Outcasts #2: The Woman Who Annointed Jesus' Feet

We’re talking about outcasts again today… people in the bible who frankly don’t deserve to be there let alone be interacting with our Lord Jesus Christ, the living embodiment of God Himself!

When we look at these people we can get a glimpse into the heart of God for all of us, because frankly… we’re all just lucky to be here… Lets get right into the word. Luke 7:36-50

Luke 7:36–50 NKJV

Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.” And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” So he said, “Teacher, say it.” “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?” Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.” Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

So here we got a story with a few characters and they are all kinda like the clips we just watched...

The pharisee’s are like the first 3 children. They all knew they deserved to be winners of the golden tickets.

one because he ate lots of candy

One because she was competitive and deserved to win

one because she was rich and could pay her way in, and

one because he was the smartest.

and they are like us… some of us have got it in our heads that some how we deserve to get into heaven.. we all deserve that golden ticket.

Some of us think we deserve it because we read the word everyday it’s like candy to us

Some of us think we deseve it because of all the work we do in the church

Some of us think we deserve it because of all the money and tithes we put into the church,

Or because of how smart and trained in the Bible we are.

But the fact of the matter is… all of us sitting here have got a golden ticket, we’ve won the greatest prize… but we are all just lucky to be here… we are like Charlie Bucket… or like the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet.

See She Knew she didn’t belong there. she knew she didn’t deserve to be in the presence of Jesus… and not only because she apparently just broke into some guys house to get to Him, but because she understood who is was and what he meant to her.

And in this tenuos example the rol of Jesus is played by Willy Wonka...

But lets take a look at the characters and we’re going to take a look at them in relation to the parable that Jesus tells starting in vs 40. to recap:

Luke 7:40-43

Luke 7:40–43 NKJV

And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” So he said, “Teacher, say it.” “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?” Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.”

A Look at the Pharisees (us)

So lets look at the characters in this story and it starts off with a Pharisee… apparently named Simon… now Simon knew that He was important and he know that Jesus was important. so he invited Jesus to his place to eat.

Now I don’t know about you but this is obviously a guy who know where is stands. If this was most other people.. they question would be asked “just who do you think you are that you presume to invite someone like Jesus to your home”

But this guy knew the answer to that “I am a pharisee! of all the people around I am most deserving of the presence of Jesus.... if he’s going to visit anyone's house, well it should be mine.

And oddly enough, for once, Jesus did just that! which in itself is kind of strange because most stories of Jesus find him visiting with the sinners and the lost, rather than the pharisees and religious establishment.

Which brings me to my first point today:

Even Jesus wouldn’t spend all his time at church.

Infact, looking through the the life of Jesus you don’t see an emphasis on his times at the temple at all… except for a few mentions of him teaching there and that one time that he got a little mad and whipped some people.

The primary focus of Jesus’ life was outside of the church/temple. he was with the people. walking throught the streets and in general being where sinners were… it’s why we read so often about the pharisees “Grumbling” because they thought that Jesus should be spending more time with them. at them temples and at their homes… But Jesus was constantly trying to teach them that He didn’t come to save the saved.... he came for the lost and the lost weren't at the temples

The lost were at the markets, in the streets, and at the wells...

and if we want to learn from Jesus and follow His example… then we should be doing the same.

But never the less we find ourseves at a time when Jesus makes an exception and just like the 4 children in Willy wonka This pharisee finds himself with a golden ticket.

So he puts on a great spread. I’m sure he was dressed to impress.

I bet the servants were sent out for the best food.

His house was probably scrubbed cleaned, and tidied.

and in comes the VIP of VIP’s Jesus. and Things are going well. The food is good. people are talking. no laws are being broken.

and then this woman breaks in!

which brings me to another lesson

Dealing with outcasts rarely comes at a convenient time.

They’re going to crash your praties…

Their going to call when you’re late for church

They’re going to show up when you are just trying to have time with your family.

And you’ve got to options for dealing with them

You can do it pharisee way...

you can complaing or grumble.

you can try to usher the out or away… you can try to make them dissapear

and let’s be honest.... that’s the easier way to do things. right...

And look at the situation, that woman had no real right to be there. It would have been 100 percent justified to have her thrown out after all she did kinda just break into this guys house.

and it was certianly not a convienient time for this woman to come, after all he was tring to host Jesus of Nazereth… possibl the most important person of his time. and this woman was threatening to ruin the party

So this Pharisee Simon, complains to himself about this woman. because she’s making a scene.

I mean can you imagine. she’s broken into a parisee’s home during a meal and is now proceeding to sob uncontrolably on the guest of honours feet! and is washing them off with her hair!

On the face of it this looks insane and completely inapropriate! and if you don’t bother to look at things from the other side, you might conclude that this woman has some mental issues or something.

But Let’s look at this character

The one who knew she was simply lucky to be there.

So we now come to the object of this passage. one appearently crazy sinner woman, who breaks into a Pharisee’s home some that she can cry on Jesus and wash his feet with expensive perfume.

So what can we learn from this woman?

I think the first thing we have to take away is that Jesus places a high priority on outcasts.

Think about it. This story should have play out much differntly. more something like this:

And so Jesus came to eat at the home of Simon the Pharisee who put out an amazing spread. While Jesus was discussing church growth strategy with Simon a woman sinner broke in! Jesus and the pharisee were apaulled and immediatly chastized the woman and chased her out from the house.

After this happened Jesus spoke thus too those who were present “Blessed are those who follow the laws of Moses, and the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like us”. And so all the sinners gathered in the area learn an imporant lession and the pharisees did aprove of the message that Jesus brought to the land.

