How Much Have You Been Forgiven — Anton Bosch

Jesus and the Forgiven Woman in Luke 7

So turn with me to Luke chapter 7, Luke chapter 7 and verses 36 through 50, Luke chapter 7, 36 through 50. Then one of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went to the Pharisee's house and sat down to eat.

And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at his feet behind him weeping.

And she began to wash his feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head. And she kissed his feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.

And Jesus answered and said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. And so he said, Teacher, say it. There was a certain creditor who had two debtors, one owed five hundred denarii and another fifty.

And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell me, which of them will love him more? Simon answered and said, I suppose the one whom he forgave more. And he said to him, You have rightly judged.

Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, Do you see this woman? I entered your house, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head.

You gave me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint my head with oil, but this woman has anointed my feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much.

But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. Then he said to her, Your sins are forgiven. And those who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves, Who is this who even forgives sins?

And then he said to the woman, Your faith has saved you. Go in peace. And so Jesus is invited by the Pharisee. And I'm going to speak about the Pharisees maybe next week or the week after. I have a whole set of thoughts around the Pharisees that I want to share with you.

Simon the Pharisee's Hidden Motives

But the Pharisees, obviously, they were the lawyers. They were the conservatives in the Israeli set up. They were both a political and a religious party, which sounds somewhat familiar today. And so one of the Pharisees asked Jesus or him to eat with him.

Clearly, the reason he wanted Jesus to eat with him was, well, he had an ulterior motive. We don't exactly understand the reason. It wasn't because he liked Jesus. He didn't respect Jesus at all. Because when Jesus comes in, the custom is that the feet of the visitors needs to be washed.

Normally, they would call a servant. And if there is no servant available, then the youngest or the most junior of those present would wash the feet. There would also be a customary greeting. Today, we shake hands.

Well, we used to, and hopefully, we'll shake hands again. Those days, they would give a kiss on the cheek. He didn't kiss Jesus. And if you were an honored guest, then you would put olive oil on the head, anointing the head.

He didn't anoint Jesus. So he's disrespecting Jesus every inch of the way. In fact, it was in their custom. It wasn't acceptable to eat with dirty feet as much as it wasn't acceptable to eat with dirty hands.

And so he has some ulterior motive. He wants to talk with Jesus. Possibly, he wants to ensnare Jesus. He may have been one of the 70 leaders of the Sanhedrin or the 71. And he may be looking for something against Jesus.

We're not sure what it was. But clearly, he was not Jesus' friend. And so Jesus goes. And Jesus knows what's going on. He knows who this man is. He knows what his motive is, even more than we know what the motive was.

And yet Jesus goes because he is going to use this as an opportunity to teach a very important lesson and a very important principle. And so verse 37,. Now, this woman must not be confused with Mary Magdalene in the next chapter, where I erroneously began to read.

Because you'll see that Mary Magdalene appears in the next chapter. If this was Mary, then Luke would have said so. Because remember, one of the things about Luke is that he is very precise and he pays great attention to the detail.

And so if this was Mary, he would have said so. But this is not Mary. She appears in the next chapter. So this is another woman. What she was, we don't fully know. It is very likely that she was a prostitute.

It just says that she was a sinner. Now, in the custom then, you could have been defined as a sinner by one of two things. The one is that you were married to a man who was a very evil man. That would make the woman a sinner.

Or she was a prostitute. And so that seems to be the reason. And in effect, if you look at the way that Simon the Pharisee responds to Jesus about her, it seems that this woman is defiled in every sense of the word.

The Woman's Costly Expression of Love

And so when she knew that Jesus sat at the table, now there are a few more things that we have to understand in the background here. The first is that it was custom to leave the doors open when you had an honored guest like that.

So that everybody who wanted to come in and listen to the conversation could come and listen. The Pharisees loved to discuss and to debate the Scriptures. And to talk about the law and all of these things.

And so they would use all sorts of opportunities to do so. And this would be a typical situation. So Jesus is a teacher. You'll see that he addresses him as teacher. Or in the Greek, didaskalos. Not rabbi, but teacher.

And he invites him in and he says, Come and sit at my table. So the doors open and various people are coming and going, it seems. Obviously, it's not very light. It's at nighttime, it seems. And they don't have big fancy electric lights.

They have maybe a little oil lamp on the table. So you can't really see what's going on. They're reclining at the table. And this is important because it's part of the story. They would lie down. They would recline on their left side with their heads towards the table.

Eating with their right hand. And their feet, which was the dirty part. And which was the least honorable part of the human body. Because simply, you know, those days they didn't have clothes, shoes. They had sandals.

