Luke 7:36-50
Do You See This Woman?
Woodlawn Baptist Church
November 19, 2006
Introduction
Read Luke 7:36-50.
Throughout this chapter Luke has shown Christ at work doing what He clearly set out to do. You may remember Him standing in the synagogue of Nazareth, reading these words,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
In chapter 6 Jesus preached about how those who are spiritually bankrupt, those who hunger, those who weep, and those who mourn will be blessed. On the other hand, those who are rich and full and lifted up in pride would find the tables turned. He said to love our enemies – to be good to others regardless of whether they were deserving of that love and goodness. Now in chapter 7 Luke has shown that Christ is fulfilling all of that. He healed the Centurion’s servant, raised a dead man to life, exorcised demons, gave sight to the blind, made the lame to walk, gave hearing to the deaf and continued to preach the gospel to the poor. He was spending His time in the company of people who were outside the good graces of God. According to the traditional thinking, these people wouldn’t have been in the shape they were in had they not done something to deserve their misfortune. The people God had obviously blessed were the Pharisees and their friends. They were wealthy, clean and religious.
Many people were really having great difficulty making up their minds about Jesus. Was He the Messiah or not? Was He sent from God or not? His miracles were certainly wonderful, but the people He associated with and His attitudes were confusing. He was a friend of sinners, a glutton and a drunkard. How could He possibly be the Messiah?
To His credit, Simon invited Jesus to His home for further questioning. He was one of those doubters I spoke about last week. Jesus came into Simon’s house and reclined at the dinner table. While He was stretched out, probably after eating, this woman, a sinner, a prostitute, a common whore, filthy and vile came into the room and began to wash Jesus’ feet with her tears and hair. Verse 38 says that she went so far as to kiss His feet and anoint them with the ointment.
Verse 39 indicates that while Simon wanted to know who Jesus was; his thoughts reveal that he was really wrestling with the issue. If Jesus really was the prophet people claimed then He would know not to be letting this woman put on such a shameful display. He was supposed to be a holy man! If he really was a prophet He would know better! The godly don’t associate with the wicked!
Jesus then told a parable to help Simon think through the issue, and though Simon gave the right answer he still couldn’t seem to make the connection…this was a sinful woman! The woman on the other hand was through wrestling; she was through doubting. She had figured out what a group of religious leaders were stumbling over. She came to faith in Christ while they were fumbling around with their criticisms.
Notice again the parable.
“There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.”
Now watch this. Jesus turns and looks at the woman, but He addresses Simon. “Simon, do you see this woman?” Now this is important, because Jesus isn’t inviting Simon to look at the woman so much as He wants Simon to really see her: to see her motives, to see her love, and ultimately to see the Savior that she was able to identify. If we look carefully at the woman, we will notice that she was able to see in Jesus what the Pharisees could not see.
In fact, her actions indicate that while the Pharisees saw Jesus as someone who was careless about God and keeping the Law, she saw a benevolent, merciful Lord. When Jesus touched a dead man, the religious leaders were offended, but those who mourned saw an act of love and compassion. The Pharisees thought Jesus a fool for reaching out to people whose sins had caused the cursings of God. The people Jesus spent time with were social outcasts, low-lifes, nobodies. But the very fact that Jesus spent His time with those people made them recognize all the more His mercy!
They saw what David wrote of in Psalm 103:8-13.
“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He has not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above he earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him…”
The Pharisees believed that God was all of that, but their self-righteousness and their pride kept them from seeing it in Jesus. He was a disgrace – but not to this woman. To her He was a Savior worthy of love and affection. An unwelcome guest, she entered into the house of Simon, a wealthy and religious Pharisee. She made her way to Jesus, where she began weeping. As her tears spilled from her face onto the feet of Christ, she bowed at those dirty feet and began to wipe away the dust and tears with her hair. In an act of pure humiliation and servitude she lowered her face to his skin and began to kiss his feet. She then raised herself, opened a bottle of expensive ointment and anointed his feet with the ointment.
It was a scandalous and humiliating act: scandalous because it would have been interpreted as erotic from such a sinful woman. The simple act of letting her hair down in that setting was similar to a woman going topless in one of our public settings today. But it wasn’t just interpreted as erotic, it was absolutely servile. The Jews had slaves that washed people’s feet. They didn’t touch them, let alone defile themselves by rubbing their hair on someone’s feet and even kissing them.
But to this woman it was neither erotic nor humiliating. It was an act of pure love and worship for the One she believed to be the Messiah. She saw Jesus for who He really was, and having received forgiveness for her many sins expressed her adoration of Him with this scandalous act of worship.
