THE PROUD AND THE PENITENT

Jesus took a lot of dinner invitations. We saw just a few verses earlier that He was accused by His critics of being a gluttonous man and a drunkard (Luke 7:34). At times he accepted dinner invitations to the homes of sinners and tax collectors. But He also accepted invitations to dine at the homes of those who were respected in the community. This was one of those times.

Simon was a Pharisee. Named after one of the sons of Jacob, he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, holding to all of the Jewish traditions of the rabbis. He prayed twice a day. He owned a regular seat in the synagogue. He read the words of the prophets. He kept himself pure from the defilements of the Gentiles, guarding himself from all contact with pagans.

If he noticed the woman at all, it was only with the utmost disdain. After all, she wasn’t his social equal. And with the reputation that she had, it was a shame that stoning of sinners was no longer fashionable.

And then one day, Simon heard that Jesus had come to town. This strange young rabbi from Nazareth had been growing in popularity as the fame of His teaching and His miracles spread throughout the land. It was the perfect opportunity. Jesus would make the perfect dinner guest. He would certainly he impressed by the kind of table that Simon could set. Perhaps they could sit and compare notes on how righteous they are. Maybe they could even have a theological discussion on various rabbinical views of the Law.

Jesus had been accused of being a glutton, a drunk, and a friend of sinners (7:34). As He sits at dinner in the house of this Pharisee, we shall see Him befriending one who is a sinner.

Some scholars have suggested that this event is the same as that which is described in Matthew 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9, and John 12:1-8. There are several similarities between those accounts and this one in Luke.

• They each take place in the home of a man named Simon.

• They each have a woman coming into the house with an alabaster vial of perfume.

• In each case, Jesus is reclining at meal when the woman comes to bestow her gift.

And yet, in spite of these similarities, I do not think that these are the same events. This takes place near the center of the ministry of Jesus, while the event described in the other three Gospels takes place at the close of the ministry of Jesus on the week before His death.

The fact that it takes place in the house of Simon is not significant because it was a very common name. Indeed, there were three different people in that same house who were named Simon (Simon the Pharisee, Simon Peter, and Simon the Zealot).

Imagine the scene. The table would have been much lower than we are used to. Instead of sitting in chairs to eat, the guests would recline on soft divans which were arranged so that they could dine in comfort. The dinner is going very nicely when there is an interruption.

• The Profile of the Woman: There was a woman in the city who was a sinner (7:37).

• The Penitence of the Woman: She began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet, and anointing them with the perfume (7:36).

The Pharisee is indignant when he sees what is happening. Righteous men of God do not associate with women of this caliber. To even have her touch him would render him ceremonially unclean. He immediately jumps to some conclusions:

• If Jesus were a prophet, then He would know this woman’s character.

• If Jesus knew that this woman was a sinner, then He would have nothing to do with her.

The Pharisee reasons that the fact that Jesus had made no remonstrance against her must indicate that He is not aware of what kind of person she is. Perhaps He has been overrated as a prophet. But it is not Jesus who has been overrated. It is this Pharisee who has overrated his own righteousness.

One owed five hundred denarii. The other owed fifty denarii A denarii was a small coin, about the size of a dime, but a lot more valuable. It was considered to be a day’s wages for a common laborer (Matthew 20:2). Both of these amounts were quite a bit of money. But one was ten times that of the other. One was high. The other was astronomical.

And yet, there was a similarity in these two debts. The similarity is that the men who had incurred the debts were unable to pay therm

We are like that. Some of us had to be forgiven for a lot. And others have had to be forgiven for a whole lot more. But we are all the same, because we are all unable to satisfy the debt which is against us.

• God is righteous.

• His righteousness is infinitely righteous.

• There is an infinite gulf between His righteousness and your sin. That means that your sin is infinitely sinful in God s sight (and that is the only sight that counts).

• There is an infinite barrier between God and you in your sin.

• It took the death of an infinite person to pay for your sins.

This means that we are all equal before God. I cannot take pride that I am less of a sinner than some one else because my sin is just as infinitely removed from God’s righteous ness as the worst sinner that ever lived. At the same time, I cannot think of myself as unable to approach the grace of God because the sin of the holiest saint is just as infinitely removed from God s righteousness as my own.

1. A Forgiven Debt: "When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both" (7:42).

The moneylender was under no obligation to forgive either of these debts. The fact that he did was a matter of GRACE. It was completely undeserved. Also notice that the moneylender forgave the entire debt. He did not say, "I will forgive 90% of your debt if you pay the other 10%." His forgiveness of the debt was unconditional. He did it with no strings attached.

2. A Question of Gratitude: "Which of them therefore will love him more?" (7: 42)

He has been trying to attain a righteousness of his own by keeping the Law. She knows that she is a law-breaker. He thinks that he has very little need for forgiveness. She is aware that she is in desperate need of forgiveness. In each case, the attitude of the heart has been demonstrated by the outward actions.

Simon had not even treated Jesus with common courtesy. There were certain customs of courtesy that he had neglected in having Jesus come to be his guest.

• It was customary to either have a servant wash the feet of a guest or at least to provide water for him to wash his own feet (Genesis 18:4; Judges 19:21). But Simon had not even done that.

• When a guest came into your home, it was a sign of respect to greet them with a kiss (Genesis 29:13; 45:15; Exodus 18:7).

• A welcome guest would be anointed with oil (Psalm 23:5; 141:5). Since olive oil was one of the chief commodities in Palestine, this was an inexpensive show of hospitality.

Simon had done none of these things. He had not even demonstrated the ordinary manners given to a guest.

On the other hand, instead of using a washbasin to clean the feet of Jesus, this woman had used her own tears — that which Luther called "the water of her heart." Instead of a kiss upon the cheek, this women had kissed His feet. Instead of cheap olive oil for His head, she brought an expensive perfume for His feet (the Greek word here is "myrrh")

"Her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much" (7:47).

Now Jesus turns and, for the first time, addresses himself to the woman. He makes a simple statement of fact. He does not say that her sins were not that bad. He doesn’t say that God isn’t concerned about her sins. He says that her sins are forgiven.

There is only one problem with this. Only God can forgive sin. Men cannot. do this. Not even the pope can do this.

• An Objection to Forgiveness: Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, "Who is this man who even forgives sins?" (7:49).

• The Correlation of Forgiveness: He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace" (7:50).