a person of this sort in his home.
You can also look at it from the perspective of Jesus trying to make a point about his identity and authority, particularly, his authority to forgive sins. Or you can look at this story through the eyes of this penitent sinful woman. There is a lot to be learned in this story no matter how you look at it really.
However, I was struck this time around by the last statement of Jesus to this woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace”. What faith was Jesus referring to? It seems she was already forgiven when she came in, and that is why she was so thankful. And yet in the end Jesus tells her that her faith has saved her. What did she believe? And how was that faith expressed? Let’s look at these questions one by one.
What did she believe?
We have no real background or description of this woman nor do we have a name for this woman, all we know is that she was a known “sinner”. We don’t know if Jesus had any previous contact with her either, though it seems she knew about him. She was aware of her sinfulness,(It seemed there was no lack of people to remind her) but she was also aware, at least to some degree, that Jesus forgave and healed sinners.
She believed that Jesus could in fact forgive her, the Pharisees by contrast scoffed at the ability of Jesus to forgive sins. Only God could forgive sins, they would say - and they were right, and that is exactly the point. And that is what this pathetic woman understood and believed, and it moved her to action. Her faith was that she could be fully forgiven and restored, she believed that she was forgiven and it overwhelmed her.
How was her faith expressed?
The expression of faith or the response of faith is something that is often skipped over when faith is discussed. I suspect because preachers and teachers are afraid of conveying any hint of “works righteousness” and I get it, you have to be clear on the chicken and egg question. Which is first the chicken or the egg? Answer: God.
Our response of faith is a response to the grace of God that has already been given. Just like this woman’s thankfulness was a response to the grace that was already given. But here is where it gets interesting, when she came in crying with her gift was it because she was already forgiven or was it because she believed she would be forgiven? If you read the story carefully I think you will see that it is not entirely clear why she was so thankful and Jesus forgave her later in the story. (Though I believe that was more for the Pharisees benefit than hers)
The point I am trying to make is that faith and the response of faith cannot be separated into two neat piles that must not touch. Paul famously connected faith and the response of faith in Romans.
because,
if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
you will be saved.
For with the heart one believes and is justified,
and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
(Romans 10:9-10 ESV)
Get full access to On walking the Way at tompossin.substack.com/subscribe
So you see trying to separate the response of faith from the belief is futile. The one flows from the other like light flows from the sun. Jesus saw her faith in her actions she was both forgiven and saved exactly as Paul describes above. While it is true we are not saved by our works I think it is also true that we are not saved without them. They are truly inseparable.
The only danger here is if we would try to reverse the process, where we would attempt to work in order to be saved, rather than believe in the saving grace of God resulting in a response of faith.
This woman for all her faults, understood where the grace of God came from. The Pharisees that were present missed it entirely. Jesus is God’s expression of grace to humanity and this sinful woman believed that God’s grace through Jesus was enough, even for her. Her outrageous outpouring of love was her response of faith to her belief in the grace of God in Jesus. And Jesus responded by saying she was both forgiven and saved.
Walking this path today
To walk in the path of this woman it seems to me we have to examine ourselves to see if we are more like the Pharisees in this story or the forgiven and grateful woman. We need to examine our responses to see if they are based in trust in the grace of God or trust in ourselves, or anything else for that matter.
Love and good works will flow naturally from a heart that has been forgiven and set free. If we do not feel that way we just have to ask, “Do I really believe I am a sinner?”. And then, “Do I believe I am truly and fully forgiven?”.
When this woman answered yes to these two questions the response of love and faith followed naturally. To walk in the knowledge of the grace of God is to walk in both love and faith. This is the path to life.
Have a great week!
Get full access to On walking the Way at tompossin.substack.com/subscribe