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Luke 7:36-50

INTRODUCTION: Our passage this morning is all about love and forgiveness: love for God and for others, forgiveness from God and forgiveness for others. The question we want to explore is how do these two areas relate to each other? And how may we grow in each of these areas? (Read Luke 7:36-40 and pray.)

How would you describe the measure of your love for God and for others? On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 meaning: “absolutely no love for God and others at all,” and 10 meaning: “a full heart continually overflowing with a deep and profound love for God and other people,” where would you put yourself? Please don’t answer out loud. No holding up Olympic scorecards. No rating each other! Just think about yourself for a moment. How are you doing as regards your own love for God and for other people?

The truth be told, obviously all of us could grow, all of us should grow, in this whole area of love. Jesus taught that love for God and others is the greatest of all the commandments. Love is the identifying mark of the Christian. It is the chief fruit of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life. The apostle Paul highlighted the importance of love in 1 Corinthians 13 when he said: “Without love I am nothing.” God measures your spiritual growth and maturity first and foremost by your love for Jesus and your love for other people.

In our passage from Luke this morning, we encounter two people and each of their individual love responses to Jesus. The first person is Simon. Now don’t get this Simon confused with Simon Peter. This is not Simon Peter the disciple. This is Simon the Pharisee. Simon is well-known in the community. He is high profile, highly religious and well-respected as a leader among the Jews. Simon invites Jesus to his house for dinner, along with a number of other guests, and this becomes the setting for what follows. The second person is an unnamed woman who has lived a sinful life. She is also well-known in the community, well-known for her sin. She is far from religious, and she is highly disdained by the people.

And yet, as the story unfolds we find that Simon the Pharisee scores only about a “1” on the love for Jesus scale, while this sinful woman seems to top the charts with a perfect “10.” This is exactly the opposite of what you would expect. And yet, once you understand the principle Jesus teaches us in this passage, it will all make perfect sense.

I. Jesus, the woman and the Pharisee (36-40)

The story begins in verse 36 when Simon invites Jesus over for dinner. This incident takes place early on in Jesus’ public ministry, but Jesus had already acquired quite the reputation both as a teacher and a miracle worker. Jesus healed the sick; he cast out demons; he even raised the dead. We read in Luke 7 that the people “were all filled with awe (at Jesus) and praised God. ‘A great prophet has appeared among us,’ they said. ‘God has come to help his people.’” (Luke 7:16)

It was not unusual to have a visiting teacher or Rabbi come over to your home for a meal. Banquets like this were often used as a time for teaching and moral instruction. And that is exactly what we find here in verse 36. Simon has invited Jesus over for dinner along with a number of guests.
Have you ever noticed how Jesus accepted all sorts of invitations – from tax collectors to sinners to Pharisees? Jesus reached out to people from all walks of life. I love that about Jesus. He never excluded anyone but sought to minister to anyone who would receive him. We should strive to have the same attitude as we reach out with God’s love to those around us.

We read in verse 36 that he “reclined at the table,” which means that they were seated on the floor on low couches rather than sitting in chairs around a table like we would today. These couches had no backs to them. They were more like cushions on the floor. You would sit down on the cushion facing the table sideways with your left arm leaning on the table. This would free up your right arm for eating, and your feet would naturally stretch backward on the floor behind you.

So, Jesus, Simon and all the guests are reclining at the table, enjoying their meal, when suddenly they are interrupted. Enter the unnamed woman. Luke describes her in verse 37 as “a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town.” Perhaps she had been a prostitute. Perhaps she had just lived a publicly loose or immoral life. We are not told the specifics. At any rate she was a woman who had earned a poor reputation, and she shocks the house when she approaches Jesus at the table.

You might wonder how she even got into the house. Well, at these banquets the common people were often allowed into the homes simply to observe, to listen to the conversations and to hear the teachings. But only those actually invited as guests were allowed to sit at the table. The rest were expected to keep quiet and to stay back from the host and the invited guests. After the banquet was over, and the guests had dispersed, then they were allowed to come and eat some of the leftovers from the meal. So this woman probably came in along with some of the other poorer people in town.

But she has not come just to watch the proceedings or to get some food at the end of a meal. According to verse 37, she came specifically because she knew that Jesus was going to be there. She has come for Jesus. And her sudden approach to the table is neither spontaneous nor impromptu. Luke tells us that she brought with her “an alabaster jar of perfume.” She has come to the dinner at Simon’s with a single purpose in mind. She has come to anoint Jesus with the perfume as an expression of her love and devotion to him. Her approach to Jesus at the table is premeditated. It is outrageously bold and completely unconventional.

Verse 38 tells us that “she stood behind him at his feet weeping.” Remember, Jesus is sitting on the floor with his feet trailing behind him. So as the woman approaches him at the table, she naturally approaches him from behind, and she stops at his feet. And even though she has planned all this out in advance, the emotions of the moment catch her off guard, and she finds herself weeping uncontrollably as she stands behind the Lord whom she loves.

