Pastor Jeff Williams: August 19, 2007

The Gospel of Luke: Part XIX: Luke 7:36-50-Loving God)

We’re in Luke 7. We’re on a series going through Luke, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. We are finishing up Chapter 7 this morning. Imagine that you invite someone you want to get to know out to eat. You invite her to a restaurant, and you say, “This is going to be a good chance to get to know this person. I think this person could be a really good friend in my life. I’ve heard good things about her. I’m curious to see what kind of person she really is.” So, you invite your friend out to this restaurant to eat, and you’re having a good conversation. Things are going well when into the restaurant walks a person who has a very poor reputation in the community. He is known by most people in the community as a very corrupt individual. Maybe he has been not only accused but found guilty of a crime. Maybe he has been in the newspaper. People know who this person is. He starts making his way to your table. You’re thinking, “What in the world could he want to come to my table for?” Then he begins a conversation with this person you’re trying to get to know. You’re a little embarrassed because you think somebody might see you in the restaurant and think you’re associated with this corrupt person. You’re curious as to how your friend will respond to this person. The person is not put off by the presence of your friend. In fact, she welcomeshim and even inviteshim to sit down with you, which really makes you uncomfortable. The person begins to cry and tells your friend what an impact she has made in his life. In fact, she has changed his life, and he is no longer going to live a corrupt life. He wants to live a good life and is sorry for his past. Because of the influence of this friend, there is going to be a new future in his life.

How do you feel about your perspective friend now? Has your opinion of her gone up or has it gone down because she is associating with this notorious person? Or are you still undecided?

Something very similar is happening in the Scripture. There is a man by the name of Simon. He’s a Pharisee. He’s probably well to do, and he’s certainly powerful. He wants to know more about Jesus. He’s heard some good things, and he’s heard some bad things. Some have said Jesus is of God, and others have said He’s a deceiver. He’s corrupt. Simon is a free thinker, and he wants to come to his own conclusions. So, he invites Jesus to join him at his house. Now, you might be thinking-if you’re familiar with the story-how did this woman of ill-repute get into Simon’s house? She’s not on the guest list. She wasn’t invited. The reason she is able to do that is because just like restaurants are a public place, so often in a rich person’s home, they had a court yard where they would meet for gatherings like this, and that was open to the community as well. Beggars could come and take scraps of food that were left behind. The curious could come and listen to the rabbi or whoever was the dignitary that was there that day. So in this courtyard, it was public domain. Into this courtyard comes strolling this woman who is known to have a poor reputation among everyone there. How will Jesus respond, and how will the host respond to what Jesus does?

Let’s read it together in Verse 36 (of Luke 7, page 1023 of pew Bibles), “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…”

Now, I want to pause there in Verse 37. It says “a woman who had lived a sinful life.” We could say, “Well, all of us have lived a sinful life,” but the way this is structured in the Greek, it says she “devoted” herself to a life of sin. That’s what it’s saying to us. It’s saying that emotionally, financially, physically, mentally, she was devoted to living a corrupt lifestyle. She spent her time living in this corrupt lifestyle. Most scholars say she was a prostitute. I wouldn’t argue with that conclusion. It doesn’t exactly say what she did, but by the verbiage that’s used, by the stir her presence caused, it would tend to make one think that is what she was. Maybe some of the people were uncomfortable that day because maybe they were her clients as well. We just don’t know.

She comes walking in, and she comes up to Jesus. She begins to cry. She is overcome with emotions. It says that as she stood behind Him at His feet weeping “she began to wet His feet with her tears.” She’s crying so profusely that tears are dropping onto His feet. You’re probably thinking if He’s eating dinner and she’s behind Him, how in the world is she dropping tears on His feet. Is she crawling under the table or what’s going on here?

