Tears of Gratitude
Luke 7:36-50
April 6, 2014
Now that the weather is supposedly warming up, it’s also garage sale season. Have you ever had a garage sale, and you’ve wondered if some of the junk you sold is really worth something? Or maybe you’ve been on the lookout for something that’s worth more than what you’re going to pay. A woman named Teri Horton is a truck driver, she’s 73 years old and she bought a painting for $5. She thought it was so ugly, that she was going to have fun with it and throw darts at it.
This is what she bought! I’m not sure I would have spent $5, but that’s just me. It turns out it’s a painting by Jackson Pollock, and she’s been offered $9 million for this painting. That’s quite a find. Sometimes we make great discoveries when we least expected it.
And that’s what we’re going to talk about today. We’ve been looking at passages which focus on some aspect of tears. Most of the time it’s been tears of sadness, today, we’re looking at tears of sadness and joy; all mixed into one.
We’re going to look at a story from the gospel of Luke, the 3rd book of the New Testament. Our story is found in Luke 7:36-50. It occurs as Jesus has been asked to eat the home of a Pharisee named Simon. It’s the story of what happens during dinner. Let’s take a look at the story ~
36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at the 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 Jesus 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 Jesus said to him, “You have judged rightly.”
44 Then turning toward the woman Jesus 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 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Jesus was invited to dinner and accepted an invitation to eat at the home of a man named, Simon, a Pharisee. This is really an unusual request. Not that you couldn’t ask Jesus to dinner, but Jesus and the Pharisees didn’t mix. They were always butting heads and didn’t agree on anything. The word Pharisee means to set apart or separated ones. They didn’t want to have anything to do with society. They were so concerned about the downward spiral in their society and they would have nothing to do with it. They stood against it, and they tried to turn things around. They understood that the law of Moses was the way to go, and they were careful to obey it as best they could.
In fact, they were so careful to obey the law of Moses that they messed it up. Basically the law of Moses said to love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. That was basically it. Now, Moses had given them ten ways to love God and their neighbors, the Ten Commandments. However, that wasn't enough for the Pharisees.
They were so intense on insuring that they kept the law; they didn’t want to break it inadvertently. So, they came up with laws upon laws upon laws. They had laws for everything and lived for the laws, not for God. As much as they started out with good intentions, in the end they found and used loopholes in the law to get out of doing what was really right.
Jesus pointed this out to them, and they weren’t happy about that. Jesus simply showed them what it meant to love God and love people. And he told them they were beings hypocrites. Jesus spoke to them as He quoted Isaiah, These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men (Isaiah 29:13). So, it was a surprise that Simon invited Jesus to dinner. We don’t know Simon’s intentions because something extraordinary happened.
Let’s go back to the story. It was normal in those days when there was a dinner party for people to recline on cushions on the floor at a low table. They would lean on their left sides with their feet facing away. They would prop themselves up on their left elbows, and they would eat with their right hands. It was also customary for people to come to the house and watch and listen to the conversation. It was like watching a celebrity eating at someone’s home.
As they eat dinner, there’s a woman in the crowd who had a bad reputation. She’s called a sinner. It’s been assumed she’s an adulterous or the town prostitute. To everybody’s shock she moves toward Jesus, kneels at His feet, takes a bottle of perfume from around her neck, poured it over His feet. She cried and wiped Jesus’ feet with her tears and perfume. The fragrance would have filled the room. She’s crying and wiping and kissing Jesus’ feet. It’s an extremely provocative position this woman has put herself and Jesus in. She’s also showing her total submission and gratitude to Jesus. Remember, Jesus had not spoken to her yet.
As this was going on, Simon had some nasty thoughts running through his head. He wondered ‘if Jesus was really a prophet, then He would have known this was woman was a vile sinner, and no prophet would have allowed a woman like this to touch him.’ Simon now suspects Jesus is an imposter and is not a prophet.
I love what Jesus does. Jesus answered the thought in Simon’s head. He looks at Simon and tells him a story. But there’s also a one question quiz at the end.
There was a moneylender and this moneylender had two clients, one borrowed 500 denarii and the other 50 denarii. Neither man was able to repay their debt. So they went to the moneylender, where they got the most incredible response. The moneylender canceled their debt.
Put in today’s terms, 500 denarii would be worth about 2 years salary. According to CNN, the median household income in the USA in 2013 was $51,000. So, the 500 denarii person owed $100,000. The other person, owed $10,000.
Moneylenders were not nice guys. They were like loan sharks. You weren’t going to pay 3-4%, you were going to pay 25% interest on what you borrowed. These 2 guys were in deep trouble.