And they didn't have paved roads. They would walk on dirt. And so their feet were dirty. And so they would lie with their feet away from the table. So you can understand then that when she comes in, the first thing that she encounters is the feet of Jesus.

She is clearly looking for Jesus. She knows who Jesus is. And it seems, although it doesn't say so in the context, it seems that she had had an encounter with Jesus previously. And that Jesus had forgiven her sins.

And that is why she comes in. She's not coming to hear the theological argument. She's coming to meet with Jesus. And so she brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil. This was a very expensive thing.

The flask, the bottle, alabaster is a kind of marble, a very, very beautiful marble. It comes from Egypt. And so the bottle itself was valuable. And then the fragrant oil, which would have come from the east somewhere, would also have been very expensive.

This was something that the rich people had. But it was also something that prostitutes used to ply their trade. And so she brings the flask and the fragrant oil. And this is different to the other story where the other one breaks the flask.

And she stood at his feet behind him, weeping. So you can see the picture. Jesus is lying with his head at the table. His feet are sticking out on the other side together with everyone else's feet. And she comes and she just stands at his feet.

And she begins to weep. Why is she weeping? Well, according to Jesus, because she had been forgiven. She had been forgiven. And as she comes and she meets Jesus, the joy and the emotions just well up.

And the tears just begin to drip down on the feet of the Lord Jesus. In the Western world, we don't really appreciate this kind of emotionalism. And specifically me with my Teutonic background, we're not great on these kinds of things.

But clearly this woman is overwhelmed. She has come to see the one who has forgiven her sins. And as she meets him, the tears just flow. And as she looks down, the tears fall on his feet. And she sees that his feet are not washed.

And she begins to wash his feet with her tears. And she doesn't have a towel, so she takes her hair. And this was an unacceptable thing those days. Women had to have their hair up and tied. And so she lets her hair loose.

This was really immoral in the eyes of those around. And she begins to use her hair to wipe the feet of the Lord Jesus, to dry his feet. And she kisses his feet. And she anoints his feet with fragrant oil.

Now, it seems that those who were looking on, that to them this may have been slightly erotic and immoral. And Jesus, obviously to him it is nothing of those things. Jesus is simply seeing someone who deeply loves him.

Because she had come to realize the greatness of the forgiveness that she had found at the hands of her Savior. And so she is there and she doesn't embrace him. She doesn't kiss him on his head or anywhere else.

But she kisses his feet because she is not worthy to rise up and to do anything more. And obviously Simon is very upset. The Pharisee's name is Simon. He is very upset. And so when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he spoke to himself saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching him.

For she is a sinner. She is a sinner. Can you see the difference between these two characters? The one is a religious figure. And folks, I'm so concerned that there are so many Christians, so many evangelicals who are so religious, and yet there is no passion, there is no emotion, there is no deep love, there is no deep gratitude for what Jesus has done.

It's all up here. It's all in the mind. And they'll argue and debate and discuss the theology and this and that and the other thing. But where is the love? Where is the tears? Just welling up as she recognizes the great forgiveness that she had found at the hand of the Savior.

And so the Pharisee is all concerned about the Ps and the Qs and about the intricacies of the law. And here's this vile woman. And she is touching Jesus. And Jesus is allowing that. Now, Jesus should not have allowed that, even if he wasn't a prophet, according to him.

And if he was a prophet, then he would have known who this woman is. And so Jesus answered. Now look at this. The Pharisee who had invited him saw this. He spoke to himself. He didn't speak to Jesus and say, if you're a prophet, then what's going on here?

He is speaking to himself. And Jesus answers him. So how can Jesus answer him? Because Jesus is the prophet. And so Jesus knew what he was thinking. He was just thinking in his heart and saying, who's this man who's a teacher?

And his claim, people say he's a prophet. How can he allow this to happen? And so Jesus answers him. And Jesus reveals his heart. And he says, Simon, I have something to say to you. And so he said, teacher, say it.

Forgiveness and the Parable of Two Debtors

And so Jesus tells him a parable. He says there was a certain creditor who had two debtors. So creditor is someone who has lent money. Debtor is someone who owes money. One owed 500 denarii and the other 50.

I think these numbers are arbitrary. I don't think there's any meaning in those numbers. It's simply one owed a lot, 10 times more than the other. Denarii, remember, is one day's wages. So the 50 was just under two months' worth of wages.

The 500 was about a year and a half, 18, 20 months' worth of wages. The fact was that both of them could not pay. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him more?

I'm going to come back to these two guys in a moment. So Jesus just asks a simple question. And Simon answered. He said, it's logical. He says, you know, stupid question, really. I suppose the one who was forgiven most.

And he says, you have judged rightly. You have judged rightly. And then he turned to the woman and said, Simon, do you see this woman? I entered your house and you gave me no water for my feet. But she has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head.

