In the last section of chapter 7 we saw that Jesus came eating and drinking and was accused of being a “glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners (Luke 7:34).” And that it was the pharisees and the lawyers who rejected the purposes of God, but the people, and tax collectors declared God just (7:29-30). And now, surprise, surprise! We have Jesus being invited by a pharisee. We read, One of the pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the pharisees house and reclined at table.
The irony should not be lost on us… is he eating and drinking with a sinner? Is this upright member of the community and regular church attender a sinner? Who did Jesus come for? Who are the ones who really love the Lord Jesus. Those who are good, righteous, or the sick and sinner?
Jesus Christ comes to eat with pharisees and is hosted by a sinner.
- Who loves Jesus
- Why she loves Jesus
- Who is Jesus
Who loves Jesus?
Jesus acceptd the invite to eat with the pharisees, and while they are enjoying some lamb steak, Behold! A woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the pharisees house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment. Here comes the worst of the worst. Most likely a prostitute, although we cannot be sure. It says she is a woman of the city, so a well-known sinner. She has learned that Jesus was there and didn’t care if people pointed and wondered why she would go there. She wanted to see Jesus and show her love for him.
Here you have a pharisees who has generally lived a good life, and woman who has been living in sin. One was sitting there thinking himself deserving of Jesus presence, and the woman as undeserving. The woman probably did not even think of the Pharisees, she loved Jesus! She only had eyes for Him and who he was. She loved him with everything! Extravagantly.
She stands behind him (He would have been laying down beside the table on his left elbow, and eating with his right hand, and the feet would have been facing out from the table). And there she comes, you can see people whispering and pointing at her.
We read. “…and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, She is overwhelmed. These tears are tears of overwhelming joy and love mixed most likely with repentance and sorrow over her sin. But she has found HIM! That which she sought. The one who changed her life. Forever.
And she weeps.
Not just a little, but gushes, and the tears run on the feet of Christ. Overwhelmed by His goodness, and amazed by His love. Have you ever had that experience in the presence of Christ?
she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.
The stares of every pharisee in the room are on her. She was a mess. No one shows up with a towel, and she has no towel. She does the unthinkable. She lets down her hair. In the Talmud the law book of the jews, a woman would be punished almost the same if she took off her clothes as she would if she let down her hair.. Every married woman would have put her hair up when she got married and taken it down only for her husband.
She breaks every taboo… but up to this point has not spoken a work. All in silence. She is completely self-forgetful in the presence of Jesus. she doesn’t notice the staring and whispering. The tears that flow are evidence of her guilt that is gone.
These are the feet Isaiah speaks of when he says, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation!” Then we read, she begins to wipe those feet with her hair, and kissed his feet, and anointed him with ointment.
She takes the ointment and pours it on him. This would have been worth at at least 430,000 rand. Jesus is worthy of her life! Of everything. He has forever changed her. He is worthy. If there ever was a friend to sinners – here he is!
The attitude of the repentant is grateful love and humility, born out of a recognition of the magnitude of forgiveness. This prompts us to wonder whether our own response matches hers. How do you love Jesus? Or better how has he loved you, o wretched sinner!
The lack of love is a lack of knowledge about your sin, and the debt that you owe. It is a lack of knowledge regarding judgement, and what Jesus saves you from. And when that happens not only will you lay all at his feet, and shout the good news of Jesus from the rooftops. Jesus does not pull back from this sinner. He is not afraid to associate with her. Others might be offended but not Him.
We are his hands and feet on earth. Is this our attitude to the lost? Do we pull back in disgust when a sinner comes or do we draw near. Do we avoid certain communities, and walk on the other side as if they are dead, or do we stop and extend love. Our theology says we are sinners, What does our walk of life say? Does it say we are just a little better?
Now when the Pharisee who has invited him to saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who wand what sort of woman this is who is touching him for she is a sinner.” He says this to himself. The reader already knows she is a sinner, because Luke tells us (v. 37). There is irony here, of course Jesus knows, the reader knows, but the pharisee doesn’t get it. He thinks Jesus is there for the righteous, but he welcomes this sinner and lets her touch him.
