Dan Eddy

Luke 7:36-50

“God forgives that person?”

6-13-10

I. Introduction – William Neal Moore

William Neal Moore was a drunkard and a thief. One night in 1968 while out on a drinking binge, he took his gun and decided to break into 77-year-old Fredger Stapleton’s house. Moore knew the elderly man kept tons of cash around.

After Moore successfully broke into the home, Stapleton fired his shotgun as a warning for the intruder to leave, but instead Moore shot back with his pistol and killed Fredger, then fled with $5600 in cash.

An informant tipped off the police and the next morning Moore was caught with the money and arrested for his crime. William Neal Moore pleaded guilty and was sentenced to death.

At his mother’s request, two men from a local church visited Moore in prison. The evangelists told him about the mercy and hope given to William by grace through faith in Jesus. William repented of his sin; he believed and was baptized the next day.

Now some of you may be saying, “Yeah right, another jail house conversion. Does God really forgive men like William Neal Moore who so thoughtlessly took an innocent man’s life? You mean all you have to do is say you’re sorry and God forgives you? Where’s the evidence that William Neal Moore, a drunk, a thief and a convicted murder is really forgiven?”

We can become skeptical when we hear stories like this. Some will always consider others unforgiven sinners; regardless of what they say or do. In our text from Luke 7, Simon had similar skepticism about another sinner and whether Jesus could really forgive sins, especially the horribly immoral ones.

II. Expounding on the narrative

Simon invited Jesus and some of his Pharisee friends to a banquet he was hosting at his house. This Pharisee, like the others, was part of the super-religious, very knowledgeable expert in the Law…the moral law of the 10 commandments, civil laws governing Israel as the Chosen People of God, and the ceremonial laws knowing when people were ritually clean and unclean.

Simon was probably curious and maybe a little doubtful about Jesus. Was He more than a teacher? Was He really a prophet?

But, Simon was really disturbed when Jesus forgave people’s sin. “A man can’t do that…only God can,” he thought.

In any event, having the ever popular Jesus to his home for a royal banquet was a good way to observe Him first hand.

So everybody is reclining at the table. “Oh would you look at that,” Simon thought in disgust, “One of those sinful women, probably a prostitute (whore) from down by the docks, has gotten into my house and is desecrating my ceremonially clean home. She is doing erotic things to Jesus, kissing his feet, rubbing oil on them, wiping them with her hair. How repulsive. 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.”

Simon annoyance of the woman showed in his disrespect for Jesus. Christ knew his thoughts, and decided to tell a story. A money lender had debtor owing 500 dollars, and another owing 50 bucks. And He asked our Pharisee expert which one of the debtors loved him more.

You can imagine what Simon was thinking: “Da…the one who cancelled the $500 debt.”

Simon had the right answer, but that didn’t mean he understood why it was asked, or what relevance it had to this situation with the woman?

To Simon, Jesus’ story was an amusing anecdote, but the other shoe was about to drop when Jesus looked at the woman but directed His rebuke toward Simon.

As Jesus was speaking you just hear Simon thinking, “What’s Jesus saying? He’s comparing this questionable woman’s tears to wash His feet to me not giving Him water for His? Come on. And He’s implying I’m not as good as this woman, just because I forgot to do a few ceremonial customs, a few rituals? Look that doesn’t make me a bad person; certainly it doesn’t make me worse than her. And then this so-called prophet has the gall to forgive her sins.”

Simon’s problem was he didn’t believe Jesus is God, and Simon was not willing to think this women’s sin could be forgiven. Or, at the very least, she has to do much to make up for her sin in order to be forgiven. But Jesus does forgive sins, and this woman sins were really forgiven. Her faith saved her, not her works.

III. Application to our lives

You see Simon’s faith was in himself and his understanding of what he thought God should be doing.

We show our disrespect for God when we somehow think our sin is not as bad as someone else’s. And part of that misguided thinking is believing that there are simply some sins which simply don’t deserve to be forgiven. This can happen when we make more of other people’s sins then we do our own.

Simon was so focused on what the woman did that he didn’t even think they were expressions of faith. He felt his ceremonial indiscretions didn’t even come close to her immorality.

You see it’s easy for us to see the big sins of murder, stealing, and adultery; sins with huge ramifications. It’s a lot harder to see the subtle, sometime hidden sins, like our thoughts, which may not have the same societal punishments, but with God, can damn us as easily and as quickly as the so-called “big” sins.

