Introduction
One of the
by-products of growing older is often dealing with the consequences of bad
choices I’ve made in my life to this point. Some of those consequences I’ve
paid for along the way and some have been dormant and building gradually for
decades. I have no doubt I’ll be paying for those one day too. Sometimes, a
person can’t help but think about how they would do things differently if given
A Second Chance to do it over.
Nevertheless, I’m not at all an advocate of dwelling on past mistakes unless
they can help us avoid making the same mistakes in the future. One of the
positive by-products of making mistakes, particularly for parents, is being able
to help our children not make the same mistakes we did. Unfortunately, while
recalling our mistakes might serve as lesson material, it does nothing to
change the fact that mistakes were made. In this way, mistakes are like
toothpaste in that once you squeeze toothpaste out of the tube, you can’t put
it back in!
This can describe
our life in relation to God as well if you think about it. Whenever we sin,
it’s like squeezing all the
toothpaste out of a tube. For years, people have desperately tried to deal with
their own sins through their own efforts either in the way they live or by
meticulously keeping a set of rules or by engaging in some complex religious
rituals. However, trying to manage or deal with our own sins is like trying to
stuff all that toothpaste we squeezed out back into the tube. What we really
need is a new tube of toothpaste. What we really need is a clean slate; A Second Chance. In reality though, no
matter what we do, we can’t undo our mistakes regardless of how sorry we may
be. All we can really do is accept the punishment and/or consequences for those
mistakes—no second chances. While that can be difficult and painful when we sin
against another person, it can be devastating and catastrophic when we sin
against God. And here’s the bad news, every sin we commit is first and foremost
committed against God and the punishment for our sins, any of our sins, is
death.
But what if
there’s another option? What if God Himself gives us another option? What would
you do; how would you react if God gave you A Second Chance for dealing with your sins? Luke tells the story of
a woman who washes Jesus’ feet with her tears and then dries them with her
hair. Many of you are very familiar with this story and if you’re like me,
you’ve always assumed that her tears must have something to do with the fact
that she’s identified as a “sinful woman” and is seeking some favor from Jesus.
Well let’s reserve our judgment of that until after we’ve had an opportunity to
take a closer look at the story. Perhaps there is another explanation for her
tears.
Subject Text
Luke 7:36-50
36Now one of the
Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's
house and reclined at the table. 37When a woman who had lived a
sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house,
she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38and 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.
39When 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.” 40Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell
you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said.
41“Two men owed money
to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other
fifty. 42Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he
canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43Simon
replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.” “You have judged
correctly,” Jesus said.
44Then 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. 45You did not give me a kiss,
but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46You
did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47Therefore,
I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven–for she loved much. But he who has
been forgiven little loves little.” 48Then Jesus said to her, “Your
sins are forgiven.” 49The other guests began to say among
themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” 50Jesus said to
the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Context
This is one of my
favorite stories in the Bible. It has so many teaching elements and intricacies
that it has the potential of applying to all of us in some respect. Before we begin
the analysis of our Subject Text,
it’s important, as usual, to understand the context. At the beginning of
Chapter 7, we learn that Jesus has entered the city of Capernaum where He heals
the servant of a Roman Centurian. Thereafter, Jesus travels south about twenty
miles to the town of Nain. In Nain, Jesus encounters a funeral procession and
proceeds to raise the dead son of a widow. While in Nain, something very
important happened, John the Baptist sent two of his disciples to Jesus to ask
Him if He was the One, the long-awaited Messiah, or should they be expecting
someone else. 7:22 records Jesus’ now famous response to John when He says: “The
blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf
hear, the dead are raised and the good news is preached to the poor.” These words
will have special meaning for us as we dig deeper into our Subject Text.
Text Analysis
36Now
one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the
Pharisee's house and reclined at the table.
Verse 36 sets the stage for our story.
Jesus is invited to dinner at a Pharisee’s house. If you could only read this
first verse and nothing else, what do you picture that dinner would have been
like? Can you think of one time when an encounter between Jesus and the
Pharisees ended well? You don’t have to go very far back in Luke’s text for an
object lesson in what happens when you mix Jesus and the Pharisees (cf. Luke 5:21-26, 5:30-39, 6:6-11). But
we’ll soon see that this encounter turns out to be far less contentious;
perhaps even an opportunity for transformation for this Pharisee. In this
middle-eastern setting, dinner guests lounged on the floor around a “U” shaped
table with their feet away from the table. It is important to remember that
people traveled by foot along the same travel routes as animals. Consequently,
sandaled feet could be quite disgusting at times. This provides the opportunity
for devotion to Jesus that follows.
