During the course of our Lord's
ministry, he moved about, made contact with many people, some
in great crowds and some individuals, some in the public square, some
in the homes, but this incident takes place in a home of a Pharisee. That's kind of unusual. So, Luke
7, 36 to the end of the chapter. And one of the Pharisees desired
him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's
house and sat down to meet. And behold, a woman in the city,
which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meet in
the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash
his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her
head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. And when the Pharisee which had
bidden him saw it, he spake unto himself, or in himself, saying,
This man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what manner
of woman this is, that touches him, for she is a sinner. And Jesus answering said unto
him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto you. And he said, Master,
say on. That was a certain creditor which
had two debtors, the one owed five hundred pence and the other
fifteen. And when they had nothing to
pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which
of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose
that he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, thou hast
rightly judged. And he turned to the woman and
said unto Simon, see thou, this woman, I entered into your house. You never gave me water for my
feet, but she hath washed my feet with tears, wiped them with
the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss. But this
woman, since the time I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my
feet. My head with oil thou didst not
anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore,
I say unto thee, her sins which are many are forgiven, for she
loved or loves much. But to whom little is forgiven,
the same loves little. And he said unto her, that is
the woman, thy sins are forgiven. And they that said it meet with
him began to say within themselves, who is this that forgiveth sins
also? And he said to the woman, thy
faith has saved thee. Go in peace. Now let me do some
explaining, as Desi used to say. When I began to study this passage
of the scripture and use it for the text, I found that there
are similar incidents recorded in the other gospel where women
did the same thing, similar unto our Lord anointing his feet and
such like. We have one in Matthew chapter
26 verse 6 and following. We have one in Mark chapter 14
verse 3 through 9 and we have two in the Gospel of John. one in chapter 11 and verse 2,
and another one in chapter 12, verses 1 through 8. Now, the last two places, that
is, in John, identify that particular woman as Mary. Mary, the sister of Lazarus,
and another sister. And there are some who make all
of these one and the same woman. And I disagree with that after
some reflection and study. And so for several reasons we
distinguish between them and this particular woman in Luke
chapter 7 as we move along. Because I don't think we can
justify in the scripture where Mary The sister of Lazarus is
ever described as a great sinner, as was this woman. Now, there
are three actors that are in this drama. that we want to put
our attention on. Number one, there is the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God from heaven, in the flesh dwelling
among men. Number two, there is a Pharisee,
and we learn that his name is Simon. And he is the host, and
he has invited our Lord, for what reason we'll try to figure
later, to dine with him in his private home. And thirdly, there
is that woman who came in and made a scene, if you will, by
the great honor and the great reverence that she showed and
bestowed upon our Lord Jesus Christ. And now the question
is how this came together. For look what diverse people
and backgrounds we have that are met together in this place
at this time. There is the Lord Jesus Christ. the Son of God dwelling in flesh,
God manifest in flesh. There is a self-righteous Pharisee,
one who practiced the religion of the Pharisee of that time. And then there is a woman, we
know nothing about name or nationality, but we do know that she is a
woman that had a very sinful past and an awful reputation
for that. And it came together, or it came
to be, on this wise, when in verse 36, one of the Pharisees,
by the name of Simon, in verse 40, desired that the Lord would
be a guest with him at his home for a meal. He extended an invitation
unto our Lord, and the Lord accepted and dwelled in his house. Now, notice again the man's religious
affiliation. He was a Pharisee, and according
to Paul, this was the most straightest sect of the Jewish religion,
as Paul would define it in Acts 26 and verse 5. It was the largest
sect also of Judaism. It was the most opposed unto
Christ, and it was literally filled with hypocrisy and self-righteousness
in their religion? Now, these questions seem appropriate. What was this man's interest
and motive in requesting or inviting the Lord to become his guest
