I'll be a sister. Father, it's good to be among your people tonight. We're hungry for your word. Lord, we come to be fed by your word. You said that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Thank you that this is your breath tonight. And we come expectant. to be moved and changed by it. We're thankful for it as we hear about those not too far off of our own coast who have to spend two months of their wages if they want a copy of your word. And so Lord, how grateful are we? What an abundance of riches we have and it's taken for granted. Sobering tonight to hear what other believers face, even in our own hemisphere, not too far from us. So Lord, give us the same perspective that Mariah came away with as she left Cuba. We give you praise and thanks in Jesus' name. Amen. A couple weeks ago, many of you know, I've been traveling through the parables, the Prince's parables. This is number 29, believe it or not. But two weeks ago, the parable that we tackled was an unusual one, had a fun title, The Parable of the Spoiled Brats. And I confess to having chose, not that I chose the most provocative title possible for that one, but it's the parable of the children in the marketplace. Many of you were here for that, but do you remember the essence of that parable? Jesus had painted this picture of children. In the town square, they're play acting, and they're playing out a wedding, and they're playing out a funeral. That's what they did. They didn't have an iPad, so that's what they did. Some played the flute, some sang a dirge in this parable that Jesus presents. And they were met with their playmates who were spoiled brats, who were not moved to dance, not moved to weep or mourn with the funeral dirge. They were not moved to sing or dance with the wedding music. And Jesus told that parable, if you'll remember, to demonstrate how unresponsive These Jewish people were, the Jewish leadership were to the Gospel itself being proclaimed by John the Baptist and being proclaimed by Jesus Himself. Right? So that section of Luke 7 ends with these words in verses 33 to 35 of Luke's Gospel. For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, He has a demon. The son of man has come eating and drinking. You know, one has the ascetic life and then Jesus comes eating and drinking. It says, and you say, look at him, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. And this is the last clause, the last sentence of that passage. Yet wisdom is justified by all her children. Remember, wisdom personified there. We argued that wisdom would show itself, wisdom would show up through those who would heed. Jesus' call to repentance, John's call to repentance and faith. So enter now the next narrative. This is literally the same chapter. So we went from the Sermon on the Plain in Luke chapter six and then leading up to our passage tonight in Luke 7, 36 to 50 is this whole account of Jesus talking about John the Baptist and himself and how people were unresponsive to the gospel. Now enter in Our text tonight. Jesus will use yet another parable. There's another parable coming. It's real short, it's only two verses long, but it's couched within another narrative. And it's a narrative of extravagant love. Are you ready to read about it? Let's stand together as we read God's word. Got it on the overhead as well for you to follow along. Luke chapter seven. Verses 36 to 50. One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and took his place 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's touching him, for she's a sinner. And Jesus answering said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. And he answered, say it, teacher. A certain money lender had two debtors. One owed 5,000 denarii and the other 50. When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now, which of them will love him more? Simon answered, the one I suppose for whom he canceled the larger debt. And he said to him, you've judged rightly. Then turning towards 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, 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. May the Lord add his blessing to the reading of his own precious word. Please be seated. Are you seeing the outflow of wisdom? Wisdom's children here. Wisdom is justified by her children. So tonight's account features both wisdom and folly. The wisdom of a prostitute and the folly of a religious leader. The passage that I just read to you kind of preaches itself really. So we're gonna walk through it verse by verse. I've created something of an outline that chunks the account into three basic elements or acts, if you will. The first act being the incident that prompted the parable. Secondly, the parable that rebukes the Pharisee. And then thirdly, the teaching that applies the parable. And then when we're done unpacking all of that, we'll address the so what, the personal application. So act number one, without further ado, the incident that prompted the parable. Let's talk