Sermon for the week of Trinity 11
Romans 10:4-18 + Luke 7:36-50
On Sunday, we considered Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. This evening, we consider, not the parable, but the real-life story of the Pharisee and the sinful woman, in which a similar lesson is being taught.
The three main characters here are Jesus, the unnamed woman, and Simon the Pharisee. As Jesus reclines at the table at Simon’s house, a woman enters and approaches Jesus with great humility—like the tax collector who went up to the temple to pray. Jesus is reclining at the table, as they did back then, with His feet pointed outward, away from the table. So the woman stands behind Jesus, near His feet, weeping, and her tears fall on His feet. Then she kneels down and wipes them with her hair. She kisses them repeatedly. And she pours myrrh on them, a costly perfume.
Remember what Isaiah wrote, which the apostle Paul quoted in the first Lesson you heard tonight? How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation. That verse refers to all ministers of the Gospel, but only because it was Jesus Himself who first proclaimed that good news, that “Gospel” of good things, of salvation, the promise that God will freely forgive sins to everyone who comes to Jesus, the Lamb of God, in humility and in faith, even to the sinner who is guilty of the filthiest acts, as the woman at Simon’s house apparently was, and who has lived in open or in secret hostility toward God his whole life. Or her whole life.
To a person like that, like the sinful woman in the Gospel, the feet of Jesus, the Son of God, the One who came from God to atone for her sins with His own blood, and to bring her a promise of free forgiveness and reconciliation with God—to her, His feet were truly beautiful, and her tears and her peculiar attention to Jesus’ feet flowed from a heart that knew just how badly she had offended her God, just how tightly she had formerly embraced the filthy devil and his ways, just how close she had been to eternal death, but now, just how wonderful her God was, who loved her still, and who offered her forgiveness of those sins, and eternal life in His presence, and salvation from the slavery to sin and death, through this Son of Man and Son of God reclining at the table in front of her.
But to Simon, a self-righteous Pharisee, who already thought he was better than most people, who had never lived an openly detestable life, her behavior there in his house was inexplicable, and even disgusting, and Jesus’ acceptance of it spoke poorly of Him, in Simon’s eyes. If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of a woman this is, and he would send her away in the disgrace she deserves.
But Jesus took pity on Simon, too, and told him a very simple, very gentle parable to snap him out of his self-righteous condemnation of that woman who had shown such humility and love to Jesus. More than that, to cause him to reflect on his own sins before God, which were not actually as few as he imagined.
Two men owed money to a lender. One owed, let’s say $100,000. The other owed $10,000. Neither could pay, so the lender, in his mercy, forgave them both the entire debt. Which one would be more grateful? Which one would love the lender more? Obviously, the one who owed ten times more, and, therefore, had been forgiven ten times more.
Then Jesus goes on to show how that little parable played out in real life. The woman who knew how terribly sinful she was, how great her debt to God was, and how hot the hell was that she deserved, was promised the forgiveness of her enormous debt through Jesus. And so she loved Him very much. She showed that love by her tender, humble acts of devotion toward Jesus, with her tears and her hair and her kisses on Jesus’ feet and her pouring out of the expensive perfume that she had probably used before, on herself, as she practiced her sinful adultery. But now she pours it out on Jesus’ feet, as one who has abandoned her sinful life and has found forgiveness with Jesus, and a new life devoted to Him.
Simon, on the other hand, as Jesus Himself points out, didn’t even show Jesus the customary courtesies of a dinner host. No water for Jesus even to wash His own feet. No kiss of greeting on the cheek. No oil to anoint the head. Simon thought very little of Jesus, because he thought very little of his own sins, and so he didn’t view Jesus as having done anything very great for him. The one who thinks little of his sins thinks little of Jesus, too. Her sins, Jesus says, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.
The woman’s demonstration of love showed everyone the faith that God had already worked in her heart, and so Jesus says to her, Your sins are forgiven…Your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Now, which came first, the pronouncement of forgiveness on Jesus’ part, or the faith, or the acts of love on her part? Well, first came the word about Jesus that brought her there in the first place, that He is kind and gracious, and that He forgives sins in God’s name to all who humble themselves before Him. That word came first. Then, clearly the faith came next, which came from the word she had already heard about Jesus, which brought her to this dinner hall and which already made her a forgiven daughter of God. Then came the acts of love. And then came the public pronouncement of forgiveness, affirming that her love flowed from faith in sins already forgiven, a testimony of the righteousness that was hers by faith. And so Jesus told her, Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you. That pronouncement of forgiveness, like the pastor’s absolution, also gave her another firm and solid word of God on which to rest her faith and build her faith, so that the next time her conscience troubled her over her past sins, the next time Satan tried to remind her of what a wretched person she was, the next time a Pharisee or another person should treat her with contempt because of her sinful past, she could turn back to those words Jesus spoke to her, again and again, and be comforted again by the word of Christ’s forgiveness.
So let this account of the Pharisee and the sinful woman stick with you. Your debt of sin is far greater than you imagine it to be. Not one of us here needs to be forgiven only a little. So come to Jesus daily in humility and repentance. And believe, trust in the faithful Lord Jesus, who is the atoning sacrifice for your sins, and not only for yours, but for the sins of the whole world. Know that God promises to forgive everyone who humbles himself and believes in Jesus. And so, whether it’s the promise of the Gospel that you hear in every sermon, or whether it’s your Baptism, or the Lord’s Supper, applied to you individually, or the absolution from the pastor, in church or in private, cling to those promises and know that when God, through His minister, pronounces you forgiven, not even hell itself can override it. And finally, let demonstrations of love flow from God’s forgiveness, so that everything you do is done out of much love and devotion for Jesus, your merciful Redeemer, who has forgiven you much. Amen.