at a meal? Remember, Nicodemus also came
and had an audience with our Lord, and there were others. So what was this man's motive
or interest in inviting the Lord to dwell with him? Well, A, was
it that he wanted to ask the Lord how to be saved? Start a
conversation, kind of like Nicodemus did. Did he come that he might
inquire about the salvation of his soul? Or B, would he set
a trap for our Lord as they sometimes did, in order they might catch
him in some error and expose him as a fraud and denigrate
him in the eye of the Jew. Was he sincere or how sincere
was this man in inviting Christ? Or could it be that Jesus of
Nazareth was invited by this man because he was a controversial
figure? Very controversial. He was a
very polarizing figure, the Lord Jesus. Either you were for him
or against him, it would seem in that day. There were strong
opposing views of this man called Jesus, and the people were greatly
divided about him. Some called him a devil. Some called him a prophet. Some
believed that he was the actual Messiah come in the flesh. What did he think about Jesus
of Nazareth? Did he invite the Lord that he
might get a closer look and a personal hearing for him so as to confirm
confirm some existing opinion or question that he had in his
mind. We note in verse 35 that he judges
the Lord from the standpoint of of a prophet, if this fellow
were a prophet. Some did indeed take Jesus to
be a prophet, Matthew chapter 21 and verse 11. And Christ himself refers to
himself as a prophet without honor in his own house. Whatever
be the motive of the man in inviting the Lord, there was a providential
act of God that all but overruled it in the person of the woman. For up to this event, as David
Brown wrote, this Pharisee was somewhat undecided what to make
of the Lord and of his message and all of that. And Brown wrote
that perhaps he invited the Lord, quote, to obtain material for
a judgment," unquote, that he might hear more and that he might
settle in his mind the question, who is this Jesus of Nazareth? And in came the most unexpected
and surprising thing in verse 37, probably the meal or maybe
had already began. And the guests, including Jesus,
in that number, reclining at the table of Simon to have their
meal. When all of a sudden, a woman
appeared in the house, And she became immediately the center
of attention for what she did. Now, we read that she was a woman
of the city. She was not a foreigner. She
was a resident. Also, she is described as a sinner. And she came in carrying a box
containing alabaster ointment. Now, we know that all are sinners,
that all have come short of the glory of God. But the meaning
here is she had led an unusual, immoral life. She had been an
open sinner. and her reputation was one who
had lived in wickedness and it was known by the people of the
city. Perhaps she had been shunned
by quote decent unquote people and some have numbered her even
among the prostitute of that day. Now we're bound to concede
that she is now a new woman, that she has a complete change
of attitude and of life. These are not the acts of a prolific
person or woman. So why did she intrude into this
occasion? Why not stand around the wall
like all of the others did that came in out of curiosity? We wonder, was she a friend or
a family member of Simon? Absolutely not. For he referred
to her as an outcast and a sinful woman. Verse 39, was she simply
curious, having also heard a lot about the Lord? Maybe having
heard her himself on a particular occasion? Or did she come that
she might hope to partake of the food of Simon's table and
a free meal? I think not. for this woman had
meat to eat that they knew not of, as our Lord said, upon one
occasion. So why then did she come? Well, verse 37 tells us. She heard, she knew, or she saw
that Jesus was there. She came in only because of the
presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when she came in, She greeted
none other, she went straight to him and began to perform one
of the most amazing acts of humility and worship that we meet with
anywhere in the sacred scripture. Verse 38, she stood at his feet
behind. It is said that the custom of
that day was for the guest of the family to recline on a little
couch or something in order that they eat. And their feet were
not under the table, but reclining and pointing away from the table,
having shed their sandals in entering into the home. So she
went to his feet, and she intended to anoint the Lord's feet and
head with the ointment that she had in her box. And as she was
to do so, the fountain of tears of this woman was opened like
a flood, showering the Lord's feet there with the very tears
out of her eyes, enough actually to wash the Lord's feet and to
wash away the dust that had gotten in his journey to Simon's house. And as she wept and as she washed,
she repeatedly kissed the feet of our blessed Lord, gushing
tears. Now this was not planned or contrived
for a show of any kind, but it was a spontaneous reaction to
what she felt in her emotion at that particular time. It was
not from external compulsion. or restraint, or constraint.
