AND WE THOUGHT WE KNEW YOU:
SOUL JOURNEY WITH THE REAL JESUS
Pharisee and Prostitute
POUND OF FLESH
Summer AD 28
Somewhere in Galilee
         Sin.� What an idiotic word.� Only losers use that word.� Stand up for yourself.� No one else will.� Never admit anything.� There are more than enough people out there bad-mouthing you.� That word sinner will eat you alive.
         Simon is one of the power heads of his sect, the Pharisees.� It is no accident.� He knows how to play the game.� Since it is the popular thing to do around religious fanatics, Simon will say he is a sinner, but he could never tell you what those sins are.� He has to say he sins to play the game.� Part of the game is to offer sacrifices for sins. [1]
         Simon enjoys power.� Power over people.� Of course power has two requirements ~ wealth and new rules to keep people jumping.� And an organization to rule.� Simon chooses religion to exercise his power.
         Tamar is completely powerless.� It is people like her that make people like Simon possible.� She gives her tithes which gives Simon the wealth.� And she cowers when Simon tells the people they are breaking one of his rules, one of his amendments to the Law of Moses, his creed.
         "I'm glad you could make it, Ahinoim."� Simon dismisses his servant and shows his old friend a seat on an elaborate cushion.
         "That Jesus is dangerous," Simon repeats.� "He's tearing down everything we built up."
         "So what have you heard?"Ahinoim asks.
         "I went to one of his lectures and took notes."
         "We'll have to think of some way to stop him," Ahinoim replies.
         A servant walks in with a pitcher of water and quickly washes Ahinoim's feet.
         "He says he didn't come to destroy our religious laws, but that's an outright lie."
         "So what can we do?� We need a plan."
         The servant leaves and Simon escorts his friend to a bench by a window.
         "He tells the people to keep the laws better than their leaders do.� He's dangerous, Ahinoim." [2]
         "We must make him look bad in front of people."
         Three more servants walk in ~ one with a small table, the other with a tray holding a pitcher and two silver goblets.
         "He mocks us, you know.� He says long prayers in public are hypocritical." [3]
         Simon pushes some over-ripe figs to the edge of the table.� "I'm sure you can do better than this," he tells a servant standing by.
         At this Simon rises and begins to pace.� "That Jesus is dangerous.� He'll destroy our religion."� He picks up a scripture scroll and shakes it at his friend.� "He must be stopped!� He must be!"��������
         "How can people go after a fraud like that Jesus?"
         "He claims many religious leaders who have prophesied and done wonders in the name of God will be sent to hell.� And do you know who's going to send them?� Jesus.� He said he'd be the one to keep them out of the new kingdom of God.� You know good and well he is talking about us.� He's hearing voices in his head that God's telling him what to say and do.� He's ready for shackels.� He is going mad and taking the people with him." [4]
         "How about dinner with that heretic?"�
         "Dinner?"
         "Yes.� I'll invite him over, and we can ask him questions ourselves.� I'll have a scribe there so we can catch him in his own words."
         "Brilliant, Simon!� When?"
         "I'll see if he can come a week from today.� At my house.� I'll have about a dozen Pharisee leaders here, and you of course.� We'll have plenty of witnesses."
        "Uh, do you think he'll come?"
         "He's a fool.� He goes everywhere he's invited.� He's such a fool."
         After one of his sermons, a small scroll is handed to Jesus by a courier.
         Jesus opens it and reads it.�
         The courier stands there waiting.� Jesus pays him.� Still he stands there.�
         "He wants a reply.� Can you give me a reply?"
         "What does it say?"Peter asks.�
        A man named Simon has asked me to come over for dinner. [5]
         "You're not talking about Simon, one of the most influential Pharisees around, are you?"
         Well, that seems to be the case. [6]
         "You're not going, are you?"
         If I don't, I miss another opportunity to talk to an enemy of God and try to turn him into a friend of God.
