Simply Saved

Luke 7:36-50

Simply Saved

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.  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 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 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 cancelled the debts of both.  Now which of them will love him more?”

Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt cancelled.”

“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—for she loved much.  But he who 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.”

here are some women with whom a man simply would not wish to be seen. Delicately described as a woman who had lived a sinful life, she was such a woman.  It was understatement, of course.  Such creatures of the street and of the night seem all too readily to discover affairs of the community, usually employing knowledge of the occasions to offer their services to discreet gentlemen willing to pay for illicit pleasures.  Perhaps she had learned about the event through indiscreet pillow talk by one of her clients, or perhaps she had heard about the activity through the street telegraph which works swiftly and efficiently.  She nevertheless joined the throng gathering at the house of Simon where the prophet from Judah was guest of honour at dinner.

Perhaps she had arrived early before the greatest part of the throng had arrived, or perhaps she had found a crowd already gathering and found it necessary to push her way to the door where she would hear the murmur of voices within and the conviviality of polite conversation.  However it happened, when the invited guests had all entered, she hesitated only briefly and then hurried inside, for she was a woman on a mission.  Though certain that every man present would know her, if not personally than by reputation, eternity hung on her actions that night, and with determination born of desperation she would insure that she was near this Jesus of Nazareth.

Upon entering the room her eyes dart nervously about, reminding anyone observing her of a frightened doe, until she fixes her gaze on the guest of honour.  Marking Him by His position at the table and by the attention paid Him by the other guests, she moves to a point immediately behind Him.  She shoulders her way through the jostling, attentive crowd of uninvited guests until she arrives at a position near His feet, and there she stands, nervously eyeing Him as He reclines at the table.

The jar which she fingers in her hands had been a gift from some faceless lover, one of many undistinguished save for the fact that he was male.  Having obtained what he wanted he had arranged to send her an expensive jar filled with the most costly perfume.  The gift had no doubt salved the nameless man’s conscience since his action was simply a business transaction like any other he would conduct.  In a strange way she treasured the jar.  It was one of her few treasured possessions which served to lift her mind out of the abject existence she was forced to endure and to a plain she could only hope to know.

Standing there behind Him, her mind turns involuntarily to her own sordid past.  He is so pure!  He represents all that is good, all that God meant life to be.  The knowledge of the gulf between her own soiled life and that of the prophet from Nazareth seems to touch her more deeply than she could ever have imagined.  The hardened lines in her face seem to soften and then she begins to weep.  First with silent sobs, and then as the tears begin to flow ever more freely with great convulsive heaves.  Try though she might to stifle the sobs, there is simply too much pain to stop.  The hurt resulting from her sense of shame, the sorrow arising from unfulfilled promises of her youth, the grief of lost opportunities to honour her family, the knowledge that God Himself must hurt because of her choices – all combine to open the unseen scars deeply imprinted on her heart.  Now she bows her head and sobs uncontrollably.  She cannot stop weeping.

Her head bowed and the tears streaming down her cheeks, she becomes aware that her tears are falling on His feet.  She notes that His feet now glisten with dampness from her tears.  Added to her overwhelming grief and sorrow is now added her acute embarrassment at having violated His pure body with her tears.  Deeply conscious that she has gravely offended custom, she stoops without thinking to wipe His feet dry.  But she has no towel, no cloth.  She does the only thing that comes to her mind.

Loosening her hair she begins to wipe His feet dry with her hair.  His feet are muddied, the result of her tears mixed with the accumulated dust of the streets of the city.  Thus her hair is quickly soiled by this mud born of city dust and human sorrow.  The prophet watches her with intense interest, knowing what only God Himself could know.  But the other guests are astonished, and the host is indignant.  In his heart he is critical – not of her, but of the Prophet.  “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.”

It seems as though the host and the other guests know intimately the most sordid aspects of her life … as though they themselves had somehow participated in her degrading slide into moral oblivion.  Social lions such as those gathered in the home of Simon the Pharisee seldom speak their thoughts aloud, but they can be pitiless in their censure.  Mark well that a censorious spirit reveals the heart of a haughty individual.  Caustic comments and mordant thoughts reveal a heart which is self-satisfied and which suffers from hardening of the attitudes.  With pasted on smiles and forced laughter they tolerate the presence of their inferiors, though cutting them to pieces with their hearts.  They exalt themselves by comparing themselves to the foibles of others.

