“Deep Appreciation: Jesus, Simon the Pharisee, and the Sinful Woman”
By Jeff Chacon

• Introduction:
• Happy Thanksgiving!
• Several levels of thanks:
• Polite thanks…
• Like you feel toward the bagger at Publix.
• (“Can I take this to your car?” “No, but thanks.”)
• Sincere thanks…
• Like you feel for:
• your favorite teacher
• or your trusted auto mechanic.
• Deep appreciation…
• Like you feel for:
• your Mom and Dad
• and much more – for God.
• Today, I want to explore the subject of deep appreciation for God.
• Title of the lesson today: “Deep Appreciation: Jesus, Simon the Pharisee, and The Sinful Woman”
• Luke 7:36-47
• “When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

 39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
 40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
   “Tell me, teacher,” he said.
   41 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,  and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
 43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”
   “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
 44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
 48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
 49 The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
 50 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

• What a stark contrast between:
• Simon’s “polite thanks”
• and the Sinful Woman’s “deep appreciation”.
• Let’s explore this passage together…
• Vs. 36 = “When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.”
• Q: What’s a Pharisee?
• The Pharisees:
• One of 5 (or more) religious/political groups in First Century Palestine:
• Pharisees
• Sadducees
• Herodians
• Zealots
• Essenes
• Most people were not affiliated with any of them, but were influenced by them.
• We don’t have time to describe them all, but the Pharisees were:
• the largest and most powerful group.
• They were actually very devoted to God.
• They were well respected Bible Scholars with deep convictions about:
• Scriptures inspired by God
• Must obey inspired Word of God
• Must be holy, separate from the world
• Name “Pharisees” means “the separated ones”
• In contrast to the Sadducees, the Pharisees believed in:
• heaven and hell
• angels and demons
• being spiritual on earth
• Q: So, why were they in constant conflict with Jesus?
• A: Three main reasons:
• One: They were hypocrites.
• Believed the right things, but didn’t practice what they preached.
• Matthew 23:1-3 = “Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.”
• Two: They were jealous of Jesus’ popularity and power and felt threatened by him.
• So, they refused to believe in Jesus or submit to his Lordship.
• Three: They had become rule-followers instead of God-lovers
• Mark 7:5-8 = “So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”

 6 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
   “‘These people honor me with their lips,
   but their hearts are far from me.
7 They worship me in vain;
   their teachings are merely human rules.’
   8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

• Application: we need to be careful not to become like them…
• Q: So why is Jesus having dinner with one of them?
• Jesus loved everyone, and tried to save the worldly sinner and the religiously self-righteous.
• That’s good news for all of us!
• A more difficult question =

Q: Why did Simon have Jesus over for dinner?

• The text doesn’t tell us.
• But one verse gives us a clue that Simon was probably “checking Jesus out”:
• Vs. 39 = “When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
• Simon thinks: “If this man were a prophet…”
• Some Pharisees believed in Jesus (covertly):
• Nicodemus (John 3:2 = He came to Jesus at night.)
• Joseph of Arimathea (John 19:38 = He was a secret follower because he feared the Jews)
• So, Simon has Jesus over for dinner to see if he’s truly a prophet of God.
• And Jesus will soon leave no doubt…
• Vs. 37 = “A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume.”
• We don’t know this woman’s name, but she is clearly someone “with a reputation” (Either a prostitute or at least notoriously promiscuous.)
• She approaches Jesus while he’s at the dinner table.
• Note: (from William Barclay commentary)
• Dinner was probably outside in an open courtyard.
• When a rabbi or public figure was over for dinner, it was customary to allow the public in so they could listen to his teachings.
• She has “an alabaster jar of perfume”
• It was common for Jewish women to wear a perfume flask around their neck.
• It was NOT common to anoint a man with it.
• It was even LESS common to anoint his feet.
• But here we begin to see the deep appreciation of this woman…
• Vs. 38 = “As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.”
• Note the humility: “she stood behind him” and washed his feet.
• Note the spiritual brokenness: “weeping” so much that it was enough water to wash his feet.
• Note the heart-felt love: “she wiped (his feet) with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them”.
• Humility
• Brokenness
• Heartfelt love
• What a beautiful picture of love and worship to God!
• “Worship” in Greek = “pros=kuneo”
• “pros” = “toward”
• “kuneo” = “kiss”
• So, literally = “to kiss toward”
• “Worship” is “blowing kisses to God”!
• We need to be like this woman! (Preach on personal, heartfelt worship!)
• Transition =) But Simon doesn’t see it that way…
• Vs. 39 = “When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
• Simon’s thought process goes like this:
• One: I would never allow a notorious sinner to touch me like that.
• Remember: “Pharisee” = “separated ones” (but got self-righteous).
• Two: Jesus is allowing this sinner to touch him.
• Three: So Jesus must not know she is a sinner.
• Four: Therefore he must not be a true prophet.
• Five: Case closed. Jesus is not the Messiah.
• Transition =) What Jesus does next is “classic Jesus”.  He turns the tables on this Pharisee and exposes his heart for everyone to see…
• Vs. 40-43 = “Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

   “Tell me, teacher,” he said.
   41 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
 43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”
   “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.”

