Luke 7:36-50 "Dinner With Sinners"

Last week Jesus said His critics called Him a glutton and a drunkard. That He hangs out with the wrong kind of people. I have to wonder, if we’re followers of Jesus, shouldn’t our critics say the same thing about us, too? “Those Christians! They just party too much. Always looking for a good time. Way too accepting of sinners!”

If you’ve been around here very long, then you know the actual vision of NewChurch isn’t to be just another pop-up church in an elementary school. We want to do something very different. Something bold. We want to be a place that’s open every day of the week for eating and drinking with whoever shows up. NewChurch Pub. Maybe a food truck court. A place to meet every week for worship on Sunday mornings but the rest of the time the building would be used for climate-controlled eating and drinking and events and parties. Big playground for the kids. Good beer. Great food. The kind of place I’m constantly looking for when I want to go out with family and friends. 

Lots of “churchy” “religiousy” people are critical of the idea. They think it’s not holy enough. “You’ll make the church look like a place for gluttons and drunks. Don’t you know the kind of people you’ll attract?” Yes, I’m pretty sure I do. It’s kind of the whole point.

Today’s text from Luke chapter seven is one of many times we see Jesus eating and drinking with sinners as a big part of His ministry. 

Luke chapter 7, verse 36:

One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. 

Why did he invite Jesus to dinner? Maybe Jesus was going to be speaking in the synagogue in the morning and the Pharisee wanted to have a celebrity dinner guest for his big Sabbath feast. Maybe he was curious—maybe this Jesus guy really was a prophet. Whatever the reason, Jesus wasn’t exactly given the treatment of an honored guest—as we’ll find out later—at least not by the host. 

When you picture a dinner party in the Bible, don’t imagine them in modern chairs or you’ll get the wrong idea. They had a very low table with cushions on the floor. They would lean on their left side with their feet going away from the table. Keeping this image in mind will help the rest of this story make sense.

It wasn’t unusual for a big dinner party like this to be thrown, especially on Friday nights. If the guest of honor was going to teach in the synagogue on Saturday, it was expected that he would also teach at the Sabbath feast. It was also common for people to wander in and sit along the walls around the table to listen in on the conversation—even if they weren’t invited to be a guest for the meal. Sounds crazy to us but that’s exactly what’s happening in this passage.

And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Luke 7:37-38

“And behold!” This is always Luke telling us that something big is about to happen. “Look here! It’s going to be amazing!” 

A woman walks into the party with a fancy little vial of perfume, she’s crying, she kneels down and starts kissing His feet, wiping the dirt off with her hair, then she breaks the seal of the alabaster flask and pours it on Jesus’ feet. Sobbing and kissing. Her hair is let down. 

A lot of assumptions are made about this woman of the city. Some people think it’s Mary Magdalene—the follower of Jesus that had seven demons cast out of her—but we’re not told who it is. Just “a woman of the city, who was a sinner”—which sounds pretty bad. People assume she was a prostitute. It doesn’t tell us she was a prostitute, though. 

If she was, there would definitely be some interesting things going on. Everyone knows where they can find a whore—she’s open for business. It wasn’t illegal in Rome but everyone knows who she is and judges her for it. Her clients, however, they’d usually show up under the cover of darkness and keep their identities secret. That could mean she was looking around at the dinner party recognizing men who had come to see her. Maybe even the host—he definitely seems to know all about her.

It would also add a layer of scandal to her kissing Jesus’ feet and wiping them with her hair. It’s a little too sensual. Guys, I don’t think any of our wives would be too comfortable with some woman showing us gratitude by kissing our feet and rubbing perfume on us with their hair. And the perfume she poured on His feet would have probably been a tool of the trade—you know, in a world without deodorant to make her smell a little more attractive to a client. Which would mean she was making Jesus smell like He had been with a whore. He became sin who knew no sin. 

But again: it doesn’t say she was a prostitute. It doesn’t tell us her name either. All we know is she’s a sinner—and somehow the Pharisee who was throwing the party knew it, too. 

