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.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.” “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.” The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” – Luke 7:36-50
I have a friend of mine who prides himself in not owing anybody anything—or so he says, anyway. No debts. Can you imagine that? Maybe you can say that proudly today. If you can, that’s great but the truth is I don’t believe that we can ever get totally out of debt in this life. We will always owe somebody something. To prove that statement, how many of you use utilities? As of today, are they all paid up? No, your electric meter is running as you are reading this—bill to come later. How about your taxes? Your IRA is going to cost you when you start taking it out and so is your pension plan. And even if you prepaid your funeral expenses—Uncle Sam’s going to tax your estate and bill it to your memory. No, in this life no one is ever completely free of debt. We will always owe somebody something. Some a little—some a lot! There is a life, however, that we can live totally debt free and that’s our spiritual life. God can write off a huge debt or forgive a little one. How much we love Him, as we will see in this story, depends on how much we realize He has forgiven us. This is the subject of our Lord’s parable about two debtors. You may be surprised at its ending.
Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. — Luke 7:36
Jesus was a highly social person. He seldom refused an invitation to dine with someone and there were times when he even invited himself to someone’s home for a time of fellowship (Luke 19:5). The culture of that time had an interesting posture at their meals—half way between sitting and lying down. Commentators tell us they “reclined” on their left sides at a low table and ate with their right hands. I don’t know what they did if they were left-handed! This position would allow their legs to stick out behind them, which explains how the woman in the story had access to the feet of Jesus.
When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to set his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. — Luke 7:37-38
When my wife and I take trips by car, and if we have time, we always make it a point to get off the Interstate and tour the smaller towns along the way. I like to take photographs of the churches in these little villages. On one occasion we went through Mosca, Hooper and Moffat in southern Colorado and Dilia, Dahlia, Anton Chico in northern New Mexico. As we drove through those little areas we usually sensed that a few eyes were watching us and left us with the impression that in these tiny towns everybody probably knows what everybody else is doing—and when they’re doing it! Well, it was the same during the time of Jesus. A feast in this parable was being given by one of the locals and everyone knew about it. A beautiful young woman (I’m assuming) came boldly uninvited, unwelcomed and unannounced into this semiprivate dinner at the home of a Jewish religious leader. She was uninvited, because she was most likely a prostitute. She was unwelcome because she was a woman—and unannounced because of all of the above. She would never have gotten in the door otherwise.
That’s what I love about the Bible. It never hides a transgression or colors over our fallen nature. It reveals life as it was and is—then tells us what to do about it! The grammar in verse 37 says that the woman “had lived a sinful life” (past tense), meaning that in her past she used to be a certain way but something had happened to change her life-style. Maybe she had either heard Jesus teach or learned about what he was teaching. At any rate he affected her and her life was now different, as the Pharisee and his guests were soon to find out. This lady was extremely repentant, extremely remorseful and extremely grateful. The “alabaster jar of perfume” was normally worn around a women’s neck. In her case it was probably a heavy perfume that could be quickly applied for obvious reasons. It was part of her repertoire. Old habits die slowly but now this perfume had a greater purpose.
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.” — Luke 7:39
What a self-righteous statement. I’m reminded of another account that Jesus told of a Pharisee and a tax collector in the Temple who were both praying. The Pharisee was looking down his nose at the tax collector thanking God that he wasn’t like him and others like him. The tax collector was beating his breast asking for God’s mercy. Jesus ended that story by telling us that “everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted” (Luke 18:14). Self-righteous people have a problem in seeing things as they really are. Jesus called it the log in our own eye syndrome, which amazingly allows us to still see a speck in the eye of someone else while missing the log jam in our own (Matthew 7:3-5).
Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. “Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 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?” — Luke 7:40-42
Obviously, this was causing a scene and I imagine all eyes and ears were on Jesus, awaiting an explanation. Jesus responded with a parable and used the occasion to present an eternal truth—one that you and I must learn as well. It has to do with forgiveness and how much we have been forgiven. How much was our debt when we came to Jesus? More than we’ll ever know! “Denarii” were little silver coins worth about a day’s wages. There were loan companies in those days too, and each one of the men in Jesus’ parable, for whatever reason, had gotten in debt over their heads. One owed ten times as much as the other but neither could pay the moneylender back. So he “canceled the debts of both.” Would you call that an act of grace?
Jesus taught a lot about the use and place of money. He told his followers to “lend . . . without expecting to get anything back” (Luke 6:35). We parents can probably understand that with our kids, but Jesus was talking about that even with our enemies! He also said, “Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you” (Matthew 5:42). The Jews were also prohibited from charging one another interest because that compounded the problem for the borrower (Exodus 22:25). The problem was that no one paid any attention to these prohibitions, that’s why Jesus’ words had everyone’s attention. It was unheard of to cancel a legal debt.
Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. — Luke 7:43
The answer was obvious. You and I would have answered the same way. But Jesus was setting him up to reveal a greater truth that this Pharisee didn’t appear to grasp. Will we?
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 — for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” — Luke 7:44-47
How much do you love Jesus today? If you feel like you’ve been forgiven just a little because your sins were few (like the self-righteous Pharisee), you most likely love him just a little. You may be the type of person who looks around at the church and says to yourself, “I’ve never been as bad as that person or those people. I never would do anything like that!” But if you know you’ve been forgiven a lot, because your sins were many and you realize how hopelessly lost you were without him—you most likely love him a lot. Jesus said that our love for him is best expressed and measured in how well we obey him. If we love him a lot, we will do what he says—we will keep his commands (John 15:10).
Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace. — Luke 7:48-50
Even the Jews knew that only God could forgive sins. But isn’t it interesting that they failed to make the connection in our Lord’s statement as to who was in their midst? Let’s not make the same mistake. Do you see the truth of this scene and parable? The consequences of our sins were identical before we came to Christ. We were all in debt over our heads. The first sin we ever committed was enough to condemn us to hell forever, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (James 2:10). We were guilty of eternal condemnation. None of us were better than anyone else. We were all sinners—saved by his grace. Aren’t you glad? I know I am! Now how much do you love him? Maranatha!
Pastor Don