Luke 7:33-50
Introduction: How Much Do Things Cost
[Pride, when I first went to Helen’s office, her initial
impression of me was extremely negative because of my pride. Eventually, I
discovered what a fascinating person Helen was, I had to change, otherwise
there was no hope.]
We’ve been slowly working our way through the book of Luke,
that story of Jesus’ life found in the Bible. One thing is clear about Jesus:
he was never boring. I am always amazed in movies about Jesus’ life that he appears
about as interesting as plastic pizza: he walks stiffly, he talks in a
monotone. But that’s not what I see when I read the Bible: I see a man of
intensity; I see a man of passion; I see a man who laughs and is amazed and
cries and spills over tables. And if you read the life of Jesus, there was one
thing that consistently ticked Jesus off. And there was another thing that was
consistently praised by Jesus. Let’s see if you can pick them out of this
section of Jesus’ biography, in Luke, chapter 7:
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.”
Jesus answered him, “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. 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, “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.”
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.”
Here is the key idea of what I’m
going to say today: How much you feel you need God controls what kind of person
you become.
Two people
came to Jesus that day, but only one left forgiven.
Let’s step back here and look at
what is going on at this point in Jesus’ ministry. John the Baptizer is in
prison for publicly denouncing the king’s—Herod’s—marriage to his brother’s
wife. And that is really the trigger for the beginning of Jesus’ public role.
Immediately, people begin to compare them: Oh, John was like this and Jesus is
like this. John dresses in sack cloth, and Jesus dresses in nice clothes
(remember, they gambled at Jesus’ death to see who would get his clothes). John
eats locusts and Jesus eats steak. John gets away from the sinners, but Jesus
eats with the sinners. John’s disciples are very careful religiously but Jesus’
are uneducated and not so careful. Lots of comparisons. Lots of comparisons.
Kind of like the Republican nomination. Every detail about what they say, what
they do, who they hang out with and even who likes what they say. Lots of
comments. And they had two different styles of ministry: John called them out
to the desert, Jesus went into their homes. And both John and Jesus were
criticized. Jesus was criticized by Fox News for being too liberal and John was
criticized by CNN for being too conservative.
This is the background when Jesus
gets a dinner invitation from the local religious leader, Simon, a Pharisee. The
Pharisees were both a political and a religious group. They were sure that the
reason God wasn’t blessing Israel was because the people were not being careful
about obeying God’s laws. They felt that the reason the Romans had come in and
stomped on their freedom was because they weren’t serious enough about the law.
And, if they were serious enough about the law, then God would have to come in
and rescue them. Have to. So they spent a lot of time watching their
neighbors and politicians and rabbis to see if those neighbors and politicians
and rabbis were the reason God hadn’t come to the rescue.
Now, Simon probably heard about
Jesus and his miracles, and wants to see for himself—to see if Jesus is the
real thing. Perhaps he met the rabbi Jesus at the city gate and invited him in
for dinner, or perhaps heard Jesus speak at the synagogue. In those days, for
dinner, they would have reclined on a couch, like a day bed, with their food on
low tables in front of them. Simon would
be at the center and then Jesus at his right hand and all the disciples and
many guests arranged around them to the right and left. They would eat, and
talk, and discuss the urgent topics of the day.
Two people
came to Jesus that day, but only one left forgiven.
If you don’t feel like you need God, you will become proud.
I imagine Simon was feeling pretty
good about himself, the important miracle-working rabbi having dinner in his
house. But, as this is all going on Simon notices that a woman, a woman who he recognizes,
both by sight and by reputation comes in and makes an incredible display. Let’s
look at it again:
…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.
We don’t know how she heard Jesus or what it was he said, but
we do know that when she heard that Jesus was dining with Simon, she had to go.
She had to get closer to Jesus. She was not an invited guest. She knows her own
past. She knows her reputation in town. But she has to come close to Jesus. And
he doesn’t care what they think. She must get close.
But how can she get close? She notices that Jesus feet are
dirty. She notices that no one else has offered this act of hospitality to
Jesus. So she takes the job that was normally given to the lowest house
slave, to wash the feet of the guests. But she doesn’t care what job it is, as long
as she can get close.
But how can she do the job of the slave? She has no basin for
the water, so she wets Jesus feet with her tears. She has no towel, so she
dries them with her hair. Everything she had, even her expensive perfume, which
had been reserved for her shameful lifestyle was now re-purposed and dedicated
to Jesus. She needed Jesus and she was willing to take on the role of a slave,
expose herself to ridicule and give even the most precious of what she had, to
be close to Jesus.
Contrast her with Simon:
I came into
your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, ... You did not give me
a kiss, …. You did not put oil on my head
Simon, he has the house, he has the friends, he has the
water, he has the oil, he has the rabbi. But they were tools to make him look
good—to redirect the attention to him. He thought he was the one doing the
favor for Jesus.
He didn’t feel like he needed Jesus, so he became proud. Just
like us. If we don’t feel like we need God, we will become proud. Everything
starts being out me, myself and I. Even our relationship with God can be like
that: “God, help me (I deserve it). God, use me (I’m the most qualified).”
Two people
came to Jesus that day, but only one left forgiven.
If you don’t feel like you need God, you will become judgmental.
