Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Large red plastic cups.
[00:00:07] A checkered tablecloth with a candle between the parmesan and the crushed red pepper.
[00:00:12] Vinyl booths crowned with Tiffany style lamps. Where are we?
[00:00:17] Pizza Hut? Specifically in the 80s and 90s, it was just a simpler time, right?
[00:00:24] The only screen was the Pac man arcade game.
[00:00:28] The only social media was the gossip from the table behind you.
[00:00:32] So Pizza Hut recently stoked this nostalgic fire. I get it. Like if there wasn't a Pizza Hut in your town or you didn't eat at one during this era, this is not gonna land with you.
[00:00:43] But if there were, you could smell those pictures, right?
[00:00:48] Like if you were there, you were there. And Pizza Hut recently stoked this nostalgic fire. They converted several of their locations to classic locations, just transforming them back in time.
[00:01:00] And this is great. I love it. I have one problem. They called them classic when the name retrorant was right there.
[00:01:11] Like a retro restaurant.
[00:01:13] Retrorant. It was right there.
[00:01:18] Either way, they're capitalizing on our human desire to belong, right? Because for a lot of us there's nostalgia in the old restaurant. We used to go to our annual vacation spot or grandma's house.
[00:01:34] And chances are there's a table involved, Right? There's a table and you have a place. You belong there.
[00:01:42] As we continue today in our sermon series, the Table, we're going to meet a woman who was told that she didn't belong at the table.
[00:01:51] And Jesus said, well, I've got something better for you.
[00:01:54] So our story is in Luke chapter 7. We're going to start in verse 36, if you want to turn there. Luke 7:36.
[00:02:14] So I'll read this story for us and we'll join Jesus at the table.
[00:02:19] One of the Pharisees asked to have Jesus to have dinner with him. So Jesus went, went to his home and sat down to eat. And when a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume.
[00:02:37] Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping.
[00:02:41] Her tears fell on his feet and she wiped them off with her hair.
[00:02:44] Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.
[00:02:49] 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.
[00:02:58] And then Jesus answered his thoughts.
[00:03:02] Simon, he said to the Pharisee, I have something to say to you. Go ahead, Teacher. Simon replied.
[00:03:08] And then Jesus told him this story.
[00:03:11] A man loaned money to two people 500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other.
[00:03:18] But neither of them could repay him.
[00:03:21] So he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?
[00:03:28] Simon answered, I.
[00:03:29] I suppose the one for whom he cancelled the larger debt. That's right, Jesus said.
[00:03:34] Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, look at this woman kneeling here.
[00:03:40] When I entered your home, you didn't offer me water to wash the dust from my feet. But she washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn't greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet.
[00:03:55] You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head. But she has anointed my feet with rare perfume. I tell you, her sins and their many have been forgiven.
[00:04:06] So she has shown me much love. But a person who has forgiven little shows only little love.
[00:04:12] Then Jesus said to the woman, your sins are forgiven.
[00:04:16] The men at the table said among themselves, who's this man that he goes around forgiving sins?
[00:04:22] And Jesus said to the woman, your faith has saved you go in peace.
[00:04:29] Let's pray. God, thank you.
[00:04:32] Just as you invited this woman to know your love and your forgiveness and your peace, you do the same for us today.
[00:04:40] Thank you for your word that speaks into our lives and the stuff we are really walking through today.
[00:04:48] So help us to allow that, to allow your truth into our hearts and our minds and our lives.
[00:04:56] God, would you help us to see your love that you've shown in Jesus and spirit? Would you preach a better sermon than I will today? In Jesus name, Amen.
[00:05:06] So the first sentence of this story could fill an entire sermon. One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him.
[00:05:16] So Jesus went.
[00:05:19] One of the Pharisees, one of the religious leaders who wanted Jesus arrested, who attacked him with stones, who wanted to watch him die. One of those guys, one of those party poopers, invited Jesus to his house for dinner.
[00:05:35] So Jesus went.
[00:05:39] So what does that mean for us here today?
[00:05:43] Well, the Bible says that Jesus is the same. Yesterday when this happened, he's the same. Today. He's the same forever. So what that means for us today is what if all you've ever done with Jesus is push him away or deny him or even mock him?
