“THE UNREPENTANT PHARISEE & THE REPENTANT SINNER WOMAN”
LUKE 7: 29-31==32-50 12-06-08
Back in the days of our text it was customary in Israel that when an invited guess would come into the house of the person that invited him, that it was a respectable thing to do in giving the honored guess a kiss on the cheek to show honor and as a welcome to the guest.
But as we read this passage here in LK. 7: we’ll notice that this was not the case when Jesus comes into the Pharisees home, we’ll also see that a sinner woman was there and she did greatly honor Jesus and showed her love and gratitude toward Him as she had been forgiven of her many sins.
It was customary in that day for outsiders to come to a banquet so they could watch the “important people” and hear the conversation, they didn’t eat with or mingle among the guest, but only listen and observed what was said.
This explains how this woman had access to Jesus. He was not behind locked doors. In that day women were not invited to banquets.
Jewish rabbis didn’t speak to women in public, nor did they eat with them in public.
A woman of this type would not be welcomed in the house of Simon the Pharisee. Her sins are not named, but it seems that she was a woman of the streets with a bad reputation.
Let us not say that this woman is Mary Magdalene as some have said, there’s not any scripture that she is, but she seems to be a very sinful woman and known around town, Simon would never talk to her in public although he may have after dark as nobody could see him.
Let me say that Jesus had been telling about John the Baptist earlier before He was invited to Simons, and He had said that the Pharisees acted like a bunch of spoiled brats, before Simons.
Listen as I read a portion of today’s text in LK: 7: 29-31 29And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. 30But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him. 31And the Lord said, ** Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like? ** 32They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept.-- 33For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil. 34The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! 3 5 But wisdom is justified of all her children.
Let me stop right here and say that Jesus had just finished accusing the self righteous Pharisees of acting like a bunch of petted little children, so most likely Simon the Pharisee that we’re about to read about, didn’t invite Jesus to come eat with him and his other guest because he wanted to honor Jesus, as we read the rest of the account we’ll notice that his motive appears to be to try and trap Jesus in some thing that Jesus might say, he hopes to humiliate Jesus before his other guest.
36-50 36And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat. 37And, behold, a woman in the city,*** which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
38And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
Again let me remind us that at that time there in Israel people didn’t sit at a kitchen table as we do today, the customary way was to sit on a seat much like a couch with their feet most of the time at their side and slightly behind them.
39Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it,*** he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.
40And Jesus answering said unto him,*** Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. [a parable] ** 41There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. 42And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?
43Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. 44And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
45Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. 46My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.
47Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.
48And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.
49And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also?
50And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.
Let me quickly say right here that Jesus said, Thy faith hath saved thee”
Notice; it wasn’t the good works that she had done in washing His feet with her tears, but it was her [ faith that saved her].
This dear repentant sinner lady, had at some earlier point and time had heard about Jesus, and probably even heard Jesus Himself speak, Jesus had healed all manner of sicknesses and afflictions,
LUKE 6: 11-19 --and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases; 18And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed. 19And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.
He even raised a widow woman’s son from the dead in Luke 7:12 –15 Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. 13And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. 14And he came and touched the bier:**and they that bare him stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say unto thee, Arise”. 15And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.
This dear repentant sinner lady had faith that Jesus was Who He claimed to be, she probably heard Him say in Matt. 11: 28-29 28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Her tears, her humble attitude, and her expensive gift all spoke of a changed heart.
She knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, and, having been converted from her wicked way of life by his preaching, she came to acknowledge her obligations to him, having no opportunity of doing it in any other way than by washing his feet, and anointing them with some sweet ointment that she brought with her for that purpose.
Notice; she didn’t look Christ in the face, but came behind him, and did the part of a maidservant, whose office it was to wash the feet of the guests.
1 Samuel 25: 41 And she arose, and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord. - Abigail – wife to be of David.
Back to the message in LK.7
But Simon the self-righteous Pharisee was not impressed as to what this sinful woman had done. How could Jesus allow this sinful woman to touch Him if He were indeed a Prophet?
vs. 39 Now when the Pharisee [Simon] which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.
Well it was true that she was a sinner, but so was Simon.
That was the very reason that Jesus was born, to save sinners. Religious but lost people as Simon, and Harlots as this sinner woman.
Luke 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners;
Simon’s real problem was blindness: he could not see him-self, the woman, or the Lord Jesus. It was easy for him to say “She is a sinner!” but impossible for him to say “I am also a sinner!”
Simon thought of himself to be a’ holier than thou” when it came to this sinful woman. And God hates such as this.
Isaiah 65 5 Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose—
James has this to say about people with a holier than thou attitude.
James 2: 1-9 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. 2For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; 3And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: 4Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?
5Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? 6But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? 7Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?
8If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: 9But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
The parable Jesus gives to Simon doesn’t deal with the amount of sin in a person’s life but the awareness of that sin in his heart. How much sin must a person commit to be a sinner?
Simon and the woman were both sinners. Her sins were known, while Simon’s sins were not, except God knew.
And neither of them could pay their sin debt to God. Simon was just as spiritually bankrupt as the woman, only he didn’t realize it.
Every person in the world is a lost sinner until they receive Gods free gift of salvation, there’s nothing anyone can do about that fact, our part is to come to Jesus in child like faith and ask forgiveness of our sins, that’s our part, God does the rest.
. Forgiveness is a gift of God’s grace; the debt was paid in full by Jesus Christ Eph. 1:7 7In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace
1 Peter 1:18-19 18Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
This parable speaks of the Lord Jesus himself, for He it is that forgives the sin debt, and is loved by the debtor) and sinners are the debtors: and so we learn here, [1.] That sin is a debt, and sinners are debtors to God Almighty.
All of us were born sinners, we owe a debt, -ROM. 6:23 23For the wages [debt] of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Some are deeper in debt to God, by reason of sin, than others are.
In the Parable that Jesus gave to Simon, He said one owed five hundred pence and the other fifty, one debtor owned 10 times as much as the other, but the sad fact was neither of these debtors was able to pay their debt.
And so in the Parable Simon the Pharisee was the less debtor, but still he’s a debtor.
This woman, that had been a notorious sinner, was the greater debtor in the parable.
The great truth in the Parable was that nether of the two debtors were able to pay what they owed.
They had nothing to pay with, for the debt is great, and we have nothing at all to pay it with.
If a person owes some one 1 dollar and don’t have a dollar to pay, what he owes may as well be a million dollars, if you can’t pay your debt, It will not be paid.
And no man is able to pay his sin debt of himself.
Only Jesus Christ’s payment on the Cross-for our sins will pay the debt off. Jesus didn’t make the down payment and then steps aside and expects us to keep up the installments until it’s paid in full, no He paid it all, and if a debt is paid off there is no way in the world you can make another payment. He said in John 19:30 it is finished.
Silver and gold will not pay our sin debt, and neither will sacrifice and offering.
No righteousness of our own will pay it because we have no righteousness apart from Him.
There’s nothing we can say, think, or do that will help pay our sin debt.
Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;
Rom.4:22-24 22And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
23Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
If there had been any other way or remedy that would have paid for our sin debt then Jesus died in vain, if there had been any thing at all that could have replaced His death on the Cross then He died in vain.
If holding on and holding out would have worked then Jesus died in vain, if paying tithes, if joining a Church, if being Baptist, if remembering Bible verses, if any thing at all would have been sufficient then Jesus died in vain.
It will be a happy day for some folk when it finally sinks in that they are completely left out of Gods job of saving souls.
Our part is to believe and receive Him as our Lord and Saviour.
