Luke 7 36-50 2004
Pentecost 4
Luke 7:36-50
June 27, 2004
“Forgiveness, what’s Love Got to do with It?”
The feast is in progress. Everything is moving smoothly; but the eyes of Simon and his Pharisee friends are scrutinizing Jesus’ every move. They are determined to find out what kind of man and teacher, He is. The great moment came with the entrance into the room of a poor unfortunate woman of the street.
In those days, and it is still so in many parts of the Middle East, it was customary for those who were guests to come into the banquet room, sit around the wall, and discuss the news, and even enter into conversation with guests. It was this situation and custom, which this woman took advantage. Jesus was the news that everyone was speaking about and He was the sensation of the day.
She was one of those poor unfortunates who had been living on the fruits of her iniquity. Her environment had been bad, her training poor. In a small town everyone knows every other one. She was known to everyone here. Her entrance into this place caused a sensation, just as her unholy life was a sensation. Sin! Sin! It frustrates the better self. It infuriates the conscience. It betrays the one who does it. The woman knew it. We all know it in one way or another in one form or another.
But this woman had not now come to flaunt her attractions. She did not come to entice. All that was past, she had met, and she had heard Jesus. She saw life in a new light. Her sins had broken her arrogance, made her humble. She had come to the end of her rope and there was nothing more for her. But in Jesus she had found new hope. The past could be put behind her. Her past could be put away. Life could begin anew. She found all this in Jesus, only Jesus. As a result she wanted to express her gratitude. She gave the gift that responds to forgiveness. She gave Jesus her love.
Simon and his type could never understand or appreciate action like these. He could not understand repentance. To Simon and all real Pharisees, the only way of life and religion is the Pharisee’s church, the Pharisee’s creed, proper dress and life of empty rituals. For Simon and the Pharisee’s this was the way of salvation. The Pharisee’s could not understand forgiveness. Nor could they understand faith or love which goes with it. The only thing that Simon was qualified to do, and he was well qualified for this, was to criticize, judge, and condemn. He had nothing but condemnation for the women. He would never have spoken with her. He never entertained the thought that she could become a new woman. He didn’t care about her at all. For him she was a fallen, lost, condemned, forever untouchable, unpardonable. In his heart Simon had a condemnation for Jesus as well. Indeed Simon had invited Jesus over, to check Him out. Jesus is judged by him as well. After all, if Jesus were a prophet He would know what kind of woman this was that was making such a fuss over Jesus. And Simon thinks to himself, if Jesus were a good man, if He was a true holy man, He would not allow this woman to show her love for him. This was the climax of the situation and Simon set the stage for Jesus to give a lesson on forgiveness, and what love has to do with it.
Knowing his thoughts, Jesus turned and said, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” Jesus knows us as well, right down to our subconscious thoughts; He has something to say to us right now as well.
“A certain money lender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii’s and the other fifty. One owed five hundred days wages and the other fifty. When they could not repay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which one will love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” Jesus said, “You have judged rightly.”
The lesson itself is simple, unmistakable. The creditor is Jesus. The two debtors, Simon and the woman, and the amounts owed perhaps should not matter to us as much as we think, for neither of them was able to pay anything that was owed. Both were great sinners. Simon, and outwardly moral man, is a real sinner with his unbelief, self-righteousness, pride and hardness of heart. Of course there is no debating that the woman is truly a great sinner. But the law had done it’s work in her. She is reachable, quicker to repent. She hungers for righteousness outside of herself. Simon only wants to look in his religious mirror to find his own righteousness.
Jesus then applies his story. He compares the conduct of Simon in comparison to the woman. This woman, deeply contrite, longing for cleansing, trusting in Jesus to do for her what she could not do for herself, and what no one else but Jesus could do, received great forgiveness. Three times Jesus speaks of this woman as being forgiven. Thank God, there is with Jesus, such a thing as forgiveness; forgiveness till seventy times seven, forgiveness as long as a broken heart feels the need of it, and comes for it in faith. And if we have been forgiven, if we hope to be forgiven, we must understand what forgiveness is. We cannot have the spirit of loveless ness, and un-forgiveness that Simon had. Jesus taught us, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
In our text, Jesus speaks of Simon’s loveless ness and of the women’s love. But there is another love that is the greater. It is expressed in the creditor’s cancellation of debt. It is the love of God poured out in His Son and in His death on the cross through which all debts towards God have been paid in full. This greatest of love is the love of God.
The point of emphasis in this text is on the love of the disciple, the response of love towards for the gift of forgiveness. Simon did not love. He loved neither Jesus nor the messy sinner. And he was no disciple, only a cold, critical, fault finding observer. The poor woman, with the poor reputation that she well deserved, she wanted and found forgiveness and an end to the old life and the beginning of the new. And now she loved as truly, as deeply, as warmly, as had been the depth of her degradation and her sorrow. Jesus said, “She loved much for she has been forgiven much. And there can be no doubt that if there was ever an opportunity to show her love to some other unfortunate person she would spare no pains to lead them to Jesus.
There is another element that Jesus mentions in her response of love and her forgiveness. Jesus said, “Your faith has saved you.” This woman could not have loved Jesus as she did had she not believed that Jesus was able to forgive as God alone can do. Her God given faith created through the Word of Christ enabled her to throw herself at His feet and love him with the passion of a sinner. People who believe learn to love and are enabled to love through the Spirit of our loving God. This women’s love was the result and evidence of her being forgiven. Martin Luther calls this woman’s tears –“Heart Water”—the distillation of her sorrow, her faith, her love, and her gratitude.
Before us stands Simon; proud of his outwardly correct life; with no consciousness of sin, no feeling of the need of forgiveness, no faith in Jesus, no love for Him, no love for anyone else except for people like him, outwardly pure and inwardly corrupt. As a consequence, He is unforgiving, un-forgiven and unblessed. Are there any Simons around these days? Are there any Simons in this church? Have we acted like Simon to many times in our lives? The answer of course is yes. More importantly, does Jesus offer us who have been Simonized His love and forgiveness? Absolutely.
Before us also stands this poor broken and wayward women. She believed, she repented, she loved and she was forgiven. As destitute as she was, we stand with her when we understand our own sinfulness, our own inability to pay any of the debt we owe to God. In faith we repent with her, we love with her; we serve our Lord with her. With her we cry tears of heart water. With her we understand forgiveness given to us for the sake of Jesus who paid our debt on the cross. In Him we understand forgiveness, and we know what love has to do with it. Amen