[00:06:01] But then you reach out to him, is he going to turn his back on you?
[00:06:10] Or what if you know Jesus and you've just drifted away? But then you ask him, hey, I need you. Come close.
[00:06:20] Is he going to walk Away from you.
[00:06:23] No.
[00:06:24] This story is proof that not only is Jesus willing to sit at the table with someone who opposed him, it's his very nature.
[00:06:32] It's who he is.
[00:06:35] In fact, that means he is here with us today.
[00:06:40] So the plan is we're going to sit at this table and chew on this story, see what it teaches us about Jesus, see how it can change our lives today. Does that sound good?
[00:06:53] We can come up with another plan, too. That's good, too. Well, as the kids say, let's go.
[00:07:01] So homes of affluent people like Simon, the Pharisee, they were typically built, like in the city, kind of open air around a courtyard. So it was kind of open.
[00:07:12] And when a teacher would come into a home, like a rabbi, or in this case, when Jesus was there, Word would get around. And it was totally normal that people would just walk up because everything was open, and they would listen to the teaching. They. They would even just walk into the home because things were open. That's how it was. So this story, this is a normal thing that happened, but so that we can kind of see what was happening. Simon, the Pharisee probably invited his Pharisee friends, and what they tended to do was look down on everybody else because they thought they were just better and pure than everybody else.
[00:07:50] I'm not sure if eggs were on the menu, but Simon definitely got egg on his face. When in such fine company.
[00:07:58] This woman walked in who everybody knew simply as a sinner.
[00:08:05] Because the Pharisees, they drew a dark, hard, judgmental line between them and everybody else. And this woman was so deep in her sin, she couldn't even see the line.
[00:08:18] And she knew it.
[00:08:21] They weren't quiet about what they thought of her.
[00:08:24] If words and labels were knives, she was cut to the bone.
[00:08:30] That morning when she packed up her valuable perfume, she knew they would see her is worthless.
[00:08:37] When she walked up the stairs into Simon's house, she knew the people there would look down on her.
[00:08:45] But here's the thing. The Pharisees judged what they had heard about her, what they thought about her. And they thought, oh, she's sinful.
[00:08:54] But she knew so much more. She said, no, I am full of sin.
[00:09:00] She knew it.
[00:09:02] So at a dinner like this, the diners would, like, kind of sit on their knees and lean on the table. Their feet would be up behind them.
[00:09:11] So when this woman walked in, she just saw the feet of Jesus, and her sorrow just started to spill out at just seeing his feet.
[00:09:25] And her response, it seems kind of strange to our Western modern Minds. But at this time, help me out. How did people get where they were going?
[00:09:35] They walked. So their feet were smelly, dirty. So it was a common courtesy. When you walked into somebody's house, they washed your feet. It was a totally normal thing. This happened today. You might offer a Mountain Dew or beaver nuggets if you're cool. But back then, they washed feet. Totally normal thing.
[00:09:54] Now, the host had withheld this common courtesy and politeness from Jesus, probably to insult him, which was a feeling this woman knew very well.
[00:10:07] So when she walked in and she saw his dirty feet, she knew that feeling.
[00:10:13] So it makes total sense that when she found herself in a puddle of her own tears, she would use those and her own hair to wash his feet.
[00:10:22] And I bet when she did, she heard the words of the prophet Isaiah, how beautiful are the feet of the messenger who brings the good news of peace and salvation.
[00:10:34] Because she saw his feet and she said, those are the feet that came here to save me.
[00:10:41] Those are the feet that can forgive me.
[00:10:44] And Jesus saw her feet and he washed her.
[00:10:48] He made her clean and forgave her and gave her peace. So the table that Simon had set as a table of judgment, Jesus turned into a table of forgiveness.
[00:11:03] This woman approached him.
[00:11:05] I don't mean to make light of it, but it's right here, pardon the pun. He turned the tables.
[00:11:12] He didn't judge her, he forgave her.
[00:11:17] But here's a question. What exactly did he forgive? Because Jesus said to the woman, your sins are forgiven.
[00:11:25] What was her sin?
[00:11:28] I think it's really beautiful that this story is very specific and then incredibly vague, right? We're given these peculiar details that draw us in to the tenderness of this moment.
[00:11:41] But then there's some basic facts that are left out. Like what's her name?
