The sinful woman of Luke 7 is a great story to challenge the way we see sin, confession, repentance, and forgiveness. She has to go beyond well established boundaries to get access to Jesus. Jesus is making quite a stir and everyone is coming to see Him and what He is about, what He is about to do.
Jesus is revealing peoples’ hearts (Luke 2:35), what they are really about. He proves He has the power to forgive sins as well as the healing that He does. The religious leaders are unhappy with Him. He is friends with tax collectors and sinners. They didn’t like that (Luke 7:34).
The characters in this story are interesting. Jesus, of course, whose works have attracted increasingly large crowds. Simon, the Pharisee, who may have been trying to find out more about who Jesus is. This meal is served in his home. He looks upon the poor woman with disdain. And then the woman, this nameless woman, who is a nobody, even worse, she is known as a sinner. Everyone knows “what sort of woman” she is. She has to cross boundaries just to get into this home. She comes to the feet of Jesus and humbles herself.
Considerations:
1. Repentance requires courage. “She began to wet his feet with tears…”, Luke 7:38. This woman is not wanted. We need to stop looking for the comfortable, low impact situations to bring ourselves to Jesus, situations no one else will know about, especially our brethren. That’s not true confession, that’s not real repentance. True confession is to own up to our sin and lay it down before Jesus saying “I am a sinner.” Simon not only judges this woman but he also judges Jesus. If this man were truly a prophet…. Jesus recognizes her courage.
2. Self-righteousness fuels ingratitude. “He who is forgiven little, lives little.” Luke 7:47. Self righteousness stifles growth. “The church that takes Luke’s words to heart will be a community of mercy and love, actively seeking the restoration of fallen people… the sort of community that can become a place for healing of the broken…One of the obstacles to achieving this is our tendency within the church to mask our own fallenness..to put on our best face” – David DeSilva. “We need to respond to vulnerability as Jesus did, not as Simon did. The community cannot respond to someone who would work through serious hurt and vulnerability or temptation by suggesting that such activity is out of place among respectable people.” From 1 John… God is light, in Him there is no darkness. So if you come to church and act like everything is fine, don’t admit you’re a sinner, God says you’re a liar. Fellowship comes when we confess our sins. When we hide our sin and don’t confess it, we keep on sinning. Confess, be open, be honest. We have to deal with sin so that we stop, so that we grow.
3. Jesus sees me. He’s my advocate. “Your sins are forgiven.” Luke 7:48. Gratitude is what this is all about. The ancient idea of grace was someone does something for you, you return that favor, you show gratitude for what was done for you. The woman did everything imaginable to honor Jesus while Simon did nothing. Maybe you see yourself as someone God could never forgive, your sins are too big, too horrible, too disgusting. Do you see this woman? God will forgive you as He forgave her because she showed how much she was willing to do to seek forgiveness. This is a story of hope, of blessing, of forgiveness.
Do you see yourself in this story? Are you Simon? Or are you the woman? Do I look down on others? Are I]you vulnerable and open about your sins and lay them at the feet of Jesus.
Sermon by Brent Moody