         "It's no use.� They won't turn.� These Pharisees are so holier-than-thou you can't touch them.� They're too good for everyone.� They insist on being called by titles like most elevated righteous reverend or doctor so-and-so."
         John gets into the conversation and helps Peter out.� "They pray so long in synagogue, half the people fall asleep." [7]
         "You're not going, Jesus."
         We're keeping the courier waiting.� Of course, I'll go.� Jesus scribbles a note on the bottom of the scroll and gives it back. [8]
         The courier leaves.� But Jesus' friends reprimand him still.� How could he crawl into the mouth of the lion like that?� He's already told those self-righteous Pharisees they're all going to hell.� There could be no good reason for them inviting him for dinner.� It's just a trap. �Do you hear that, Jesus?� A trap.
         "Hi, Endora!"� Samuel's outside washing his boss's personal mule.� It's not white or anything like kings' families ride.� Not real opulent or anything.� That would mess up Simon's political and religious image as a representative of the common man, not the rich.� But it should be kept clean.� The common people, for the most part, don't know where his boss lives, so the number of servants he has around isn't general knowledge.� That is good. [9]
         "Hey, what's happening, Endora?"
         "Oh, I just stopped by to say hello to Simon.� I have a wineskin of his favorite."
         "Oh, you do, do you?� And what else do you have for him?"
         She smiles coyly, then walks through his front gate without knocking.
          "Hello, Endora.� Haven't seen you in a couple days.� Simon is in his study."
         "Thanks, Abiathar," she replies, heading across the courtyard.
         She turns around and walks backward a moment.� "When's your day off, Abiathar?"
         "Why?"
         "Oh, just wondered."� She grins, then turns back around and bumps right into Simon.
         "Endora, haven't I told you before not to use the front door?� You must be a little more discrete."
         "You're just afraid to be seen with the likes of me," she responds slyly as he escorts her to the stairway.
         Endora has been visiting Simon regularly for several years now.� No one says anything openly about it.� It's a well-kept secret among the servants.� It's part of keeping their job.� And Simon pays well.
         "I'm having a dinner tomorrow, so I want you to stay away."
         "Oh, and who is the special guest?"
         "Jesus."
         She's taken aback.� "I thought the priests and Pharisees like you didn't like that Jesus any more than he likes you."
         "He's from Satan.� Pure and simple.� And I'm going to prove it."
         "Has he accepted your invitation?"
         "That man is an idiot.� Of course he has.� He's walking right into the hornet's nest.� We're going to catch him in his own words tomorrow."
         Endora grins mischievously.� "You are a devil, my dear Simon!" she teases.� "Then next week at synagogue, you're going to...."
         "....I'm going to stand up in front of the congregation and expose him for what he is.� We're losing too many members.� He's got to be stopped."
         In a little while, Endora leaves ~ through the kitchen area and out a back gate.� On her way home, she begins to think about this Jesus.� He will actually be at Simon's house tomorrow.� The man who everyone has been talking about lately.� She's amazed.� She knows he's been tearing down the established religious traditions as they have been for hundreds of years.� He's amazing, going up against powerful men like Simon.
         One her way home, Endora stops to see her grandfather.� His heart aches for her.� He longs for her to change her lifestyle.� But what can he do?
         "Endora, I heard a sermon recently by Jesus you should have heard."
         "Religion?� That's not for me.� Maybe you, but not me."
         "I wrote some notes when I got home.� Please, Endora, go home and read them.� It's just a few sentences.� Please humor an old man and take them home with you.� Please."
         "That arrogant hypocrite?� No way."
         "Who told you he was arrogant?"
         She cannot say, of course, since it was Pharisee Simon.
         Her grandfather has been good to her.� He has not rejected her like many family members have since she began to earn money on the side in the manner that she does.�
         "Can I bribe you with anything?� How about coming over for dinner one night?� No?� Well, how about...."
         "Okay, Grandfather.� I'll read it, but just because it is you.� I wouldn't do it for anyone else."
         They both smile, she takes the small scroll, and they hug goodbye.
         Once home, Endora has a bite to eat, then nestles down on her bed and gets out the scroll.� "Okay, Grandfather, this is for you."� She opens the shutter for more light.� The scroll has eight sentences arranged like a list.�
         "You're happy if you recognize how spiritually poor your life is and that you're a sinner."  [10]
         Endora knows she sins and that Simon doesn't allow her to be seen at synagogue because of it.� What a double standard he has.� He gets by with it.� But how could admitting her sins make her happy?� That just makes her a loser.� She reads on.
         "You are happy if you grieve over your sins, because then God can comfort you and forgive you." [11]
         She lays the scroll aside and thinks.� God couldn't possibly forgive her sins.� She's really made a mess of her life.� People use her, but they don't like her.� They exploit her, but they don't want to be seen in public with her.� People prefer her only in private.� She is their loathsome secret.� Always good for a drink, a laugh, whatever they want.� In private.� Could God ever forgive all that?� The people couldn't.� They'd never let her forget what she became.
         Tears come to her eyes.� Gentle tears.� Tears that are always on the brink of appearing.� Controlled tears that she carries with her everywhere.� Moments later she lifts the scroll back off her lap.�
         "If you are gentle, moderate and temperate, the whole world can be yours." [12]
         Why temperate?� Because I'll be satisfied with less?� Because I won't be willing to pay any price to get attention and beautiful clothes and expensive perfume?� She looks around at her home, so lavish and extravagant.� Everything she ever wanted.� But it cost her her soul.
         "If you hunger and thirst for what is right, you'll find it and be filled with it." [13] �
         Endora goes right to the next point written by her grandfather.
         "Since God has shown you mercy and you've eliminated your sinful habits, you will in turn be merciful to others, you'll be pure in heart, and you will help make peace between God and others." [14]
         Once again, she puts down the scroll.� Does Endora dare hope?� Did Jesus actually say that she can turn her life around and God will help her?� Then she can help others in turn?� She knows a lot of people who've messed up their lives like her.� Could she help them?� She'd know what life is like for them right now, and what it could be.� Faces of her friends slowly move across her mind's eye.� But would they laugh at her instead?� Yes, Endora, a lot of them would.� Jesus' next statement tells her exactly that.
         "If you are persecuted by these people you try to help, it means you're getting to them.� God will bless you for trying, despite their derision.� God will count you a citizen of his heavenly nation." [15]
         Endora looks around her.� Slowly.� Her beautiful things.� Her hollow, hollow things.� Oh, the price she's paid for them.� She knows that if she tries to turn her life around, she will no longer have a nice place to live.� She knows she'll have to get a legitimate job.� She knows some of her friends will turn against her.� Can she do it? [16]
         Her tears are steady.� She looks toward the ceiling.� Then over to the window.� Then the floor.� She feels drawn.� She stares still at the floor.� She feels a divine presence with her.� How do you react to a divine presence when you're such a sinner?�
         Slowly she slides down off her bed.� She is on her knees.� On the floor.� And for the first time since she was a child, Endora prays.�
         "Oh, my God.� I want to do better.� But I'm afraid.� I'm afraid my friends will turn against me.� I'm afraid the good people will not trust me.� Then I won't have any friends.� Oh, my God, help me."
         After awhile, she tries to compose herself.� She tries to feel she's come to a landmark in her life.� She tries to feel that she can indeed rise out of what she's been.�
         She returns to her plus cushion and looks at the scroll again.� Jesus says she'll be happy.� How?� "Oh, my God, show me how." [17]
         Trying to bring herself back into the real world, she walks outside.� It is a balmy evening.� Three men pass, and she hears one of them say that they are going to a dinner the next day where Jesus will be attending.�
         "That's what Simon was up to yesterday I'll bet," she whispers to herself, going back into her home.� "I wouldn't put it past him.� He's going to fatten Jesus up for the kill."
         The moon sadly rolls down the hillside behind her house.� The heavens begin to weep, and crystal tear drops appear on the window sill.
