JUNE 13
THE MIRACLE OF GRACE
I built this week’s sermon around this illustration as well as the gospel lesson Luke 7:36-8:3.
James Hewett once told a story about a pastor who saw a former burglar kneeling beside a judge, the very judge who had sent the burglar to jail for seven years. After his release this burglar had been converted and became a Christian worker. Yet as they knelt there, the judge and the former convict, neither seemed to be aware of the other.
After the service, the judge was walking home with the pastor. The judge asked, “Did you notice who was kneeling beside me at the Communion rail this morning?”
The pastor replied, “Yes, but I didn’t know that you noticed.”
The two walked along in silence for a few more moments, and then the judge said, “What a miracle of grace.”
The pastor nodded in agreement. “Yes, what a marvelous miracle of grace.”
Then the judge asked, “But to whom do you refer?”
And the pastor said, “Why, to the conversion of that convict.”
The judge said, “I was not referring to him. I was thinking of myself.”
The pastor, surprised, replied: “You were thinking of yourself? I don’t understand.”
“Yes,” the judge replied, “it didn’t cost the burglar that much to get converted when he came out of jail. He had nothing but a history of crime behind him, and when he saw Jesus as his Savior he knew there was salvation and hope and joy for him. And he knew how much he needed that help. But look at me. I was taught from earliest infancy to live as a gentleman; that my word was to be my bond; that I was to say my prayers, go to church, take Communion and so on. I went through
Friends, do you understand that all of us need the faith that healed Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Susanna, and the sinful woman in Simon’s house that day? All of us need it. None of us deserve it. It is the free gift of a loving God. God sees our hearts. God knows what brought us to this place in our lives. God wants to give us eternal life. Won’t you be liberated today?
Illustrations Unlimited, p. 257. Cited by Allen G. Hern, http://www.islandnet.com/~brebc/sermons/20050910.html.
Why would the “woman from the city” and the women mentioned in chapter 8:1-3 be so willing to follow Jesus and to be so extravagant to support his ministry if it were not for the power of forgiveness? I know that I could not do this job. Alright! calling if it were not for God’s steadfast love and forgiveness. The constant reminders of my weakness and many mistakes continue to haunt. The women were cured, the Judge was forgiven and the hymn; “I once was blind but now I see” God’s amazing grace.
We all have much to be grateful for. And the only way be can show our gratitude is to mirror Christ’s forgiveness in our daily activities. I ended the sermon with this quote
We don't know the woman or her history. We don't know her past, and we don't know what has happened to her to make her seek out Jesus and perform this lavish display. But, in the words of preacher, teacher, and pastor John Claypool, "Somehow, she had been given to see that God's goodness was bigger than all her badness; that the one who stands behind reality is, in fact, one whose property is always to have mercy. She had experienced a breakthrough into the very heart of God, and that had changed everything about her life-the way she understood herself, the way she understood both the past and the future, and it also affected how she could begin to live her life in that moment."
This is the first sermon snippet that I hope to post on the NESTOR UNITED METHODIST CHURCH web sight, and I invite you to post comments on my personal FACEBOOK page. Blessings, Russ Locke.
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