Luke 7

May 4, 2025 · Ben Hoyer · 26:40

Continuing the series on food in the Gospel of Luke, this message turns to Luke 7:36-50, where Jesus dines at a Pharisee's house and a sinful woman anoints his feet, with extended background on the Pharisees and the customs of a first-century meal.

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We're looking through the stories of food or meals in the gospel of Luke. And this morning we're looking at Luke chapter 7 starting at verse 36. I said last week that I was reading this book a friend gave me on food in the gospel of Luke. I said in Luke's account of the gospel Jesus is either coming from a meal, at a meal or going to a meal in almost every spot in the gospel.

So much happens around food in the gospel of Luke that he's always right around there. Last week we looked at the story where he calls Matthew the tax collector and then goes to hang out with all of Matthew's buddies. And people are like why would he be sharing a meal with these folks that respectable church people would never eat with. He must not be a respectable church person. And here in this story Jesus gets invited by a Pharisee to his house for dinner.

And a Pharisee in the town the Pharisees there was like a couple of religious groups in first century Israel. There was the Sadducees and the Sadducees mostly took care of the temple. They controlled the temple tax situation and money lending in the temple and they handled a lot of the inner workings of the temple. And there were the Essings, Sadducees handled the temple. Essings were like kind of zealots and extreme. They lived often on their own in camps sometimes off in the desert but they were committed to following the laws.

The Sadducees were committed to enforcing the laws in the temple. The Pharisees were like the lawyers of the church that lived out among the people. And so they had the whole Old Testament memorized no doubt. Plus they knew the law and there was like some 400 and something laws included in the Jewish scriptures. And then they knew the laws around the laws in order to keep people from breaking the laws. So they knew not only that you weren't supposed to work on the Sabbath but they knew how far carrying your water constituted as work.

If you walked all the way to the well maybe that counted as work but if you pumped extra the day before and set it outside your house at the end of the row and just carried it from the end of the street into your house maybe that didn't count as work. If you had to restart a fire that probably counted as work but if the embers were there and just had to fan it back up maybe that didn't count as work. They knew all the laws. And their job was to not only keep the laws themselves but remind other people where they were breaking the laws and which laws they should be keeping and which laws they weren't keeping.

They're dreaming some of the Pharisees thought if we could get everyone in Israel to keep the Sabbath perfectly once then the Messiah would come. So a lot of it was around keeping the law for the Sabbath. So these Pharisees live among the people but they're part of their job is not only they want to keep everyone but they like then demonstrating the ways in which they keep the laws and others don't. The difference, I'm a Pharisee, you're not. I know the right way to live, you should aspire to live like me.

So the famous story of the Pharisee and the tax collector that go up to the synagogue to pray and the Pharisee prays openly and braggadociously and the tax collector plays quietly on his own. And the Pharisee prays in a way to demonstrate how holy he is, how many laws he keeps in the tax collector. So the Pharisees are known figures in town because they are always telling people what to do and bragging about how well they do it. And then they are working hard to keep themselves separate from everyone.

So in addition to these laws about work there's all these laws about cleanliness. And some of the research I find that we mentioned last week that the cleanliness extends to such a point the Pharisees is clean, ceremonially clean. That if he touches someone who's ceremonially unclean, especially while he's eating then he's unclean and he's got to go back and get clean again. So they work hard to keep themselves separate. And so when Jesus gets invited to the Pharisees house for dinner it's conspicuous and it's not like out of the blue.

For a century Israel was kind of, they had this tradition kind of like they did in the Greco-Roman world of building these salons where there'd be a teacher who would come to town. He would be teaching and he'd be done teaching and someone important would say why don't you come to my house and we'll be able to pepper you with questions and you can extend the teaching further. This was a common practice in where Jesus was moving around Capernaum and Galilee and things where the Pharisees are living.

So in this story in Luke chapter 7 when the Pharisees invites Jesus over more than likely he's just finished a round of teaching. And he invites Jesus over to eat. And the way these would go is then everyone knows the Pharisee, they've seen Jesus teach and they've heard it starts to go around all he's going over to Simon's house to eat. And the way these things would work is like they would have like a center kind of courtyard or an outdoor room with a walled off area but the doors would be open because everyone is able to mill through so they would eat the meal in a place where people could come in and go out from outside that weren't necessarily invited but wanted to see what was going on.

