Dinner At Simon’s House (Luke 7) Series

Dinner at Simon’s House (Luke 7)

Introduction: Jesus was at Nain according to Luke 7:11. While He was there, He brought a dead man back to life and also reassured the disciples of John the Baptist that He was truly the Messiah, the One Who should come. After this, a Pharisee named Simon asked Jesus to have dinner and Jesus accepted. Something happened during the dinner that changed a sinful woman’s life forever!

(Full disclosure, some of this is covered in an illustration called “”Unsung heroines-the sinful woman at Simon's house”, approved by Sermon Central in 2022. This contribution is not merely a copy and paste of that illustration.)

1 The Profession of Love

Text: Luke 7:36-38, KJV: 36 And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to meat. 37 And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, 38 And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment

Let’s begin this study with a few general remarks. First, we don’t know just where this event took place. Jesus had (recently?) been in Nain, a community south and east of the Sea of Galilee. He had only recently raised a man from the dead and no doubt, there was plenty of conversation about Who Jesus was and what He had done. This was the first person, by the way, whom Jesus had raised from the dead and it spread all over Judea (Luke 7:17). Some, like Dr. A. T. Robertson, believe this event took place in Capernaum (see the on-line notes found at https://godrules.net/library/robert/robertluk7.htm)

The “where” really doesn’t matter, though. It’s to the credit of Simon the Pharisee that he thought enough of Jesus to invite Him to share a meal. They didn’t “sit at meat”, like at a table; as many sources and Bible teachers have explained, the ones coming for the meal would take off their shoes, lie down on their left sides, and reach into a center section where the food was set out for the meal. According to some, the “meal” might last for hours so that people could speak freely about whatever topic/s they might want to share.

So Jesus did accept the invitation and went (followed Simon?) to Simon’s house. Regardless of where the house was located, the house seems to have followed the more-or-less standard floor plan or architecture of the time. There was the dining area, where Jesus, Simon, and probably others, gathered for the meal. I mentioned earlier that the ones eating would lie down on their left sides. They would also leave their feet and legs in an outer area (maybe, kind of like a “mud room” for the house) where others, not invited to the meal, could speak freely. Dr. Robertson’s comments about this verse (as mentioned above) give examples.

All right. They’ve lain down to eat the supper, all of them basically facing the center, but something unusual is about to happen. They’re about to encounter one of the first and most touching (no pun intended) professions of love anyone ever did for our Lord while He walked on this Earth.

And, would you believe, this expression of love came from a sinful woman?

We’ll never know her name down here but there are a couple of ladies whom we can say were _not_ this woman. Some think this woman was Mary Magdalene, but that’s hardly the case because even though Jesus had cast seven demons out of her, there’s no record that she was involved in any kind of prostitution or sexual misconduct. Magdala was reasonably close to both Capernaum and Nain (see https://bibleatlas.org/full/nain.htm) but, still, I doubt Mary Magdalene was the woman at Simon’s house. Ellicott’s commentary also records some who think the mystery woman of this story was Mary of Bethany, who anointed the Lord here and at Bethany (https://biblehub.com/commentaries/ellicott/luke/7.htm).

So, whoever she was, we do know a few things about her. Dr. A. T. Robertson’s “Word Pictures” has the record that the people knew her and knew what she was. He also pointed out that at an unknown time, she had repented of her sins and wanted to show her gratitude to the Lord (https://godrules.net/library/robert/robertluk7.htm). Of note, this woman wasn’t the only harlot who had become a believer in the True and the Living God: think of Rahab, who protected the spies in Jericho and became a mother of the Messiah (Joshua 2,6; and Ruth 4)!

Now look at the genuine expression and profession of love this woman had for her Savior. Luke described how she came up behind Jesus, approaching Him from that outer room, for lack of a better term, so that she could see His feet but He might have a difficult time seeing her, humanly speaking. I mean, He was looking towards the “buffet” in the middle and might not even pay much attention to His feet: that is, until He noticed her three acts of love and gratitude.