A Grateful Person

Luke 7: 36-50

Introduction:

While in STL, we went to a reception held near Washington University campus. Half way through the reception, a man walked in. He was unshaven, dirty clothes, looking like a homeless person. Quietly he went to the table where the food was and helped himself. He ate and put some in his backpack, then he left quietly the way he came in. Later I found out that he was a former Math professor at Wash.U. No one knew where he and his wife lived. They would look at the Campus newspaper and bulletin board, taking notes as to where some of the open houses or receptions were held and invited themselves. They had been doing this for many years and people were used to them.

I. A special meal in the 1st century.

This morning we want to look at a 1st century reception also with an unexpected guest. At the beginning of this narrative, Luke the writer, introduced the three main characters to us. The host was Simon, a Pharisee, an expert in the Jewish law, familiar with all the Jewish customs and traditions. Then there was Jesus. According to the custom of their time, Jesus must have just finished teaching and was invited to Simon's house for a special meal as a honored guest. The third character was a woman about whom we know quite a bit. She was described as a sinner in the city, meaning most probably that she was a prostitute. Her reputation had gone before her.

How could she have come into this party? In the middle east tradition, others were allowed access to a meal honoring a major teaching figure. There was a story about a poor man waiting outside the king's door. He was admitted to receive the left over food. Therefore, the prostitute's presence in the house was noticed but not shocked.

However, her behavior inside the house was shocking and noticed by everyone, especially by the host, Simon. What did she do? She had come in and stood behind Jesus. Then she wept. Her tears must have wet Jesus' feet which she wiped with her hair. To do so, she had to let loose of her hair. This was shocking to the first century residents. In their tradition, a decent woman would never do such a thing in public. They would only let their hair down in front of the husband. According to the Jewish tradition, a woman could be divorced if she let her hair down in public.

She then kissed Jesus feet. This act of intimacy was certainly foreign to those in the house. How could Jesus let this sinner kiss his feet? Not just one time but repeatedly. Again, this was unthinkable.

After this, she took out her perfume and poured it over his feet. In those days, perfume was very expensive. If she was a prostitute, this perfume would be used either on herself or her client. The usage of the perfume could enhance her business. Now she poured it over Jesus.

Everyone, including the host, must have noticed such unbecoming and shocking behavior. Of course, Jesus noticed it too, yet not a word was spoken to discourage the woman. He let her complete her act. One can imagine the entire house being dead silent, waiting for Jesus to say something. There were no audible conversations but inaudible words were being uttered. Simon said to himself that if this Jesus was really a prophet, he certainly would know who this woman was. She was a sinner and therefore Jesus should have stopped her.

Even though no one heard Simon, yet this self-talk was heard by Jesus. Finally, Jesus broke the silence and said, "Simon, I have something to speak to you." Jesus then went on to tell Simon and all those there a very simple parable.

II. The story of two debtors.

"??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????" This indeed was a very simple story. There were two debtors and 1 creditor. The two debtors were different in the amount they owed. One owed 500 denarii and the other 50. They were similar that they both were in debt, unable to pay and both were in need of grace. In addition, both of their debts were cancelled. The word, "cancelled(?)" literally means freely forgive, to offer grace. They both were offered grace, both were forgiven of their debts. Then Jesus asked, "Simon, which of them will love him more."

By now, Simon has realized that he was caught in a trap. His response, "?????????????????" Simon might have missed the human action in front of him. He might not have a clue what the woman was doing to Jesus except how shocking and inappropriate it was. However, he could not have missed the simple logic and conclusion of this story. The conclusion of this story was that deeds of Love is a response to unmerited favor. Love is a response to pure grace. The more one understands the extent of an unmerited favor, the greater is one's love to the one who gives out such a favor, such pure grace. For example, if I owe you $10,000 and out of your good will you cancel my debt completely. One can imagine my gratitude toward you.

Then Jesus continued. "Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon,

Jesus was leveling some severe accusations against Simon. When he entered the house, Simon, the host, the one who is well versed in Jewish laws and traditions, did not wash his feet, but the woman did. Simon did not kiss him, but she did. Simon did not anoint him with oil but she did.

Such practice of washing, kissing and anointing were common social etiquettes of that day. It is unthinkable for Simon, a leader and teacher of the Jewish law and tradition not to practice them. For Simon to omit such common practice was a show of contempt to his guest. He was not honoring him. In fact, it was an insult to Jesus. It showed Simon's arrogance and pride.

