"The Good News Is...Great Love for God and Neighbor" (March 1, 2026 Sermon)

Preaching: Rev. Dr. Stephen M. Fearing

Texts: Matthew 25:35-40 & Luke 7:36-50

A quiet act can carry a whole sermon. We open Matthew 25 and step into Luke 7 to watch a nameless woman kneel with an alabaster jar, turning tears into hospitality and scent into witness. Around a table guarded by status and unspoken rules, she offers what the official host withholds—water, a kiss, and oil—and Jesus reframes the room with a story about debt, forgiveness, and the love that follows. The message lands hard and hopeful: the one forgiven much loves much, and real faith becomes visible in the simplest gestures that meet real needs.

From there we connect the dots to the Good Samaritan, where compassion travels light and speaks little. Oil and bandages do the talking while religious experts pass by with perfect words. That echo across Luke’s gospel exposes an old temptation: to admire grace without arranging our lives around it. We ask practical, grounded questions—how do calendars, budgets, and guest lists reveal what we value? Where does our love for Jesus at the table become mercy for the neighbor in the ditch? And what does restitution look like when we care enough to repair what’s broken?

Across stories and streets, we keep circling one truth: hospitality is not a courtesy, it’s a confession. When we’ve been seen and forgiven, we become people who notice and respond. Expect a warm, honest, and challenging walk through Scripture that trades slogans for presence and sentiment for service. If you’re ready to measure faith by lifted burdens, shared meals, and interrupted schedules, press play and journey with us. Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who lives their faith out loud, and leave a review with one practice you’ll try this week.

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Transcript

Opening Prayer For Good News

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Our prayer for elimination. Good news, God. Speak louder than the news updates. Speak louder than our mental distractions. Speak louder than our anger and louder than our fear. God, speak loudly to us today, because we long to hear your good news once more. With hope we pray. Amen.

Scripture From Matthew 25

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Today's scripture reading is from the book of Matthew, chapter 25, verses 35 through 40. From the judgment of the nations. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me. Then the righteous will answer him. Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food? Or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you? Or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you? And the king will answer them Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me. Holy wisdom, holy word. Peace be to God.

Reading Luke’s Story Of The Anointing

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Friends, let's listen again for what God is saying to God's church, using the words of Luke chapter 7, verses 36 through 50. One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and when he went into the Pharisee's house, he reclined to dine. And a woman in the city who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair, kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him. That she is a sinner. Jesus spoke up and said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. Teacher, he replied, speak. A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed 500 denarii and the other 50. When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now, which of them will love him more? Simon answered, I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt. And Jesus said to him, You have judged rightly. Then 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 bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven. Hence, she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven loves little. Then he said to her, Your sins are forgiven. But those who were at the table with him began to say amongst themselves, Who is this who even forgives sins? But he said to the woman, Your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Friends, holy wisdom, holy word. Thanks be to

Short Sermon Setup And Theme

SPEAKER_01 4:31

God. Let us pray. Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable and pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our Redeemer. Amen. Alright, friends, I'm gonna make an announcement, and you all have one job, and that is to sound super disappointed when I say it. This is going to be a super short sermon. Awww. I made that announcement last year, and one of y'all had the audacity to cheer. I don't know who it was, but I'll find you. All right, friends. We're

Actions Speak Louder In Luke’s Gospel

SPEAKER_01 5:09

in Luke's Gospel this week, and as I was working on this sermon, it occurred to me that some of the most powerful scenes in Luke's Gospel involve little to no dialogue at all. It's a recurring theme in his account of Jesus' early life and ministry that actions speak far louder than words. For example, if we rewind just a couple chapters to Luke 5, we have that description, that great story of a man who was paralyzed, who was literally lowered through the roof of a house by his friends who were so stubborn, so determined to get him to the healing that he needed. Without speaking a word, his companions demonstrate a faithfulness that stops Jesus in his tracks. Time and time again, Luke's gospel shows that those considered models of discipleship are often not the insiders, but those on the margins. And more often than not, the outsiders show their faithfulness not through words, but through prophetic actions that embody great love for God and for neighbor.

