Peace for the Guilty
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The Puzzle of the Sinful Woman: Why Did She Weep?
The Puzzle of the Sinful Woman: Why Did She Weep?
1. She knew she needed forgiveness to be whole again. (v. 36-39)
Then one of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him. He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. And a woman in the town who was a sinner found out that Jesus was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house. She brought an alabaster jar of perfume and stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to wash his feet with her tears. She wiped his feet with her hair, kissing them and anointing them with the perfume.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “This man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—she’s a sinner!”
She was probably a prostitute. What was the problem?
Misusing the gift of sex for commerce and gratification
Treating herself as an object rather than a person
Participating in adultery
Of course, there are excuses:
The men were just as guilty
Patriarchal society left her with few options for making money (although she was not a cheap prostitute making ends meet—she was rich, high class.)
Regardless she was likely a victim in many ways; her profession certainly was not not sake.
And yet, these excuses—valid considerations though they are—do not erase the disruption that resulted—in the lives of herself, her family, her clients, and their families.
Imagine how her clients’ wives feel about the wealth she has accumulated.
All sin causes damage, no matter how understandable or excusable it is.
We cannot find peace without addressing the damage caused by sin.
2. She believed that Jesus had the power to forgive. (v. 40-43)
Jesus replied to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”
He said, “Say it, teacher.”
“A creditor had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Since they could not pay it back, he graciously forgave them both. So, which of them will love him more?”
Simon answered, “I suppose the one he forgave more.”
“You have judged correctly,” he told him.
The effects of sin are too great for any human being to undo.
Only someone who speaks for God can say that your sin is being undone. (v. 49)
Those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?”
3. She believed that the forgiveness of Jesus could bring her final peace. (v. 44-50)
Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she, with her tears, has washed my feet and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but she hasn’t stopped kissing my feet since I came in. You didn’t anoint my head with olive oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfume. Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that’s why she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little, loves little.” Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?”
And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
he saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy—through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—
Now in this hope we were saved, but hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees?
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved.
and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.
How much more then, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath.
Besides this, since you know the time, it is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, because now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
If anyone’s work is burned up, he will experience loss, but he himself will be saved—but only as through fire.
The forgiveness of Jesus was a promise—that God would forgive her in the last days.
By trusting in his forgiveness, she could live in the knowledge that the effects of her sin would be undone.
Finding Peace on Earth
Finding Peace on Earth
There is forgiveness in Christ for any and every burden.
Forgiveness brings the full restoration of the future into our present.
Those who receive God’s forgiveness must forgive others. (Matthew 6:13-15, 18:34-35; Mark 11:25; Luke 6:37; Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 4:3)
And do not bring us into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
“For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses.
And because he was angry, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay everything that was owed. So also my heavenly Father will do to you unless every one of you forgives his brother or sister from your heart.”
And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven will also forgive you your wrongdoing.”
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.
At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door to us for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains,