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"It's a Thin Line Between a Sinner and a Saint"

A Pharisee invited Jesus to eat dinner at his home. He was Simon the Leper. It's curios to me that he was called a leper. This title gives us insight into why Jesus was invited. For Simon to be called a leper yet able to dine with others indicates that he must have been healed from his leprosy. He would have to be grateful to Jesus because as a leper, Simon would have been shunned from society and thought of as unclean. This would have been a very precarious situation for a Pharisee who was at one time looked upon with admiration and respect. In his leprous condition he would have lost that respect and power in his community. Now that he is healed, he invites the Man responsible to dinner as a gesture of thanks.

A woman (who in John 11: 2 is identified as Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus) came to Jesus weeping and she anointed Jesus' head with precious oil and anointed his feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. Simon was the host and was responsible for having Jesus' feet washed as a courtesy as was the custom of that time.

The disciples complained of the waste of the oil and Simon complained of the fact that Jesus allowed a sinner to do this. Jesus deals with the disciples by telling them to leave her alone as she is preparing Him for His burial and that the poor you have always but with Him every moment you have with Him is precious. With Simon, Jesus explains the parallel between this "sinner" and Simon. He didn't even do what was his responsibility to do and Mary, who did not live there nor was a servant of Simon's, did what was not her responsibility to do.

The difference was appreciation. Simon was healed of leprosy and knew first hand how it felt to be shunned. Yet, he did the same to Mary who, was forgiven of sin and whose brother was resurrected. She indeed was grateful. Simon had no cause to judge as he himself should have known the blessings of mercy.

We as Christians have no cause to judge and hate on sinners as we ourselves should just be grateful that we are not under the curse of sin. We are now under grace and the very definition of grace denotes receiving favor from God even though we did nothing to deserve it. We are now under his mercy, which means that though we deserve punishment, God withholds it from us. Mary understood she had so much to be thankful for because of her sinful past. Yet Simon felt he deserved the healing he did receive because of his stature and piety. He felt as though he was already righteous because of who he is and what Jesus did for him. There is a thin line between a sinner and a saint and we who are the called and chosen must appreciate the fact that we have been called saints by God. Let us not be confused and think that we can spot who is not worthy of God's grace and who is. That would be the equivalent of the pot calling the kettle black. We who have a past should know better.

Pure Religion

James 1:26-27

Religion is a word that conjures images of priests, goodly saints, pipe organs, choirs and whatever stereotype you can think of. To some, it conjures images of the inquisitions, hate, evil and fanaticism. The problem is, pure religion is none of these things. These days we have Christians who profess to not be religious but spiritual, not realizing that religion is not a dirty word when used in it's proper context. According to James, pure religion is to have self control, self awareness of his or her own heart to discern the good and evil within and to have a heart inclined to charity. Our religion of Christianity is built upon the love of God and the love for fellow man. The problem is, we have been feeding on the meat of selfish doctrine that makes religion and the religious seem like war mongering, NRA bumper sticker wearing, selfish spiritual yuppies that only seek the hand of God rather than His face. The religious today seems to adhere to doctrines that seek to control the people (i.e. tithe) or appease the base desires of man (i.e. prosperity gospel, word of faith). These issues seem to deter people from the true message of Jesus Christ and that is selfless, unconditional love (Agape). If we check the essence of the message of God we can see that since the tithe was introduced to the people of Israel, it has always been meant to care for the needs of those who cannot care for themselves. Yet today we see the tithe as merely a fund raiser or a cash cow to keep the doors of the church open. Then we tell the people you will be cursed if you do not tithe. Pure religion tells us to give to those who need it most and in that you give to Christ himself. The Levitical priesthood is not a part of the New Testament church and ethically speaking, should not be used to raise money at all. This is just one example of how we have missed the mark with our religious doctrines and practices.

We've strayed so far from the purpose of religion that it is no longer recognized as something honorable. Religion is now thought of as an actual cause of evil. Film director Josh Becker stated in an online article, "Religion of any denomination, sect or ilk, is the basis of nearly all the evil on our lovely planet. Religion is not here to make anything better, it's only purpose to divide and separate us."* This is but a tip of the iceberg of the negative ideas of the purpose of religion. These ideas have been gleaned from the misguided anti-religious who get there data from the examples of misguided religious people throughout history that GOT IT WRONG! Many American leaders got the purpose of this great nation wrong and much of the world hates America now but that doesn't make me any less proud of the constitution and what it stood for. The Christian religion stand for more than what Mr. Becker or any other jaded critic of Christianity thinks it stands for. However, the perception of the Christian faith must start with we who are of the faith. Most will only see Christ in us and if we show them a counterfeit Christ they won't know the difference. Many will only think of Christ within the parameters of how they see us. Are they going to get the pure religion or the one that we've been showing them for years?