Going In Peace

Introduction

Optical illusions are fun to look at. I remember when I was in high school all of us students had been given a picture to look at for about thirty seconds or so. Afterwards, a picture was shown on the overhead projector. There was an argument as to whether the picture on the overhead projector was an old woman or a young woman. And we’d all argue over what it was. One group could not see what the other group saw. You’ve probably had that same experiment done on you.

Or recently, it’s been the blue and black or gold and white dress, or the shoes. Once again, those who saw the blue and black dress argued staunchly for what they saw, while those who saw the gold and white argued just as hard.

Again, when I was younger, the whole “Magic Eye” thing was a big hit where there was a 3-D object inside a picture. And some people could see it and others could never fix their eyes just right. Those are all fun to do…maybe a little frustrating, but usually optical illusions are fun.

But what happens, when we aren’t looking at an optical illusion, but our own preconceived notions of others, or even ourselves? It’s not fun anymore, is it? What happens when we’ve been branded by our past and all anyone can see is what we did or who we were? That’s what we see in this morning’s text. We see a woman, branded by her past, finding peace to live out her future.

And Luke did a marvelous job in telling this story, a story that contains a story. So we see three parts to this narrative that help us to see how we too may go in peace (or allow others to live in peace): Part one involves the people and their sort. Part two is the parable and its subjects. Part three is the pardon and its significance.

The People and Their Sort

The Parable and Its Subjects

The Pardon and Its Significance

Luke 7:36–50 ESV

One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.” “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

The People and Their Sort

The first part of this narrative that we need to look at are the people and their sort. There are three main characters in this text: Jesus, the pharisee, and the sinful woman. Now, let’s start with Jesus.

What sort of person is he? To understand that, we need to look just outside this text we’ve read and then look in it. So let’s take a look at what was said just before what we’ve read.

Luke 7:34 ESV

The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

We know from verse 29, that “you” Jesus is talking to are the pharisees and lawyers. So the pharisees and lawyers see Jesus as the sort who eats too much, drinks too much, and befriends those who deserve no friends—tax collectors and sinners. And yet! Here is Jesus going into the house to eat with a pharisee! We’ll get to him in a moment. But what we see is that Jesus was not the sort who is prejudice against pharisees. He was willing to eat and drink with them, so long as they were open and accepting of him.

So we see what sort of man this Jesus was: a gluttonous drunkard and a friend of the friendless. But we also see something else within the text. Look at

Luke 7:39 ESV

Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”

Notice that the pharisee spoke these things to himself. In other words, he thought these things. And what we see in verse 40 is that Jesus actually answered the man according to his thoughts. The pharisee questioned Jesus’s being a prophet because he either didn’t know what sort of woman he was dealing with or if he did, he wouldn’t have let her touch him. Either issue disproved his being a holy man of God—a prophet. Yet, Jesus proved himself to have this ability to know the unknowable by answering the man’s thoughts. So we see then what sort of man Jesus really is: a prophet and most holy man of God.

What what sort of person is the pharisee? The way Luke tells us, this man was a pharisee. That actually tells us quite a bit about this man. The word pharisee comes from a word that means to be set apart. There are no Old Testament pharisees. But by the time the New Testament is written, pharisees are part of everyday life. That’s because in between the Old and New Testaments, a lot of stuff went down. Part of which was a hellenization of Israel. Many Jews were abandoning their Jewishness for Greekness. A group of men saw that this was wrong and that Judah had been exiled for something similar. So they banded together to bring religious purity back to Israel. Unlike the Sadducees, these were your “everyday” man. Sadducees were aristocrats and of the priestly class. Pharisees were the common person. They also believed in the entire Tanak, what we’d call the Old Testament. They believed in the supernatural—angels and demons, the resurrection of the dead, etc. And they believed the Messiah—the prophet like Moses—would be coming soon. Thus, while we often think of them as ultra-conservative, they were considered liberal by the Sadducees.

So this man was a pharisee. But I want you to notice something about the way that Luke tells the story. It is clear that Luke knows the man’s name and yet he only calls him a pharisee at first. Again, Luke is a master-story teller and we see that Luke isn’t the one to reveal the name; Jesus is.

Luke 7:40 ESV

And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”

While different than the woman, whom we will get to in a moment, Simon is known simply as a pharisee. That’s what he is to Luke and to us at first. That’s how he is identified. Just “one of the pharisees” as we see in verse 36. But Jesus sees Simon. He calls him by name. One of the first things that sales-people are taught is to learn a person’s name because people love to hear their name spoken.

