Eating with Sinners
Part 5
26th August 2007
This is a particularly interesting and powerful story - Jesus is eating with a sinner who thinks he isn't one, and they're interrupted by a Christian who's not sure she is one. It starts like this:
Luke 7v36-39
Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's
house and reclined at the table.
When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the
Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume,
and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then
she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a
prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is - that she is a sinner."
In one sense, this is quite extraordinary. In another sense, it's depressingly familiar.
Luke says that this woman "had lived a sinful life" but he was being delicate. We've all led a sinful life! But this woman had a reputation in the town as someone who was "not nice to know". Nevertheless, her previous experience of Jesus was such that she was willing to burst into the private dinner party of a highly "respectable" Pharisee in order to worship Jesus. It would not have been a comfortable thing for her to do; she would have been recognised by some of the guests. Some may even have once been her customers. She would have expected insults and rejection in such company. But she was going to worship her Lord, whatever the cost!
She wept over Him, and she broke a jar of expensive perfume over His feet while he was trying to eat, and she did so in full view of people who despised her.
But, depressingly, Simon the Pharisee could only see the negative. Like most law-based religious types, he was ready to criticise and condemn - not only the woman, but Jesus, too! His attitude was, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is - that she is a sinner".
Jesus received worship from the woman. But He would not receive criticism from the Pharisee:
Luke 7v40-43
Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you." "Tell me, teacher," he said.
"Two men owed money to a certain money-lender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he cancelled the debts of both. Now which of
them will love him more?"
Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt cancelled." "You have judged
correctly," Jesus said.
Simon could understand the question. After all, it was about money. But he didn't understand that he owed God a far more profound debt. Simon owed God the debt of atonement for his own sin. He really didn't realise this; like many regular church-going people, he thought he was a good person, a religious person, and God wouldn't see anything in him that needed forgiveness.
The woman, by contrast, knew perfectly well that she needed God's forgiveness. But - gloriously - she knew she had it! She risked verbal and possibly physical assault in order to say "thank you" to Him, to worship Him. She sacrificed an expensive jar of perfume to anoint Him as a token of her gratitude and love to perhaps the only man in her life who hadn't abused her. Jesus loved, accepted and forgave her. He'd given her back her dignity, self-respect and a sense that life was worth living. And He'd given her the courage to cast aside her sinful life and start again.
Luke 7v44-50
Then he turned towards the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your
house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet.
You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.
Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven - for she loved much. But he who has
been forgiven little loves little."
Simon hadn't even given Jesus the normal courtesies expected in their culture. Again, like many church-goers today, he thought of himself as a good person, doing God a favour by his religious observances. The woman knew better, and she - like the true Christian today - was full of gratitude to Jesus for forgiving and accepting her. She worshipped him extravagantly even to the point of embarrassing others - because she loved Him!
Verse 47 may need a little explanation. Jesus is saying here "you can see that she has been forgiven much, just by observing how much she loves me". Do you still worship Jesus extravagantly? Or have you begun to forget how much you have been forgiven? Or, like the Pharisee, are you still kidding yourself that you're a good person who's not in need of Jesus at all?
Certainly Simon didn't particularly welcome Jesus. But the woman celebrated Him the most powerful way she could!
But Jesus still needed to reassure her that her sins truly were forgiven. Sometimes, or sense of guilt makes it hard to believe that we really are completely forgiven by God. But we are. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross is sufficient to pay for all our sins.
Verse 48-50
Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."
The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"
Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."
Does this all seem too much to believe? Jesus welcomes "tax collectors and sinners". He receives worship from ex-prostitutes. He loves us all, and will forgive all who truly repent.
And so must we.