Simon didn’t believe Christ was the really the Messiah; the Son of God and the Son of Man. And sometimes we act the same way toward Jesus when we judge other’s sin, while not looking at our own. What we know (point to head) does not match what we really believe (point to the heart) or how we live.

The good news is Christ’s death sentence on the cross paid the price for all sins…whether the debt was 50, 500, or 5 trillion, whether they were your sins or somebody else’s; whether they were for cold-blooded murder, prostitution, gossiping, or telling little white lies. Christ pleaded guilty for your sin and was sentenced to death.

The more we realize we sin, the more we appreciate the forgiveness that God gives.

And the baptism that saved William Neal Moore’s life is the same baptism that saves yours, where the Holy Spirit worked through the water and the Word. The faith that saves us is not our own, but given to us completely by God in Christ Jesus. Christ is speaking to us, just like the woman in verse 50, when He declares, “Your faith has saved you.”

But it goes beyond that. Christ asks us to “go in peace” to live that forgiven life, which is more than saying you’re sorry; it’s more than just receiving forgiveness from your sins. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, it’s living a life of repentance; a life that runs away from sin. And while the proof of our salvation is always, always, always at our baptism, the evidence of our faith is in our actions.

While Simon may not have considered the woman’s conduct to be virtuous, Jesus knew her deeds were sincere. Christ saw the sacrifice of an economically poor woman who spent so much money on perfume for Him.

He could see the tears of repentance and joy as she acted as a servant in washing His feet. Her acts were done out of genuine love for Jesus. Her behavior showed how much she valued his forgiveness.

Her deeds were considered extravagant and honorable, but they were not done as a condition for receiving forgiveness; they were done because she was and still continued to be forgiven by Christ.

Because you see the debtors had to have their debt cleared first, before they knew how much they loved no longer being in debt. The debtors in Jesus’ story never worked off their debt; it was forgiven, let go, forgotten. Her love toward Jesus was the evidence of that forgiveness.

God’s forgiveness is total and complete. But how much we think we are forgiven is reflected in how much love we show toward others. Living the forgiven life becomes difficult when we view others’ genuine acts of love for Jesus, skeptically.

How often do we directly or indirectly convict people of their sins after they’ve been forgiven, say for example, a divorce person who may have been the cause of his marriage breaking up, but has repented and received God’s forgiveness? How many of us are living and encouraging others to live the forgiven life?

How do you show how much you value Christ’s forgiveness? How do you show that in serving others?

For William Neal Moore, his valuing and living Christ’s forgiveness is truly a testimony of the Holy Spirit, and a great example for us for follow for our own lives.

After his baptism William took dozens of Bible courses by mail. He conducted prayer sessions among his inmates. He led Bible studies among prisoners. His section of the prison was known for their good behavior; respecting the guards, and being peaceful. He was recognized as a missionary among the inmates.

When word got out about William, parents started bringing their kids for him to counsel and to prayer with them at the prison. William Neal Moore, the killer, was not the same person as William Neal Moore, the Christian.

His good works did not save him. But his actions showed others the change the Holy Spirit made in his heart at his Baptism.

Can others see on the outside how God has changed you on the inside?

William’s witness and his actions were so strong that Stapleton family forgave William for murdering Fredger.

William Neal Moore’s actions caught the attention of people like Mother Theresa. So many people petitioned the State of Georgia that in May, 1984, hours before his execution, the Board of Pardon and Parole decided not to execute him, and reduced his sentence to life in prison.

In 1991, that same board did something it has never done before. They released a convicted murderer from jail. Today William Neal Moore is a pastor in a church outside of Rome, Georgia.

If God could transform a man like this to live the forgiven life, imagine what He still has in store for you.

IV. Conclusion:

Thank God Christ Jesus suffered at the Cross, saving us from our eternal death sentence. Your jail house conversion was given to you at your baptism, and renewed continuously in His Word, and in the bread and wine of His body and blood, which releases you and me as convicted sinners.

Therefore, we are freed by faith to go out and serve Him with our tears as servants, anointing the feet of others, knowing the proof of our faith and forgiveness is in Christ, and showing the evidence of that faith in the way we speak and act toward others for His glory and honor. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

(William Neal Moore information came from the book The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel)