Queen Isabella of Spain reportedly boasted that she had bathed only twice in her life, after all, you can get used to dirt. Yet worse than stains on clothing are stains on a life: words, decisions and deeds we are ashamed of and cannot remove on our own. This sermon walks us through four stories from the Gospel of Luke (Luke 5), the fisherman Simon, a leper, a paralysed man and the tax collector Levi, stained people who met Jesus and walked away clean. Listen if you too carry stains you would rather no one ever found out about.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- Luke 5:1-32 contains four stories: Simon, the man with leprosy, the paralyzed man, and Levi. What does each of them bring to Jesus, and how does Jesus respond?
- The Law declared a leper unclean, cut off from people and from the temple. What would it have meant to the first hearers that Jesus touched him and sent him to the priest?
- Simon says, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man." Why does awareness of our own stains so often push us away from God and the church instead of drawing us closer?
- The friends bring the paralyzed man to be healed, yet the first thing he hears is, "Your sins are forgiven." According to the sermon, why is sin, not sickness, our deepest problem?
- The sermon says we are helpless against the stains on our lives and can only throw ourselves on Jesus' grace. In what area of your life is it hardest for you to stop relying on your own strength?
- Simon becomes a fisher of people, and Levi invites tax collectors and sinners to eat with Jesus. Who in your circle could you help draw closer to Jesus this week, and how?
