Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Father, thank you for this moment that we get to share with one another.
[00:00:07] Lord, we pray that your spirit would be with us as we talk about the table.
[00:00:12] Lord, I thank you for this. Thank you for your word, for your kindness, the love that you show us.
[00:00:17] We pray that as we look at this text today that you would help us see where we belong.
[00:00:24] Lord, we thank you for this. In Jesus name, amen.
[00:00:28] If you were here last week, Jacob introduced this table series and did a great job talking about Levi and how Christ brought in the tax collector.
[00:00:37] But have you ever been in a room? You kind of walk in, you're kind of confident entering, and then you see who's all there, and then you're like, whoa, I don't belong here. You ever been there or you don't feel like you belong in the room because of who's there? I know I've been there. And most of us know that feeling. It's social event, like a party or whatnot, maybe a. A new job, a new school gathering where everyone seems to fit in except you.
[00:01:07] Consider this crazy scene.
[00:01:10] If everyone in this room knew the worst thing that you'd ever done, how would that change the way that you walked into this room?
[00:01:20] You're like, I wouldn't even walk in the room.
[00:01:25] What I want us to do, just for a second, we're going to do this little practice at the beginning.
[00:01:31] Imagine all the things that you're embarrassed about in your past, or even some struggles that you have in your present, and just kind of put your hands out and imagine that they were something physical that you can hold, something heavy and burdensome that you're dealing with.
[00:01:50] And maybe you're like, dude, I'm good and that's cool, but if you would just picture what it would be like to hold those things so that everybody could see.
[00:02:06] What I love about this story is it helps us see that there's two people can sit in a church, the same church, the same time, hear the same gospel being preached, sing the same songs, and yet respond very differently.
[00:02:23] At Simon's table that we're going to read about, Jesus showed that the kingdom of God is not built around those who deserve a seat, it's actually built around those who know that they don't.
[00:02:36] One is openly broken, one is quietly self righteous, one knows they need grace, the other one doesn't think they do.
[00:02:44] And it's with that in mind that we look at this text of scripture again, bearing our own weight.
[00:02:50] Look at this with me in verse 36 of Luke 7 it says this one of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him.
[00:02:59] And he went into the Pharisees house and reclined at the table. This is Jesus. He gets invited by the religious leaders who were judging him already to come and eat with him.
[00:03:10] Now one of the neat things is wealthier people would have these meals and these public events where wealthy individuals had these courtyards that were open that others could stand by on the edges and observe the people eating.
[00:03:25] People like sinners and tax collectors, outcasts often found themselves on the outside looking in.
[00:03:33] Except for this woman. Look at what she does. Verse 37. And behold a woman of the city who was a sinner. When she learned that he, Jesus, was reclining at the table in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster flask of ointment. And standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair, the hair of her head, and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.
[00:04:04] What's powerful in this text is the woman is identified by her public reputation.
[00:04:10] The people saw her mistakes. But the woman, she just came here because she saw her own need.
[00:04:17] Simon, however, is identified by his status as a Pharisee.
[00:04:22] She, this woman comes and stands behind Jesus, weeps and obviously not polite tears.
[00:04:30] So much so that she wet his feet with her tears. She lets her hair down, which was forbidden in public. She wipes his feet with their hair as an act of vulnerability and humility. Kissing his feet, anointed them. She brings an alabaster flask of ointment. Expensive. It's sacrificial, but it's intentional.
[00:04:53] Here's why. The woman showed her repentant heart by breaking open her most valuable possession. In effect, she was rejecting not just the possession, but the lifestyle that paid for that possession.
[00:05:08] The woman gave Jesus her best because she knew that Jesus took her worst.
[00:05:15] Notice this too.
[00:05:17] She's not trying to earn forgiveness. In fact, the grammar later points out she already had forgiveness, that it was already accomplished. Her actions are evidence of grace, not a means of obtaining grace. They're evidence. They're proof that she has received this grace. Love is evidence. Forgiveness is the cause.
[00:05:36] She does not love to be forgiven. She loves because she has been forgiven.
[00:05:42] The woman comes differently. She has nothing to bring except her need.
[00:05:50] In our lives, forgiveness begins where our self sufficiency ends.
[00:05:59] Verse 39.
[00:06:01] Now when the Pharisee who had invited him in 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's a sinner.
[00:06:19] And Jesus answering, said to him, simon, I have something to say to you.
[00:06:28] And he answers, say it, Teacher, I love this.
[00:06:33] In Simon's silent judgment, he kind of reaches these two conclusions. First of all, Jesus has no idea who this woman is and what all she's done.
