Part 23 (1/2)
”What's she doing here?”
”Has Simon seen her yet?”
”He won't appreciate this, I can tell you!”
You'll find similar stories in the other three Gospels-tales of a woman who spilled out her costly perfume from an alabaster jar, twice on his head, once on his feet. The other three versions, however, s.h.i.+ft to the disciples whining about how the perfume should have been sold and the money given to the poor.
In this version, the woman and her wors.h.i.+p are the focus of the story, not the perfume. Check out the reaction from the Lord and those around him: When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself... Luke 7:39 Good old Simon the Pharisee didn't miss a trick. As host and self-appointed spiritual watchdog, he kept an eye on everything that was said and done in the company of Jesus. One could hardly miss the woman on her knees at the teacher's feet-making a complete idiot of herself, to his way of thinking.
All that crying and kissing. Female foolishness!
”Said to himself” means Simon was thinking, not speaking out loud. Unless he was mumbling under his breath in a stage whisper meant to be heard by the audience. Then, too, maybe Simon was so peeved over this woman's actions that he needed to voice his displeasure, if only for his own satisfaction.
”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.” Luke 7:39 Doubt was setting in. ”If...” Prophets were supposed to know everything, the seen and the unseen. Could be Jesus isn't much of a prophet after all. The healings this week were impressive, but who knows? Maybe it was all smoke and polished bronze.
Simon's disgust at the situation was surely written all over his face. Look at her! Touching him like that. Maybe if she'd been a n.o.blewoman, he would have overlooked her actions, but it was her station in life that upset Simon. ”That kind of woman.” A sinner.
Of course, for members of this legalistic sect, anyone who wasn't a Pharisee was a sinner. She was merely the worst of the worst.
The host of the party may have been sympathetic toward Jesus and his ministry, but he was completely unsympathetic toward the woman. A popular Greek proverb, later recorded in Scripture, would have suited Simon's mood well. It's easy to imagine him quoting this for Jesus' benefit, with a face devoid of compa.s.sion.
Do not be misled: ”Bad company corrupts good character.” 1 Corinthians 15:33 Ah, but the fact is, Simon hadn't said a word. He'd only thought these things. That's why the next verse is startling.
Jesus answered him... Luke 7:40 Stop right there. ”Answered”?
Does this mean the Lord interpreted the man's body language, the look of displeasure in his eyes, the frown of distaste? Or...did he literally read Simon's mind?
Fully G.o.d, remember. Jesus heard every word in the man's heart, spoken or not. These verses elsewhere in Luke confirm it: Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked... Luke 5:22 He saw through their duplicity and said... Luke 20:23 And we think we can keep our sins a secret! The Lord knows about them, child. All of them.
Jesus immediately got his host's attention.
”Simon, I have something to tell you.” Luke 7:40 Polite, inviting, confidential. It drew Simon right in.
”Tell me, teacher,” he said. Luke 7:40 Jesus didn't teach unless there was a ready pupil. Eye to eye now with Simon, he spun out a parable-a story with a lesson-as only the Great Teacher could: ”Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Luke 7:41-42 Some of the Lord's parables send me scrambling for a calculator or a calendar to figure them out. Not this one. Short and sweet. A banker canceled the debts of two men-one a little, one a lot.
Which one would be more grateful?
”No-brainer” would be an understatement.
Simon (proud of himself, no doubt) came up with a quick answer.
Simon replied, ”I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.” Luke 7:43 What's to ”suppose” here? It's obvious. Ever the good teacher, Jesus acknowledged his pupil's right response.
”You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. Luke 7:43 He affirmed, encouraged...and lowered the boom.
Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon...
Luke 7:44
Back at last to our fallen woman, huddled on the floor at Jesus' feet. Were you afraid he hadn't noticed her? Not a chance. The man who could sense a woman touching his cloak in a crowded marketplace definitely wouldn't miss this woman's utterly tactile tears and kisses on his bare skin.
He'd merely waited for the perfect, teachable moment.
Looking directly at her, while still speaking to Simon, Jesus said five words that changed the lives of both his listeners.
”Do you see this woman?” Luke 7:44 Simon had seen her, but only for what she was, not who she was. He had looked at her form but not her face. He had eyed her actions but not looked her in the eye and connected with her, human to human.
”See her,” Jesus implored. ”See her as I see her.”
Mea culpa, Lord. I am no better than the Pharisee.
My friend Sara and I were hurrying down the streets of Edinburgh one damp, chilly December day. The Scots call such weather dreich, meaning ”bleak, dreary, dismal, G.o.dforsaken.” It was all that and then some. A thick fog had settled in, making it difficult to see more than ten feet ahead of us.
Yet Sara managed to spot the diminutive woman in ragged clothes with her back propped against the wall of an upscale department store, its windows gleaming with Christmas cheer. The contrast between the colorful decorations and this stranger's drab and wrinkled clothing was stark, unsettling.
”Do you see this woman?” Jesus said.
I didn't see her until I saw Sara bending over to slip a British pound at the woman's feet and offer her a gentle word of comfort. Sara stood and turned toward me, tears in her eyes. ”She has an inhaler,” she whispered.
My friend had noticed every detail and responded with her heart. I'd barely seen the woman, mentally labeling her a poor beggar and fumbling with my packages, pretending not to notice. (Please tell me you've been there. This looks so ugly on paper.) Forced now to turn toward this silent woman in need, I was grateful for a chance to recover the eyes of the Spirit who lives in all of us who love the Christ and so added my own coin to her small pile. How much better it is, though, to see an opportunity first and give with joyous abandon.
That was precisely the point Jesus drove home to Simon: ”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.” Luke 7:44 Barefoot or in sandals, travelers of the day arrived with their feet covered with dust and dirt. It was customary for a host to offer water and a towel for a quick foot scrub. Simon dropped the ball. The woman, however, did the right thing.
”You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet.” Luke 7:45 A brotherly kiss on the cheek was a common greeting, especially for the host to offer his guest of honor. Simon neglected that duty, too. Once again, Miss No-Name earned a brownie point.
”You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.” Luke 7:46 Mes.h.i.+ach in Hebrew, Christos in Greek-both mean ”anointed one.” If our stingy host had put a bit of oil on the head of Jesus, we might have overlooked the foot-was.h.i.+ng blooper. Oh, but Simon missed this opportunity as well. Instead, a woman who embodied everything the Pharisee hated earned a four-star hospitality rating. In his own house.
She not only broke open her jar, she shattered the mold of how wors.h.i.+p was to be done-pa.s.sionately, personally, and with humble abandon. As Eugene Peterson observed in The Message, ”Impressive, isn't it?”1 Very impressive.
By pointing out the things she did right and the things Simon should have done, Jesus managed to affirm her and admonish him at the same time, without stripping either one of dignity. He let the contrast of their actions speak for themselves: No water from him versus many tears from her.
No towel from him versus gentle hair drying from her.
No kiss from him versus endless kisses from her.
No oil from him versus expensive perfume from her.