Why does she weep? There are probably a number of reasons – a deep and sincere sorrow for her sin, plus an overwhelming sense of gratitude and love for this teacher who came from God forgiving sin rather than condemning sinners such as herself. Martin Luther called these tears “heart water.” And so as her heart overflows with emotion, the tears come pouring out, and Luke tells us that “she began to wet Jesus’ feet with her tears.”

What she did next would have offended Simon and all the other guests deeply. She got down on her knees, she let down her hair in full view of everyone, and she began to wipe Jesus’ feet with her hair. Now in that day and age, a good, religious, respectable woman would never let down her hair in public. To let down your hair in a public setting was considered scandalous. Maybe a prostitute or a woman with low morals would act that way, but not a woman of virtue. No, a good woman would keep her head covered according to the custom of the day.

So was she meaning to be disrespectful? No, her tears had fallen on Jesus’ feet, and in loving humility she starts wiping his feet with her hair. She not only wipes his feet, but she kisses them and pours her perfume over them as an expression of her extreme love and devotion for Christ.

And as the sweet fragrance of the perfume fills the room, Simon the Pharisee burns with indignation. Look at verse 39: “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.’”

Simon is furious at what is going on in his house. This woman is interrupting his party. She has approached his table. She is offending his guests. And Simon is not only upset with the woman. He is also upset with Jesus, because Jesus isn’t doing anything to stop it. He has neither rebuked nor denounced her. He is letting her continue this shocking, scandalous behavior in front of everyone. Whatever Simon may have thought about Jesus before, he now draws a firm conclusion in his mind: “This man is no prophet!”

Remember the people were already hailing Jesus as a great prophet. But at this point Simon completely rejects that possibility. His logic works like this. Point #1: If Jesus were really a prophet, then he would know who this woman is who is touching him, that she is a sinner. Point #2: If Jesus knew, he would stop her. Point #3: He is not stopping her. Therefore he must not know who she really is. And therefore he must not really be a prophet.

Where Simon’s logic breaks down is at point number two – that if Jesus knew who this woman was, he would stop her. Jesus does know who this woman is. He knows all about her and all about her sinful past, but he chooses not to stop her. He has forgiven her, and by her actions she is showing her love and devotion for him.

Of course Simon cannot comprehend this. He is miles away from Jesus’ love and forgiveness. He is self-righteous and condemning. He disdains the woman as a sinner – as if he is not! It is Simon’s prideful, judgmental attitude that blocks his understanding of Jesus’ actions. He doesn’t understand that Jesus associated with sinners – not because he was sinful himself, he lived a perfect, sinless life – but rather because he loved them, and he wanted to reach out to them and save them.

Now Simon doesn’t say any of this out loud. Luke tells us that “he said it to himself.” These were thoughts that he entertained in his mind as he observed Jesus and the woman at the table. Here’s a question for you. Would you think different thoughts if you knew that someone in the room could read your mind? Would that affect you in any way? Of course it would! We would all be much more careful about what we think and what we say to ourselves in the privacy of our own minds if we knew that someone else had access to that information. Well, guess what. There is someone who reads your thoughts – every hour, every day, everywhere you go. God knows your thoughts. You can’t keep any secrets from him. And Jesus knew what Simon was thinking just as plainly as if Simon was speaking out loud and clear for everyone to hear.

Of course Simon doesn’t know this, so when Jesus says to him in verse 40, “Simon, I have something to tell you,” Simon has no idea what is coming next. Perhaps Jesus is going to give some teaching now, or even better, maybe Jesus is finally going to blast this sinful woman for what she is doing in front of everyone. And so Simon masks his inner contempt for Jesus with an outward courtesy. Even as he rejects Jesus in his thoughts, he responds politely, “Tell me, teacher.”

II. The parable of the two debtors (41-43)

And Jesus, as he did so often, proceeds to tell a story and then ask a question. Look at verses 41-42: “Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

Simple story, simple question, straight and to the point. The two men in the story owed different amounts of money. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other owed fifty. Now a denarius was what you were paid for a day’s wages. So, to put it in today’s terms, if you owed fifty denarii, you were in debt about two month’s wages. Average consumer debt is running about six to eight thousand dollars so that actually works out pretty close to a lot of people today. But if you owed five hundred denarii, that would be close to two year’s wages. Can you imagine having two year’s wages worth of credit card debt? Double your yearly salary and make that the outstanding balance on your credit cards. Now we are talking some serious debt.

Both men owe money. One owes a little, comparatively, and one owes a lot. Neither one can pay it back. So the moneylender cancels both debts. Who is going to love the moneylender more? The one who owed the smaller amount or the one who owed the larger amount? Well, it’s not a hard question, and it’s not supposed to be. Obviously, the one who owed the larger amount is going to have the greater love.

