Read Luke 7:36-50
Jesus is a frustrating conversationalist but he is never boring. For one, he regularly appears to be able to read what people are thinking and so motivations are laid bare, there is no spin he can’t see through. He also answers questions with questions or with stories that don’t seem to answer the question being asked.
There is a moment in Daniel Day Lewis’ Lincoln movie where the intensity of the civil war is at its zenith and Lincoln tells yet another quirky, seemingly irrelevant, story and one of the other politicians screams at him because all he wants is a straightforward answer about their strategy. He says, "I don't believe I can bear to listen to another one of your stories." I’m guessing lots of people would have said the same to Jesus.
At the end of Luke 7 Jesus is invited to a meal at a Pharisee’s house. While they are reclining at the table a “woman of the city” comes into the room. Luke tells us she “was a sinner” (Luke 7:37). She carries with her an alabaster jar of ointment and she begins to cleanse Jesus’ feet with her tears, wipe them dry with her hair, and then anoints his feet with the oil. It is an awkward moment. A woman with a reputation causes a scene.
The host sees this and thinks to himself, “If this man (Jesus) were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”
Simon, the Pharisee, has doubts about Jesus’ identity because he assumes Jesus doesn’t know the reputation of the woman touching him. If Jesus knew who she was he wouldn’t be letting her touch him.
Jesus says to Simon, “I have something to say to you.” And he proceeds to tell a two-sentence story. A moneylender had two debtors - one owed about two years of wages and the other owed about two months. Neither could pay their debt but the moneylender forgave them both.
Jesus then asks Simon, “Now which of them will love him more?”
Simon can give the only answer that makes sense - “the one, I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger debt.” Jesus commends Simon on his answer. He is correct.
But then Jesus points to the woman who had been cleaning his feet. And he says 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.”
Simon gave Jesus none of the customary signs of friendship or hospitality - he didn’t have his feet washed, he didn’t greet him with a kiss, he didn’t anoint his head with oil. The woman, in her own way, fulfilled the role of host that Simon neglected.
Then Jesus says, “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven - for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little” (7:47).
The awkward dinner party just got a little more awkward.
Simon rejects Jesus as a prophet because he assumes Jesus doesn’t know the reputation of the woman who came in to wash his feet.
Jesus’ response is basically saying this:
“Simon, I know who this woman is and what she has done (“her sins, which are many”).
And Simon I know who you are too.
And I am more concerned about you than I am about her.”
The woman’s response reveals her heart. She knows she is unworthy of Jesus’ grace. She knows that it is only the mercy of Jesus that gives her any hope. And so she responds with gratitude - “she loved much.”
Simon has no understanding of his need. He can’t receive Jesus’ grace because he doesn’t think he needs it. And so he loves little.
We are left to assume that Simon’s life and the life of this unnamed woman are radically different on the surface. The woman is a woman of the city, a known sinner. She has a reputation. Jesus admits as much. Simon is a Pharisee, he throws a party and people come to his house. As far as we know, Simon was a law-keeper. He knew God’s word and followed it. He was a bible man.
What is clear is that Simon’s life and the life of this unnamed woman are also radically different beneath the surface. She recognizes her need. Simon does not. Simon believes her needs have disqualified her and that he is safe and secure on the inside.
And it is with that which is happening beneath the surface that Jesus is most concerned. At the end of the passage it is the woman who is safe and secure in Jesus’ kingdom and Simon who is left on the outside looking in.
Jesus does not condone the woman’s past behavior. He calls sin sin. But her past behavior does not disqualify her for membership in his kingdom. Simon’s inability (unwillingness?) to see his own need is what disqualifies him.
Lent is, among other things, a time to recognize our own need - our sins, which are many. But, we do so “without fear, for the judge is our savior” (as it is so beautifully put in Our World Belongs to God). In fact, it is in the un-recognition of our need wherein lies the danger.
“I see her, Simon. I know her.
And I know you, Simon.
And I am more worried about you than I am about her.”
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