Text: Luke 7:36–50
Date: November 23, 2022
Event: Thanksgiving Eve, Set 1
Luke 7:36–50 (EHV)
A certain one of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him. Jesus entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37Just then a sinful woman from that town learned that he was reclining in the Pharisee’s house. She brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38stood behind him near his feet weeping, and began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she began to wipe them with her hair while also kissing his feet and anointing them with the perfume. 39When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would realize who is touching him and what kind of woman she is, because she is a sinner.”
40Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
He said, “Teacher, say it.”
41“A certain moneylender had two debtors. The one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42When they could not pay, he forgave them both. So, which of them will love him more?”
43Simon answered, “I suppose the one who had the larger debt forgiven.”
Then he told him, “You have judged correctly.” 44Turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house, but you did not give me water for my feet. Yet she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45You did not give me a kiss, but she, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfume. 47Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that is why she loved so much. But the one who is forgiven little loves little.” 48Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.”
49Those reclining at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
50He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
God’s Love Produces Thankful Love
Are there certain things that someone can do for you that inspire overwhelming joy? Maybe the kids pick up their rooms without being asked. Maybe someone could make your favorite meal or invite you over to watch the game. Maybe someone can sit and talk with you during a difficult time. We each have different things that really resonate for us, and probably even have different things at different times.
But while there are differences in what brings up the joy in our hearts, probably the desire to express that joy is universal. You want to make clear how much you appreciate what that person has done for you, how meaningful it was, or how special they are to you. Love shown to you produces a desire to show thankful love.
And we have an example of that tonight in our Gospel. We meet up with Jesus in the middle of his ministry. He’s been teaching the crowds and the Pharisees have been in there, listening, trying to figure out what to make of Jesus. To that end, one of them named Simon invites Jesus to his home for a meal. As is made clear quickly, this is not a believer rejoicing in God’s promised Messiah. This is not a repentant person showing thankful love to his God. This is someone who is curious but also doubtful about who Jesus is and wants some more one-on-one time with him to try to figure him out.
We’re told that in the midst of the meal, a “sinful woman” appeared at the dinner. We don’t know who she was, and while tradition often tries to label this woman as one of the named followers of Jesus, the Holy Spirit doesn’t give us enough information to identify her. But we have plenty of information to understand her heart and mind. Just then a sinful woman from that town learned that he was reclining in the Pharisee’s house. She brought an alabaster jar of perfume, stood behind him near his feet weeping, and began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she began to wipe them with her hair while also kissing his feet and anointing them with the perfume. She cleans his feet with her tears and hair and anoints them with an expensive perfume.
The woman’s tears show us something that Jesus will confirm in just a moment. This “sinful” woman (perhaps she was a prostitute by profession or had been wrapped up in some other public sin) is not proud and boastful about her sin. Sorrow over sin, which we often call contrition, fills her heart. But notice how she does not despair—rather she comes to the one whom she knows and believes forgives sins. Her tears might rightly be seen as sorrowful and joyful at the same time. In Jesus, this woman has found forgiveness and restoration to God. Jesus says that this is the reason for her loving actions at that meal: Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that is why she loved so much.
God’s loving forgiveness produces this thankful love. One of Simon’s issues was that he didn’t feel that he had many (or even any) sins to forgive. He was confident in his righteousness. He felt he could stand before God on his own. The woman, though, had no such delusions. She knew what Simon denied—that she was a sinner deserving of God’s wrath. She valued Jesus’ forgiveness because she knew just how much she had to forgive.
We would love to sit here this evening and identify with the woman, right? “If I had been there, I’d have been weeping in thankful joy along with her!” we might say. But would we? How often does the pharisaical comparative bug bite us? How often do we look at the people who have very public, flagrant sins in their lives and think, “Well, at least I know better than that person. At least I’m not doing those things”?
Let’s not follow Simon’s lead here, though the sinful nature in each of us constantly wants to justify ourselves. If we spend any amount of time comparing ourselves to other people in a way that would say, “Well, my standing with God is secure because I’m not like this person,” we’ve radically misunderstood ourselves and God.
Each of us carries a burden of sin. For some of us, that sin is public, but for others, it’s much more private, perhaps known only to ourselves and God. But the reality is, God doesn’t measure quantity. God’s demands are perfection or nothing. So the person who has one sin and the person who has a billion sins are equal in God’s eyes: each are “sinners.” And neither person can do anything to get rid of one part of the this debt.
So Jesus comes. God himself takes on our human nature to live the flawless life that God demanded, but to do so in our place. Jesus’ message to the people was one of forgiveness of sins in himself. At the very end of Jesus’ ministry, Mary from Bethany, Martha’s and Lazarus’ sister, will do something similar for Jesus. In joy she will anoint him with costly perfume to, as Jesus says, prepare him for his burial. Mary looked ahead to what Jesus was going to do. Not only living that flawless life to credit to her, but also that he would die to pay her debt. This woman at Simon’s meal was looking ahead to the same assurance.
Jesus has addressed our burden of sin as well. Public, private, glaring, or secret, Jesus takes all of that sin on himself. He takes it off of your shoulders and mine and puts it on his. He dies to pay for our hell, and his perfect life is given to us. We can gush joyful tears because we have been forgiven. And the Holy Spirit gives us the faith to trust and cling to Jesus as our Savior. Through that faith we benefit from what Jesus has done, so that Jesus can say to you and me what he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
So, how do you respond to sacrificial love like this? How do you respond to Jesus’ forgiveness? Well, in part we’re doing it right now. Songs and prayers of praise, time in his Word, all of it is sitting at Jesus feet. Our praise ascribes him honor in the same way that the woman’s perfume did. We thank him by… thanking him.
But God also gives us the opportunity to thank him by being generous to others. How can you be generous to your family to show your love for them and also thank Jesus at the same time? How can you be generous to strangers in need by showing empathy for them and also thanking Jesus at the same time? How can you be generous to those who need to hear the gospel message of this forgiveness and also thank Jesus at the same time?
We show thankful love to God by being generous to individuals who need our support. We show thankful love to God by supporting a charity that can do more work than you and I can as individuals. We show thankful love to God by supporting our congregation with time and resources so that all of us here can be reminded of this good news about Jesus, and that those who don’t know this message yet may hear of their Savior’s eternal love. Our worship and praise, our actions and attitudes, all of it is wrapped up in the love of God shown to us in Jesus. These are all ways that we can tell Jesus, perhaps through tears, “Thank you.”
So, my dear sisters and brothers, find your motivation to be thankful in Jesus. Find your opportunity to be thankful in serving him and others in their needs. Find your opportunity to rejoice always in the Lord not just on a holiday but always, for you have been forgiven much—all—and heaven stands waiting for you. Thank you, dear Jesus! Amen!
