Luke 7:36–50

³⁶One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. ³⁷And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that JESUS was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, ³⁸and 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. ³⁹Now 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." ⁴⁰And Jesus answering said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." And he answered, "Say it, Teacher." ⁴¹"A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. ⁴²When they could not pay, he forgave the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?" ⁴³Simon answered, "The one, I suppose, for whom he forgave the larger debt." And he said to him, "You have judged rightly." ⁴⁴Then 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. ⁴⁵You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. ⁴⁶You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. ⁴⁷Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little." ⁴⁸And he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." ⁴⁹Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, "Who is this, who even forgives sins?" ⁵⁰And he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

All the important people in town were walking in in a great procession, strutting in proudly, showing off the latest designer fashions. It was the social event of the year. Simon the Pharisee was holding a feast and his guest of honor was Jesus. Jesus was a popular teacher, and everyone wanted to see if he would do some miracle. There were musicians playing. There was laughing and talking, and right about now the servants filed in in line carrying the food; lots and lots of it.

But wait! Who is this lady; dressed in rags, long hair down to her waist, crying. She was first seen kneeling at the feet of the guest of honor? Who let her in? She was not on the invitation list. It was as if someone snuck into a state dinner at the White House, getting past security, name not on the guest list.

She just sat there crying. She appeared broken, weighed down by some sort of inexplicable grief. With her tears she washed Jesus' feet. Sort of reminds you of another meal when Jesus washed his disciples' feet. And with her long hair she dried Jesus' feet. Then she anointed his feet with an expensive jar of perfume; myrrh. The same stuff the Wise men brought to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem. Myrrh, the ointment that is used to prepare a body for burial. There is an overtone of death here. This meal is shrouded in an atmosphere of death, that same cloud of death that covered Jesus entire life, from his the myrrh of the Magi, to the slaughter of the babes in Bethlehem, to the beheading of John the Baptist and all the way to the cross. This is no ordinary meal. No meal is ordinary when God is sitting at the table.

That very death is seen in the tears of a woman. A woman overcome by sorrow and grief. What was the cause of her pain? It was her sin and her guilty conscience. She obviously believed in Jesus or she would not have come to him. But she was grieved on account of her sin. This woman shows us what kind of people we are. We are believers in Christ, but having faith and being forgiven of our sins, does not eradicate sin from our flesh. We still are tempted by our fleshly desires. We still sin even without wanting to. We still hurt others by the things we say and by our attitudes. We inflict pain on others so callously that we don't even know it. We are self-centered and often judge others or like or dislike others only because of how we feel, thinking only of ourselves. In the movie Invictus there is a brief confrontation in which someone wants Nelson Mandela to retaliate against someone because of her feelings of hatred toward that man. Nelson Mandela rightly rebukes her for thinking only of herself and being unwilling to forgive.

But that is what we are so often like. Yet, for the Christian, there is always sorrow over sin. The life of the believer is a constant struggle against sin; a continual effort to rid himself of sinful behavior and attitudes. The believer is grieved by his sin and hates his sin. The believer daily confesses his sin and seeks forgiveness and prays, asking God to overcome his sinful nature and put it to death. And God does put it to death, in the trials, in the tests, in the sufferings and hardships of our life, God is cutting away at our sinfulness and extricating it from our hearts.

King David in our Old Testament reading had fallen into sin. He lusted for a woman and by his authority as King forced her to have relations with him. In his own selfishness he destroyed her marriage and her life when she became pregnant. Then to cover his sin he murdered her husband. He destroyed the lives of several people all due to his sinful lust and pleasure.

Later, when confronted with his sin, he wept just as the woman. He was in tears because he hated and repudiated the sin within his heart. He cried out to the Lord, "Have mercy on me...blot out my transgressions. Wash me from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me."

This was what the woman was crying in her heart. "Blot out my transgressions. Wash me from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin!" She repudiated her sin. She wanted to be free of sin. This is the cry of every true believer in Christ!