[00:11:46] What is her sin?
[00:11:48] And I think God did this intentionally so that her name could be our name, right? Her name's Kyle.
[00:12:03] Her name's Becky.
[00:12:05] Her name's Chris.
[00:12:08] God didn't give us her name so that we can put ourselves at that table. We can see ourselves in this story. He didn't tell us what our sin is so we can take our sin to that table.
[00:12:19] Because sin is pretty broad, right? Sin is anything that makes you further from God, anything that separates you from God, anything that you think about or do and you go, well, that definitely does not make me closer to God.
[00:12:36] That puts some distance between me and God. For you, that specific thing is sin.
[00:12:42] It's also the condition we're born with. So it is Inescapable.
[00:12:47] But this story is left vague so that you can take your sin to that table and Jesus can forgive your sin and give you peace.
[00:13:01] And that table is there. The question is, will you walk up to that table?
[00:13:08] A few years ago, Newsweek published an article entitled Inside the Texas Pizza Hut, which hasn't changed since the 80s.
[00:13:18] It features the Pizza Hut in Mineola, Texas.
[00:13:22] So if you're hungry for some nostalgia, it's just up yonder.
[00:13:26] I am from Mineola, Texas. I haven't changed since the 80s.
[00:13:32] I have some great memories from sitting around those tables.
[00:13:37] But here's the memory I want to give you to take away from today's table of forgiveness. It's this. That Jesus doesn't turn away from sin.
[00:13:47] He actually turns towards it.
[00:13:50] And then he takes it away and replaces it with his peace.
[00:13:54] Jesus sees our sin.
[00:13:58] He's not disappointed or disgusted. He actually rushes to it.
[00:14:03] He takes it on himself and then gives us his peace.
[00:14:10] Let's break this down. Jesus does not turn away from sin. It's actually why he came, right? The Bible says he's the healer. He's the great physician. So think of it this way. Imagine a doctor shows up for work in the morning. He scrubs in, puts that weird paper cover on the exam table and says, nurse, bring me my first patient.
[00:14:34] And he waits.
[00:14:38] And he waits. He drums with the Q tips.
[00:14:42] He waits. He runs out of patience, waiting for patience.
[00:14:45] He goes to the waiting room, and it's empty. He goes, huh? Well, I came to help sick people.
[00:14:53] Nobody's here. I guess I'll go home, right? Jesus, who is the great physician, he said, healthy people don't need a doctor. Sick people do.
[00:15:04] I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners, right? We think or we have been told that Jesus is happiest with us when we are awesome, when we're not making mistakes, when we're doing great.
[00:15:22] Jesus says, I am closest to you in your brokenness.
[00:15:29] When you were there on the ground, I was with you.
[00:15:36] I know this. Half the room didn't hear me, so I'm going to say it again. We think or we've been told, that Jesus is happiest with us when we're awesome, when we're doing good, when we're strong.
[00:15:48] But he says he's closest to us in our brokenness.
[00:15:53] He said, there at your worst moment.
[00:15:56] I was there.
[00:15:59] Simon, the Pharisee, missed out on Jesus, forgiveness and peace because he was so focused on this woman's. Sin. He missed the sin of his own pride.
[00:16:11] And he left worse than he came.
[00:16:14] But the woman, she didn't care.
[00:16:17] Do you? She said, I'm going to pour it out and you can all see it. She didn't hide it. She didn't deny it. She acknowledged her sin. She confessed her need for Jesus. And his response?
[00:16:28] He moved closer to her.
[00:16:31] Jesus is closest to us in our brokenness.
[00:16:36] In his book, Gentle and Lowly, Dane Ortland writes, when Jesus Christ sees the fallenness of the world all about him, his deepest impulse, his most natural instinct is to move toward that sin and suffering, not away from it.
[00:16:53] The Pharisees, they saw this woman's sin and they couldn't get far enough away fast enough.
[00:16:59] Jesus saw her and moved towards her.
[00:17:03] He turned to the woman and said to Simon, look at this woman.
[00:17:08] He showed care and love for her, just like his Father did when God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
[00:17:19] And I've heard it, the whole sermon. You'd be like, man, I brought my family here, and he's talking about a woman. It's Father's Day. He's supposed to be saying, go, dad, right?
