Welcome back some. Welcome for the first time,
everyone else. Lovely to have you back here.
It's an incredible joy. The college has been
very empty for quite a long time. I came across
a thought -provoking quotation recently. This
is what it says. Victoria is in on Augustine's
secret. I'm going to give you 30 seconds to think
for yourself what that is all about. Victoria
is in on Augustine's secret. Down to talk to
each other. You can think on your own or talk
to a neighbour. Okay, I can see some laughter.
Let me put this quotation in its wider context.
First of all, St. Augustine, he made the point
that human beings are creatures of desire. What
or whom do we long for? Famously, you made us
for yourself and our heart is restless until
it finds its rest in you. And then there's the
quotations context. The marketing industry is
able to capture, form and direct our desires
precisely because it has rightly discerned that
we're embodied, desiring creatures whose being
in the world is governed by the imagination.
Marketers have figured out the way to our heart
because they get it. They rightly understand
that at root we are creatures who are orientated
primarily by love and passion and desire. In
sum, I think Victoria is in on Augustine's secret.
It's a quotation from a book by James K .A. Smith.
I guess many of you have come across him, or
if you haven't, you will be. In another of his
books, You Are What You Love, he said, what if
instead of starting from the assumption that
human beings are thinking things, we started
from the conviction that human beings are first
and foremost lovers? His point then, he said,
Christian discipleship frequently starts off
on the wrong foot here as we preach and educate
and train and do youth work and even parent according
to the wrong model. We assume that people change
through learning different things, whereas actually
they grow through loving different things. And
so he protests about a model of ministry narrowly
focused on filling heads. So we're like heads
with on legs like that. And we stuff our heads
full of knowledge, convinced we can think our
way to holiness. It's like brains on stalks.
You know, I'm thinking at this moment, is Oak
Hill telling me on my very first day that thinking.
There's no value in learning things. Are you
kidding me? Of course not. Just to be clear,
of course not. Learning and knowing are fundamental
to loving in that sense. We come to love someone
by learning about them, by getting to know them.
Unless you go on one of these TV programmes in
which case you get married at first sight. But
our hearts, our love, our desires are foundational.
And we're going to see that no clearer than Luke
chapter 7. So if you've got a Bible accessible,
we're in Luke chapter 7, verses 36 to 50. Luke
7, 36 to 50. Let me read it. When one of the
Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him,
he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined
at the table. A woman in that town who lived
a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at
the Pharisee's house, so she came there with
an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind
him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his
feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with
her hair. kissed them and poured perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this,
he said to himself, if this man were a prophet,
he would know who's touching him, what kind of
woman she is, that she's a sinner. Jesus answered
him, Simon, I have something to tell you. Tell
me, teacher, he said. Two people owed money to
a certain moneylender. One owed him 500 denarii
and the other 50. Neither of them had the money
to pay him back, so he gave the debts of both.
Now which of them will love him more? Simon replied,
I suppose the one with the bigger debt forgiven.
You have judged correctly, Jesus said. Then he
turned towards the woman and said to Simon, Do
you see this woman? I came into your house. You
did not give me any water for my feet, but she
wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with
her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this
woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped
kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head,
but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore
I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven,
as her great love has shown. But whoever has
been forgiven little, loves little. Then Jesus
said to her, Your sins are forgiven. The other
guests began to say among themselves, Who is
this who even forgives sins? And Jesus said to
the woman, Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.
So Jesus is invited to the house. At this point,
we don't know his name, an unnamed Pharisee.
Pharisees have made quite an appearance in Luke's
gospel up to this moment. Back in chapter five,
they frogged to hear Jesus. They came not just
from Galilee, but also from Judea and from Jerusalem.
You could imagine they were intrigued. But when
what they found was deeply challenging and deeply
troubling. They were troubled by his claims.
So do you remember when Jesus said to the paralysed
man, friend, your sins are forgiven? They began
thinking to themselves, who is this who speaks
blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?
It wasn't just his claims. It was who he ate
with. And later in chapter five, when Jesus went
to the Levi, the tax collector's house, there
were lots of tax collectors and others that were
there. And then Luke tells us the Pharisees,
the teachers of the law who belong to their sect,
complained to Jesus' disciples. Why do you eat
and drink with tax collectors and sinners? And
then, of course, there was his lack of observance,
his lack of fasting. They didn't like the fact
Jesus' disciples weren't fasting and praying.
And they weren't often, but instead they were
eating and drinking. And then there was, of course,
his Sabbath observance. As Jesus' disciples went
through the cornfields, disciples began to rub
the ears of corn. And some of the Pharisees asked,
why are you doing what's unlawful on the Sabbath?
And Jesus answered them again. And so they watch
his every move in chapter six. They were looking
for a reason, says Luke in chapter 6, verse 7.
The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were
looking for a reason to accuse Jesus. So they
watched him closely to see if he would heal on
the Sabbath. Sure enough, he did. So the result,
6 .11. But the Pharisees and the teachers of
the law were furious and began to discuss with
one another what they might do to Jesus. She's
got that backdrop as the Pharisee, we don't know
his name yet, invites Jesus to his house for
a meal. What do you make of that? Is he intrigued?
