Good morning, friends! We’re in week 2 of our Costly Confrontations series as we prepare our hearts in this Lent season. We’re looking at encounters that Jesus had with various religious leaders of his day. These aren’t just normal, ordinary encounters. They are explosive encounters that lead to religious leaders plotting to kill Jesus. So, today, we’ll be looking at a story from Luke 7:36-50.

In our family, we love the newer Grinch movie – the one with Benedict Cumberbatch and it’s animated. There’s such fun scenes and it’s entertaining for kids and adults alike. It’s also extremely heart-warming. To summarize the film for those of you who haven’t seen it, the Grinch is a buzzkill. He hates Christmas, wants it gone. He encounters a little girl named “Cindy Lou-Who” who annoys the Grinch first. But as he’s stealing all the toys, Cindy Lou Who wins the Grinch over with kindness and deep love because Cindy just wants Santa to help her mom.  As the Grinch is about to destroy all the Christmas things, he has a change of heart because of Cindy Lou Who’s love and kindness. Cindy Lou Who invites The Grinch over for Christmas dinner that night too. Now if I’m the Grinch, I’d be terrified: I’m going to a party full of people who know what I’ve done. He debates on going, agonizes over his tie selection, and hesitates on ringing the doorbell. But, he does it anyways and his entire life changes.

Today, we’re going to talk about a somewhat similar story of a woman whose heart was changed because of Jesus’ love and kindness. And as a result, she went to a party feeling unsure how she’d be received.

As I mentioned, we’ll be reading Luke 7:36-50. Let’s read this together.

Since God’s word is active and alive, what can we gather from this today?

Your identity in Christ is more important than your past or what others say about you.

A woman is joining this dinner party who lived a sinful life – we don’t know what that is. Some bible scholars advocate it means she was a prostitute but it’s all speculation. There are similar accounts of this story in other gospels but the one in Luke is unique and is a different event. Whoever she was, she was not known as a godly woman that knit sweaters for the homeless. She was known in the community as a sinful woman. In these times, dinners would often be held in a courtyard with a door opened so anybody could walk in. So this woman hears that Jesus has come into her town, she knows she needs to go see him. She’s heard the stories of Jesus that are earlier in Luke’s Gospel.

She’s heard that Jesus said: he came to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor where all debts were forgiven which is a prophecy from Isaiah about the Messiah or the Christ. She heard that Jesus then began healing those who were sick, driving out demons, and he eats with tax collectors and sinners which are people just like her. She heard that he even forgave someone’s sins which she desperately needs. She takes a leap of faith that this is indeed the Christ and he came to seek and save people just like her.

Because of that, she is more than willing to endure the looks or the murmurs as she enters the room. I imagine as she walked in, she heard people murmur: “isn’t this the woman who is a prostitute?” or “isn’t this the woman who owns the local bar?” or “isn’t this the woman who slept with Judah from the town’s market?” or “isn’t this the woman who abandoned her children?” She may have done any of those things but she likely encountered resistance as she approached Jesus. She may have had thoughts in her head of: “is this worth it?” When she falls at the feet of Jesus, that’s an act of faith – a throwing of herself at the only one who can give her what she needs, forgiveness and a fresh start. She’s throws herself totally at Jesus and he gives her a new identity. He tells her that her many sins are forgiven, that her faith has saved her, and to go in peace.

Through my time with Compassion, I got to work with a church called COE22 in Florida led by a funny but committed man named Joby Martin. They sponsor like 15,000 kids with Compassion. Before Joby served at COE22, he was a youth pastor in South Carolina and also worked at a local gym selling memberships. The local gym was located next to a strip club. Joby is one of the boldest pastors I know so he gave free gym memberships to the workers of the strip club to entice other men to sign up for gym memberships. I’m not saying that’s ideal but it’s what he did and it worked. But as he got to know the women from the strip club when they worked out, he began to hear their stories: they had real names. They had kids and were terrified of their kids finding out what they did for money. Many had gotten into that workplace by being forced into it by a partner or took it temporarily but were stuck due to struggles with addiction.

One Sunday, Joby brought one of the women with him to his church. When they entered the church, Joby shared that you could’ve heard a pin drop as folks were shocked to have a woman like that in their building. After the service, the senior pastor and deacon pulled Joby aside and told the woman to wait in Joby’s car. The church leadership asked Joby: what do you think you’re doing? Bringing a person like that to church? As the youth pastor, your job is to protect our families and kids from people like her. Joby left, hopped in the car, and tried to lie about the meeting. But, the woman knew the meeting was about her and how she wasn’t welcome there because of her past. Joby she wept for hours. Did that church model Jesus’ response or did that church model Simon the Pharisee’s response more? How would you respond if a woman like that arrived here?

In this story or stories like this, we really are supposed to be see ourselves in the characters. If you relate more to the woman, you may be thinking to yourself: I’ve messed up so much in the past that there’s no way God wants anything to do with me. You may be thinking that those voices in your head or voices from others in your past are right about you: that you are unloved, that you can’t be forgiven, or that you are hopeless. My dear friend, if that’s you today, hear the good news in this story: Jesus Christ sees you as you are. Fall at his feet and find yourself totally known and loved by him. Pour your heart out to him. Ask him for his forgiveness because sin is a serious thing and mercy to come into your life. And he will show up – God is the God who loves compassion and mercy, who delights in forgiveness, and is thrilled to redeem our biggest mistakes.

