We saw last week that Simon the Pharisee invites Jesus over to his
house for a dinner party. We learned
that these dinner parties were occasions for the elite to sit around a table
and discuss the most important topics of the day. We also learned that these parties were open
to the public, in that people off the street were welcome to come in, stand
around the walls – not at the table eating – and listen in on the who’s who of
Jewish society weigh in on hot topics.
Our passage describes this particular dinner party where a woman who had
lived a sinful life comes in and starts to worship Jesus by crying on his feet,
wiping his feet with her tears, kissing his feet and finally anointing them
with the perfume she brought with her.
We left off last week at verse 39, where Simon thought to himself that
Jesus could not be a prophet because he assumed Jesus did not know who this
woman was at His feet. Starting in verse
40 Jesus begins His response to Simon’s thoughts.
Read verses 40-43.
Drowning in Debt (v40-43)
After Simon thinks these thoughts to himself in verse 39 Jesus
answers him. Again, Simon did not say
his thoughts out loud. Jesus heard what
Simon was thinking and then Jesus responded with a parable. Do not miss the irony at this moment. Simon thinks Jesus is clueless about who the
woman is behind him. Therefore Simon
doesn’t think Jesus is a prophet from God, because a prophet would know – God
would tell him. So how does Jesus
demonstrate to Simon that He is in fact from God and does know things? Rather than starting with the woman Jesus
demonstrates shows He does know more than Simon thinks – He knows Simon’s
unspoken thoughts. The parable Jesus
tells is clearly related to Simon’s thoughts, which should have caused Simon to
panic when he realized his inner monologue was heard by Jesus. What’s the point? The point is that if Jesus knows the
conversation Simon has in his head then He definitely knows who this woman is
at His feet. Simon thought Jesus needed a
lesson in who was at his feet. But Jesus
was going to give a lesson to Simon about who He invited to dinner.
Well what is Jesus’ parable all about? Jesus describes two people who owed the same
guy money. One guy owed a lot while the
other owed a lot less. Five hundred
denarii is equivalent to 1 ½ years wages.
Fifty denarii is about 2 months wages.
While the amount was different for both men, both men had the same
problem: neither could pay back what
they owed. Who are these people supposed
to represent? Who is Jesus talking about
here? The money lender is Jesus
Christ. The 2 debtors are Simon the
Pharisee and the sinful woman. Since
Simon compared himself with the woman and felt confident he was righteous
because he wasn’t as sinful as her, Jesus wanted to use this parable to compare
them both too. In doing so He was going
to reveal to Simon that even though his “debt” to God for his own sin was less
than the woman’s, like the woman, Simon could not pay back even the small
amount owed.
Let’s notice 2.5 things here. First, if someone owes more than
you it doesn’t cancel your debt and it doesn’t excuse your inability to pay
back your smaller debt. The point in
this parable Jesus is making is that while other people may be worse sinners
than us, that doesn’t’ mean we are not sinners ourselves. It is a dangerous and foolish thing to make
it a habit to compare ourselves with people we think are worse than us in order
to feel better about ourselves. Romans
14:10 says,“You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment
seat.” If we have less sin than
someone else the point is that we still have sin. And we can’t pay God back for our small
sin! If
you think about this it is actually quite striking to realize that while people
feel good about themselves because their debt isn’t as bad as other people’s,
how do they look when they can’t pay back their smaller debt?
Notice secondly that Jesus makes this about love. Jesus finishes the parable with a question to
Simon: “Who loves more?” Why is that even a concern? Because the parable not only shows that out
of His immense love for us God forgives our sin, but, Jesus is introducing the
point that God also forgives us because He wants us to love Him. From God’s side, granting us forgiveness is
the expression of His love. From our
side, loving God is the expression of receiving His forgiveness. Forgiveness is the fountainhead of love. God wants our love for Him to spring up and
out of our realization that He has loved us and forgiven us. God wants us to love Him. So much so that He made it the greatest
command in all Scripture: Love
the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and
all your mind.”
Notice point #2.5 here:
Even “good” people need forgiveness.