         Endora has a fitful night of sleep.� She dreams she meets Jesus in a desert and everyone is laughing.� Laughing at her.� Laughing at Jesus.� But a cloud comes down.� The laugher disappears, and suddenly there is singing.� She cannot see the crowd any more.� But she cannot tell who is singing either.� She searches and searches.� Then she realizes it is almost morning and she hears birds outside her window.
         In the pre-dawn sweetness, Endora lies still upon her bed.� Shortly the sun that's hidden behind the horizon, swells, rises, and touches the tip of the hills.� The sun is up.
         She gets up and walks around her home, occasionally looking out her window down at the people walking through the streets below.� She gets dressed, and sprinkles herself with some perfume. �As she does, she remembers Jesus.� When was the last time he enjoyed a simple pleasure like a spicy ointment for his dry skin?�
         She looks in her special chest, the one inlaid with rubies.� She has an alabaster jar with perfumed ointment which she bought for Simon's birthday.� She takes it out and stares at it a moment.� She knows what she will do. [18]
         It is noon now.� Simon is standing in his courtyard greeting guests.�
         "Hello there, Ahinoim.� Glad you could make it."
         "I wouldn't miss this for the world."
         Simon takes his friend's robe ~ handing it on to a servant ~ gives him the formal kiss on each cheek, and directs him to a side room where guests are pampered and prepared for their meal.�
         Servants are stationed in the room to wash each guest's feet, and pour oil on their hair usually dried out by the sun and wind.� As each guest completes his usual period of refreshing, he is escorted to another room where refreshing pomegranate juice is being served until all the guests arrive.
         "Well, hello there, Naboth.� Glad you could make it."
Simon takes yet another friend's robe, gives him the kiss on each cheek, and directs him to the sideroom for refreshing.�
         "Afterwards," he calls back to Naboth, "you will enjoy the pomegranate juice freshly prepared."
         Guests gradually arrive.� Then Jesus.� Jesus the enemy.� If he thinks he's going to get the royal treatment, he's wrong.� As Jesus walks through the front gate, Simon makes a point to turn and walk into the guest room with his waiting friends.�
         Am I at the right house?� Is this Simon's house?
         "Yes, sir."�
         But the servant, catching Simon's expression at the guestroom doorway, walks away and leaves Jesus standing there.� Alone.� Robe.� No greeting kiss.� Jesus looks around, wondering what to do next.� He takes off his robe and places it over his arm.� He stands in the foyer courtyard awhile, but no one is there.�
         He hears low talk nearby.� In the guest room.� Then a butler enters that room and ushers the group of men to the dining room.�
         Jesus follows along behind them.� Each is shown his place at the table.� Each is given some pillows of velvet on which to recline.� Still on his own, Jesus decides to look around for himself.� At the end of the table away from the host, he sees an empty place.� He puts two and two together and decides that is where he belongs.� At the end of the table.� Away from the host.� Away from all the important people.� Away from the respectable religious leaders. [19]
         Perhaps Jesus should just leave.� This is such a farce.� Simon has no good intentions inviting Jesus to eat with him.� That is obvious.� Jesus could slip out right now and no one would notice.�
         But he doesn't.� Jesus stays for the slaughter.� The butlers go from place to place giving each guest a napkin and pouring wine in their goblet.� Everyone but Jesus.� He is given no napkin.� He is given no wine.�
         "Oh God!" Jesus hears.� "We thank you for this food we are about to partake of.� We thank you for your abundance and grace.� May you bless this food, and bless our bodies to your service.� Amen!"  [20]
         Amens are echoed around the room by the self-righteous.� Jesus, too, says amen.
         Eating begins.� Conversations begin.� Small talk.� Everyone talking with mutual friends.� With everyone but Jesus.� Jesus is not included in the conversations.� No one looks at him.� No one is interested in him.� Actually, it looks as though no one even likes Jesus.� But Jesus knew that before he came.� He came anyway.� Even if they won't talk to him, he can talk to them.� Jesus, you're so brave.� But, Jesus, why bother?� It's obvious they don't like you.
