SIMON MEETS JESUS

INTRO

Good morning!

I want to start off my sermon today with a little exercise. I’m going to put two pictures up on the screen, and I’m going to give you a few seconds to look at the pictures, and try to figure out what you’re looking at. And look carefully, because there is a right answer, alright? Are you ready?

*** Okay, time’s up!

I find it so interesting that all our brains are all taking in the same information, but so many of us are seeing something different from one another. We each have a different perspective on what we’ve seen.

And the reason that we’re coming away with different perspectives because we’re focused on different things in the image. And whatever it is that we focus on, we try to make everything else fit in around it. See, when it comes to perspective, your perspective is determined by what you see.

And for the most part, what you see in these optical illusions doesn’t really matter. Whether you see one thing or another, how you interpret these images, it may cause fights between you and your friends, but in the end it's not life changing.

But on the other hand, when it comes to people meeting Jesus, having the right perspective, seeing the right things, and understanding Him for who He is is the most important thing about you. What you do with Jesus, how you understand Him, what your conclusions about God and what He’s done for us, this will determine everything else about your life. And what we’re going to find is that when we meet Jesus, how we respond will depend on our perspective. It will depend on our focus. And it will depend on what we’re willing to see.

So today we’re continuing our study of Luke chapter 7, and we’re continuing this series about people meeting Jesus. And as we get into the text this morning, we’re going to find someone who meets Jesus, but fails to see Him clearly. And then we’re going to see how Jesus responds to this man. And we’ve got a lot of ground to cover, so turn to Luke chapter 7 verse 36, and when you’ve got it, go ahead and stand up with me and we’ll read the whole passage, and then start to break it down piece by piece.

READ

Luke 7:36–47 “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.”

BACKGROUND

As we get into the Text, I want to point out that there are a lot of cultural details. We’ve got Jesus and this Pharisee named Simon and they’re eating a meal and there’s something going on with a woman and her hair, and it all leaves us with a lot of questions when we start to actually try to figure out what’s going on. And even though there are some things that Luke doesen’t tell us, we can be certain that Luke includes the details that are most important for us to understand the point of the story. So, what are some of those details?

Let’s look back at verse 36.

The first detail I want to point out is that Simon, even though he is a Pharisee, invited Jesus to eat with him. Inviting travelers in for a meal was a common thing in those days. And this makes sense, if you think about it because in the First Century, they didn’t have restaurants and grocery stores the same way that we do. So until McDonald’s was invented, hospitality became a huge emphasis in their culture, and in many ways it still is in the Middle-East today.

And so when you would invite someone into your home, there were some expectations on you as a host, and these expectations show up in our text. For starters, you provide water for the guest, because walking around all the time your feet would get absolutely filthy. The main form of transportation was either foot traffic, or riding on animals, and animals have a certain byproduct that is unpleasant to step in. And so when someone would come into your home, you would provide water for their feet to be washed, or you would provide a servant to wash their feet. And there were other things that you could do like greeting your guest with a kiss, or like giving them oil to comfort them as a kind gesture. But suffice it to say, hospitality was a huge thing in their culture.

However, if you notice, Luke doesn’t mention any of these expectations being met. Actually, as the drama unfolds, we find out that Simon has omitted every single one of these customs, which in those days would have been a huge insult. Luke doesn’t tell us why Simon invited Jesus into his home, but clearly Simon was trying to send Jesus a signal.

And that’s why I also want to point out that, not only does Jesus choose to accept this invitation, and we read that He reclined at the table. Now, on the one hand, reclining was just how they ate in those days—with low tables and cushions that they would lay down on. But on the other hand, the language that Luke uses about reclining at the table is language that was used to describe a formal banquet. What this means is that, when there was a teacher who had come in and taught in the synagogue, they would often be invited as a guest of honor to a banquet with the local leaders and intellectuals for a meal and for further discussion. And a lot of times these meals were open to the public so that people could come in to listen in on the conversation.

SO THE SETTING, AT LEAST, IS CLEAR: Jesus, who is a traveling teacher known in the community, is invited to a banquet by a Pharisee, a teacher of the Law. He is supposedly an honored guest in this home, although Simon neglects to treat Jesus like an honored guest.

And as we’ve seen in the text, the tension in the story is introduced when an uninvited guest arrives: this woman, who is a known sinner, who comes and washes at the feet of Jesus. And between Simon and Jesus, we get two very different responses to this event that come out of two very different perspectives.

