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A SINFUL WOMAN'S THANKSGIVING TO JESUS
Luke 7:36-50
Key Verse: 38
“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.”
Happy thanksgiving! There is an African saying that goes, “Even the hen lifts her head toward heaven when swallowing her grain.” How much more should we lift our head and give thanks to God who has blessed us? Someone said that the greatest saint is not one who prays most or fasts most, or gives alms most, but the one who is always thankful to God. St. Paul commands us in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “…give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Most of all, we should give thanks to Jesus who has forgiven us our sins, paying the wages of our sin on the cross. Today’s passage portrays a sinful woman’s genuine thanksgiving and love to Jesus. Jesus accepts her thanksgiving and love. Let us learn how to give meaningful and acceptable thanksgiving to Jesus.
The story begins in verse 36. A Pharisee named Simon invited Jesus to have dinner with him. Normally, Pharisees were very particular about who they ate with. They didn’t want to mingle with sinners. I am not quite sure why Simon invited Jesus? In the context of today’s passage, however, I can just assume that Simon wanted to examine Jesus little more closely. Although Simon invited Jesus to his dinner table he didn’t consider him as an honored guest. We can see Simon’s view of Jesus as the story unfolds.
Jesus went into Simon’s house and reclined at the table. Then an uninvited woman interrupted the dinner party. According to verse 37, she had lived a sinful life in that town. We don’t know what kind of life she had lived. Maybe she was a prostitute or a criminal. She was branded as a sinful woman, an object of contempt, insults and nasty gossip. No doubt, Simon didn’t invite her. She invited herself to the house. She learned that Jesus was invited to the Pharisee’s house and came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. Imagine, the response of all the guests in the dinner party. They were surprised by her appearance. According to the custom, it was unthinkable that this sinful woman came to the house of the Pharisee who tried to separate himself from sinners and even common people. She took unshakable courage to come there because she had to endure people’s judgmental stares and whispers, and overcome her sense of shame before religious people in the house. But all these things could not stop her from coming to Jesus and showing her heartfelt gratitude to Jesus. If only she could express her thanks and love toward Jesus, she didn’t mind to go through public humiliation.
As she stood behind Jesus at his feet, she was weeping. Before Jesus, she was overwhelmed with sorrow over her past sinful life. She was truly sorry for her sins. She began to wet Jesus’ feet with her tears. Her tears were tears of genuine repentance from the bottom of her heart. They were also tears of thanksgiving because Jesus the Savior who came to seek sinners who would repent and turn to God. They were tears of love for Jesus who welcomed those who come to him. She shed tears so much so that her tears wet Jesus’ feet. She then wiped his feet with her hair since there was no towel around and kissed his feet and poured expensive perfume on them.
To Simon, this uninvited woman was like a disaster that shattered the dinner party through her radical act of repentance and thanksgiving. He said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner” (39). At that time, Pharisees would never associate with sinners, let alone never allow a sinner to touch them because that would make them unclean before God. Simon thought that if Jesus were a prophet, he would know who this woman was and would never allow her to touch him. So Simon’s conclusion was that Jesus was not a prophet.
Simon was outwardly an upright and religious man. He kept the Law of Moses, gave one tenth of his income, fasted regularly, prayed three times a day and never missed in his attendance at the synagogue. He was a respected and decent man in the community. So he was very self-righteous. He thought that he was all right before God. He never saw himself as a sinner who needed repentance and forgiveness.
Seeing Simon’s spiritual blindness, Jesus told a short parable in verses 41-42a. “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both.” A denarius was worth about a day’s wage for a laborer. So the first person owed more than 20 months’ pay, and the other 2 months’ pay. However both debtors were unable to repay their debt so the moneylender graciously forgave them both.
Then Jesus asked Simon, “Now which of them will love him more?” Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.” Jesus said, “You have judged correctly” (42b-43). The principle here is, “Those who are forgiven most love most.” Or “Those who are forgiven little love little.” Based on Simon’s correct answer and the based on this principle, Jesus began to help Simon see the woman and her act.