It was from an internal, uncontrollable impulse, emotion, and feeling
that gripped the woman. It's not that she made herself
cry and opened her tears for the show, or to be thought humble,
or to impress those present. But the emotion actually gushed
out from the present feeling and emotion in her heart, and
yet is there more for having no towel nor asking the favor
of one from Simon? The woman literally makes a towel
out of the hair of her own head. And with it, she wipes and dries
and cleanses the feet of the Lord, showing that her hair must
have been long and flowing, sufficiently long that she might use it in
the manner described in this text. Now, we should note a couple
of things, I believe, about this. Number one. Forget it. There is nothing seductive and
there is nothing sensuous at all about this. not on the part
of the woman, and certainly not on the part of the Lord. She is not acting sensuously
or under fleshly desire, but under an emotion of thanksgiving
unto God. And the second thing, the Lord
does not rebuke her. He does not say, here woman,
stop that. This is very unseemly. He does
not rebuff her for her acts. He actually commends her acts
to Simon and accepts her actions as acts of love at the joy of
forgiveness. This is a joy of forgiveness. She loved much for having been
forgiven much, and that drives the action of the woman. Well,
the Pharisee was simply aghast at this and could not believe
what his eyes had seen. Now, he does not speak out loud,
but in his thoughts, which are these. Oh, wait a minute. This
man, if he were a prophet of God indeed, He would know what
manner of woman this is, and that she is a sinner. He would not have allowed it,
reasons Simon, if he had known who this woman was, for if he
were a discerning prophet, led of God and a servant of Jehovah
than the Pharisee reasoned within himself, he would know that this
woman is a sinner and would avoid her and send her away. But the Pharisee reasoned Since
he does not reject her as the sinner that she is, he lacks
discernment of a prophet. He's no prophet. Now the Jews
believe that the prophet of God would have discernment and be
able to know such things as this. And this is as if it were settled
in the mind of Simon the Pharisee. Yes, this man is no prophet,
that he might reach the conclusion. Since he's not discerning about
the state and the condition and the morality of this woman, he's
no prophet, is what he came to the conclusion. But the Lord
did then prove himself to be a prophet exactly as the Pharisee
had expected, yea, more than a prophet. And he did this by
reading the unexpressed thought in the heart of Simon the Pharisee. It said he answered him. His
thoughts, if this man were a prophet, he would know this woman, and
he said the Lord answered him. And Jesus knew, therefore, the
thoughts of the self-righteous Pharisee. Looking at verse 40
through verse 43, he gives Simon, the Lord does, a very short parable
much like Samuel did to David when he confronted him about
his sin. But our Lord speaks a very short
parable to awaken him to his own shortcoming. And in verse
44 through verse 46, he gives then a sharp rebuke. In short,
the Lord shows Simon he not only knew the moral state of the woman,
but he read Simon's thought of his heart as well. And by the
way, this was a common thing and practice with our Lord, that
he knew the hearts of men, he knew what was in man, as it says
in the end of John chapter two. Here's some example in Isaiah
chapter 66, verse 18. I know their thoughts. I know their works and their
thoughts. Yes, I know everyone. Matthew 9, 4, Jesus knowing their
thoughts, that is, they thought that he blasphemed in claiming
the ability to forgive sin. Jesus knew their thoughts. Matthew
12 and 25, and Jesus knew their thoughts, which were that he
had cast out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of the devil. In Luke
6 and verse 8, but he knew their thoughts. They were thinking,
wait, We'll get him if he healed upon the Sabbath day. Again,
in Luke 11 and 17. John 2, 24, 25. John 6, 61. They knew he knew what Judas
would do. And so the Lord was a prophet
that could read the heart and discern the thought. Now, the
parable is this. Let's look at it. There is in
the parable a creditor. one who loans money, one who
lends out, a lender. And he had two particular people
that owed him a debt. This lender was owed a debt from
two. And there was a great guff, however,
fixed between the amount which the two owed the lender. This is important. We will come
before us again later. One owed 500 pence. or denarii,
and the other owed 50. One of them owed a great debt,
one owed a smaller. McGill noted here the debt of
the one was 10 times larger than the other. So their debts were
not equal. One owed a great deal more. Now make note of the difference,
for it is helpful in understanding the point to be made concerning
the sinful woman and her action. See the words in verse 42. When
they both had nothing to pay, both were or became insolvent. Both were bankrupt as to the
ability to pay. Both had suffered financial ruin. If we may say it in East Texas
term, they were busted, they were flat broke. They had nothing
to pay their debt at all. All ability for them to repay
their debt. and get in good standing with
the creditor was gone. And yet look what the creditor
did. The creditor did one of the most remarkable thing that
reflects what our Lord has done unto us. He frankly forgave them
both. Not just the small one, but the
large one too. And he forgave the full amount. And he did not prorate the debt,
having forgiven the smaller, to forgive the same amount of
the larger debt. But he fully forgave both of
their debts. forgave them in full. And the
word frankly here, I don't know why they translated it this way
in King James. It's only here that this Greek
word, I think, is translated frankly. For in other places,
it is rendered forgive, forgiven, given, deliver, freely. And it's the same word that we
have in Colossians chapter 2 and verse 13, where Paul writes,
having forgiven you all trespasses." Same word used here. Now, the
lender, the creditor, struck the debt off of the books completely. He wiped out the ledger. He never
would bring it up against them anymore. Never would it be brought
up again. Their debt is gone. It is gone
by the graciousness of the lender to whom they owed the great debt.
