Luke 7:36-50 * June 20, 2010 * Pentecost 4 * Pastor Pagels
In the name of Christ Jesus, dear friends:
You can’t judge a book by its cover. Really? This morning I am going to challenge that notion by producing three books from my personal library. The first is this Concordia Commentary on Jonah which I bought for a Bible class I taught last year. The entire book of Jonah is 48 verses long. This commentary on Jonah is over 400 pages long. So without opening the book you can probably guess what’s inside, a word by word detailed analysis of the Hebrew text followed by a thorough exposition and practical applications.
The next book is a little gem that we give as a gift to all of our young people on the day of their confirmation. It is called the “Lutheran Book of Prayer,” and it is comprised of (Can you guess?) page after page of Bible passages and prayers.
I can’t remember how the third book came into my possession. The title is “Winning Chess Tactics: The Winner’s Guide To The Essentials of Tactical Play.” Believe it or not, this is not a page turner. From start to finish this paperback is nothing but illustrations and technical terms about the game of chess.
Based on these examples I would say that there are times when you CAN judge a book by cover. Sometimes the title tells anyone who reads it exactly what he/she will find inside. And to an extent what is true about books is also true of people who believe what is written in the Good Book, the Bible.
Christians exist to worship God. That’s why we are here today. Every Sunday we gather to thank Him and praise Him and pray to Him. But it’s not just what we do in church that identifies us as Christians. Paul encourages us to do everything (including eat and drink) to the glory of God (Colossians 3:17). Jesus calls us to let our lights shine in the world (Matthew 5:16). And we do that, we let our Christian lights shine when we forgive each other, when we encourage one another, when we show love to our friends and even to our enemies.
The Bible has an interesting way of describing these Christ-like actions and attitudes. They are called fruits, fruits of faith, and in many cases they are obvious. But not always. Not in the case of an uninvited guest at the home of a man named Simon.
To the people who were seated at the table what this woman did was inappropriate, even strange, and it made them feel uncomfortable. But Jesus didn’t feel that way. He wasn’t uncomfortable. He was impressed. He commended this woman for her faith, and by doing so Jesus reminds us that…
YOU CAN’T (ALWAYS) JUDGE A FAITH BY ITS
FRUITS
I. The sinful woman’s actions
II. Simon’s attitude
III. The Savior’s assurance
In last week’s account we met Jesus as he met a funeral
procession outside the
A sinful woman (we aren’t told what her specific sins were, but we can probably guess) crashed this invitation-only gathering, but instead of trying to blend in, instead of hiding in the shadows, she made a spectacle of herself in front of everyone.
When she learned that Jesus was in the house “she brought an alabaster jar of perfume,
and 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” (37b, 38).
Even in a culture where foot washing was much more common than it is today, this woman’s actions would be considered extreme. As she stood behind Jesus she started crying, crying so many tears that they fell from her cheeks and down onto his feet, so many tears that she bent down and wiped his wet feet with her own hair. And as if that wasn’t enough, she proceeded to kiss Jesus’ feet repeatedly and then she poured perfume on them.
Can you say awkward? Can you picture the looks on the faces of the other guests? No one said anything, but can you imagine what they were thinking? “I knew this woman had a reputation, but I didn’t know she was this unstable. What is she doing? What’s wrong with her?”
Actually nothing was wrong. For the first time in a long time this woman wasn’t worried about all the things she had done wrong. For the first time in a long time she felt good about herself. And she had Jesus to thank for it. She didn’t care what other people thought. She didn’t care that she wasn’t invited. She needed to see Jesus. She needed to thank her Savior for saving her.
“Christ’s love compels us,” Paul told the Corinthians (II Corinthians 5:14), but he wasn’t speaking only to the Corinthians. The love of Christ motivates all Christians. The love of Christ motivates us. Because Jesus sacrificed his life for us we now offer our bodies as living sacrifices to him…by giving up a sunny Sunday morning to worship him…by giving a percentage of our hard earned money to support his work…by being willing to take an unpopular stand…by being willing to turn the other cheek.
The unbelieving world can’t understand these things or the people who do them. What Christians are willing to believe seems so foolish. The sacrifices Christians are willing to make seem even more foolish. You are wasting your time. You are throwing away your money. Even if no one has ever said those exact words to you, you have probably been confronted by that kind of attitude, the same kind of attitude displayed by Simon the Pharisee.
