Dinner Party Luke 7:36-50

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.”

Introduction

One of the most infamous episodes of the NBC show, the Office is an episode about a dinner party. There is a couple who are incredibly awkward together and they decide to invite some coworkers over for a dinner party. To illustrate some of the awkwardness, one man brings his former babysitter as a date. Over the course of the evening an amazing amount of cringeworthy events happen and the party ends with the host couple getting into a very loud and embarrassing fight in front of everyone. Now, while I’m not endorsing anything that goes on at the party, it’s a pretty good illustration of feeling awkward even watching this thing play out on a screen.

In today’s passage we get to step into another awkward dinner party. But the awkwardness in this case has a purpose.

The main idea here is that those who experience forgiveness in Jesus, love extravagantly.

We can see this truth when we look at the people, their problem, and the parable that Jesus tells at this dinner.

This interaction sounds similar to interactions we read about in Mark 14, Matthew 26, and John 12, but these passages would appear to describe a different event at a different time, in a different place, with a different woman. They also have the woman doing somewhat different actions and you hear a different response from Jesus. So we should understand that this is likely a different event apart from those.

As we get into the passage let’s first look at the people involved.

I. The People

The Pharisee

As soon as the curtain opens on this passage, we find out that a Pharisee, (later we find out his name is Simon) has invited Jesus to a meal at his house. So Jesus goes and reclines at the table. Now, that might sound funny to you if you’re thinking about our type of dinner. Now maybe grandpa reclines at your table after a big Thanksgiving dinner, but in America there’s not reclining. It would help for us to have some context to dinners like this in Israel in New Testament times.

Simon was likely fairly wealthy and his home was likely open concept with a courtyard where the meal would have been held. People would be passing by witnessing the meal and it wouldn’t have been uncommon for people to stop and have a chat or sit on the outside. It would have more closely resembled a block party than our American version of a private dinner in our dining room.

The table would have been on the ground and the guests would have leaned on their left elbow, with their feet away from the table and use their right hand to eat.

Most of the time we find the Pharisees to be fairly antagonistic toward Jesus… So why would this guy invite Jesus to eat with him? We don’t know exactly. Possibly he was curious about Jesus. Maybe he was trying to trap Jesus as this was common for them. He may have just been trying to get a closer look as a skeptic. For whatever reason, he invited Jesus over but we can say he was certainly not a follower of Jesus.

Speaking of Jesus, he’s the next person in this story.

Jesus

Where he had been and what He had done recently…

Luke chapter 7 gives us four interactions, well, actually 5 if you count his talking to the crowd. In these interactions we see Jesus heal the servant of a gentile centurion, raise the dead son of a widow, confront the doubt of John the Baptist, and build John up to the listening crowd.

Each of these shows us something of who Jesus is and each gives us a view at some of the ways people respond to Jesus.

The Woman

What do we really know about this woman? If you’ve been in church for awhile you may have heard a sermon on this passage before. Let’s look at who she really was as best we can tell.

A woman of the city. Some have suggested that it was Mary Magdalene but according to Ryken, we really don’t have any reason to think that it was.

A sinner. Known for her sin.

We don’t know what kind of sinner. Many have assumed she was a prostitute or had been caught up in some kind of sexual sin. This is a pretty good assumption but we don’t know it for certain.

It seems that she knew of Jesus before this. She likely had some kind of interaction with Him or had heard His teaching and believed in Him. She may have heard about the things He had done or maybe even the interaction with the disciples of John the Baptist.

She had an alabaster jar of ointment.

Alabaster jar - Alabaster was a softer, white or translucent stone that was used to make vases and flasks.

Ointment - Spicy nature with oil base - probably olive oil

tears on His feet

wiped them with her hair

kissed His feet

anointed His feet with the ointment - Only slaves dealt with people’s feet. She was submitting to Jesus and trusting Him to treat her well. This was truly an act of thankful worship. It was also an act of deep love for Jesus. The centurion had responded to Jesus with faith and that is needed and good. But this woman also responded with love. To be submitted to Jesus, to follow Him, to be saved by His death on the cross in your place, is to love him.

The response of this woman to Jesus and of Simon to this event at his house give us a glimpse at what their problems were.

II. Their Problems

Sin - One knew about it and the other denied it.

The way he looked at her… “…what sort of woman…”

The way he thought of Jesus… wondered if Jesus really was a prophet since He allowed the woman to touch Him.

Self righteousness

For this guy, religion was about being a good person. It was about doing good and staying away from those who did bad. God was for these good people. God was, in his mind, not for those who lived messy lives. He thought that if Jesus was a real prophet, he’d know all about this woman and wouldn’t want her anywhere near him.

