Luke 7:36-50 with Aaron Searles

Transcript

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So when I was growing up as a kid, you know, hot, sweaty, humid Illinois, I'd come in from playing with my friends and you know, getting all sweaty, playing outside, and run into the house, and my dad would hand me a glass of water. Not like this, but you know, something like this. And he would say something like, Here you go, here's some ice cold mountain gurgling refreshing spring water. Let me say that again. Here's some ice cold mountain gurgling refreshing spring water. I don't know where you got the mountain and the spring part, but um it made it sound so appealing. I couldn't wait to drink that water. It made, you know, we didn't have you know, Gatorade or whatever. We just got water from the filtered water that we had. And and I think my dad should have maybe worked for a bottle, you know, a bottle water bottle company, you know, to sell bottled water. Um again, it was so good, you know, after a hot, you know, being thirsty and sweaty and having fun outside, you need that water. So, again, here's this glass of water I have here for a visual. It looks great, it looks very appealing, especially after you know, a hot day outside. But what if I told you that in the back there I got a drop of toilet water and put it into that glass? Ew. Ew. I'm just telling you that. Okay, changes everything, doesn't it? That glass of water does not look, even though the nothing has changed from what I said earlier. Nothing has changed, but now you know the possibility, the maybe that I put a drop of toilet water in that glass of water. Changes everything, changes how you look at it. It now becomes very, very less appealing to drink to satisfy your thirst. I would guess that nobody in here would drink from this glass, even just we even with the doubt, the maybe that I did do that. You wouldn't do that. So I'm giving you a visual. This kind of visual came to me in preparing for this sermon, a visual of sin. What sin does to our soul, what sin does to our lives, what sin does to everything about us. Just one drop of water, of toilet water, changes everything. That's what sin does. Sin makes us unholy. We are no longer righteous. Doesn't matter what we do, but it has been permanently affected everything about us. One sin. So today we're talking about sin and we're talking about the appearance of sin. And what God does as it relates to sin. And most importantly, I would say for you and me, how God forgives sin. Let me say that again. How God forgives sin. We'll be learning about that as we go through these verses. So verse 36 of Luke chapter 7. One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at table. So Jesus didn't judge the judger. This is someone that, you know, before, as we've been reading through the story, we had these Pharisees, and Jesus is having these, we'll call it difficult conversations with them. We know that John the Baptist had some difficult conversations with these Pharisees, but he didn't distance himself from them. He didn't remove them from his life, but he's now engaging in going into their homes. To those who were judging everybody else, who thought they were above everyone else, who thought they were more righteous, that they were following the law and whatnot, looking down on everyone else. And we know from other instances where Jesus didn't have a necessarily a blunt approach to the Pharisees. We know the story of from John chapter 3. Jesus is in a conversation with Nicodemus, my understanding, a Pharisee, a teacher of the law. And one of the most, if not the most famous verse in the Bible, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3, 16. That was said to a teacher of the law, to a Pharisee. So Jesus engaged them, had these conversations with them. And we know that in Scripture that there were other times, and we even know that some come to faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and we see that in the Bible. So Jesus goes to this man's home, and he reclines at his table. Verse 37 and 38. And behold, a woman of the city who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. What a beautiful picture. What a thing to read and observe and dwell on, this visual, this story, this moment in the ministry of Jesus, this woman, a woman of the city. A commentary said this at such occasions the doors of the home were kept open. And the uninvited townspeople were free to wander in to observe the conversation. That is not our culture. But it is first century culture. So they just have a dinner party and people could wander in and out, and this woman obviously did this. And this verse says, Who was a sinner? How did they know she was a sinner? Again, a woman of the city, but they they called her a sinner. So the commentary spoke to kind of two options here as far as understanding the context of the story. One option is she was married to a known sinner, and so was associated to be a sinner as well. And the other option, which people believe, scholars believe is the more likely option, is she was a prostitute. So there was this judgment. And again, she brings this alabaster flask of ointment. So that's it's what what is that? You know, it's a it's a small, essentially a perfume bottle, soft stone perfume bottle, carrying this ointment. I call a perfume, but a very, likely very valuable perfume. And I don't know about you, but if you've read, if just reading this story, this may be like reverberating a little bit. Like, this sounds familiar. So this is the first time someone does something like this. A woman. Another time before Jesus' death does something very similar and takes something that's highly valuable and anoints Jesus with oil, and that fragrance filled the room, the house that they were in, and