[00:17:28] This is actually the heart of the story.
[00:17:31] The son imitating his Father, making things right no matter whose fault it is.
[00:17:39] That's actually the gem hidden in this story.
[00:17:42] You know, dads, you know what this teaches us? The man you want your kids to be, be it the way you want your daughter treated one day, treat your wife that way today.
[00:17:59] The Son imitating the Father.
[00:18:01] And when we trust Jesus like this woman did and put our faith in him, he does not turn away from our sin. He actually turns towards it.
[00:18:11] Now, we're told the woman in the story was given several things by this world. Let's list them. First, she's given judgment.
[00:18:18] We're told she's immoral compared to what right she was judged.
[00:18:23] She's also given a lack of worth. We never even hear her name spoken.
[00:18:29] This is an interesting one. She, she's given wealth.
[00:18:33] She's wealthy. She has this valuable perfume and somehow had the means to acquire it. That's something.
[00:18:38] Finally, she's given a label. The Pharisee said, she's a sinner.
[00:18:44] He reduced her to a single word.
[00:18:48] But something this world could not give her is peace.
[00:18:53] Jesus said to the woman, your faith has saved. You go in peace.
[00:18:58] This world had given her a lot, but only Jesus can give true peace.
[00:19:05] And before he went to the cross to Earn our forgiveness and earn our peace. Jesus said to his followers, I'm leaving you with a gift, peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give.
[00:19:20] True peace is only found the forgiveness and salvation of Jesus.
[00:19:28] So to wrap up, I want to ask a question.
[00:19:30] Where are you in this story?
[00:19:35] Where do you see yourself in this story?
[00:19:39] I'm not going to ask you to answer out loud so you can be honest with yourself.
[00:19:45] Are you like the Pharisee that you are so caught up with seeing the imperfections in other people that you miss your own?
[00:19:56] Or maybe you're like in the crowd that had gathered, kind of watching, and you just keep seeing people go to Jesus or have this interaction with him or this experience, and then they walk away and it seems like they're kind of free, almost like they're given a new life.
[00:20:15] And you keep wondering, is that real?
[00:20:18] Like, would he do that for me?
[00:20:22] Or maybe you relate to the woman.
[00:20:24] Like you have spent time with Jesus. You've even sat with him.
[00:20:31] But there's something you just keep carrying, something that you've just bottled up that you need to just pour out.
[00:20:40] I mean, think about what she did. Like when her eyes, when she was all cried out, when she couldn't produce another tear, she pulled out a bottle and said, this represents my sorrow and shame, and I don't want it anymore. I'm going to pour out every last drop.
[00:20:58] And then she causes this scene.
[00:21:02] And then there she was on her knees, embarrassed, red eyes, snotty nose, matted hair is broken.
[00:21:18] And Jesus turns towards her, right when everybody had been pointing at her sin.
[00:21:26] Jesus said, look at this woman.
[00:21:30] When everybody had been talking about, about her. He looks at her and he took away her sin and gave her peace. And he can do the same thing for you.
[00:21:44] You can take your sin to the feet of Jesus.
[00:21:47] You can take your past, your brokenness, your shame.
[00:21:53] You can take the stuff you think you need to hide and pour it out his feet, and he will take it. He says, I'll take that and put it on myself and fill you back up with my peace.
[00:22:05] And it's a peace this world cannot give. This world can give a lot, right? I know, I'm cool, I'm hip, I'm with it.
[00:22:15] No, this world can give a lot that sticks with you and you can't wash off, right? A lot of fun until that fun ends up in an addiction. A lot of excitement that ends up in debt. Amazon boxes can pile up at our door, but they cannot give peace.
[00:22:36] True peace is only found in the forgiveness and salvation that Jesus offers. And when we go to him, he will not turn away from our sin.
[00:22:45] He will turn towards it, take it away and put it on himself and give you his peace.
[00:22:53] So will you join him at that table?
[00:22:56] Let's pray. God, thank you that you have made a place for us, that you've told us we are welcome, that our sin does not keep us away is actually the reason you came.
[00:23:09] So I just pray for anybody who's been carrying it, who just needs to give it to you, that we would do that and experience your kindness and your grace and your mercy.
[00:23:23] We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.