         On and on they talk.� Jesus listens, but doesn't try to enter into their conversation.� He will when invited.� He'll know when the time arrives.
         The dining hall door between the guests and the kitchen is pushed open over and over and food is brought in.� Jesus is given a plate too, believe it or not.� Though the meat is a little overcooked, the parsley has brown spots on it, and the bread is hard.� Jesus eats it with grace and dignity.
         Then someone appears in the doorway between the courtyard and dining hall.� That someone in Endora.� Of course, no one stopped her.� They're used to seeing her around the house.� She walks in slowly, looking around.� Everyone is busy talking.� Everyone but Jesus.�� She hopes she'll be able to recognize him.� And she does.
         No one even realizes she is in the room, their conversation is so animated.� So far Jesus hasn't said anything.� Someone had better come up with something shrewd to ask him.� But, perhaps a little more of the royal treatment, the shunning. [21]
         Endora immediately spots what they're doing to him.� She walks over to Jesus.� He's placed his robe over a bench behind him.� She sees he has no napkin.� She walks to another room gets two for him.� She places one by his hand and one by his place.� Then she stoops so that she is eye level with him.� Is there anything else that he needs?� No.�
         She moves back out of his way near his feet.� She looks at his feet left dirty by a hateful host.� How her heart aches for the way Jesus is being treated.� Somehow it reminds her of the way she is treated.� Tears well up and fall baffled and confused onto his feet.� More and more the way she has been treated all these years surfaces and drowns in her tears.� Heavier they flow.� The drops are making marks on his feet.�
         She takes her hair and wipes away the tears, and along with it the dust on his feet.� She looks back up at Jesus.� He did not deserve treatment like this.� She does.� She deserves all the snubs.� Oh, God.� She is worthless.� She is so sorry.� She does not know what words she is supposed to say ~ the correct words.�
         He knows.� He understands.� Endora is trying to repent.� He knows she is trying to give up her past.� He knows her being is trying to turn around and straighten itself up.� He knows that, in the process, her heart is breaking.� He smiles sympathetically.� He understands.� Endora knows he does.
         She sits the alabaster jar on the floor next to Jesus ~ the very expensive imported one.� Fit for a king. [22]
         "I don't know what else to give you," she whispers.� Then quietly she pours some of the perfumed oil out onto her hands and rubs them into Jesus' tired feet.
         "Your sins are forgiven" he whispers. [23]
         What?� Forgiven?� Endora's sins are forgiven?� Just like that?� A whole lifetime in a moment?� Forgiven?� Gone?� Never to be remembered again?�
         "Hey, look.� What's Jesus doing with that woman?" someone whispers to a friend.�������
         They have smelled the aroma of the perfume, the wasted perfume.
         They turn their heads in his direction at the end of the table and stare.� Others notice, and they too, begin to stare.� A din of complaining rises and falls.� Then the silence.� What in the world is Jesus doing talking to this kind of woman?
         Not yet ready to break the silent treatment everyone is giving Jesus, Simon mumbles to himself and whoever is nearby.� "If he really was a prophet, he'd know what kind of woman this is.� He's even letting her touch him.� She's devoted her life to sin.� He's really showing the kind of man he is."  [24]
         Oh yes, Simon, do your thing.� Righteous indignation.� That will take the pressure off of you and on to someone else.� Off your sins and onto someone else's.� The best defense is a good offense.� Attack someone else to avoid the attack onto yourself.� Good thinking.
         But Jesus knows what he's thinking and muttering way up there at the head of the table.� The head where the superior people sit.� The head where the more holy people sit.� Jesus, at long last, breaks the silence himself.
         "Simon!" he calls out.� Simon pretends not to hear and takes another bite.�
         "Simon!� I have a riddle for you," Jesus repeats.
