Untitled Sermon

The Proud and Contrite

Luke 7:36–50 NKJV

Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.” And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” So he said, “Teacher, say it.” “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?” Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.” Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

Luke 7:36-50

This was serious business. The game was tied 7-7 with two outs and it was the bottom of the ninth and for the championship of our neighborhood baseball game. I was up at the plate and we had a man on third and here came the pitch. I swung and hit it back to the pitcher, and ran as fast as I could. He bobbled the ball, but then through it to first base. And you know what happened, I got to the base the same time the first baseman caught the ball. Our team started yelling we won, their team said I was out. We yelled back and forth for a few minutes, and then we decided we would just have a do over. (The next time I made sure I got a base hit so we would win the game). Don’t you wish sometimes you could have a “do over” in life. Sadly, with many things that happen, we can never and go back and have a second chance. But, it is possible to have a new beginning with God.

The encounters we see today are a comparison of how Jesus dealt with the message of forgiveness with two types of people - we can learn a lot today about sharing this message of a new beginning from this passage.

I. The Proud Man

The setting of the passage:

The Pharisees were Jewish people who were very religious – they obeyed all the laws and in fact added to the law and created man-made commandments. For example, when the Bible said, do not work on the Sabbath – they would not be allowed to carry a burden – which was defined as anything over two fig leaves. Or on the Sabbath you could only walk ¾ of a mile or you would break it. They judge their goodness based upon how many rules they could follow and would gather together with Jesus so they could trap him. In , we see that Jesus “worked” on the Sabbath according to their customs and even healed someone and they were mad. (read luke 6:11)

And so we see they were at Simon’s house, a Pharisee, and that is was likely they had met to trap Jesus in some way. According to the customs of that time, when you would have guest over you would wash his feet for they were dusty, greet each other with a holy kiss, and then a kind gesture was to anoint the head with olive oil. Yet, Simon did not honor Jesus in this way.

A. He did not recognize his sin, but the sin of others

B. He gave, but not His best

C. He doubted Lord

Is he a prophet?

D. He did not serve the Lord

E. He did not worship the Lord

He had self righteousness - he did not recognize God in His presence

II. The Contrite Woman

Then a woman who had a bad reputation came into the meeting. Now when they ate back then, they did not have tables and chairs like we do, so Jesus was most likely laying down. The woman came and was in tears – why she was in tears the Bible does not say, but we realize this woman is broken because of her sin. She comes to Jesus and with a flask of alabaster perfume – in another passage we see the cost of this perfume is 300 denari (300 days wages) and washes his feet with her tears and this expensive oil and then dries his feet with her hair. She then kisses his feet.

A. She recognized her sin

B. She gave her best to the Lord

C. She wept before the Lord

D. She served the Lord

E. She worshipped the Lord

III. The Lesson on Forgiveness

A. He did not recognize his sin, but the sin of others

B. He gave, but not His best

C. He did not weep, but doubted the Lord

Is he a prophet?

D. He did not serve the Lord, but sought to be served

E. He did not worship the Lord, but himself

He had self righteousness - he did not recognize God in His presence

III. The Lesson on Forgiveness

A. We all need forgiveness

B. Forgiveness is available to all

C. Jesus is the only one who can forgive sins

D. Offer forgiveness to the contrite

E. Offer reflection to the proud

F. Faith in Christ is the way of forgiveness

G. Love and forgiveness are directly related

E. Offer forgiveness to the contrite

F. Offer reflection to the proud

G. Love and forgiveness are directly related