Bryan Craddock - Debt

Money is an integral part of life. Not a day goes by that we don’t use or at least think about it, particularly in the face of rising prices. Do you have financial concerns this morning?

You may be thinking, “Yes, thank you, but I came to church this morning to put those thoughts aside. I want to lift my thoughts to heavenly things.” That’s certainly a worthwhile goal, but I have news for you. Jesus himself spoke often about money.

In the Four Gospels that record the ministry and teaching of Jesus the word “money” is used at least 30 times. Seven different types of currency are mentioned a total of 44 times. Jesus talked about wages, possessions, treasure and riches. He spoke of buying, selling, lending, debt, and taxes.

We have a tendency to separate religion from life, but Jesus worked against that separation. He didn’t speak about matters of faith in airy, philosophical terms. He wasn’t hard to understand. He spoke the language of the people and drew upon the experiences of every day life. His most powerful lessons for life are often illustrated by or related to the use of money.

Over the next ten weeks, we are going to explore those lessons, and we begin today by talking about debt.

Debt Today

A 2004 article posted on MSN’s Money Central website contains some staggering statistics about debt.

About 43% of American families spend more than they earn each year.

Average households carry some $8,000 in credit card debt.

Average household indebtedness, excluding mortgages, is $18,654.

Personal bankruptcies have doubled in the past decade.

That was 2004, just think about where those numbers stand today as fuel and food prices continue to climb.

Debt shapes our lives. As soon as teens hit college, they start getting credit card offers in the mail. They have to borrow money for education, books, and room and board. Once they start their first job they borrow money to buy a car and take out some credit cards at department stores to buy a new wardrobe. Soon they have to go after the American dream, owning their own home. But they can’t live in bare houses, so they go buy all their furniture on credit—with no interest for 18 months, of course. Then they have to fix up the house with credit from some home improvement store. As they start a family, it’s easy to just charge those family vacations. Before you know it it’s their turn to pay for college and weddings. When their parents pass away, they’ll borrow money to pay for the funeral. Then their own medical bills start coming and they have to borrow for that.

It seems harder and harder for people in our country to escape the heavy burden of debt. They carry it around wherever they go. They get caught up in playing the game of borrowing from one source to pay the other. It’s like a house of cards. Lose a job; miss a few months’ payments; and the house of cards all comes down.

Can you identify with that burden?

Debt in Ancient Times

Borrowing and debt are not new concepts. They have been around for centuries. In fact, God gave Moses specific guidelines to regulate lending practices in Israel 3,400 years ago.

The Israelites were not supposed to charge their own countrymen interest. Exodus 22:25-27 says, “If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, you are not to act as a creditor to him; you shall not charge him interest. If you ever take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, you are to return it to him before the sun sets, for that is his only covering; it is his cloak for his body. What else shall he sleep in? And it shall come about that when he cries out to Me, I will hear him, for I am gracious.”

God also stipulated that every seven years, all debts between Israelites were to be forgiven.  Deuteronomy 15:1-2 says, “At the end of every seven years you shall grant a remission of debts. This is the manner of remission: every creditor shall release what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because the LORD'S remission has been proclaimed.”

When someone’s situation was desperate enough, the common practice was for people to be sold as slaves. God made provision for this too. Deuteronomy 15:12-13 says, "If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him free. When you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed.”

Sadly, it seems from the Old Testament that God’s guidelines for generosity were not followed as they should have been. We hear stories like the poor widow who came to Elijah and asked for help because her creditors were coming to take her two sons away as slaves (2 Kings 4:1-7).  In that case, God miraculously provided oil for the woman and her sons to sell.  Nehemiah confronted the wealthy people of his day for exploiting the poor through charging high interest on loans (Nehemiah 5:1-13).

Jesus on Debt

Indebtedness was still a major concern in Jesus’ time as well. Even though the Jews knew the Old Testament principles of generosity, most people either ignored them or found ways to work around them. That made it all the more amazing then when Jesus told a brief story about a lender who was actually generous.