Simon clearly saw the woman as the sinner. Yet he had no idea what he had done to Jesus. He had no clue regarding his own condition. In essence, Jesus was saying, that both Simon and this woman were sinners. They were the same before God. They were indebted to God and both needed grace. The woman realized her many sins and God has forgiven them all. She had many debts but all were forgiven. Therefore, she loved much. Her deeds of Love was an expression of her gratitude to God. Out of her gratitude, she wept in public, she let her hair down so she could wipe Jesus' feet, and she kissed his feet repeatedly and poured her perfume over him. She did all this in front of everyone. She risked being misunderstood and ridiculed. In great humility, she poured out her love for Jesus, because she was very grateful. She was a person of gratitude. Seeing what she had done, Jesus declared, "Your sins are forgiven." It was a public declaration of what had already happened. Forgiveness had already taken place in her life.

From the story telling perspective, again, this story seems incomplete. What about Simon? We don't know what Simon's response was. Like the story of the Prodigal Son, in the end, we are not told the older brother's response to father's invitation to come into the house.

What does this story mean to us? First, isn't it true it is always easy for us to see how sinful the other person is? How can that person come to this church? Don't you know what he was like? He was a cheater, immoral and unethical. I want to stay away from people like that. Because he is there, I don't want to go to that church or fellowship group. The moment we say this, we become the Simon of this story. This is why the story is not finished. The writer of the story is waiting for the Simon of any era, any location to respond. The proper response is to be like that woman; we, too need to see our sinfulness before God, how much we owe him. Yet in his love and grace, he has freely forgiven us. All we can do is to come to him with a grateful heart.

Secondly, we want to review this story from the perspective that this is Thanksgiving Week. During this week many of us will focus on the physical blessings that many of us have enjoyed. If our thankfulness is tied to material things, we may be tempted to be less thankful this year than last. This time last year, we may be thankful for our financial gains and job opportunities. But in less than a year, we see our investments literally having evaporated into thin air. A semi-retired pastor shared that recently he put $2000 into an IRA account, but now it is worth only $200. How do we deal with such changing circumstances? We can always remember how much we have in comparison to those less fortunate in this country and other parts of the world. Seeing how the civilians live in Afghanistan can provide us with the needed perspective.

But less thankful than last year? This would be wrong. Why? In our study of the book of Ephesians we learned that God has blessed us with all kinds of heavenly blessings. We are to be thankful not just because of the material and physical things we have enjoyed, but all kinds of heavenly blessings. It is my prayer that we, including myself, during this thanksgiving season will focus on the spiritual aspect of God's blessings. I would like to offer some suggestions:

As the sinner in this story, we too need to see how indebted we are before God. We are sinners before God. We have no merit to gain access to his presence. All we have is our wretchedness. There is no way we can pay back our debt to him. We too need his grace. And as we come to him, he has freely forgiven us. He has offered us his grace to cancel all that we owed him. Because of this unmerited favor, this pure grace, we are grateful to him. As an expression of this gratitude to what he has done in our lives, we become loving persons doing loving deeds. We want to give thanks to the grace that he has so freely bestowed on us. For the salvation that he has given us.

2 Peter 1:3, "??????????????????????????????????????????" We are to thank God for he has given us everything we need to live a godly life in this world.

As we look back, we can be thankful for the grace of patience in some difficult moments. There is that inner peace we experience when our external world seems to be falling apart.

We thank him for walking by our sides through the waters and fire of life. We thank him for being by our side and walking with us out of the dark valley of depression. He was there comforting us in the depths of our sorrow. He was there calming us in the midst of many storms.

We thank him for surrounding us with so many faithful friends who have prayed for us during this past year. They were there supporting us. Instead of judgment, they accepted us for who we are and not for what we did. They loved us unconditionally. Through their love, we have a better and clearer understanding of God's love.

We thank God for placing mature Christians around us in this church to help us weather through some of the storms in our marriage. It is by his grace that we learn from them how to communicate and love our spouse and children. We thank God that through these mature Christians we learn how to develop and establish some basic spiritual disciplines.

We thank God for enabling us to develop the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives. As we compare ourselves with what we were like one or two years ago, we notice more joy, more self-discipline, more kindness, gentleness and patience. Through the help of the Holy Spirit and others, he has enabled us to grow spiritually and become more Christ like. We thank God that he is bringing healing into some relationships that we care about. Communication is slowly opening up.

We thank God for the opportunities he has given us to bring others to Jesus Christ. We are grateful for being agents of change in others lives.

We thank God for listening to all of our prayers. We thank him for granting us many of our desires in ways far beyond our thinking and imagination. We also thank God for not giving us many of the things that we have asked, for he always know what is best for us.

These are just part of the "all kinds of heavenly blessings that he has given us". May this be our focus during the thanksgiving season; that we be persons of gratitude. Our loving deeds be an expression of our gratitude for his Grace towards us.

Rev. William Hsueh   Nov.18 , 2001    Houston Chinese Church,  Houston, Texas