“Forgiveness: The Depth of Our Need”

Luke 7:36 – 50

Pastor Deb Troester, STHPC, June 22, 2025

This morning’s scripture tells of an unusual, even shocking incident that occurred when Simon the Pharisee, a prominent religious leader, invited Jesus of Nazareth to his home for dinner. Perhaps it was a somewhat impromptu invitation, as Simon had not had time to welcome Jesus properly with the traditional ceremony of foot washing and a kiss from the host, or perhaps the omission of these common courtesies was a subtle insult. Yet, the dinner proceeded as usual, until somehow a woman of ill-repute entered the dining area unobserved – for she certainly would have been thrown out had she been noticed.

In those days, people ate lying down on low couches, supporting themselves with one arm and eating with the other, their bare feet stretched out behind them. The woman knelt behind Jesus and wept, her tears falling on His feet. Having nothing else with which to dry them, she wiped them with her own long hair, in itself a somewhat indecent act, as it was considered immodest in those days for a woman to appear in public with her hair loose. Then she anointed Jesus’ feet with perfume and kissed them.

Her strange behavior probably made the guests uncomfortable; this woman was known as a prostitute - perhaps even too well-known to some of the men present. The only one who does not seem fazed is Jesus, who is never embarrassed by human honesty - even honest tears. He patiently and lovingly submits to her ministrations. He does not try to stop her or scold her. He is possibly the only man she had ever met who had shown her any respect as a person, instead of treating her as a sex object or looking down on her with contempt and disgust.

Who is this woman, so intent on her worship of Christ that she seems oblivious to everything else around her? She is certainly an outcast, a broken person, from the lowest levels of society. Most people probably passed her by on the street without speaking or even looking at her. But Jesus saw in her a beautiful child of God, one who offered him a precious gift - her love and sacrificial devotion - her tears, and her broken, contrite spirit. As the Psalmist writes: “A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise”(Psalm 51:17b).

But why did this woman come up from behind, in the shadows, to wash and anoint Jesus’ feet?

Perhaps she was too ashamed to look Him in the eyes - maybe she feared He would reject her, like everyone else had, or maybe she feared the others would throw her out. After all, hadn’t the disciples tried to turn away innocent children from Jesus? How much more would they be likely to turn away a prostitute! Perhaps she feared they would laugh at her for making a fool out of herself, crying and carrying on like that in front of everyone. People would think she was crazy. Yet Jesus did not reject her, even though everyone else might have. In the same way, God never rejects us. He takes whatever we have to offer him, even if it is only our tears, and graciously accepts us - sinful as we are - into his loving arms.

Simon, the host of this interrupted dinner party, had a completely different reaction to this incident than Jesus. For Simon, the woman’s act was scandalous, and showed that Jesus certainly was not Simon’s idea of a religious leader. Simon had a reputation as a good and righteous man. The problem was, he knew that he was good. He thought a little too highly of himself: “She is a sinner,” he thought, “not me.”

No shred of compassion, no thought of  “there but for the grace of God go I” seems to have crossed his mind. Instead, he was shocked and perhaps angry. Here was this woman - this prostitute - ruining his dinner party, creating a scene. Simon was upset, but not Jesus. Ever the teacher, Jesus uses this incident to challenge the Pharisee’s faith and his view of God.

Indeed, Jesus loved the self-righteous Pharisee as much as he loved the weeping prostitute. He knew the judgmental attitude in Simon’s heart, but He loved him anyway. Joyce Hollyday writes in Sojourners  magazine, “Perhaps the real surprise of the story…is not that Jesus received the blessing of a ‘sinful’ woman -- but that he ate at the table of a Pharisee. He listened and taught and took the man seriously.” Jesus possessed that rare ability to “listen to those with a different viewpoint...,” an ability sorely needed in our nation today.

How often do we show love to those who judge us? How often do we really listen to those who disagree with us? Jesus did. I confess that I have much to learn about loving those whose opinions differ from mine. Simon needed to learn to see this woman as Jesus did.

And he needed to understand that he, too, was a sinner, in need of forgiveness. Jesus had a story for Simon:

Two men owed debts to a moneylender. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them could pay the money back, so the lender canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more? Simon replied, “The one who owed the bigger debt.” “Bingo!” Jesus said – well, he probably didn’t say that, but he went on to say that the woman’s “great love proves that her many sins have been forgiven. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”

What did Jesus mean by this parable? Did he really mean that the woman was a five hundred denarii sinner and Simon only a fifty denarii sinner? Or was it that Simon only thought that he owed fifty denarii? How many of us think that we only owe fifty denarii while others owe five hundred? Does God measure sin that way, or are we the ones who place ourselves and others on a sliding scale of how much we owe God? Is the sin of prostitution worse than arrogance, pride, lack of compassion, inaction in the face of injustice? How many denarii do we owe? We can only accept God’s love and forgiveness if we admit that we need it. The woman knew that she desperately needed Christ’s forgiveness. Simon was not yet aware of the depth of his need.

You may have heard the saying, “The purpose of Christianity is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” Jesus certainly demonstrated this principle in his response both to the woman and to the Pharisee. God always meets us where we are, and gives us what we need, not necessarily what we want. The woman needed forgiveness and peace for her broken spirit, acceptance and love, despite her many sins. Simon needed to have his world view challenged. He needed to see his own sinfulness and his need for repentance and forgiveness. What is it we need that God is trying to give us?

Jesus does one more unexpected thing: he tells the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.” The other guests are shocked, asking, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’” In other words, “Just who does he think he is?” But Jesus does not defend himself. Instead he continues speaking to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” This is a word He speaks to all of us, if we have ears to hear. “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” We all owe debts we cannot pay. We all are broken in one way or another.

Jesus came to pay those debts, and He came to heal our brokenness. The Greek word translated here as “save” means “to heal or to make whole.” Faith in Christ releases the power of God in our lives to bring healing and forgiveness and enables us to live life in new ways that we had never before imagined. We can change. We can have forgiveness. We can have peace with God and with ourselves. This is the good news of Jesus Christ.

God wants us to live lives of wholeness, free from guilt and fear, but even Christ couldn’t give Simon this peace until Simon was willing to acknowledge his own need of forgiveness. The point of the story is not that either the Pharisee or the prostitute, or any of us, is the greater sinner, but rather that we must see ourselves as we really are before God. The truth is, we all owe five hundred denarii, maybe five thousand - or five million - and it is hopeless for us ever to try to pay it back. But thanks be to God: Christ has paid our debt through His death on the cross. Let us then, like the weeping woman, kneel at Jesus’ feet, with broken and contrite hearts, confessing our need of forgiveness. Like her, may we, too, hear His voice saying, “Your sins are forgiven....Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Pray with me: Lord, make us aware of the depth of our need for You, and the depth of Your love for us. Help us to accept your gift of forgiveness and peace. Like the woman in the story, may we, too, fall at Your feet, and offer You our hearts, our lives, ourselves, our all. Amen.

Sermon ©Deborah Troester 2025