A HARLOT CRASHES THE PARTY
Luke 7:36-50
Introduction:
Philip
Yancey tells the story of a prodigal daughter who grows up in Traverse City,
Michigan. Disgusted with her old-fashioned parents who overreact to her nose
ring, the music she listens to, the length of her skirts, she runs away. She
ends up in Detroit where she meets a man who drives the biggest car she’s ever
seen. The man with the big car – she calls him “Boss” – recognizes that since
she’s underage, men would pay premium for her. So, she goes to work for him.
Things are good for a while. Life is good. But she gets sick for a few days,
and it amazes her how quickly the boss turns mean. Before she knows it, she’s
out on the street without a penny to her name. She still turns a couple of
tricks a night, and all the money goes to support her drug habit.
One
night while sleeping on the metal grates of the city, she began to feel less
like a woman of the world and more like a little girl. She begins to whimper.
“God, why did I leave? My dog back home eats better than I do now.” She knows
that more than anything in the world, she wants to go home. Three straight
calls home get three straight connections with the answering machine. Finally,
she leaves a message. “Mom, dad, it’s me. I was wondering about maybe coming
home. I’m catching a bus up your way, and it’ll get there about midnight
tomorrow. If you’re not there, I‘ll understand.” During the seven-hour bus
ride, she’s preparing a speech for her father. And when the bus comes to a stop
in the Traverse City station, the driver announces the fifteen-minute stop.
Fifteen minutes to decide her life.
She
walks into the terminal not knowing what to expect. But not one of the thousand
scenes that have played out in her mind prepares her for what she sees. There
in the bus terminal in Traverse City, Michigan, stands a group of forty
brothers and sisters and great-aunts and uncles and cousins and a grandmother
and a great-grandmother to boot. They’re all wearing goofy party hats and
blowing noise-makers, and taped across the entire wall of the terminal is a
computer-generated banner that reads – Welcome Home! Out of the crowd of
well-wishers breaks her dad. She stares out through the tears quivering in her
eyes and begins her memorized speech. He interrupts her. “Hush, child. We’ve
got no time for that. No time for apologies. We’ll be late. A big party is
waiting for you at home.”[1]
What
a powerful story of a father’s love and forgiveness towards his undeserving
prodigal daughter. In the passage for today’s
reflection we will meet a Harlot who crashes the party of a pharisee. How did the
pharisee react towards this uninvited guest? How did Jesus respond to a
prodigal daughter, who wanted to come back home and belong to the family? How
did the woman respond to the response of Jesus?
Luke 7:36-50
Background: In our Journey
through the six earlier chapters we discovered the following: Chapter 4 :18
Jesus’ announces the nature of his ministry as the prophetic fulfilment of
Isaiah’s prophecy, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me
to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will
be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free.”
In
Chapter 6 we read about the formation of his new community, and the principles
and the guidelines that are to be followed by all those who would participate
in that community. Chapter 7 opens the window into Jesus’ compassionate
ministry by a series of healings, deliverance including raising the dead. We
see Jesus’ compassion reaching out to the poor and sinners, earning him a
nickname, in Vs 34 “a friend of tax collectors and other sinners.” We see three
principle characters in our story: Jesus, a Pharisee and a Harlot. (Vs 36-50)
I
PARTY AT A PHARISEE’S HOME Vs 36
Vs 36, “One of the Pharisees asked
Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat.”
Though Jesus goes into the home of the pharisee, they are still in the town of
Nain. We know this man’s name is Simon, but don’t know the reason for this
dinner party. In those days inviting a traveling teacher for dinner would be
viewed as virtuous. However, Simon does not appear to have been sympathetic to
Jesus. His motive was similar to that off the other Pharisees, either to entrap
Jesus, or to find some reason to accuse Him.
II.
A HARLOT CRASHES THE PARTY:
Vs 37-38, “When a certain immoral
woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful
alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. Then she
knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she
wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting
perfume on them.” What do we know about this uninvited guest?
She
seems to have quietly slipped into the gathering. We don’t know her name, all
we know her as a “certain woman with an immoral reputation and background.” She
is a sinner in the city. She must have been a professional prostitute. She must
have heard Jesus’ preaching, how he healed the slave of the centurion, and how
he rose the widow’s son from death to life.