He turns and as if reading Simon’s thoughts and says, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “say it teacher.”
Why she loves Jesus?
He tells him a parable. Two guys owed the moneylender. One owed him, let’s say about 500 days wages (interestingly enough almost the same as the cost of the ointment in the alabaster flask), and the other about fifty days wages. Neither can pay. The burden is real. Debt is debt. Interest is coming. If you can’t pay you can’t pay. But here they get a call from the money lender and he tells them, its ok, I have canceled your debt. You owe nothing! Nothing. Freely forgiven. No work, no need to pay it back. It’s as if it never existed!
And Jesus asked Simon the Pharisee, “Now which of them will love him more? Simon answered, “the one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” I love that he begrudgingly says, “I suppose …” he knows where this is going. Simon knows, he does not suppose. He just does not want to admit the truth! Jesus then says, “you have judged rightly.
Here we have two debtors. One has been forgiven and so loves much; the other doesn’t even see his need for forgiveness. It is those who have been convicted of the greatest sin who have often been the greatest saints. Think of Paul killing Christians, till he met Christ and gave his life to bringing people to him. Or Augustine who lived a totally depraved life, and talks about going to Carthage and living in a hissing cauldron of lust. Until He met the Lord in the preaching and became one of the greatest theologians of all time. Or John Newton a slave Trader – to one of the greatest hymn writers. He is the God of grace! Jesus has paid it all! All to him I owe! Sin has left a crimson stain he washed it white as snow!
He turns to the woman and says to Simon, “Do you see this woman? Do you see her? You see Jesus sees us; he sees the heart. Just like in the story at the beginning of the chapter where it says that Jesus saw the widow. So now he asks, “Do you see her? Because in her you see a reflection of yourself. Jesus’ pointed question revealed Simon’s self-righteous spirit.
Having eyes like Jesus will at least cause us to not judge others based solely upon what they wear or where they’ve been or what they’ve done. Having eyes like Jesus only happens when we have experienced the greatness of our sin and overwhelming grace.
He asks us pointedly, “Do you see them?” Do we see the lost the way that Jesus sees them? We can easily look at an unsaved person who has come to church and reflect on all their apparent unrighteousness, but Jesus looks at the same person and sees someone who has come to worship.
Today Christ asks us, “Do you see that person the way I do? Do you realize that I died for them too?” When you see a neighbor trapped in a life of sin, what is your reaction? Does your heart fill with compassion because they are like “sheep without a shepherd” as did Jesus’ heart?
As followers of Christ, our prayer should be that He would give us His eyes, those eyes that pierce through the hardened heart, eyes that see the good beyond the sin’s ugly stain, eyes that see the life broken and ruined by iniquity and the restoration possible by the great exchange on the cross.
Jesus says, this woman recognizes her needs and you don’t. Then he gives a list of reasons why the sinful woman was in a better position.
I entered your house you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.
The sinner does what the pharisee should have done. It would have been common courtesy that when you entered a house the host would have kissed you on both cheeks as a sign of welcome, then he would have had the guest feet washed, and then they would have put on a little oil on the feet. This was common. But Simon didn’t do any of this. Jesus points out, that the sinner instead of simon is, oddly, hosting Jesus at the feast. And her hosting is not cheap. Her hosting shows intensity, intimacy, costliness, humility, and total devotion.
Simon provided no water for the feet, the woman provided water from her own tears rather than a pitcher. She dried his feet the filthiest part of his body with the honored part of her own body, the crown of her head – her hair. This humility is reinforced as she kisses him on the feet rather than on the cheek. And finally, she does not anoint his head, but his feet, not with olive oil, but with ointment from an alabaster jar, something far more costly.
You may have invited me, but you showed no hospitality. No love. This is your house, but the woman has made her heart, my home. You see we can have Jesus’ in the home, have lots of bibles, read them, and hear his voice, but love him o so little, not recognize our need, and sin, and what it cost, and function practically much like the pharisee. Jesus can be in the home, but far away from the heart.
