THE LOVE OF THE FORGIVEN
Luke 7:33-50
Bob Marcaurelle bmarcaurelle@charter.net
From the clatter and clash of the crowds of Galilee who stood for or against Jesus, Luke tells us of one beautiful woman who stepped from the crowd, found cleansing and changing, and showered our Lord with grateful love.
The religious snobs called her a “sinner”, but people like her bring honor to the word , for every congregation of saints is composed of those who acknowledge that they are sinners - sinners saved by the grace of a merciful God. In a way, what we have here is the third and the greatest miracle recorded by Luke since the delivery of the Sermon on the Mount.
The first miracle, the healing of the Centurion’s servant (Lk. 7:1) was great, because it involved the restoration of health.
The second miracle, the raising of the widow’s son at Nain (Lk. 7:11) was greater, because it involved the restoration of life.
But the third miracle, the salvation of a Galilean prostitute, was the greatest, because it involved the restoration of a soul to God.
Warren Wiersbie said it met the greatest need, produced the greatest results and cost the greatest price. The two characters in the drama are Simon, the self-righteous churchman who served his god faithfully, but in cold blood and this woman who served her God faithfully with warm hearted devotion. Nowhere in the Bible do we see more clearly the difference between a church member, who has religion, and a child of God, who has Jesus. Look first at...
I. THE SPLENDID SCENE (7:36)
Jesus fame was spreading throughout the land. He was being called a “great prophet” and the people’s verdict was “God has visited His people” (Lk. 7:16-17).
But this “prophet” had little in common with the religious leaders. He associated with sinful people to tell them of God’s great love and was labeled by these leaders, “A glutton and a drunkard and a friend of...sinners” (Lk. 7:34).
Not content merely to be different, Jesus took the offensive against their self-righteous hypocrisy and preached, “The Pharisees and experts in the Bible rejected God’s purposes for themselves because they were not baptized by John” (Lk. 7:30)
In other words, these supercilious, self-righteous, church-going snobs needed to take their stand with prostitutes and thieves and foul mouthed folk and confess and forsake their sins. This was more than the Pharisees could take, and in a few days their clash with Jesus would break out into open warfare.
Today we view a minor skirmish that took place before the outbreak of war. Jesus was in some Galilean town and a Pharisee named Simon invited Him to dinner. We have no idea who this Simon was. His name was common (there are several mentioned in the New Testament) and there is no evidence that he is Simon the leper, in whose home in Bethany, another woman anointed the feet of Jesus (Matt. 26:6).
Neither do we know why he invited Jesus. It was not out of any commitment to Christ for everything in the story points to his dislike of the Lord. Hospitality was a gracious art in Palestine and common courtesy to guest involved three things.
At the door the host would place his hand on the guest’s shoulder and give him the kiss of peace or welcome. Since those were the days of dirt roads and sandals, servants would come and pour cool water on the feet of the guest. Finally, a touch of oil or sweet smelling spice was placed on the head a sign of joy (Is. 61:3). Not a one of these was done for Jesus (v. 44-45).
Usually there were many guests when a Rabbi or teacher was present. Can you imagine the embarrassment when Jesus was snubbed, and treated like an intruder? Why then did he invite the Lord? It could have been curiosity. It could have been to criticize Him and expose Him as a false prophet. It could even have been to feed his own pride by having a famous person in him home. Barclay calls him a “collector of celebrities.”
The simple truth is, we do not know. But this we do know, Jesus goes anywhere He is invited. Even self-righteous sinners are offered the Father’s love.
Entering the banquet hall Jesus and the other guests would lie on their side on cushions spread around the extremely low table. Leaning on their left arm and eating with their right they would bend their knees so their feet would point toward the wall. A strange custom of that day was to have cushions all around the wall so people other than the invited guests could come in and listen to the discussion and conversation. This was especially true when a famous Rabbi, like Jesus, was the guest of honor. And so we have a splendid scene that is filled with not-so-splendid people, who in their self righteousness, feel they are too good to take their stand with sinners.
Charlotte Elliott was a wealthy socialite who belonged to the church, like everyone else, but who took little interest in the things of God. At a dinner a visiting minister said to her, “Miss Elliott, unless you are willing to take your stand with the thieves and harlots of our town and confess your sins, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven.” The nice socialite was offended and angered. But the Holy Spirit, over the next few days, burned these words into her soul and showed her their truth. She repented, was gloriously saved and went on to write one of our most beloved hymns, “Just as I am, without one plea/But that Thy blood was shed for me.” Thank God she had sense enough to see her need. Thank God that into this splendid scene another, like her, came and did the same. Look second at...
II. THE SWEET SACRIFICE (Lk. 7:37-38)
1. A Sinful Woman.
In the crowd around the wall was a “sinful” woman. Everybody saw her come in and everybody’s question was no doubt, “What is she doing here?” Eyebrows were raised and Simon was embarrassed because this woman dared show her face. Tradition has it that she was the town prostitute. Even Jesus said her sins were “many,” so that verdict is probably correct. There is no evidence that she is Mary Magdalene or Mary of Bethany, as some suggest. She was an unnamed woman, from an unnamed town, who found cleansing, forgiveness and the power to live a holy life from Jesus.
2. A Saved Woman.
Everything in the story indicates that she came into that house a saved woman. The point of Jesus’ sermon about her was that such love flows from forgiveness (7:42). His words to her “Your sins have been forgiven” (7:48 NASV), in the Greek, point to a past completed act with present results.
