“In Love with Jesus” – Luke 7:36-50

I love the American flag. Any American flag. I respect it for all that it represents. I respect it for all the men and women who have fought and died for the freedom that we have. They fought against socialism and communism and against other countries or religions that hate us and our freedoms and so I hold the American flag in highest regard.

This flag is even more special to me. Some of you have similar flags folded into triangular wooden boxes and presented by two very serious uniformed men with the words, “On behalf of the president and a grateful nation…” I get choked up thinking about that scene being played out thousands and thousands of times over. I hate war but I appreciate the selflessness of those who fight and die in them.

This one represents my grandfather whom I never knew. This is his wallet that he carried all through the Second World War. This was the patch that was on his uniform and this is a .50 round similar to one he shot down an enemy plane with. It sits on a high spot in my living room and I’m especially proud of it. My dad gave it to me.

Now, imagine that you came to my place for a dinner party. Don’t worry. Even in this imaginary situation, I’m not going to cook. Since we are imagining, we’ll say I’m having it catered. It’s a big deal. Everybody is dressed very nice. But as you walk in you notice you stepped on something…nasty outside. Maybe it was from my dogs or some other dogs but it doesn’t matter. It’s gross and we have to get it off your expensive Italian loafers.

Now, suppose I look around and for whatever reason, all I can find to get that stuff off your shoes is this flag. I unbox it and put a little water on it and I begin to clean your shoes off with this flag that means so much to me. How would you feel? What do you think the other guests would think? You would probably insist that I didn’t, that you would rather take the shoes off and leave them outside. Shoot, throw them away before you do anything with that flag!

It would be a scandal, wouldn’t it? Everybody would be shocked and offended. That’s just not done. That’s an overreaction. But you would know that I thought highly of you if I did that, wouldn’t you? You might think I was crazy but you would know that I cared for you and wanted to make it right, no matter the cost.

If you have your Bibles, turn to the book of Luke in the New Testament and let’s read about something just as scandalous in a similar situation. Jesus has been invited to a party. He was often invited to parties. I think Jesus was a fun guy to be around. He had a sense of humor and He loved people and I think people just naturally wanted to be around Him.

But sometimes He got invited to things for other reasons. The Pharisees and other religious teachers sometimes invited Him with ulterior motives. At best, they were curious. At worst, they wanted to trap Him so they could kill Him. We aren’t sure of the exact reason that Jesus was invited to this dinner party but it wasn’t because the host was a believer or follower of Jesus. He makes that plain as we read in Luke 7:36-50.

This was still pretty early in the ministry of Jesus but He had just raised a young boy from the dead and had done several other miracles and some were already calling Him the Messiah. Some were saying He was a great prophet but the Pharisees couldn’t get past their own pride to see that was even possible. The Pharisees were the most religious people. They knew the Law of Moses backward and forward. They were very pious and humble. Just ask them. It doesn’t sound like a very fun party but Jesus went anyway. Let’s read it in Luke 7:36-50.

When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. ³⁷ A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. ³⁸ As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. ³⁹ When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “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.” ⁴⁰ Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. ⁴¹ “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,^[a] and the other fifty. ⁴² Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” ⁴³ Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. ⁴⁴ Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? 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. ⁴⁵ You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶ You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. ⁴⁷ Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” ⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” ⁴⁹ The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” ⁵⁰ Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

It may be hard for us to see with our culture being what it is but, in that culture, there is scandal on top of scandal on top of scandal going on here. People in that neighborhood were talking about this little soiree for years to come after this. But first, let’s clear up a few things that we know and then just accept what we don’t know.

Now, this woman is not to be confused with Mary Magdalene or any other woman. We don’t know this woman’s name nor do we know why she is called sinful or immoral or whatever else your version of the Bible might call her. If you have an idea why…you are probably right but the text doesn’t tell us so let’s just accept that we don’t know. Jesus didn’t say what it was. In fact, He treated her like a child of God so we will too.

But, I will say that what she did was scandalous. Now, you may wonder why she was there. That part is actually not that scandalous. In fact, the way the houses were set up back then – especially the swanky joints like this probably was – the dinner would have been served in the courtyard outside. It was just the way it was that if somebody was having a dinner party, the neighbors might show up and hang out just to see who came and would listen to their conversations. Only a few got to eat but everybody in town could show up.

Also, to get the picture, you have to understand that people didn’t sit at tables to eat like we do. They would lay down on pillows or low couches leaning on their left elbow and eating with their right hand with their heads toward the food in the middle. It doesn’t sound very comfy to me but that’s what they did. It is how the woman had access to the feet of Jesus. And that’s where the scandal comes in.

