Sunday sermon-"Jesus Meets a Repentant Woman"

Perhaps a better title for this sermon would be "Jesus Meets Two Hearts." In Luke 7:36-50 we see a clear contrast in the hearts of two people. One is a proud Pharisee, Simon, who brings Jesus to his house, probably to engage in a theological discussion. The other is a unnamed woman, a notorious sinner and likely a prostitute, who hears Jesus will be at Simon's house and "crashes the party" to meet Jesus.

In the minds of Luke's audience (as posted earlier), Simon would be the hero, the upstanding citizen and righteous man. The woman would be an outcast from society, an embarrassment to the city. But the story has them switching roles. The woman is shown to be the truly righteous one, because her sins are forgiven and she responds with devotion. Simon is shown to not only have a judgmental attitude toward the woman, but to not even be a gracious host!

Their response to Jesus is what made all the difference. Simon is portrayed as one who is curious about this new rabbi, but almost casual in his approach to Jesus. He certainly does not go out of his way to show respect for Jesus. The woman has had her life transformed by Jesus. She probably had heard Him or seen Him earlier, and His message had reached her heart. The change is shown in her grateful and passionate giving of herself and all she had in devotion to Jesus.

Jesus' parable highlights the difference. One debt is about fifty days' pay, and the debtor could conceivably find a way to pay it back. The other is five hundred days' pay, and the debtor would see no way out of that debt in his own power. The awareness of the depth of the debt makes a difference in the reaction of the one forgiven.

Of course, one side point in the parable is that both are debtors. Whether we have been "respectable" members of society, or have fallen into obvious and open sin, we all owe a debt to Jesus, who paid the debt for us. It is in our awareness of the depth of our debt that we find the impetus for devotion. Although we often look up to the great saints of the church, they are often more acutely aware of their depravity than we who sometimes become content in our spirituality. We all owe everything to Jesus; are we aware of this on a daily basis? How does knowing we have received grace we did not deserve to free us from our debt of sin change the way we approach the Lord?