But that’s not how the story goes… instead of chastening this woman Jesus Lets her continue! right in front of everyone!

So who was this woman, other than a sinner in the eyes of the pharisee’s. We don’t even get to know her name. but we do know that she has heard of Jesus and his miracles.

We know that she is a person of great faith. after all you have to have alot of faith to break into someones home, just to meet their guest.

And we know that she was an outcast. no one wanted her around. and As a woman and a sinner in those times, she was certainly not loved by many, certainly not the pharisees.

but it was that faith. and her willingness to act on it that earns her the story in the bible.

She came looking for Jesus to save her. She knew she was a sinner, and she knew that she didn’t deserve to be forgiven. So she had nothing to loose.

And Here is another lesson

In the face of having nothing to loose Outcasts respond to Jesus to the extreme!

Here is a pharisee’s response to the coming of Jesus.

“hi Jesus, I here you’re coming by. wanna have lunch?” and don’t get me wrong. it’s nice and a perfectly reasonable response given the circumstances… but it also serves to show how little the pharisees understood of who Jesus was.

Here is this woman though, and she knows Exactly who Jesus is. Her ONE AND ONLY PATH TO SALVATION. and in the face of that reality of who Jesus is she acts in the extreme why?

because if you truly get and understand who Jesus is. you have no alternative but to act in the extreme.

When you know that you suddenly have access to the one and only source of salvation.

The one and only source of Forgiveness.

The one and only source of blessing.

the fount of life

There’s not way that you can respond with a simple. “Hey, wanna come for lunch”!

When you truly get it you cannot just sit on that and process it.

this isn’t an exercise for the mind.

This isn’t a simple fact to catalog

This woman came into contact with the one and only

the truth of God in human form

and faced with that she had to see him. she had to be near to him. she had to make sure that she did not miss an opportunity like this.

Like I mentioned last week.

Outcasts are looking for Jesus.

Many of them are looking in the wrong places… they are looking for him in Drugs or alchohol. they are looking for him in differing lifestlye choices, and variousl sins… because these things make them feel good and they things that the divine should make them feel good.

But when you come face to face with the real presence of God you find your self doing incredible things. like breaking into someones house just to get close to him. and miricles happen

It’s just like when Charlie finds the last golden ticket.

You notice the scene doesn’t show him calmly saying “ oh look. it would seem I have found the final golden ticket for that contest thing”

You don’t see im quietly and reflectively walking home

and you don’t see his grandfather simply patting him on the head and saying “well done”

There is excitement! it runs home yelling I got it I got it! he cannot wait to share the good news.

Finding salvation in Jesus is like finding a golden ticket!

It’s exciting and it’s life changing and it’s not something that you keep to yourself!

and the funny part is Outcasts tend to show it better than we do

we all here have found a golden ticket! We have found salvation in Jesus. and this is big news!

yet by and large we take it as an intellectual exercise rather than the life changing earth shattering revelation that it is.

So back to my point

The Revelation of Jesus Prompts Extreme Reactions

When Jesus is revealed to people, they tend to react in the extreme.

Look at the story of the paralytic Mark 2:1-5

Mark 2:1–5 NKJV

And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”

You notice that Jesus didn’t heal the man based on his own faith. but on the faith of 4 men who saw their friend in need knew that Jesus was healing people and reacted in an extreme way. I mean how extreme is it to climb onto someone roof tear it open and drop your friend down the hole just so that he can get close to Jesus?!

How about Zacchaeus, who we learned about last week? who faced with jesus’ simple invitation to eat at his house. decides to give back every cent he’d ever taken falsly TIMES 5! and AND gives half his posessions to the poor! I mean if this isn’t extreme I don’t know what is, and if you don’t think so I dare any of you do the same.

How about Peter who when he starts to understand who he’s been hanging out with all this time joins Jesus walking on the water!

See.. the revelation of Jesus prompts extreme responses. so it’s no surprise that when this women gets a revelation of Jesus that she responds by weeping at his feet and cleaning his feet of with perfume and her hair! (how many of you would touch even your husbands feet with your hair?!)

Finally. I want to close with this ...

We need to Follow Jesus’ Example Towards the Outcast

and this is where we so often fall down. we tend to act more like the pharisee than we do Jesus when it comes to how we treat those who are not like us.

but notice. While the pharisee wonders aloud while Jesus would let this sinner near him. Jesus makes no mention of her sin.

I cannot count how many times I have heard a Christian say to me something along the lines of “Look at this person who does_______” or What if _______ type of person comes into our church? I mean really?!

and we do this constantly… act like the pharisee… when time after time Jesus is telling us that NO… if you focus on their sins they will never come.

Look at Jesus. the one who had EVERY RIGHT to condemn people for their sins.

The one person who could have looks at Zacchaeus, This woman, the lepers, the blind, the lame, and yes, even the pharisees and Sadducee, and said to all of them. Your sins disqualify you from my blessing get out of my sight!

Constantly says to the outcast. Neither do I condemn you. Go and Sin no more.

Says to the one that no one else would love “I love you”

To the one that no one accepts “I accept you”

While we are saying We don’t like you, or what you do, or what you represent.

Jesus wants to tell those same people. “Come, you are accepted here. My love transcends your sin”

Does that mean that we are going to have people in this church that are actively living in sin? Yes… but then we already do… because not one of us is without sin...

Does it mean that we may feel a little uncomfortable around certain people??? sure… but then I’m sure they will feel uncomfortable around us too… but if we can see through to showing them the love of Christ… We will find that these same people can become some of the most amazing, fervent, ground breaking, Christians around!

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