When I was in high school, my AP lit teacher would call everyone by their first and last name—everyone but me. It was always just Chris. At the end of the year I asked her why she always called people by their full name and the answer was the same: people love to hear their names spoken. So I asked why she only called me by my first name. She had no answer. She was completely oblivious. I like to think its because I was unique!

To everyone, this man was just one of the pharisees. To Jesus he was Simon.

Finally, we see the woman. Again, how does Luke describe her?

Luke 7:37 ESV

And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment,

A woman of the city who was a sinner. First she’s of the city. Even today, in the suburbs and country, we have our prejudices against those in the city. They’re loose and liberal, am I right!? And to prove it, she was a sinner. Now sinner was usually used as a euphemism to describe one of two people: either a prostitute or an adulterer. That’s how she is seen. It’s how she’s been branded: a sinner.

The fact that Luke tells us that she wipes Jesus’s feet with her hair without saying anything about her uncovering it or taking it down, also gives credence to this idea of prostitute or adulterer. Remember in 1 Corinthians 11, and how a woman is to cover her hair because it shows her submission to her husband. In the culture, hair uncovered meant that the woman refused to submit. She was throwing off the shackles.

That’s how she was branded. It’s how the Pharisee saw her. It’s how the people saw her. She lived her life as “a sinner.”

But look at how Jesus saw her. Notice how he wants to change Simon’s view of her. Simon has just been thinking about what “sort of woman” she was. Jesus saw her differently.

Luke 7:44 ESV

Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

No prejudice there. No condemnation in Jesus toward this woman. Don’t miss the significance of Jesus turning around and looking at this woman and calling on Simon to do the same. If life had a soundtrack, this is where the music would swell to a triumphant tune. The holiest man to ever live is looking on her with compassion and calling on another holy man to let go of his prejudices, let go of his preconceived notions and to do the same. To see the woman, not the brand—not her past.

The Parable and Its Subjects

The next part of this narrative we need to see is the parable and its subjects. Now that we’ve established the people and their sort, we turn to the parable and its subjects. Jesus told a parable of two debtors being forgiven of their debts. The debts have been erased. And he asked Simon who would end up loving the moneylender more.

Luke 7:43 ESV

Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.”

Notice, now to Luke, that he is Simon—not just “one of the pharisees.” When Jesus looks at us differently, we must look at each other (and ourselves) in the same way.

Simon is no idiot. He understood immediately what Jesus was saying and was just trying to save face. “I suppose. . .” So Jesus is off to the races. Since Simon is all about comparing himself to this woman and even Jesus to himself, Jesus joins in.

Understand that there is nothing that Simon has done that would be considered inhospitable. He invited Jesus to dinner. He seated him among the crowd that was there. Food is being served. But that’s the bare minimum in this culture. So when Jesus begins to compare the woman and Simon, we are seeing one who has done the bare minimum and one who goes above and beyond.

If you were to invite someone over to your house, you might hold open the door as they came in. You might just tell them to set their coat anywhere and have a seat and make themselves at home. Or you might invite them in, hold the door, offer to take their coat and hang it up, show them a seat you saved for them, and offer to get them a drink. Both are valid signs of hospitality. However, one is above and beyond the bare minimum.

Simon was under no obligation to clean Jesus’s feet. He was under no obligation to give him the customary kiss as a greeting—in American culture, it would have been a handshake. He was under no obligation to anoint Jesus’s head with olive oil, which was inexpensive and readily available.

But this woman she cleaned his feet with her own tears and dried them with her own hair. She didn’t kiss Jesus on the cheek in greeting, but kissed his feet in gratefulness and love. Again, going with a handshake, perhaps she would have massaged the feet. Rather than anoint his head, she anointed his feet—not with olive oil, but with an alabaster jar of perfume. It makes you wonder, doesn’t it…what was this perfume used for before? She is taking all of who she once was and literally placing it at Jesus’s feet.

The point was clear. There was one who had barely any affection for him at all and one who was almost overly affectionate if one could be that way toward Jesus. The tables had turned. The “sort of person” these two were was being exposed for the first time. Everyone thought they knew: a pharisee and a woman of the city who was a sinner. Jesus exposed them as the subjects of his parable: a man who loved him little and a woman who loved him much.

The Pardon and Its Significance

Which leads us to the third part. We first saw the people and their sort and then the parable and its subjects, but now we see the pardon and its significance. And if we are not careful, we will turn this text on its head and make it say something it doesn’t say. And it would be natural because of the order of events.

