- Women
- Forgiveness of Debts
- Forgiveness of Sins
- Love = Forgiveness = More Love
- Anointing of Jesus
- Hospitality
- A Hymn (ELW 814) "Take, oh, take me as I am; summon out what I shall be."
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Some Bytes on Luke 7:36-8:3
These are the points that stick out for me after checking out one of my favorite on-line sources Crossmarks.
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Ok, I know I should comment on the post below this, but I think your fourth point is really interesting (Love=forgiveness=more love). This almost seems to make love a prerequisite for forgiveness. I think that this could be really provoking and helpful to develop more in-depth as it could reveal some things about loving your enemies or adversaries as well as how we view different societal groups, such as those of a specific class, gender, etc.
ReplyDeleteTannehill (Luke) on translating verse 47:
ReplyDeleteThere is an ambiguity in the Greek of verse 47. It would be possible to translate, "Her many sins have been forgiven because she has shown great love," understanding her love as the basis for receiving forgiveness. This, however, contradicts both the parable, where forgiveness leads to love, not vice versa, and the final statement in verse 47 (little forgiveness leads to little love). It seems necessary then, to understand "because she has shown great love" as providing the reason why Jesus is sure that she has been forgiven, connecting this phrase with the beginning of the sentence, "therefore, I tell you." The sense then would be, "Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven, (and I can tell you this) because she has shown great love." The implication of the NRSV translation is similar. Simon is being shown the value of the woman's experience, not just for her but for him. It is valuable not because Simon also has many sins (no such accusation is made), but because Simon can learn about the depth of God's forgiveness and its powerful effect through the experience of the woman. If Simon can accept her, the woman's experience can revitalize Simon's understanding of God. [pp. 136-7]
(From Crossmarks.com)
Very cool. This really seems to sing, and I think it could tie in really well with the other themes/points you have here.
ReplyDeleteCassandra your thoughts are really taking shape here. The attention you are paying to Simon here is important, I think, and often overlooked. The is a song that was a popular wedding song in the '70s I think, and there was a verse that went, "if loving is the answer, then who's the giving for, can you believe in something that you've never seen before?" The scope of God's love is unfathomable and it leads to the opening of so many doors. This makes your sermon a ripe field for harvesting indeed!
ReplyDelete