Luke 7
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. 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?”
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.”
I love this story in the bible. Jesus’ interactions with the Pharisees are always so fascinating. The contrast between who they think they are and who Jesus thinks they are is so vast. It is very satisfying to see the Pharisees get their comeuppance and to see the depths that Jesus is willing to go to love the least of these. The sad part of these stories is the parallels these Pharisees have with many of us in the Church today. I say, “we”, because I believe all of us have struggled with being Pharisees from time to time. But what struck me in this particular story, this particular time I’ve read through it, is how much a story of salvation and intimacy this is.
Other Gospels have a similar story inasmuch as there is a woman, sometimes called Mary, who comes and anoints Jesus the week before His crucifixion. And the theme in those stories is one of preparing Jesus to die for the sins of the world. This particular account in Luke, chronologically takes place more towards the beginning of Jesus’ ministry than towards the end. And the theme is one of salvation and intimacy. Let me dive into this a little bit.
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.
Most biblical scholars believe that this woman was a prostitute. Now as you can imagine, biblical times weren’t the most fragrant period in history when it came to personal hygiene. Oils and perfumes were used whenever there would be close interaction. People didn’t have their own showers for daily bathing, so they needed to mask their scent. So if you were going to be in close proximity with someone, you would usually put some oil or perfume on. And especially if you were going to be having sex with someone, perfume was going to be a big must(no pun intended). The reason she had over a year's wages worth of perfume was because she was having sex a lot. The reason she could afford to have it is because she was paid to do so.
The perfume was held in an alabaster jar. Now an alabaster jar looks like this.
Couple quick things about Alabaster. Alabaster is primarily translucent and usually appears milky white. It also is a material that erodes if kept outside. So if you kept something in an alabaster jar, it would be kept indoors, hidden from the elements. I’ll come back to this later.
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.
This is such an interesting picture of saving faith as verse 50 states. Notice that Jesus doesn’t reject her affections. Why? Simon the Pharisee is correct in his assertion that she is unclean and that no one, least of all a prophet, should allow her to touch Him.
44 "Then he turned toward the woman..."
Simply, Jesus saw her. He saw her heart. He saw what those actions meant. He saw the tears that flowed from her eyes… filled with sorrow and shame. In that moment, she knew that it wasn’t just laws she had broken, but the heart of the God who loved her. Jesus saw her let her hair down, which women never did in public and only in the privacy of their own homes with their husbands. He saw the intimacy that she was communicating with Him. She used her fallen hair to clean the feet of the Messiah. Jesus saw her break open the alabaster jar of perfume and anoint His feet with it. That jar represented all of the sin in her life. It represented literal wages of her sin life. And it not only represented all the moments of intimacy she had shared with all the other lovers in her life to that point, it represented all of the moments of intimacy she was going to share in the future. The jar was full. Full of future moments of wasted intimacy spent on lovers who didn’t deserve it. What Jesus saw in the breaking of that jar of perfume was that all of her intimacy was now reserved only for Him. She spent all of it on Him. She was done spending her devotion on worthless idols.
Jeremiah 2
5 This is what the Lord says:
“What fault did your ancestors find in me,
that they strayed so far from me?
They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves."
that they strayed so far from me?
They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves."
Jesus. Saw. Her. And in that moment, in His eyes, she ceased to be worthless.
And she couldn’t stop kissing his feet.
Romans 10:15
"… As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
We kiss beautiful things. We kiss babies. We kiss our loved ones. We kiss our lovers.
Jesus brought her the good news… that He was the Messiah. That He was her Savior. That He loved her and that she had worth in His eyes. This woman who was passed around as property(probably by the very same people hosting this party) was now a daughter of the Most High. With the tears of her repentance, she washed the feet of her Savior. She laid her sins bare at His feet and anointed Jesus’ feet and dried them with her intimacy. And she kissed His feet… those beautiful feet that had brought her the Good News that God desired to have a relationship with her and that her past would no longer be a barrier to partake in the intimacy that God always intended with those He loved. In that moment, she was “known” spiritually. And in that moment she “knew” Jesus spiritually.
I don’t mean known in the sense of intellectually knowing something, I mean “known” in the biblical sense. And if that’s too coded for you, I mean the same kind of “knowing” that the bible uses to describe Adam making love to Eve.
Genesis 4 (KJV)
And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.
Genesis 4 (NIV)
Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.”
These intimate gestures this woman displayed before Jesus were all gestures that were saved for when you “know” someone else. This is the kind of intimacy God craves with each of us! God is a jealous God and He does not want to share us with other lovers! Other idols! When we come to know Christ, all of our intimacy is saved for Him. It’s all His.
Contrast this “knowing” with the knowing that the Pharisee displayed. Simon, as a Pharisee, would have known the old testament by heart… all of it. So that means that Simon would have known more about the Messiah than anyone. He would have known all the prophecies about the Messiah. Yet Simon’s actions show that all of that knowledge was worthless as he has the Messiah in HIS HOUSE(!!!) and yet couldn’t recognize Him.
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.”
It was customary to wash the feet of a guest or at least have a servant do it since the roads of the time were completely filthy. Also, depending on the distance traveled, it would soothe the feet. It was customary to greet a guest with a kiss. It was customary to provide olive oil at the very least to put on ones face so as to smell better and to moisturize the skin after being out in the hot sun and desert. All of these actions are the bare minimum when it comes to receiving a guest and being a good host and Simon failed to do all of them. He intentionally disrespected Jesus and you could see through these actions what he thought about Jesus. Simon had all the biblical knowledge one could know about God and the law. Yet keeping the law and knowing about God couldn’t substitute “knowing” God. God desires intimacy. God wants to know you and for you to know Him.
Like I said earlier, I wouldn’t be surprised that the reason that Simon knew who this woman was is because he’d been a client of hers. He didn’t seem surprised to find her in his household. She didn’t seem unfamiliar with her surroundings. The difference between the two was that she knew she needed a Savior, while Simon did not. Which brings me back to the Alabaster jar. That jar had to be protected indoors if the contents were to be contained properly. If it was kept outside the elements would have eroded the Alabaster and the contents would have spilled out.
So many of us hold all of our darkest secrets, most terrible pain, shameful deeds and insecurities inside ourselves well protected in a place that looks white and clean on the outside. It reminds me of something else that looks clean and white on the outside but on the inside conceals death and sin.
Matthew 23
27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
God’s primary concern for us is not our righteousness… is not our behavior. It is knowing Him. Out of that knowing, we receive our righteousness. Knowing about God won’t save you. Even demons know the name of Jesus. But do you know Him? Really know Him? Are you intimate with God? Has He captured your heart like a lover does?
There were two Alabaster jars in the room that day… only one of them was broken.
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?”
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.”
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