Now in this there was a difference between them, but he freely forgave
them both, one lesser and the other greater. Now consider another
way, just throw this in. There is another way that the
creditor might have dealt with the debtors, and we read about
it in the scripture. He might have dealt with the
debtors, with another option that often was employed, and
that was to cast them in the debtor's prison until the debt
was cleared and was paid. I'd like to turn to Matthew chapter
18. There is a passage here that
talks about this. Matthew chapter 18, and I believe
it is verse 23, 4, and 5 that I want to read. Matthew 18, 23,
24, and 25. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king which
would take account of his service. And when he began to reckon,
one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents. But for as much as he had not
to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and
his children, and all that he had, and payment be made." into
bondage. And it goes on in that parable,
the debtor forgave him. But that man turned around and
one owed him and would not relent or pay or free him from the debt. So it is a matter or an option
that they could be cast into a debtor's prison because of
that. This is about forgiveness that
we're looking at. A man owed his king 10,000 talents. And the king ordered the man
sold as well as his wife and all that he had to satisfy the
debt that he had made. But he relented and he forgave
the debt, yet that man forgave not one that owed him. So that
one's based upon the premise of forgiveness. But let's go
back to Luke chapter 7. And verse 42, the Lord's question
to Simon, based upon the facts of the parable, which of the
two will love him more? He forgave both of them a different
amount. Which one will love him more? The difference between the two
was in the amount of the debt forgiven. This will be important
later when we come back to the woman. Simon answers in verse
43, I suppose, I guess, I presume the one to whom the most is forgiven. This is an obvious answer. How
in the world could it be any otherwise? And the Lord commends
Simon for it. He says, you've answered well.
You've said right. You've rightly judged the matter.
The one forgiven, the greater debt, will have greater love
and deeper appreciation to his creditor, for the debt hanging
heavy over his head could ruin him, his life and reputation. Should the creditor require it
of him, it could send him to the debtor's prison, for he had
nothing to pay. But notice. Having drawn an answer
from Simon, a correct answer, the Lord then applies the parable,
making a comparison between the acts of the woman toward Christ
and the acts of Simon toward the Lord. And that's in verse
44 and verse 46, if you look. Now, we need to understand a
custom which the Lord refers to and which Simon knew very
well. It was customary in that time
and in that place when receiving guests and visitors, or perhaps
even strangers, or entertaining them after a journey, it was
a custom to greet them with a welcoming kiss of hospitality, to offer
them water and a towel to wash their feet and the dust from
the journey, maybe refresh them with oil or some fragrance for
their head or for their clothes. And you see this practice in
the scripture. Abraham did it in Genesis chapter
18 and verse 4. In Judges 16 and 21, it was done. Genesis 29 and 13, Exodus 18
and 7 are just a few places where these courtesies were done to
those that came upon a journey. And here in verse 44 through
verse 46, is the comparison of what Simon did toward the Lord,
his invited guest, and what the woman did in verse 44. He says to him, verse 44, You
see this woman, in other words, you see what she's just done,
you see what she did unto me, what has she done, and what have
you done unto me? Verse 44, you did not give me
water or a towel to wash my feet, but she, on the other hand, sprinkled
my feet with tears and wiped them with a, made a towel out
of her hair. Verse 45, you did not greet me
with so much as a hospitable kiss when I entered in while
she has repeatedly kissed my feet since the time that I came
in. Then in verse 46, you did not
ask your servant to bring anointing oil that you might refresh me
while she anointed my feet. Not my feet, not my head only,
but also my feet. And that with ointment. and ointment,
no doubt costly, and with a great fragrance. Precious ointment
has she anointed me." Now, coming to verse 47 through verse 50,
where in the 47th verse, the Lord tells Simon why the woman
has done these things to the Lord, why she has gone beyond
Simon. Wherefore, for this reason, because
she is forgiven. She loves much. Her sins were many, but they
are forgiven. It is not that her love or her
humbling acts procured the forgiveness. It was not in that order. We
can prove this if we drop back to the two debtors in the parable,
whose debts were not wiped away because the debtors were civil,
or bragged upon, or loved their creditor. Not at all. It was
simply because he released them from the debt as an act of graciousness
unto them. So the woman. her weeping tears
on Jesus' feet, wiping them with her hair, kissing them repeatedly,
anointing his head, did not merit and it did not cause her to be
forgiven. Let's go back to the parable
of the lender who abolished their debt because he would. not because of any profit. There
is the difference between the amount forgiven on one hand and
the degree of love from the recipient on the other hand. The one with
the larger debt will love more, says our Lord. So the woman Her
sins were many, a great number. She was deep in her sin. And
there are several words here, or rather in the New Testament,