        Everyone is now looking either at Jesus or Simon.� This is what they all came for.� To watch the showdown.� Is the scribe ready with his quill and scroll?� Here it comes.
         "Sure, speak up," he replies at last, although he is skeptical of what kind of riddle this will be. [25]
         "Two men were in debt to a money-lender; one owed his lender five hundred denari, and the other fifty. [26] Neither could pay him back.� But, out of his generosity, he cancelled both debts.� Which of them will appreciate him more?" [27]
         Uh-oh.� Simon's not baiting Jesus.� Jesus is baiting Simon.� The tables are turned.� What is he going to answer?�
         "Anyone can answer that one!� The one who owed the most."
         Oh how Simon hates to admit it.� But he has to.� He has to say something.� That is the only logical reply.� Maybe it wasn't such a good idea inviting this Jesus to the luncheon after all.
         "That's it!� You've solved the riddle."  [28]
         Jesus turns toward Endora, still kneeling by his feet.� Tears streaming from her mascara and staining her cheeks.� He turns back to Simon.
         "You see this woman?" Jesus asks.�
         She slowly rises and faces her benefactor, Simon.� He is growing angry and glaring at her.� Down the drain.� Everything.� Her beautiful house.� Her wardrobe.� Her perfume.� Everything.� Now comes the persecution part.� She knows it.
         "You see this woman, don't you?"  [29]� Endora tries to control her tears.
         Who could help but see her.� Everyone is aware who she is.�
         "When I entered your home, you did not wash my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them dry with her hair.� You did not give me the kiss on the cheeks, but she kisses my feet.� You did have anyone put your oil on my hair, but she has put expensive perfume on my feet." [30]
         "My birthday perfume?" Simon thinks to himself.� "She said she was going to give it to me.� Instead, she's gone and wasted it on this heretic, this revolutionary?� Is Endora out of her mind?� She's going to pay."� His expression becomes angrier and angrier as he alternately glares at Endora and Jesus.�
         "So, I'm telling you right now, that her sins ~ and there are many of them in her life ~ are forgiven.� For she has greatly loved." [31]
         Still glaring at Endora.� Love?� What does she know about love?� She uses men.� She gets jewelry and clothes and expensive perfumes.� Everyone knows that.� Endora is nothing but a tramp.� Endora could never know about love.� Not in a million years.
         Jesus turns to her.� In a voice loud enough for everyone in the room to hear, he tells her, "Your sins are forgiven." [32]
         Endora is now smiling.� Smiling through tears of sorrow.� Being comforted, just as he promised in his speech.� Forgiven?� All gone?� Gone like she never committed them before?
         She looks around her.� Not a single man in the group is asking forgiveness.� Yet most have participated with her in her sins.� She knows them all by name.� Have they no conscience?� Do they dare not tell their sins, lest they be taken away from their position of respect in the Temple?� Yes, that's it.� Keep the Temple position.� Keep people's esteem.� For the sake of the Temple.�
         Time for another offensive play.� It had better be good.� It isn't.
         "Who is this, this man, if you can call him that?" they tell each other.�
         "Who does he think he is to even forgive sins?"�
         "That's hypocrisy.� That's blasphemy pure and simple."
         "He's acting like he's holy or something.� He's a fool if he thinks we believe this." [33]
         Endora is still at Jesus' feet.� She is standing.� Wondering what he will say next.� Jesus looks at her.� The other men at the table refuse to look at her any longer ~ to look at their own guilt.� But Jesus does.
         He looks her in the eyes.� "Your faith has saved you.� Go, now, in peace."  [34]
         Go in peace?� Suddenly Endora feels a complete release of her life as it has been up until now.� She feels that old person she used to be become vague and distant.� She feels herself taking a new breath, as though born again.� A breath into a new world.� A world of the really and truly living.�
         "Thank you, Jesus.� I believe you really can forgive me.� I believe you really are from God."
