September 26, 2007 - A real love story: A sinner's love - Hayward Fong

Luke 7:36-50

This story gives us an opportunity to examine its background and setting. You will recall in our previous studies, I gave you a picture of a dining setting, a low “U” shaped table surrounded by low couches or pillows where the diners reclined. The poor people generally lived in a one room house whereas the houses of the wealthy would consist of several rooms opening onto an open courtyard. When the weather is warm, they would dine in the courtyard.

Rabbis were public figures. They would have crowds following them, eager to hear words of wisdom. This extended even to when they were dining. The followers would stand behind them listening to catch the wise things they had to say. So, it isn’t surprising to read that a woman had gone into the Pharisee’s house. She would be only one of many who had come to catch the teacher’s pearls of wisdom.

Simon is the principal character in this story. He is a Pharisee. As you will recall, Pharisees were men whose lives were dedicated to keeping the smallest detail of the law. They looked with contempt on those who were not as meticulous as themselves. The name Pharisee means “the separated ones.”

The first thing that comes to mind is why would a Pharisee invite Jesus to dine at his house?

One, he may really have felt that Jesus had something to say. After all, his address to Jesus as Teacher or Rabbi shows a sign of respect.

Or, as has been suggested by some writers, Simon’s colleagues had given him the task of getting Jesus to a meal in order to examine his words so they might form a basis for charging him with heresy and blasphemy.

Perhaps the most likely reason is that Simon was called a collector of celebrities and invited Jesus as a kind of interesting specimen. The fact that he did not give Jesus the usual courtesies support this view. He was treating Jesus with an amused contemptuous interest as on whom he wished to examine at closer quarters.

The woman was a notorious character. Even if she weren’t, it would have been scandalous for a Jewish teacher to be speaking to a woman in public. The fact that she had a reputation made Jesus’ conduct even more astounding to say the least.

Something about Jesus touched her heart. Perhaps it had been his identity as a friend of sinners and she could relate to him as such. Her love ran over and her tears fell on Jesus’ feet. For a woman to untie her hair in public was deemed to be the height of immodesty; unbound hair was considered the trademark of a prostitute. But the love of this woman was so great that she lost all self-consciousness. She no longer cared what people thought of her. She wiped the tears from His feet with her long hair.

She had around her neck a vial of perfume. This was customary with Jewish women. Some of these vials were as valuable as silver. This was probably the most precious thing she owned and she poured it over Jesus’ feet. Such was her love that she kept kissing His feet.

All the time Simon was shocked at what was going on. If Jesus was a prophet, He surely would have known what kind of a woman this was and would not have had anything to do with her. The last thing on earth that Simon would have allowed was to let this woman touch him,

Palestine did not have paved roads. In hot weather, they were dusty; in the winter, they were muddy. People wore sandals which gave little protection walking under these conditions. So when a guest arrived, it was a custom of hospitality to have a servant clean a guest’s feet at the door. At the table, a servant would drop on his hair some fragrance from a flower or incense. When a Rabbi was invited, the host would greet him with a formal kiss. Jesus pointed out that not one of these acts of conventional courtesy had been offered to Him but the woman, in her own way, had done what she could to supply them.

Then Jesus told a story, involving two debtors, one owing 500 denarii and the other 50, translated to about $100 and $10 respectively. When they were unable to pay, the creditor graciously cancelled the debts. Which debtor, asked Jesus, will love the creditor more? Simon gave the obvious answer, the man who had been forgiven the greater debt will feel the greater love. Just so, Jesus said, this woman had greater sins and the forgiveness of them has moved her to greater love. Then to the surprise and resentment of the other guests, Jesus told the woman that her sins had been forgiven and told her to go in peace.

Does this mean that only one who has been forgiven great sins can feel a great love for Jesus? In one sense that is true. But it is true that it is only when we discover what Jesus has done for us that we can really love Him as we ought to love. He suffered all He did for the sake of men; and had men not sinned against God He would not have needed to suffer. It follows that it was for our sakes He suffered and died and when we see what He has done for us it should awaken our love for Him.

It is here that we come to the root difference between Simon the Pharisee and the woman. The woman knew from what she had been saved. Simon in self-complacency was not conscious that he needed saving from anything. The woman was desperately conscious that she needed forgiveness; Simon was not.

One of the greatest mistakes we make is to identify sin with what we call the gross sins, drunkenness, adultery, crimes, etc. But there are sins which no one can see except those who live with us, which cannot be punished by law and which produce far more unhappiness for far more people over a far longer period—sometimes for a lifetime—than the sins of a hard heart. Sins like selfishness, meanness, sarcastic pride, the over critical tongue, irritability and moodiness can wreck life for those we meet in the privacy of our own homes, sins about which the world at large know nothing. Simon was every bit as bad a sinner as the woman was, and perhaps much worse, but he did not know it, and because he did not know it, he did not feel the surge of love that she felt.

The lesson of the parable is that only when we are conscious of our sins do we feel the love we ought to feel for all that Jesus has done for us, and the wonder of being forgiven.