Luke 7:36-50


Introduction:

*Comments on Song “Come to the Table”*
Text: Luke 7:36-50

Theme:

Review and Introduce Text:

This past week two small group meetings occurred in my home. We’re going through the New Testament together, reading about 18 chapters a month. This month we read a good chunk of Luke. Something that stuck out to us was just how… surprising Jesus could be at times.

Sometimes the answers that Jesus gave to questions insulted people. He went around healing and helping, blessing, serving, and teaching the perfect will of God, and telling people the good news of the kingdom, but there was at times a harder edge to all of that. He wasn’t shy to rebuke people for sin – sometimes strongly. After casting out many demons, giving sight to the blind, raising people from the dead, causing the lame to walk again – he proceeded to tell people that they were like children in the marketplace with their unrealistic expectations and demands.

He stated that John the Baptist was the greatest that ever lived according to the flesh, and then proceeded to say something that essentially meant that sinners and tax collectors, of all people, would be important in the kingdom of God, more important than John the Baptist reckoned according to the flesh. This was something that the Pharisees and scribes took great offense at.

He wasn’t afraid to break with social custom either. In our passage today, something happens that, if it were to happen today, would be extremely awkward, and it wasn’t much less awkward at the time. And yet Jesus not only allows it to happen, but He uses it as a teaching opportunity and rebukes the person who is offended by it.

As we read this story, it is probably good to continue to keep in mind Jesus’ words from last week’s sermon “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

As we continue to go through Luke, I do pray that what we read and hear changes our lives and results in us continuing to grow in our faith and becoming more and more like Jesus. But I especially pray that as we go through Luke, we just grow in our appreciation for and admiration of Jesus.

 

Verses 36-39

There is frequent tension between Jesus and the Pharisees throughout the Gospels, but apparently, early on in His ministry at least, there was not a complete schism. Pharisees were still willing to invite Jesus into their home – though usually it was to cause trouble.

This Pharisee doesn’t seem like he is looking for trouble. He doesn’t try to trap Jesus with his questions and he doesn’t become hostile either. But he also doesn’t seem to believe that Jesus is quite as special as other people think. This Pharisee’s name is Simon – not Simon Peter, mind you. Simon Peter was a fisherman, not a Pharisee.

Simon the Pharisee does not believe that Jesus is really a prophet and this event seems – at first – to confirm his suspicion, because something really shocking happens at this meal.

When people ate together back then they didn’t sit in chairs. That’s why you read the phrase “reclined at table.” They would lie on their side with their head facing the table, and prop up their head with one hand, and would use the other hand to pick food up off the table and eat.

While Jesus is reclining at this table with Simon the Pharisee and others, a “woman of the city, who was a sinner” comes up behind Jesus and begins to anoint Jesus’ feet in a pretty scandalous way. First of all, she is wiping his feet with her hair. At this time, women had their hair kept up and covered. A woman could actually be divorced for letting her hair down in public. Divorcing a woman over letting her hair down was a pharisaical law; mind you, not a biblical law, but culturally this was a pretty shocking thing. She’s also weeping and crying as this occurs, so it really would have been impossible to ignore. The fact she had let her hair down would have been disturbing, that she was crying would have been disturbing, anointing his feet with expensive ointment from an expensive jar would have been disturbing, the kissing of his feet would have been disturbing, but that’s not what draws Simon the Pharisee’s attention the most. It is the character of the woman that is particularly disturbing to him.

She is described as a sinner. The Bible doesn’t dispute that. In fact in verse 47 Jesus says “her sins, which are many.” She was a particularly frequent sinner and her reputation was apparently well earned. Jesus doesn’t dispute that. We don’t know what kinds of sins were present in her life, only that they were common and strong enough that her sinful life wasn’t a secret.

And that in particular is what is eating Simon the Pharisee up inside. He cannot allow in his conscience that a holy prophet would allow such a woman to touch Him as she does. In his Pharisaical religious system, this woman is beyond redemption. Her sins are too many. She cannot be forgiven and saved. She should be an outcast of society, not allowed to touch a prophet.

And so if Jesus really were a prophet, then He would know what kind of woman this is and would do something about her to stop this embarrassment.

Application: I’m afraid that, for all too many of us, we would think and react just like Simon the Pharisee. *Treating Others with Contempt.* *Story of First Person I Led to the Lord*

Link: These things the Pharisee said to himself, not out loud. Jesus now really must be turning Simon’s world upside down when He shows that He knows Simon’s thoughts.