Maybe we don’t know her sin so we can imagine it was our sin. Maybe we don’t know her name so we can fill it in with our own. I think we’re supposed to imagine we’re her. I think the story is more powerful if you put yourself in her place. You’re either going to be in her place or in the place of the Pharisee because you’re certainly not going to be Jesus.

This might have been the first time a woman worshipped Jesus by pouring perfume on His feet and wiping them with her hair—but it won’t be the last. After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, his sister Mary does the same thing. Maybe she had heard about this woman at the Pharisee’s party, maybe that’s where she got the idea. But we know that Mary of Bethany was not a whore so there’s really no reason to assume this woman was either. 

In both cases, Jesus accepts their worship and affection. In both cases, some of the men who were watching were critical and didn’t think it was appropriate.

Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” Luke 7:39

He didn’t say anything out loud. He was just being secretly judgy—maybe he muttered it under his breath. If the Pharisee had been on the fence about whether Jesus was actually a prophet or not, he’s pretty sure he has his answer now. A true prophet of God would know what kind of woman had her mouth all over His feet.

Once again, Jesus isn’t doing things the way proper religious people think He should be doing them. They’ll probably add kinky foot fetish to glutton and drunk when they talk smack about Him. 

But Jesus knows what he’s thinking about him, so while the woman is still kissing His feet, verse 40:

And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.” “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Luke 7:40-42

These are both big debts. Today it would be like one person owing a debt of $50,000 and another person $500,000. It would have been pretty much impossible for a Jew in the ancient world, who were basically slaves of Rome, to pay either debt. It would have been foolish to borrow this much money from a moneylender—they were just asking to become indentured slaves. These were two hopeless situations. 

The Bible uses the idea of financial debt to talk about sin all the time. The wages of sin is death. We’re born into it and we can’t buy our way out of it. Simon the Pharisee understood what Jesus was getting at when He asked which one would love the person who forgave him more, though. The woman is still wiping Jesus’ feet with her hair using her tears of gratitude. That’s why Simon gives such a qualified answer. He didn’t like where this conversation was going.

Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Luke 7:43-46

Simon invited Jesus to his house for a big dinner party and then treated Him like a second-class citizen. Didn’t offer basic hospitality. The accusations Jesus makes sound strange to us. I have never in my life done any of those things for anyone. If you come to my house, I will not wash your feet, kiss you, or pour perfume on your head. I promise. But it was very different back then, and these things were considered common courtesy. The roads were dusty and sandals didn’t keep your feet clean—usually a host would offer their guests some water to wash their feet. The standard greeting was a kiss on the cheek but Simon wasn’t so sure about this Jesus guy so no kiss for you! This would be like refusing to shake someone’s hand when you meet them—definitely a diss. A little perfumed oil was usually offered to house guests—you know, because people tend to smell bad. Simon the Pharisee was really dropping the ball for his guest of honor. Jesus had been dissed since the moment He arrived.

And then this woman, who crashed the party, she was honoring Jesus in ways that we’ll still be talking about until the end of time. So sweet. So beautiful. Pure thankful love and worship. 

Jesus wants to make sure His thickheaded Pharisee gets the point:

Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” Luke 7:47

Simon, this woman is the person in the parable who was forgiven $500,000. She’s the one who is so thankful for her sins being forgiven that her love is spilling out all over my feet. She knows her debt was too much for her to ever pay back. 

But Simon didn’t feel the weight of his sin. He figured he was better than most people. I mean, sure, not perfect, but no one’s perfect. Pretty good, though. 

The truth is, Simon’s debt of sin was just as overwhelming—he couldn’t pay it either. He just didn’t feel it. Didn’t care. We’re all probably more like Simon than we want to admit.

Somehow the woman had heard the Gospel. Maybe heard Jesus speak earlier in the day, and when she found out about the dinner party, went home and got her fancy jar of perfume—knew exactly what she was going to do with it. 

