Luke 7:36-50
Fourth Sunday after Pentecost – 12 June 2016
Rev. John Derme
The student who sits in the back row of the classroom thinks he is hiding his behavior from the teacher. He thinks the teacher doesn't hear all the things he whispers to the other students around him. He doesn't realize that teachers see and hear everything. It's just that they don't always have time to deal with every little thing. Also, teachers are patient with their students. The student gets so cocky that he finally says something under his breath about how much he gets away with, and that the teacher is oblivious to it all. Now the teacher decides that there is enough time to deal with this student, and that it would be in everyone's best interests to do so. The teacher says to the student, "I have something to tell you." The student quiets down and sits up, thinking that the teacher must have something good to say to him, because he has hid his behavior so well. The teacher has something to tell him, and the student soon realizes that it is not something he wants to hear.
Today we see that Jesus is a teacher. He doesn't only hear everything that we say. He sees everything that we do and knows every thought that we think. He is very patient with us, but finally, we aren't going to get away with thinking that we are hiding our behavior from him. Today Jesus says, "I have something to tell you." What does he say to you and me?
In our Gospel of the Day, Jesus had something to say to Simon the Pharisee. Simon wasn't in a classroom. He was hosting a dinner in his home. Yet Jesus was there teaching. This was probably the Sabbath meal that Jews ate after sundown on Friday evenings. Since Jesus was a traveling rabbi, it was the custom that he would preach in the synagogue service Saturday morning. It was also the custom that the rabbi would teach during the Friday evening Sabbath meal. That probably explains why Jesus was reclining at the table in the home of a Pharisee.
The leaders in the synagogue weren't the only ones who were interested in seeing Jesus while he was visiting their town. A certain woman was glad he was there. She walked in to the meal uninvited. We don't know who this woman was; the account doesn't give her name. But Simon the Pharisee knew who she was. She had a reputation. When people saw her they thought, "She is a sinful woman."
Imagine what it was like when she walked into that room. Everybody must have stared at her. The silence had to be awkward. She was crying. She put her face on his feet, getting them all wet with her tears, wiping them with her hair, and kissing them. She poured very expensive oil on those same feet. This was quite a scene!
Why did she do such a thing? This woman was sinful, but she had heard the good news that Jesus came to forgive sins. Maybe she had heard it in Jesus' own words sometime when he was teaching publicly. Maybe someone else had proclaimed the gospel to her. It doesn't matter. The Holy Spirit worked faith in her through the message she heard, and she trusted in Jesus. All of her sins, even her notorious sins, were forgiven! She wanted to show Jesus how thankful she was for his forgiveness.
This woman's actions showed that she thought Jesus was great. But the fact that Jesus let her act this way made Simon the Pharisee think that Jesus was not so great. Jesus' reputation was that he was a prophet. But Simon reasoned that if he were a prophet, he would know that this woman was a sinner, even though he was a visitor to the city. Therefore Jesus couldn't be a prophet. Simon already looked down on the woman. And now Simon looked down on Jesus.
He didn't say anything out loud. Of course, he assumed that Jesus had no idea what he was saying to himself. He didn't realize that Jesus knew the thoughts of his mind. Now Jesus had to deal with Simon's sin. He said, "Simon, I have something to tell you." Simon thought he was getting away with his behavior, so in such a respectful sounding voice he said, "Tell me, teacher."
What Jesus had to say was not what Simon wanted to hear. He told a story about two people who owed more money to their lender than they could pay. So their lender forgave the debts of both. Simon understood the point of the story: the one who had the larger debt forgiven would appreciate the forgiveness more. The woman who was anointing Jesus' feet realized that her debt of sin was large, but God had forgiven it all. She appreciated that more than words can express! But Simon was so busy looking down on everybody else, that he didn't even realize that he was a sinful man. His debt of sin was also more than he could repay to God. But because he didn't recognize that debt, he didn't want Jesus to be his Savior. That is why the sinful woman showed Jesus her appreciation, but sinful Simon didn't even extend the usual courtesies to his houseguest.
Jesus preached the law to Simon by refusing to forgive his sins. Jesus wanted, of course, that Simon would see his sins and confess them. But because he knew Simon's thoughts, Jesus knew that he Simon could not yet receive his forgiveness. Jesus also knew what was in the woman's heart. He had something to say to her, too: "Your sins have been forgiven. Your faith has saved you. Go in peace."
You and I are in Jesus' house. We are his guests today. He is teaching us here. And just as he had something to tell Simon and something to tell the woman, Jesus says to you and me, "I have something to tell you." The words that he spoke to them apply to us, too, because we are a lot like the sinful woman and the Pharisee Simon.
Some of you may be like the woman in that you have a reputation for sinful actions that you have done. Some of you are sad about the shameful way you have lived in your past. Yet all of us are like Simon, at times. Other people see us as respectable people. We see ourselves as respectable people. We may not be perfect, but at least we don't live in gross, public sins, right?
Take a moment to think about something that other people do, something that you would never do, something that bothers you. There have been times when you have thought, "I would never do that." You were looking down on the people who do. You were thinking that you were better than they are because you don't do those things. When we think that way, we are not only sinning against those people. We are also looking down on Jesus, who came to save those people. And we are telling Jesus that we don't need him to be our Savior, because we aren't as bad as those other people who need to be saved.
If you take another moment to listen to what Jesus says to you, you will realize that your attitude toward others makes you just as sinful as every other sinner. You are in just as great a need of a Savior, and if Jesus doesn't forgive you, you will suffer for your sins. That is why you and I need to be like the woman, who was sorry for her sins, who trusted in Jesus, and who received his forgiveness. The woman knew what you and I need to know: Jesus is exactly the Savior that we need. He never looked down on anybody. He welcomed all sinners to come and receive his forgiveness. That was part of the perfect life that he lived for us in our place. Yet, no matter how poorly we have treated others, and no matter how shameful our lives have been, Jesus died for those sins in our place, to pay for them all.
Since Jesus is our Savior, who lived and died to save us from suffering and give us all his blessings, how can we show him our thanks? We cannot anoint his feet with tears and oil. But we can show him that we love him much by the way we treat other people. We will not look down on anybody else. We will see them as other people for whom Jesus has lived and died. Since Jesus loves all people, we will love them, too. And in this way, we will show Jesus that we love him, because of the love that he has shown to us.
So, just as Jesus spoke to Simon and the woman, Jesus speaks to you today. In fact, that is why there is a blank as part of the sermon theme in the service folder. If you've got a pen now, go ahead and write your name into that blank. If you have to wait until the friendship registers are passed out, you can use the pen at that time. Jesus says to each one of you, "I have something to tell you."
What does he say to you? That is what you can write in the blank line below the sermon theme. Jesus has shown you your sin, but that is not his final word to you. What Jesus said to the woman, so also Jesus says to you who trust in him: "Your sins are forgiven. Go in peace."