And you gave me no kiss. But this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet since the time I came in. And so what is Jesus saying about the Pharisee and the woman? The Pharisee owed 50. The woman owed 500.

The Pharisee had his religious legalism and he was keeping the law. He was counting the leaves of the mint when he puts it in the pot. He's counting every penny, making sure that he's paying his tithes to the exact detail.

He's fasting twice a week. He's praying several times a day. He's doing all of these things. So maybe he's not as bad as that woman was. But now I want to ask you a question that Jesus didn't ask but inferred.

And that is that these two owed different amounts. But neither of them could pay. Is there a difference, then, between the two? Well, let me ask you this question. If you're a billionaire and you go bankrupt, and another man is a wage earner and he only owns a motor car and the clothes of a bank, and he goes bankrupt, what's the difference between the two?

There is no difference. They're both bankrupt. They both cannot pay their debt. It doesn't matter if the debt is billions of dollars or ten dollars. If you cannot pay, you're bankrupt and you're in trouble.

And those days you would end up in debtors' jail. And so really what Jesus is saying is that, yes, maybe this woman has been forgiven more. But Simon, you are just as bankrupt. You also cannot pay the little that you think you owe.

And obviously he doesn't understand how much he does owe. But you still can't pay. In fact, this is the problem is that we look at others and we say, Well, I thank you, Lord, that I'm not like those people, that I don't do this and do that, and I haven't got involved in this and that and the other thing, and I live a pretty moral life, and I try to be a good citizen, and I try to keep the law, and I try to do all of these things.

But it doesn't matter how religious someone may be. They are still bankrupt. Because even if they owed God one penny, they cannot pay. Because there is only one thing that can pay for the price of our sin, and we know the answer to that, the blood, the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Equal Price of Redemption

And so what price was needed to bail each of these debtors out? Because remember, Jesus is just telling a parable, but he's saying there's the rich man, or the Pharisee, and there's this woman. In order for her to be forgiven, what price needed to be paid for her sins?

The death and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Pharisee may have only broken, and they didn't, because he probably broke thousands of laws, but if he just broke one law, what price would have to be paid for his sin?

Still the death and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, there's not a smaller atonement for a religious person, and a bigger atonement for another person. It's the same price. It's the same debt.

The soul that sins. Not many sins, one sin. The soul that sins, it will die. The wages of sin is death. And so it doesn't matter how many sins we've committed. In fact, here's the problem. Some of us come from good backgrounds.

I grew up in a Christian family. My family have been preachers for four generations. I never did particularly bad stuff, and so I really don't have much reason to be thankful. No, the price that was paid for me is the same price that was paid for the worst sinner in the world.

For that sinner who died with Jesus, that robber who died with Jesus on the cross, and Jesus said, today you will be with me in paradise. It was the same price that was paid for him. It was paid for me.

Because I was just as bankrupt as that robber on that cross next to Jesus. And folks, here's the problem. We forget the price that had to be paid. You see, it seems easy when you read the story because Jesus just says, your sins are forgiven.

But we know that that couldn't happen just on the basis of just him saying that it's forgiven. But it was on the basis that he would shed his blood on the cross. And we understand the theology that the sin was forgiven in anticipation of the price being paid.

If Jesus didn't die on the cross, there would be no forgiveness for sins because without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. And so, Jesus would still have had to die. But the Pharisee couldn't get it because he was so full of his own religious stuff that he couldn't even begin to understand his absolute bankruptcy before God.

Spiritual Poverty and the Need for Grace

And you remember that this is where Jesus speaks about in the Sermon on the Mount, both in Luke and in Matthew. And the Sermon on the Mount begins, Blessed are the poor in spirit. And remember we've spoken about this many times.

It's not because some are poor and some are not poor. We're all poor. The problem is that some don't understand their poverty, don't understand their bankruptcy before God and their absolute need for him to intervene.

And if he doesn't, we are undone. Woe is me because I am undone. And so, should he have been as thankful as she was? Yes, he should have. He should have. Because his penalty was the same as her penalty.

His redemption was the same as the price for her redemption. And so the question just is, and I had to ask myself the question as I went through the passage during this week, is there this kind of deep, deep love, deep love for Jesus because he saved me?

Or have I got used to the fact that I'm saved? Do I even think that well, maybe I deserve to be saved? And folks, here's the sad thing is that many so-called Christians think that they deserve to be saved because they're pretty good people.

And I pray that the Lord would somehow inscribe upon our hearts and as we come to the Lord's table again this evening, that we would afresh come to understand the price that was paid for each one of us.

Serving Others as an Expression of Love

So verse 44, he turned to the woman and he said, Simon, do you see this woman? I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head.