Notice also that when Luke says the moneylender canceled the debt, he means, he forgave them, he forgave their debt. Since the moneylender will not get his money back, he has to bear the cost himself. Any thought of who is like the moneylender? That’s the essence of forgiveness.
So Jesus asked Simon, “who do you feel would be the most grateful and would express their loving gratitude to the moneylender the most?” Simon rather reluctantly says, “Well, I guess the one who was forgiven most would love most.” Jesus said, “You're absolutely right.”
But Jesus wasn’t done, and this is the beauty of Jesus at work. You see, it was customary for a host to do certain things for an honored guest. And Jesus tells Simon, “When I arrived at your home, I was surprised you did NOT greet me with the customary kiss on the cheek. Not only that, no servant came to the door with a bowl of water to refresh and cleanse my feet. And on top of that, Simon, there was no oil brought to anoint my head.
In other words, Simon, you didn't come to the door to greet me, you didn't shake my hand, and you didn't show me where I could hang my coat and freshen up. In fact, you weren’t anywhere to be seen. You were a rude host.
Jesus continues, ‘Simon, you didn’t give me a bowl of water to wash my feet. This woman has been washing my feet with her tears. You gave me no oil to anoint my head. She anointed my feet. You did not welcome me with a kiss. She has not stopped kissing my feet.
‘Simon, do you get the point? This woman demonstrated love. I didn’t see anything from you, Simon. Yet you criticize her? Simon, has it ever dawned upon you that those who really understand the wonders of forgiveness are the ones who demonstrate loving gratitude? Simon, I wonder — Could it be that the reason you’re expressing so little love for me is that you have little concept of your need for forgiveness and the forgiveness that I have to bring you?’
It was like Jesus was saying, Simon, she’s the 500 denarii sinner, and you’re the 50 denarii sinner. She seems 10X worse than you, and the problem Simon, is you don’t even think you’re a sinner, when in fact you are. He didn’t understand that they were both guilty before God. Simon was just as guilty as the woman.
Simon the Pharisee represents so many people, most of whom are religious like Simon, who believe God accepts them because of their self-righteousness. They believe God will accept them because they’re basically good. Or they believe God will accept them because they’re not as bad as others. They’re judgmental of others, and base their eternal destiny on their own self-righteousness.
So, with that in mind, Jesus then looks at the woman and said, “Woman, your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
What can we learn? Jesus taught Simon more than about hospitality. He was trying to teach him about forgiveness. When we experience the enormity of God’s forgiveness, when we really realize we’ve been fully forgiven, that the Son of God, died for me — — we should be filled with so much awe and joy that we can’t contain ourselves. This is why Jesus said, 47 I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven — for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.
You see, if you look in the mirror and you think, ‘wow, all those others are so much worse than me. I just need a little forgiveness.’ Then you really won’t have much capacity to love and to forgive, because you’ve never allowed yourself to experience the full cost of God’s love. If that’s what you think . . .
You’ve missed it! Simon missed it! If you’ve never allowed yourself to experience the fullness of Christ’s love, then how can you offer that same love to others? You can’t! You can’t give what you don’t have!
Christ is prepared to forgive our sin, whether it’s the reprobate, debased, corrupted variety or the respectable variety. God is prepared to forgive our sin the way the moneylender forgave the people who couldn’t repay him — by assuming the debts Himself. That costly cross is the point.
It’s our faith which saves us, not our righteousness, because frankly our righteousness comes from Christ, and we can’t be viewed as righteous by God until we have faith in Christ.
Stuart Briscoe told the story about a friend who came to him and said, “I never go to church because the church is like a banker's banquet — cold and correct, decorous and dead.”
Briscoe responded, “Often you’re right, and I’ll tell you why. Often in the church there are people like you who don’t understand your sin and have no perception of forgiveness. If I don’t understand the immensity of my sin, respectable as it is, religious as it has been, and it has not been immoral; if I don’t understand my capacity for independence, if I don't understand my capacity for disobedience, I don’t understand myself. If I don’t understand my sin, there’s no way I can understand the incredible grace of God in forgiving me. If I don’t understand that, how will I be grateful? I will simply be cold and correct, decorous and dead, adhering to a religious system without any expressive love to the Lord Jesus at all.
Did you hear that? As we move toward communion, let this be our communion mediation. Hear these words from Briscoe once again ~ If I don’t understand my sin, there’s no way I can understand the incredible grace of God in forgiving me. If I don’t understand that, how will I be grateful?
