What Will Simon Do? [5-25-25]

May 25, 2025

Luke 7:36-50

“What Will Simon Do?”

We will hear what Simon says. But after all is said and done, what will Simon do? Let’s find out as we break today’s passage up into two parts.

One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at 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.”

• Luke 7:36-40

There are two prevailing notions for why Simon, a Pharisee, invites Jesus to eat with him.

First is that he has already made up his mind about Jesus. Jesus is a fake… a phony…a heretic. He already hates Jesus, so he’s taking it to the next level. He’s trying to trap Jesus into saying or doing something that can be used against him.

Second, he wants to talk to Jesus face-to-face. He’s not spoiling for a fight. He has some preconceived notions. He wants first-hand evidence. To his credit, he doesn’t want to judge based on hearsay or rumor or gossip. He wants to see for himself. The text leads us to option two.

Verse thirty-seven pulls us right in to the action. In typical middle eastern fashion 2,000 years ago, they are eating in a reclining fashion. What that 

means is each person is situated on something akin to a chaise lounge. They are perpendicular to the table, so their feet are farthest away from the food. You usually rested on one elbow, using your other hand for eating.

Right there, from the beginning, Luke captures the offensive nature of feet. Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with feet. It’s how God made us. In olden times, people walked almost everywhere. They wore sandals, at best. Dirty. Sun and wind chafed and chapped. And because of crude sanitation {and for planting this image I do not apologize}, fecal dust was everywhere.

Back then, you wanted to keep feet far away from food.

So they’re reclining while eating. And, as verse thirty-seven says, a woman happens in on the gathering.

It’s easy to see how that happens. In Jesus’ day, a large home has a courtyard with large rooms surrounding it. The dining hall is one such 

room. Because entertainment is a public affair, all the doors are open. So this woman, knowing Jesus is there, enters. She’s not there to eat. That would be impolite. She’s there to honor Jesus. That’s where things get interesting.

Remember, Simon invites Jesus so he can hear directly from him what he teaches and what he believes.

The woman, on the other hand, is there for one reason, and one reason only. She is there to express her love, devotion, and thanksgiving to Jesus. That’s her purpose.

Now, we don’t know what kind of sinner she was. Not even worth guessing. We’re all sinners, after all. Difference between the woman and Simon is, in his self-righteousness, Simon doesn’t think he needs forgiveness. In his hierarchy of worthiness, he is well above everybody else in his house.

Luke tells the woman’s story as a powerful testimony of a transformed life. 

I know I’m beginning to sound like a broken record, but the thing about 

Jesus isn’t that he gets us. It’s that he changes us. That power to change lives is shown in the transformed lives of his followers. Jesus knows this. What does Jesus say? He comes to seek and to save the lost. The woman’s transformed life is her testimony to the grace and mercy she has been given in Jesus Christ. Amen?

Oh, and I almost forgot. I almost left out one seemingly innocuous piece of verse thirty-seven. It begins, “And behold.” Behold indicates something startling is about to happen. And BOOM! – a sinful woman shows honor and devotion to Jesus. Shocking to say the least.

As we continue to follow this story, here’s a key point to remember. You might want to write this down:

Jesus is evangelizing a Pharisee.

As we’ll see, the woman’s life has been transformed. Jesus’ sovereign purpose of salvation has already been realized in her life. She is now playing a key role in Simon’s life. It truly is a beautiful thing. Why? Because Jesus is using someone who was a wretched sinner to reach an ever worse sinner. Which would be news to Simon. But the worse sinner of all is the one who doesn’t think he is a sinner. It’s the one who thinks he is better than everybody else. It’s the one who thinks God is pleased with him the way he is. That is a horrible place to be. It is a damnable position to be in.

We love the attitude and actions of the woman here. She is operating out of a saved position. She knows who she was. And she knows what Jesus did for her.

This point is perfectly captured by Paul in Romans 7:21-25:

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

That is not Simon. But it is the woman…all day long.