So as we look at the text today, we’re going to ask what did they see, what were they focused on, and how did they respond? And we’re actually going to spend two weeks in this text unpacking it because there’s so much for us to see as Simon and the Woman both meet Jesus—so this week we’re focusing on Simon meeting Jesus, and next week Pastor Jim is going to be back to preach about the woman meeting Jesus. But for now, let’s jump over to verse 39, because this is where we start to get some clues about Simon’s perspective:

Luke 7:39 “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.””

POINT ONE

So having looked at the setting, let’s consider what Simon saw. And if we’re going to take it literally, what Simon saw was “this,” which is referring back to the woman coming in to wash Jesus’ feet.

There are a couple of things I find really fascinating about Simon’s response here. And the first thing is this IF/THEN statement that he sets up. He says that, IF Jesus were a prophet, THEN he would know that the woman who is touching Him is a sinner.

But not only is he making an if/then statement, he’s also making an assumption. And the assumption is that if Jesus really knew about this woman, there is no way that He would allow her to come close to Him. If Jesus really knew what a sinner she was, He would tell her to get lost. He would send her away. And this reveals so much to us about Simon’s focus. What it reveals is that Simon’s perspective was dominated by the Law: by who was following the rules and who wasn’t. And when it comes to eating meals, that means it was especially dominated by ritual purity.

This is why the Pharisees were so particular about their dinner guests, and why they were so upset with Jesus for eating with tax collectors and sinners, because in their eyes, Jesus was blatantly disregarding the purity laws. They were so afraid of becoming ritually unclean that they had built up all these rules about what you could and couldn’t touch, about who you could or couldn’t be around, and about who you could or couldn’t eat with. And you can actually see this elsewhere in the New Testament, like in Matthew 15:1–2, which says “Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”” The Pharisees weren’t concerned about the disciples’ personal hygene, they were concerned about the disciples breaking tradition!

And like we read last week, these traditions were like the game that the Pharisees were playing. They were acting like children who wanted Jesus to dance to their tune, and to play their game, because in the game of ritual purity, they were the ones who got to make all the rules. And for Jesus to refuse the game altogether threatened their power, their control, their influence, and their sense of self-worth that they built from being better at the game than others.

And so in Simon’s eyes, as he sees this woman touching Jesus, he’s thinking about ritual purity, and not about loving people. And he believes Jesus is being contaminated and He doesn’t even know it. And so he scoffs and thinks to himself, “If this man were a prophet, [which he clearly is not,] then he would know what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner [and send her away].”

But before we move on, there’s another thing I want to point out about Simon’s perspective, and it has to do with these words, “what kind of woman she is.” According to Simon, there are kinds of people when it comes to who is worth being around. There are people like him, who are righteous and holy, and then there are people like her, who are unclean and should be sent away. And so Simon sees this woman, but he only sees the woman for her reputation.

In this game of ritual purity, those who were unclean (like tax collectors, gentiles, sinners, and lepers), were outcasts from society. No one would invite them in, no one gave them the time of day. And because he has classified her as a sinner, and therefore unclean, he looks at her like an intrusion. Like a problem, and not like a person. He was so focused on his own purity that he treated her like a danger to be avoided rather than a guest to be welcomed in.

And so as Simon sees this scene playing out before him, not only has he already passed judgment on this woman, but he also judges Jesus for allowing a sinful woman to wash His feet.

But notice with me: Who is Simon’s perspective all about? What is his focus? It’s all about his own ritual purity. It’s all about the danger that the woman poses to him, and it’s all about his opinion of Jesus. He’s focused entirely on himself! He is the one sitting at the center of his perspective, and everything else is made to fit around him.

He thinks that he’s holding all the cards, that he’s so much better than this woman, and that he’s even good enough not only to disrespect Jesus, but to pass judgment on Him. And he has it in his mind that he’s following the Law and doing everything just right, when in reality he has utterly failed!

Remember with me what Jesus said when He was asked about the greatest commandment? Matthew 22:37–40 “Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”” In other words, if you aren’t loving God, and if you aren’t loving people, you have missed the whole point! And yet because of his self-centered perspective, Simon has failed to love God in the flesh right in front of him, and he has failed to love this woman who has entered his house. And there’s a word for the kind of self-important, self-elivating self-centeredness, and that word is pride. Simon’s whole perspective is dominated by his pride.

