Food For Your Soul
by Reverend Hubermann Larose
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The Pherisee and the Prostitute
(Luke 7:36-50)
We owe to Luke, “the beloved doctor”, this account in which Jesus teaches us by two contrasting lives ―a Pharisee and a prostitute― that cross paths in the most unexpected circumstance. Another example, in the Gospel of Luke, of Jesus using the same method of teaching is the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14). A true story and a parable! In both cases, self-righteousness is put in contrast with broken-heartedness, with the same outcome: the self-righteous remains unchanged, and the broken-hearted obtains forgiveness.
Luke 7:36 tells us that “one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him; he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.” Four verses down, we learn that this Pharisee’s name was Simon. He was apparently a wealthy, or ―at least― a well-to-do man. There was nothing in common between them that could have motivated Simon to invite Jesus to have dinner with him, except for Simon to have the opportunity of taking a close look at Jesus, in order to find something to use against him; some evidence that he thought would prove Jesus to be not a prophet, but an imposter.
That evidence, Simon thought he found it in Jesus’ lack of reaction to an unbecoming gesture made by a woman, a prostitute! That woman intruded into the dining room where Simon was eating with Jesus when “she came with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.” (Luke 7: 37-38)
When Simon saw what was happening and observed the laissez-faire attitude of Jesus, he thought to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
Jesus who knows what’s going on even in the minds of people ―because he is God manifested in flesh― told him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” Simon became all ears. Jesus said to him, “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both.”
As in the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus used an approach Socrates loved to use. It was called “maieutics”. This method consists in asking a question to bring the interlocutor to find himself the answer. Jesus asked Simon, “Now which of them will love him more?” (Luke 7:41-42) The answer was too obvious for anyone to try to dodge it. “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven,” Simon replied. Jesus told him, “Good answer!”
Then he proceeds to reproach Simon for his lack of hospitality toward him ―not that Simon did not know what to do, but he did not love Jesus enough to go to all that trouble for him. He said, “Simon, do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
Before he addressed his reproach to Simon, Jesus draws his attention on the woman: “Simon, do you see this woman?” Let us try to see her, to understand the weight of her action. She has so many lessons to teach us!
- Her devotion was total. She came with an alabaster jar of perfume and poured it on Jesus’ feet. This perfume was a vital part of her trade. She had to always be attractive and good-smelling for the next customer. Her gesture is an illustration of the song “I Surrender All.”
- Her repentance was sincere. She wet Jesus’ feet with her tears. She was overwhelmingly broken, afflicted over her sins. Many things afflict us in this life, but rare are those who are afflicted by their sins; who weep bitterly before God because of their wickedness.
- Her conversion was real. She poured all the perfume on Jesus’ feet. She did not keep a portion for herself for “you never know.” She made no provision for a relapse into her former life. She made hers the words of this song: “I have decided to follow Jesus; No coming back! No coming back!”
- Her humility was deep. Her hair was her womanly glory. She loosed it to wipe the dirt from her Savior’s feet. That’s a way to say, “Whatever were gains to me I now consider loss (…) because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ, my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.” (Phil. 3:7-9)
Simon, do you see this woman? By asking Simon if he sees the woman, Jesus wanted him to see not only her, but also himself. The point of the parable is that both the woman and Simon are in trouble. The two debtors of the parable were equally unable to pay, and both were graciously forgiven. It makes no difference, as far as the law is concerned, whether you owe 500 days labor —almost 2 years— or 2 months worth of your salary. Both insolvent debtors must face the rigors of the law, which is imprisonment. That’s what Scripture says: “There is no one righteous, not even one” (…) “for all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:10, 23)
The only difference between the woman and Simon is that she was aware of her moral and spiritual bankruptcy, but he was not. A little virtue can cause a man or a woman to miss the benefit of God’s grace without which no one will enter heaven. Such was Simon’s predicament. Such is the predicament of many people today who never come to realize how lost they are, because they keep comparing themselves with others. They are righteous in their own eyes and they don’t bother to know how God sees them. They grade themselves, as it were, their own paper, instead of letting God grade it for them. So, where they think they deserve an A+, God gives them an F, “for all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 14:11)
The really important lesson of this story is this: what condemns us before God is not the amount of our sins, but the lack of awareness of them. Only those who are aware of their sins will hear God say to them,
“Your sins are forgiven”
“Your faith has saved you”
“Now, go in peace”
Hubermann Larose
Associate Pastor
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