that are translated many. In the New Testament, many, much,
great in number. That's what she had, sins against
her. But they're forgiven. And because
of that, she loves the Lord much. the one who forgave her, just
as to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little, as is
said in the end of verse 47. The forgiveness came first, and
then the love, the joy, the appreciation, the emotion, and such like. Now
we notice in our text that the Lord twice declares the woman
the sinner whose sins were many to be forgiven. You see that
in verse 47 and you see it again in verse 48. Now notice that
verse 47 is spoken to Simon. I say unto you Her sins are forgiven. This is why she loves much. This is why she has acted in
this way. This is why she has wept her
tears on my feet, wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and
anointed my head. Simon, she is a forgiven woman. She has been a great sinner,
and having been forgiven much, she therefore loves much. And
her love is exhibited and is manifest in the things that you
have just seen her do. Then in verse 48, The Lord says
to the woman directly, your sins are forgiven, literally have
been forgiven. And I agree with those, J.C. Ryle, John Gill, Calvin, who
think that the woman forgiven and had a sense of it before
she so humbly adored and honored the Lord. And that is Owen Puddy,
quote, her great love was an evidence of great forgiveness
springing from the sense she had of such great forgiveness,
unquote. And her great forgiveness kindled
in her a great deep love unto the forgiver of her sin, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And this could not be unless
she had a sense of that forgiveness sealed up within her. Remember
in that recent study a couple of weeks ago, a justified conscience? Well, this is a part of that
believing justification in the conscience, that believers are
justified from all things for which they could not be justified
by the law. And in their calling, and in
their conversion, and the work of grace in their heart, they
have, quote, a fresh, vigorous sense of pardoning mercy, unquote. That is imparted unto them. They're made sensible. They feel
that great forgiveness, which is through Jesus Christ. And
they have a right to believe that their sins, which were many
and which were vile, have been forgiven. and blotted out by
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And Paul said in Ephesians 4.32,
God hath for Christ's sake forgiven you your sin on account of, by
means of Christ you are forgiven. And this forgiveness, this great
pardon is free. It is full, it is irrevocable
when bestowed upon an elect. In Ephesians 1 and verse 7, in
whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sin according to the riches of his grace. Now, the sense of
forgiveness. is necessary to spiritual service
and worship to God. How in the world can one worship
God acceptably who does not think that their sins are forgiven? And the application of this forgiveness
gives assurance before God and the realization of forgiveness
begats then them a sense of deep love and devotion under their
forgiver. A love flowing out of the sense
of being forgiven of our sin. And God, to honor him, and as
Owen put it, to make it their business then to live unto God
forgiven, forgiven. Thy sins will be remembered against
you no more. John Gill wrote, preached from
the pulpit, forgiveness applied will provide great effects in
the recipient such as, number one, peace in the conscience,
Number two, joy in the inner person. Number three, comfort
of soul. And number four, a comfortable
approach unto God for grace and mercy and help and to worship. Now, to be forgiven of sin is
a blessed condition to be in. David wrote in the 32nd Psalm,
verse 1 and 2, and Paul quotes it in Romans chapter 4, A blessed,
even as David described, the blessedness of the man unto whom
God imputes righteousness without work, saying, blessed are they
whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered, and
blessed the one to whom the Lord will not impute sin. The greatest need of a sinner
is freedom from sin. He can't be saved without it.
He can't be justified without it. And God is just to freely
forgive the sin that Christ bore in his own body when he died
upon the tree. And bless God as we are ever
sinning, so we are ever being forgiven of our sin by the blood
of Christ. We confess, John said, 1 John,
he is faithful and just. to forgive our sin and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. Have you seen that? Faithful
and just, or righteous as the word is, faithful to Christ's
blood, faithful to the covenant, faithful to his promise, and
righteous in pardoning sin for those that Christ died for, forgiving
sin. Compare, for example, Romans
3, 26, Romans 4 and 5, that God is just or righteous in justifying
the ungodly. He is just in forgiving sin because
he has received from Christ a satisfaction in his substitutionary debt.
Can it be said, thy sins which are many are forgiven, go in
peace. Greater sin, lesser sin, an illustration. Let's imagine one person raised
in church from a youth up, and their parents have guided them
and restrained them, and they've heard the word of God. They've
not been great, open, prolific sinners, and God saves them. And then cometh one who hath
been the worst. a prostitute, a gambler, a murderer,
whatever it might be, and that one too is forgiven, then we
have an example. They that are forgiven much will
love much. No sin is too great for God to
forgive, as Christ died for it. Who can forgive sin? God only. Only God can forgive our sin,
and that is a wonderful blessing, and it is wrought for us by and
through the death of Christ. Go, thy sins are forgiven.