Oh, Simon had all the religious rules down, but the sinful woman had come to Christ in true worship and devotion. In true humility. In true faith.
Ultimately, it’s the cross of Christ that shifts our focus and changes our vision. Forgiving that debt was not free. It would cost something. He would take the woman’s debt upon himself and pay it.
Who is Jesus
Therefore I till you, he sins, which are many, are forgiven – for she loved much. The question many commentators ask are when her sins were forgiven. But this misses the whole point. Her sins were forgiven before she ever entered.
Simon had agreed that the parable's principle is that one forgiven much will love the forgiver enormously, one forgiven little will love the forgiver mildly, if at all. That was clear, the love flows from forgiveness. The love for Christ does not precede but proceeds from his love and forgiveness for you.
The sin – which was many – says Jesus is gone! You are not looking at a sinner, but one who is justified before God!
But he who is forgiven little loves little. Your idea of depth of your sin, and greatness of your debt that has been forgiven is correlated directly to how much you love Jesus. If you love Jesus little today – then the chances are you have no idea what Kind of sinner you are. What he has done. You are blind still to sin. His forgiveness is extravagant.
O how beautiful it must have been when he turned to her and said, “your sins are forgiven.”” How amazing. How wonderful. She came to him by faith. And she was not disappointed. Before all those people she heard the words that would echo through eternity: Your sins are forgiven. All your sinful thoughts against God and others GONE. All your words of pride, and anger, and lies. GONE. All your actions of lust and drunkenness, and hate. GONE. This is the power of Jesus. He has the power to forgive.
In order to know the love of God we must be brought to the knowledge of what we are, potentially, actually, realistically, consistently, sinful.
My sin oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
my sin, not in part, but the whole,
is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more;
praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
Here is a lady when she went to bed at night on most occasions was the absence of peace. But now peace like a river attends her way. Her sins are forgiven by the only one who can forgive. God.
It is no wonder we read, “Then those at table with him became to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” He had just forgiven all her sins. No human can go around and do this. They were all good Jews. They know Psalm 51 by heart, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight (Ps 51:4) .” They knew that all sin was against God ultimately, and just he could truly forgive. No wonder they are wondering!
And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Faith in Christ is a sure knowledge and a firm confidence hat only to others but also to me “God has granted forgiveness of sins, everlasting righteousness, and salvation, out of mere grace, only for the sake of Christ's merits (Lords day 7).” She received forgiveness of sin, everlasting righteousness, and salvation out of mere grace. Peace was her! Shalom. Go. Not the absence of strive, but presence of Jesus.
Go in peace. I don’t know how you came in; I don’t know your heart. God does. And he is hosting the feast. Are you a bystander? Or are you at his feet in worship. Seeing that he has forgiven you!
Jesus didn’t rank sinners on a scale from “better” to “worse.” Your sin deserves judgement.
The Pharisee and the Church goer, the prostitute and the homosexual person—all are equally human and equally fallen. Each of us owes a great debt we can’t pay on our own. Instead of asking “Which sin is greater?” we should instead proclaim that God’s grace is greater than any sin.
The Bible isn’t about “good guys” versus “bad guys.” There is only one perfect man who would give his life so we might go free. His name is Jesus Christ, the one who offered grace to both the sexually broken and also the self-righteous. So let’s drop our labeling and condemning, our anger and hypocrisy, and turn to Christ’s overwhelming grace. Let’s say with the guests at Simon’s house, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?”
Our sins are just as real and numerous as hers, just not as public or notorious. May the Holy Spirit convict us of this today of sin, and show us Christ. We believe he has forgiven all our sins—past, present, and future. He is worthy of your total devotion. O God help us. Change us. Free us. And give us peace. So that we would live in Holy devotion before him. That woman knew what sin cost and changed. I promise you. That pharisee had no idea, and kept living in his own self-deception. O God, open our eyes to your grace.
Amen