An Extravagant Love

Okay, here we go. We are in week something or other in our series in Luke's gospel, and today we are in chapter 7, verses 36-50. The story we are going to read this week actually moved me this week, so I am excited to share this all with you, and I believe that if you let the words of this Scripture into your heart, you may find some freedom in your soul this morning and encounter Jesus in a life-changing way.

So let’s get into the Bible and read Luke 7:36-50.

Luke 7:36–50 NIV

When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 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 people 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 forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.” “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—as her great love has shown. But whoever 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.”

Have you ever been on a guided tour? For our 10th anniversary, which seems forever ago, Abby and I went away on vacation for the first time together, without the kids. We went to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, for a week. We had a fantastic week together that was restful, fun and soul-filling. While we were there, we went on three tours. On the first one, we went on a guided hike through the desert and then we rode camels along the beach. Mine was named Edgar. But on the hike, the guide would point out interesting things about the desert landscape we were trekking through. That's what I want to do before we get into two takeaways that I got out of this passage.

Because I will be referring back to the passage a lot, I recommend keeping your Bible - whether it be paper or on your phone or tablet open to Luke 7:36 and follow along. 

The first thing I want to point out in this tour of our passage is that Jesus went to the home of a Pharisee. I think this is interesting because if there is a group in the New Testament that we could label as "the bad guys," it would be the Pharisees. They were a group of religious leaders who sought to perfectly live out Moses' commandments and the Rabbis' teaching. Known for being particularly judgy because they saw themselves as the righteous ones and looked down on others, they consistently clashed with Jesus. But Jesus went to this man's house. When we speak of Jesus loving the whole world, we need to make sure we include that Jesus loves the legalistic, judgy people too and praise God for it because, if I'm honest, sometimes that describes me.

The next thing to point out is that Jesus reclined at the table. Come with me to my kitchen table for a minute, will you?

You see, sometimes we think of Jesus reclining at the table like this.

But this would make this whole scene a lot weirder because when the woman cried on Jesus’ feet and washed them with her tears, she would have to be under the table.

And this would be so awkward if you have a bunch of other people at the table too. Not to mention, kind of gross.

First-century Jewish dining was closer to this.

People would recline with the left arm on the table, maybe tuck a pillow under them for comfort and point their feet away from the table. This kind of set up makes it way easier for the woman to access Jesus’ feet.

Continuing on through the passage, we see the woman had lived a “sinful life.” This is code for prostitution. Because Jewish people in the Bible had a pretty high sexual ethic rooted in monogamous heterosexuality within the covenant of marriage, sexual sins were considered extra sinful. Prostitution would have meant social isolation and a regular heaping of judgement and shame from people.

The next thing to see in our tour is that the woman is at the meal. It seems weird because Jesus is at someone's house. But this is common in the time and region where hospitality was a critical social value. When a high profile person came to town and went to someone's house, it was a public affair. Anyone could go, and they would sit or stand around the walls to watch what happened. Sometimes, the needy would come to see if they could beg for the leftovers when the meal was over. Even though it was "open to the public" to observe, she would not be welcome because she was a prostitute, and she knew it. But this is a woman of courage who won't let the judgments of self-righteous men keep her from Jesus.

The last observation to point out in our passage is that this story seems to hint at the woman's prior encounter with Jesus. Her desire to honour Jesus shows that in some way, whether she was in the crowd when he preached and she experienced something in his words or whether they had an encounter that is not recorded in Scripture, something had happened between them prior to the meal that resulted in her emotional service to Jesus.

So, with those things in the background, let's look again at the story. Jesus goes for a meal at the house of a Pharisee named Simon. While eating and talking, a woman came up behind Jesus, kissing and crying over his feet and then wiping them dry with her hair. Then she pulls out some expensive perfume and anoints his feet. Simon sees this and thinks, "No way Jesus is a prophet; otherwise, he would know that she's nasty, and he wouldn't let her touch him with a ten-foot pole." Jesus reads this guy's thoughts because Jesus is God incarnate and is empowered by the Holy Spirit, and so he tells Simon a parable about a banker who loaned money to two guys. Now, a denarius is one day's wages for a labourer. So to one guy, he lends him enough for a year and a half's wages and to another guy, he loans a month and a half's wages. Neither person could pay, so the banker forgives the debt of both. Then, he shrewdly asks Simon a question: which one will love him more?

