When The “Bad” Guest Gets It Right - Luke 7:36-50

A respected religious man invites Jesus to lunch, and a woman with a public reputation walks in and falls apart at His feet. The room reads her past like a label, but Jesus reads her heart like a story of grace, and that collision exposes something uncomfortable: we can spot other people’s sin with ease while staying blind to our own need for mercy.

This sermon walks through Luke 7:36-50 and the dangerous posture of self-righteousness, the kind that believes it knows God while living as if it doesn’t need God.  Jesus answers Simon’s unspoken thoughts, tells a parable about two debtors who can’t pay, and makes the point plain: grace isn’t fair, but it’s good. 

Transcript

Good News For Every Kind Of Sinner

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As we begin, something you've probably come to notice in the beginnings of Jesus' ministry is that Jesus committed himself to presenting and evangelizing the good news of the gospel to pretty much everyone. He did so without any partiality. He shared the good news, gospel of the kingdom, to low life sinners and to high life sinners, to those who struggled with self-righteousness in their heart, and those who struggled with rebelliousness in their life. Well, what we're going to see in our passage this morning is what we've kind of talked about the last few weeks, aside from Mother's Day. And that is that the most dangerous place that you can be is believing you know God, yet also simultaneously believing or living in such a way that you don't need God. Believing you know him, and yet at least subliminally and by way of action or thought, that you don't actually need him. In our passage, we will see that Jesus is at the house of a Pharisee. His name is Simon, and he's been invited by Simon to lunch. And there's an unexpected guest who has come in the room. We will see this is a story of God using a wretched sinner to reach an even worse sinner. A story of God using a wretched sinner to reach an even worse sinner. It's a simple truth that I want you to walk away with this morning in application, and that is the way we respond to Jesus and the work he's done in the lives of others often reveals what we truly believe about our sin and God's grace. The way we look at Jesus and what he's done in the lives of others may reveal what we really believe about our sin and about the grace God has shown us in Christ. Four points this morning in the message, long text and a lot to say. Four points. If