about this. The whole scene is set around a dinner table. And this is fascinating. Luke is the only gospel, of all the four gospels, Luke's the only gospel that features Jesus being invited to a meal with Pharisees. In fact, Luke's gospel records two other invitations. One in chapter 11, you can bookmark that if you want. It's one in chapter 11 and another in chapter 14. He alone captures this. So, letter A there, there's a personal invitation. Verse 36, one of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at table. Something very profound here. Now, Jesus avails himself to all kinds of people, doesn't he? If you've read through the Gospels, you know that. He rubs shoulders with drunks. He rubs shoulders with hookers. tax collectors, sinners, but he's also willing to break bread with the real stinkers, isn't he? He actually is ready to go into the lion's den. He's willing to go into hostile territory to the ones who mean to trap him. So I mentioned Luke being the lone ranger with these Pharisee meals, and you might be wondering, wait a second, doesn't the same account occur in the other Gospels? Actually, if you go into those, and those are found in Matthew 26, Mark 14, and John 12, if you dig into the details, there's a similar account with a woman with spikenard in those chapters, but it's really quite different from this account. This one in Luke's Gospel, Jesus is in Galilee, number one, not Bethany, This is early in Jesus' ministry. The other accounts happen, do you remember? During Passion Week. Remember, there's a preparation, as it were, for Jesus' burial, like a pre-preparation. Here, Jesus is at a Pharisee's house. In those accounts, he's in a leper's home. Here, Jesus' feet are anointed. There, Jesus' head is anointed. And one point that gets people confused here is that the host in both of these instances goes by the name of... Simon, in both of them. So that kind of gets people like, wait, wait, is this the same account? No, it's not. It's not. A lot of people by the name of Simon. Over the years, we had an interesting dynamic with three Nathaniels in our church. And so when we started talking about a Nathaniel, are we talking about, in fact, they're all three here tonight. Are we talking about Nathaniel? Are we talking about Nathan? Or are we talking about Nate? All of which have the name Nathaniel. So, I mean, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand. There are actually seven Simons recorded, at least seven that I can think of in the New Testament with the same name, so it shouldn't be a problem. But at any rate, this meal is in a different place, a different time, different people, all set under a different set of circumstances, okay? So, but the point again, Luke alone records these Pharisee meals, and he meets people in all manner of brokenness. In many ways, This type of brokenness that we're going to encounter here is the heaviest of all. Religious folk, they're the hardest to reach. We live in a religious area. Think about it, we don't have to say names, but who are some of the hardest folks to reach in our community? Why are they so difficult to reach? They're perhaps the most broken. Why are they hard to reach? Because they don't feel like they need God's help. They've got it figured out, right? They're doing just fine. But if you know Luke's gospel well, there's sort of a key defining verse found all the way in chapter 19. There was another sinner, a tax collector, a chief tax collector, in fact, named Zacchaeus. And the conclusion of that whole encounter with Zacchaeus closes with, it's in chapter 19, verse 10, Jesus characterizes his whole ministry as represented and reported in Luke's gospel. Luke 19, 10, you know this one, intuitively, even if you don't know the address. For the Son of Man came to Good job, I heard it. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. A lot of lost people from different walks, Luke's gospel. That's his mission. He's after lost folks, whether they're prostitutes, whether they're publicans, whether they're Pharisees. He's gonna highlight and minister to two of those categories here in this account. So don't you find it interesting that Jesus gets this invite in the first place? By this time in Luke's gospel, we know that Jesus has gotten fairly cross-threaded with the religious leadership already, but they're still not to this point of huge conflict. They're not near as upset as they're going to be with him later. This morning in our Sunday school class, we were going through Matthew 23, where Jesus pronounces those woes. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. That's further down the line, okay? We're way back. more popularity of Jesus at this time, and people still trying to figure him out. They're feeling him out, and they've taken a bit of a beating from him already, but they're still kind of figuring out who he is, trying to make sense of him, perhaps trying to save face with the community, the religious community. But there's also a sense at this point that they're beginning to build a case against him. So the meal setting would have been a good opportunity for that. Jesus is gonna give them a lot to talk about. He accepts this invitation and the verse tells us, he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at table. You're the Sunday night crowd, you know what this looks like. When we think of going to someone's home for a meal, we think in terms of a rather private affair. Like if you're invited to someone's house on Sunday afternoon, you go there, you're not expecting the community to show up, right? But the text here reveals something different. Jesus is referred to as a rabbi or teacher in the text. He had probably been visiting in the area. Most commentators say that he would have been speaking in the local synagogue. As we saw, in fact, if you read Luke chapter four, that's the case. Remember, he's reading from the scroll there. Probably what's happening here, and it was common for the who's who in a setting like this to invite the rabbi, he's a teacher, to a Sabbath meal. This would not be terribly unlike what would happen when you have a visiting preacher at a conference and he's invited over to the pastor's home, whatever. Thank you. That's not foreign to us. What is foreign to us is the invite of the whole community as part of the deal. At this point, Jesus had some serious celebrity status, right? He was definitely controversial, but these leaders would hear more, and the community would hear more, and the people would all be there to witness what happens. Again, don't think of this as a closed door event. These types of meetings would happen in homes, but would sometimes even be held outside. So it was almost, it was a public event so that people could be witness to an important conversation. I want you to think of these leaders then reclining at table, and you know how that happened. I was showing my son at home how this happens, and it's terribly uncomfortable. I don't know what kind of... You know, if you have your head propped up and your elbow and stuff and you're eating at a table on the floor, that just doesn't seem comfortable to me. But that's how they did it. Like, we have great evidence for that. That's how they did it. And so there you have your head at the table and your feet out. But remember, at that time, there's no newspaper, there's no social media, no blogs. The rank and file would be welcome at an event like that because that's a social gathering. People would be hanging out there to hear what was being said. And that's how the woman that we're going to meet comes to know about Jesus' whereabouts. The community knows about it. Of course, for the Pharisees, this immoral woman would have been an unwelcome addition to that social event. But everyone in town would know about the main event of that day, and she shows up because she and everyone else knew about the banquet. Now, they're all arranged at this banquet table, that lounging situation, right? All the men lounged around that table, and then there's an audience beyond the feet. Picture this in your mind. There's an audience beyond the feet of those banqueters as those special guests reclined at table. So remember, community event, people here for entertainment, to be amused. They're there for information. And it's like a town hall with a meal at the center, if you will. So things get interesting when a certain unwelcome guest arrives. And so that leads us to the prostitutes' invasion. Remember, this banquet involves an open invitation, people showing up generally not problematic. The onlookers would have been faithful Jews who wanted to hear their religious leaders engage with this provocative character, Jesus. But then someone shows up who doesn't quite fit the profile of a faithful Jew. Luke 7.37, and behold, A woman of the city who was a sinner. This is really fascinating. A couple of details here. The word that's used there for behold, I don't want to miss this. You can kind of motorboat past this, but it's a word of emphasis. Behold, it's emphatic. The Greek word is idou, transliterated I-D-O-U. It's kind of like when you're telling a story and you're like, you won't believe what happened next. Like the plot thickens. Behold, idou, guess who shows up? A woman of the city, a sinner. She has the gall to show up at this event. And while not spelled out specifically, She's almost certainly a prostitute. There's hardly any debate over this. It doesn't spell that out specifically, but if you think it through, there's no other sin so apparent that everyone would know her status. She's labeled a sinner, her sin is visible. She's literally a woman of ill repute, morally compromised in ways that people evidently knew about. So, edu! Behold, look who shows up at the banquet. This is getting good. What's gonna happen? What did this invasion involve? Verses 38 through 39. 