If you felt yourself acting like Simon the Pharisee or Joby’s previous church in South Carolina, Jesus warns you to check your heart in Luke 11. The outside of your cup may be squeaky clean but what about the inside of your heart? Are you full of greed and wickedness? Are you full of pride and arrogance that you have the knowledge of God to know who’s in and who’s out in his Kingdom? Do you look down upon others who struggle with sins that you don’t struggle with? And the real kicker: do you display as much devotion and worship as this woman to Jesus? Pharisee type folks can only dwell on a person’s past record, Jesus is always looking at the potential of love and forgiveness deeply changing someone. My dear friends, if this is you today, Jesus’ invitation to fall at his feet is for you too.

If you find yourself believing the lies from the enemy or others that you are worthless, you must fight back with truth. You must familiarize yourself with the word to know what the Bible does say about you. C.S. Lewis wrote: “I think that if God forgives us we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise, it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him.”

A few weeks ago, I gave you a list of what God does say about you. I’m not going to go through the whole list but two stick out to me:

1.      He tells me I am holy and beloved-still a sinner, but a sinner who is forgiven, loved, and made holy by the gospel (Colossians 3:12; Ephesians 1:1).

2.     He tells me I am his child, one who has been adopted into his family and loved by the Father (1 John 3:1).

If you find yourself acting like Simon the Pharisee, find ways to talk to and share life with others who are different than you. Ask more questions, don’t give lectures. Humble yourself by realizing that you may look clean from the outside but there are things that go in your heart that are just as sinful as more ‘noticeable sins.’ If you take these things seriously, something begins to change in your walk with the Lord which leads us to our second point for today.

Devotion to God flows from a heart of faith changed by God’s love and forgiveness.

In reading this story, it’s easy to miss a few details or just take a glance at them. I want to show how this woman let it all out. In group settings, we often get uncomfortable if folks start weeping. We get uncomfortable when folks break cultural norms. This woman is weeping loudly, she’s kissing Jesus’ feet, and her hair is down which would have been seen as extremely inappropriate. Why does she do this? She does this because she is so devoted to God, she is wanting to give God everything. Her tears, her expensive perfume, and her life.

Why is she so devoted to God? Because she has received God’s love and forgiveness in faith. It’s not her devotion that earned her God’s love and forgiveness. It’s all by grace or God’s kindness, favor, and mercy. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that it is by grace that you have been saved through faith. Not by works so that you may not boast.

Unfortunately, we can misread stories like this one and start to get things mixed up. Jesus says: “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven – as her great love has shown.” Jesus is saying as you realize and accept that your sins have been forgiven, you can’t help but to become more and more devoted to God and to love him and to serve him.  Devotion to Jesus was evidence of her love for him because she is so thankful to have found forgiveness in him. Receiving God’s forgiveness was the motivator for her love and devotion to Jesus.

I’ve sometimes heard people say the Gospel is the beginning of Christianity – it’s too elementary. Once you accept the Gospel and experience God’s forgiveness, you don’t really need it anymore. It’s considered milk and you need something meatier. You move onto more important spiritual things like serving, praying, giving, etc. But, my friends, if we move on from the Gospel, our hearts are so prone to wander. We start to try staying devoted to God without abiding in him, without making ourselves at home with him. If we move on from the good news and stay devoted to God, you won’t have enough fuel. You’re lying to yourself. it’s like trying to drive to New York City on a quarter tank of gas. It’s not going to work. You never graduate from the Gospel, your life must be saturated in it. If it’s not, you’ll start to measure your devotion in all the wrong ways: am I praying enough? Am I kind enough? Do I read my bible enough? Devotion is fueled by faith and abiding in Christ.

So, today, I’d invite you to ponder: am I devoted to God like this woman? I’m not asking you to ponder that in the sense of comparing yourself to her and I’m not asking you to do exactly what she did. But, is your heart like this woman’s heart? Is your heart willing to give Jesus everything? Is your heart willing to endure the looks and murmurs of others just so you can be with Jesus and make him proud? Can your heart truly rest in the good news that Jesus Christ came to save sinners and offers you mercy and forgiveness?

As Augustine said: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Is your heart restless? Find the rest you need in Christ just like this woman had finally found. We’ve spent a lot of time talking about this woman, shall we talk about Simon the Pharisee? We shall with our last point.

The closer you are to Jesus, the more you see your sin – and the more you see his mercy.

There are three characters in this story: Jesus, the woman, and Simon the Pharisee. When you hear the phrase “he who has been forgiven little, loves little” – does that make you think that if you’ve done the right things (go to church, got baptized, etc.) that you love little? Does it make you think that somehow people who have made a train wreck of their lives, find Christ, and then automatically love others more? No, that’s not what Jesus is getting at.