However, Simon, the Pharisee, who was serving the meal, was upset. Sinners should not even have gotten into the house. He wanted an investigation of the Social Secretary to see how this woman got in. She was an undesirable from the neighborhood. She might steal something. He wanted to get rid of her. He didn't want such a person in his house. He didn't understand why she was crying and carrying on so, nor did he care to find out so he could help her.

Now, there is an interesting detail in the Bible just a little before this dinner is talked about. Up just a few verses in Luke 7 verses 29 and 30, there is a statement that few people seem to have noticed. It says that those sinners, such as publicans, prostitutes, thieves and the like, who had been baptized with John's baptism glorified God. They declared him just. But that the Pharisees and lawyers who had refused to be baptized by John did not understand God's purpose for them.

There is a difference between those who are baptized and those who were not! The baptized receive an understanding and insight from the Holy Spirit which those who are not baptized do not have. Baptism actually makes a difference in a person. When you come up out of the waters of Baptism you are a new person, born again from above, a child of God. The Holy Spirit is at work in you. You now can understand God's purpose for you because you have the Spirit of God and you are a different person from the one who was submerged into the water. You understand God's purpose for you. Your sinful flesh still clings to you, but now you hate and reject that sin. Now you want to be rid of it, and so if it overcomes you, you confess it and seek God's forgiveness.

But Simon had not been baptized, and he did not understand God's purpose for him. He did not understand Jesus or who He was or what he had come to do. He did not understand why this woman came to Jesus. He could not comprehend her tears.

John had come to prepare the hearts of people for the coming of Jesus, and how did he prepare them? By baptizing them!

We can assume that this woman had been baptized by John. Now we can begin to understand why she was crying and washing Jesus' feet and anointing them with myrrh: she did knew His purpose for her. She knew that he had come to forgive her sins. She knew that he had come to save her. And she loved him.

So we too, having been baptized and illumined by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God, know that Jesus has come to save us. That is why we are here this morning. There would be no other good reason worth taking an hour and a half out of your Sunday morning. You are here because here is where you meet Jesus. Here is where he comes to meet you in word and sacrament. Here we, like the woman with the perfume, look to the cross of Jesus, because it is on the cross that Jesus paid for our sins. It is on the cross that Jesus suffered death in hell as your substitute. It is on the cross that Jesus hung your sins. And it was on the cross that Jesus said, "It is finished." Your salvation was accomplished!

And that woman had come to Jesus to receive forgiveness for her sins. A baptized believer in Jesus, she was repentant. She wanted to be rid of sin and put on the new clothing of righteousness. She came to receive His grace and mercy. And he gave it to her: "Your sins are forgiven," he told her. She receive the absolution for her sin. The desires of her heart had come true. Coming to Jesus in this meal she found forgiveness of her sins. "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace," Jesus told her.

And so as believers in Christ who want to rid our lives and our hearts and minds of sin, we come to this place, this house of God to seek Jesus and hear his words of absolution. We have all done terrible things. We have all given in to our sinful flesh. But the highest worship of Christ is to receive his forgiveness with faith. For that reason at the start of our Divine Service, right after the words of Baptism, in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. In baptism our hearts are changed and we want to be rid of sin so we confess our sins and receive his absolution.

That meal at Simon's house, was not Holy Communion. Jesus had not yet instituted Communion. But it was a holy meal. And later when the disciples ate the Passover Meal with Jesus in the upper room they remembered that dinner with the weeping woman and they understood what Holy Communion was all about. They understood the washing of the feet. They understood why sinners come to the altar to eat and drink with Jesus. They understood that here in this meal there is forgiveness of sins, just as there was in Simon's house.

And so too, we come to Jesus, in baptism, confession and Holy Communion to dine with him and receive forgiveness and salvation.

Let us then turn to page 290 in our hymnals.

(from altar read the beginning responses then skip to the next page: "Having heard...")