As in his heart the host silently criticises this Prophet from Nazareth, Jesus knows what he is thinking.  The text is so incredibly precise, for it states that Jesus answered him.  Simon, He says as He again turns His full attention to the host, I have something to tell you.  Simon responds in cloying tones, Tell me, Teacher.  He is unaware that his very thoughts are known to the One now addressing him.  How could he know that his critical spirit was openly displayed to the penetrating eyes of the Master?  He had thought he would play out his hand from a position of power, enjoying his secret scorn of this rude prophet!

The Lord tells him a parable of two men indebted to a moneylender.  One was indebted for an amount equivalent to several years wages and the other was indebted for an amount equalling several months of wages.  Frankly, both were broke.  They were bankrupt, but in those days there was no such condition.  A debt was a debt, and one unable to pay a legal debt would be thrown into debtors prison or sold as a slave until they somehow came up with the money.

In the Master’s parable, the moneylender does the unthinkable.  Knowing that neither man can repay him what he has loaned them he forgives the full debt of each man.  The point of the story for Simon – and for anyone listening – was the question which was appended to the story.  Now which of them will love him more [sacrificially]?

The host is taken somewhat off guard by the tenor of the question, and so he hesitantly replies, I suppose the one who had the bigger debt cancelled.

That’s right, responds the Master.

The scene is set for a conclusion we could not have anticipated.  The Prophet turns toward the woman, still standing at His feet and weeping.  And once more speaking to Simon, though looking with eyes of compassion and love toward the grief stricken woman, Jesus asks, Do you see this woman?

Simon dumbly nods.

I came into your house, He continues.  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 welcoming kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet.  You did not welcome me by anointing my head with oil, but she has poured costly perfume on my feet.  The host was mortified because his haughty heart was exposed as all saw a spirit of pride and superiority reflected in the fact that he ignored the most common of courtesies to say nothing of honouring his guest as one worthy of respect.  His deliberate social snub was exposed for what it was in the most horrifying manner as Jesus contrasted his deliberate ignorance with the loving attention paid his guest by this woman of the street.

The Prophet revealed something even more significant as He appended a lesson for Simon and all who would hear of this story: Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven – for she loved much.  But he who has been forgiven little loves little.

His eyes still focused on the woman who now stands listening intently to His words, Jesus says, Your sins are forgiven.

His words precipitate a murmuring among the other guests.  Who is this who even forgives sins, they question.  Their question was motivated less by astonishment that God Himself might be in their midst then it was a revelation of the censorious spirit which had seized them all.  They were, like their dear friend Simon, critical in the extreme of Jesus.  They could hardly believe that any mere man would dare pronounce forgiveness of sins.  They were offended that He would even speak in such terms in their presence.

Jesus, however, had kept His eyes fixed on the woman who stands stunned and amazed at the gracious words.  Our Lord demonstrated that He knew what was in the heart, for He had recognised the faith of the woman revealed through her loving attention.  Your faith has saved you; go in peace, are the words which conclude the pericope.

Scope in on the account of Jesus’ reaction to discover three vital truths which comfort every honest seeker after life and the forgiveness of sin.  Discover with me the truths which free from guilt and condemnation, for your own peace is at stake.

Faith is Revealed Through Action – This is the first great truth which is all too readily dismissed in this day.  Faith alone secures the blessing of Heaven.  Faith, however, never stands alone.  James speaks to the issue of the manner in which faith is seen.  Note his extended exposition of the relationship of faith and the deeds which issue from faith.  What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?  Can such faith save him?  Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.  You believe that there is one God.  Good!  Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?  Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?  You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.  And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend.  You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?  As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead [James 2:14-26].

The deeds we do are not the source of faith, but our faith is always seen through deeds.  Nor is James the sole writer of Holy Writ to stress this union of faith and deeds.  Paul, in the Ephesian letter, states, it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do [Ephesians 2:8-10].

The woman who stood behind Jesus and attended to his comfort when his host had ignored these social expectations revealed her faith toward Him in her devotion to His need.  He was worthy of all that she could bestow upon Him … and even more.  Her tears were evidence of a heart filled with grief at her failure to honour God and her descent into grossest immorality.  She was determined to give that which she treasured most as an act of devoted honour to the Saviour.

