Sermon: Sunday, 25th January, 2026
Speaker: John Johnstone
Scripture: Luke 7:36-50
Imagine you are a dinner guest at this meal. You feel privileged to have made it to the house of Simon the Pharisee, such a well-respected member of the community. The food is delicious. You’ve been looking forward to meeting Jesus of Nazareth, having heard all kinds of things about him. The conversation is really interesting. But this meal will stay long in your memory for another reason. The dinner is gate-crashed by a local prostitute. Everyone knew the kind of things that she had done in the town. Most ‘morally upright’ people would cross the street if they saw her coming. How will Simon react? And what about Jesus? Things became more shocking. This woman seems emotionally out of control. She weeps so much that she Jesus’ feet become wet. The woman seems to forget where she is, letting down her hair and using it as a towel, before anointing his feet with perfume. You hardly notice the sweet smell because you are so shocked that Jesus allowed this woman to get so close to him.
What a contrast there is between Simon and the woman. Simon seems like a morally upright man, wealthy, stable and respectable individual. He is the kind of person you might aspire to being like. This woman, however, was shunned by the community. Home-makers had experienced her as a home-wrecker, as she had caused so much damage in her own family and that of many others through her wicked lifestyle, selling herself for money. There was no hope for someone like her, or so many thought. How could someone like that ever change? But all is not what it seems. We need to look beyond the externals of these characters and consider their hearts, as Jesus does.
1. Simon gets it wrong about the woman
There is no question that this woman had lived a ‘sinful life’; we are told so in verse 37. We are given access in to Simon’s thinking about her, being told in verse 39 that she is ‘a sinner’. I’m guessing Simon wants her out of his home as soon as possible. It’s like she’s a leper, to be avoided at all costs. Pharisees took great pride in separating themselves from those they saw as morally inferior to themselves. They were the ‘sinners’ who never attended synagogue or paid their tithes and hadn’t memorised any of the Bible. What does Simon see when he observes the actions of this woman? He sees nothing of the reality of her love and respect for Jesus. He cannot even understand it, just as our non-Christian friends can’t understand our devotion to Jesus. He judges her harshly, and looks down on her. He is wrong about her. The truth is, this woman is a model of how we ought to relate to God, whilst Simon is a warning of how not to.
Jesus says to Simon (verse 44): ‘Do you see this woman?’ Of course, he sees her physically. She’s stands out (just a little) amongst the other guests. He sees her, but he doesn’t see her, her loving heart.
2. Simon gets it wrong about himself
I don’t think that Simon sees himself as a perfect man, but as a good man. He is self-righteous. When he compares himself to the non-religious in the town, and especially to ‘great sinners’ like this woman, it makes him feel even better about himself, and his own accomplishments. When I was young, every year we’d have a family gathering on Christmas day with cousins and grandparents. I always had to stand back-to-back with my cousin as we were the same age and aunts and uncles wanted to see who was the tallest. It was annoying, especially as I was always smaller. My cousin always felt good about himself because he was standing next to someone shorter. Simon does this spiritually and so he ends up more aware of the women’s sin that of his own.
It’s so dangerous for us to make comparisons with other people when we think about our own morality. Why? Because we always try and look at people we think as worse than we are, and that makes us feel taller. The Bible says we need to compare ourselves to God’s righteous law, and when we do that, none of us has a leg to stand on. Romans chapter 3 says again and again: ‘… all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory.’ That goes for the religious and for the pagans. That goes for everyone. We all have a huge moral debt before God which we cannot ever pay. We are all in the same boat – debtors to God.
Simon is deceiving himself. His religious activities are not what God wants from him. Outwardly he might look the part, and he thinks God is pleased with his religious acts, but inwardly he has no heart-love for Jesus. He desperately needs forgiveness. Blind-spots are dangerous when driving. But to have a blind-spot about our own sin is far more dangerous. Simon is wrong in his self-evaluation. Most people are like Simon: thinking they are good. Do you have this blind-spot?
We all need to understand, being religious and doing religious things cannot get rid of your guilt and sin. Only receiving Jesus as your Saviour and king can do that.
3. Simon gets it wrong about Jesus
‘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.’ (Luke 7:39) Just what is Simon’s wrong assumption? He assumes that Jesus cannot be a prophet sent by God, because God wants us to stay clear of sinners like this. He couldn’t be more wrong about God’s attitude towards those who have messed up. Jesus answered them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’ (Luke 5:31-32) In Luke 15 we see God’s attitude to sinners as God is pictured as the father with his arms open wide to receive sinners who come back to him in repentance. In Luke 18 we see from the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector that God justifies those who humble themselves before him and ask for mercy, and that the self-righteous ones will be brought low.
What a wonderful truth for us all to hear this morning. No one is too bad to be forgiven by God. There is nothing that is in our past which God cannot forgive. I hope none of you feel, ‘I’m too bad to be forgiven’ because of something you have done, whether a sexual sin, or one of greed, or ways you have hurts others in the past. Jesus came to rescue messed up people like us. He came for the broken and dysfunctional and the hopeless and the needy. As we shall shortly sing, ‘Jesus! What a friend of sinners’.
4. Jesus’ assessment of the woman
It’s what Jesus thinks of the woman that really counts, and not what Simon thinks. Simon made comparisons of external things and came to the wrong conclusion. Jesus, however, knows the heart and what actions flow out of it. He simply compares the actions of Simon with the actions of the woman. Any good host ought to have greeted their guests with a kiss, made provisions for having their feet washed and poured oil on the heads. Simon does none of these things. It’s as if Jesus is saying, ‘Do you really want to compare things Simon?’ Jesus receives and appreciates the love and devotion of this woman. She cleans his feet with her tears and wipes them with her hair. She pours expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet.
