A Forgiven Sinner

In Lk 7:36-50, we’re studying about Jesus’s conversations with a Pharisee and a woman who was a sinner.  To better understand what’s going on in this passage, we should look not only at the immediate context but also at what has transpired in the prior chapters.

Up in this area of Galilee where she was, Jesus touched a leper and healed him, Lk 5:12-15.  As a result, there went a fame abroad of him, Lk 5:15.  And after this a man with palsy was lowered by four friends through the roof tile in Lk 5:18-20.  Jesus saw the faith of the four men and said to the man, “Thy sins be forgiven thee”.  He was a forgiven sinner.  The Pharisees present asked, “Who can forgive sins, but God alone” Lk 5:21.  All who saw and heard these things were amazed, Lk 5:26.

Then after this he was eating with publicans and sinners, Lk 5:30.  About eating with them, Jesus said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, Lk 5:32.  So, by Lk 6:19, the whole multitude sought to touch him.

The scene in our passage today is still in the city of Nain, Lk 7:11.  The widow’s son had been raised.  The rumor went out that a great prophet was among them. The disciples of John came inquiring if Jesus were the one.  Jesus performed many miracles to show that he was.  And then he commended John and the people were baptized.

But the Pharisees weren’t baptized with John’s baptism.  Then Jesus compared them to kids playing in the markets.  These men thought John had a devil and that Jesus was a winebibber and a glutton, and a friend of publicans and sinners.

One of these Pharisees invited Jesus home to eat with him.  And that’s where this scene unfolds.  There were other guests there eating with Jesus, v.49.  Then this woman showed up.  Jesus was sitting where this woman could approach him even though she wasn’t an invited guest.

About this woman, Luke wrote, she was a sinner, v.37.  She had many sins, v.47.  But she was a forgiven sinner.

She arrived with an alabaster box of ointment, v.37. Thus, she came prepared to do what she did.  She washed his feet with tears, wiped his feet with her hair, kissed his feet, and anointed them with oil.  These were not good works so she could get forgiven.

She evidently believed what John and Jesus had been preaching.  John’s baptism, Lk 7:29, was a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, Lk 3:3.  Mark wrote that those who were baptized of him, were confessing their sins, Mk 1:5.

Forgiveness was part of John’s baptism.  He instructed people to do works meet for repentance when they got baptized, Lk 3:8. This woman was bringing forth fruits worthy of repentance, Lk 3:8.  Her fruits were much better even than the ones in Lk 3:11-14.

When the woman started washing, kissing, and anointing Jesus’s feet, the Pharisee said within himself, if he were a prophet….v.39.  The rumor was that Jesus was a great prophet, v.16.  But this Pharisee concluded that Jesus was not a prophet, because he let this SINNER touch him.

Jesus answered the Pharisee with a hypothetical situation. He described a creditor who forgave two debtors.  The one he forgave most is the one who loved him most.  This illustrated why the woman was doing what she was doing.  She’s like the debtor who owed 500 pence.

Then Jesus asked Simon, the Pharisee, “Seest thou this woman” v.44.  He saw a detestable sinner whom he wouldn’t let touch him.  Jesus saw a repentant sinner who loved him.  The Pharisee saw in himself that he was better than her.  Jesus saw in him someone worse; a host who gave no water, no kiss, and no oil.

The woman believed that her sins were forgiven (remission of sins).  She was loving much because she was forgiven much, v.47.  And, in fact, Jesus declared, “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven”.  Many sins forgiven, much love in return.  She was a forgiven sinner.

Then he turned to the woman and said, “Thy sins are forgiven”.  After Jesus told her that her sins are forgiven, the people sitting there asked, “Who is this that forgiveth sins also”?  Like Lk 5:21.  They didn’t believe that Jesus was a prophet or that he was the Messiah.  They should have said right here, “Forgive us, too”.

Then Jesus said, “Thy faith hath saved thee”.  See Lk 1:77 where Zacharias prophesied that John would show salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins.  She had great faith!

The truths gleaned from this passage are these:

Ps 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.  Ps 34:18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.  She knew these verses to be true.

The Pharisee is a good example of why religious people often don’t get saved.  They don’t see their need.  From the story Jesus told, the man owing 50 pence had as much need for forgiveness as the one owing 500.  Neither could pay.  Simon had just as much need for salvation as the woman did.  She was a forgiven sinner; he wasn’t.

Religion gives you a higher estimation of yourself and a lower estimation of the Savior.  And you’ll look down your nose at bad sinners.  You won’t receive them because you’re disgusted by their past.

Often, the testimonies of saved sinners are greater than the testimonies of kids who grew up in church.  They’ve been forgiven much, so they love much.  But you don’t need to sin much.  Today, we should love him because he first loved us.

To study the prior lesson, see The Men of This Generation.