How is it that so few today grieve over sin as they enter the church?  How can we, like the Pharisees of old, count out to the precise penny the pittance we have determined we will give to fulfil our perceived duty to the church and never consider how to honour the Lord through our giving?  I wonder at the casual attitude with which we come to supposed faith.  There is scant difference between that transaction and any business deal.

Modern Christians are careful to be seen as pious.  We carefully attend the Sunday morning worship service, and if challenged we will pray a carefully constructed prayer to impress others.  Yet we are too often unmoved by the call to visit the lost, too often untouched by the call to unite for prayer, too often untouched to invest those gifts which we received of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Body.  How awesome are the words of Jesus recorded in Matthew 23:2-7. “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.  So you must obey them and do everything they tell you.  But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.  They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honour at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.

What of us?  Is that which we do done for men to see?  Do we love the accolades we receive because of our religious duties without loving the Master whom we ought to serve?  Perhaps it is that too much of modern Christianity has degenerated into a spectator sport instead of being the expression of a heart in love with the Master.

I remember in a former church a woman who lived in constant fear that I would call on her at the conclusion of the service to pray.  She was young in the Faith and felt she had to offer up a beautiful prayer which would be a model of rhetorical skill.  Therefore, she carefully crafted a prayer and kept it hidden in the back of her Bible that should she be asked she would have a “prayer”.  In fact, the day did come that I asked her to pray.  However, when that day came she did not need the carefully drafted prose, but she spoke simply and from her heart.  The difference was that she had fallen deeply in love with the Saviour and spoke simply and from the heart, not caring whether she impressed anyone other than God.

How many of us are like that young woman in her early days of the Faith?  How many of us invest more time in considering how we may impress others than in thinking of our love for Christ?  My goal is that each Christian will move to that position that they so love the Saviour that they are unconcerned whether another will see their tears or rebuke them for expressing holy joy.

Do you long for forgiveness of sin?  Do you yearn for freedom from guilt?  Carefully observe ever so many rites and rituals, and you will yet sense your burden of guilt and shame.  When you at last arrive at the point that you say in your heart, “I do not care what others may think, I love Him and I will serve Him because I love Him,” you will have moved near the Kingdom of Heaven.  That forgiveness you seek and that freedom you long for are found in submission to Jesus as Master of your life.  When you come to Him, receiving Him as ruler, you will receive all these other benefits.  And the evidence that you are accepted will be that you serve Him with a willing heart.

Faith Secures Forgiveness of Sins – This sinful woman heard the most beautiful words human ears could ever hear: Your sins are forgiven … Your faith has saved you; go in peace.  Who wouldn’t wish to hear this from Him who alone holds the authority to forgive sin?  All sin is against God, though all sin does injure other mortals.  Thus, though for conscience sake we ought to seek the forgiveness of those of our fellowmen whom we have offended, it is imperative that we secure God’s forgiveness.  Jesus here revealed to this woman that He was very God and that He thus held the authority to forgive sin.

If I will be freed from condemnation, I must secure the forgiveness of those whom I have offended.  Surely it is evident that if I will have peace with my fellowman I must insure that all offence has been confessed and that forgiveness of those offended is secured.  All this is in the human realm.  In that sphere all offence is eventually forgiven and forgotten as time moves on and as those first involved pass from the scene.

But what of the realm of the eternal?  When I have offended against Holy God, the unchanging, ever-living God of Heaven, how shall the offence ever be forgotten if there is no forgiveness?  The answer is that since sin is ultimately against the ever-living God it is an eternal offence against holiness and before Him.  I stand forever condemned before Him.  If I will have peace I must have His forgiveness.  Since my sin was infinite because it was against the infinite God, the forgiveness sought must likewise be infinite.

This issue is too great to pass over quickly or to treat in a casual manner.  Since all sin is against God, and since God is infinite, sin is ultimately infinitely offensive.  Being of such unmeasured magnitude, it condemns the sinner infinitely.  Only infinite forgiveness will suffice to set the sinner free from sin.  When Jesus spoke those sweet words to the wicked woman, the Pharisees and teachers of the Law who were seated at the table with Jesus were rightly offended … if He were a mere man.  Underscore in your mind this one great truth: no man can forgive sin!  Jesus, if a mere man, is incapable of forgiving sin.  No priest, no preacher, no religious worker … no mortal can forgive sin.  On the other hand, if He is God, He has the right to forgive sin and the means by which one may receive that forgiveness is by faith if we take the account before us as the norm.