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. So remember, Jesus is reclined at table now, She approaches him, she's at his feet while his head is at the table. She's sobbing uncontrollably. Have you ever cried so hard that you're just a wet mess? Most recently. to grandpa's funeral. I held everything together all the whole way through, and I was like, okay. But then it comes time for me to give the closing prayer, and we sing it as well. And I completely lost it. And just uncontrollable sobbing. And I didn't have any tissue or anything up there. And so I had my bag up there where the computer was and stuff. I have one of these, one of these cloths that you use for, you know, cleaning your glasses. You know, these like microfiber. So I'm using that to sop up this wet. That thing became soaked. And so I was still a mess when I went up there. But there's a lot of reservoir, evidently, in our head for all these tears. And that's what's going on with this woman. In fact, the word that's used for wet here is actually the same that's used elsewhere for rain showers. Breco. The Lord, you know, in the Sermon on the Mount where it says, the Lord causes the sun to rise on the just and the unjust, and the Breco, the rains to fall on the just and the unjust. So she's literally raining, she's pouring showers of tears as she weeps. So that's what's going on, and she must see that Jesus' feet are dirty, they're dusty, and she's gotten them wet with these tears, and she wipes it all up with her hair. she wipes it up with her hair. What does that mean? In that culture, her hair would have been up, supposed to be. And so it would have been scandalous for her to let her hair down. In fact, this is crazy. According to rabbinical teaching, for a woman to let her hair down would be tantamount to, or as bad as if she were to go topless. I mean, think about that in our, even in our culture, as far as we've gone, like that would be shocking. but the same sort of feel if you let your hair down in that culture. So she's already undignified showing up, and now she lets her hair down. She steps way out of bounds in terms of social norms. She's going all in. Well, the language that's used here of what happens next is this language of kissing. And it's actually the same language that's used in Luke 15 when the sun shows back up. It's like, oh, my son's back, right? Kissing his neck kind of thing. And it intimates a kissing and embracing of Jesus' feet now. So she's cleaned them up with her hair, and now she's kissing the feet. When I thought of this, I thought of my wife when she sees she's got a newborn baby. So if you've got a newborn baby, Come in. Just be ready, Christika, my wife. This is the kind of kissing that's taking place here. And then on top of that, so after the kissing's over, what does she do? She applies this ointment, this expensive ointment or perfume. Final act of generosity, she anoints the feet. She's got this alabaster flask. I've got an image of what those kind of look like. Those are pretty... They found, archaeologists have found a lot of these things. You can find a lot of pictures of these, but you notice it's got a narrow neck because the stuff inside is super expensive. If it tips over, you don't want it all coming out all at once, but they would carry these around. kind of as a necklace you know people didn't have deodorant back then and if you're in the profession she's in you want to stay fresh and but she's carrying this stuff around and if it's gnarled like in the other account it's upward of a year's wages for a flask like you see up there. So this is likely one of the accoutrements of her trade. She spent a lot of money on it. At any rate, just know what she's done here in anointing his feet with this expensive ointment, it's lavish. So it's a staggering display of devotion that's ironically contrasted now, and this will be part of Jesus' point, it's ironically contrasted with the attitude of these religious wolves that he's supping with. So let her see, we're gonna see the Pharisee's incredulity. He can't believe what's going on. Verse 39, now, when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said, and get this part, he said to himself, that's important, 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. See, they're still trying to figure out who Jesus is, and they know that Deuteronomy 18, there's a prophet to come. They're trying to parse this out. Who is this guy? He's a prophet of some sort. But Simon can't believe his eyes. He's disgusted, in fact, at what's going on. I do think that it's noteworthy, though, that he doesn't go for the jugular, nor do his cohorts there. Because if he wanted to go for the jugular, this woman is doing this thing, this woman of ill repute, he could have taken that, he could have gone nuclear with that, right? In other words, what he doesn't say. He doesn't say, what kind of guy is this who's so familiar with a prostitute? Or how are they so well acquainted? So it's interesting to me that as questionable as