Thoughts for the Day

Luke 7:39 When the Pharisee [Simon]  who had invited him [Jesus, to dinner] saw this [the woman anointing Jesus’s feet], he 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.”

Jesus certainly engaged with the Pharisees, and they with him.  These next three days we will look at three invitations to share meals!  We don’t have exact equivalents in our culture.  These are not one-to-one occasions.  They seem more like a carefully selected list of diners but in less than private settings.  Somehow in this instance a “lady of the streets” has turned up and proceeds to wash Jesus’s feet with her tears and anoint them with expensive perfume.  I wonder if Simon reflected on his (unvoiced) question afterwards, realised that Jesus knew both exactly what kind of woman this was and exactly what Simon was thinking, and concluded that he was a prophet.  But the issue isn’t simply his knowing she is a sinner, it is that Jesus is allowing a sinner to associate with him, even to touch him.   Jesus graciously leads Simon to challenge his own pre-conceptions.  Simon agrees that someone forgiven a bigger debt will love his creditor more than someone forgiven a small one.  So, Jesus draws him further.  He points to the extravagance of her welcome compared to that of Simon, declares her many sins will be forgiven because she loved much, and tells her “Your sins are forgiven.”  We’re told the other guests asked themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” We are not told Simon’s response, which leads me to wonder how I would have reacted in his position!