In much of Jesus’s stories and interactions, he is getting us to compare two different types of people – religious leaders and people who struggle with public sins or disabilities. They each have problems, but he invites them all into repentance. This story is another encounter – you have the woman who worships Jesus. She was far away from God in some publicly known sin. She draws near to him. She kisses him. She cleans his feet with her tears. She freshens them up with her perfume.

On the flip side, Jesus rebukes Simon for failing to display common courtesy. In this culture, it was hospitable to offer your guests a kiss, offer your guests oil to be anointed with, and more. For us today, it’d be akin to failing to take our guests coats when they visit or offering someone a drink or a snack. Why does Simon neglect these things? It’s because he’s far away from Jesus. We’re unsure the real reason why Simon invited Jesus over for dinner but we get a hint when he thinks to himself: he makes the conclusion that Jesus is not likely a prophet. It could be that he had Jesus over for dinner because he wanted to be in the know or to brag to his friends that he had Jesus over before it was cool. He wanted the social recognition of doing so. Are those pure motives? Are those motives of someone who is devoted to Jesus?

Simon is far away from Jesus because he doesn’t really think he needs any of God’s forgiveness. He’s a Pharisee. He’s done the right things: he’s studied the Old Testament, he goes to Synagogue, he stays away from sinful people, and he is faithful to his spouse. He looks clean on the outside and doesn’t recognize his own pride is in the way of seeing the long-awaited Messiah. When Jesus says: “whoever has been forgiven little, loves little” – he’s pointing a finger at Simon to say: your love is not great because you have not appreciated the depth of forgiveness that I have made available to you.

If Simon’s love was great, he would’ve been at Jesus’ feet with the woman. For Simon, he felt like he didn’t need saving. But undernearth his clean exterior, there was dirty interior filled with: impure motives, pride, and arrogance. It’s like kids who try to hide their mess in a closet.

Whenever I’m at the beach and close to the ocean, I look out and am struck by how enormous it is and how tiny I am. In the same way, the closer we get to God, reality also sets in that God is so holy and so righteous while noticing that I am the opposite – I have flaws, I sin, etc. But when you’re also up close with God, you also see more of his mercy and experience more of his forgiveness. This is why the woman was weeping – tears of sorrow over her sin but tears of joy because of the forgiveness Christ gave her.

If you’ve been reading our Easter devotional, Paul David Tripp hits at this as well: the cross is where God’s holiness, our sin, and God’s mercy all connect and ultimately, Jesus reconciles all those things. But we only experience God’s mercy by coming up close to his holiness.

The closer you get to Jesus, you start to see his immense patience with people and you realize you’re not that patient. The closer you get to Jesus, you start to see how serious he took sin and how we think it’s a bit too extreme. The closer you get to Jesus, you start to see how he cares more about what’s going on inside of someone’s heart than the ‘right’ actions outside of the heart. But if you’re not getting close to Jesus, you probably think you’re doing just fine. You probably would hesitate to fall at his feet like the woman did. Ask yourself: what would be going through your head when you saw this woman walk into the party and begin to weep? Would it be: Thank you, Jesus! Or would it be: this is so embarrassing, she’s so gross.

In our church, we can be both people: we can be the woman or we can be Simon the Pharisee. Jesus invites all of us into a life of faith and forgiveness which is how this story ends.

Worship and prayer team, you can start making your way up.

As Jesus finishes up his dialogue with Simon, he tells the woman: “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.” Go in peace. When we think of peace, I often think of giving folks a peace sign. But, Jesus is saying so much more: peace. It’s a Greek word called εἰρήνην (Eye-RAY-NAY) which in the Old Testament is used to convey the idea of Shalom. Shalom is peace, harmony, or full human flourishing without the effects of sin or the fall. When God created, Eden was a place of Shalom or peace. Shalom is really the peace of heaven.

So when Jesus is forgiving sins, he is bringing us back to the garden. He is fixing what went wrong all those years ago with Adam and Eve and setting things right through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. He is bringing Shalom back to earth in his people and ultimately Jesus returns to usher in the New Heavens and the New Earth. That’s going to be a big moment when it happens but it’s not here yet. So in this now and not yet season, we see smaller moments of Shalom like Jesus telling this woman to go in peace. She can now have peace. She has peace with God because she has been forgiven by him and no longer worries about God’s mercy not being enough. She has peace because Jesus has given her a new identity and that matters more to her than what people say about her. She has peace because she can now walk in the light and not walk in the dark or shame like she once did. She has peace because she has faith that God loves to forgive sins and display mercy.

Jesus is the one who can forgive sins. No one else can. So if you’re the feeling the weight of this whether as the sinful woman or Simon the Pharisee, turn to Christ in this time. Sit at his feet, give him your all, and allow his mercy to wash over you. Amen?

So at this time, we’re going to transition to our time of communion. If you are a follower of Jesus and have professed faith in him, we invite you to share in this time with us. If you’re not, be at peace but I humbly ask that you just pass the plate to the next person after you. As the elements are being passed out, there are going to be folks available in the corners of the sanctuary to pray with you like usual. If you are struggling with a sin or have a heavy prayer need, it would be an honor for any of us to pray for you. Let me pray for you all and we’ll begin our time of communion.