[00:06:42] And he also thinks, well, as a result of that, there's no way that Jesus can be God.
[00:06:47] But notice in verse 39, it said he said to himself, meaning he just thought these things.
[00:06:57] Jesus answers a question that Simon never even dared to ask.
[00:07:03] Jesus knows exactly who this woman is.
[00:07:06] And he also knows exactly who Simon is too.
[00:07:10] The woman's sins are public.
[00:07:12] Simon's sins are private. And Jesus sees both of them.
[00:07:17] He thought that if Jesus only knew who the woman was, he'd reject her like he did.
[00:07:25] We would. Me and you could be too focused on the sins of other people around us that we miss the fact that Jesus is near us, that he came to save us.
[00:07:38] You see, Simon didn't sin less. He just thought less of his sin. And even more, he thought less of the Savior that was right there.
[00:07:47] He has only a little sense of his sin. Therefore he only has a little sense of his need of forgiveness.
[00:07:55] And so what Jesus does is he gives a little parable to explain this verse 41. He says, A certain money lender had two debtors.
[00:08:05] One owed 500 denarii, which is like 18 months wages, and the other 52 months of wages when they both could not pay. Here's the key. Both owed money, neither could pay. He canceled the debt of both.
[00:08:21] Now, which one of them, he says to Simon, would love him more?
[00:08:25] Simon answered, and notice the tone here, because you can read it.
[00:08:29] The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.
[00:08:35] And he said to him, you have judged rightly.
[00:08:39] You see, the issue is not the debt, the size of the debt, right? It's the fact that they can't pay the debt. Neither can we save ourselves. This is our human condition. This is the problem with us. We have sin. But for some of us, some sins appear socially, you know, worse than others, bigger than others.
[00:09:02] But everyone stands spiritually, bankruptcy before a holy God.
[00:09:07] The story is no longer theoretical for Simon. It's about him. And that's Jesus. Point. The difference between Simon and the woman is not one is a sinner and the other one is not. They're both debtors.
[00:09:20] The difference is only one of them knows it the greatest barrier to forgiveness is not your immorality.
[00:09:29] It's your blindness to your need.
[00:09:32] We all need it.
[00:09:34] We're broken.
[00:09:35] The gospel invites us to come, not pretending we don't have any debt, but trusting the One who paid for that debt.
[00:09:45] And what's powerful, and I understand, is our church is filled with people who know they're sinners. But it's also filled with people who think that they're not that bad.
[00:09:58] They use manners. They say, yes, sir and no, sir. Yes, ma' am and no, ma'. Am. They say, please and thank you. They let people get in front of them at the grocery store. They do all these nice things, but in their mind they're saying, I'm okay, I'm good.
[00:10:16] And you're just as guilty as those that you probably look down on.
[00:10:22] The gospel invites us to come, not pretending we don't have any debt, but trusting the one. Again, this is key that paid it all.
[00:10:30] The woman is closer to the kingdom because she actually knows her need.
[00:10:35] Simon is farther because he doesn't.
[00:10:38] And then look at verse 44, then turning toward the woman. So Jesus is looking at the woman.
[00:10:45] Jesus says, do you see this woman? To Simon, she 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. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you and notice this detail. Jesus gives her sins, which are many are forgiven for. She loved much, but he who is forgiven little loves little.
[00:11:27] Now, Jesus compares Simon and the woman.
[00:11:31] He doesn't show acts of hospitality. No water which a host would normally provide for their guests and their dusty feet. No kiss as a customary greeting.
[00:11:41] No oil as a common courtesy for honored guests. These weren't technical violations. They just revealed signs and his lack of value for who Jesus was.
[00:11:52] The woman did everything Simon didn't.
[00:11:56] Like Simon, we, you and I, we can be near Jesus, yet very far from him. Spiritually.
[00:12:04] We could be around the things that God is doing, yet never actually be moved to surrender.
[00:12:11] We can have hospitality without devotion. We can have religion without repentance.
[00:12:16] The people who love Jesus the most are not necessarily those who have sinned the most. They're just the ones that know they've been forgiven.
[00:12:26] In Colossians 2, if you would turn in your Bibles there, I want you to see something powerful.
[00:12:32] This Is neat thing that Paul does of boiling down how this took place, how our sins were forgiven.
[00:12:40] I remember just as a teenage boy, one of the first messages I got to preach.
[00:12:46] It had all the elements of this text of scripture without using this text of scripture. And this would have made things a lot easier for the, you know, 18 year old version of myself. But let me read it.
[00:12:58] And you who were dead in your trespasses, in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. You had something to owe and you couldn't pay it.