         Endora hasn't even asked for a miracle.� Funny the way sinners are.� They don't ask for favors.� She hasn't asked that Jesus help her find a new job or anything.� Just forgiveness.� Just a new life.� That's all.�
         She leaves the house through the front gate.� But she turns around and comes back in.� She heads for the kitchen area.
         "He forgave me!" she tells her friends.� "This is the last time you're going to see me here."
         "Where are you going, Endora?"
         "I don't know yet.� Maybe home to my parents.� I'm going to make up with them.� Maybe they'll let me stay there until I can learn a trade and get a decent job."
         "I've got an extra robe.� My mother made me a new one."
         Already reaching out to Endora.� Already trying to help her stay on the straight and narrow.
         "Here's ten denari.� That's all I can give you right now."
         Someone else reaches into his money pouch.� A couple of the maids go to their purses and pull out small coins.
         "It's not much.� But maybe it'll help until you get on your feet."
         "What happened, anyway?� Why all this changing?"
         "Jesus.� That's what happened."
         'He's here right now."
         Silence.� Then, "You didn't!"
         "I did.� I interrupted his holy highness's luncheon."
         "What did Simon say?"
         "Nothing.� He had to pretend he didn't know me.� But how could I find my way through the house unless I've been here before?� Everyone knew that."

          "So, what did Jesus say?  You did talk to him, didn't you?"
         "Yes, I talked to him.� He understood what I wanted.� He knew, without my even telling him, that, well, I have been living a rather sinful life."
         Endora is quiet a moment.� Her tears return.� "Do you know what he said to me?� This man who is so good?"
         "No, Endora, please tell us," someone replies gently.
     Her tears increase.� "He...."� she has trouble saying it.� "He said...."� More tears.� She's out of control.� Her friends wait patiently.
         "That's okay.� Take your time," one of them reassures.
         "Jesus said 'I...."
         "Now she's sobbing.� But between the sobs, she is able to blurt it out.
         "  'I forgive you.'� He said he forgave me."�
         One of the maids walks closer and puts an arm around her.� "Oh, Endora.� Life has been so hard for you."
         She wipes her tears with a dirty napkin sitting on the counter.� "I feel reborn.� I feel like I can really start over."
         "That'll be the day," someone says from the back of the kitchen.� "You could never change."�
         "Now quit talking like that and just mind your own business.� She's going to try.� That's all anyone can do.� Just try."
         "I'm not only going to try," Endora adds, now a little more in control.� "But I'm going to make it.� I'm going to admit what I've been thus far, then I'm going to tell others what Jesus did for me.� If Jesus can forgive me, he can forgive anyone."
         Most in the room are smiling, but some are standing back rolling their eyes heavenward in disgust.� "Oh, brother!� Another one of those fanatics."
         Endora walks out of Simon's house for the last time.� Forgiven.� Fresh.� New, Feasting.
         Simon stays behind.� In denial.� Stale.� Rotting.� Starved.��
���������������������������������������������������������� LIFE APPLICATION
1.�������� Most people can think of a few sins like murder and prostitution and grand theft.� But there are many sins of attitude that we all have that can cause us to be left out of heaven where Perfection lives.� Romans 1:29-31 in the Bible lists murder and God-hating as sins.� But right along with them, it also lists envy, deceit, gossip slander, arrogance, and boastfulness as some of the other sins.� We are all guilty of these things.� Would you say that we deserve to be in heaven with Perfection?� How does this new knowledge make you feel?
2.�������� In most, if not all, people's lives, there is something they have done that they either hope no one will ever find out about, or they hope everyone will forget.� Think about what it is in your own life.� Would you say that you deserved to be in heaven with Perfection?� How does it make you feel?
3.�������� Romans 3:23 says that everyone in the world has sinned; and Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death - spiritual death.� Death is defined as separation.� So, if we're spiritually dead, we are separated from God.� Yet, God gives a remedy.�
Romans 6:3-5 says that "all of us [that includes the Apostle Paul] who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?� We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead...we too may live a new life.� If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection."� Are you interested in being united with Christ in this way?
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