Simon answers reluctantly, "the one who owed more." Jesus gives him the gold star. Yup, that's right, good job, sport. Then, he turns to this woman who is crying, kissing and anointing his feet and compares her actions to Simon's. And it becomes obvious that this woman has loved far more extravagantly than Simon because she knew she was a sinner; she knew how great the debt was that Jesus forgave her. Simon, a man who prided himself as righteous, didn't love as much as she did.

Then Jesus turns to her, and in front of everyone, says, “Your sins are forgiven.” The others at the table began to murmur because only God can forgive sins. And Jesus says to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

When I look at this story, I am struck by her extravagant love that manifested in two beautiful ways that we should emulate.

Her Extravangant Love Wept in Gratefulness

I don't remember the last time I cried. I remember the last time I was bored - I was eight years old, it was a Sunday morning and there were no good cartoons on TV. I remember the last time I was happy - I had just trashed Abby and Bekah in the card game Dutch Blitz, and I remember it so clearly because it's so rare for me to win. I remember the last time I was angry. It also had to do with Dutch Blitz, but it was a completely different outcome. But I don't remember the last time I cried.

And because I don't cry a lot, I am struck by it here in our narrative. This woman encountered Jesus, and it was so profound for her she wept. She didn't cry tears of shame because Jesus saw what she was doing as an act of love, not remorse. She also didn't cry tears of sadness because what would she be sad about? She was in the presence of Jesus, and he had forgiven her. While it's not explicitly stated, I believe that her tears were tears of gratefulness.

She wept tears of gratefulness because, just like the woman caught in adultery in John 4, when she met Jesus, he didn't shame her or condemn her for her sin. She was grateful because he offered to her that which her heart was crying for: forgiveness. 

Think back to a time when someone forgave you. What did you feel before they forgave you? Probably shame at whatever it is you did (or got caught doing). Shame sits in us as this heavy weight, like a backpack full of bricks, continually reminding us of what we did and making it almost impossible to move forward. Let me ask you the hard question: are you sitting with some shame right now? Are you weighed down with your sins?

This woman reminds us there is good news for us; that with Jesus, there is forgiveness. Because he is God incarnate, he has the authority to forgive sins, and he chooses to forgive everyone who comes to him by faith.

Look at what it says in the Jewish scriptures in Psalm 103

Psalm 103:10–14 NIV

he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. 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. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.

Jesus lived that out. Later, the apostle Paul would say it like this:

Ephesians 1:7 NIV

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace

This woman was aware of her sin. No one manipulated her or tried to get something from her. She didn't join a cult or even become part of a church. She was just aware of her sin in her bones and knew she needed something. So she went to Jesus, and he lifted her burden as he forgave her. And, in the passage we read, she was so grateful to him for it, she wept over his feet.

You, too, can experience the forgiveness of Jesus if you would come to him as you are, with no pretences, no pride, no power and confess to him that you need his forgiveness. And whether this is the first time you have ever checked out church online before, or whether you have been a believer in Jesus for decades, we all need to experience his forgiveness. And so, because we all need to go to Jesus, confess our sins and receive his forgiveness, we are going to take a couple of minutes and spend some time in prayer. A screen will come up that is about a minute and a half long, and there will be two prayers of confession that come up. Feel free to use them if you want or make up your own as you talk to God. Let's pray.

If you prayed a prayer of confession for your sins, know that you are forgiven in the name of Jesus, by the blood of Jesus, to the glory of Jesus. May our response to his forgiveness be a life of joyful service and eternal, heartfelt, gratitude.

Speaking of service, the woman in our narrative not only loved Jesus extravagantly as she wept in gratitude, but she also served Jesus with humility. 

