Barging in
Luke 7:40-50
Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael H Koplitz
40 And Jesus answered, and said to him: Simon, I have something to say to thee. He said to him: Say it, Rabbi. Jesus said to him: 41 There were two debtors to a certain creditor; the one owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty denarii. 42 And as they had not the means of pay, he released them both. Which of them, therefore will love him most? 43 Simon replied, and said: I suppose he to whom most was released. Jesus said to him: Thou hast judged correctly. 44 And he turned to the woman, and said to Simon: Seest thou this woman? I entered thy house, and thou gavest [me] no water for my feet; but she hath bathed my feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair. 45 Thou gavest me no kiss; but this woman, since she came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 Thou didst not anoint my head with perfume; but she hath anointed my feet with perfumed ointment. 47 I therefore say to thee: Her many sins are forgiven her, for she loveth much. But he, to whom little is forgiven, loveth little. 48 And he said to the woman: Thy sins are forgiven thee. 49 And they that were reclining, began to say in themselves: Who is this, that even forgiveth sins? 50 And Jesus said to the woman: Thy faith hath given thee life. Go, in peace.
In Luke chapter 7, starting on verse 40 and going to 50 is a continuation of the previous narrative, so let me summarize that for you so you know what was going on. Jesus came to the house of the Pharisee. His name was Simon. He invited Jesus into the house. What we are told is during his visit, an unnamed woman barges into the house. She drops to Jesus’ feet and starts crying on them. She then takes perfume and with her tears and her perfume, she washes his feet.
Now at first that seems like a very odd thing to do in 2024. However, in Jesus’ day, this was a common practice. So let me take a moment and explain the custom of feet washing to you and it’ll make more sense of what was going on. In a home, if a guest was honorable or high-ranking, the hostess would wash their feet using a basin of water. They did this because roads in Jesus’ day were unpaved. Therefore, if you travel from place to place, your feet were going to get extremely dirty. The interesting part of this cultural concept is that the woman of the house would refuse to wash the feet of commoners.
Therefore, Simon the Pharisee allowed Jesus to come into his house, but neither he nor his wife thought he was a prophet or someone of high social rank to receive this cultural act of foot washing. It tells us right off the bat what Simon the Pharisee thought about Jesus. But then you can sit back and ask of why did he invite Jesus into his house? Well, that also is a cultural item because if someone knocked at your door and wanted to visit, then cultural hospitality required you to allow them to come in. Obviously, hospitality did not include foot washing and unless you were a person, as I just described. However, the host allowed the common person to come into the house because that was part of the culture.
It is interesting that a woman could barge into the house and anoint and wash Jesus’ feet. Why would I think that? Because the townspeople would have come to the house to discover who was there. The Pharisees of each town held a prominent position of honor among the people. Therefore, if the Pharisee is allowing Jesus to come into a house, there had to be something going on. There would be a crowd around the door. Therefore, this woman probably had to push her way through the crowd to reach Jesus through the door.
Pharisees thought very little of the Jews of the Galilee. They did not believe that the Galilean Jews followed the strict interpretation of the Jewish laws that they did. Therefore, Pharisees look down their nose upon Jews who were from the Galilee. Certainly, that practice is being shown in this narrative and is probably why the author of Luke’s gospel thought it was important to include it. Now must take a second talk about one contention that I have heard throughout my years of being a pastor and attending two different seminaries. Christians like to say that none of the Jews thought anything of Jesus and wanted him dead. That is simply not true. Most of the Pharisees and scribes, who were the religious leadership, did not appreciate nor give any value to Jesus’s teaching. However, we know that there was at least one Pharisee, named Nicodemus, who did value what Jesus said.
One thing that this narrative shows us is that the common people of the Galilee and Judea heard Jesus’s message of hope and of love and wanted to be with him. Therefore, the common Jews liked the message. Of course, not all Jews liked the message but, in this narrative, and others in the gospel, Luke, we discover that many common Jews love the message. You know they had no hope because Rome and Herod were such horrible leaders of the people. They taxed them to death. Failure to pay taxes could cause crucifixion or a death sentence in prison.
Jesus brought hope to the people. We see that today in that narrative. This woman went to great extents to break into that house and anoint Jesus' feet. She showed him the honor that a prophet from God should have received from the host and hostess of the house, but did not. Unfortunately, the author does not tell us whether Simon the Pharisee accepted Jesus as God’s Messiah. I really wish he would’ve continued the story.
What does it mean for us? Let me tell you a brief story about a teacher I had in seminary. He told us the story and said we could use it anytime we wanted to. He tested his congregation’s willingness to accept people who were not like them. If you think about it for a moment, that’s exactly what happened in this narrative in that the Pharisee would not accept people in his house as prophets or a person of high social standing like Simon was. So, this pastor dressed up like a homeless man and had his face almost completely covered. He went and sat at the front steps leading into the church building.
He told us that people would come up the stairs, and they saw him, and they would go back down the stairs and go to a rear entrance. There were people that would come up the stairs and look at him and say, get out of here or we will call the police. Not a soul who entered that church that morning would offer him any help.
The church service began and, of course, the pastor was not there because he was sitting on the stairs. The people wondered where is the pastor was and who was going to run this worship? Then the pastor, dressed in his homeless clothing, walked into the sanctuary. He said you could hear the gasps of the people. As he walked toward the front of the sanctuary, he dropped off the dirty clothes that he was wearing and when he got to the front of the church, all the dirty homeless close were gone and he was in his nice clean suit. He went to the pulpit and told them how shameful it was that no one in the church that morning had helped him when he was dressed as a homeless man.
If someone walked into your church dressed as a homeless person, would you help him or her? Jesus would say, yes you have to help this person. Have you ever visited a church and felt alone because no one would talk to you or sit next to you? I have been there, and it’s not a fun thing. Folks, we have to only show Christ’s love not just to the people we know but to the people we don’t know. I know that every one of you who are either reading this message or listening to it knows that in your heart.
Break the rules to show your love for Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Go out there and tell the world that there’s hope because even today we need hope as much as the Jews needed it in Jesus' day. The love of Christ should swell up inside of you so much that you feel you’re going to explode if you don’t share it with someone. So, go out and share Christ with the world.
