woman has done. He says to himself, she doesn’ t belong here. Have you ever thought that? Let’ s be honest for one moment, we all have. We all have had flashes of judgment pass through our hearts as our eyes have passed over another. We’ ve been like Simon.
And as Simon’ s thoughts reverberate through the cold, stone cavern of his heart, a voice, calm yet direct, says his name.
“ Simon.” It’ s Jesus. He speaks, and Simon’ s eyes move from the sobbing woman to meet the eyes of Jesus. Can you hear His voice say your name this morning? Can you move your eyes from whatever is in front of you to meet His? Can you hear His voice that is calm, yet piercing? Can you see His eyes that are focused, yet relaxed? Serious, yet compassionate? Can you see Him? Because He sees us.
The Son of Man, Jesus, says,“ I have something to say to you.”
Simon’ s eyebrows lift, I’ m sure, as the anger boils up within him. Who does this Jesus think he is, speaking so directly to a man of God? So often, like Simon, we think we have life figured out. We do what we’ ve seen done, and we try to make changes, but all in all, we’ re just going to keep going through the motions. Will we let Jesus’ words stop us? Challenge us? Move us? Simon, through, I imagine, gritted teeth and with a touch of sarcasm, says“ Go ahead, teacher.”
And Jesus, as he often does, tells a story. It’ s about a man loaning money, and debts being forgiven. Something that I’ m sure most of us in this room today would be into. Hello, student loans, mortgages, and car payments. Jesus says that there are two people with debt. One owes 500 pieces of silver and the other owes 50, but neither one of these people can pay it back. Again, something that I’ m sure some of us can relate to. The people in this parable are stuck. And people stuck in debt, especially in the Ancient World, would have to find a way to pay it off through indentured servitude, or worse, a prison labor sentence. So, when Jesus says that these people both owe a debt that they couldn’ t repay, it’ s a serious offense. It’ s something that the hearers of this story wouldn’ t scoff at. And as serious as it is, what Jesus says next is just as scandalous.
Listen to these words:“ So he kindly forgave them, canceling their debts.” This man, the one who gave the two people the loan, gives them something else – freedom. With no strings attached. In fact, the word here for“ kindly forgave” in Greek is the same root word as the word“ Grace.” Jesus is telling a story of grace and mercy. People forgave debts in the Ancient world, sure, but I hardly think the people who gave loans out were happy about it. I don’ t think that’ s changed in 2000 years, either. Most of the time now to get our debts forgiven, we have to file bankruptcy and it ruins us! But the story Jesus tells is of a man who sees the debtors as human. He sees them as more than people who owe him money. He sees their story; their hardships; their hopes and their dreams. The man in this story is merciful. He is compassionate. He goes beyond what he’ s required to do and shows grace. And out of that story Jesus
When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’ s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’ s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 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.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, 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.”
Jesus answered him,“ Simon, I have something to tell you.”“ Tell me, teacher,” he said.“ Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,[ a ] and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
Simon replied,“ I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”“ You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. 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.” Then Jesus said to her,“ Your sins are forgiven.” The other guests began to say among themselves,
“ Who is this who even forgives sins?” Jesus said to the woman,“ Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
- Luke 7:36-50
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