Sermon Tone Analysis
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A BROKEN VASE AND A SAVING GRACE
* *
*Luke 7:35-49*
John 12:17 says*, “The Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”*
The good news of the Gospel is that we’re not saved by perfectly keeping all of God’s commandments.
We are saved by completely trusting in the grace of God.
Once we understand that truth, we can receive his forgiveness and walk in joyful, confident obedience.
And for the next few weeks, we’re going to examine how Jesus responded to several people who desperately needed his grace and his truth.
The first is a sinful woman who came to Jesus for forgiveness.
The biblical explanation of her story is found in Luke the 7th chapter.
Verse 36 begins, *“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.”
* Now keep in mind, in that day when a special teacher was invited into somebody’s home, they kept the front door open so that anybody could walk in off the street and listen in to the conversation.
The visitor was supposed to keep quiet, but they were free to come in and observe.
And, it was a tribute to the host if other people came in and hovered around.
That meant he had somebody important at his house.
Verse 37, *“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.”*
Now, don’t confuse this woman with Mary the sister of Lazarus who later performs a very similar act.
The two deeds have a great deal in common, but they are different instances.
Verse 38 reads, *“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.”*
Now, we don’t know a great deal about his woman.
We know she was a sinful woman.
Most students of the Bible think she was a prostitute.
But she could have had some other character flaw or been involved in some other addiction.
But whatever it was, everybody in the community knew about it.
She had a bad reputation.
But she was also a seeking woman.
Jesus was in the town, eating at the home of Simon and she went to the place where Jesus was.
You know, I’ve found that people who are trapped in some type of appalling behavior really want to do better.
They want to be set free.
Deep down, they want to go straight.
And they promise themselves, /“I’m going to do better some day.
When my children come, I don’t want them to be exposed to this lifestyle.
I’m a better person than this.
Really.”/
And this woman knew that Jesus called people to a higher, better lifestyle.
And deep down in her soul, she wanted that.
So she was attracted to Jesus.
And we know that she was a repentant woman.
There’s an old Turkish proverb that says, /“No matter how far you’ve gone down the wrong road, turn back.”/
And this woman was a long way down the wrong road, but she wanted to turn back.
And that day as she stood in the presence of Jesus, the contrast between his purity and her sin just overcame her to the point that she began to weep tears of repentance.
Now, you know there are some people who can cry crocodile tears.
I mean, tears just gush out of their eyes and rolled own their cheeks and drip to the floor.
If you’ve got kids in your home, you’ve seen that happen at one time or another.
This woman’s tears dripped on Jesus’ feet.
Now, keep in mind in that day they reclined at the table and Jesus’ feet would be behind him.
And when her tears dropped on Jesus' feet, this woman instinctively tried to undo her blunder by drying his feet with her long hair.
But in that day it was considered immodest for a woman to appear in public with her hair let down.
But this woman was so impulsive and so expressive that when her tears wet Jesus’ feet, she attempted to dry them with her hair, and then she spontaneously kissed Jesus’ feet and poured perfume on them.
And I love the way Jesus so warmly, and graciously responds to this woman.
He commended her and said of her, */“She loves a great deal.
She’s done a generous deed.
She knows how to express praise.”/*
But Simon, the Pharisee was embarrassed by it all.
Verse 39 reads, *“When the Pharisee who 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.
She’s a sinner.’”*
Now keep in mind that when a man took a vow to be a Pharisee, he promised to obey the letter of the Law.
He was devoted to earning God’s favor not just by keeping the 10 Commandments, but all of the Old Testament.
And although the Pharisees were good moral people on the outside, inside they had a problem with attitude.
Jesus said they were full of dead men’s bones.
They were like whitewashed tombs.
They were self-reliant, arrogant and judgmental.
Six times in Matthew 23 Jesus said the Pharisees were hypocrites.
Someone said, /“God prefers a loving sinner to a loveless saint.”/
Simon was kind of a loveless saint who had a condescending attitude towards this woman of the street.
And he mumbled, */“If Jesus really were a man of God, he wouldn't let this kind of a woman touch him.
He’d run her off in a moment.”
/*
But Jesus was so full of grace and truth, even to Simon.
Look at verse 40, *“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 500 denarii and the other 50.
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?’
You see, Jesus not only knew what kind of woman this woman was, he knew what kind of person Simon was.
He knew what Simon was thinking.
The Bible says* “Jesus knew what was in the heart of man.”*
And he knew that the woman was guilty of sins of the flesh, but Simon was guilty of sins of the spirit.
And he knew that both of these people were spiritually bankrupt.
Neither of them could pay the debt of their sin.
And the difference wasn’t in the amount of the sin, but in the awareness of their sin.
Did you get that?
*The difference wasn’t in the amount of their sin, but in the awareness of their sin*.
So, Jesus asked, *“Which would love the most?”*
And in verse 43 Simon replied, *“I/ /suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.”*
*“You’ve 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.”*
William Barclay pointed out that in that day a gracious host would always express hospitality with three acts of kindness.
Today we shake somebody’s hand, we’d take their coat, and offer them a glass of water to iced tea.
But in that day the host would first give them the kiss of peace, a mark of respect.
And then, since the roads were dusty and they simply wore sandals, there would always be a basin of water where they could wash their feet.
And then there would be a pinch of perfume dropped on the guest’s head as an act of warmth.
But Simon had done none of these things towards Jesus.
A maybe he had kind of a patronizing attitude towards Jesus, that Jesus should have considered himself fortunate to be in such an important home.
Or maybe Simon had invited some of his Pharisee friends there to try to trap Jesus.
But Jesus was so full of grace, he didn’t storm out of the house because of this rude treatment.
He didn’t sit in the corner and sulk because he wasn’t being treated as someone important.
He reclined at the table and ate and said nothing.
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