[00:13:23] But how did Jesus take care of this?
[00:13:26] This he set aside nailing it to the cross.
[00:13:32] He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them, those that would hold against you, him in Christ.
[00:13:43] Real quick, just as a visual, every time one of those Roman soldiers pulled back their hammer and swung it to make sure that Jesus would stay on that cross, every ounce of effort, every drop of sweat from their brow was accomplishing the canceling of our record of debt that stood against us.
[00:14:14] God in his grace was using what they thought was right to change and transform us.
[00:14:22] Canceling the record of debt. The greater you understand your debt, the greater you understand Christ's cancellation of that debt, the greater you understand that you can now have this understanding of capacity of love for God in response in worship.
[00:14:39] Some of us had those moments early on where we man the Lord had done this incredible work of redeeming and saving us. We used to get emotional thinking about it. And what we've done now is over the years, as we move further and further away from our understanding of our past and our sin. What happens is we've allowed barnacles of self righteousness to build where instead of feeling the weight and gravity of our own sin, we judge others who don't say things the way we do, see things the way we do.
[00:15:14] You don't articulate it that way and then you become cynical and self righteous instead of seeing that you're just as guilty.
[00:15:25] What if, what if today God in his grace were to come in and say, hey, I know you're judging the way they see and say things, but what if you looked in the mirror and what if you looked at me and understood you're just as guilty as they are?
[00:15:45] You just can say things better.
[00:15:50] Weak worship is often not caused by weak emotions, but by a weak awareness of your sin and Therefore, you miss out on how powerful grace is. And notice this. And he said to her, your sins are forgiven.
[00:16:07] Then those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, who is this who even forgives sins?
[00:16:16] And he said to the woman, your faith has saved you.
[00:16:21] Go in peace.
[00:16:23] I love this. And I think it's important to understand and underline the word faith.
[00:16:30] Jesus is the one who welcomes sinners, forgives sins, knows hearts. But notice here how her little act here it was her faith that saved her. And he says, go in peace. Not the perfume, not the tears, not the works, not the emotions. It was her faith.
[00:16:48] And Jesus forgave. Jesus delivered peace, not just inner calm, but reconciliation with God the Father.
[00:16:56] It's not our past mistakes that prohibit future peace. It's our lack of acknowledgment of our past and present sin.
[00:17:06] We mask our sin by transferring our judgment to others, which will never produce true fruit.
[00:17:16] Because what will happen is if you never repent and turn from that way of thinking, you're just going to continue to repeat it and as a result, never experience the peace that Christ brings.
[00:17:29] Simon, he saw a sinner. Jesus saw someone worth forgiving.
[00:17:34] The room remembered her past, while Jesus spoke of her future.
[00:17:38] The woman came carrying her shame, but she left carrying peace. The difference was not the size of her sin, but it was the greatness of the Savior whose saved her.
[00:17:48] We could never, and this is key, you and I could never earn a seat at the table of Christ.
[00:17:56] He provides us one by grace.
[00:18:00] So come to the table not because you deserve a seat, but because Jesus has made one for you.
[00:18:07] The passage is good news.
[00:18:09] Jesus is not repelled by repentant sinners. He welcomes them.
[00:18:15] I love this, too. The message of this table, this particular table, is that your past does not determine your future. Your past failure does not dictate your future hope.
[00:18:28] Now what do we do with all that we're carrying?
[00:18:34] If you would pull your mitts out, those things at the end of your arms, and I want you to consider them in light of this, this work that Christ brings.
[00:18:52] What we're going to do is we're going to have a moment where we just pause and let you just pray before the Lord.
[00:18:57] And if you would prayerfully just turn your hands over.
[00:19:02] And if there is sin in your life, overt outright, like this sinful woman, or maybe subtle and self righteous, would you just take a moment and confess that before the Lord?
[00:19:15] Whatever it is, let's just do that before the Lord.
[00:20:00] Now, if you would turn your hands over, palms up.
[00:20:07] Just say, lord, help me.
[00:20:10] Help me walk out of here understanding the weight of what you paid for.
[00:20:18] Help me walk out of here understanding that that weight that you paid for has brought me peace.
[00:20:25] Help me see others as I have seen myself, as a sinner who need your grace.
[00:20:31] Help me. Lord God, rightly give them the grace that you've given me.
[00:20:38] Lord God, I pray that your spirit would so guide and guard us.
[00:20:44] Lord, I pray that you would lead us in a way from here, that we would begin to be people who have received your grace, but who also give your grace.
[00:20:55] Father, we thank you so much for this time.
[00:20:58] In Jesus name, amen.