Let me first just say that a woman crying uncontrollably at your dinner party is going to be a distraction at the least. I was walking the dogs the other day out at Wise County Park going along a trail and I kept hearing what I thought was a child laughing. I turned the corner on this trail in a heavily wooded area and there high in a tree was a young lady bawling her eyes out.  When she saw me, she started climbing down from the tree, still crying, and ran over to me and hugged me. She had been attacked by a wild pig and had spent the last hour up in that tree crying her eyes out. It was not something I could ignore. She wasn’t hurt but she kept crying the whole time I walked her to her car. When you see and hear a woman crying, no matter the setting, it gets your attention.

Now, let me ask you a question. Why was this sinful woman at the dinner party crying? We aren’t really told. Was she crying because she wasn’t invited to the party? Did she stub her toe walking in? Had she been attacked by a hog? No. Obviously she was crying because she was moved just being around Jesus.

But that’s just part of the scandal. A woman in those times was to be seen and not heard but she was certainly not to let her hair down in front of anybody but her husband. That was something done in the bedroom, not in public and certainly not in front of a respected rabbi as they thought of Jesus. Then, to top it off, she pours this expensive perfume all over the feet of Jesus. Talk about distracting! The smell was wonderful, I’m sure, but everybody in the area could smell it. That was distracting. It was wasteful. It was scandalous and it was loved by Jesus because the person doing it loved Jesus.

For the next few weeks, we are going to be looking at people in scripture that had a passionate love for Jesus and we are doing this on our road to revival. No, we are not going to have a week-long tent revival with guest preachers and guest musicians. I mean our goal is to be as excited and passionate about our relationship with the Lord as we were when we first got saved.

Do you remember that time? If you don’t, that’s a red flag that maybe you never started a real relationship with God through His Son Jesus. Because if there was ever a time when the Spirit of God got hold of you and convicted you of your sins then you know it. You remember that. And you should probably remember what it was like after you asked God to forgive you of your sins and to come into your life to be Lord. You remember that moment of clarity when you realized how sinful you had been and you knew you needed a Savior and you realized that God had sent His own Son to die for your sins. Oh, glorious day!

Who can I tell? Who can I tell next? Look what God has done in my life! He has changed me and forgiven me and assured me of Heaven with Him when I die. It’s a miracle above all others. Thank you, Lord! That’s the reason this woman was crying. She was crying tears of joy mixed with thankfulness mixed with feelings of relief along with the regrets of a lifetime of bad choices all rolled into one and all those emotions wouldn’t stay bottled up. They were pouring out her eyes.

She was passionately in love with Jesus. Not in a weird way. She passionately wanted to show Him her gratefulness for her forgiveness and new life. She didn’t understand everything about how it worked. She was no scholar on the Trinity. She couldn’t preach a sermon on the attributes of the Holy Spirit or give a TED talk about sanctification. She didn’t know nothing bout nothing except her life had been changed since she met Jesus.

There's a Spanish story of a father and son who had become estranged. The son ran away, and the father set off to find him. He searched for months to no avail. Finally, in a last desperate effort to find him, the father put an ad in a Madrid newspaper. The ad read: Dear Paco, meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on Saturday. All is forgiven. I love you. Your Father. On Saturday 800 Pacos showed up, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers. (Bits & Pieces, October 15, 1992, pp. 13.)

At some point in your life, you realize who you are and who God is and you realize the chasm between you. You realize that even if all your good deeds did outweigh your bad deeds that your bad deeds are horrible and offensive to God and make you unworthy to get to Heaven; unworthy of God’s grace; unworthy of His forgiveness and you realize that without His unmerited forgiveness, you deserve to spend eternity in Hell.

But hopefully, you, like the sinful woman in our passage, realize that Jesus died for you, a sinner, and now your life has changed and you understand the depth of love that it took to pay that price for you and so you, in return, love Jesus. But you have a real life. You have a job, chores, family, hobbies, problems. You have stuff to do and you can’t walk around like a Jesus freak all the time, right?

Have any of you ever read this book, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs? I haven’t read the whole thing. It’s pretty depressing. All it is is a history of Christians who have been killed for their faith. Each one gets just a couple of paragraphs. It starts with the disciples of Jesus and has been updated to include people all the way through the 90’s.