We have a hard time wrapping our heads around the cultural, social, and religious ideas presented in Simon’s attitude. I found this section of a letter written by someone who served in the Middle East. It said this,

The point that really struck me about Jesus’ response to the woman was its complete departure from what was socially acceptable. I’m not sure if one can really begin to grasp how shocking it was unless one has spent enough time in the Middle East for its attitudes to start melding with his own. The worst sin a woman can commit here is to lose, or appear to have lost, her virginity outside of marriage. The most important asset she has as a woman is her reputation. The whole honor of the family hangs on the reputation of its women. If a woman has nothing but her reputation as a chaste woman, she always has a chance to succeed; if she has everything but her reputation she is lost before she begins. And in some parts of the Arab world, all it takes for a woman to lose her reputation is to be seen speaking to a man who is not a relative. If a man, particularly a religious man, is known to have even spoken with such a “lost” woman, his reputation will follow hers down the drain. It is a hard system and it crosses religious lines. Now consider that same system but take it back 2000 years to a less forgiving time. Then think about Jesus’ encounter with the sinful woman. Shocking, isn’t it?

This dude thought he was keeping “high standards” but was showing the coldness in his own heart.

Our greatest war is often against ourselves…

One of these people believed that God offered grace to sinners. The other offered separation from sinners. One was here to worship God in the flesh. The other couldn’t fathom a God who would walk among sinful people in order to give His life in their place as a sacrifice for their sin.

Philip Ryken writes,

“But the Pharisee had no room for grace in his theology. He believed that grace was unavailable to sinners like that woman and unnecessary for a righteous man like himself.”

If we think back to the entirety of the interactions we see Jesus have in Luke chapter 7, you see that every time the people have a need and the only person who can meet that need is God. Jesus steps in and meets it. In the eyes of the people, none of these individuals has any resource to meet their own need because they have no claim on God. A gentile, a widow (female), a notorious sinner at a party - They were all outside the holy circle and the only way they could get help from God was by grace. They couldn’t do anything to cause it or earn it.

As Jesus often does, He teaches through sharing a story. Let’s talk about the parable here.

III. The Parable

Luke 7:40–43 ESV

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.”

A denarius was generally the wage for one day of work. 500 would be almost two years of wages. This was a huge pile of debt.

Jesus does something here that He also does in the parable of the Good Samaritan, which we will get to in Luke chapter 10 next year sometime. :) He asks the question in such a way that Simon has to answer in a way that would be condemning of his own attitude.

Simon’s response revealed his own heart based on his lack of love.

Jesus doing this to Simon in this way, was in fact, an act of love in and of itself. But it appears that Simon doesn’t see the error in his attitude or his need for humility and repentance.

The point of this parable

her love was the proof of her having been forgiven by Jesus…

The difference in these two people is faith…

It wasn’t the size of the debt but that one had been forgiven.

Simon didn’t even perform the culturally approved acts of hospitality to Jesus and here was this woman extravagantly loving and serving Him. His lack of doing these things gives us a hint as to his contempt for Jesus. He didn’t even honor Him as you would any guest.

Conclusion:

The woman wasn’t the owner of the home where the dinner took place but she was the true host of the guest in this sense.

Jesus, the Messiah of God. God visiting His people

This sinner who acknowledged God is the true host.

Sinners saved by Jesus are the ones who host His Holy Spirit within them.

Simon, the Pharisees could only see her as her old self. He could not see the new creation she was following Christ. He couldn’t see her differently because he didn’t believe that faith in Jesus made a difference. He didn’t not recognize Jesus for who He is.

A life of love is lived out by a grateful sinner who has received true forgiveness in and through Jesus Christ.

Your level of love shown to Jesus and others is an indicator of the level of forgiveness you have understood and received.

How do you respond to sinners? How do you treat them or get involved in their lives to help in their spiritual troubles. We are in the world but not of the world…. But we are in it. If we remove ourselves completely from those who don’t know Jesus, how will we ever reach them? I’m not advocating that you put yourself in a dangerous situation or in a place where you might more easily fall into temptation. Be wise, but show love. That could be a whole second message. All who are Christians have a calling to share the love of Christ Jesus with people who need it. All means all.

What would it look like if we really believed that and embraced it? It will be messy. But people’s lives will be changed by the gospel.

If we look at your life, do we see more of an extravagant love poured out of a grateful heart or do we see more judgement and self righteous looking down on those who you see as not quite up to your level?

If this is you, I call you to repent of your self-righteous ways and attitudes. Repent of not believing Jesus is worth your worship.

There may not be a more well known hymn than “Amazing Grace.” I am struck by the story of John Newton, who penned the song. He was a slave trader who, after a profound conversion experience, became a pastor. His understanding of the depths of his former life of sin caused his heart to cry out for God’s forgiveness and marvel at the grace show to him in Jesus. His story is yet another reminder that those who experience such deep forgiveness respond with love and passion. They want to see the transformative power of God’s grace in the lives of others and want those to experience what they themselves have.

Amazing grace! how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch; like me! I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see.

2 ’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my fears relieved; How precious did that grace appear The hour I first believed!

3 The Lord hath promised good to me, His word my hope secures; He will my shield and portion be As long as life endures.

4 When we’ve been there ten thousand years, Bright shining as the sun, We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise Than when we first begun.

When we humble ourselves and throw ourselves upon the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, we get to experience what Jesus said about the woman at the end of the passage.

He told her that her faith had saved her. It wasn’t just faith, but it was that her faith was in who Jesus was and that He and only He was able to forgive her for her sins. He can forgive your sins as well. Would you surrender to Him today? This is the only way you can truly go in peace. Let’s pray.