37When
a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating
at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38and
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.
The first thing
that should pique your curiosity about vv.
37-38 is how a woman, identified as one who “lived a sinful life,” shows up
in the Pharisee’s house along with Jesus. Not so curious, however, when we
understand the custom of their day. “At special meals the door was left open,
so uninvited guests could enter, sit by the walls, and hear the
conversation...That the woman’s action is rebuked and her presence is not
suggests a special, public meal.”[1]
However, her presence in the home could pose a difficult problem for the
Pharisee committed to “holiness and purity laws attached to Pharisaic meal
practices.”[2]
The woman is only identified as one who “lived a sinful
life.” Historically, it has been assumed that she is either a prostitute or an
adulteress of some sort since her sin is obviously quite public. More important
is the scene that unfolds before us as this woman washes Jesus’ feet with her
tears. The English translation does not do justice to the scene. The woman is
not quietly crying. Instead, “The weeping is obviously significant, because the
term used to describe it, is also used to describe rain showers.”[3]
The woman goes on to dry Jesus’ feet with her hair, kissed them and then
anointed them with expensive perfume. Contrast this with the how the Pharisee
greeted Jesus when he entered his home; he did nothing for Jesus. Although it
was not specifically required, guests, especially honored guests, would have
their feet washed by a house servant or at least given fresh water to wash
their own feet, would be greeted with a kiss on the cheek or hand and then
would be anointed by having a small amount of common olive oil poured on their
heads. The Pharisee did none of this while the woman went far beyond what was
required.
39When
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.”
The Pharisee calls
into question Jesus’ credentials in v.
39 as a “prophet” because he believes Jesus is unknowingly being defiled by
a “sinner” and a “true prophet” would know she is a sinner and distance himself
from her. Keep in mind that the text is clear that the Pharisee thought these
things “to himself.” In vv. 40-43,
Jesus tells a parable in response to the Pharisee’s thoughts—not what the Pharisee said but what he was
thinking! We often breeze right over this part to get to Jesus’ parable and
neglect the divine significance of this point. Imagine for a moment what it
would be like to sit across from someone who knows everything you are thinking!
Awkward, right? Well you don’t have to imagine what that’s like because the
truth is, God always knows what you are thinking. Knowing that, will it affect
the thoughts you allow to linger in your head? It is unlikely that this
particular Pharisee ever “thought” of questioning Jesus’ prophetic credentials
again.
40Jesus answered him, “Simon, I
have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said.
41“Two
men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and
the other fifty. 42Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so
he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43Simon
replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.” “You have judged
correctly,” Jesus said.
The parable in vv. 40-43 tells the story of two
debtors; one owing 500 denarii and the other owing 50 denarii and that neither
could pay back their debt. It is difficult to contextualize this part of the
story because we are unfamiliar with the value of a denarii. Historically, 25
denarii would be approximately one month’s wage for the average person.
However, this does not begin to explain the extremity of these two numbers. In
modern terms, the sense of disparity would be analogous to the difference
between an average car loan and an average home loan. In other words, there is
a monumental difference between the two debts.
There is an
important characteristic to note in the interaction between Jesus and this
Pharisee that we do not find anywhere else in Scripture; Jesus addresses him by
his first name, Simon. This is intensely personal and should not be overlooked.
In most cases, Jesus is very harsh with Pharisees because He knows they are
usually being disingenuous in their words and actions. But with Simon, Jesus
takes a much softer approach by addressing him personally.
Jesus goes on to
tell the story that the debt of each man is forgiven and asks Simon which man
would love more as a result. Simon answers correctly yet his answer is
nevertheless prefixed with the words “I suppose.” Simon is obviously being very
careful with his answers but it’s too late, he’s answered it correctly and
unknowingly indicted himself in the process. Jesus’ point of the parable is
that God is the creditor and the two debtors represent the woman who owes much
and Simon who owes little (even if that’s only in his mind) and that the level
of love and gratitude is directly related to the magnitude of the grace and forgiveness
received.
44Then
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. 45You did not give me a
kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet.