Is he trying to trap Jesus? Is he curious? It
was a big deal to get someone over for a meal.
Hospitality? We don't really quite know. We've
got that kind of shadow in the background. But
what about the other person here, the woman?
Well, she'd obviously got quite a background,
hadn't she? We get that very clearly. The language
of being a sinner, probably a prostitute. I don't
know, I've got quite a number of questions here.
How did she get in? Did she kind of tailgate
the stewards? Don't do that with the library,
incidentally, and academic centre. No tailgating.
How did she get the perfume? Was it part of her
profession? Pretty awkward. Not that surprising,
was it? The Simon was really put out. After all,
the Pharisees really cared who they act with.
That was precisely the complaint about Jesus
earlier on. Look at her devotion. She bought
an alabaster jar of perfume. I don't know what
alabaster was. Do you know what alabaster is?
maybe you've done some speaking on this and thought
about it it's just let me this is a little bit
of research a soft translucent gypsum stone historically
used to hold expensive ointments perfumes and
oils and of course remember in that day they
would recline to eat and so prop themselves up
on one elbow and she wets his jesus feet with
her tears and she wipes them with her care she
kisses them and pours perfume on them It's pretty
embarrassing, wouldn't you feel? Certainly for
Simon. Awkward, but incredibly beautiful. She
risked ridicule and more beside. And the Pharisee,
he's still, of course, the Pharisee. He's trying
to get his head around this. How do I make sense
of this? So I know the teacher. He's supposed
to be a prophet, but he doesn't seem to be aware
of who this woman is. And then he thinks, I kind
of want to say something, but I can't really
as the host. I can't be rude to my guest. So
instead, he thinks to himself. He knows who the
woman is. He's sure as anything Jesus doesn't.
So he ends up muttering almost under his breath.
If this man were a prophet, he would know who
is touching him and what kind of woman she is,
that she's a sinner. I love Luke's little irony
here when he puts in what happened to that. Do
you notice what he says next? Jesus answered
him. He knows exactly what's going on in his
head and answers what is going on in his head.
This so -called prophet who can't be a prophet
because he doesn't know. Simon, I have something
to say to you. Two people owed money to a certain
money lender. One owed him 500 denarii, about
75k on today's terms, we think, something like
that. 75 ,000, quite a lot. The other 50. Neither
of them had the money to pay him back, so he
cancelled the debts of both. Now, which of them
will love him more? Have you ever, in your life,
confronted a host? When you've been around for
a meal, invited around for a meal, have you ever
confronted your host? Have you ever been confronted?
You just don't do this, do you? But Jesus is
extraordinary. Do you see this woman? Of course
he does. Everyone does. I mean, you can't miss
her. Who couldn't perfume the smell filling the
air? The crying, the sobs, you can imagine punctuating
the conversation. There's that awkward silence.
The sounds. He calls out the host. And this is
one of the fundamental things that are going
on here. What a difference it was between the
woman and Simon. So Jesus comes into Simon's
house. Simon doesn't give him any water at all.
not even for his feet. But the woman wet his
feet with her tears, wiped them with her hair.
I know some of you have been to Uzbekistan or
that central Asia over the summer. I don't know
if any of you have been to Middle Eastern cities
where you have open -toed sandals and your feet
get pretty dirty, don't they? Not a thing you
did. Done. But she with tears of repentance.
And then Jesus... So Simon didn't give Jesus
a kiss. Well, kissing was customary. Greet one
another with a holy kiss. And she kissed his
feet, not his cheek. And she kept on doing so.
This was, again, this was dirt. He didn't do
that. Or Simon didn't put oil on Jesus' head.
Sometimes hosts did it. It wasn't that common
to do, but of course, sometimes some hosts did
it. But she takes his alabaster perfume on her
feet and doused it. So you see, Simon, The host
does nothing that a host should do, a good host.
Who is the real host who's offering hospitality?
It's the woman. Which of them will love him more?
Jesus makes it very, very clear. The right response
is extravagant love for Jesus. So the heart of
our discipleship, back to that early quotation,
is love. It is love for Jesus Christ. Yes, we
care here massively about our understanding,
our knowing, our learning, our thinking, our
studies. We want you to be better equipped to
serve the Lord and we need to, as Andrew so rightly
said, we learn so much from you. But more than
anything else, we want to grow in our love for
Jesus Christ, don't we? That's the heart. That's
everything. We get to know Christ better through
our studies, through our conversations, through
one another. We grow in our love for him and
this passionate devotion seen in action. And
you notice it's not. conscious and sort of self
-conscious it's heartfelt one of the strange
things about being in a college like this is
we can you can gradually conform to what everyone
else does because that's what peer pressure does
but you notice this extravagant devotion was
entirely unselfconscious desires reordered heartfelt
love for the person But this isn't self -generated
love from the inside. What's the engine for that
love? Look at verse 47. I tell you, her many
sins have been forgiven as her great love has
shown. But whoever's been forgiven little loves
little. So the woman loves much because she's
been forgiven much. You'll know this so well,
going in many of our ministry situations, people
think, if only I do these things, if I only love
Jesus a lot and show I really love him, then
perhaps he might accept me. And of course, that's
exactly 100 % the opposite way around. It's precisely
because we know what Jesus Christ has done for
us that we love him. He makes the point very
plainly. It's the one who has had the bigger
debts cancelled who will then love him more.