Imagine for a moment that you are the one with two year’s worth of wages in credit card debt. I pray that none of you do, although I’ve read where people have amassed that kind of debt. Now imagine you get a letter from your credit card company that reads like this: “Dear Sir. It has come to our attention that you are carrying far too much debt on your credit card, so as a courtesy to you as one of our valued customers, we have decided to reduce your balance owed to zero. Sincerely, MasterCard … or Visa.” Two year’s wages of credit card debt suddenly gone, wiped out in an instant. How would you feel? Wouldn’t that be the most unbelievable thing?

Well that is exactly the situation Jesus describes here. Sure the man owing the fifty denarii is going to be grateful that his debt has been cancelled, but the man owing five hundred is going to go bonkers. He could have worked the rest of his life and never paid off that debt. And now suddenly, with one stroke of the pen, he is free. I know, we’re all going to go home and look for letters from MasterCard and Visa in the mail this week.

So – simple story, easy question, easy answer. But did you notice how cautious, how uneasy Simon seems in answering Jesus? Jesus asks, “Which of them will love him more?” and Simon replies in verse 43, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.” What do you mean, “I suppose”? This is an easy question. Either Simon is playing it safe, or he is trying to come off as indifferent to all this, or more likely, he understands only too clearly the point of Jesus’ story, and he is reluctant to answer lest this story be used against him. But he also doesn’t want to give the wrong answer and be embarrassed in front of his guests. So he says, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.”

Jesus replies, “You have judged correctly.” I can’t help thinking that there is an intentional play on words here. Notice the word Jesus uses: “judge.” Isn’t that Simon’s problem – that he has a judgmental, condemning attitude toward other people instead of the loving, forgiving attitude of Christ? Simon has been judging other people, wrongly, and so when he gives the right answer to Jesus’ question, Jesus replies not without some irony, “You have judged correctly.”

III. The application (44-50)

Jesus then proceeds to lower the boom and make the point of the story crystal clear to Simon and to everyone else as well. Look at verse 44. He turns toward the woman and says to Simon, “Do you see this woman?” Of course he sees her. He has been writhing uncomfortably in his seat from the moment she came up to Jesus. He sees her; he knows her sinful past; he judges her; he condemns her; he despises her.

Jesus then proceeds to contrast the woman’s actions towards Jesus with Simon’s negligence towards him as a host. Look at verses 44-46. Jesus says, “Simon, 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. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.” (Luke 7:44-46)

Jesus draws three startling contrasts between what Simon should have done for Jesus simply as a good host, and what the woman has done for him voluntarily and from the heart. First of all, Simon never gave him any water for his feet. It was a basic act of hospitality in that day to wash the feet of your guests, whether you washed them yourself or had your servants do it. At the bare minimum you would at least provide some water for your guest to wash his own feet so that he would be comfortable in your home. Jesus says, “You didn’t give me any water for my feet, but this woman, she wet my feet with her tears and has wiped them with her hair.” Simon did not give Jesus even the bare minimum of hospitality in this regard, whereas the woman goes off the charts. She not only washes his feet, but she provides the water from her own tears and dries his feet with her own hair.

Secondly, Simon did not give Jesus the traditional greeting of a kiss. When you welcomed a guest into your home in that time, you would normally greet them with a kiss on the cheek as a sign of welcome and respect. In our culture we tend to shake hands or perhaps give a hug if we know the person well. When Jesus entered Simon’s home, Simon neglected to give him a proper greeting. This would have been bad enough for just a normal guest coming into the home, but Jesus was supposed to be the guest of honor. Jesus says, “Simon, you did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet.” To kiss another person’s feet was a sign of great humility, honor and respect. Once again, note the contrast between Simon and the woman. Simon failed to give Jesus even a welcoming kiss on the cheek. The woman is still kissing Jesus’ feet even as he speaks.

And then thirdly, Simon did not provide any oil for Jesus’ head. A good host would put some oil on the head of their guest to sooth any dryness of the scalp. This was considered a thoughtful act of hospitality. Once again, Jesus draws the contrast. He says, “Simon, you did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.” The oil you put on a guest’s head was just common olive oil. It was cheap and in plentiful supply. And you would just dab enough on to take away any dryness. Perfume was far more expensive than olive oil. And the woman doesn’t just dab it on. She pours it out liberally. And once again, as a sign of love and respect, she pours it on his feet rather than on his head. Simon’s attitude is stingy and disrespectful. The woman’s attitude is “nothing but the best for Jesus.” As far as she is concerned, no sacrifice is too great to show her love for him.”

