Luke 7:37-38


Sermon preached on January 14, 2007 by Laurence W. Veinott. © Copyright 2007. All rights reserved. Other sermons can be found at http://www.newlifeop.org/.

The ancient Greek mathematician Pythagoras is known as 'the father of numbers'. His contributions to math were enormous and just about everyone has heard of Pythagoras' theorem. Simon Singh writes, (Fermat's Enigma p. 49-50)

"For Pythagoras, the beauty of mathematics was the idea that rational numbers (whole numbers and fractions) could explain all natural phenomena. This guiding philosophy blinded Pythagoras to the existence of irrational numbers and may even have led to the execution of one of his pupils. One story claims that a young student by the name of Hippasus was idly toying with the number square root of 2, attempting to find the equivalent fraction. Eventually he came to realize that no such fraction existed, i.e., that the square root of 2 is an irrational number. Hippasus must have been overjoyed by his discovery, but his master was not. Pythagoras had defined the universe in terms of rational numbers, and the existence of irrational numbers brought his ideal into question. The consequence of Hippasus's insight should have been a period of discussion and contemplation during which Pythagoras ought to have come to terms with this new source of numbers. However, Pythagoras was unwilling to accept that he was wrong, but at the same time he was unable to destroy Hippasus's argument by the power of logic. To his eternal shame he sentenced Hippasus to death by drowning."



If I had a new theory and Pythagoras was my teacher I wouldn't approach him with it. It would be too dangerous.

But is it dangerous for a horrible and polluted sinner to approach Jesus? Should sinners go to Him or stay away from Him? Today we are going to look at one of the most poignant scenes in all of Scripture. What a scene! A sinful woman comes to Jesus to anoint him with perfume. I wish I could have been there to witness it because this incident shows us much about Jesus' love for sinners—and what our love toward Him should be like. There are many lessons for us here.

First, more than anything else, it shows us that

Jesus accepts sinners who go to Him.

In 1 Timothy 1:15 the apostle Paul said,

"Here is a trustworthy saying
that deserves full acceptance:
Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners…"

Those who come to Him He will accept with open arms. In John 6:37 Jesus said,

"All that the Father gives me
will come to me,
and whoever comes to me
I will never drive away."

Jesus accepts sinners with open arms. That's what our text teaches us. We read, (Luke 7:37-38)

"When a woman who had lived a sinful life
in that town learned that Jesus
was eating at the Pharisee's house,
she brought an alabaster jar of perfume,
and 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."

Jesus accepted her offering and told her that her sins were forgiven and that she could go in peace.

The first thing I want you to notice about this woman was that

she was a great sinner.

The one thing we are told about her background was that she was a known sinner. We're not sure what her sin was but her reputation seems to have been based on not just one incident, but on her lifestyle. Some have suggested that she was a notorious adulteress. Others have suggested that she was a prostitute. We don't know for sure. But whatever her sins, John Calvin is certainly correct when he tells us that she was,

"a woman of wicked and shameless life."



Her reputation was so bad that when Simon the Pharisee saw her approach Jesus he considered it inappropriate. He thought 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."

He thought that Jesus should have rebuked her and sent her away.

But Jesus accepted her. He didn't stop her. He didn't rebuke her. He let her approach Him. He let her weep over His feet. He let her wipe His feet with her hair. He let her kiss His feet and anoint them with perfume.

There are three lessons for us here.

First, Jesus accepts great sinners.

Jesus did not come to save the righteous, but sinners. He came to save David, who committed adultery and murder. He came to save Matthew, the tax collector. He came to save Peter, who denied Jesus three times. He came to save the criminal on the cross, who admitted that his crimes were worthy of death. He came to save Saul of Tarsus, who persecuted the church. He came to save this woman, this notorious and wicked sinner.

If you're a great sinner, if you have committed horrible and numerous sins—know that Jesus can save you. He came to save sinners just like you.

Secondly, this shows us that as members of this church

you should never look down on sinners and think that they shouldn't mingle with us.