So Simon notices what is going on, and here’s what he starts
to think:
“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.”
When you don’t need God, you start to set yourself up as the
judge and jury of the people around you. First, he judges Jesus: “If this man
were a prophet…” He is saying, I am a connoisseur of prophets and frankly, I’m
disappointed. I give him a D-. He went down his own checklist of “prophet
product features” Then his pride moves it: “How clever I am to detect a fake
prophet. Can’t fool me!” Here is Jesus, sitting to dinner with him and he can’t
see it. Why? Because he has put God in a box. He has stopped watching what God
is doing, because he thinks he’s got it all figured out. But God is not tame.
God is a God of surprises who makes fun of those who think they know it all.
But Simon doesn’t stop there. Next, he comments on the
woman’s character: “what kind of woman she is” What is the hidden assumption
behind this statement? The hidden assumption is that he is better than her.
If we asked Simon, he would list all the good things he has done. Pharisees
were known for their careful attention to God’s laws. Pharisees were known for
their careful behavior. Pharisees were known for fasting and praying and giving
money.
But we all need God. If we don’t feel like we need God, we
become judgmental, because we ask “How can they be like that…” But no one can
please God without his help. None of us is better. Even if, by God’s grace, we
start to make progress in our lives, even if we start to erase some of the old
habits, even if we start showing the fruit of the Spirit, we can’t take credit
for it because it is solely sourced from God’s grace. When we start taking
credit for it, we start ranking the people of the world, with us somewhere near
the top (under Jesus, Moses and Mother Theresa) but certainly better than them.
Two people
came to Jesus that day, but only one left forgiven.
If you don’t feel like you need God, you will become unloving.
Jesus hears Simon’s snide comments. Hard to hide what you’re
thinking from the Son of God. And, as he often did, Jesus used a story (a type
of parinig)to get his point across.
The story was about two men who found themselves in a difficult situation: they
owed money. One owed more than one month’s pay; the other owed more than one
year’s pay. Now the day comes for them to repay the banker, but they cannot
pay. But on that day, there is a surprise: the banker cancels the debt. Both
men had walked into that banker’s office under an unpayable burden of debt and
now both are free.
So Jesus turns to Simon and asks a question:
“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.
“I suppose”?! “I suppose”?!
Jesus goes on to describe how Simon had snubbed him: not even offering
the standard elements of Jewish hospitality: a kiss on the cheek, the
ceremonial washing of the feet, the anointing with oil. And Jesus finishes
ripping apart Simon with these words:
But he who
has been forgiven little loves little.
If we feel like we don’t need God, we become unloving. Love
does not come from a position of strength—it comes from recognition of a shared
position of weakness. It comes from a recognition that stand equally in need of
God’s love and grace. That position of weakness lets us love God because we see
how much we have been given. That position of weakness lets us love other
people more, because I recognize that we share that we share that weakness,
that we share the desperation of grace, that we share the same potential of
renewal and revival.
Two people
came to Jesus that day, but only one left forgiven.
If you don’t feel like you need God, you won’t get him.
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.”
Randy Frazee, pastor of Pantego Bible Church in Fort Worth,
Texas, shared this story:
I remember
seeing a picture of a husband and wife in a gentleman's office. I said,
"Nice picture." I turned around and looked at the man, and he had
tears in his eyes. So I asked him, "Why are you crying?"
He said,
"There was a time in our marriage when I was unfaithful to my wife, and
she found out about it. She was so deeply hurt and injured she was going to
leave me and take the kids with her. I was overwhelmed at the mistake I had
made, and I shut the affair down. I went to my wife in total brokenness.
Knowing I did not deserve for her to answer in the affirmative, I asked her to
forgive me. And she forgave me.
"This
picture was taken shortly after that. When I see this picture, I see a woman
who forgave me. I see a woman who was willing to stand with me in this picture.
So when you see this picture you say, 'Nice picture.' But when I see this
picture I see my life given back to me again."[1]
You can choose who you want to be
in this story:
You can choose
to be one like one of the other guests—the crowd. Notice what they say: “Who is
this who even forgives sins?” What they mean is: we can accept a miracle worker
(he provides our needs), we can accept a rabbi (he is a wise teacher), but we
can’t accept Jesus is the forgiver of sins. Jesus will not accept a demotion,
from a holy God to a mere preacher or miracle worker. The Bible tells us that
we all need forgiveness (“we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of
God.”). But if you don’t feel like you need that forgiveness, then you won’t
get God.
You can choose
to be like Simon. “I think I’ve got this religious thing under control.” Didn’t
need a disruptive God. Give yourself this test: am I more irritable? Am I more
impatient? Those are signs that you are
trying to earn the favor of someone who is willing to give it willingly. (Rom
8:2, Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the
law of sin and death.”
You can choose to be like the
woman. She doesn’t have it all together.
But she does know that she must be close to Jesus. “It does not depend,
therefore, on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.” (Rom. 9:16)
O God, you
are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for
you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. – Psalm
63:1
Peace,
love, joy result.
Two people came to Jesus that day, but only one left forgiven.
[1] Randy
Frazee, pastor of Pantego Bible Church, Fort Worth, Texas, from sermon preached
6-24-01, "Uncommon Confessions"
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