they thought Jesus was, they weren't ready to accuse him of some kind of immorality. I think that really speaks to Jesus' character. So he's not saying he's immoral. Instead, he's thinking, and again, he's just thinking, speaking to himself. This is not something he's proclaimed so everyone could hear. He's thinking, this guy's not immoral, he's ignorant. So he can't be a prophet. This man can't be a prophet. How's he gonna tell us what to do when he doesn't even know what's obvious to us? He doesn't see what all of us can see as he allows this woman to touch him and defile him. So Simon's thinking this, speaking to himself, this guy's no prophet. There's no way he's a prophet. And what's brilliant in this passage next is the prince's insight. What's Jesus? Jesus knows what's going on here. And by his knowledge of this, he actually demonstrates the very opposite of what Simon's thinking. What's Simon thinking? This can't be a prophet. But he demonstrates in the very next verse that he is a prophet. Jesus, look at this, verse 40, Jesus answering said to him, what's he answering? Simon, I have something to say to you. And so Simon says, say it, teacher. What's he answering? The man was just thinking, right? He's murmuring to himself, but Jesus knows his thoughts. We see this over and over again in the gospels. He's thinking, this guy's no prophet. Don't miss that irony. Jesus, who Simon thinks couldn't be a prophet, answers Simon's speech to himself. And Simon didn't say this out loud. Jesus proves himself a prophet by hearing that private thought. So his next statement had to startle him. I have something I want to say. And so Simon's all ears, act two. Here comes the parable. And it's a story. It's an extended analogy, right? There's a story, a creditor, it's very simple, two debtors, two debts, both forgiven, verses 41 and 42. A certain money lender had two debtors, one owed 500 denarii, the other 50. When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more? Again, very simple parable. Creditor, two debtors, two debts, both debts, forgiven. So this creditor, had two that owed him money. One owed a year and a half's wages. The other, a month and a half's wages. Think that through according to your own income, okay? You're doing the math. Neither of them could pay off their debt. So what does the creditor do? He graciously, he or she, graciously forgives them both. It's quite magnanimous, isn't it, to forgive that kind of a debt? Imagine you're late on your car payment. You've been hearing from your creditors already and someone shows up and you think it's going to be the repo guy. But it turns out it's not the repo guy. Instead, it's a rep from the bank who hands you the title. Debt forgiven, here's the pink slip. Imagine not being able to pay off your mortgage. You're going to lose your home. That's a bigger deal than your car. Creditor calls and says, hey, we see you've missed a couple of payments. We're just gonna write off the whole debt. Wow, that's huge. Car's one thing, but I think someone writing off your mortgage is a bigger deal. And you know what's fascinating though, when you think through just the debt going away. Debt forgiveness is wonderful. How many of you would like this blessing? But think about it, what happens when debt is forgiven? Does it simply just disappear? Does it just go away? So if Uncle Biden figures out how to forgive all that student debt, what happens to all that debt really? Free money, right? It's transferred to someone else, namely in this instance, the taxpayer, namely our children and grandchildren. I'm not trying to get political here, but the debt is absorbed by someone else, isn't it? The debt doesn't really go away. And you see the point. You get the application, don't you? Jesus takes on our debt, forgives it, but the debt still has to be covered, doesn't it? He covers it, he absorbs it, he pays it. Don't think that it's free money. Make no mistake about it. Don't let this be lost on you. He paid it in full. Hallelujah. The question, which of them will love him more? So Jesus' question is what? Which of them will love him more? Who's gonna have the greater love? And then the answer? This is snarky. The one, I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger. So Simon answers, snootily, I suppose. I think it's sarcastic, probably. It wasn't necessary to put it that way, snotty. But I don't think he's wanting to condescend to the obvious answer. He's trying to maintain here a shred of dignity as a leader, but he realizes in some way that he's being dismantled in the presence of his colleagues and his community. So you kind of get his. He's stuck, he's painted in a corner, as it were. And I'm sure he figures that he's about to get destroyed and he can't match wits with Jesus. So he realizes Jesus has his number and he tries to maintain the upper hand by saying, I suppose it would be the one who was forgiven the more debt. And Jesus responds, as he claps back, how does Jesus clap back? Well, Simon, well done, you have judged rightly. Bingo, you got it, you nailed it, you're absolutely right. Good guess, you've judged rightly. So act three now, Jesus is gonna use this as his teachable moment. He could have left it there and let that just marinate for a little bit, but he actually decides to drill down just a little deeper. to drive it home. And he presents a remarkable contrast. And this can be easily missed if we just sail through this parable, but it actually gets really humorous. Verse 44, turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, do you see this woman? Of course he sees the woman. We saw that in him murmuring back in verse 39. He sees the woman, but Jesus is gonna play this for all that it's worth. He directs Simon's attention back at her. Look, Simon, look at her. And here's the contrast. Jesus said, I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet. But look what she did. She's wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. I came in. You didn't wash my feet. You didn't have a servant wash my feet. You didn't even have a basin for me to wash my feet in. Basic courtesies in that culture. You didn't do any of this. Contrast that with this woman. Look at her. She forsook her own dignity to come to me, saw my feet, washed them with her tears, wiped them with her hair. Verse 45, you gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not ceased. There's that, she has not ceased to kiss my feet. So a standard Hebrew greeting in that time would have included a kiss of greeting, a cordial kiss. Mariah, you were telling me that they do that down in Cuba. We're not used to that here, but we're not like a lot of other places. As in Cuba, in that time, in Hebrew culture, the greeting would have included a kiss. We don't do that here, but that was normative there. It would have been like showing up and not shaking hands or not even giving a greeting. Simon neglected the basic Jewish greeting. He didn't offer that greeting, but look at her. She kisses his feet repeatedly. She kept on. What a remarkably different response. So verse 46, you did not anoint my head with oil, but she's anointed my feet with ointment. You didn't do the basic thing and she went overboard. She was lavish in her love for me. So in Hebrew culture, again, basic hospitality when you have a guest, greeted with a kiss, your dusty feet are washed, or at the very least, you're given a basin to wash your dirty feet off with. And this one's interesting, you're given oil to anoint your head, kind of like a lotion situation, I suppose. Refreshing moisturizer, but this is common, right? We don't do that, but those would be the three things you would be met with, just common courtesy in a Jewish home. And Simon, the foolish one in this parable, didn't offer any of those things. The wise woman, though, applies all three of these things with extravagance. So the conclusion, Therefore I tell you, verse 47, her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much, but he who is forgiven little, loves little. That little statement there, her sins, her many sins are forgiven, that verb that's used there is what's called in the Greek, a perfect passive. In other words, a past action has been completed and has a bearing now on the present. So she's already been forgiven. That's why she shows up. The Christian Standard Bible says, it used to be called the HCSB, the Holman Christian Standard Bible puts it this way, therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven, that's why she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little loves little. In other words, don't get it twisted, she loves because she has already in the past had some kind of encounter with Jesus, trusts Him, she realizes her sin debt is truly forgiven, and now this extravagant love is an outflow response to that forgiveness. She was forgiven much, so she loves lavishly. And then the challenge, verse 48, in case there was any question, Jesus presents what has already been previously declared, so everyone there can hear, and that she can have this reaffirmed, your sins, are forgiven. They've been forgiven. Your forgiveness is a reality. And here's reassurance. And notice what that does to the Pharisees. They're enraged. And they start murmuring. Who does he think he is? Verse 49, who is this that even forgives sins? See that in Mark chapter two as well. Same sort of thing. Jesus knows what he's doing. He's really poking the bear. He's challenging the establishment. It's all purposeful. He's making a statement. He knows only God himself can grant forgiveness from sin, and he never corrects their thinking. And by doing that, his silence is deafening, because he's corroborating what they're thinking. It's as though he's saying, yeah, that's right. That's me. Your conclusion is correct. That's exactly who I'm claiming to be. And as if to add a cherry on top of it all, Jesus gets that last word in verse 50. He