Daily Bread – March 19, 2022 (The Seventh Day – Genesis 2:1-3) Luke 7:39 – And seeing this, the Pharisee who invited him said in himself, “If this were a prophet, He would know what sort of woman this is who touches Him – for she is a sinner?” Any encounter with Jesus is dramatic and spectacular. The Pharisee could not even begin to comprehend what was happening with this woman who was a sinner. She stood at the threshold of redemption, under the influence of the awesome glory of the love of God, and wept. It has been said a picture paints a thousand words, but let me say that the presence of God conveys a message words cannot express. When one experiences the mercy and acceptance of God in the face of all their own sinfulness, the combination produces a flood of deep emotion. How could it be possible that a woman so full of sin could feel so completely accepted by the One Who never knew sin? Her interaction with Jesus was of the dearest and closest sort. Yet, while the woman who was a sinner experienced the glory of Heaven, the Pharisee who had devoted himself to God found further reason to doubt. He was not only insensitive to Whose Presence he was in – he was also full of wrong assumptions. He thought Jesus was only a prophet. He thought that if He were a prophet, He would have the gift of discernment. He also thought such a great prophet would not allow a sinful person to touch him. Jesus not only knew who the woman was, He also knew who the Pharisee was, and what he was thinking. The charismata of the Spirit came with floods of mercy to reach into the blinded mind and senseless heart of the Pharisee. God’s love and mercy will not be restricted by sinfulness, nor by hardened religion. The love of God reaches out with His manifest glory to every state of sinful men, and beckons them to come. He stretches out the glory of His presence and manifests His power to convince the gainsayer, and to love the rejected. Let the Word of God and the Spirit of God so rest upon us that Jesus may be fully seen in our interaction with every sort of hurting and sinful man. Blessings, Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
Daily Bread 3/19/2022