Grace Changes Your View Of God

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you have your notes out, the first point is simply this Grace changes your view of God, but it may not change the way others view you. See this in verses 36 through 38. Grace changes your view of God, but it may not change the way others view you. Verse 36, one of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him. And Jesus went into the Pharisees' house and reclined at a table. And behold, a woman of the city who was a sinner, when she learned that Jesus was reclining at a table in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, wiped them with the hair of her head, kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner. And Jesus answering said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. And he said, Say it, teacher. So from the beginning, what we see in the story, if we're setting the scene, Jesus is reclining at the house of a Pharisee. We know his name is Simon. And most likely, because of the situation, we know this for sure, Jesus may have just been preaching in the local synagogue. Now he's invited to eat as a kind of a host of this meal, a guest of honor. Simon's hosting him, but he might be the guest of honor. People from the city are crowding the room. It was very common in that day if you're having a visitor who's going to kind of share a little bit about their life that the door would remain open for anybody in the town to come and listen as well. This is a shame and honor society in first century Palestine. So the doors are open, you can come and listen. And so many people from the city would have come in. Of course, Simon was a Pharisee, just to remind ourselves who the Pharisees were. They were not employed by their local synagogue in any sort of way. They were a group of devout Christian, uh, a group of devout believing men, not Christian men, believing men that had devoted themselves to the law of God, and also, on top of that, their own oral tradition. Sometimes their commitment to their own traditions took precedence over submitting themselves to the law of God and also led them to kind of miss the heart of the law of God, which produced in them kind of a dead, dry, legalistic religion, where they compared themselves often to others. At least we see that in this story, and of course in Luke chapter 18, the Pharisee and the tax collector. I thank God I'm not like him. I tithe even on what I have in my cupboards. Well, we've learned that the Pharisees and religious leaders have already kind of begun to have a verdict on who they think Jesus is. They think he's a blasphemer. And it was because Luke chapter 5, Jesus claimed that he had the authority to forgive sins, and that was an authority God had alone. So who is this man who claims he can forgive sins? They're beginning to conspire against Jesus. They don't like his message, they don't believe he is God. Well, Jesus is now reclining at this Pharisee's house, and quite literally, he is, as the text says, reclining. So you'll see a picture behind me of what it could have looked like where these individuals would have reclined. In this first century society, feet, you wore sandals, your feet would get dirty, and so your feet would stay away, the furthest part away from the food that you're eating. Feet were dirty socially, physically, and so uh you kept your feet away. You'd lay down and you'd eat your food. So Jesus is probably the guest of honor in this meal. He's laying down. You know, I think it's funny, uh, Leonardo da Vinci's painting of the Last Supper, where it looks like they're all sitting on one side of a long table and someone's taking like a picture of the front, probably was not what the Last Supper looked like. It probably looked a little bit more like this, like how they would have eaten. Well, throughout the time that they're eating there, people have filled the room. They want to hear what Jesus has to say. They want to see him face to face. They've heard about the miracles that he's been able to perform and the demons that he's rid from people's lives. And so the room is crowded. In the room stands a woman close to Jesus' feet. We're not told her name. In fact, the only title we're given for her is she's a woman of the city, and she's a sinner. That's the title. Sinner. Now, while we believe the Bible teaches theologically that every single person born of man is a sinner by nature and by choice, when this title is given to this woman, it does not mean that theologically she is one of every single person that exists on the face of the earth. She is in the group, the sinners. That would have been a group that were noted to be sinners because of impure occupations, immoral lives. And to the Pharisees, this group of people noted as the sinners were morally unapproachable. And because this passage is so specific as to the Pharisees' thoughts when the woman comes in, we have a pretty good guess, though it's a guess, of who she was and what she did. We know from verse 39 that Simon knows exactly who this woman is in the town. He recognizes her as a certain type of woman who does certain things. And the alabaster flask of ointment may give away what type of woman she is. Alabaster flasks of ointment were expensive. And some commentators note that they may have been carried as a signal and as a token of something could be used for prostitution. So it's quite possible, likely even, this woman is a prostitute. So imagine the scene. There is a huge crowd in this house, and no one has noticed, up to this point, it seems, that a prostitute like herself has slipped in the room. She stands there and she is amazed to even look at the face of Jesus the Savior that she begins weeping. Uncontrollably. She's so overwhelmed with emotion at the sight of Jesus that she lets loose tears filled with gratitude. Because of where she's standing, her tears are literally falling on Jesus' feet. It had to be crowded in that room. Tears are just falling on Jesus' feet. Now she looks down at where her tears are falling. She notices Jesus' feet are dirty. She notices the host didn't provide water to clean his feet. That's a social disgrace. She loosens her hair so that she can wipe Jesus' feet and clean them off, which was very improper as a woman. And that culture to unbind her hair. You see, in Middle Eastern cultures, oftentimes they have their hair covered. While she's down there, she begins to kiss Jesus' feet, overwhelmed again with gratitude. And the only thing she had to give him, this alabaster flask of ointment she pours on his feet to clean. And then when she got to Jesus, she did three things wet his dirty feet with her tears, kissed his dirty feet, and anointed him with the expensive perfume, probably from her own profession.

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Here's the thing she is out of place.

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She might even say, I never deserve to be in that room. But did the knowledge that people would think she's out of place and that people believed she was not worthy to be in that room stop her from showing gratitude for Jesus and giving all she had to him? Oh, absolutely not.

When Gratitude Overrules Inhibition

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I have a question for you. Have you ever noticed that in life there are certain situations where your inhibitions do not prevent your actions? I'll give you a few examples. Maybe you um unfortunately root for the the the Eagles, the Philadelphia Eagles in football, and they win the Super Bowl. Well, you know what happens in Philly when the Eagles win the Super Bowl, they destroy their town, right? They let their inhibitions and probably drunkenness let them, you know, they climb on poles and break down signs and light cars on fire. Inhibitions definitely overtaking action. Maybe you're a parent and you have a young baby and you watch that baby take their first steps. And what do you do? You go, yes, and you scare the baby and they fall, right? Your inhibition is just overtaking your typical response. What about something dramatic? Natural disasters. You ever try to go to Publix or Kroger or Food City when there's a storm coming? Oh, people go crazy. They buy all the water they could buy. I mean, for a year. What about wartime or combat situations? I served a church for seven and a half years where we had three guys who were all lieutenant colonels who had seen war like I'd never even heard of before, and they would tell stories of just events where they didn't know what to do, and yet they had the strength to kind of get through a very difficult situation. Without thinking. Maybe a traumatic situation. A spouse was just diagnosed with cancer. You're overcome with grief and sadness, and it does not matter who's around you in that moment. You don't care.

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Maybe you just lost a loved one and it was unexpected.