The story is called “The Parable of the Two Debtors” and it is recorded for us in Luke 7:41-42. Jesus set the context with this statement: “A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty” (v. 41).

A denarius was a silver coin that was typically given as wages for a full day of unskilled manual labor. In modern terms, it might be the equivalent of around $80. So one person has a $4,000 debt and the other has a $40,000 debt. One is worth two months of wages, the other worth almost two years of wages.

Place yourself in this person’s shoes. What would it be like if you were carrying a debt equal to two years’ worth of your earnings? We’re not talking about debt that is secured by a piece of property, like a mortgage. If we don’t have the money to pay our mortgage, our lender repossesses our home. This debt is over and above that. Declaring bankruptcy wasn’t an option for this person. He would have faced the prospect of being sold into slavery.

Jesus doesn’t tell us how these people got into this predicament. Were they hit by some kind of personal disaster or tragedy that kept them from working? Were they wasting their money in some way, buying things they couldn’t afford? Were they gambling? We aren’t told, and it doesn’t matter.

What matters is the action of the lender. Jesus said, “When [the debtors] were unable to repay, [the moneylender] graciously forgave them both” (v. 42a). What an incredible act! This lender simply wrote off the equivalent of $44,000. There was no black mark against these people.  Both debtors were free and clear thanks to the generosity of this lender.

Think what that would feel like to walk into your bank and have the manager say, “Your $4,000 debt is paid in full.” Or even better, “Your $40,000 debt—it’s taken care of.” How would that feel? Jesus asked, “So which of them will love him [the moneylender] more?” (v. 42b). Why did he ask that question?  Let’s see what was going on when Jesus told the story.

The Reason Behind the Parable

Jesus told this parable over dinner. The account begins in Luke 7:36: “Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table.”

The Pharisees were the social and theological conservatives of their day. They took firm stands on moral issues—sometimes firmer than biblically justified. They resisted the influence of ungodly Roman culture and sought to hold to biblical values.  In their focus on minute details of obedience, they sometimes missed the truly important things.

This occasion seems to have been relatively early in Jesus’ ministry. Apparently this particular Pharisee wanted to investigate Jesus’ teaching further. With Jesus’ popularity the Pharisee turned the dinner into a public event—something like a TV interview. The table was probably set in a court-yard where people could come and listen in.

In that society tables were set low. They didn’t use chairs, they simply reclined on cushions, leaning toward the table with their feet stretched out behind. So they were both reclining at the table—Jesus and the Pharisee, and a crowd had gathered around the perimeter to listen in. But then there was an interruption.

Luke tells us what happened. “And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume” (Luke 7:37-38).

Who was she? Some have speculated that this was Mary Magdalene, a woman who had been possessed by demons. All we know for sure is that she was identified as a “sinner.” Now the Bible says that all of us have sinned. But the way the word is used here indicates that this woman had given herself over to sin in an extreme way, and it wasn’t a private sin. Everyone knew about it. Verse 39 says, “Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.”

Many have concluded that this woman was a prostitute. In that culture women typically wore their hair up and covered, much like women do today in some Middle Eastern countries. This woman seems to have her hair down and exposed, and at the very least that meant that she didn’t care much about modesty. It may very well have been an indication that she was a prostitute, earning her living by selling her body.

On the other hand, there is a Greek word for prostitute, and Luke could have used that word. Instead, he simply called her a sinner. Maybe that meant that she was known for some episode of adultery. Maybe she was known for drunkenness. Maybe she was the type of woman who went from one relationship to another. Maybe she was known for swindling people in the market place. Maybe she had abandoned her Jewish heritage for some kind of idolatry. She certainly wasn’t the type of person that a Pharisee would want to be identified with.