Simon may have invited Jesus into his home, but he refused Jesus the customary courtesies offered to guests. He didn’t offer Jesus water to wash His feet and no towel to dry them with. He offered Jesus no common greeting and no oil for anointing, and the indication is that all the other guests received these common courtesies. However, this woman gave Jesus more than common, and why? Because she, unlike he, recognized Jesus for whom He really is and received the forgiveness He offered.
Now watch this. In verse 48 Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.” But according to what Jesus has already said her sins had already been forgiven. They may have been forgiven in a previous encounter out in the community, but I tend to think that when she entered the room she did so in an act of desperation, longing to be free, longing for forgiveness, longing for something real in her life that nothing else could provide. I believe that when this woman stood at the feet of Jesus and began to sob that she had come to the end of herself, and with a broken and contrite heart she kneeled at His feet having found the answers she had been looking for.
When Jesus announced that her sins were forgiven, He said it publicly for…
Her benefit – He wanted her to know in the presence of these men that so far as God was concerned she was forgiven. She needed to hear in the presence of these who had condemned her that her relationship with God was right.
Simon’s benefit – Simon was the doubter; the skeptic. Simon’s assumptions were all wrong – so now in this one offensive act Jesus turns Simon’s assumptions on their head and makes him hear that this sinful woman is right with God.
They who sat at meat – They were left to wonder and answer their own question, “Who is this man that forgives sins?”
Conclusion
Now the question arises, at least it does in my own mind, “So what?” All I’ve done this morning is give you information. Now you know the story, and for many of you a story you already knew. Did you really need more information? Did you really need to know the cultural issues behind the story? So asking, “So what? What does any of this mean for me? What’s the point?” are valid questions. I want to answer them with four points.
Don’t let your assumptions about God keep you from seeing Jesus. Simon had already made up his mind how God worked. He had already made up his mind about what God would and would not accept. Like the Pharisees we studied last week he was holding God ransom. He was waiting on God to do something or prove something or be something to him before he would believe. You may be waiting on God to do something that He’s not going to do. You can allow your assumptions to guide you or you can let the Word of God guide you. But I can already tell you that if you’ve never trusted Christ and you’re waiting on God to prove Himself you’re wasting your time. He has given you all you need to know here in His Word. The question is whether you will put your faith in that Word.
Don’t let your assumptions about people keep you from seeing Jesus. Whether we realize it or not, most of us have already decided who God can and can’t reach. We unconsciously make up our minds that this group or that group is outside the grace of God. We look at people, whether they be poor people or rich people or some race of people or some social class of people and decide that if they lived and loved like you they’d be blessed like you. But I must warn you that’s what the Pharisees believed, and that belief caused them to miss Jesus altogether. Your assumptions about certain people will keep you from seeing Christ at work in your life. Don’t despise what God accepts.
Put your faith in Christ. Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Again, Jesus didn’t say this so much for her benefit as for those who were sitting around the table. From this point on she could walk with her head held high. She could go in peace. They could condemn her if they wanted. They could speak badly about her, hold her in contempt and try to humiliate her if they wanted, but they could not change the fact that in God’s sight she was absolutely accepted. Would she always feel accepted? Would she always feel forgiven? Would she always feel God’s presence? Of course not – which is why we walk by faith.
Are you? Have you ever put your faith in Christ? Have you put your faith in Him to save you? To forgive you? Has God been telling you to do some thing, but you’ve been holding out? Is it time to put your faith in Him and follow Him in baptism? Follow Him in service? Is it time to put your faith in Him and begin to express your love for Him? However He leads you this morning you come to Him.
Perhaps it is time you stood in His presence and gave over to the sobbing that’s been going on in your heart. Perhaps it is time to kneel at the feet of Jesus and accept your place of service, to express your desire to worship, to acknowledge that He is King and Lord. Would you come today?
Don’t be afraid to express your love for Christ. This woman performed a shameful act unashamedly. Why? Because she was compelled by her love and gratitude for Christ. She didn’t care what others thought – and neither can we. Don’t tell me you love Christ – prove it. Don’t tell me you’re thankful for His love, tell someone who hasn’t heard of it. Don’t stand up in church and share your faith – preach it on the street corner! You say you love Christ? Where is the proof…not in here where it is safe and sanitized, but out there where the world doesn’t care and even finds you despicable!
If God swells your heart with great joy then let it out! If you’re moved to tears with sorrow don’t be ashamed to cry. Forget about that unwritten rule that mature believers don’t express emotion – the love and mercy and forgiveness of Jesus Christ ought to move us!
When was the last time something God did in your life really moved you? Today as we celebrate Thanksgiving together perhaps it is time you were moved with gratitude. Have you been forgiven much? Or only just a little?