Notice in the parable that the money lender cancelled both debts. Not just the big one, but, the small one as
well. The big debt belongs to the “bad”
sinner whereas the small debt belongs to the “good” sinner. Oh yes, Jesus can cancel the biggest sinner’s
debt. But, here He is looking right into
Simon’s eyes across the table and saying that his debt, though small, must be
forgiven, and, can be forgiven.
Application: You see, the people with
big debts need to realize that their debt is able to be forgiven – that God’s
grace can cover the biggest mountain of baggage. On the other hand, those who have “small
debts” need to realize something different:
they need to realize that though their debt is smaller than that of
others, it is still a debt and it still needs to be paid. All this is to say that so called “good”
people need salvation just as badly as so called bad people because while their
debts are different their problem is the same:
neither can pay back what they owe to God. Don’t be deceived by being good. According to Isaiah 64:6 “All
our righteousness acts are like filthy rags…” Romans 3:10 and 23 say, “There is no one who is good…All
sin and all fall short of God’s glory”
Again in Proverbs 20:9 we read, “Who can say ‘I have kept my heart pure; I am
clean and without sin’?” No one
is good. Jesus said only God is good
(Matthew 19:17). When we compare
ourselves to others rather than Scripture we are using the wrong measuring
stick.
A Sinner’s Love (44-47)
Notice what verse 44 says – don’t miss it. “Then Jesus turned towards the woman”. But the thing is Jesus continues to talk to
Simon while looking at the woman. On the
one hand we see how the Lord sees everything from our inner most thoughts to
our worship of Him. Jesus looking at
this woman implies He accepts her worship, as He will validate in the next
verses. But I think the reason Jesus was
looking at her while talking to Simon was because Simon should have been
looking at what Jesus was looking at. Oh
Simon was looking at her, but not the way Jesus was looking at her.
And that’s why Jesus, still looking at the woman, poses the
question to Simon: “Do you see this woman?”
Oh look out when Jesus asks questions.
Of course Simon saw the woman – he saw her from the moment she entered
his house. He has seen her around town
her whole sinful life. Now she was
imposing on his dinner party and defiling his house with her presence. You bet Simon saw her. She was the elephant in the room. But, Jesus’ was not asking the question so
Simon would see the woman, He was going to make Simon see himself in contrast
to the woman. Do you see her Simon? Simon
thought “Yes, I see her, I’m not like her.” Simon thought that if this sinful woman ever
had a chance she needed to become like him.
But Jesus was showing Simon that he needed to become like her to become
righteous. Jesus said in Matthew 5:20, “unless
your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law
you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
When Jesus tells a parable He sometimes explains it and other
times not. But Jesus was going to
explain this parable and in doing so force Simon to look into the mirror. Simon saw himself as better than this woman
but Jesus was now going to turn the tables and explain how this woman was
better than him. Notice the 3 statements
Jesus makes to Simon which follow a formula:
“You did not…but, she did…”
What Jesus is doing is pointing out that the woman succeeded where Simon
failed. Simon failed to greet Jesus with
the standard code of hospitality, and this reflected his low opinion of
Jesus. This woman however, not only
greeted Jesus the way a guest should be treated, she did it in a way that
demonstrated her love and worship of Jesus.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:20, “unless your righteousness surpasses that of
the Pharisees and the teachers of the law you will certainly not enter the
kingdom of heaven.” Oh here
Jesus was explaining how this woman’s righteousness exceeded Simon’s. It exceeded Simon the Pharisees’ because she
put her faith in Jesus Christ. She had
the righteousness that comes by faith and not by the law (Philippians
3:7-9).
Of course none of this meant that she was less of a sinner than
Simon. The measuring stick Jesus is
using is how each of these two people responded to Him personally. Jesus said “the measure in which you judge
others will be the measure in which you are judged.” Think that through a minute: If a man rejects Jesus that man will be
rejected. If a man accepts Jesus’ words
that man will be accepted. She held a
better estimation of who Jesus was – she knew who Jesus was and knew who He was
personally to her. Simon dismissed Jesus
in verse 39 and unless Simon turned himself around he would find out that God
was going to dismiss him – forever. She
treated Jesus better. Her thoughts of
Jesus were better. Great people in the
Bible are great because of their great view of God – not necessarily because
they lived so perfectly.