And if you were invited you'd walk in and immediately the host would greet you with a small kiss on the cheek maybe put a little bit of oil on your head so you didn't stink because everybody's stank. And then if when you walk into the large room if it's a wealthy person they've got a low table towards the ground and all the food is spread out on the low table. And then on either side of the table they might have little pillows or cushions for you to lean on and when you come the host would greet you and if you're an invited guest take you to the spot where you're supposed to sit.

The host knows everybody that's coming and it's a big deal when he hosts you so he wants the most important people seated closest to him at the end of the table. So you come in and he'll welcome you to the place right. You could think about Jesus saying don't presume just put yourself at the bottom of the table and let the host bring you up because it's a big thing to sit near the head of the table. And then you can imagine if it's wealthy he's got a low table if he doesn't have a table he'll have these big bowls of food spread out right along the ground.

And you're going to then recline lean on one elbow in the right order and then you're going to recline in the right order so that you can reach the food and bring it in. And then when you recline your feet are out behind you then the proper host after he's given you the kiss of greeting usher you to your place to sit has servants along the back where your feet are and they've got these big basins they hold your feet over the basin and they pour water on your feet that the basin catches it.

And they clean your feet because you take your sandals off as soon as you get there and then it washes all the dirt out. Now you've got a kiss you've got some oil in your head you smell good your feet are clean ready to eat the food is spread out in front of you right. And then outside those servants are where people that just want to see what's going on come and stand and look right. And so what's going on? And so what's going on?

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What's going on? What's going on? What's going on? What's going on? What's going on? What's going on? What's going on? What's going on? What's going on? What's going on? What's going on? What's going on? What's going on? What's going on? What's going on? What's going on? What's going on? At the fair sea, he's in his element, right? He's got everybody around him. Plus, he's got all the unclean people looking at his meal and his largesse, of which they cannot partake.

He's assembled everyone the way he'd like at the table in front of him. And this rabbi is this woman's carrying on and the rabbi's not stopping her. And Jesus looks at her in the face and addresses the guy. Hey, Simon, do you see this woman? Incredible.

It's already incredible. Well, he's going to say here. Sorry. Look at it. It says, you have judged rightly, then, turning towards the woman, he said to Simon, do you see this woman? I entered your house and you gave me no water for my feet. But she has let my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss. But from the time that 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, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she loved much, but he who is forgiven little loves little. And he said to her, your sins are forgiven. And then those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, who is

this, who even forgives sins? And he said to this woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Jesus calls Simon out because when he comes in, when Jesus comes in and Simon doesn't greet him with a kiss, doesn't put the oil on his head, doesn't have the servants wash his feet, each of those things are done on purpose. Because it's such a custom that that's what you would do.

And to not do that says this person is lesser than you. They're not even worth the kiss of peace, of welcome. They're not worth your servants washing their feet. So you start to get the picture that Simon the Pharisee invited Jesus to his house just to snub him. This guy, this itinerant rabbi is coming around and he's teaching these crazy things. Let's bring him here and put him in his place.

It's such a snub I was reading like a guy who understands the cultural perspective of this thing. And he said the normal response of Jesus coming into the house of a Pharisee with all those people around when the Pharisee doesn't greet him appropriately. Such disrespect, the normal response would be to loudly announce how disrespected you have been and turn around and leave the house. Because you do not stay where someone says you're not worth that.

And Jesus comes into the house where Simon has set up the disrespect him and absorbs it. Let's Simon disrespect him. And this woman who has heard clearly of the teachings of Jesus, maybe even that he hung out with the tax collectors and the sinners where he was before. She was there at his teaching of which this meal is a follow up.

But she heard of the teaching of Jesus and wants to be near in case he's going to say something else profound in the moment. And when she sees such disrespect, she loses it. She can't handle the way this guy, Simon, is disrespecting this dude, Jesus. She's weeping, standing behind him. And so she's like her tears are coming down enough to make a difference that she's got to wipe him off.

If they won't wash his feet, I'll just brush it off with my hair. I wouldn't presume to kiss his cheek, but I'll kiss his feet. This alabaster jar that I use for all sorts of things, all the time, forget it. He needs nobody's given him any oil since he walked in, she breaks it and puts it on his feet for heaven's sake. And the whole place fills up with the oil that the sinner woman would normally use.

