Luke 7:36-50
She is a “woman of the city” She sleeps for a price. She has no morals. She is looked down upon. She is the town prostitute. Evidently Jesus should have known who she was. Simon knew. Now She is crying so intensely that she can wet Jesus’ feet. She can use her own tears to clear the dirt off Christ. Jesus’ feet have been caked with dirt and this slave of sex has come to clean him up. Now she is kissing his feet. The same lips that have been with countless men are now touching the feet of God. Now she is pouring expensive perfume on Him. Perfume she has been saving. Only she is not using this perfume to seduce anyone. Instead she is using it to anoint the feet of Jesus.
Simon cannot take it. Is Jesus really a holy man since this woman is touching Him? How could he be a prophet if he does not know about her? (Verse 39) He said this to himself… not to anyone there… but to himself. Thoughts coated in self-righteousness. Sin with lipstick. Pampered pride. Hidden, dark, festering, and full of blindness.
This should cause all of us to pause and pray for mercy. Is this our heart? Jesus will not let these obscene thoughts pass him by. I have something to say to you Simon. Say it teacher (Verse 40). How were these words exchanged? Could you hear the pride in Simeon’s voice? Or was it coated with a gloss of genuineness? Or was it really sincere?
He who is forgiven little loves little.
Wait… doesn’t this just mean Simon was right? Is Jesus saying that Simon is decent and only needed a little help from Jesus and prostitute vile and wicked needing massive rescue?
No, Jesus does not mean that Simeon was a good guy. Rather he means that Simon did not understand the depth of His sin. Simon did not understand that he was in the same position as the prostitute. He should have been the one on the dirty floor weeping at the feet of Jesus. He is the one who should have been breaking his valuables for Jesus. He is the one who should have soaked the Savior’s feet with tears. But he did not realize the depth of his sin nor did he realize the worth of the Savior.
We need to be on the ground before God. At this “true love waits” banquet, we need to be like this prostitute. Broken over our sin. Psalm 24 says only he who has clean hands and a pure heart can ascend to the hill of the Lord. Is that us? Not apart from the blood of Jesus.
Who is the pure one in this parable? Is it the virgin Pharisee unstained by “sexual immorality?” Or is it the prostitute? Who is the pure of heart?
The blood of Jesus is our only hope for purity.
Pick your prayer: “God, have mercy upon me a sinner!” or “God, thank you that I am not like her”
{adapted from the sermon “Purity, Prostitutes, and Pharisees” preached at Laguardo Baptist on 2.11.12}
Unspoken 