We need to accept sinners into our midst with open arms. This applies to great sinners, not just ordinary sinners.

We all want our church to grow. But how do we want it to grow. How would you feel next week if 10 or 20 of the most prominent citizens of Canton showed up at our service? That would be great, wouldn't it. We'd all be happy about that.

But would we be just as happy if 10 or 20 of the worst people in Canton showed up at our service next week? Maybe we wouldn't be excited about that. We might think that they'd be a bad influence on our congregation and impact it in a negative way. We might think that it would be better if they went to another church, or at least it would be better if they spread themselves around to different churches.

No. Such thoughts would be sinful and wrong. The church is for sinners. Jesus is a friend of sinners. He invites them to Himself, to His church, to fellowship with His people.

But of course I have to make two qualifications.

First, this does not mean that we accept sin in the church. This woman was sorry for her sins and obviously had such love for Jesus that she had turned from them. You Christians should never tolerate sinful behavior in the church. Jesus wants His church to be pure. He wants His people to be holy. In Ephesians 5:11 the apostle Paul wrote,

"Have nothing to do
with the fruitless deeds of darkness,
but rather expose them."

Secondly, if a sinner comes into our midst yet refuses to repent of their sins and then pretends that he is a Christian in good standing—we are to have nothing to do with such a man. Paul wrote about this in 1 Corinthians 5:9-11,

"I have written you in my letter
not to associate with sexually immoral people—
not at all meaning the people of this world
who are immoral,
or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters.
In that case you would have to leave this world.
But now I am writing you
that you must not associate
with anyone who calls himself a brother
but is sexually immoral or greedy,
an idolater or a slanderer,
a drunkard or a swindler.
With such a man do not even eat."

So we are not to tolerate sin within the church. We are not to tolerate people who claim to be Christians, yet who deny it with their lives.

But except for those exceptions, we must remember that Jesus is a friend of sinners. It doesn't matter what kind of sins a person has committed, if they repent and go to Jesus for forgiveness, He will accept them. So, too, we His people should accept them with open arms.

The second thing I want you to see from our text is that

Jesus accepted this woman's strange behavior.

Her behavior was most unusual. Norval Geldenhuys writes, (p. 233)

"It was something unheard of that a sinner like herself should venture to enter the house of a Pharisee."



She was not one of the invited guests. Most people would have seen her presence there as inappropriate.

But it wasn't just her presence that they would have consider inappropriate. She also acted in a very strange manner. I. Howard Marshall suggests that the woman's original intent was to anoint Jesus' head with perfume. But as she approached Him from behind, her emotions got the better of her. Marshall writes, (Luke p. 309)

"The whole account makes sense when we assume that the woman's original intention was interrupted by her overwhelming emotions."



She stopped at Jesus' feet. Jesus is reclining at the table with His feet not under the short table, but out away from it. Alfred Edersheim writes, (Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Vol. 1, p. 564)

"They were all sitting, or rather 'lying'… around the table, the body resting on the couch, the feet turned away from the table in the direction of the wall, while the left elbow rested on the table."



The woman is at Jesus' feet. She starts crying. I'm sure many people thought that this was inappropriate behavior. I'm actually surprised that at that point Luke doesn't tell us about someone approaching her and trying to escort her out. But it didn't happen. Simon didn't motion to someone to get rid of her. Perhaps he wanted to test Jesus.

The woman is standing behind Jesus and realizes that her tears are falling on Jesus feet. The woman obviously doesn't have a towel with her so she lets her hair down and starts drying His feet with it. F. Godet writes, (Luke, (Vol. 1, p. 358),

"In order to duly appreciate this act, we must remember that among the Jews it was one of the great humiliations for a woman to be seen in public with her hair down."



But there's more. She starts kissing Jesus' feet and pours perfume on them. This is quite a scene. It's interesting that Jesus just accepted it all without a word, without any motion on His part at all. Think about it. Men, if a strange woman was crying and her tears were falling on your bare feet, what would you do? Most of you would move your feet out of the way and possibly give her a strange look. If a strange woman started drying your wet feet with her hair, what would you do? I think most men would very gently push her away. But what about if a strange woman started kissing your feet! I mean, it would just not be appropriate.