• Vs. 40a = “Jesus answered him...’”
• Q: Did Simon say anything out-loud?
• A: No. Jesus is answering Simon’s thoughts!
• Jesus says, “Ya, I’m a prophet; AND I CAN READ YOUR MIND RIGHT NOW.”
• “I know exactly who this woman is; AND I KNOW WHO YOU ARE – BETTER THAN YOU KNOW YOURSELF!”
• Jesus is awesome! (Go Jesus! J)
• Vs. 41-42 = a simple parable (retell…)
• Note:
• “five hundred denarii” = ~$100,000
• “fifty denarii” = ~$10,000
• Q: Main Point?
• Sin is a debt against God.
• Forgiveness is cancelling that debt.
• Matthew 6:12 (Lord’s Prayer) = “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
• So, the greater indebtedness we feel about our sin, the more grateful we are when that debt (sin) is cancelled (forgiven)!
• And the more grateful we are, the more love we’ll have for God!
• This is the main point of this passage! (wax!...preach!)
• (By the way, self-esteem goes UP, not down when we see ourselves as “sinners saved by grace”!)
• Simon is starting to see where this is going – and he’s getting very uncomfortable…
• Vs. 43a = “Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”
• Simon is squirming.
• Meanwhile Jesus has taken charge of the conversation:
• Vs. 43b = “You have judged correctly,’ Jesus said.
• Jesus is teaching this prideful Pharisee a very serious and very public lesson…
• Transition =) But Jesus has just begun…
• Vs. 44-47 = “Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
• Notice the body language here. Jesus has a message for both the woman and Simon:
• Vs. 44 = “he turned toward the woman and said to Simon “Do you see this woman?”
• Jesus is saying to the woman:
• “I see you!” (Movie: “Avatar”)
• I see your heart!
• I don’t see you as merely “a sinner”
• I see your love for me – and I appreciate it!
• And Jesus is also saying to Simon:
• “I see you too!”
• I see your heart!
• You see yourself as a good person.
• But I see you as you really are: an ungrateful, self-righteous little man         who needs to be deeply convicted of your pride today!
• Application: Jesus sees our hearts too! (wax! preach!)
• To fully appreciate this section, we have to understand some things about Jewish culture: (material taken from various commentaries)
• In Jewish culture, it was common courtesy for the host to do three things for his guests:
• One: the host or a servant would wash their feet
• roads were dusty, not paved
• people wore sandals, so feet got dirty
• guests would recline at a low dinner table, not sit, so feet were closer to each other
• Two: the host would give a kiss on both cheeks
• still common practice in the Middle East
• Three: the host would put a few drops of oil on their head
• a way to honor a respected guest
• Simon does none of these things for Jesus.
• And Jesus points out his discourtesy:
• Vs. 44-46 = “I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet... 45 You did not give me a kiss… 46 You did not put oil on my head.”
• Application: Jesus notices what we do and don’t do for him – and it matters to him!
• (Preach! The little things you do every day matter to Jesus!)
• Q: Why was Simon so discourteous to Jesus?
• A: Vs. 47b = “…whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
• Key = how we view ourselves!
• Paul’s view of himself: 1 Corinthians 15:9; Ephesians 3:8; 1 Timothy 1:15 (Preach!)
• Transition =) Let’s close with three searching questions:
• One: Q: Who are you more like: the Sinful Woman or Simon the Pharisee? (Wax…)
• Two: Q: How can you have a heart more like the Sinful Woman? (Wax…)
• Key = Spiritual brokenness…
• Psalm 51:17 = “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
• Matthew 5:3-5 = “Blessed are the poor in spirit,

   for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
   for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
   for they will inherit the earth.”

• Three: Q: What’s holding you back from having that kind of heart?
• Minimizing
• “Oh well, we’re all sinners.”
• “At least I’m not as bad as that guy!”
• Blame-shifting
• “It’s my parent’s fault.”
• “It’s my church’s fault.”
• “It’s my spouse’s fault.”
• Justifying
• “I’m bitter because they hurt me so bad.”
• Let’s be like the Sinful Woman…
• “I’m a horrible sinner.”
• “It’s my fault and my responsibility.”
• “I’m so sorry; please forgive me Lord.”
• “Thank you for your forgiveness;

I will love you forever!”

• M.P. = Spiritual brokenness leads to deep appreciation, which leads to greater love for God.
• Let’s be spiritually broken (humble and in touch) people who live with a deep appreciation and love for God.
• Happy Thanksgiving!