Jesus isn't here physically tonight. So how can we wash his feet? By washing one another's feet. And obviously I'm not speaking about bringing a basin and physically washing. I mean in serving one another.

Jesus said, if you've done this to the least of these, my brethren, you've done it to me. And so our gratitude for what the Lord has done for us is directly proportionate to the degree to which we are willing to serve one another.

But when we don't want to help, when we don't want to serve, we're simply saying, I'm entitled. I deserve to be, we're not grateful. And folks, the reason I serve, the reason I've given my life to serve the Lord and to serve these people is because he has saved me and because I've come to understand that without him I have nothing and that if he didn't save me, I would be the worst and the most terrible sinner in the world.

And because of his grace upon my life, I have no other option but to love him with all of my heart. And how do I love him? I love him by washing your feet, by serving you. And we ought to love and serve one another because that's how we show our love for the Lord Jesus.

Religious Spectatorship and the Love of Christ

But when we stand off like Simon did and he's just sitting there and he's enjoying the meal and he's enjoying the conversation and he's enjoying maybe the glow that's coming with Jesus because Jesus is a celebrity at this time.

Remember, people are following him in massive numbers. He's performing miracles. Everybody's talking about him. And maybe that was one of the reasons he wanted Jesus there because Jesus had some celebrity status.

He's enjoying all of these things, but he doesn't kiss Jesus. He doesn't even do the most basic common decency thing and wash Jesus' feet or call a servant to wash Jesus' feet. He just ignores him. And, folk, I wonder how many Christians today and these days treat the church that way, the body of Christ that way, we just enjoy the presence of Jesus.

We just enjoy the teaching. We just enjoy the blessing that comes with having him in the house and all of these wonderful things. But there's no love. There's no passion. There's no zeal. It's simply a cold, religious, theological thing.

You did not anoint my head with oil, but this woman has anointed my feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. The language here is, have been forgiven, for she loved much.

But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. Now, think about that. Our forgiveness is measured by our love. Is that what Jesus is saying? Yeah. Our forgiveness is measured by our love. If we do not love, have we been forgiven?

Now, leave that question with you. If we do not love him, and if we do not love the body of Christ, and if we do not love one another, have we been forgiven? Because Jesus is making a very simple, clear statement, and he's saying the degree to which we love one another is a measure of our forgiveness.

Great love, great forgiveness. No love, no forgiveness. And then he said to her, your sins are forgiven. So he confirms what he had said earlier, and he assures her that her sins have been forgiven. And those who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves, who is this who even forgives sins?

And remember, this conversation comes up at a different time, and the answer, obviously, is that only God can forgive sins. They know this. And remember, the others who are at the table must be other Pharisees and other learned people.

And, you know, who's this man? Who is this man who can forgive sins? And, folks, again, sometimes I think that I get the impression that Christians think that they've forgiven their own sins, but there's only one who can forgive, and his name is Jesus.

Coming to the Lord's Table in Gratitude

And he said to the woman, your faith has saved or healed you. Go in peace. What does he say to the Pharisee? Nothing. He just walks away and leaves the Pharisee in his sin. So as we come to the table this evening, I pray that we would not come out of routine and just do the ritual of taking the bread and the wine and saying, yeah, he died on the cross.

I pray that it would become real and personal to us, and that we would question our love. You remember, Paul was a Pharisee. He could have been this man. Paul says, as far as the law was concerned, I was blameless.

I kept every one of the rules. And yet, he says, I was the chiefest of sinners. And, brother and sister, unless you come to the table this evening and recognize that you, that I, are the chiefest of sinners, that it costs the precious blood of the Lord Jesus to save us.

And as we come around the table this morning or this evening, and obviously we're not going to come around because of the distancing, but that we would indeed just pour out our love to the Lord Jesus.

And if you want to do so vocally, you're welcome to do so. But at least in the depth of our hearts, may we find the love that just overtook this woman. That as she came and she sees Jesus lying there, the emotions just welled up as she realized what had happened.

And I pray that that would be our experience this evening. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you, Lord, for your immense grace that saved a wretch like me. Lord, none of us is worthy. None of us was good enough in any way that Jesus should die for us.

And yet he paid that price and paid that debt that we could not pay. And, Father, we understand the greatness of that debt. It cost the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, Lord, I pray that you would help us to be those who love because we understand what has happened to us.

And, Lord, as we come to the table this evening, I pray that you would be present as you were at that table that day. And, Lord, if there are issues that have not been dealt with, Lord, we pray that we may deal with those and that we may find your forgiveness as you forgave her, that you would forgive.

And, Lord, that we may partake of the table in an honoring way. We pray that you would help us. In Jesus' name, amen.