Jesus knows what Simon is thinking and saying to himself. Jesus really is a prophet. And Simon is about to find out about it with an illustration.
Verses 40-50

Jesus gave Simon a parable, and the message of the parable is fairly simple – forgiveness results in love. And the more forgiveness an individual experiences, the more love that will show. It’s a simple message, Simon puzzles out the meaning right away, but the implications are shocking.

It is evident that this woman has been forgiven much and Simon the Pharisee, very likely, hasn’t been forgiven at all. This woman with a well-earned reputation as a sinner owed a debt that she could not pay and has been forgiven for it.

Her being forgiven is evident by her behavior – she loves much. She loves to the point that she really doesn’t care how ridiculous she looks; she just wants to show her appreciation to Jesus. She is overcome with emotion that leads her to weep and kiss Jesus’ feet and pour oil on it. Yes, her sins were great. And that is why, now that she is forgiven, there is this embarrassing, self-forgetting outpouring of love for Jesus.

But Simon the Pharisee didn’t do much of anything for Jesus. He invited Jesus for a meal, that was it, and it probably didn’t have anything to do with love. The Pharisee didn’t offer water for Jesus to wash even his own feet, he didn’t greet Jesus with a kiss – *explain that* – he didn’t anoint Jesus’ head with oil. He did nothing like that.

For an honored guest, a host would have a servant wash the feet of his guest. But this Pharisee not only did not honor Jesus, he didn’t even give Jesus the common courtesy that was due at the time. No kiss of greeting, no water for the feet. To the Pharisee, Jesus is apparently not someone worthy of common courtesy, much less honor.

But this woman wipes his dust covered feet with her own tears and she kisses them. The Pharisee is dignified, distant, and appears to view himself as somewhat superior to Jesus. The woman is an emotional mess who is groveling at the dusty feet of Jesus. The contrast couldn’t be stronger.

What’s the explanation for the two different receptions? This sinful woman has had her sins forgiven. It looks very much like Simon has not. Jesus turns to the woman only and says “Your sins are forgiven.” He says no such thing about Simon. You could maybe look at where it says “he who is forgiven little, loves little” and see that as referring to Simon, or the story of the person who was forgiven a debt of 50 denarii as referring to Simon. It’s possible. But consider that Simon did not consider Jesus to even be a prophet and Jesus said to the woman only that her sins were forgiven.

*Luke 18:9 “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:” – Sums up well a common thing that Jesus addressed. This story here has someone who trusts in themselves that they are righteous and treats others with contempt.*

So what’s just happened then? The total opposite of what the Pharisee thought should happen. This strong sinner is now in a right relationship with God. Her sins have been forgiven. She has not been thrown out. She has not been punished. She has not had to work off her impossible debt. Jesus has forgiven her of all she has done to break God’s commands and stack up a monumental debt before Him and Jesus has forgiven her because of her faith.

Notice that – he says “your faith has saved you.” Not “your works have saved you.” Verse 47 can cause some confusion when it says “her sins are forgiven – for she loved much” but do remember the parable that Jesus gave earlier. First the 500 denarii debt is forgiven, and then the love comes. That’s the order – forgiveness, then love. Just like 1 John says “we love Him because He first loved us.”

Verse 47 is not saying that the woman has earned forgiveness by loving Jesus. He is saying that it is evident she has been forgiven much because she loves much. Verse 50 also, Jesus does not say her love has saved her. Rather, He says her faith has saved her. She has faith in the person of Jesus. Her many sins are therefore forgiven. And because of that great forgiveness she has great love for Jesus.

Did Simon’s mind change about this? Did Simon become a Christian? Maybe we will find out some day. I have a suspicion that he did. Most other Pharisees and Scribes in the Bible are just called “Pharisees and scribes.” Their name isn’t given. Simon’s name is given here, so it’s possible that he was the one who told this story to Luke. Simon also didn’t react in anger like the other Pharisees tended to. No one got angry, threatened, or tried to kill Jesus after this event.

Rather, we read “who is this, who even forgives sins?” – The people at the table, Simon would seem to be included, maybe? Have now become aware that Jesus is able to forgive sins. That is a huge realization – one that brings them *this* close to having saving faith themselves and one that must have been quite the shocker for them.

A fervent sinner has just had their sins forgiven. Their sins were forgiven by faith and their sins were forgiven by Jesus.

Link: What about you? What’s your reaction to Jesus forgiving the sins of this woman based solely on faith?

 

Application:

  • Jesus is able to forgive sins.
  • All are “welcome at the table.” – Don’t assume sinners aren’t able to be saved, and don’t treat repentant people with contempt.
  • Don’t assume that you are unable to be saved. If we had to save ourselves, none of us could be saved. But if Jesus is the one who saves us, then all of us can be saved. Come to Jesus