The Da Vinci picture that we see of the Last Supper where they’re all sitting at the table, that’s not the way it was. They didn’t have a table and chairs like we have now. The table would have been very low to the ground, and you would have lain down. That’s why it said “reclined at the table.” You would have literally lain down, put your elbow in the table, and you would have had your feet and legs stretched out or bent or curled behind you. Then if somebody came up from behind you, the first thing they would encounter is your feet. That’s why when she cried, her tears fell on His feet. Then, she began wiping them with her hair. Now, a woman’s hair was to be kept up. If you had your hair down, that was a sign you were a loose woman. I want you women who have your hair down this morning to relax. In our culture, you’re okay. It doesn’t mean anything, but in that culture, it meant something. The something it meant was not good. But what we see in this woman was not anything provocative about her appearance or her actions. She let her hair down and was worshipping Jesus with a reckless abandon. She really didn’t care who was watching or what they thought. All she was devoted to was worshipping the Lord Jesus and showing gratefulness to Him. It’s quite possible that this was not the first encounter she’d had with Jesus. In fact, as you read the text, it would seem to indicate that there had been a previous encounter. Maybe He had spoken directly to her, or she had been in one of His audiences and had heard something that had really changed her life; so she was coming to express thankfulness and gratitude for this new life she had been given.

The Bible says not everything Jesus did or said is recorded in these Gospels. John said if everything Jesus did or said was recorded, “The world itself could not contain all that would be written.” So we have just a representative sampling of what Jesus said and did. So quite possibly, this is her second encounter with the Lord, but one thing is emphatically clear: she is a changed person. She had been fully devoted to a life of sin, and now she was fully devoted to Jesus Christ. Emotionally, she is invested; physically, mentally, spiritually, financially [she is invested] because the perfume was very costly. She has given everything she has to this person.

We would do well to learn from her. We would do well to learn that no matter what life you have lived in the past with Jesus Christ, you can have a new life in the future. We’d do well to learn from her that there comes times in our lives when we should serve the Lord or worship the Lord with a reckless abandon. We are far too cautious, far too reserved considering what Jesus has done for us. She is now a fully-devoted follower. There has been repentance, and her actions are demonstrating that repentance.

When the Pharisee who had invited her saw her wipe His feet with her hair, she kissed His feet; she poured perfume on His feet. [This was] very similar to what Mary of Bethany had done. Remember when Mary did that? Judith said, “Oh, this money should be sent to the poor.” It was a different incident but very similar in Jesus’ ministry.

The Scripture says, “When the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a Prophet, He would know who was touching Him and what kind of woman she is-that she is a sinner.’”

When he says that she is a sinner, he is implying that he is what? He is not a sinner or certainly not as bad of a sinner, not in need of as much help as she is. We’re going to find out in a moment that that is not true. I want you to notice that he says it to himself. It says, “…said to himself.” Then it says Jesus answered him. That’s kind of scary. It’s one thing to have a thought, but it’s another thing when somebody else answers the thought that’s in your head.

I have thought I said something to myself and said it aloud. Maybe you’ve done that. I was in a restaurant-I think it was Subway-a couple of weeks ago. This guy was ordering like his tenth sub in a row. She said, “Will that be all?”

He said, “No, I’ll have another.”
I said, “Of course you will.” I’m thinking this to myself…I thought. Then he turns around and goes, “Oh, I’m sorry. Did you need to go through the line?”

I didn’t realize I had said that aloud. I was like, “Oh no, sorry, go right ahead.” So, if that’s you, I apologize to you. I didn’t even know I said that aloud. I was like, “Oh yeah, of course. Another sandwich for you.”

In this case, Simon is not saying this aloud. He’s thinking it, and Jesus is going to address his thoughts. That has to wake you up right there a little bit. Simon is saying, “Well, He is a fraud. What my friends have said about Him is true. If He truly was a prophet of God, He would know this person is not a good person. He’d have nothing to do with her. He would shun her.”

Jesus answered him and said, “‘Simon, I have something to tell you.’”

“‘Tell me, teacher,’ he said.

“‘Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.’”

So [that was] about ten times more than the other person. You think of the two men we saw in the bank video this morning. One had a small debt, and one had a great debt. I know what you were thinking as you watched that video. You were thinking, “Are there any banks like that?” and “Can I move my money there?”

