Forgiven Much; Love Much

I have a confession to make: If you were invited to my house for dinner, I would not give you any water for your feet. I wouldn’t give you a kiss. I wouldn’t put oil on your head.

For most of you that’s a relief. You wouldn’t want me to wash your feet, kiss your cheek, or pour oil on your head. You would wonder what was going on if I did.

BUT, if I invited you to dinner and didn’t welcome you at the door w/ a handshake or a hug, if I didn’t take your coat and if I didn’t show you where to put your boots and if I didn’t do everything I could to make you comfortable and welcome, at best you’d think I was acting unfriendly or rude. At worst, you’d think I was deliberately trying to insult you.

Our culture is different than the province of Galilee in Jesus’ day. Our expressions of hospitality are different b/c we live in a different climate. We live in very different time than Jesus did. But almost everybody notices the difference b/t warm hospitality and calculated rudeness.

After inviting Jesus to dinner, Simon was rude to Jesus. The other guests didn’t object. The servants and other bystanders didn’t step up. Nobody objected except the one woman.

It’s another cultural difference b/t that time and ours. While you had Christmas dinner w/ friends or family did any of your neighbours walk in and stand around watching you eat and listen in on your discussion? no? Not at my place either.

But it was normal in Jesus’ day, after the guest were reclining at the table, for people from town to wander in to watch and listen to the proceedings. That’s how this unnamed woman came to this dinner, clutching her alabaster jar of perfume. She was there b/c Jesus had given her a great gift and she wanted to honour him for it.

Sometime earlier, listening to Jesus preach and teach, she learned that God could and would forgive her sin. She had a lot of guilt. Whatever poverty or calamity had driven her into the life of a street walker, she felt the weight of guilt of her sinful behaviour. The religious folk, terribly good people like Simon the Pharisee, added to her burden of guilt.

Jesus did not add to her guilt. Instead, he lifted the weight of her guilt off her shoulders. Listening to Jesus, this woman learned of God’s deep, deep love for her. Jesus assured her that her sins - the wrong she did and the good she left undone - all her sins were forgiven. She believed Jesus’ promises. She believed and became a child of God, washed clean of guilt; all sins forgiven.

She was so relieved and happy and grateful for God’s forgiveness for all the wrong she’d done that she couldn’t hide her smile or stop her tears. She wept and wept b/c of God’s goodness and forgiveness. Can you relate? How long has it been since the amazing reality of God’s forgiveness for your sin brought tears of relief and gratitude to your eyes?

When she heard that Jesus was sticking around town and eating at the Pharisee’s house she grabbed her perfume jar and slipped in among the others. I don’t know what her plan was. Maybe she didn’t know either. But once Jesus reclined at the table, she saw what she could do to honour Jesus and show her gratitude.

If you come to dinner at my house, we usually sit on chairs around a table. Not at Simon’s house. He had adopted the Roman practice of reclining at the table. Everyone sprawled on couches with their head and hands near the table and their feet out behind them. Jesus’ feet stuck out of the end of the couch like all the other invited guests’.

It was easy for the forgiven woman to reach his feet. Feet that Simon had rudely left unwashed were made wet by her tears of gratitude and wiped dry with her hair. Jesus hadn’t been greeted with a kiss, but this grateful woman wouldn’t stop kissing his feet. Jesus head hadn’t been anointed with oil, but she took her alabaster jar and poured her perfume on them. She saw that Jesus had been insulted and leapt forward to give Jesus the honour that he deserved: basic human dignity and deep gratitude for the gift of God’s forgiveness.

The Pharisee jumped to judgment of the situation:

Simon didn’t see a grateful woman weeping and weeping because of God’s deep love and forgiveness. He only saw a sinner who loosened her hair to wipe the teacher’s feet. Feet that she kept kissing and kissing.

Simon didn’t see Jesus as The Prophet, bringing good news of God’s deep, deep love for the world and forgiveness for sinners. He saw only a poor teacher who didn’t have enough political savvy to avoid sinful people.

So Jesus told him a parable.

Luke 7:41–42 NIV

“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?”

Now this scenario Simon could judge correctly. “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”

It was awkward, though. It left Simon with egg on his face. I don’t know how Simon would react. I wonder: Do you think Simon would make the forgiven woman pay for embarrassing him in front of his household, his guests, and the whole town?

Instead of letting that happen, instead of letting Simon make the forgiven woman’s life miserable again after Jesus left town, Jesus let himself become the lightning rod for Simon’s anger. Just like the forgiven woman stepped up to rescue Jesus from being disrespected, Jesus stepped up to shield her from Simon’s anger and possible retribution.

It’s something I learned by reading the commentary by Dr. Kenneth Bailey. In most cultures, we are very polite as visitors. If the coffee is cold and the cookies are moldy, most people don’t complain to the host. They’ll gossip about it to friends or on FB afterwards, but they won’t confront their hosts. With a grimace, they’ll say everything is delightful.

Jesus doesn’t do that. He shields the woman from Simon’s anger by confronting Simon with his rudeness. But there is an offer of grace to Simon. Did you hear it?

Being rude to your invited guests isn’t considered by most people to be as serious a sin as adultery or prostitution. Do you think it’s only 10% as sinful? But were you listening to Jesus’ parable?

One owed 500 denarii; the other only owed 50. But neither could pay. Both were forgiven.

Human sin against God is often referred to as a debt. Our shortcomings in loving God and neighbour leave each of us in debt to God. Some people’s sins seem greater than others. But here’s the thing. Nobody can repay God for their shortcomings. At the dawn of creation humankind was created with the ability to live righteous, holy lives. B/c of our first parent’s disobedience, all of us live in rebellion against God. We all owe God a debt of loyalty and love and righteousness that we can’t repay. Whether 5 or 50 or 500, none of us can cover the debt of our own sin.

But Jesus came to lift that burden of guilt and sin off our shoulders and pay the debt by laying down his life to rescue us from death and damnation. By faith in Jesus, you can enjoy all the benefits of God’s love and forgiveness.

When the reality of God’s forgiveness really hits you, it might bring tears. It might cause you to show your love for God in wonderfully generous and bold ways, abandoning your dignity to show how deeply thankful you are for God’s love.

But here’s an important thing. The forgiven woman came to the dinner party ready to celebrate for she had already been forgiven. The forgiveness for her was free - a gift from God. She wasn’t forgiven B/C of her tears and humility and the expensive perfume. What did Jesus say? “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

What about Simon? Maybe his sin was small compared to the forgiven woman’s sin. Maybe he only sinned 10% of what the forgiven woman had done previously. Do you think he was forgiven? Do you think he felt the same dizzying relief and joy: weeping and weeping in love and thankfulness for the forgiveness of sin that he rec’d from Jesus?

What about you?

Are you ready to come to the Lord’s Table and celebrate how God has forgiven your sin?