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You could care less how much money you have in your bank account. You could care less what your plans were to do that weekend. On the most important days of your life, you could care less what people think of you. How they look at you. I submit to you, this was the most important day of her life, and she could care less what anyone thought about her and what she was doing. Everyone knew who and what sort of woman this woman was, and she knew it too. She was well aware of who she was, but more importantly, it seems that she had become aware of who Jesus was, and Jesus was in front of her. She does not care what she looks like. This is Jesus we're talking about. I always think of that story in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe where Mr. Beaver is talking to, I believe Lucy, and there's back and forth. And Mr. Beaver says, This is the king, I tell you. It almost opens Lucy's eyes to who Hazlan in the story is. Her eyes have been opened by a sovereign work of the Spirit of God to see Jesus for who he is. She is overcome with emotion. She does not care what anyone else thinks. Grace has changed her life. And you know what? It didn't change anybody else's picture of who she was, but it changed her life. This was the most important moment. Jesus is in the room. I'm pursuing Jesus, and I don't care. I don't care. You know, the Bible tells us that as the world hated Jesus, it will hate those who follow after him. There is coming a day where it will be less morally advantageous to follow after Jesus, and the question will be: will you still follow him? Will he still be the most important person in your life? No matter what people say, no matter what people think of you, you're following Jesus. You care about them, but you could care less what they think about you if it comes to what they think about you for following Jesus. That's this woman, and that's this day. Second

Self-Righteous Hearts Struggle To Love

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point self-righteous hearts struggle to love broken people. When the woman started doing everything that she was, as you can imagine, everyone stared at her. She was the center of attention, a a prostitute, the center of attention in a Pharisee's home. He begins to say to himself what he thinks. If Jesus is who he says he is, he would have known this woman's a prostitute, unworthy of his attention, unfit for this lunch meeting. I guess it must be that Jesus is not who he says he is. Well, here's a cool thing. Jesus proves in one moment he is who he says he is because he answers his thoughts. Isn't that incredible? Jesus must not be who he thinks he is. He's thinking to himself. He doesn't even say it out loud. And Jesus answers him verbally. I got something to say to you, Simon. Before we get there, I want you to see that Jesus knows the greatest problem in the room. And it is not a surprise visitor. It is a proud, hardened heart. He knows the biggest problem in the room. Simon had contempt for the woman, which exposed his lack of understanding of Grace. Simon didn't merely reject her, he mentally places himself above her. He sees her sin clearly, but he cannot see his own. You know, pride becomes visible in how we treat the people we believe are below us or beneath us. Pride in that moment is visible to Jesus, even though he said it in his heart. Jesus can see hearts. Proud. Simon believed she was unworthy of Jesus, and he himself deserved proximity to Jesus. I mean, that's the essence of Pharisaic religion, like we see in the New Testament. Certainly not all the Pharisees, but a sort of Pharisaical religion. Simon had his had room in his house for Jesus, but not for the kind of people Jesus came to save. And so he's angry. His pride is exposed. I wrote in my notes that I want to take just a moment to talk. Uh like a pastor to. Not that I already haven't, but like a pastor to a church. We're young in our age as a church, and and and many of us are young here. There are many things we may struggle with, and inevitably will. This side of heaven, we will struggle against sin, against our own flesh, and privileged not against each other. But there will be many things we will struggle against as a church. But I pray that God would continue to humble us in whatever way he deems necessary so that we never believe ourselves to not need the grace he's given us. Oh, that's a dangerous place to be. That's the most dangerous place to be as a Christian. In fact, if we could to the best of our ability, could we like could we like commit together again to the best of our ability that we will not respond to a sinner coming to meet Jesus like the Pharisee in this story. Resolutions are good. And this should be one of ours as a church. Like, be it resolved. We believe God can save anyone if he can save us. And be it so that our reaction to the work of God in someone's life would best resemble the angels in heaven who are rejoicing over one sinner who comes and repents. Could that be a resolution as a church? I hope. Number three.