Jesus knows why this woman does these things. These actions flow out of a heart of love for Jesus. Why does she love him? Because she is so grateful to Jesus for forgiving her for all her sins. These are tears of thankfulness. ‘… her many sins have been forgiven – as her great love has shown.’ (Luke 7:47)
What a simple yet powerful parable Jesus tells to highlight this great principle of the Christian life – that those who have been forgiven much, love much. Jesus is the moneylender, the woman is the one with the great debt cancelled and Simon the other debtor, with a smaller debt.
This is not the first time she has met with Jesus. She used to be a prostitute, but then she came to faith in Jesus, perhaps meeting him in a crowd (we do not know) and now her heart is bursting with thankfulness because of the forgiveness she has received. She is no longer a slave to her past. She has been set free by Jesus. Simon sees her as she used to be – a prostitute – and this blinds him to who she really is now, a shining example of faith and love.
This passage is utterly beautiful. A woman who had made such a mess of her life and the lives of others, is changed and transformed by the love and forgiveness of Jesus. This is what brings about true change in people: the love and forgiveness of Jesus. Which character are you like in this passage? Are you so thankful to Jesus for rescuing you from the kingdom of darkness and bringing you into the Kingdom of Jesus that you will do anything for him? Do you understand just how much you have been forgiven and express love to Jesus in loving action?
JC Ryle: ‘Grateful love is the secret of doing much for Christ.’
I’m sure all of us want to do more for God, witness more for him, be more involved in and serve in his church, and live holy lives for him in our work and families. The change will only come from within, not by the minister trying to make you feel guilty or by trying to keep up with others. It is as we appreciate just how much Jesus has done on the cross and how much we have been forgiven that our hearts will overflow with love for Jesus, which will lead to serving Jesus with all he has given us.
Like this woman, I cannot change the things I have done in the past. Sometimes I thought I’d never escape them. But the truth is that Jesus is able to deal with those sins. And the words he says to this woman, he says to us too, when we come to him in faith: Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’ (Luke 7:50) Can you imagine how wonderful it was for this woman to be set free from the chains of her past sin.
K Hughes: ‘Her life had been one of constant rejection, but now she had been accepted by God.’
Perhaps her parents had written her off and said ‘you’ll never change’. But people do change, through the forgiveness and love of God. And if God believes people can change then we ought to believe that too.
5. Jesus’ view of Simon
Just briefly, let’s notice that Jesus focuses on what Simon does not do for him. Three times we read ‘You did not’. What matters most to God is how we treat his Son, the Lord Jesus. Will we trust in him? Will we show him our love and give him our best, which are signs that we do trust in him. Through a short parable, Jesus explains the uncomfortable truth to Simon that he lacks these loving actions because he has no idea just how much moral debt he is in before God. Simon has a moral debt he cannot pay. Respectable people in Fife are just as much in debt before God as drug users, prostitutes and prisoners. If only Simon were to see this, he would cast himself on Jesus for mercy. Let’s be clear – Simon’s lack of love towards Jesus tells us that he has no real faith in him. Faith without deeds is dead.
G Campbell Morgan: ‘Jesus notices neglect and he values adoration.’
Again, are we those who show our love for Jesus?
6. Challenges for us today
Evangelism: we must remember that Jesus came to seek and save the lost. As we think about our neighbours and colleagues, we must not be put off by their past sin, or by their present sin, and just write them off. Of course, we have to be careful and not join the sins of others. But we must not have the attitude of Simon, who kept away from people like this woman. Remember that we won’t speak to people about Jesus if we don’t speak to people. And we’re not called to speak just to the ‘morally upright’ but to all people. Are you praying for and witnessing to all kinds of people, people the Lord has placed you beside? Perhaps God will use you. Jesus spends time with the outcast, with the self-righteous religious people (who also needed a Saviour) and everyone in between. We are lights in this world, called to shine into the darkness.
Our motivation: remember that all real Christian love must be based on our understanding of the enormity of our sins, and the forgiveness which has been granted to us through faith in Jesus. Do you love Jesus more or less than this time last year? If less, go back to basics, and remember what you have been saved from and saved to, and the cost that this necessitated.
If you are not a Christian yet, what a huge encouragement this passage should be to you to come to Jesus and confess your sins to him in prayer. You don’t have to clean up your act before coming to Jesus; come as you are and confess your sins. Ask Jesus to change your heart. If you do, then these wonderful words spoken to the woman will be yours also: v50 Your faith has saved you; go in peace.
Come to Jesus as you are. Notice that in verse Simon is just thinking that Jesus is not a prophet. Jesus knows what he is thinking. And in response Jesus tells a short and devastating parable. Friends, Jesus is the same today. He knows what we are thinking – all the lust and pride and anger and jealousy and more. Because Jesus is God. That’s a marvellous thing – because Jesus is God, and because he died on the cross, he is qualified to forgive our sin. Then Jesus said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ The other guests began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’ (Luke 7:48-49)
It’s amazing that the woman never speaks in this story, and yet her tears speak volumes – she is sorry for her past life and so thankful for forgiveness. Her actions speak volumes – her heart is now full of love for Jesus. ‘Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.’ (Luke 7:47)
Which character are you like? Simon, or the woman?