Reading this we see a pharisee inviting Jesus to dinner. While Jesus is reclining to eat, a sinful woman approaches him and pours out her love for him through tears and perfume. Simon is upset and Jesus tells a parable, comparing scornful Simon and this loving lady. And then Jesus declares her pardoned. She is forgiven. And if we aren’t careful, we’ll be tempted to say, “Jesus forgave her because of her love for him.” And that’s not true. Let’s go back to the text.

Luke 7:47–48 ESV

Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

And its oh so tempting to read it and say, “He used the word ‘for.’ For means because. Her sins are forgiven because she loved much.” But read closer to what Jesus said. The “for she loved much,” is not the reason behind her being forgiven. It’s the reason behind Jesus’s telling Simon her sins are forgiven.

Remember the parable? The forgiveness came first and then the love. "Now which of them will love him more?” Jesus asked. The forgiveness came, then the love. What we think we see at first is the love coming and then the forgiveness. But what we actually see is that the forgiveness was already given. In the Greek the words, “are forgiven,” are in the perfect tense. That means that it was an action of the past that has ongoing effects into the future. That’s why it is translated as if in the present: “are forgiven,” because there is a present reality of being forgiven. It’s not that she was forgiven. But that she was, is, and always will be forgiven.

Jesus was using her expression of love as proof to Simon that she had been forgiven already. Kind of like when Jesus healed the paralytic.

Luke 5:23–24 ESV

Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.”

The healing was only to prove the forgiveness. The love displayed by this woman was proof that forgiveness had already come.

That was the point of the parable and the significance of the pardon. Like the debtor who owed 500 denarii, so her sins were many. And like that debtor, she had been forgiven it all. And like that former-debtor, her love for the forgiver was great.

And this caused the crowd to go crazy. Who was it that could forgive sins? Jesus wasn’t interested in the questions going on behind him. Notice what he was interested in:

Luke 7:50 ESV

And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

It was her faith that saved her. Her faith had brought her forgiveness of all sin. It didn’t matter what Simon thought. It didn’t matter what the crowd thought. The pharisee was seen as a pharisee, except to Jesus. He saw Simon—the man. The sinner was seen as a sinner, but not by Jesus. He saw this loving lady.

We have such a hard time getting past our own prejudices of people, don’t we? I do. We have a hard time letting go of the past. This is who they are and who they will always be. Or this is who I am and who I will always be. We see life through various lenses depending on the circumstance. That’s the way it is. Even Paul wrote,

1 Corinthians 13:12 ESV

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

So it’s difficult to let go of our cynicism, prejudices, and partialities. It’s difficult for others to let go of theirs. So then how is it that we can go in peace? That’s what Jesus told this woman to do. “Go in peace.” I think the answer is in that 1 Corinthians passage.

People in this world, including us Christians, see in a mirror dimly. They see a skewed version of themselves and the rest of us. They don’t see the whole picture. We know only a part of one another. That’s what this fallen world can offer. When Satan tempted Eve, he promised her more knowledge, knowledge she wanted, but not the knowledge that she needed. Satan is at war with us. We are at war with our own flesh. We are at war with the world. So it’s easy to think that we can never have peace. But we can!

You see, the one who knows the real us, who sees us fully, who sees us clearly, who does not look in the mirror dimly, who knows us by name and is not fooled by the facade, and knows our hearts, is the one who has declared us forgiven. Perfect. Forgiveness that happened in the past and has ongoing results into the future. Despite what you or anyone else may say about you, despite what you or anyone else may claim, Jesus says, “Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.” That’s how we can live in peace. Live in the promise of the one who actually knows us fully and loves us still.

Conclusion

As we close out Luke 7:36-50, we have seen that in spite of what “sort of person” others see us as, Jesus sees us as his own—loved, forgiven, and saved. But that is only by faith in him. The reason the woman loved Jesus so much was because she believed in him. She didn’t have some aimless faith, but a focused faith on Jesus. He was her Savior. He was her only hope. We’ve seen that the amount of sin—the amount of indebtedness, we could even say that greatness of sin and debt—is no hindrance to the forgiveness that can be offered.

Romans 5:20–21 ESV

Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Neither should the amount of sin cause shame in the debtor. Instead, it ought to explode in a display of gratitude and love for all to see. Finally, we’ve seen that hanging onto the promise of forgiveness and salvation and love from the one who knew what sort of person we were, but loved, forgave, and saved us anyway, can help us to go and live in peace.

If you’ve never known that love, that forgiveness, that peace, it comes only through faith in Jesus. He lived the life you and I were required to live. He died the death and received the punishment that we deserved, taking our place and receiving God’s wrath upon himself. But he rose again to ensure we would have peace with God and never again be under any condemnation. If you don’t know him, I ask for you to see me. I would love to introduce you to him.