The Walk: Week 1 Day 2 “Relationship with Jesus is Rooted in the Gospel.
It’s day two! Take it easy but keep it up…if you miss a day just start back when you can.
The picture above is from Bernardo Strozzi 1629. I’ve added a few notes about the painting that I found online at the end of this post.
WEEK 1 DAY 2
The story that Jesus told in Luke 7:40-43 is a picture of the gospel. The word “gospel” means good news. Jesus spoke of a man who owed five hundred denarii or about two full years wages. In the days of the Bible if you owed a debt like that and couldn’t repay it you could end up with all your possessions seized. You could be thrown into prison or made a slave. If you owed two years wages and had no way to pay it back it and it meant that you could lose all you have and end up in slavery but someone said, “the debt is canceled”, would that be good news? Yes! The idea of a life-threatening debt being freely cancelled is a picture of the good news of what God does for us through Jesus.
The spiritual reality Jesus illustrates here is that we owe God a debt that we can never pay. Part of Simon’s problem in this story is that he sees this woman as sinful but he doesn’t seem to really feel himself to be deeply sinful. If you have ever been frustrated by the judgmental attitudes of self-righteous Christians then you need to see in this story that Jesus shares that frustration. If you have a tendency to look down on others while thinking well of yourself you need to see in this story that you are a lot like Simon! We have all not only dishonored God repeatedly but we have disobeyed the laws of life he has clearly revealed for all of humanity.
Read Romans 3:10-28 and answer the questions that follow.
10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”13 “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.”14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 ruin and misery mark their ways, 17 and the way of peace they do not know.”18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” 19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement,[i] through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. 27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.
What stands out the most to you in the Bible’s description of human sinfulness?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
Do you find it harder to believe that we are this sinful or harder to believe that God complete cancels our debt through forgiveness?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
Keep reading the Bible. The first assignment is to begin reading the gospel of John. Take your time, read at your own pace and don’t worry about what you don’t understand at first. Focus on what you do understand. Listen to the Scripture personally as if you are witnessing what is happening and John and Jesus are speaking to you about these things. Ask yourself “What am I to make of all of this? What does it mean to follow Jesus? Write down your questions, thoughts and insights as you read.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
Verses to commit to memory
What’s up with the memory verses.
Well, I sort of messed up and gave you two right off the bat. So here they are… Sse if you can do them both. Start with the one I gave out on the card at the class.
John 21:22 b: “…What is that to you? You must follow me.”
Then if you’ve got that down work on the one I gave in this week’s notes:
John 1:12: Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
Notes on the painting.
Bernardo Strozzi the last of the three painters who revitalized Venetian painting at the beginning of the 17th century, came to Venice from Genoa in 1631. In his works the artistic language of Fetti and Liss is developed in a more decorative style influenced by Veronese, with a robust exuberance of colour reminiscent of Rubens. Strozzi’s admiration for Veronese even before leaving Genoa is evident in Banquet at the house of Simon, clearly inspired by the works of the great painter, even if the exuberant style is now clearly Baroque. The banquet table is set diagonally in the wide niche. There are two focal points to the composition: Christ defending Mary Magdalene and Simon leaning incredulously over the table. A dense, rich colour, vibrant with atmospheric luminosity renders the figures physically and spiritually alive. The close observation of detail has a post-Caravaggio realism in the brilliant depiction of the servant interrupting the scuffle between a dog and a cat, or of the page bearing a tray of fruit, silhouetted against the sky.
Larry is the senior pastor at 