I turned to page 329 and it talks about a man who, in 1968, went into a Christian prisoner camp in the Soviet Union. The people there were in there only because they had professed to be Christians. The man said, “I saw the wife of a Christian martyr, who left many children behind. She looked amazingly young, although she had grown up children. I asked her for an explanation. She answered, ‘Suffering has renewed my youth.’ Another Christian told me, ‘We would like an easing of our conditions but not full ceasing of the oppression. We fear that liberty would make us lose the burning love of Christ.’”

When we talk about revival, I have to ask, “How bad do you want it?” Some of you might be thinking you wouldn’t mind having some youth renewed but do you want that enough to go through a prison camp for your beliefs? Do you have that strong of a belief? Is your love for Jesus enough to get you through something that horrific for His name? I’m not saying at all that I hope we start getting oppressed. I just wonder how many of us are in love with Jesus enough to ever face any kind of oppression.

So many of us want Jesus at our dinner party but not to really be Lord of our lives. We want Him in our church but not ruling over every aspect of our lives. That’s pretty extreme. We want Him to be part of our lives but just part. We don’t want to make a big deal out of it. There’s no sense in causing a scene, right?

Well, if we want this church to see revival and I mean really be revived with a passionate love for Jesus that starts to affect the neighbors and the rest of Wise County then it’s time to start making a scene. It’s time to start letting people know that Jesus is not just part of our lives but He IS our life and it revolves around Him. When people see us we ought to be singing hymns and spiritual songs as it says in Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3.

We ought to be known as people of prayer, not just in our church and when we go to lunch after church but people that pray about everything as it says in Philippians 4:6. We ought to be known as people who have had their lives changed, not by religion but by our relationship with God through His Son Jesus. It’s time to start asking our kids and our grandkids what they believe about Jesus so we can then tell them the truth; the truth that will affect their eternities.

I’m tired of having a nice time at church and then watching as church members live just like the rest of the world the rest of the week. So many of us watch the same movies, listen to the same music, use the same foul language, eat, drink, look, sound, smell, drive and walk just like people out there whose eternities are destined to be in Hell. We are new creations (2 Cor. 5:17). It’s time to act like it!

Jesus said about the sinful woman, “her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown.” It wasn’t her great love for Jesus that saved her. It wasn’t her emotions that got her to Heaven. It wasn’t her scandalous sacrifice that made her a Christian. But her actions – scandalous as they were – proved her faith and Jesus honored her faith and it was by her faith and God’s grace that she was and we are saved.

When my Uncle Bill was a young man, he was not a good person. He will tell you that although he doesn’t talk much nowadays about the details. But he has some stories that are pretty shocking. He was a drunk, a bully and a violent man. He was on his way to Hell and didn’t want to miss it by a little bit.

But then he heard the Gospel. He heard that sin was anything that displeased God and we are all sinners (Rom. 3:23). He heard that what he deserved for that sin was Hell (Rom. 6:23) but that Jesus had died in his place and had provided a way of forgiveness for all those mean and nasty things he had done (John 3:16). And one day, Uncle Bill believed it and allowed Jesus to be Lord of his life and to change his life and now at the age of 85 or 86, whatever he is, you can’t get him to shut up about the Lord.

I saw him the other day just for a minute. The first thing he did was make fun of the way I was dressed. That’s just how he is as well. But then he asked me what God was doing in my life. He asked and expected an answer. He wanted to know so he could give God glory for it and when I told him, he laughed and praised God in a voice the whole neighborhood could hear! He wanted everybody to know that God is good and that he had a passionate love for Jesus.

When people leave your house or when you leave somebody else’s house, what do you think they say about you? “He’s so nice.” “She’s so pretty.” “Well, bless their hearts!” That’s southern for, “What a weirdo!” And that’s okay if you are weird for Jesus. We are all weird but I want to be known as a Jesus freak weirdo and still be known as “He’s so nice” and “she’s so pretty.” Well, maybe not pretty. That may be too much to ask.

We don’t know anything else about this “sinful woman” but that’s okay. What a legacy she leaves. One of my favorite songs is “Loving My Jesus” by Casting Crowns. The third verse goes like this: When all is said and done
When my last song's been sung
I stand face to face with the One
Who gave all for me
May all I have to show
Be all that mattered most
Making Your great name known
Let this be my only legacy

What’s going to be your legacy? Money, fame, humor? Nothing wrong with that being a part of who you are. But I want to be known – I want my legacy to be – just like this sinful woman. Who cares if people know my name after I die? I want them to know the name of Jesus because I have been forgiven much and so I love much! Let’s pray.