Sermon Notes on Luke 7:36-8:3

 

Faith in Jesus can mend a heart broken by sin.

 

As far as we know, Jesus is still in Nain. He is still surrounded by the amazed, perplexed, and fearful people who witnessed his awesome deed of power in raising the widow’s son from the dead. Some scholars believe that this banquet, given at Simon’s house, was to honor him and to give him a chance to continue his teaching by making his conversation at the dinner table open to the public. This was a common practice in those days and the way things would typically go is that the honored guests would recline on couches at the table with their heads facing the table and their feet would be facing away from the table toward the outside of the room. The public was welcome to sit around the walls of the room and listen to the learned men speak truth and wisdom to each other. The hope was that everyone would be edified and, besides, they didn’t have TV in those days, so a chance to hang out at the rich guy’s house was pretty good entertainment.

 

It’s a little bit surprising that the servants even let the “sinful” woman in. She obviously had a reputation. She was not even dressed appropriately. Good Jewish women would have had their hair covered.

 

Her behavior is even more surprising. She should have taken her place away from the rest of the listeners so as not to defile them with her sinful, ritually unclean body, and she should have remained quiet. What she does in this story is scandalous.

 

Can you imagine the scene? Jesus and the other guests are reclined around the table eating and discussing the law. When she walks in, even the murmured comments that have been rippling through the spectators go quiet. The host, a Pharisee, (a highly religious man who is an expert in all things pertaining to the religious laws of the Jews) is disgusted by her presence, but decides to wait and see what his honored guest will do. Everyone goes tense as she walks toward Jesus instead of toward the corner where she had been directed to go by the servants. She had been thinking about this moment from the first time she hid in the back of the crowd at the funeral. When she saw Jesus raise that poor widow’s son from the dead she thought, “He can save me. This man of God can give me my life back too.” She had carefully rehearsed the words. She knew just what she was going to say, but when she walked up to him his eyes turned on her. She rarely  made the mistake of actually meeting someone’s eyes, but when she did she was used to seeing loathing, hatred, or lust. In Jesus’ eyes she saw unconditional love, peace, and forgiveness. She forgot everything and began to sob. Like a fool, she just stood there and sobbed. And then, even more horrifying, she noticed that her tears were pouring onto his feet! And she had nothing clean with which to wipe them away so she knelt down and began wiping her tears off of Jesus’ feet with her hair. The peace that she felt, the power and forgiveness that flowed from Jesus was so complete that for the first time in a very long time she even forgot herself. She began kissing his feet. She took out the ointment that she normally used as one of the tools of her trade and began rubbing it into his feet. As far as she was concerned, there was no one else in the room. She was alive again.

 

As the party was breaking up and everyone was going home, each person at the banquet processed this encounter with Jesus differently. Personally, I think the effect Jesus’ presence had on them had a lot to do with the reason they came to him in the first place.

 

Some came to the banquet out of curiosity. Some came to learn. Some came for fun. Some came for social status. Some came to protect their community and their beliefs from the challenges of a radical new teacher. Some came because they didn’t have anything better to do and because they didn’t have TV in those days.

 

But, this woman, this “sinner”, came to Jesus because she knew in the core of her being that she needed a savior and, not too surprising I guess, she is the only one in Luke’s story who is saved, utterly changed and forgiven.

 

The text doesn’t say this, but I’m guessing in a town the size of Nain some of the men who had been with this woman were at the banquet too. Some of them may have been sitting around the table with Jesus trying to keep their sins hidden from him. They left their encounter with Jesus with their sins hidden in their hearts and their lives still poisoned by them.

 

For some reason, each of us has come today to be with Jesus at this banquet. We have come to hear from him and to be in his presence. Some of us have come out of habit, some out of curiosity, some to make sure that our religion is being practiced the way it ought to be practiced. Some of us are here because it is our job to be here. We come for all kinds of reasons, but I wonder how many of us have come to be utterly changed, to be saved, to be so deeply forgiven that we are without words for our gratitude?

 

Why we have come to the banquet makes a huge difference in what happens to us while we are here.

 

It’s not too late. We can change our reason for being here today. We can move from being a spectator along the walls to being a sinner, standing at the feet of Jesus right now. Do you long to be utterly changed, to be saved, to be radically forgiven? Do you long to be speechless with gratitude?

 

I want you to pray with me. Your response as a congregation will be either:

 

“And she stands at your feet today, Lord”. Or “ And he stands at your feet today, Lord.”

 

There is a man who is a workaholic and has neglected you and his family…

There is a woman who hates her body and believes she is ugly…

There is a man who is addicted to pornography and is constantly tempted to think of women as objects…

There is a woman who holds grudges and will not forgive those who have hurt her…

There is a man who spends more time with his toys than the people you bring into his life…

There is a woman who feels responsible for making everybody happy even if it makes her miserable…

There is a man who has allowed his heart to become bitter, cynical, and negative…

There is a woman who gossips about your people. She hurts them without thinking twice about it…

 

Yes, Lord. You know of all the other sinners who are here. We stand weeping at your feet, believing that you alone can give us new life and new hope. We ask you to look at us with love, understanding, and forgiveness. We ask you to raise our souls from the dead, to utterly change us and to give us new life.

 

Now I want you to hear what Jesus, the Christ, the Lord of life, has to say to each one of you. These are his words, spoken for your heart. Jesus Christ says to you:

 

“Your sins are forgiven.” “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

 

Amen