And by this point, the Pharisee is appalled at the disregard for the cultural norm. And so Jesus doubles down lining up with the woman in front of everyone. Amazing. Amazing like act of cultural judgment. Right? Great.

That's the kind of guy you want to align with. Like the kind of self-righteous church guy he stands up to and the sinner woman he aligns with, my guy. Okay. Yes. And. Look at the parable. He says a certain man had two people owe him money.

One five hundred denier I, one fifty denier I. He forgives them both. Now in this story, the parable, Jesus uses parabolic teaching in order to elicit a reaction from people in order to challenge their way of thinking and invite them to take an action that's different than the one that they're taking. And when he tells this story, he doesn't say that any of them pled the guy that owned five hundred denier I, pled for it to be forgiven, the person that owed fifty.

He doesn't say that. He says that the guy to whom the money was owed looked at the people who owed money and forgave them all both. And then he says, whoever was forgiven more will love more. The love is a response to the gift. You, it is the kindness of God that draws us to repentance. It is the promise of forgiveness and then forgiveness received that elicits love in

response. And so this woman who has this love for Jesus must have come in knowing he would accept her. When she lets down her hair, culturally you only let down your hair with your husband. So she lets down her hair in public because she can't be stopped because she's got to get the guy's feet clean because no one, because she loves him so and the disrespect is so absurd. Why would she love him so? Because this rabbi has accepted her when all other have denied her.

She, Jesus said, her sins have been forgiven her though they are many. I've, well, we won't go into that story, but I'll say, I don't know what happened to the Pharisee. Jesus standing in the Pharisee's house, Simon's house with all his guests, looks at the woman

and says, your sins are forgiven you. Go your faith has saved you. What about his hosts? We don't know. This is the kicker. Jesus is the kind of guy I want to follow.

The people that follow Jesus know they need forgiveness. The people that follow Jesus know they are a mess. The people that follow Jesus know they need his second, third, fourth, fifth chances, seven times 70 chances.

They are so aware. The people that follow Jesus are so aware of their need that they are broken by it. I used to read the story of the prodigal son, you know, where the one followed all the rules, did all the right things, stayed at home.

The other one squandered all the wealth, did all the wrong things. When he ran out of whatever he could come up with on his own, came home not deserving to be a son. The dad, when he comes home and has his speech ready and prepared, the dad runs to him, puts his arm around, and puts the ring on him, throws a big party for him. He's been a failure. He's made terrible choices one after the other. When he comes home, he gets a party.

I used to go, well, I'm not the kind of guy who has stacked up terrible choices. I kind of identify more with the older brother several years ago now, praise God. I was praying about that. If you read that story, the older brother, the dad comes, the older brother, just says,

just come on into the party and celebrate with your brother. Come into the party. If you want a party with your buddies, I'll throw another one for you. Come into this party and celebrate with us. The story stops, and when the story stops, the older brother is not going in to the party. Several years ago, I was praying about this. I just identified with the older brother, and in my head, it was you dummy. The older brother doesn't make it in. I don't care how good you think you are.

The people who follow Jesus are the prodigals. The people that come into Jesus rest are the prodigals. The people who get into the celebration with Jesus are the prodigals. The ones who have failed, the ones who have fallen short, the ones who have no other option. We better identify with the woman in the story if we want to follow somebody like Jesus. He said, last week, I came for the sick, not the well.

We better be people who need forgiveness and a lot of it. She was forgiven all her sins, though they are mening. We better be acquainted with our need if we want to be the ones who stands up to the hypocrisy and the injustice and walks out with Jesus, rather than the ones that stay and are confused. If we are not careful, we will start to be satisfied with our own rightness against all

the wrongness in the world. We will forget what a mess we are and will be left in the house as Jesus and all the sinners walk out. I'd rather walk out with him. I'm spending time this morning reacquainting myself with my need for forgiveness. It's nice we have communion. We'll do that together in just a minute. Let's pray that the Holy Spirit could do that for us now. Hey, good Lord, thank you for this story of this incredible move of love Jesus made

in the midst of such cultural opposition. Teach us how to receive similar acts of love from him today. Acquaint us with our need for forgiveness that we might receive it well. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.