Now let’s take a look at verses 44-47. “Then he turned toward the woman and 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. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.’” Here Jesus compared Simon’s treatment of Jesus with hers. The woman outdid Simon in showing respect, thanksgiving and love to the Lord.
Simon thought that the woman was a 500 denarii sinner and that he was not even a 50 denarii sinner but owed no debt. But according to Jesus he was guilty of countless sins even in that dinner party. He was full of self-righteousness, pride and criticism. He didn’t accept Jesus and treated him with disrespect. He despised the woman and acted in disbelief. Moreover, Jesus pointed out the Pharisees’ countless sins in Matthew 23. They burdened others, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger. They did everything for people to see. They were hypocrites. Jesus called them snakes and brood of vipers. So in reality, Simon was not a 50 denarii sinner but, a 500,000 denarii sinner before God.
Look at verse 47, “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” The woman loved Jesus because her many sins were forgiven. Out of her gratitude to Jesus who forgave her many sins, the woman offered her thanksgiving and love to Jesus.
It is now very clear that Jesus compared sin with debt. Sin is a debt to God. Just as the prodigal son took his father’s money and squandered it in a wild living, we took God-given life and squandered it in our sins. As the prodigal son literally owed his father the money that he wasted, and had no way to pay him back, we owe God debt because of our sin of disobedience to God and because of our sin of omission of our duty to God, but we cannot pay it back. Whether we have big debts of sin or small debts of sin, we are debtors to God and we have no ability to pay him back. In order to pay him back, we should be dead and eternally condemned because the wages of sin is death and eternal condemnation. Silver or gold, sacrifice or offering, even our regret or self-condemnation cannot pay out debts. But Jesus came to forgive sinners. He paid our debts through his sacrificial death. This is the power of Jesus’ gospel.
Being freed from her debt of sin through Jesus’ forgiveness, the woman was so touched and thankful that she could weep, wiped Jesus’ feet with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them in full view of the so-called righteous dinner guests. On the other hand, Simon could not see the stinking sin of self-righteousness, pride and condemning spirit. He couldn’t recognize the awfulness of his hypocrisy and pretention before others. He could not see his great debts. He could neither know his inability to pay his debt back to God. We must realize our great debt and our utter inability to repay our debt. We must also see Jesus’ amazing grace that he forgave our sins, as we come to him with repentance and love him.
Personally I thank Jesus for he has forgiven me a sinner over and over again. My debts to him were more than 5 million denarii that I could not pay him back with my own ability. My life before knowing Jesus was more than just sinful. I had blasphemed God in my utter ignorance. When I recognized my sin and Jesus’ forgiveness, I was overwhelmed. I shed tears of thanksgiving to Jesus while walking on the sidewalk. Although I didn’t have perfume, I brought numerous classmates to Bible study so that they could see this amazing Jesus. I volunteered to be a missionary to anywhere God would send. During my missionary life in Canada, Jesus canceled my debts of sin again and again and raised me up to live a missionary again and again. A few times, I fell into utter darkness because of my sin of rebellion and human strife. I felt that I could not deserve Jesus’ forgiveness. But as I knelt down before Jesus with tearful repentance, Jesus forgave all my sins and restored me as his servant. At present, I am thankful to God for many things that I have no time to mention. But above all, I give thanks to Jesus because he forgave me a wretched sinner. Remembering Jesus’ forgiveness, I would like to love him with my heart.
In verse 50, Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Her faith was to believe in Jesus who would welcome and forgive her as she came to him as a repentant sinner. She then could go in peace and live as a woman of God. This woman spoke no word. But her actions spoke loudly about her repentance, thanksgiving, and love. Her silent actions teach us one ultimate truth that those who are forgiven most love most and give thanks most. It is also true that those who are not forgiven much don’t love much. May God help us see Jesus’ love for us through his forgiveness of our terrible debts of sin so that we renew our love for him. We thank Jesus. Amen.