Just Giving Jesus A Treat Or...

Luke 7: 36-50

A Sinful

Woman Forgiven

The Gospel of Luke portrays Jesus as one who often eats with sinners. “Jesus eating with the sinners at the same table” signifies his acceptance of sinners. And that reveals God's immense mercy upon the sinners.

In this passage we see another feast, but this one is special. The host this time was a Pharisee named Simon. He heard that Jesus was a respected teacher and healer, so he invited Jesus to his house to have dinner with him, in order to know Jesus personally.

Simon was also a man of power, status and wealth. Perhaps deep in his heart, he might want to show off by treating Jesus to a dinner. And interestingly, Jesus accepted his invitation.  Jesus was a friend to the lowly, but he also associated himself with the rich and famous.

Jesus took his place at the table in the house of Simon. Now there was a certain immoral woman in the city.  The implication is that she was a prostitute. She learned that Jesus was reclining at the table in Pharisee Simon’s house. Although the woman was not an invited guest, she entered the house anyway. She overcame her fear and shame, and brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. Alabaster is a soft marble—white, yellow, or red—that was often used to make expensive containers.

In Jesus’ day, it was customary to recline while eating. Dinner guests would lie on couches with their heads near the table, propping themselves up on one elbow and stretching their feet out behind them. The woman could easily anoint Jesus’ feet without approaching the table.

She knelt behind Jesus at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them (vv. 37-38).

When the Pharisee, Simon saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She is a sinner!” (v.39)

Simon felt disdain for the woman’s act. He was unhappy that Jesus accepted this sinful woman for her improper acts. Simon’s disgust in his heart reflected his ignorance of Jesus’ heart and mission. Jesus was indeed the prophet and the Messiah. He knew what Simon had been thinking in his heart. He also knew this woman's past, but she was now before him, a forgiven sinner.

So Jesus answered his thoughts, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And Simon replied, “Say it, Teacher.”

Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, cancelling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”

500 pieces of silver (denarii) was almost two years’ wages for a day labourer. The poor were often heavily indebted to the wealthy in first-century Galilee. Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he cancelled the larger debt.”

Jesus said, “That is right.” Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust off my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my heard, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume. I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”

Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”

The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man that he goes around forgiving sins?”

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

The Pharisees believed that only God could forgive sins, so they wondered why this man, Jesus, was saying that the woman’s sins were forgiven. They did not grasp the fact that Jesus was indeed God.

Exposition

From the perspective of Simon and the other guests, this woman is not decent. She is unclean, disdainful and weak. According to the prevalent social value judgment at that time, tears are signs of weaknesses, a woman’s hair is an immoral symbol, kissing is disgraceful, ointment is extravagance, and sinful identity is disdainful.

But in Jesus’ eyes; "tears, hands, hair, kissing, ointment" are this woman's most valuable and cherished assets. This woman offered all these valuables to Jesus.

Today what do we offer to Jesus? Do we offer Him our most valuable and cherished things or our petty complaints?

This woman’s acts contrasted the shortcomings of Simon. Simon had neglected to show Jesus the common courtesies of hospitality. Since roads were dusty, a servant would wash the dust off a guest’ feet. Greeting a guest with a kiss on both cheeks is normal in the Middle East even today. Anointing the head with olive oil was a way to honour a respected guest. Simon is apparently “just giving a treat” to Jesus without reverence and gratefulness at heart. Throwing a feast for Jesus is well within his capacity and he does it very lightly!

The woman could not afford to host a feast for Jesus. There were no dancing and no singing. She was completely silent without saying a word. However, she gave her best to host Jesus as guest and Lord of her life. She offered her extraordinary act of sacrificial love because Jesus had forgiven her sins. It was not that her great love for Jesus caused him to forgive her, but that the forgiveness she had already received from Jesus prompted her love.

