A Woman Poured Perfume on Jesus’ Feet (Luke 7:36-50)

A Woman Poured Perfume on Jesus’ Feet

 

Luke 7:36-50

 

The main characters of today’s story are Jesus, a Pharisee named Simon who invited Jesus to his home for dinner, and a woman who came to Jesus at Simon’s house, wet Jesus’ feet with her tears, wiped his feet with her hair, and poured perfume on his feet. In her town, this woman was known as a ‘sinner.’ In contrast, Simon was a Pharisee, namely, a very religious man who read and practiced the law everyday and observed the elders’ traditions strictly. From the perspective of the Pharisee Simon, it was absolutely unacceptable for such an unclean woman to approach Jesus, to touch his body, and to pour perfume on the feet. Jesus, however, looked at the woman quietly and let her do whatever she wanted to do upon his body. Seeing this, Simon 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.” Knowing what he was thinking in his mind, Jesus gave him a word of life. Jesus also blessed the faith of this woman who shed tears and poured perfume for him, and declared the forgiveness of her sins.

 

In order to feel the meaning of today’s story more vividly, I would like to use a few scenes in the famous movie Titanic. As we know, this movie is based on the historical accident that the super-luxury passenger ship Titanic, on her maiden voyage, collided with an iceberg and sank into the freezing water of the North Atlantic. In the movie, the accident is inlaid with a heart-breaking love story between poor orphan Jack and upper-class girl Rose. What I want to show for this sermon is the scene that the first-class passengers gathered in a place and were having their Sunday worship service. Elegantly dressed noble ladies and gentlemen sing a hymn together in a pious voice. At that time, Jack comes to the place in order to see Rose. The guards standing at the entrance stop Jack, and tell him that he, a third-class passenger, is not allowed to enter the worship hall because it is only for the first-class passengers. Not knowing what is happening outside, the pious worshippers keep singing the hymn and praising God. In the innermost space of the luxury ship, in the most private and secure quarter inside the gigantic passenger boat, there is a gorgeous worship hall and only noble people fit for the gorgeousness of the hall gather and are worshipping God. They call the name of God and pray for God’s presence and protection. However, they are now already in the deepest and safest heart of the titanic iron ship, even with a number of strong guards standing watch at the entrance. They are already the privileged few enjoying all kinds of special favors. It seems that they are so safe and secure that they don’t need to call God’s name.

 

I think that the house of the Pharisee Simon to which Jesus was invited might be quite similar to the elegant worship hall inside the Titanic. At that time, many people regarded Jesus as a ‘prophet.’ Simon seems to have the same idea as he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet……” in verse 39. In verse 40 as well, Simon calls Jesus ‘Teacher.’ In this way, the Pharisee respected Jesus. That’s it, however. He judged Jesus based on “his own religion.” For him, his religion was higher above Jesus. Although he behaved as if he respected Jesus, he despised him in his heart. According to his religion, the woman pouring perfume on Jesus’ feet was a sinner. According to his religion, Jesus, who was tolerating such a sinner’s filthy acts, could not be a prophet. Interestingly, Luke’s Gospel contains a number of scenes in which Jesus is invited to Pharisees’ houses. In addition to today’s passage, Luke 11:37 also mentions a Pharisee who invited Jesus to eat with him. As he saw Jesus not washing his hands before the meal, he was “surprised.” According to his religion, Jesus violated the sacred rule of ceremonial washing. In Luke 14:1 as well, Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee. There people watched Jesus carefully if he might heal a person suffering from an incurable disease on the Sabbath. According to their religion, it was violating their Sabbath laws. The Pharisees had a very noble and solemn religion. This religion was like a high fortress armed with countless sharp and stern laws and regulations, and therefore it could not be approached by sinners, the unclean, and the sick. The Pharisees, dwelling in the safe and secure fortress in the height, looked down sinners and condemned them. They kept a distance from the sinners while calling the name of God and enjoying “a holy life.” Their religion was like the worship hall for the first-class passengers seated deeply inside the Titanic. It was not a place for sinners to meet God. It was a den of haughty hypocrites walled off with the thorny religion.

 

With regard to the sinking of the Titanic, English poet Thomas Hardy wrote a poem titled “The Convergence of the Twain.” In this poem, he says that while people were building the great ship out of vanity and pride, God prepared its mate with ice far away, and when the time came the two started their voyages, and at God’s time and on God’s signal, they met and rattled the whole world. What a dramatic description of the accident! While people were building the Titanic, God prepared an iceberg. We can say figuratively: “While people were building a religion, God prepared Jesus.” And as we see in today’s passage, the Pharisees’ religion and Jesus collided with one another in God’s time. Like the Titanic sank and the iceberg continued its voyage through the destined course, the religion sank and Jesus the Lord continued his journey. The worship hall in the Titanic is only a part of the Titanic world, and actually it is the ‘most Titanic space,’ namely, the most secular space. There is no God and, accordingly, no salvation. It sinks together with the Titanic. Surprisingly, salvation is outside of the Titanic. It is the God-prepared iceberg. It is Jesus Christ. It is Jesus who was not built by the human but prepared by God, who does not belong to the world and flow together with it, but collides with the world and sink it down.