But Jesus does nothing like that. He doesn't pull away. He doesn't rebuke her. He doesn't give her a strange look. Not a word. Not a muscle moved to pull away. Jesus totally accepted her unusual behavior.

But of course, her unusual behavior was the result of an overwhelming emotional response to Jesus. What we see is that

Jesus accepted her overwhelming emotional response.

In fact, it is clear that He considered it exceedingly appropriate. He contrasted how the woman treated Him to how Simon, his host, treated Him. He said to Simon, (Luke 7:44-48)

"'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.
You did not give me a kiss,
but this woman,
from the time I entered,
has not stopped kissing my feet.
You did not put oil on my head,
but she has poured perfume on my feet.
Therefore, I tell you,
her many sins have been forgiven—
for she loved much.
But he who has been forgiven little loves little.'
Then Jesus said to her,
'Your sins are forgiven.'"

Jesus totally accepted her love even though it expressed itself in unusual ways.

The point is that God often accepts emotional responses that other people think are inappropriate.

There's another incident like this in Mark 14. A woman anointed Jesus' head with very expensive oil. Some people who saw it were indignant and said to one another, (Mark 14:4-9)

"Why this waste of perfume?
It could have been sold
for more than a year's wages
and the money given to the poor."

They proceeded to rebuke the woman harshly. But Jesus intervened and said,

"Leave her alone.
Why are you bothering her?
She has done a beautiful thing to me.
The poor you will always have with you,
and you can help them any time you want.
But you will not always have me.
She did what she could.
She poured perfume on my body beforehand
to prepare for my burial.
I tell you the truth,
wherever the gospel is
preached throughout the world,
what she has done will also be told,
in memory of her."

In the same way Jesus was very kind, accepting and approving of what this woman did to Him. It may be that this woman anointed his feet for crucifixion. His feet would soon have nails driven through them, binding Him to the cross. It was quite appropriate that she weep over them, dry them with her hair, kiss them, and anoint them with perfume.

There are three lessons here about our emotions.

First, God sometimes gives some of His people great and overwhelming emotional responses to His grace or power, and when He does—we need to be careful that we don't condemn and discourage it.

We see that in this woman. God gave her such grace that her love for Jesus led to her doing things that others considered inappropriate. Simon the Pharisee was wrong to look down on this woman. He was wrong to criticize Jesus for accepting this woman. He totally misread the situation. Simon thought that what the woman did was inappropriate. But Jesus told him that what she did was much more appropriate than what he did.

We see it in Hannah. You'll remember that she wanted a child so much that she went to the house of the Lord and prayed for a son. She made a vow to the Lord and said that if God gave her a son, she would dedicate him to the Lord all the days of his life. Eli, saw her and observed that her lips were moving but he couldn't hear her say anything. He thought she was drunk. He said to her, (1 Samuel 1:14)

"How long will you keep on getting drunk?
Get rid of your wine."

But she was not drunk. Eli was wrong.

We see it as well in David dancing before the Lord when he brought the ark of the Lord to Jerusalem. We read, (2 Samuel 6:14-16)

"David, wearing a linen ephod,
danced before the LORD with all his might,
while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts
and the sound of trumpets.
As the ark of the LORD
was entering the City of David,
Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window.
And when she saw King David
leaping and dancing before the LORD,
she despised him in her heart."

Later, when David returned home to bless his household, Michal came out to meet him and said,

"How the king of Israel
has distinguished himself today,
disrobing in the sight of the slave girls
of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!"

But she was wrong and the Lord punished her for it.

So we have to be careful that we don't criticize people when God is giving them grace to worship or praise Him as they should.

But again we have to be careful. We have to make sure it's genuine and not the influence of Satan in the church to disrupt and corrupt. The apostle Paul warned us about this in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15. He wrote,

"For such men are false apostles,
deceitful workmen,
masquerading as apostles of Christ.
And no wonder,
for Satan himself masquerades
as an angel of light.
It is not surprising, then,
if his servants masquerade
as servants of righteousness."