Remember, Jesus has come to seek and save the lost. The Pharisee is blinded by his own arrogance. But the woman…outside of Jesus, she is probably the most honest person in that room. She knows what she had been. And she now knows who she is in Christ.

So, what does she do? Think about our discussion on feet. She weeps at Jesus’ feet. Even more than that, she wipes his feet with her hair, going so far as kissing them, following that up with anointing them with ointment. Which is huge. Why is it huge? Because ointment is a kind of perfume. Back then, it was an important thing, especially for women. Women wore a vial of perfume on a cord, which they kept with them at all times. In today’s case, hers was in an alabaster jar. Alabaster was mined in Egypt. For the historical record, archeologists have found thousands of such vials in digs throughout the region. A commonplace find.

We can all guess as to why one would keep something perfumy handy at all times. Life could be pretty stinky in the olden days. Even men were known to dabble in perfume.

So here the woman is, offering an expression of love and generosity in great abundance.

Our biggest question is, why? Notice, she doesn’t comes in, interact with Jesus, talk to him or ask him some questions, or anything like that. She goes right to an expression of love, adoration, and worship.

Here are a few pertinent quotes from Charles Spurgeon to guide our understanding:

• “You are a great sinner, but he is a greater Savior.”

• “As far as God is concerned, your sin has ceased to be.”

• “In the family register of glory, the small and the great are written with the same pen.”

• “Your sins are so gone that they cannot be laid to your charge.”

I love the subtle way verse thirty-seven describes the woman. She was a sinner. Was. At some point, before this point, she knew of Jesus. She knew his message. Faith in him was spoken to her heart and mind. Therefore, the floodgates of gratitude open when she sees him. She’s weeping. Tears of grief…true repentance is seen in grief over our sin…and tears of gratitude. Unburdened of her guilt, she expresses her joy and gratitude in her worship of Jesus. What a sight for the hard-hearted Simon.

Make no mistake. There’s a principle at work here that is totally missed by Simon. It’s something else you might want to write down:

GREAT LOVE COMES FROM GREAT FORGIVENESS.

The woman didn’t do what she did in order to be loved by Jesus. She did it because she knew she was loved. As 1 John 4:18-19 reminds us, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us.”

As we’ve already said, the woman doesn’t enter Simon’s house on a quest for forgiveness. She already knows. She’s already received it. As we’ll see next week, in verse forty-seven, Jesus says, “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven – for she loved much.” There’s another one of those beautiful littles nuances…using the clause therefore, her forgiven sins drive her devotion and love. Her devotion and love are not tools by which she hopes to receive forgiveness. They are the evidence that she has been forgiven. Big difference. Big difference.

We’re going to end with Simon’s exposure of his spiritual arrogance. It’s also got a little bit of humor to it.

What does Simon say 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.” He’s snarky and smarmy, all at the same time. Not good qualities. Not good qualities at all. He thinks he has Jesus figured out.

Next comes the kinda funny part. He thinks Jesus amounts to a whole lot of nothing in the prophet part. But look at what happens. He says it to himself – no one else can hear him. That’s why we sometimes say rude or snarky or smarmy things to ourselves. Because no one can hear us. Say something to yourself right now. No one knows what you’ve said to yourself. But Jesus knows what Simon says. Jesus says, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” Ha! Jesus knows exactly what Simon is thinking because Jesus is the Son of God. That is such a sweet little turn in the 

encounter.

We’ll finish the rest of chapter seven next week. Until then, here’s a brief observation from John Piper:

“All of us need forgiveness. And we will need it tomorrow. Jesus died to provide it today and tomorrow. Today or tomorrow the reality is this: God’s forgiveness liberates us for our future. It frees us from crippling shame. Forgiveness is full of future grace.

When we live by faith in future grace, rooted in God’s forgiveness, we are freed from the lingering, paralyzing effects even of the shame we deserve to feel. That’s what forgiveness means.”

And together, the People of God said:

SOLI DEO GLORIA…

To the Glory of God Alone