Two Debts And One Cancelled Bill

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We see something in this passage. Though the Pharisee is angry, Jesus still has a heart for the Pharisee. Jesus pursues proud sinners and broken sinners. Jesus had a story to share, and it begins in verse 41. This is a parable, one of the shortest, and it's in the middle of, of course, a narrative. It begins like this. Verse 41 a certain money lender had two debtors. God gave money to two people. They were in the in his debt. One owed 500 denarii. It's like $50,000 in debt in modern day. Maybe a little more to adjust inflation. The other fifty denarii, five thousand dollars in debt. When neither could pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love the lender more? Simon answered, The one I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt. And Jesus responded, You have judged rightly. Now in this story, make sure you see, both of them are unable to pay the lender back. That's that's important. Jesus says that. And instead of the lender turning them to a higher authority to deal with it, he covers the debt himself. He makes them right with him, and he frees them from a fine they could never pay themselves. You see it, right? Of course, they were both thankful. We can guess in the story, right? But which do you think would be the most thankful? Well, of course, the one who owed him fifty thousand dollars. Well, the story that Jesus gives is what do you think it's doing? Well, it's hiding the exact situation. The woman owes fifty thousand. Simon owes five thousand. A lender says, I'll I'll I'll cover your de Come to me and I'll I'll cover it. The woman had taken every opportunity to spend the life that she had been given by God, a gift, and spent it on things he had told her not to. She squandered the wealth of the lender. The lesser in debt, the Pharisee had lived a morally decent life. He had committed himself as a Pharisee to the law of God and to purity in all things, at least outwardly. And even though he's not as bad as the woman, you might say, he's still in debt. If you were to put it in just another context, think about college loans, right? College can cost somewhere between $30,000 and $60,000, even up to that amount per year. Can you imagine if you went into college knowing the cost? When you miss a payment a year later paying on the $30,000 you still owe. And in this scenario, which is just made up, the college president calls you. And he says, Son, I'm taking care of the money you owe by forgiving it all. And you say, But I still owe a lot. And he says, it's covered. Well, in reality, like you don't deserve that, right? You don't deserve that forgiveness. It someone someone has to pay for it. People have to get people have to get paid, yada yada, yada, yada, right? Well, this story is of course what you think it's pointing to. We were given a free gift of life to enjoy it in the presence of our Savior, and instead of worshiping him for the life that he gave us and living in communion with him, we turned our back in sin, disobeying him and defying his rule. He put out his law to say what is good, righteous, and just. We disobeyed that law. We proved to be unholy. And he has every right over our lives as the potter who made us the clay to do whatever he wants with the clay. And the punishment for our sin is death eternally separated from him in a place called hell. And yet he sent Jesus. Jesus, who would be for us the payment for the debt that we had accrued against God, our sin against him. He did not owe us that, we owed him. Jesus came to pay the debt we could never pay, making us right with God, freeing us from the fine of hell. And you say, Well, that's not fair as far as debt goes. Why did he why do you give $50,000 to this person and $5,000 to this person? Well, here's the response. Grace isn't fair, but it's good. Because grace from God and how gracious God has been to us in Christ, we do not receive what we deserve. Rather, we are given a gift, what we don't deserve. Grace isn't fair. You don't receive the punishment for your sin that you deserve because Jesus came and paid the fine in your place. Canceling your debt, offering forgiveness. Should you humble yourself, come to him in faith, faith that may look like tears, heart open, and submission to the lender. Jesus offers forgiveness to both the Pharisee and the woman. And that's the that's the picture, right? Money lender, two debtors. He he he comes to cancel the debt of both. Again, not fair. Do you know her sin? Most likely we know what it is. It was public. It was egregious. Not fair. Oh, but so good. The Pharisee didn't understand that this story pertains to him until Jesus brings it to the present situation, and I want you to see this.

