Five Minute Friday: Jesus Likes to Ask Questions

Today I am participating in Five Minute Friday, where a group of writers get together and write about a one word prompt for 5 minutes.  Today's word is  "question."

Begin 5 minutes.

Jesus likes to ask questions.  

A few times when he has spoken to me, it has been in the form of a question.  Why do you think He does that? Maybe because He wants us to come to realization of the answer for ourselves?

One day He asked the group of Pharisees a question, “Which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven, or rise up and walk?” (Luke 5)

That question was a huge question for us today.  It connects two things, forgiveness and healing.

Throughout the scripture, we see these things side by side.  In Isaiah 53, 1 Peter 2, Psalm 103, it is a repeated theme.

When the fall happened, sin and sickness entered in.  Everything began to die.

But when Jesus came, He took sin and sickness on His own body.  And everyone who believes in Him shall live.

My prayer is that we all would get a greater revelation of what Jesus did on the cross.  I pray that we would all see these two things connected, and gain a greater understanding.   I pray that we would understand that with forgiveness comes healing in every way.

He is still asking that question today, “Which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven or rise up and walk?”

End 5 minutes.

Hidden in Jesus

For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.-Hebrews 8:12



Ever wonder how God does this? How does He remember our sins no more? A lot of people's sins are written down in His Word. And I am thankful, because it makes me feel better about me. Sometimes I think our lives appear so sanitized that people who don't know Him, or new Believers think they can never attain. But in 1 Corinthians 6 Paul lists a lot of stuff that people living in sin do, and then He says this:

And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.-1 Corinthians 6:11

The writer of Hebrews in Chapter 11 list a lot of people we find in the Old Testament, but there is something very interesting about this list, none of their sins are mentioned, only their accomplishments through faith in God.

So, to go back to my question, how does God do this? How does God remember our sins no more? How does He look at us and see only our faith accomplishments?

I believe we find our answer in Colossians 3:3. It says,

For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.

The old me is gone. All that the Father sees is Jesus. My life is hidden in Him, eternally.

Many blessings as you learn to see all you are in Him,

Beth

Women in the Life of Jesus: The Woman With the Alabastar Jar

Her Story:

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 is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is 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 five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

Then he turned toward 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?”

Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

-Luke 7:36-50

My thoughts:

Does sin separate us from God?  As I was reading this passage the other day, I noticed several things.  

First, the woman with the alabaster jar of perfume was a sinner.  She was currently a sinner, not had been, but one living a sinful life.

But she was the one touching Jesus.  She was touching the Son of God, who was God, in the flesh.  That fact that she, a sinner, was touching Jesus demonstrates that our sin does not separate us from God.  Unbelief does.

Second, Jesus told a story.  He told a story, to the Pharisee, the one who was educated in the things of God, a story about forgiveness.  In the story He made a comparison, clearly between  Simon's sin, and the woman with the alabaster jar of perfume.  The thing I noticed, but maybe Simon didn't, that in the story, Simon was forgiven too.  The Lord was telling him his sins were forgiven, but he was so consumed with the sin of another that he missed it.  How often do we do that?  Miss the mercy of God because our eyes are on someone else's behavior.  

And third, the people around them missed it as well.  The Bible says,

"The other guest began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"

The other guests that were present could have received exactly what the woman who loved Jesus so much that she wiped his feet with her tears received.  But they missed it.  Their unbelief separated them from what Jesus would have freely given to them as well.

I want to be like this woman in everything.  Jesus said to her, "

Your faith has saved you; go in peace.

You can receive exactly what she did that day. Please notice she did nothing except believe in Jesus and place her faith in His love and acceptance of her. Your faith will result in amazing peace in your life. And just knowing Jesus will increase your love for Him.

To read more posts in this series, go here to Women in the Life of Jesus.