Please read Luke 7:36-50
The Story is about a Pharisee called Simon and a woman who poured perfume on Jesus’ feet.
You can look at this story from a number of points of view:
Jesus was sent an invitation for a meal at a Pharisee’s house. Jesus only had 3 short years of ministry on this earth and was willing to invest part of a day to have a meal with this man. What a gracious Saviour and God we have who would say “Yes” to this invitation.
When Jesus arrived at Simon’s house he showed him little courtesy: no water to wash his feet, no oil for his head and no kiss to greet him. Simon had heard of Jesus. Gossip said he was a possible “prophet” (verse 39). Simon addressed him as “teacher” (verse 39). He was interested enough in this Galilean to want to meet Jesus personally.
Also present was a woman who wept, poured perfume on Jesus feet, and wiped his feet with her hair. It seemed Simon knew her. He thought of her as a sinner (verse 39). I am sure she was not formally invited to the meal. It must have been a very open house where anyone could turn up, but some seemed to be more welcome than others.
There were other guests and maybe they were people who would listen to Simon’s teachings and chip in with their thoughts. The guests seemed even more confused about Jesus than Simon; they said, “Who is this who even forgives sins” (verse 49).
But of all these people, only the woman really understood who Jesus was.
The woman also knew she had fallen short of God’s standards and that Jesus was able to forgive her. As a result of that it was plain she loved him.
The woman was the only one to go away from this meal, as far as we know, with forgiveness and peace.
Simon was rebuked regarding his poor understanding of sin and love and of who his Guest was, his Creator.
I wonder what happened to Simon?
I enjoy reading and always have a novel on the go and I like happy endings, always have. In a lot of books the mixed-up characters sort themselves out and the heroes and heroines live happy ever after. I have to say this real life story has a great happy ending and she also had the opportunity of a new start to life with Jesus as her guide.
48 Then Jesus said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’
50 Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’
It is one of the central points of Christianity. We are all sinners, in need of forgiveness and only Jesus can forgive us. And our response should be in faith and love, because we have all been forgiven so much, haven’t we!
However I am still left wondering what happened to Simon and the other guests – after all Jesus did accept an invitation for a meal and he cared for them enough to spend time with them and challenged their ideas about sin, forgiveness and love. Give Simon his due he did not have the woman thrown out and he listened to Jesus’s rebuke.
It reminds me that after things are back to “normal” I must invite a few people around for a meal and who knows what will happen? Where Jesus is present anything’s possible. Simon and his friends would not easily forget, the day when Jesus and a “sinful” woman came for a meal.
Philip Moody
Paul Beesley says
Phil thank you so much for this devotion. I must admit that when I am meditating on scripture like this I am often led to wonder if the apparent ‘baddies’ were changed by what happened.