She
was moved to believe that she too was loved by him and by the heavenly father
of whom he spoke. In repentance she determined to lead a new life. She came to
express her love and gratitude, in the understanding that she would not be
rejected by Jesus and could be forgiven. She came behind Jesus with an alabaster
Jar filled with expensive perfume, and did certain outrageous things that no sane
and reputed Jewish woman would do in public.
III.
EXUBERANT LOVE
Vs
38, “Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his
feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and
putting perfume on them.” Let’s break this verse. “She knelt behind him at his
feet.” Jesus reclined on a
couch with his feet extended away from the table that would make it easy for
her to touch his feet.
Her tears fell on his feet: It was
customary to give water to the guests to wash their feet before entering the
house. She washed the feet of Jesus with her tears and since there was not towel,
she wiped them off with her hair. Then
she kept kissing Jesus’ feet, anointing them with the expensive perfume. The
anointing, perhaps originally intended for Jesus’ head, was instead applied to
his feet A similar act was performed by Mary of Bethany before the crucifixion
The
nice man Simon looked at those exuberant acts of love with contempt. Vs 39, “When
the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man
were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”
In
other words, Simon thought, “if this fellow really were a prophet, he would
know what this woman does, for she is filthy.” He was convinced that if Jesus
knew her character, he would send her away. He quickly drew conclusions and
judged this woman in his heart by merely seeing her outward behavior. We are
just as capable of making the same mistake.
We
often either misjudge or wrongly judge people by looking at their outward
appearance and actions we either misjudge or wrongly judge them. Earlier we
learned in Luke 6:37, “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not
condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you
will be forgiven.” Jesus wanted to make this a teachable moment to Simon and
all the other listeners, so he told them a story.
IV.
THE STORY OF TWO
Jesus turned to Simon and said, I
have something to say to you. Simon said, “Go ahead teacher.” There was a man
who lent money to two people: $ 50,000 to one and to another $5. Neither of
them could repay the master. So out of mercy the master forgave both of their
debts. Now Simon, Jesus asked, which one will love the man most?
Simon
replied that it would be the one who owed most. That gave Jesus an opportunity
to compare the hearts of the so called “nice” man Simon and the harlot who
crashed the party. Vs 43-48, “That’s right,” said Jesus. Then turning to the
woman, but speaking to Simon, he said, “Do you see this woman? I came to your
home; you provided no water for my feet, but she rained tears on my feet and
dried them with her hair.
You
gave me no greeting, but from the time I arrived she hasn’t quit kissing my
feet. You provided nothing for freshening up, but she has soothed my feet with
perfume. Impressive, isn’t it? She was forgiven many, many sins, and so she is
very, very grateful. If the forgiveness is minimal, the gratitude is minimal.” Then
he spoke to her: “I forgive your sins.” (The Message)
There
is a connection here between faith and love. The woman saw Jesus and recognized
who he was and who dwelt in Him. By faith she knew that Jesus was loving and
forgiving and accepting her before he ever said, “I forgive your sins.” What
she saw in Jesus broke her heart, nothing and no one could hold her back from
expressing her love and gratitude.
On
the other hand, Simon, a Pharisee who was strictly following the ritual
purities of the law missed an opportunity to see Jesus as the Messiah and show
his acts of love and gratitude. When we see Jesus for who he really is, we must
turn away or else shamelessly adore and worship Him. This woman, unlike nice
Simon, was not going to turn away.
There
are several principles I would like us to notice in this story: When a prodigal
daughter or son comes back home in repentance, God is always there to welcome
them home. The debt of our sin is far too great, none of us can repay what we owed,
therefore Jesus in his love and mercy will say to you today, my son and my
daughter, “I forgive your sins.”
What
should be our appropriate response to God’s unconditional love and forgiveness?
Will we turn away, and be standoffish like Simon, or will we be like the woman
and go “nuts” all over Jesus in our adoration and worship of Him? This morning I would like to call out those
who perhaps are ridden with guilt, and carrying a heavy burden of sin. Stop
running away from your heavenly father. Come back home; you are loved;
accepted; and belong to the family.
I
also would like to give a challenge to all those whose sins have already been
forgiven, how are you expressing your love and gratitude to what Jesus has done
for you? God is looking for those who would worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.
Let’s not remain a passive spectator when we come to worship Him. Instead let
us love Jesus, shamelessly through our praise and worship and through our acts
of love, compassion and hospitality towards one another. Amen!
[1] https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/30910/on-stories-by-andrew-drummond?ref=TextIllustrationSerps