 

There is only one way of salvation from the sinking Titanic. It is changing ships from the sinking Titanic to Jesus “completely.” The sinful woman in today’s passage shows clearly what it means to change to Jesus completely. It is “living only by Jesus’ love and his grace.” This woman was known to be a sinner in her village. Verse 37a says, “And behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner” (KJV), openly introducing the woman as a ‘sinner.’ Even Jesus compared the woman to a debtor owing 500 denarii while comparing Simon to one owing 50, admitting that she was 10 times more serious sinner than ordinary people. We don’t know what terrible sins she had committed. Branded as a sinner, anyway, every moment of her life must have been full of unbearable pains cutting and piercing her soul unceasingly. Probably her most miserable pain was that she could not “love” somebody freely. As a sinner, she could not approach to somebody. She was not allowed to talk to somebody. Shaking hands or hugging was just an impossibility. All of her sayings and doings were regarded as sins. In people’s eyes, even her “heartful kindness” was nothing but “unpleasant seduction.” She just shut down her heart, and never showed her inner mind to others. Probably she did her best to avoid people’s eyes, doing minimal things inevitable for survival. Her only joy was filling drop by drop her perfume bottle that was hidden deep inside of her cabinet. Then, she learned about Jesus. She heard the unbelievable news that Jesus was “sinners’ friend” (Luke 7:34). When thinking of Jesus in her heart, amazingly, she didn’t feel any fear or anxiety she had been experiencing everyday in the world. There was not the piercing pain of condemnation. As if a gentle breeze was caressing her body, her closed heart opened of itself. In her soul, which had been a dry and barren wilderness, clean water began to percolate and made a stream. The stream became a flood and washed away all the painful, shameful, and fearful memories stuck here and there in her life. She took the perfume bottle out of her cabinet, and went out to meet Jesus. The world she was seeing now was totally different from that in the past. In the past, Pharisee Simon’s house was just a “No-Go Zone” for the woman. But now she entered the house as if she was entering her home. When she stood beside Jesus, her tears, which had been suppressed so many days, burst and ran down like a waterfall. Although in front of many people, she lost her sense of shame. She untied her hair and wiped Jesus’ feet with it, and kissed on the feet, and poured out her long-treasured perfume on Jesus’ feet. In a word, she poured out the whole of herself onto Jesus. She poured all without saving a drop. Now she was not a person of this world any longer. Now the Pharisees’ whispering and people’s finger pointing didn’t matter at all. It was because she changed ships completely to the “Grace of Jesus,” in which only Jesus was and His law of love ruled. Different from the Titanic, different from the Pharisees’ religion, the entire ship was Jesus and the entire ship was Jesus’ love. 

 

The Pharisee Simon thought that Jesus couldn’t be a prophet because he didn’t recognize who the woman was. However, Jesus knew the woman very well. Even Jesus penetrated Simon’s inner ideas. And the Lord explained the “Good News” to him. There were two debtors to a certain money lender. one owed 500 denarii and the other did 50. Neither of them had the money to pay back, and the money lender cancelled their debts completely. Then Jesus asked Simon, “Now which of them will love him more?” To Jesus’ question, Simon replied reluctantly, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt cancelled.” To his answer, Jesus said, “Correct!” and told him how much more the woman loved Jesus than Simon did. According to verse 44, Simon even didn’t give Jesus water to wash the feet. The Jews had the custom to have their servants wash the feet of honorable guests. Even if this was too much, it was basic etiquette to provide guests with water to wash their feet. This was the case even more when the occasion was for eating a meal. But Simon, having invited Jesus to eat, didn’t show the least respect to such an honorable guest. Considering that there were other guests (v. 49), the Lord might be treated as one of “so-so” guests. But Jesus was not a guest to the sinful woman. To the woman, Jesus was her Lord and her “everything.” It was because Jesus forgave all her sins and accepted her as his dear daughter. This is the Good News. The Good News is “Heavenly Father’s love to a sinner,” and Jesus is “the Love of God.” The woman threw her entire life into Jesus who is the Good News and the Love of God.

 

Rose, the heroine of movie Titanic was not a ‘sinner,’ but her life in the upper-class society was suffocated with all kinds of silly and tricky regulations. Although the society looked graceful in appearance, it was actually a dangerous place where just one mistake could result in fatal disgrace. Elegant ladies were, in fact, hyenas chasing after a prey for their gossiping, and noble gentlemen were, in fact, beasts competing to be a greater Titan. Such a life was a unbearable pain to Rose who had to suppress her burning passion for genuine love and freedom. Finally she decided to kill herself by jumping out of the boat into the sea. Her suicidal attempt was stopped by Jack’s intervention, but she made another very radical decision that threw her entire life. At this time, it was not jumping into the sea but jumping into love with Jack. In this jump, she threw “everything.” She threw her body and heart, her family, and her future. In this radical change, she just ignored and said goodbye to all kinds of vanities, snooping eyes, and biting tongues surrounding her life. Now only this love was meaningful to her. Even the priceless diamond necklace, which happened to fall into her hands, was meaningful only as a memory of her love with Jack. Thinking about the woman who threw herself into the sea of Jesus’ love in today’s passage, I am almost sure that the director of movie Titanic obtained the motif of his movie from the love story between the woman and Jesus. As to love, the Bible says, “Love does no harm to its neighbor” (Romans 13:10). Jesus’ love to a sinner is exactly so. Although she has a large debt to pay back, Jesus rather covers it up and sets her free. Jesus’ love does not have the sharpness of cutting, piercing, judging and condemning. Going further, Jesus embraces and protects the sinner until he takes onto himself people’s merciless accusations against the sinner. To the Lord as such, we can entrust our whole life without an iota of doubt. on board of Jesus’ grace and love, we will continue truly happy, joyful, and peaceful voyage until we reach his kingdom in heaven. Our only prayer is that God may give us this pure and strong faith in Jesus who is the Love of God.