The Woman’s Audacity And Hospitality

SPEAKER_01 6:20

Another similar scene happens two chapters later, when the story of this unnamed woman of ill repute, as the story unfolds as she quietly enters a house where Jesus is eating with some Pharisees. We don't know that dialogue, but they were probably debating the subtle details of the law, which was their practice. They were gathered for a meal where status, purity, and propriety all matter. You know, one of those places where you have you ever been in a room where the invisible rules are there? I imagine that was part of the conversation that Jesus liked the least. And so I think he must have been intrigued when this woman entered the scene. There must have been quite an awkward silence. She approached Jesus with an alabaster jar and sat simply at his feet. She doesn't argue her worthiness. She just comes, carrying what she has, bringing what she is, and she risks being seen. The text simply states that she was a sinner. Luke could have been more specific. We may have wished that he was, but he didn't because he doesn't want us to focus on her sinfulness. Only wants us to focus on her audacity. Some would call faithfulness. So while Simon and his fellow Pharisees clutch their pearls, she lowers her gaze to his feet, bathes them in her tears, dries them with her hair, and anoints his feet with precious oil from that alabaster jar. And Simon is doing the ethical calculations in his head. He's tallying purity and propriety while she's busy pouring out gratitude. Notice that the text tells us that his initial question was something that he said to himself inside his brain. But Jesus must have read his heart because he tells Simon he has something to say

Debt Parable And True Gratitude

SPEAKER_01 8:18

to him. He shares a simple parable. One person was forgiven a missed $25 co-payment. Another received a letter from the billing department at Wesley Long Hospital informing them that their $40,000 surgery bill had been forgiven with no strings attached. Who, he mused, do you think will be more grateful? Simon knows the answer, and being no fool, he must have realized that Jesus had trapped him in confession. The one forgiven 40 grand, he says. Right you are, Jesus replies. And then Jesus reminds Simon that this woman has shown him hospitality that Simon himself failed to offer. Very simple forms of hospitality that a host like Simon would have been socially expected to fulfill. And so there's a sermon in this passage

Host’s Missed Hospitality

SPEAKER_01 9:11

without saying a single word. This unnamed woman delivers a homily of hospitality. And it's far from the only one in Luke's gospel to be preached without words. In fact, it occurred to me that her actions are echoed in another story just a few chapters after today's reading. If we fast forward to Luke chapter 10, it's a story that I'm betting you know, the story of the Good Samaritan. Like the woman, the Good Samaritan doesn't speak at all, or at least not until the very end of the story. He says very little. Almost all of the mercy happens before any words come to his lips. You know the story. Finds the man beaten and robbed, having already been abandoned by a priest and a Levite, both who were known for

Echoes In The Good Samaritan

SPEAKER_01 9:58

their sacred words and litanies. Yet the Good Samaritan, much like the woman in today's passage, understands intuitively that some moments don't call for words, they call for action. That's exactly what he does. He cares for the man, and like the woman in today's text, anoints him with oil, silently and lovingly and faithfully. So, friends, remember this. Love for Jesus at the table must become mercy for the neighbor in the ditch. That mercy shows up in calendars and casseroles and who gets invited and how we form our budgets and spend our money. The woman's faithfulness becomes a continuous refrain, song of mercy, that calls the Samaritan later to set aside words for a moment and pick up some oil and soothe a broken body and a broken spirit. So in Luke, the gospel goes beyond polite beliefs and correct talk, and it becomes visible on tables, on roads, and homes, and yes, even in ditches. This unnamed woman

From Table Love To Neighbor Mercy

SPEAKER_01 11:08

in Luke 7 demonstrates that true hospitality isn't about social status or worthiness, but simply about humble love. It's the simple things, drawing near to Jesus, honoring him, and receiving forgiveness that makes new things in this broken world. So after showing us love poured out at Jesus' feet, Luke then sends us into the world where neighbor love looks like oil and bandages, restitution and repair, gratitude and witness, and a community that we are called to be that refuses to exploit the vulnerable among us. So the real question isn't just about saying the right things about grace, but whether our bodies and our budgets, our tables and our time live out that grace until the forgiven become forgiving, the welcomed become welcoming, and the love of nature, and the love of neighbor, rather, becomes the church's most credible confession. The name of God, the creator, redeemer, and sustainer, may all of us God's beloved children say. Amen.