Luke 7:36-50 Simon and the Sinful Woman
Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 7:36. We are going to be looking at verses 36-50 and that’s on page 864 in the pew Bibles.
I hope you all appreciated Lou Going’s message last week, I know I did. I had never even heard the expression “justified by faith,” before I took Lou’s theology class at BICS. One statement that he made that was especially powerful to me personally was that “God loves you, He doesn’t merely put up with you, He loves you!” It’s a powerful thought, at least to me.
Well that theme of justification by faith is certainly present in our text for this morning, so let’s look at it together.
36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. 37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, 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. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” 40 And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”
41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” 44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” 50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Let’s pray.
So in this account we have three characters, Jesus obviously, a Pharisee named Simon who invited Jesus over for dinner, and a woman of the city who was a sinner.
All we know about Simon the Pharisee and the sinful woman are right here in this text, they don’t appear elsewhere in Scripture, at least not by name. The woman here is not to be confused with Mary from Bethany who was the sister of Martha and Lazarus who also anointed Jesus with oil and wiped His feet with her hair, that account can be found in Matthew’s Gospel. There is also no evidence in Scripture that she is Mary Magdalene as is a popular but incorrect assumption. All we know is that she was a woman from the city that Jesus was in at the time and that she had a pretty bad, though well deserved, reputation.
As often happens with any story, those that hear it have a tendency to identify with one of the characters, seeing themselves reflected in them. I wonder, as we look at this account, whom we each identify with. Each of the three characters expresses an attitude that we can take a lesson form. But don’t worry, that doesn’t make this a three point sermon!
We are first introduced to Simon, a Pharisee. Simon expresses judgment, not sound judgment, or good judgment, Simon passes judgment both on Jesus and the woman who entered his home.
It’s clear from the text that, at least initially, Simon had not made up his mind about Jesus. It’s possible that his intentions for inviting Jesus over for supper were not pure, maybe he was looking to better his social standing by having this well known rabbi in his house, it’s also possible that he was merely curious and wanted to question Jesus himself within the confines of his home instead of the public square.
It’s also clear from the text that this dinner was far from private as banquets in that day tended to be more open than a dinner party we might have. There were other guests there at the table as well as those from around the city that wanted to hear the conversation, or who wanted to catch a glimpse of Jesus, and that included the sinful woman.
36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. 37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, 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. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”
So it appears that Simon’s mind was made up after watching this display and he made his judgment about Jesus as well as the woman. He decided that Jesus could not possibly be a prophet because he did not display the power nor the holiness of a prophet. Simon decided that since prophets know what is hidden and shudder at the contact of that which is unholy that Jesus was disqualified. Jesus either didn’t know or didn’t care what kind of woman it was that was touching Him.
But Jesus, knowing this man’s heart and his thoughts answered his judgment.
40 And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”
41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” 44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”
Providing water to wash the feet of guests, greeting them with a kiss, and anointing their heads with oil was customary in First Century Palestine, these were common gestures that Simon had neglected. The simple things like greeting your guests with a handshake or a hug, and taking their coat, offering them a drink, that’s what Simon neglected to do for Jesus.
But this woman, in her humility and love for Jesus, washed His feet with her own tears, continually kissed His feet, and anointed them with fragrant ointment. Simon displayed no love for Jesus while the woman humbly displayed great love for Him.
Jesus’ parable, as they often do, exposed the heart of Simon.
41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.”
In this whole exchange, our tendency is to focus on the actions of the woman and how she expressed her great love for Jesus because she had been forgiven for so much, she was the greater debtor. But Simon also missed a very important point, there were two debtors who couldn’t pay their debts, but the moneylender extended grace to both and cancelled the debt of both. Simon was blind to his own sin as was evidenced by his expression of zero love for Jesus, not even the customary welcome that any guest would expect.
Ray Stedman said, “It is impossible to love until you understand how much you have been forgiven.”
Though Simon answered Jesus correctly, that the debtor with the greater debt would love the moneylender more, he was wrong about everything else.
He was wrong because he judged that Jesus was not a prophet, say nothing of being Messiah.
He was wrong because he decided that he was better than that sinful woman and was offended at her presence.
He was wrong because he didn’t realize nor recognize his own debt of sin and his own inability to repay it.
He was wrong because he didn’t extend grace because he didn’t understand grace.
He was wrong because he didn’t love Jesus.
Like I said before, we tend to identify with characters in stories, most often the heroes, but if we’re honest, there are plenty of times that we are more like Simon than we are the repentant woman.
John Calvin wrote, “Simon’s mistake lies only in this: Not considering that Christ came to save what was lost, he rashly concludes that Christ does not distinguish between the worthy and the unworthy. That we may not share in this dislike, let us learn, first, that Christ was given as a Deliverer to miserable and lost people, and to restore them from death to life. Secondly, let every person examine himself and his life, and then we will not wonder that others are admitted along with us, for no one will dare to place themselves above others.”
Simon was just as unworthy as the woman to receive forgiveness, and so are we, and that is what makes God’s grace in Christ so amazing.
We all stand as equals at the foot of the cross.
… [for] God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Amen.