In all fairness to Simon, it was his party. He sent out the invitations. He made all the preparations. And then this woman just barged in and proceeded to make a fool of herself in front of everyone. The host was embarrassed…for himself…and maybe for Jesus too.
There were times when people wanted to talk to Jesus only to trap him, but that doesn’t appear to be the case here. Simon had probably heard about Jesus’ miracles (like when he raised the widow’s son from the dead). Simon had probably heard that the people were calling Jesus a great prophet (7:16). And so he wanted to check Jesus out. He wanted to see for himself if these claims might be true.
And when he saw what this woman was doing and how Jesus was
(or wasn’t) reacting, he thought he had his answer. He thought to himself: “If this man were a prophet (which he clearly isn’t), he would know who
is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner” (39). “If
Jesus had any idea how wicked this woman was, there is no way that he would let
her continue.”
Simon was a Pharisee, and so it’s no surprise that he was thinking like a Pharisee. The Pharisees were literally “the separated ones.” They were the religious elite. They were morally superior. And because of their elevated status it was only natural for them to look down on everybody else. That’s what Simon was doing. Even if he didn’t say it out loud, this is what Simon was thinking: “I don’t think much of this sinful woman, and because he is willing to associate with her I don’t think much of Jesus either.”
It was Jesus who broke the silence. He told Simon a parable to prove that he was wrong,
to prove that he was a prophet, to prove that he was more than a prophet: “Two men owed money to a certain money
lender. One owed him five hundred
denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of
them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them loved him more” (41, 42)?
This was not a riddle. This was not a parable that demanded a detailed explanation. The answer was easy: “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled” (43), Simon replied. Simon got it right, but it doesn’t sound like he was too excited about it. He understood what Jesus was saying. He could sense where Jesus was going. And his conscience didn’t want to go there.
We know the answer too. We know it up here anyways. We know that “there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) We just confessed that we are by nature sinful. We just confessed that we have done what is evil and failed to do what is good.
But just when God’s law starts exposing my sins the little Pharisee inside of me comes to the rescue. He argues: “You may not be perfect, but who is? You have done evil but you haven’t done that much evil, at least not as much as some other people. And you have done at least some good. You try to do more good than bad, and I know you do a whole lot more good than so-and-so.”
It wasn’t just Simon who needed an attitude adjustment. It wasn’t just the Pharisees who needed to be reminded that they weren’t as holy as they thought they were. Christians need the reminder too. We need the law to silence the Pharisee in us. We need to listen when a holy and righteous God says: “I don’t accept excuses. I don’t work with a sliding scale. If you have sinned, if you have sinned even once you are a sinner, and the soul who sins is the one who will die.”
The sinful woman had come to grips with the seriousness of her sin. She deserved to die for her sin, and she knew it. But that’s not why she was crying. Her tears were tears of joy. And she rejoiced even more (and maybe even cried some more) when she received the Savior’s assurance.
Turning toward the woman Jesus 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” (44-46).
(Jesus speaking) “Simon, don’t you get it? This woman gets it. That’s why she is acting the way she is. She is doing all these things for me to thank
me for what I have done for her. She
can’t change her past, but I have given her hope for the future. She can’t make her sins go away, but I can
and I will.” And then Jesus looked at
the woman and said to her: “Your sins
are forgiven…Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (48, 50).
There are no more beautiful words in the entire Bible. There is no better way to unburden a guilty conscience. Let’s try it out. Did something happen this past week that is still bothering you? Did you do something you regret? Did you say something you wish you could take back? Your sins are forgiven.
Can you identify with the sinful woman? Are you ashamed of you past? Then come to communion and be assured that your sins are forgiven. Can you see a little Simon in yourself? Are you guilty of being critical or hypocritical? Then come to the Lord’s table and hear your Savior say to you: “Your sins are forgiven.”
And then depart in peace. Like the sinful woman go in peace because Jesus paid your debt by his sacrificial death on the cross. Go with hope because your Savior has defeated death. Go with joy because Jesus is coming back to take you to live with him forever.
Go out those church doors with confidence because you have been given the gift of saving faith. Go out into the world and live a life of faith, the kind of faith that produces fruit, the kind of faith that makes you an open book, the kind of faith that leaves no absolutely doubt about who and whose you are. Amen.