The Challenge To Love Much  Series

The Challenge to Love Much   

Luke 7:36-50

Introduction

Last week we saw Jesus demonstrate amazing powers as he healed the centurion’s servant at a distance and raised the son of the widow of Nain. The miracles of Jesus serve to:

-Show us his great love and compassion for humanity

-Help us know that God sees our condition and cares

-Reinforces the truth that Jesus is the Son of God

Our text today does not contain a miracle as such. The setting is a much more relaxed atmosphere - dinner at Simon’s house. The Pharisees play a major role in the story of Jesus.

Simon and his guests reclined around a u-shaped table - which was the traditional posture for eating. They lay down around a low table, propped up on the left elbow with a cushion for support and their feet angled away from the food. When a teacher was guest, often the meal took place in an open area where listeners were welcome to gather around. Wright says, “What we think of as ‘private life’ in the modern West was largely unknown in Jesus’ world: doors would often remain open, allowing beggars, extra friends, or simply curious passers-by to wander in.” And that’s when it happened. Luke tells us that a “sinful woman”came in and fell at the feet of Jesus.

Luke 7:36-40a

When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

Jesus told the parable of the two indebted men - one who owed the equivalent of of 500 day’s wages, and one who owed 50 days wages.  Both owed large sums of money. Both were unable to pay. Both received forgiveness for their loan. Jesus asked “Which of them will love him more?” Simon - the one who was forgiven most.

Luke 7:43b-48

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

In this account Luke invites us into the room to show us four characters who encountered the challenge to love much.

1. Four Characters in This Story About Love

Simon the Pharisee - one who loves little. Pharisees are presented as taking a stand against Jesus. Some Pharisees, however, wanted to give him a fair hearing. Simon perhaps interested in Jesus, invited him to a meal. But he ignores the social norms of offering hospitality. Barclay suggests that Simon just wanted to be seen in the presence of a celebrity. Maybe so.

The Sinful Woman - one who loves much. The sinful woman showed far more honor to Jesus than the Pharisee had done. “I don’t know what this woman had done, how she had earned a reputation as a sinner, and Luke doesn’t help us narrow it down. But like other sinners who encountered Jesus, she recognized a friend, someone who was calling her out of her sin, someone calling her to God.” (Gallagher) Here no one expresses shock that the woman is present; the scandal is that she has drawn close to Jesus and he has let her approach him. Ryle: “She stood behind Him at His feet, weeping. She wet His feet with her tears. She kept wiping them with the hair of her head. She was kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. No stronger proofs of reverence and respect could she have given, and the secret of her giving such proofs was love. She loved our Lord, and she thought nothing too much to do for Him.” She never says a word, never sings a song, never writes a psalm. Yet we are reading about her two thousand years later.