And in the end, it is Simon’s pride that has limited his ability to love. But friends, that’s what pride does: Pride produces a self-focused perspective that limits our ability to love. It happened then, and it’s happening now. The very same thing is happening today, even, or maybe especially, in our churches. We all, because of sin, have this self-centered bend in our spirit that wants to make ourselves the center of our own universe. The problem is that, those of us who know God’s kindness, who have tasted of His mercy, we can get so used to God’s forgiveness that we can begin do what Paul talks about the Jewish people doing in Romans Chapter 2, we begin to “presume on the riches of his kindness.” The Jewish people, God’s chosen people, they began to assume that God was kind to them because they were special, or because they were somehow owed something from God, or because they had somehow earned it.

But as soon as we make that shift in perspective, when we for one second allow ourselves to believe that we are in some way better than others, or more deserving of God’s presence and kindness than others for any reason, that pride has limitted our ability to love. Because that feeling that I am more deserving of God’s kindness destroys our ability to show compassion and empathy to the hurt, to the broken, to the needy, to the downtrodden, and to the outcast.

And yet, these are the very people that Jesus came to, and that we have been sent to! But like Simon, we have neglected them because it’s inconvenient for our schedules, or because it makes us uncomfortable, or because they’re hard to love. And we get so caught up that we forget that, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, “Such were some of you.”

Earlier this week, I had the honor of meeting a woman named Michelle and a man named Jeremy, both of whom were formerly addicted to drugs, and by their own admission, living deep in sin. They were in a dark place, but it was in that dark place that they met Jesus. And they’ve been sober for seven years and five years, they’ve been redeemed and transformed. And they came to talk with our church staff about recovery ministries that are in our area, because they believe that Jesus is the only One who can save these people who they see day in and day out from the addictions that are just running rampant in our society.

They shared their stories with us, stories of struggle, and pain, and transformation, and beauty. But the thing that broke my heart is something that Michelle said early on. She said, “I just want to say thank you to you all for having us here today. You wouldn’t believe how many churches have shut the door on us and on those struggling with addiction. For some Christians, it’s just too hard.”

Friends, what a shame! May this never be said of Church of the Open Door! When churches shut the door on those who need Christ, we dishonor the God who sought us out when we ourselves were cursed and gone astray. Because we can look at the statistics and recognize that the church in the West is shrinking, and we can blame our government and our culture all we want, but we need to recognize that it is the conceited pride of Christians that produces barriers to people meeting Jesus.

We need to remember this morning that Christianity is not about the lowly coming to learn from the lofty. Christianity is about every single one of us hitting our knees before the cross. Or, as some have said, the gospel is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. Brennan Manning captures this so well when he writes:

The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.

If Simon would have had his way, this women would have been thrown out, as she probably had been dozens of times before. He thinks he’s so far above her. And yet Jesus, the king of the universe, came down from Heaven to recieve her!

Transition: And if we want to be free to love like Jesus, we need to learn Jesus’ perspective. So now let’s go back to the text and look at what Jesus saw.

And as we continue on, we read...

Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said.

POINT TWO

The first thing I want to point out here is the phrase “Jesus answered him.” If you go back up to verse 39, who was Simon talking to when he was passing judgment? He was talking “to himself!” And yet, even though Simon is talking to himself, Jesus, God in the flesh, answers him.

Look at the irony here: In the same moment that Simon is denying to himself that Jesus is a prophet, Jesus is reading his thoughts. So the first thing that Jesus sees is the condition of Simon’s heart.

Jesus sees the heart of this woman. But Jesus knows that the heart that needs to be confronted is not the heart of the woman at his feet, which is clearly broken and contrite, but the heart of the man sitting before him, which is cold and dead. So Jesus looks into Simon’s heart, sees his pride, sees his judgment, and Jesus answers him. And in answering him, Jesus gives a little parable, and He says…

“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?”

Notice that Jesus doesn’t tell a parable about a sinner and a saint. He doesn’t tell a story about a woman in desperate need and a man in need of nothing. He tells a story about two debtors. And the point that Jesus is getting at in the parable is that the love displayed by the woman at his feet demonstrates that she has received forgiveness. But I would wager that what stood out the most to Simon was the fact that neither of them could pay. That for all of their differences, both owed a debt they couldn’t afford. The insinuation is clear: Jesus is indicating to Simon that He sees the sin in his heart, and that Simon is just as in need as this woman.

See, it’s so easy to fall into thinking that we are doing well because we are sinning less obviously than those around, but friends this is a trap of the enemy. Because we may be doing marginally better than others, but when we adjust the scale to account for Christ’s holiness, His righteousness, it’s like comparing anthills to the Empire State Building. Relative to Christ’s righteousness, the differences between us are meaningless! We want to compare ourselves to one another, when the reality is that every single one of us needs to be comparing ourselves to Christ! Christ, and Christ alone is the standard, and not of us compare. We have not fallen short of the standard of those beside us, we have fallen short of the glory of God.

