Sermon Tone Analysis

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.”/

| T |

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/.