Her Extravagant Love Served in Humility

Humility may be best defined as "being others-oriented." Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in California is quoted as saying, "Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it's thinking of yourself less." Pride and arrogance make everything about us, and we use ourselves as the standard by which we judge others. Simon, the host of this dinner party, was a Pharisee and, typical to many of them, believed he was a better person than others because he followed Moses's laws and the early form of the Talmud, which was the teachings of the Rabbis. We see this played out in how he thinks about Jesus and the woman who washes Jesus' feet.

Luke 7:39 NIV

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.”

You can hear the condescending arrogance of the man in this sentence. He judges that Jesus can’t be a prophet and the woman is less than him. Jesus chooses to set him straight on both accounts: first by telling a parable about forgiveness and love, and then by comparing Simon to the woman.

You see, Simon did nothing to bless Jesus as his guest. He didn't provide water for Jesus to wash his feet; he didn't greet Jesus with a kiss; he didn't offer oil for Jesus' head. These were all culturally accepted ways of honouring one's guest, and Simon did none of them.

But this woman, she served Jesus in humility. As she wept over his feet in gratitude for his forgiveness, she used her hair to wash his feet. This is no small matter. Jewish women did not unbind their hair in public. But she didn't care about what other people thought of her; she just wanted to serve Jesus, so she let down her hair and wiped her tears from his feet.

After she wiped her tears, she poured her perfume on his feet. What is interesting is what Jesus says in verse 46:

Luke 7:46 NIV

You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.

When he says "oil," he refers to cheap olive oil. But when he says "perfume," he means an expensive aromatic oil. Simon didn't even give Jesus the cheap stuff, but this sinful woman used her expensive perfume to anoint his feet. Again, her humility shines here because attending to a person's feet was the job of the lowest slave. There is no sense of it being "beneath" her. She is content to serve Jesus in any way that needs to be done because he is her Saviour.

I think it would have been easy - because I know people who have done it - to receive Jesus’ forgiveness and then go on her merry way, continuing to live how she wanted. But she didn’t. She chose to use her newfound spiritual freedom to serve Jesus.

The apostle Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, says,

Galatians 5:13 NIV

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

By entering the kingdom of God, by putting our faith in Jesus and accepting his gift of forgiveness, we now embody an ethos of serving. Like the woman, we are called to humbly serve one another. Bringing groceries to shut-ins, shovelling neighbour's driveways, giving your spouse time off from responsibilities and kids in order to rest, making supper when it's "not your job," or doing extra chores around the house for free - there is a myriad of ways you can serve one another humbly in love.

And why should we serve each other? Because when we serve others, we serve God and we serve God because, like the woman in our story, we are grateful for what Jesus has done for us.

Conclusion

I want to conclude with two quotes. The first one is from Oswald Chambers. He said, “We trample the blood of the Son of God if we think we are forgiven because we are sorry for our sins. The only explanation for the forgiveness of God and for the unfathomable depth of His forgetting is the death of Jesus Christ. Our repentance is merely the outcome of our personal realization of the atonement which He has worked out for us. It does not matter who or what we are; there is absolute reinstatement into God by the death of Jesus Christ and by no other way, not because Jesus Christ pleads, but because He died. It is not earned, but accepted. All the pleading which deliberately refuses to recognize the Cross is of no avail; it is battering at a door other than the one that Jesus has opened. Our Lord does not pretend we are all right when we are all wrong. The atonement is a propitiation whereby God, through the death of Jesus, makes an unholy man holy.”

The second quote is from the Apostle John, and it is one of my favourite verses in all the Bible.

The heart of our story in Luke is that those who have been forgiven much, love extravagantly but those who have been forgiven little, love little. The woman knew the depth of her sin, brought it to Jesus, and he forgave it all. She responded with an extravagant outpouring of love. Simon the Pharisee didn't see his need for forgiveness, and therefore he didn't even honour Jesus well as his guest. Do you see your need for forgiveness? Let you and I examine our lives, bring our sins to Jesus, receive his forgiveness and then love him extravagantly.

Let’s pray.