Jonathan Edwards, the great America theologian, saw this during the two revivals in the early 1700's. He saw many examples where Satan gave unconverted people great emotional experiences that really had nothing to do with conversion or regeneration. They were counterfeit. In his great book, "The Religious Affections Edwards warned the church about how even a great emotional experience is no sure sign that someone is a Christian and loves the Lord. He had seen people who had seemingly repented of their sins, known heights of joy, brought forth abundance of tears, seemed to have love for Scripture, for others, and be full of praise for God. Yet they didn't produce fruits in keeping with repentance. They continued their sinful lifestyles. Edwards wrote, (Religious Affections, Works 2, p. 182-183)

"How great therefore may the resemblance be, as to all outward expressions and appearances, between an hypocrite and a true saint."

They resembled each other, but they were not the same. One was true. One was counterfeit and has no place in the church. Edwards concluded that we couldn't tell the difference merely by looking at them. It was much like we see in 1 Samuel 19: 22-24 when King Saul was seeking to murder David. Saul went to Ramah to kill David.

"But the Spirit of God came even upon him,
and he walked along prophesying
until he came to Naioth.
He stripped off his robes
and also prophesied in Samuel's presence.
He lay that way all that day and night.
This is why people say,
Is Saul also among the prophets?"

That was from the Spirit of the Lord, but my point is that Satan can do exactly that and the result of Satan's actions is exactly like that of Saul. It didn't produce any lasting good effect. King Saul soon resumed his murderous pursuit of David.

Edwards said that was the key. You have to look at the effect on someone's life. Counterfeit emotional experiences catered to human self-centeredness and did not lead to a changed life. But true religious experience leads to holy living.

I'm certain that would have been the case with this woman. She didn't go out and return to her sinful lifestyle. He was saved. She had her sins forgiven. I'm sure she went out and lived for Jesus—her life demonstrating God's love in her and her love for Jesus.

Secondly, this passage also teaches us that

you Christians should not be embarrassed about your emotional responses to the gospel.

Do you ever weep when you read the Bible? When you read parts of the gospels about Jesus, do they ever move you to tears? Are you ever overcome with emotion when you consider God's love for us? Don't be embarrassed by such things. Don't suppress them. Rather use them to help you become more holy, to help you to show your love for Christ more, to help you praise Him better.

Lastly, this woman shows you what kind of love you are to have for Jesus.

Your love for Jesus is to be extravagant, without embarrassment, without pride, without reservation.

John Calvin writes,

"Luke makes this a pattern for us to imitate, for her tears were witnesses of sorrow, the beginning of repentance. That she fell to the ground behind Christ's feet and lay there prostrate showed that she offered herself and all she had to Christ as a sacrifice. We should imitate her in all this…"



Your love for Jesus is not to be a little, it is not to be measured, it is not to be secondary to anything else—it is to be exceedingly great. In Matthew 22:37-38 Jesus told us what the greatest commandment is. He said that you are to,

"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind.'
This is the first and greatest commandment."

In Revelation 2:4 Jesus said to the church at Ephesus,

"I hold this against you:
You have forsaken your first love."

In Revelation 3:14-17 Jesus said,

"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen,
the faithful and true witness,
the ruler of God's creation.
I know your deeds,
that you are neither cold nor hot.
I wish you were either one or the other!
So, because you are lukewarm—
neither hot nor cold—
I am about to spit you out of my mouth."

This woman's love was not cold. How bold she was. F. Godet writes, (Luke, Vol. 1, p. 357)

"The entrance of the woman that was a sinner into such society was an act of great courage, for she might expect to be ignominiously sent away. The power of a gratitude that knew no bounds for a priceless benefit which she had received from the Savior can alone explain her conduct."



Christians, love Jesus with everything that is in you. Let your love for Him be bold, be great, be overwhelming.