One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”
“A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning toward 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 has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
As an elementary student, I engaged in countless sword drills at my small, conservative Christian school. Sword drills were competitions to determine who could find a passage in the Bible the fastest. The teacher called out, “Hold up your swords”. We grabbed our Bibles by the spine and lifted them high above our heads. Then the teacher called out a verse (such as Luke 7:50), and after pausing long enough for our little eyes to flash with excitement, yelled out, “GO!” We brought our Bibles down, ripped them open, and flipped through the pages as fast as possible. The first person who found the correct passage jumped out of his seat, and after being acknowledged by the teacher, read the verse aloud. That student was met by cheers from the class as the teacher gave him a point on the board, and then we began the competition all over again.
I couldn’t tell you the passages on which we were drilled, but I can tell you the feeling of pride that I had in the rare instance I won, and the envy I felt if someone else beat me. I missed the point. It was far more about the competition and far less about the verses the teachers were attempting to creatively implant in our minds and hearts.
If Simon the Pharisee was in my elementary classroom, I have a feeling he would have given the rest of us a run for our money. As a Pharisee, Simon cared a lot about the Law. He was a rule follower, and he was filled with head knowledge. But the problem is that he cared more about the Law than the God behind the Law. And there is a great difference between legalism and love.
Love is pictured in the extravagant expression of humility and brokenness of the woman. She wet Jesus’ feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. Simon did not offer any water for Jesus’ feet—a common courtesy in that culture. The woman would not stop kissing Jesus’ feet from the time He entered. Simon did not greet Jesus with a kiss—another expression of warm hospitality and welcome from hosts. The woman lavishly poured out an expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet. Simon did not even pour oil on Jesus’ head—something that would have been inexpensive and plentiful in a land of olive groves. The outpouring of love and devotion shown to Jesus by the woman stood in stark contrast to the cold reception Simon gave to Him.
And so Jesus asks Simon a question. “Do you see her?” He knows that Simon can physically see her with his eyes. The question is whether Simon can see her as a new creation—as someone who has been wholly forgiven by God, cleansed by His grace and mercy. Or does he just see who she once was before she met Jesus? Can he see the righteousness of God covering her, or can he only see the filth of her past sin?
In his book You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit, James K. A. Smith writes:
…discipleship is more a matter of hungering and thirsting than of knowing and believing…. Jesus doesn’t encounter…you and me…and ask, ‘What do you know?’ He doesn’t even ask, ‘What do you believe?’ He asks, ‘What do you want?’ This is the most incisive, piercing question Jesus can ask of us precisely because we are what we want. Our wants and longings and desires are at the core of our identity, the wellspring from which our actions and behavior flow. Our wants reverberate from our heart, the epicenter of the human person. Thus Scripture counsels, ‘Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it’ (Prov. 4:23).
…Jesus’s command to follow him is a command to align our loves and longings with his—to want what God wants, to desire what God desires, to hunger and thirst after God and crave a world where he is all in all….
Jesus is a teacher who doesn’t just inform our intellect but forms our very loves. He isn’t content to simply deposit new ideas into your mind; he is after nothing less than your wants, your loves, your longings. His ‘teaching’ doesn’t just touch the calm, cool, collected space of reflection and contemplation; he is a teacher who invades the heated, passionate regions of the heart. He is the Word who ‘penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit’; he ‘judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart’ (Heb. 4:12).”
What about you? Do you love Him? I’m not asking whether you can win a Bible sword drill or engage in complex theological debates. The question isn’t “What do you know”? The question is “Do you love Him?” It is perhaps one of the most important questions you can ask.
- Jenny Schulenburg, Guest Blogger
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