Simon’s Missing Welcome And Jesus’ Rebuke

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Look at your Bible, verse 44. Turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, Do you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she loved much. But he who is forgiven little loves little. Now, do you notice in verse 44 it says, turning toward the woman, he said to Simon. Now, I don't exactly know what this looked like, but I have in different occasions as a young child been so in trouble by my parents. My parents did not look at me when they were chastising me. He's looking at the woman. You see this woman, and he's talking to Simon. You see, Jesus loves the woman enough to forgive her and loves Simon enough to confront him. And there's some confrontation here because Jesus recites a list of things that the Pharisee seemingly forgot to do. Again, we're in a shame honor culture, and there are particular things that people do when they invite someone, a guest of honor, to come and recline at their house. And a Pharisee was a person of culture. Here's a few things that he lists. Simon gave no water for Jesus' feet. Now, it was common courtesy to provide a water, bucket, or basin for every guest to walk in your house to clean their feet for their sake and for your sake. And a person with means would have a servant that would actually wash your feet for you. Did Simon forget? Moreover, Jesus says that you did not kiss me. Okay, in that society. If you were a friend, you would kiss each other on the cheek. If you are a disciple of a teacher, you would kiss your teacher. He calls him teacher, you would kiss your teacher on the hand. But if you were a servant, yes, lower than a servant, you might consider kissing the feet of someone, that they would show mercy to you. The ultimate example of devotion, a sign of degradation. The third cultural expectation Simon did not meet, and maybe forgot, was he did not anoint his guest. You got a guest of honor, which it seems like by this Jesus was, you would anoint the head of that guest with cheap oil. Well, that did not happen. The woman gives costly perfume, not to the head, but to the feet. The woman had no access to Jesus' head, and so she got to where she could get. All the things that Simon failed to do, the woman did, thus making her the one who had been forgiven much and loved much. So I submit to you that Simon did not forget these things. It is more likely he had invited Jesus in some way to subtly shame him. Maybe you say, I don't know if I'm there. Well, if you believed, well, if you lived in a society with a king, and that king came to your house to eat, would you not go to whatever length you can to make sure that king feels welcome? And a cultured man forgot all these things? Even so, Jesus is talking about forgiving him. Even so, Jesus is talking about forgiving the hard heart that led to every action. Do you see that? Jesus is saying the lender has come to pay for his debt too. So the story is not bad woman gets saved while bad Pharisee gets rebuked. The story is Jesus has come for both people. Jesus has come for both people. He's pursuing them both. He did not only come for immoral sinners, he came for self-righteous sinners too. So the parable reveals both debtors are bankrupt, both need mercy, both can't pay, and both are offered grace. The difference is not in this story who sinned. The difference is who believes they need the forgiveness Jesus has come to bring. It's the woman. So what Jesus is really doing here is he is showing to someone who has never understood grace what grace looks like in a life that's been transformed by it. You see that? You see, the Pharisee all along was trying to engage Jesus to condemn him while Jesus is using a woman changed by the good news of grace to save and evangelize the Pharisee. You see what a transformed life looks like? This is it in front of everybody who's hard. This is a story of Jesus using a wretched sinner to reach an even worse sinner. And in short, what Jesus communicates as he closes is simple. You want to know what a forgiven person looks like? They overflow with love for God.

Forgiven People Overflow With Love

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Fourth point, forgiven people overflow with love for Jesus. Verse 47, I tell you, her sins which are many are forgiven, for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little loves little. The lender offered forgiveness to both debtors, however, only the woman recognizes her need for it, and through that recognition does the only thing or has the only thing required for it. Faith. Faith in this moment seen in tears. And Jesus makes a simple point. Her love for Jesus comes from Jesus' love for her. Radical love is the overflow of a redeemed life. For those that have been loved much, love much. You've been shown grace? You are very hesitant not to show grace to others. Everything you don't deserve, life eternally you've received? You are careful to judge people by what they deserve. Radical love is the overflow of a redeemed life. The difference in the two characters, Simon hosted Jesus, the woman treasured Jesus. And he said to her, Your sins are forgiven. Then those who were at the table with him began to say amongst themselves, Who is this who even forgives sins? And he said to the woman, Your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Now, it's easy to twist the passage and think that her actions saved her. It's not true. Her actions did not earn forgiveness. She had received it, and so her actions followed suit. Her tears didn't purchase grace. They proved that she had already received it. Her eyes had already been opened to the beauty of the gospel of Jesus, what he would do for her just a few years, or just a few years later. She wasn't trying to receive the love of Jesus by washing his feet, by kissing them, by putting perfume on them. The love she'd already received from Jesus moved her to serve Jesus. And so I say one of the ways we can see authentic justification that we have actually been justified. The authentic authenticity of our justification is our right standing before God by faith. It's often revealed in our affection for God. Those that have been loved, love. Those that have received mercy are merciful. Those that have received grace from God are grateful with their lives. One felt rich, at least compared to the other people in his life. At least compared to the one in the room he knew owed more. Yet neither could pay it off. One knew they needed mercy and received it, and only one walked away forgiven and at peace with God.

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Which one are you? Maybe.

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Ask yourself, does your love for Jesus in any way resemble the woman who have been loved much by Jesus? We see a picture of a life overwhelmed with the grace of God. Have you been overwhelmed with the grace of God? And is your life hidden with him? Let's pray.

Final Questions And Closing Prayer

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Oh God in heaven, we thank you that from your throne above you looked at us down below and in love planned not to punish us for our sin, but planned to send your son to die in our place, paying the debt we owed for the sin we committed. To make us right with you. Lord, so that we would be at peace forever. Lord, we didn't deserve it. Your grace is not fair, and we delight in the fact it's not because we've received again what we do not deserve. Lord, may our response to pursuing you and gathered as we look at you in your word be welcoming to anyone who walks in the room, never angry or proud. Or feeling as though we've deserved the grace we've freely given. Made new for the new heart you gave us in salvation. So we want thick skin. But never a hard heart. Softer hearts. By your spirit, if necessary. As we see, get a glimpse at what love overflowing looks like. I love you, Lord. Thank you for your love, Christ in Christ.