Nevertheless, she pushes forward to the point where she is standing right over Jesus’ feet. And Luke tells us that she is weeping—not just tearing up. This word is always used in contexts of deep sorrow and mourning. She is crying so much that she’s washing Jesus with her tears. Then she takes a vial of perfume and begins to anoint his feet and wipe them with her hair.

To state the obvious, her actions were not normal by any stretch of the imagination. People wore sandals. Most roads were not paved. There was a lot of dust. Even though he was the Son of God, as a man Jesus would still have had dirty, smelly feet. This woman’s action was an expression of total humility—taking her hair, this expression of her beauty and using it to clean someone’s feet.

Place yourself there. Hear the sound of her weeping. Smell the scent of her perfume. What would you be thinking as you watched this spectacle?  The Pharisee thought that Jesus’ purity was somehow being corrupted by the way this sinful woman was touching him.

What did Jesus think? He tells us in vv. 40-50:

And Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." And he replied, "Say it, Teacher.” “A moneylender had two ebtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?" Simon answered and said, "I suppose the one whom he forgave more." And He said to him, "You have judged correctly." Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little."  Then He said to her, "Your sins have been forgiven." Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, "Who is this man who even forgives sins?" And He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

Jesus understood this woman’s actions to be an expression of gratitude for forgiveness for her sins. We can’t be certain, but I think she came to Jesus, because she had heard him teach earlier that day.

Luke records some of that teaching in the passage prior to this one, Luke 7:31-34:

To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children who sit in the market place and call to one another, and they say, “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.”

For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, “He has a demon!” The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, “Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners”

So she comes to the Son of Man as he is eating and drinking with a Pharisee, because Jesus is a friend of sinners like her. She wasn’t like the rest of her generation who wouldn’t dance or weep.  She comes broken and weeping over her past.

The Gospel of Matthew doesn’t include the story of this woman, but it does record more of Jesus’ words after this statement about John the Baptist—words that Luke doesn’t include. Jesus extended an invitation that’s found in Matthew 11:28-30:

Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

This woman recognized her burden. She wanted rest for her soul. She wanted to be free of her guilt.  The Pharisees couldn’t give it to her. They only looked down upon her.  But Jesus was gentle and humble. He invited people to come, so she came and she believed. Jesus said her sins were forgiven and that her faith had saved her.

Jesus told this parable about the two debtors to explain this woman’s lavish response. At the same time, he was also confronting Simon the Pharisee.  Look at how this man treated Jesus. He didn’t love Jesus Christ.  He didn’t even really respect him. Simon thought of himself as someone with little or no debt. The truth is that Simon’s hard heart was a wicked sin against God and that he needed salvation just as much as this woman.

The Lesson of the Parable

Jesus doesn’t tell us how to consolidate or escape from financial debt. There are some heart issues that often lead to financial debt, and Jesus addresses those issues in another one of the passages that we will examine.

The point of Jesus’ “Parable of the Two Debtors” is that sin is very much like financial debt. Every time you and I sin against God we incur another charge. No matter how hard we try, we keep going deeper and deeper in debt. It’s like an automatic withdrawal. I don’t have to sign anything. I may not even know the transaction is taking place. A lustful thought, another charge. A flash of hatred toward someone, another charge. An arrogant, condescending attitude, another charge. A harsh, unkind word, another charge.

Like the Pharisee, some of us like to think that our debt is small to nothing. But that’s not true. The cost of each sin is measured by the height of God’s infinite holiness and perfect purity.

The good news is that our lender is willing to forgive all of our debts. He has the power to do so, because he paid the price. One of the last statements Jesus made right before he died on the cross was “It is finished.” It was just one Greek word that he spoke: tetelestai. It’s said that tetelestai was the word that business people in that time would write on a bill once it had been paid in full. It is finished. Paid in full.

That is what Jesus accomplished when he died on the cross. He paid the debt he did not owe so that our account could be paid in full. All we have to do is receive it by believing.

Has your debt been forgiven? If so, how are you expressing your love to our Savior?