Jesus rebuked Simon for his hypocrisy, self-centeredness and inhospitality, but appreciated and recognized in public, the woman's act as a hospitable act to Him. Ironically, Simon’s taking Jesus lightly, dishonouring him, had infringed the social taboo of honouring guest.

In this story it is the grateful immoral woman, and not the religious leader, whose sins were forgiven. Although God’s grace through faith is what saves us, and not acts of love or generosity, this woman’s act demonstrated her true faith, and Jesus honoured her.

The woman realized that she was a great sinner and now she came to Jesus, regarded Jesus as saviour who had redeemed her from sin. This is a picture of genuine faith when one encounters Christ, acknowledging own sinful status, receiving the grace of God's forgiveness, and then responds to God with acts of love and gratitude.

Application

The woman has freely received the Lord’s forgiveness of sin. But this free grace is not cheap grace. This is priceless grace, for Jesus is the transcendent Logos, the only Son of God, the immortal God came to earth himself and became weak, vulnerable to suffering and death. He did this all for us—all to atone for our sin, to take the punishment we deserved. It is the most astonishing and radical act of self-giving and loving sacrifice that can be imagined.

The woman’s outrageous acts in gratitude to the Lord Jesus had rightfully expressed a great sinner’s response to the Lord’s priceless grace. Conversely, “taking Jesus lightly or just giving a treat to Jesus” actually is only proportionate to cheap grace!

Do you see that we are sinners just like the immoral woman who need Jesus’ forgiveness desperately? Do you want to receive the grace of Christ to forgive your sin?

No matter how sinful or righteous one might think of oneself, Jesus can save him from eternal condemnation. You have to admit you are a sinner. You have to believe he died in your place. You have to rest in his work rather than your own good works. You must commit your life to him in gratitude for his finished work.

Do you see that you can live now strong and healthy because of the grace of God which has sustained you? How will you respond today to Christ's redemptive work in your life? Do we simply sit down, content and remain unmoved, with this knowledge of the gracious love of Christ?

No—we are to spend the rest of our lives tasting, experiencing, and being shaped by that gracious love. We are to be connected to Christ with an ongoing gratitude and love relationship with him.

The Bible does not tell us the name of this woman, but the host Simon's name is revealed. Simon is also a Pharisee, who is a religious and community leader. However, this woman's act of hospitality on Jesus has caused her to transform from nameless, guilty, and despised, to a life being well-commended by Jesus and publicly declared that her sins are forgiven. This woman’s life was reversed and lifted up by Jesus Christ.

On the contrary, the respectable Simon, his casual, superficial and arrogant attitude of “just giving a treat”, reveals that he did not humble himself and acknowledge that he was a sinner and thus, he did not receive the forgiveness of sins by the Lord Jesus.

As a result, the woman who was on the margin had moved to the centre, but Simon on the other hand, had moved from the centre to the margin. The woman received her identity, but Simon loses his face. The woman was moved to the foreground but Simon receded to the background. The woman was honoured throughout the generations; Simon was humiliated throughout the ages.

Do you love Jesus? Are you really grateful to Jesus for what he has done in your life?

I know you love the Lord, but oftentimes you may have overlooked the need to revere the Lord and give due hospitality to Him. You may have come to worship the Lord, offer money to the Lord in a casual way as if “just giving a treat” to Jesus. Today Jesus is at the table with you, you can decide to make a change today.

Having rebuked by Jesus, how did Simon respond? Luke deliberately leaves it blank for us readers to fill in the answer. If you were Simon, how will you respond to Jesus’ reproach? Will you regard it as a serious thing, then turn to Jesus and offer your best to him?

You also can do likewise as what this woman did; to worship and serve the Lord seriously; to give your precious resources to the Lord for Him to use. This infamous sinful woman experienced a reversal of life; you can also experience the same.

Jesus is here to grant you sufficient grace so that your sins can be forgiven, have your life reversed; from failure to success, from weak, disease and poverty to strength and abundance, from sadness to joy.