it was a preparation for his death. It was a beautiful thing as well. So this happens twice in Scripture, similar uh moments. But I want you to imagine this scene. This this I I don't know what else to call it, but it's awkward, it's uncomfortable. It's not normal, it's not usual, it's not what you would typically happen at a at a at a at a meal. Even with the the cultural differences, you know, people being able to kind of come in and observe who's who's at this meal. But this woman is unashamed. You know, she beelines it to be with Jesus. Again, she has so many tears, tears of joy, they were enough to clean the feet of Jesus with. So why? Why was she why was she so emotional? Why does she have so many tears that she could wet the feet of Jesus? You know, we we can't, we don't know for sure, we don't know the conversation, we don't know if she heard a sermon, we don't know the context or the the moment, the details that happened, but something happened to this woman where she was so overcome with emotion and couldn't care less who was at that meal that she did this, and just wept on his feet and washed his feet. Something happened. Something amazing happened in her life. So, what's going on here? What's the connection here? So this woman shows up, shows us how to worship. This woman shows us how to worship. This is why I read this this morning. I couldn't help myself text Phil this morning. Can I please read this passage before we worship God? Can this story prepare our hearts, our minds, our spirits to worship God? This woman shows us how to worship. Her worship is extravagant. Her worship is emotional, her worship is norm-breaking. Her worship is expressive. You know, how do you respond to a gift beyond comprehension? You know, how do you how do you how do you respond to receiving something so important, so valuable? And this is how she does it. I want you just to think, to imagine what it would be like if Jesus was in this room. What would you do? If he was physically here. Again, my theology is he is here. The Holy Spirit is here. I hope that's your theology. But he walked in the flesh, in this room, in this place. Think about, just I think it's it's it's good to think about what you would do. Think about what you do. If Jesus was here, walking in the room, how would you express your gratitude? How would you communicate how thankful you are for what he's done for you? How he's sustained you, how he's blessed you, how he's forgiven you, what he's done for you. How would you express your gratitude? This woman, this woman of the city, known as a sinner, grabbed likely the most expensive things that she had and ran to be with Jesus. She was personal, she was emotional, she was extravagant in her worship. So we see, you could say, public worship in this moment. You see personal worship in this moment. And to me, it's an echo, a reminder of another example of a worshiper in Scripture. And that's David. He was a man after God's own heart. And if you know the story, we love to talk about David. We don't like to talk about the negative things that David did. We talk about, man, he danced before the Lord with all his might. He embarrassed his family, his wife, because he was so in love with God. He wrote songs to God. Again, I love thinking about him writing songs, psalms in Bethlehem, on the hills of Bethlehem, taking care of his sheep. Thinking about those songs that he sang. In the secret, nobody else around, just the sheep to hear him and God. So a quote from a commentary. She was there because of gratitude. Somewhere, somehow, possibly through a public sermon or maybe through a private, unrecorded conversation, Jesus' words had gone to her heart and she had turned to him and so found forgiveness. So I just want to highlight kind of three things in her example of worship to us. Her tears. She was emotional. Again, she's an example to us. She was overcome with emotion. That her tear ducts flowed with tears. She was emotional. I want to highlight her hair. She used her hair again, very inappropriate culturally for her to do this. But she didn't care. She used her hair, she had humility. So she was emotional and she was humble before God. She seized this opportunity, and finally her kisses. Her affection. Her physical affection. I mean, can you imagine kissing someone's feet? She couldn't stop herself. She wanted to express how thankful she was to Jesus. So her emotion, her humility, her affection in worshiping Jesus. All right, let's continue on. Verse 39 and 40. Now, when the Pharisees who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, I want to say this so condescendingly, like tone, if you just imagine this. 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 answered, Say it, teacher. So that word, if, if this man were how condescending, how rude, how what a terrible thing to say to Jesus. We can see the judgment. As I said, you know, Jesus doesn't necessarily judge the judger. He's judging. He's reached his conclusion about who Jesus is. He is the you could say opposite of this woman. And you know, Jesus uses this moment. He uses this as a teaching moment. And he speaks directly to it. I'm so glad Jesus doesn't just let this slide by. No, he hits it head on. And I don't know about you, but when I read the word uh Simon the Pharisee, I'm like, is this Simon Peter? What Simon is this? Simon the Zealot? Simon? No, this is a different Simon. The name Simon, that name is very common in this day. So we've got another Simon. So that's who he's speaking to in this moment, Simon the Pharisee. And again, he uses this moment to correct, to rebuke Simon the Pharisee. Verse 41 and 42. And he tells a story, he tells a parable, he makes an example. A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed 500 denari, and the other 