You may think yourself a great sinner.  Jesus is a great God.  He is great enough to free you from all condemnation, from all guilt, from all penalties due you as result of your sin.  Though He cannot overlook your sin since it is an eternal offence to His Holy Person, He can forgive your sin so that you need never confront it again.  What a gracious promise is that found in the 103rd Psalm.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is His love for those who fear Him;

as far as the east is from the west,

         so far has He removed our transgressions from us

[Psalm 103:11,12].

The language is poetic, but the truth is astounding.  There is no way in which we can determine where the east begins and the west ends.  These directions are always relative to where we are.  Thus, our transgressions are removed to a place beyond our ability to retrieve them.  We are forever freed from our sin and the eternal consequences of those sins.  The same truth is stated in these beautiful and thought-provoking words.

You will again have compassion on us;

You will tread our sins underfoot

          and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea

[Micah 7:19].

The promise of God is that He will forgive [our] wickedness and … remember [our] sins no more [Jeremiah 31:34].  Isaiah states the issue in these words:

In your love You kept me

from the pit of destruction;

You have put all my sins

          behind Your back

[Isaiah 38:17].

It is faith in the Living God, Jesus the Risen Saviour, which secures eternal forgiveness for sinful man.  Listen again to the Word as it speaks of the means by which we receive salvation, the forgiveness of sin.  It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast [Ephesians 2:8,9].

Faith is Foundational for Peace – Take especial note of Jesus’ final statement: Go in peace.  Peace is the rich possession of those who are saved.  Until saved, there ever remains the awful weight of sin pressing down upon the sinner, the knowledge that that one stands condemned before God, the guilt which arises from a sinful life unacceptable to God.  Here is a question for each of you to answer in the privacy of your own heart.  Are you a sinner because you sin, or do you sin because you are a sinner?  Do your actions reveal what you are, or do your actions make you what you are?  Indeed, our actions, and in particular our failure to be righteousness, reveals that we are unrighteous.  What one is is revealed through life.  If we are imperfect in the manner in which we live out our lives, it must be because we are sinful, falling short of divine perfection.  Neither can we merely excuse this imperfection as the lot of all mankind, for the guilt remains my own.

Those who are aware of their sin, who know the awful weight of the soul resulting from guilt before God, can be forever freed of sin and its frightful consequences.  Freed of sin, these will be delivered from condemnation before God and set free from all guilt.  All this is by faith alone, but the faith which saves is never alone.  The life of that one freed from guilt and condemnation is transformed.  The Spirit of the Living God enters into the life of that one freed from sin and they are born into the Kingdom of God.  How could one redeemed from sentence of death fail to love the Saviour who releases from eternal condemnation?  How could one born into God’s family not rejoice in the freedom of a child of God?  Many have assumed this salvation is a matter of profession, but it is an issue of possession.

It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that faith in faith is sufficient to secure freedom from sin.  “If I believe hard enough that I am pure, I will be pure," think those who are so deluded.  It is faith in Jesus as that One divinely appointed for salvation which secures heaven’s blessing, however.  Peter’s stirring affirmation before the Jewish Sanhedrin makes this abundantly clear: Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved [Acts 4:12].  The message tersely delivered to a distraught jailer in Philippi was identical to that delivered to this day: Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved [Acts 16:31].

This wicked woman had unbeknownst to the wondering crowd believed that Jesus was God’s Saviour appointed to take away the sin of the world.  Perhaps she had once heard the words of the Baptist as he exulted: Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world [John 1:29].  No matter, her faith in Him had secured forgiveness of sin and now she was bade to go in peace.  And so may you have peace today through faith in Him.

 Listen to the words which detail what you must do if you will have peace with God arising from the forgiveness of sin.  If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.  As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”  For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” [Romans 10:9-13].

With a heart of love which would do you good and not evil I urge you to hear this Good News and to act responsibly to believe this message of peace today.  Believe that Jesus has died because of your sin and that He is raised for your justification before the Living God.  Receive Him as Master of life that you may be saved and have His peace.  Amen.