It says, “‘Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?’

“Simon replied, ‘I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.’

“‘You have judged correctly,’ Jesus said.

“Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon…”

Notice He’s speaking to Simon, but He looks at the woman.

“‘Do you see this woman?’”

Now all the things He’s about to say are customs that are standard operating procedure if you’re going to be a good host in that culture. Simon does none of them, either by intention or omission, but he does none of them.

“‘I came into your house. You did not give Me any water for My feet…’”

His feet would have been dirty because He was wearing sandals and had been traveling.

“…‘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.’

“Then Jesus said to her…” and this is really going to make him mad, “…‘your sins are forgiven.’”

Who can forgive sins? Only God. That’s why what He says irks them.

“The other guests began to say amongst themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’

“Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’”

It really bothered them. Number one, He receives her; number two, He pronounces her sins forgiven; and number three, He declares her right with God. Man can’t do that. Jesus is asserting His deity. He is asserting whom He is in the presence of all.

Now, I want to focus in on Verses 41-42. It’s the real heart of this text. Jesus tells a parable. In the parable, there is a moneylender. There are two people who owe him debt: one great and one small. Then there are some commonalities, some parallels between the two. A parable means to lie alongside; so it’s an earthly story with a spiritual significance. The moneylender is God. The money, or the debt, is our sin that we owe to God. The people are simply people. One of them has tried to live a godly life like the Pharisee and occasionally sins. The other is like the woman who just lives life with a reckless abandon toward sin. Then we’re going to talk about three spiritual realities or commonalities that exist between these two groups of people. You might be here this morning, and you might say, “Well, you know I endeavor to live a good life or upright life.” Or, you might be coming in here this morning, and you might say, “I know my life isn’t upright. I know God’s not pleased with my life. I am living a life of sin, and I know that.” So there are two different ends of the spectrum, but we’re going to see from this text that you have more in common spiritually than you think you do.

The first thing we notice is that both of them have a debt. One debt is greater than another, but both of them have a debt. You might be here this morning, and you’ve endeavored to live a righteous life, but the bottom line is you’re still a sinner. The bottom line is you still fall short. In fact, Romans 3:23 (page 1114 of pew Bibles) says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” He’s speaking of humankind, of mankind. Paul says, “Every single one of us falls short. Not one of us hits the mark all the time.” In fact, the word sin means to miss the mark. We might hit the target some of the time, but often times, we miss the target. If you miss the target, it doesn’t matter if you missed it by one inch or a mile: the outcome is the same. You missed the target.

In the Book of Psalms 14:1 (page 538), it talks about our spiritual condition. David writes and says, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.

“The Lord looks down from Heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.”

So what does God find when He looks down? “All have turned aside…” How many have turned aside? All-at one point or another-have turned aside, done our own thing, and showed distain for the law of God.

“…they have together become correct. There is no one who does good, not even one.”

Well, that’s a very different picture than sometimes we are told. We have friends who might say to us, “Well, you know, I think you go to Heaven by being a good person.” I’ve heard that countless times. There are so many good people in our community who would preach that same thing, but that is not the Gospel.

We talked last week that the cross is an offense. Remember, Jesus said, “Blessed is the one who is not offended on account of Me.” The word “offend” means a stumbling block or that which causes us to fall. One would think we would certainly not fall on Jesus. He certainly would be the one that helps us or prevents us from falling, but we said the Bible says, “The cross is a stumbling block. It is an offense.” Why? Because we like to think of ourselves as basically good people who just need a little nudge or a little push. What the cross says is that you and I are morally bankrupt and lost apart from a Savior. What the cross says is what Psalms 14 bears out. There is not one person who is righteous in and of himself. If we could attain salvation on our own accord, then Christ would not have come. Christ would not have had to die.

Though Simon was trusting in his righteousness, he was actually in the same boat as the sinful woman. They were both lost. They both fell short without Christ.