46You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my
feet. 47Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven–for
she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” 48Then
Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49The other guests
began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
Jesus justifies
the woman's actions in vv. 44-49 as
those of one who has received forgiveness for her many sins. Some mistakenly
take this text to mean that Jesus has forgiven her because of her actions
toward him. However, it is clear from the text that she has had an encounter
with Jesus prior to them having arrived at the dinner. The force of the parable
makes clear that love is generated after the debt is cancelled and not as a
means to receive the favor to cancel a debt. “In fact, the reference to
forgiveness in the [Greek] perfect tense [in v. 47] stresses that she is in a state of forgiveness.”[4]
Instead, Jesus’ public pronouncement of the woman’s previous forgiveness is a
means of restoring her to the community. “His words are unnecessary as far as
she as an individual was concerned; she has already been forgiven and has acted
in accordance with her new-found freedom. Others, however, are unaware of her
new state and, like Simon, will continue to regard her as ‘a woman known in the
city as a sinner.’ She does not need forgiveness from God, but she does need
recognition of her new life and forgiveness among God’s people.”[5]
Unfortunately, as is often the case, some people completely ignore what just
happened and focus on Jesus’ act of forgiveness as something that only God has
the authority to do without considering the possibility that Jesus does, in
fact, have that authority because He is “the One” that John was referring to in
7:19.
50Jesus said to the
woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Remember earlier I
said that Jesus told John the good news was being preached to the poor? Well
this woman would have been considered one of the poor in Jesus’ mind. She was
poor spiritually, physically and socially. Jesus’ pronouncement in v. 50 “cannot be limited to ‘spiritual’
well-being or even, in other co-texts, to ‘physical’ vitality, but speaks of a
restoration to wholeness, including (even if not limited to) restoration to the
full social intercourse from which she has been excluded.”[6]
Application
Some people glean
from this text that there is a hierarchy of sin either in quality or in
quantity. Although this may be true culturally, it is not necessarily true
theologically. In other words, all
sin requires forgiveness and reconciliation. The force of this teaching
revolves around the perception of our own sin. Specifically, most of us believe
we are quite good at objectifying and categorizing someone else's sin as being
either egregious or benign in nature. However, we are rarely harsh about our
own sin as we compare them to the sins of others. In fact, we tend to think that
God is probably thankful that He has people like us since the scale is already
so heavily tipped toward those awful “sinners.” I'm being cynical of course
(sort of). But at various times in my life, I have played the role of both
debtors from Jesus’ parable. I can speak from personal experience that during
the times in my life when I played the role of Simon, my relationship with
Jesus was distant and cold. However, during the times of my life when I played
the role of the “sinner,” I was desperately in love with Jesus and my relationship
with Him flourished.
There is a
two-fold lesson to be learned from our Subject
Text. The first is our attitude toward sinners. “It is so easy to wall
people off subtly from God and give the impression they are beyond God’s reach,
rather than trying sincerely to bring them into the sphere of God’s forgiveness.”[7]
We must make a conscious effort to continuously reach out to sinners with our
words and in our actions to demonstrate “the love of God expressed in the offer
of forgiveness.”[8]
The second lesson is the constant and honest assessment of our own sin; not in
comparison to the sins of others but in terms of God’s perfect standard and what
our sins cost Jesus. Specifically, “sin” cost Jesus His life—any sin, all sin,
every sin. There is no sin that would not have cost Jesus his life. This means
that when we kneel before Christ at the foot of the cross, we are all equal—first
sinners deserving death, then forgiven receiving new life. Armed with that
knowledge, how will it affect your life? Have you experienced spiritual,
physical, emotional, and/or relational restoration? If you have, then you have
received A Second Chance.
[1]
Darrell L. Bock, Luke 1:1-9:50 Exegetical
Commentary on the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1994), pp.
694-695.
[2]
Joel Green, The Gospel of Luke, The New
International Commentary on the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: William
B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997), p. 308.
[3]
Bock, ECNT, p. 696.
[4]
Bock, ECNT, p. 703.
[5]
Green, NICNT, p. 314.
[6]
Ibid.
[7]
Darrell Bock, Luke, The NIV Application
Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996), p. 224.
[8]
Ibid.
(Audio version; Music: "To Be Like You" by: Hillsong and "Revelation Song" by: Phillips, Craig, and Dean)
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