In verse 47 Jesus draws the conclusion to all of this, and this is really the point of the whole passage, so listen carefully: “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven — for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” (Luke 7:47) Note carefully what Jesus is saying here and what he is not saying. Jesus is not saying that her many sins have been forgiven because she loved much. Rather she loves much because her sins have been forgiven. Her forgiveness is not a reward based on her love for Jesus. Christ’s forgiveness came first.

Think back to the man who owed the five hundred denarii. Which came first – the forgiveness of his debt or his love in return? Obviously the forgiveness came first. His great love and appreciation for the moneylender didn’t come until after the debt was cancelled. How many of you with credit card debt this morning walk around singing, “Oh, how I love Discover Card. I just love American Express. Oh, how I love Visa!” Of course you don’t. You don’t love your credit card company. You owe them money! But if you got one of those debt cancellation letters in the mail, who knows, you might just start singing. So Jesus is not saying that her sins have been forgiven because she loved much. He is saying that she loves so much because her many sins have been forgiven.

The opposite is also true. If you haven’t been forgiven much, or not at all, then you won’t love much, or not at all. This was Simon’s problem. By his lack of love for Jesus and by his condemning attitude towards others, he demonstrated that he had not experienced the wonderful gift of forgiveness from Christ. Those who have been forgiven much, love much. Those who have been forgiven little, love little.

Jesus takes this all one step further in verse 48 when he says to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.” That got everyone’s attention. Only the priests could pronounce forgiveness for sins and only after the presentation of a sin offering. Jesus pronounced forgiveness upon his own authority. In the Greek he literally says, “Your sins have been sent away.” Basically, Jesus is telling her, “Your sins are gone.” The slate has been wiped clean. She has been wondrously, undeservedly, graciously, fully forgiven by Jesus.

We read in verse 49 that “the other guests began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’” Luke doesn’t tell us their attitude in saying this – whether they were talking in wonder or resentment at what they just heard. But it doesn’t matter. The answer to the question is the same. “Who is this who even forgives sins?” He is Jesus, the Son of God, who died on the cross and rose from the dead so that you also can be forgiven and can have a personal relationship with God. Jesus is the most wonderful, loving person who ever walked this planet. He loves you and offers you forgiveness for all the sins you have ever committed.

And how do you receive this amazing forgiveness? Look at verse 50: “Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’” You receive God’s forgiveness by putting your faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who died for your sins. You don’t get forgiveness by going to church or by being religious or trying to do all sorts of good works. You don’t earn it, and you certainly don’t deserve it. You simply receive it by faith. “Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’”

CONCLUSION: We started off this morning by asking how you would describe the measure of your love for God and others. Now we have an answer. According to Jesus the measure of your love corresponds to the measure of how much you have been forgiven. The woman in today’s passage loved Jesus so beautifully, so wonderfully, so sacrificially because her “many sins” had been forgiven.

The truth is we all have “many sins.” We all owe the moneylender two year’s wages, two thousand, two million. It doesn’t matter. It’s more than we can ever pay. Poor Simon. He didn’t want to admit that he was just as bad a sinner as the woman he condemned. And you can’t be forgiven until you are willing to confess your sin – all of it.

I like what author John Ortberg says about his passage. He writes:

There is great sin defiling this room. But it is not the sin Simon thinks.
It is the sin of:
Lips that don’t kiss
Knees that won’t bend
Eyes that will not weep
Hands that will not serve
Perfume that will not leave the jar
It is the sin of a heart that will not break, a life that will not change, a soul that will not love. The greatest commandment is the command to love. The greatest sin is refusal to obey the greatest command. Jesus says, in effect, “Simon, don’t you see? You have the biggest debt of all.”
If only Simon could see it!
If only he would fall to the ground beside this sinful woman.
If only he could see and feel pain over his sin as she does over hers.
If only he could be overwhelmed by the realization that Jesus loves him anyway in the midst of his lovelessness.
If only his tears would begin to flow and mingle with this woman’s, and they would bathe the feet of Jesus together. Then Simon would realize that he and this prostitute are just a couple of bookies in the family of forgiven debtors…

She needs grace for a heart that is broken.
He needs grace for a heart that is hard.
(from Everybody’s Normal Till You Get To Know Them, by John Ortberg)

If you are a Christian today and your love for God and others has grown cold, it is partly because you have forgotten how much God has forgiven you. So do something this week. Spend some time reflecting on your many sins and God’s great forgiveness for you in Christ. I believe that if we truly realized how much we have been forgiven, we would all be right there next to the sinful woman, kneeling at the feet of Jesus and pouring out our love and devotion to him.

If you don’t know Christ this morning, let me encourage you to put your faith in him today. John 3:16-17 says this: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

Jesus didn’t come into the world to condemn you. He is not like Simon the Pharisee. He came to love you. He came to save you. He came to forgive your sins. Let me encourage you this morning – put your faith in him, and go in peace.

© Ray Fowler

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