50. When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more? So Jesus is making an example. He is in charge. He is the one who has all the resources. He's the moneylender. And we are the debtors. And the two debtors in this story, Jesus is essentially saying, is this Pharisee Simon's the one who owed 50. And this woman, this sinner, this likely prostitute, was the one who owed 500 denarii. Now, my understanding of that, that's a day's wages. One denarii is one day's wages. So a year and a half of salary. I'll discuss $150,000 for given. Again, he makes this point. So what is Jesus saying here? He's explaining this woman's actions. He's explaining why she's so thankful. Because she gets it. She understands who Jesus is. She understands her sin is apparent. It's known, it's public. And she knows what Jesus has done for her. And she wants to express her gratitude. She wants to express her love for Jesus. Verse 43. So Simon answered, The one I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger debt. And he said to him, You have judged rightly. So again, this woman was known as a sinner, and her gratitude for the forgiveness of sin could not be contained by social norms, cultural customs, financial restraints. Again, she is an example to us of how to worship, of how to think about, how to be emotional, how to express our worship to God, our gratitude to God for what he has done. Let's continue on, verse 44 through 47. Then turning to 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 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. She is the example of hospitality. How do you honor Jesus? She does it, you didn't, Pharisee Simon. So again, it's interesting these things going on in the first century. Again, we don't understand the open door policy for the public to come in. We don't understand, you know, we're not used to people washing their feet when they come into our house or the uh the you know olive oil or whatever perfume to come in to your house to kind of make it pleasing, you know. We might have some essential oils or something like that. You know, we don't, but we don't, you know, this is very distant from what we experienced to this day. But we're getting some understanding of what should have happened in this moment versus what this woman did. This wonderful woman. So one commentary said this for Simon purposely omitted the common courtesies accorded to any honored dinner guest. Normally the host placed his hand on the guest's shoulder and gave him the kiss of peace. Customarily, a guest's sandals were removed and his feet were washed then. He entered, or while he reclined at the table, thus removing the dust of the street and refreshing him. Jesus' feet were left embarrassingly dirty, and the dinner guests were also anointed with a touch of olive oil, but there was no such kindness for Jesus. So this Simon Pharisee fell short in pretty much every way of showing hospitality, but this woman provided the honor, the hospitality that Jesus deserves. And Jesus made an example of her. We see what she does, and she's an example to us. And most importantly, we see the good news. The forgiveness of sins is the core issue in this story. Her sins are forgiven. We might get distracted and talk about this issue or that issue or this theology or that theology, but this is the reality that we all deal with. As I talked about this water, God is holy. God is holy. God is sinless. God is perfect. God can't look at sin. God can't hear sin, it says in Scripture. God is perfect. Again, He is pure, He is righteous, and He is the living water. So that's the reality. That's the truth that we all face as we think about God. We think about His perfection. We would not think of God that way unless He was that way. He is perfect. But here's the bad news. We are not. We are this glass of water. And unfortunately, we have more than one drop of toilet water in our soul. We are not good. We are not holy. We are not perfect. We are condemned by our own sin. And because of our sin, because of our choices, because of our mistakes, because of our wandering away from God, we are eternally separated from a holy God because of our sin. Our sin separates us from God. Again, one drop, one sin separates us from a perfect holy God. And the reality is we're born into it. We're born into sinful nature. No one taught you how to lie. No one taught you how to steal. No one taught you how to hate. A quick example of this is listen to kids playing on the playground. And unfortunately, the nasty things that they can say to each other. As a parent, you hear it. And you correct it, hopefully. And God help us raising up our children in his ways to forgive and turn from that. Again, no one teaches you. That's just in you to sin, to hate. But here again is the most important question that we start off today. How does God forgive sin? This is where the good news comes in. God forgives your sin by your faith in his grace. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. We put our faith in the grace of God, the work of God on the cross, who died in our place to wash us white as snow, to take our sin upon himself, to atone for our sin. God loved us so much that he left heaven, took on flesh, became like us, lived the perfect life, and died in our place. And all we do is put our faith in him, put our faith in his grace, his work, his perfection, his holiness, his goodness. This is the good news. We cannot earn it. There's nothing we can do to refresh that water. There's no filter that purifies us. Only Jesus makes us clean and pure. And as Jesus said to this woman, go in peace. You are in peace with God. That's the only peace that matters, to be in peace with God. And again, those at the table, you know, they murmur and they mumber and they complain. And the reality is they are at war with the gospel in the flesh. They are at war with the gospel. Who can forgive sins? Who's reclining at this table with them? And if you remember, this a very similar thing happened with the man that was lowered from the roof, the lame man. He said, What is easier? Is it easier to forgive this man of sin or for me to say, get up and walk? He does something very similar in that moment, if I'm remembering correctly. And then he heals him of his lameness. Then he's no longer paralyzed. He can now walk, but he forgives his sin. Only God can forgive sin. Only God can forgive sin. So Jesus is making this the gospel, the good news very, very clear. So as I begin to wrap up, I'm not closing yet. As I begin to wrap up, I want to share just three thoughts with you. Three thoughts, a warning, maybe a rebuke, and a challenge for you this week. Here's thought one. And thinking about this this week and meditating on this, you know, I looked at this story and I looked at this woman, and I would say she is symbolic of a larger story. She is a picture to us of what Ephesians chapter 5 talks about, what the book of Revelation talks about, the bride of Christ. No, I'm not saying she's the bride of Christ in this moment. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying symbolically, it's a picture, it's like a foreshadow of this bigger story that we, the church, were called the bride of Christ. And Jesus, by our faith in him and what he's done, washes us white as snow. He makes us, in a sense, the church, beautiful, acceptable to a perfect, holy God. That's one thought. Second thought. This woman, in her emotion, in her extravagance, in her worship, but also in her service, shows us how amazing God is, because if you know the story of Jesus, Jesus washes his disciples' feet. A literal thing, a practical thing, as we know from this story now, but also a symbolic thing as well. You know, Peter didn't, Peter was like, no, you're not washing my feet, Jesus. You know, he's too embarrassed. He's like, I must wash your feet. I must wash your sin away, Peter. That's what Jesus is saying to us. I must wash your sin away. That's what we have faith in, that God will wash our sin away. That's the good news, that's the gospel. And Jesus is, again, the perfect display of humility showing us how to be a servant, showing us how to serve and love people. I mean, how gross can you imagine? And Jesus, God in the flesh, does that. Okay, that's thought number two. Thought number three. So just a reminder, we've got it on the banner up there. Jesus is God. God in the flesh. Just remember that. And here's this woman, woman of the city, known sinner in this community. And just think about who Jesus is. Jesus is God. Jesus is the creator. You know, a Trinitarian theology. Jesus is, you know, God, God one, God Father, God Son, God Holy Spirit, right? And this is his daughter. Returning home. Saying thank you. I would compare it to the prodigal son. I call her the prodigal daughter. Again, how would you worship Jesus in the room? How would you express your gratitude? And I think it's interesting to point out, he accepted her worship. He deserved her worship. He deserved it. For anybody else to receive this doesn't make sense, but he's God in the flesh and he deserves this worship. And in that he receives it, but he also displays this relational grace. He could have shooed her away like the Pharisees wanted to, maybe like the disciples maybe wanted to. He could have shooed her away. He could have said to one of his disciples, like, hey, get her out of here. But he didn't do that. He received her worship. And I would say he's the only person in human history that deserves that kind of worship. So I was having a moment with the Lord this morning and worship music and reading scripture and kind of finishing up some prep for this morning. And you know, kind of in my zone and in the front kind of room of my house. And my son Ezra just ran up to me and gave me a hug. Could care less what I was doing. Just just embraced me. Just gave me a big hug. Big dad hug. And again, I just think about that. I think about, you know, we are his children. And he is our father. And we worship him, we embrace him, we show him our affection because we love him. So those are my three thoughts. Now my warning. Maybe a rebuke. I would say don't be so proud. Don't be so stubborn. Don't be so cold to not express your worship to Jesus. Seize the opportunity with the breath that you have, the energy that you have, the things we take for granted all the time, like infinitely we take for granted all the time, and worship him. Love him with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your strength. Seize the opportunity today to worship him, to love him. Again, another quote from a commentary: Do not succumb to the self-righteous delusion that God's grace has been so effectual in your life that you don't need him anymore. We desperately are designed, we need to worship him with every breath. And we all fail. First in line to say I mess up. First in line to say I sin, toilet water. But we press on. We say, Thank you, God. We thank you for your forgiveness. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for your mercy, and we worship Him. Isaiah 1.18 says, Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. So I have a challenge for you this week, and then I will end with a story, okay? So a challenge for you this week. Act like this woman. Be like her. And I would say do it in secret. You're not impressing anyone, you're not going to show anyone how Christian you are or how spiritual you are. I challenge you to do it in secret. Pour your heart out to God. Worship Him. Find a worship song that you love to listen to, and do an amazing drum solo on your steering wheel. Sing your heart out to him. Or maybe it's writing a note of gratitude. Writing in your journal, taking the time and the energy to express how much you love him. Maybe you've got to put an appointment in your calendar to get alone with God and act like this woman. Express your gratitude in personal relationship with Jesus. No one's going to know about it. Don't tell anyone about it. That's my challenge to you this week. Be like this woman and worship and love Jesus. So I'll end with a story. My uh brother texted me, I think it was Friday morning, my older brother Justin. He's a pastor out in Moringo. And uh he's he's uh in ministry and and all that that involves and um a great church out there in Moringo, uh evangelical free church. And uh he texts me and he's like, hey, uh I got this ministry thing going on Saturday night, and the guy that I had doing this devotional was um supposed to do it, but he got sick, he's actually in the hospital, he can't go. He's like, I would do it, but my son Luke, my nephew, is graduating last night, so he's like, Is there any way you could fill in for me? And he was trying to get other people in his church, nobody else in his church could fill in. It was this this outreach event, and he's like, it's just 10 minutes. Just give a devotional for this. It was my understanding was a wrestling outreach in their gym for high school boys. That's what I heard. I heard that, that's what sunk into my brain, and I don't know what he actually said, but that's what sunk into my brain. So a wrestling outreach for high school, high school boys. I'm like, I can talk to high schoolers, I can talk to high school boys. I I was once, you know, a high school boy. So I get I'm like, yeah, and he couldn't find anyone else. He tried to get other people, like there essentially there wasn't gonna be devotional if I didn't come in. And this was the first one, and they're still figuring things out anyway. And so I drive out to Moringo, I get ready, I prepare, I pray, I prep. I'm thinking, I'm gonna hit 30 high school boys with the gospel. I'm gonna let them have it. So I show up 20 minutes early, I'm ready to go, I walk in the gym and I'm like, this is not 30 high school boys. It was boys and girls, elementary age. And I'm thinking about my devotional, I'm like, that's not gonna work. What am I gonna do? So I'm uncomfortable, I'm like scrambling, my brain is not working, and what I was gonna share wasn't gonna work because it was a different audience now. My confidence in being able to talk to high school boys has completely changed. I'm like, I've got some elementary age kids, I know how to talk to kids, but it just changed everything. I felt unprepared, I felt not ready. I was adjusting my stories and devotional, and I was backing off. I was getting afraid. I wasn't gonna be as clear and direct as I was planning on. That's where my head was at, and in the midst of this devotional, and like I said, I'm I'm I'm going light into it. I'm kind of just going easy into this devotional. Again, there's elementary age kids. In the midst of me going into this devotional, in the back of the room, I see what I think is a mother come into the room. And I could just tell. I didn't talk to her, I didn't talk to her afterwards, but I could just tell just by her eyes, by her face, by her countenance, how she was acting, her kids were in the room. And she wanted her kids to hear what I was gonna say. And that's all I needed. I just needed her face to say, go for it, Aaron. Share the gospel. This could be their shot. This can be their moment to hear the good news. I just needed to see her face, to see that she wanted me. You never know what your simple presence can do. Your face, longing for God, your worship can change situations, environments, relational dynamics. I just had to look at her face. And like that woman, and like the woman that we've been learning about in this story, we worship God. We long for him. And I would say that to encourage you and to challenge you. So I want to close with a verse, Romans 1.16. For I am not ashamed of this good news about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes, the Jew first and also the Gentile. Let's pray. God, I thank you for the joy to be included and to be a part of your family, to be used by you, God. Just thank you, God. We thank you for your word, God. I thank you for this church. I thank you for this family, this sacrificial family, these brothers and sisters that I love so dearly. And God, I pray that you would use them, Lord. I pray that you would encourage them. I pray that you would strengthen them. I pray that you would give them your power, God, as it says in the verse that we're memorizing this month. I pray that you would give them ears to hear your promptings. I pray that you would give them passion and strength and your love to love first you, to love their families, to love their neighbors, to love their co-workers, to love their enemies. God, help us to spread your good news. Help us to share your love with everybody. And God, I pray that you would ordain moments this week to be with you, to love you, to hear from you, to talk to you, to be transformed by you. God, I pray that you would uh, again, if there's anybody in here, God, that needs to receive your forgiveness, I pray that they would receive it today. God, I pray that they would turn from their sin and receive your forgiveness of sin. Put their faith in you as Lord and Savior, one who died in their place, and on the third day, God, you conquer death. I pray that they would put their faith in you, Jesus, and live eternally with you. God, we thank you for this day. We pray that you'd send us all from here to be your ambassadors, your witnesses, your representatives. It's all for your glory, God. In your name we pray. Amen.