And so because she was forgiven much, she loved much. I think we should assert here that she came
to worship Jesus at that party because at an earlier time Jesus had forgiven
her. Her intent was to come and worship
Him and show her gratitude. That was
because her sins were already forgiven.
Notice the parable tells us that love follows forgiveness. Does your love flow from your confidence that
God has forgiven you in Christ Jesus?
You Can’t Have Your Righteousness and
Salvation Too (v48-50)
The
only person who left that room saved was the one with the worst
reputation. Jesus says, “Your sins are
forgiven” and the reason her sins were forgiven was because of her “faith”,
Jesus says: “Your faith has saved
you.” Simon was learning that you can’t
have your righteousness and salvation too.
In other words, you can’t be holding on to your own self-made
rightoeusenss and at the same time be saved.
Salvation inherently means abandoning the idea that you can be righteous
by yourself and instead accepting the free gift of righteousness from Jesus
Christ. Philippians 3:7-9 says, “
Jesus has Power to Forgive Sins.
Verse 48 Jesus says “Your sins are forgiven.” He said that because He could. And if He says it then it’s real. Just like the miracles He did were real so
too is the forgiveness He gives.
Actually, Jesus connected the two and intended that those who saw His
power to heal were to realize He also had power to forgive sins. The Jews attributed both powers to God. In Matthew 9:5-6 Jesus was going to heal a
man who was paralyzed. He says to some
stubborn Pharisees who scoffed at His ability to forgive, “Which is
easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’
or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But so
that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins…”
and then Jesus healed the guy. In other
words, Jesus was demonstrating that the same power He had from God to heal was
the same power He had from God to forgive sins.
Let me step on some psychology toes today. There is a lie going around today, made
popular by secular psychology, that people who struggle with guilt and
self-loathing must learn to forgive themselves.
Here’s the problem that as seen in the Bible: we don’t have authority to forgive our own sins. Only Jesus does. And “forgiving” ourselves never works, but,
when we come to Jesus Christ for forgiveness we find His power is effective in
our lives to “cleanse our conscience of our sins” (Heb. 9:14; 10:2, 22).
Faith is the Only thing God will Accept from a Sinner. “Your faith has saved you” This woman was
righteous because of her faith, not because of her works. “Blessed are they whose transgressions are
forgiven, whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him.”
(Rom. 4:7). Paul said in Philippians
3:7-9, “…” This woman’s sins were
forgiven and she received the righteousness of God because of her faith. Simon, though his sin debt was smaller, his
debt still remained. He did not believe
in Jesus Christ.
Peace is the Product of Salvation. “Go in peace”. Jesus Christ transforms your world. First of all when you get saved you get peace
with God. You are no longer an object of
God’s wrath, but, rather an object of His love and blessing. But you also have inner peace, which is the
product of a conscience that is cleansed, freedom from a guilty conscience, and
the fruit of peace that comes from the Holy Spirit inside you. This peace is sought after so desperately by
people and you would pay big money to have this peace. But it can’t be bought. It’s free when you accept the free gift of
eternal life from Jesus Christ.
The Purpose of our Life in Christ: Don’t miss what Jesus says to her: “Go!”
What I love about this last point is seeing the movement of this
woman. At the beginning of this story
she comes to Jesus. At the end of the
story she is sent out by Him. We see
Jesus doing this to people all the time in the Gospels – sending them away from
Him after He ministers to them. He sends
the demoniac back to his town. He sends
the 12 Apostles out to preach “Go into all the world”. In Luke 8:48 he says to a woman that was
healed by touching his robe, “Daughter, your faith has healed you, go in
peace.” In Luke 10:37, after parable of
the good Samaratin Jesus tells the teacher of the law, “Go and do
likewise”. When we go to Jesus like Mary
and sit at His feet worshipping Him He will send us out in service to Him. Like the branches growing out from the vine
our lives are to grow out from Him.
“Go!” Go to Him for salvation,
for new life, and then with His power and commission go out from Him to tell
others. Has Jesus saved you? Then He says “Go!”
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