says to the woman, what has saved her? Your faith has saved you. And then go in shalom. Go in eirene. Go in peace. Who's the object of her faith? The Lord Jesus, it's all of grace. She's the recipient of grace that begat faith, saving faith. Just like the rest of us, even the faith she has doesn't come from her. Ephesians 2, for by grace you've been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it's the gift of God, not a result of work so that no one may boast. Not only that, Jesus sends her away with this peace, Confidence, this assurance that she's his, and it's paid in full. Nothing missing, nothing broken. Shalom, isn't that beautiful? So here's the application that I think helps us to enliven, live out this parable. The source, what's the source? Our sin debt, friends, is far more than 500 pieces of silver. If we had an eternity, we couldn't pay that sin debt. So was this woman, so was Simon. Jesus' offer of forgiveness is extended to them both. We're essentially jobless, no source of income. He's paying it all. We need only trust in Him to pay our debt. He pays the cost. The source of that forgiveness is not trusting what you can do, but relying, friends, on what He has already done. You all know that. Let her be the product of forgiveness. What comes? There's a response to forgiveness. We love because he first loved us. I love, Mariah, you were sharing about this man who couldn't believe that you were sharing the most important news there was on the planet, and you took the time to share that with him. And he was so gracious for that. He had a response to that. We love, she loved, this woman in the story here, in the account, she loved because Jesus first loved her. So if you have experienced the forgiveness for your condemnable sin debt tonight, if you've received the forgiveness this woman did, I ask you, What level is your love of Christ tonight? Your love for Christ tonight? Are you willing to be considered undignified like she is? Like this woman was? To look like the weird one at work? The strange one at school? the one that cares about the things of the Lord? Are you willing to be embarrassed to some degree for your faith? Are you really filled with a true gratitude and over-the-top love that just shows, can't help but show up? Or have you grown dull in your love and gratitude for Him? See, this woman was a testimony Notice she didn't say anything the whole time, but this woman was a testimony for the Pharisees. They saw what true devotion to God looks like. The scripture calls us living letters, living epistles, and that's what this woman was. They saw a testimony of a transformed life, and I believe we see that. I'm just puffing you up tonight, Mariah, but we saw that in you tonight. Testimony of a transformed life. She was a silent witness to the miracle of salvation. So on the opposite end of the spectrum, we can, the religious folk, can become dull, ungrateful, loveless Christians. And when we do that, we really undercut the testimony of the gospel. And that can be easy to do if we're honest. We can get really complacent. But let's, friends, let's put our love and devotion on display before a lost world. Let our church be known for that. Let her see the effect of forgiveness, assurance, and peace. If you have received that forgiveness tonight, be reminded of it. Your sins are forgiven. Remind yourself of that. Raise your hand if you've been forgiven tonight. If you're in this sanctuary and you have been forgiven. Praise God. Praise God. Maybe you haven't. Maybe you haven't. Why not? Why not run to Him today? What's keeping you from running to Him today? Submit to Christ as ruler today. Trust Him. Rely on His finished work for you. And if you're not sure how that works and you want to make sure, let someone know. I'll be here afterward. Come talk to somebody about that. And then let your testimony be your raised hand. that you've chosen to follow Christ and let your baptism proclaim that to a lost world. Let's pray together. Lord God Almighty, we thank you for this incredible encounter. It's only captured in Luke's gospel and he records you saying you came to seek and save that which is lost. Lord, you've shown us tonight a transformed life. This woman didn't speak a word, but you showed us what it looks like when we're marked by an all-consuming love for you. We saw a lavish self-sacrifice. which was a witness to those looking on. I pray that we would all be witnesses and live those kinds of lives filled with gratitude, filled with love for the Savior so that people will know that we too have been forgiven. And this is what it looks like to be forgiven. Lord, may the heart attitude, our heart attitudes be attractive to those who are burdened by the weight of their own sin. And may you use us as you use this woman that day at that banqueting table to be a living testimony to your incredible forgiveness and to the power of the gospel. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.