The truth of the matter is that our sin debt is functionally infinite, because it is infinitely more than we could ever hope to pay by our own merit.

Every single one of us are desperately in need of the same thing: God’s unmerited forgiveness.

And if you’re here this morning and feel that for any reason you don’t belong because of something you’ve done, or because of something you’ve failed to do, I’m here to tell you that your belonging or not belonging has nothing to do with what you have done, and everything to do with what Christ has done.

What we need, all of us, is to more and more deeply recognize the depth of our sin, and by comparison, the greatness of God’s grace. Because our appreciation of forgiveness will only ever be as great as our appreciation of sin.

This is the secret to gaining Christ’s perspective: Recognizing that we are more lost and dead in our sin that we could dare to imagine, and yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Christ than we could ever dare to hope. And that love and acceptance is ours not because of what we have done. Rather, it is by grace you have been saved! Not by works, so that no man can boast. And so we see that Jesus’ perspective is the perspective of grace. And that grace is the only reason any of us are here this morning.

And I believe that grace is the only reason that Jesus was in the house of Simon on that day as well. One of the things that I couldn’t figure out when I was studying this text is why Jesus accepted this invitation from Simon. Jesus already knew that the Pharisees had rejected Him. He probably knew that the invitation wasn’t totally genuine. When Simon was giving the invitation, Jesus had already seen the pride and the rejection stirring in his heart. So what’s the point? Why even bother?

And then when I was reading, all of the sudden this phrase jumped out at me: Why did Jesus agree? Because "Simon, I have something to say to you."

Jesus had something to say to Simon. Because when Jesus saw Simon, when he saw the condition of his heart, Jesus saw an opportunity to love. And He loves Simon by opening his eyes to his debt.

Jesus had come to this dinner, and Simon totally disrespected Him. Even though it would have been expected to offer Jesus water so that He could clean off His feet, none is given. Even though it was customary to offer your guest a kiss of greeting at the door, no greeting is offered. Even though it would have been fitting for an honored guest to have their head annointed with oil, one of the cheapest and most widely available substances in the First Century, none is spared—the insult is clear!

And as Jesus unpacks the parable, He’s saying I entered your house! I came in under your roof. And all you’ve done since I’ve entered is disrespect me. You think that this woman is interrupting, that she’s so far below you, but all she’s doing is compensating for your error! You’re in debt, Simon!

And yet Jesus doesn’t fly off the handle. He doesn’t demand His own way. He doesn’t ask for Simon’s manager. He absorbs the offense that Simon so clearly throws at Him so that He can confront the sin in Simon’s heart. The sin that Simon had hidden behind years of performance and striving and washing and material success. The sin that limited his love and caused him to pass judgment.

Because even though Simon had given up on this woman, and even though Simon had given up on Jesus, and even though Simon’s heart had grown hard within him, Jesus had not yet given up on Simon! Because Jesus knew that Simon’s only hope was to see his need for grace.

And aren’t you glad this morning that when it was you insulting Jesus by your sin and rejection, when it was my sin, that Jesus didn’t give up on us? Instead, for every single one of us, Jesus absorbed the offense. He took the blow. He took the fall. He bore our sin in His body on the tree. And He paid our debt! And now He wants to set us free, and to confront our sin, because He knows that only when we see our need for grace will we be free to love like Jesus.

CONCLUSION

So the question that remains is this: Are you willing to let Jesus open your eyes? Are you willing to allow Jesus to confront the sin and the rebellion in your heart that’s hidden behind years of performance and striving and washing and material success?

Because I promise you this morning, Jesus wants to confront your sin, because He wants to set you free. He wants to root out the sin in your heart that is keeping you from seeing the light of the Gospel of the glory of God, and He wants to give you eyes to see not just your sin, not just your need of grace, but also the glories of the saving cross! Because when you do, it will not only change your perspective; it’ll change your life.

So if Christ is confronting your sin today, take heart! Because every confrontation is an invitation. Jesus was only confronting Simon because Jesus hadn’t given up on Simon, and He hasn’t given up on you either. There is a God in heaven who wants to embrace you.

And if that's you, today, I want to invite you to run to His arms. If you’re hurting, if you’re broken, if you’re tired of trying to carry the burden on your own, Jesus is calling you today, right now! All you need to do is open your eyes. Look to Him. See your need. And come receive His grace.

Let’s pray.