So it's not love then cancelled, it's cancelled
then loved. Forgiveness is the engine for that
love. So we don't love to be forgiven, but because
we are forgiven. This also makes a very striking
point. Everyone needs forgiveness. It's easy
to kind of think, ah, well, I may not be the
500 denarii person, but maybe I'm a bit like
Simon, I'm the 50 denarii person. Maybe Simon
was forgiven a little bit. He's quite a good
person, really. He's respectable. But there's
no indication Simon's forgiven at all. All of
us are 500 denarii people. And again, you arrive
new in a college like this and we can project
our upright image that we're basically got it.
We're sorted. We're on the Simon's side in that
sense. But there's far from the reality. Simon
was entirely unable to see the scale of that
sin. And maybe that's true of us. We may not
have the history of the woman, but we play out
our sins in other ways. I was just reflecting
on this. There's the kind of self -righteousness
that Pharisees are legendarily known for. That
sense of pride. I'm an Oak Hill student now.
I'm an Oak Hill faculty member now. I've somehow
made it. I've arrived in the hierarchy of religious.
Pecking order, for want of a better word. I'm
self -important. I'm now a somebody and will
those nobodies. I don't have to associate with
them anymore. Or selfish ambition. It's my agenda,
my ways, the sacrifices on the way and the sacrifices
that other people have had to have. Or the raw
greed, the lust for more and enslaving addictions.
Or we can have all these things under the veneer
of religious respectability. So let me push it
a bit further. Imagine if someone like this woman
turned up in our churches. Would they say, here
is a place where I'm accepted, welcomed and loved?
Or would they say, that's the last place I'd
go. I'd feel worse if I went there. And if that's
the reality, maybe our church is a bit more like
Simon than we'd like to admit. The church is
a hospital for sinners, not an exhibition for
saints. It's not a place where the righteous
come to display their righteousness with the
pastor or vicar or worker being the exhibition
organiser or leader or the centre of the exhibit.
But it's a different way. It's not like there
are some people who've got the white coats on
dispensing medicine and someone else who are
receiving the treatment. We're all receiving
that. We all need that forgiveness. I'd love
to tell you a little story about a bit of WhatsApp
from a friend, Rob. Rob came to preach here in
chapel last year. He was involved with church
planting on an estate in Plymouth. And it really
was a place for those right on the edges. In
Whitley, on the edge of Plymouth, it was one
of those. um post -second world war where the
whole place had been raised because it was a
naval base concrete monstrosities 8 000 people
in this sink estate two people with meaningful
contact with the church you enter church plant
on the estate and this is one of his whatsapps
a little group of people were praying for him
i thought it really struck me hi everyone It
was a privilege to baptise more friends on Sunday,
plus two more people came to faith this week.
Please pray for Jade and Jackie. Like all of
us, there's a road ahead of them. So we pray
the seed find good soil. Jackie, three months
sober, is already helping a friend of hers see
who is now seven days off heroin and coming again
this Sunday with two kids. We've been praying
together over the phone. Please join me in those
prayers. As a church, we're cranking up the dial
on freedom and changing, starting with the power
of the sower. Please pray for guidance for me
in how and what to teach and how we as a church
support one another. I would hope that having
more openly messy lives in the middle of the
church encourages, capital letters, everyone
to see their need. But do please pray that the
more sorted folk don't just focus on helping
those poor, sick other people. The constant fight
is against churchiness. Please pray I won't get
distracted from what Jesus is doing. And please
protect us all from trying to get new life to
conform. I become more like us when we all need
to be more like Jesus. Thank you. Isn't that
right? It's in a nutshell. Goodness me, I feel
in the nursery slopes for this. forgiven much,
loves much. The forgiveness that we have in Christ,
the forgiveness we're going to become more richly
aware of over the next weeks, months, years,
as our studies, with our church history classes,
our doctrine classes, our biblical languages,
New Testament, just part of the community life
and everything else. The forgiveness that proclaims
who Jesus is, the one who forgives us, is the
beautiful person of Jesus Christ. And so if we
come to know him better, as we come to know ourselves
better, we're going to realise how much. We're
500 denarii and some people. And it's a prayer
that whatever else goes on, when we finish here,
we'll love him more. Let's pray. Lord Jesus Christ,
we do thank you and praise you. your uncomfortable
guest, but a truth -telling, loving, kind, welcoming,
forgiving guest, one who calls out but also welcomes.
Lord, we know that in a place like this, there
are unique pressures. May we not experience other
contexts, whether it be to be self -conscious,
rather than showing unbridled devotion, but to
be respectable rather than to be, like everyone
else here, sick and in need of healing, sinners
in need of forgiveness. So do pray by your Holy
Spirit. Help us to love you more. Have you right
first and foremost in our hearts and our minds.
We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.