But Jesus didn’t want to just talk about forgiving her sins. He wanted to actually forgive them. There’s a big difference between talking about the Gospel and actually applying the Gospel.

And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Luke 7:48

He looked at her and told her that her sins are forgiven. That’s very different than just talking about how Jesus forgives sins.

I can say to all of you here today, “You know, Jesus came into the world to forgive sins.”

We would all nod our heads. Yep, that’s true. He did.

But it’s a completely different thing for me to look at you and say, “Your sins are forgiven because of Jesus. Your sins. Right here. Right now. Your sins are forgiven. Believe it. Let your thankfulness well up in you and feel your heart swell with love for Him.”

It definitely did not sit well with all the other guests around the dinner table that Jesus started forgiving sins as if He had the authority of God.

Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Luke 7:49-50

They weren’t buying it. Forgiving sins! Shame on you! Who do you think you are? 

He’s the divine Son of God. The second person of the Holy Trinity. God with us. Jesus Christ the Lord. He’s the only one who can truly forgive sins.

Then He tells the woman that her faith has saved her, to go in peace. What does that mean? HER faith has saved her? Her faith?

Here’s what we believe: we are saved by grace through faith.

Jesus didn’t forgive her sins because she loved Him so much. It wasn’t because she kissed His feet and poured the perfume on Him—that’s not why He forgave her. That’s not why He saved her. She loved Him and kissed Him because He had forgiven her sins. We tend to get this backward.

Remember the parable: Two men owed large debts that they couldn’t payback. First, they were forgiven—that’s grace, a gift. Then the one who was forgiven more loved more. The forgiveness wasn’t a reward for the love. The love was a response to the forgiveness.

Grace is first. God loves you first, forgives you first. You don’t do anything except hear that He did it. He forgives you.

Then you receive it by faith. That’s why Jesus told the woman, “your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

He’s not talking about faith in her faith. Faith isn’t a thing in and of itself. Faith has to be in God. He talking about her faith in Him.

Think of it like this: faith is like an extension cord. It only works if it’s plugged into something. It doesn’t have any power on its own.

You’re in a dark room and you’ve got a lamp but the cord won’t reach the outlet. Then someone gives you an extension cord—faith—to plug it into the wall. It doesn’t do any good to have a lamp that’s not plugged into power. It doesn’t do any good to have an extension cord unless you know to plug it in. Extension cords that are not plugged into a source of power are dead.

We get into weirdness when we put our faith in faith. When we think we have to drum up faith. Faith harder! I know that’s what it looks like is happening when Jesus says things like “Your faith has saved you,” but that’s not what’s going on.

It’s her faith in Him that saved her. Which is the same thing as saying He’s the one who saved her. Her faith in God. Her trust in God. The extension cord made the light come on, sure, but only because it got plugged into a power source.

It’s kind of the same thing when He says “go in peace.” She doesn’t make her own peace. Jesus created the peace and she just has to go with it. Peace isn’t the destination—she’s not going on a hunt for peace. She’s been forgiven a great debt. She doesn’t owe anymore. She’s walking out with a whole new outlook on life than what she walked in with. Feel that peace? Go with it. Carry it with you.

So, in a minute, we’re also going to have a meal with Jesus. We’re going to eat and drink with notorious sinners. People of the city. This time it’s Jesus who invited all of us. It’s a real scandal. Table fellowship with all us sinners and with God. Bread and wine and body and blood and grace and forgiveness and faith.

It’s a perfect time to remember how much you have to be thankful for. Your sins are forgiven. It’s a perfect time to imagine that we’re that thankful woman kissing Jesus’ feet. To remember the most important thing in the world is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. You’ve been forgiven much. Love much.

Jesus took the stink of your sin on Himself when He died for your sin on the cross. 

When you leave today, you will walk out of here with the slightest taste and smell of His forgiveness on your breath. Put your faith in Jesus and what He’s done for you today, your faith will save you. Receive His peace so you can go in peace. AMEN