She did not face that hostile crowd, open herself up to ridicule, pour costly perfume out and kiss the feet of Jesus to find forgiveness. She did it because she had already found it, and her love for the one who had forgiven her had to come to that home and express itself.
Jesus had just issued His beautiful invitation to the crowds, “Come unto me, all of you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28-30). Perhaps, as she stood way back on the edge of the crowd, the words that arrested her gripped her soul were “all of you.” The impact of it was inescapable. God loved her! God would forgive her! God would change her! Somewhere, someplace, sometime; she got off by herself, confessed her sins, asked for the power to overcome them and claimed the love of God as preached by Jesus. When the truth of it hit her I believe she went all over that town singing something like
“Jesus included me/Yes He included me/When the Lord said Whosoever/He included me.”
3. A Sacrificing Woman.
When salvation entered her heart it exited her and expressed itself through her life and especially her love. This was her public confession. Before everyone in that town, before all the turned up noses, before all the dirty looks, she told the world she was a Christian. And there was her sacrificial commitment. Whatever the cost- she would minister to her Lord.
Sadie Smithson of Johnson Falls, West Virginia, grew up on the wrong side of town. She never fit in with the “in” crowd. Working as a seamstress she earned the money to go to Europe with the desire to come home and be accepted in her community’s literary league. While in Europe, World War I exploded and she found herself ministering to the wounded and the dying. As she held the hands and prayed with dying men her values changed. On the ship headed home, a traveling companion said, “Well, Sadie, I guess now you will make the literary league.” Sadie gave a strange response. She said that did not matter to her anymore. Her friend said, “What does matter then?” And Sadie said, “Nothing except God, doing things for people, and love.” Oh what a revival would sweep our lives if these three things were what mattered most to us.
C. THE SELF RIGHTEOUS SARCASM (7:39)
Simon said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, He would know who is touching Him and what kind of woman she is.” (v.39)
A man visited a fashionable church and kept saying things like “Amen!” And “Praise the Lord!” An usher slipped in the seat beside him and asked him to be quiet. The man said, “I can’t help it! I just found the Lord!” The usher replied, “Well, you didn’t find him here, so please be quiet!”
Religious people don’t know what’s going on when Christian people get excited about Jesus. Simon said nothing, but he was boiling on the inside. In his mind the verdict against Jesus was rendered. This man is no prophet of God. He allows this piece of garbage to actually touch Him. His contempt for the woman is now joined by contempt for Christ, as evidenced by the Greek word used here for “man”.
It was a term of contempt, like our word “guy.” Simon’s whole concept of religion was wrong. He could not see this woman having any part in a prophet’s life, because he did not see religion as a way to find help and hope and mercy. He saw it as a way to earn favor from God.
The church to him was a museum to display the saints, not a hospital to cure sinners. Thus he did not know what was going on. He was locked in on what we do for God, not on what God does for us. And the person who looks favorably at himself will never see the Lord.
IV. THE SEARCHING SERMON (7:40-50)
In the words of Augustine, Jesus “heard the Pharisee thinking” and he preached to him and to us (for there is a little of Simon in each of us) the beautiful parable of the two debtors (40-47). Then, with the divine rights of the Son of God, He declared that the woman’s sins had been forgiven (48-50). Then with divine insight into the soul of Christianity, he said, “He who is forgiven much loves much.”
People speak today of the love of God and do not come within a million miles of what the Bible means by the love of God. God’s love is a pardoning love that expresses itself in forgiveness to those polluted by and imprisoned by sin. People dwell on the providential blessings of God, like health and family and money and they hold Him in high regard and speak of His love for them and theirs for Him.
Such people, says Maclaren, have left out one-half of what the Bible says about God. He is the Author of untold blessings in general.
We ought to praise Him “from whom all blessings flow.” But God is also the God and Father of Jesus Christ, who makes moral requirements, who dwells in absolute purity, who deals out righteous punishment, who (in the words of scripture) will not “spare the guilty” and who let His Son die “for the forgiveness of sins.”
Most people bathe in the warm sunlight of some vague “god in the great somewhere” but Christians are those who have been handed a pardon by holy God Who came to this earth in Jesus Christ and paid for our sins on the old rugged cross. It is when we are found by Jesus that we realize all this. Confronted by Him we are overwhelmed by our sin and find our refuge in Him.
Theilicke says we are like children lost in the darkest forest of life and “when we come to Jesus we see for the first time the full terror of the wood in which we have been.” And then he adds, “It always seems to me to be one of the greatest things about Jesus is that He allows us to realize all the terrors of guilt...only when we are at home and safe in Him.”
God’s love is expressed in forgiveness. Christianity is not what we do for God, this was Simon’s mistake. It is what we do for Jesus because of what He had done for us. This was this woman’s glory. We receive God’s love as forgiveness to sinners and we express our love as service to the Lord.
G. Campbell Morgan told of the father who adored his little girl. The highlight of his day was taking a walk with her every afternoon. One day, when the time came for the walk, she was busy. Everyday she had an excuse not to go. It broke the father’s heart but he didn’t say anything. He just walked alone. On Christmas morning he found out what was going on. His little girl gave him a pair of slippers she had knitted herself. Now he knew what she was doing all that time. The man put his arm around her and said, “Sweetheart, I thank you for the gift. But next time please buy the slippers and give me our time together. You mean more to me than anything you can do for me or give to me.”
