Meet Those Who Met the Master by Wendell E. Mettey

Author:Wendell E. Mettey [Mettey, Wendell E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Christian Books & Bibles, Bible Study & Reference, New Testament, Jesus; The Gospels & Acts, Religion & Spirituality, Bible & Other Sacred Texts, Bible
Amazon: B009KVBGNU
Goodreads: 16077426
Publisher: The Least of These Publishing
Published: 2012-10-01T05:00:00+00:00

Simon the Pharisee

Simon’s Party

Luke 7:36-50

Yes, I met the Master. I want to go on record as saying, “I liked the man.” I even had Him over for dinner. The trouble with Him was not what He did but how He did it. Take, for example, the night He came to my house for dinner.

The purpose of the dinner party was to give some of my fellow Pharisees the opportunity to get to know Jesus better. They simply did not like or trust Him. So, I stood up for Jesus, saying that if they’d just give Him a chance, they’d discover, as I had, that He wasn’t all that bad. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way.

My friends left the party saying, “See, we told you so,” and shouting that He had defiled my house by that spectacle with the prostitute. When I quietly made a comment about the inappropriateness of His actions, He launched into one of those famous stories of His. I have to confess I have a hard time understanding why others rave over them. I generally find these stories childish and difficult to understand. However, this story I understood. He likened me in the story to the debtor forgiven the least. He even made me answer the riddle of the story right in front of everyone. Then He turned to that woman and said that because she sinned much and repented much, her sins were forgiven much. Soon thereafter the party broke up in a big argument over who can or cannot forgive sins.

I’ve never given such a disastrous party in my life. My social status took a tumble because of the Master coming to my house for dinner. At first, I was angry… humiliated… I could not believe that He could be so ungrateful. But when I cooled down, I began to ponder on His words. He was teaching a radical new way of looking at things… at people. He insisted that every person had value, that every person was worthy of respect. He was telling us to let God judge people’s actions and their worth. He was questioning our right and our ability to interpret the Law. It was a disturbing idea… and not one that was easy for me to swallow.

“Master, keep me from the blindness of the dinner host and from judging others unjustly. Help me see everyone as a child of God... Amen.”

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