The Life of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels
THE PENITENT WOMAN
The Life of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels
THE PENITENT WOMAN
Lesson Plan:
1. The Sorrowing Sinner (vs 36-38)
2. The Self-Righteous Pharisee (v 39)
3. Christ's Rebuke of Pride (vs 40-46)
4. Christ's Forgiveness of the Penitent (vs 47-50)
Lesson Setting:
Time: Summer of 28 A.D.
Place: Some town of Galilee, perhaps Capernaum; possibly Nain or Magdala. The anointing of
Christ's feet by Mary of Bethany was a year and a half later and in Judea.
Inductive Study of the Lesson:
a. Read Luke 7:18-25, and note how it leads up to our lesson.
b. Read the accounts of the anointing at Bethany, Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; John 12:1-8, and
observe the features that differentiate that event from the event of our lesson.
c. Compare vs 40-42 with Matthew 18:23-35.
d. Study Christ's relation to the Pharisees, in such passages as Matthew 5:20; 9:11-14, 34; 12:1-7,
14, 38, 39; 15:1-20; 16:1-12; 19:3; 21:43-46; 22:15-22; 23:1-33; Luke 11:37-44; 14:1; John 3:1.
e.
Study Christ's relation to sinners, in such passages as Matthew 1:21; 15:24; 18:11-13; Luke
5:31, 32; 9:56; 19:10; John 3:16, 17; 4:14, 42; 6:39.
Pride and Penitence
Introduction: The Bible is full of contrasts between good and evil, and especially in the story of
Christ, where good and evil find their supreme illustrations. Not the least striking of these
contrasts are those in which the evil thinks itself good and good is considered evil, but Christ
interprets both of them truly. Such a contrast is our lesson, a lesson for today as well as
Christ's
time, since both of the contrasted parties are to be found constantly in life.
Scripture Reading: Luke 7:36-38
1. The Sorrowing Sinner
What man invited Jesus to eat with him? – A Pharisee named Simon (v 40), who was probably led to invite Him partly by the desire to receive a popular and distinguished teacher, partly by a willingness to show a distant approval of something that may have struck him in Christ's looks, words, or ways. Of all absurdities – patronizing Jesus Christ! Yet, some learned and powerful today are guilty of the same.
Why did Jesus accept such an invitation? – He accepts all invitations, though often only partially sincere. He gives every man a full chance at Him. He goes more than halfway to meet sinners. Do you?
Who entered the dining-room while they were eating? "A woman ... which was a sinner" (v 37). How sinning is indicated by expressive silence: a harlot. The Greek implies that she was a notorious character. She was a sad tragedy certainly, with her degraded beauty and noticeable attire – a woman ruined, a woman ruining.
How was she able to find entrance? – Because of the Oriental custom of strangers passing in and out of a house during a meal to see and converse with the guests. A missionary to Mongolia, wrote in a letter of his dismay at the constant, unannounced coming of visitors to his tent, and the entire lack of privacy. This is often felt by missionaries in Eastern lands.
Why did this sinner seek out Jesus? – She had evidently heard His wondrous words, so stern against sin, so loving in promises of forgiveness. Perhaps she had heard the story of the prodigal son, and she, a prodigal daughter, longed to find her way back to her Father's house.
How did she express her grief, penitence, and gratitude? – She brought a flask of alabaster.
v 37 ... "Alabaster" is a lovely, translucent form of white gypsum, but the alabaster boxes mentioned in Scripture were presumably of travertine.
v 37 ... "Ointment" is highly valued in the East. Passing the curtain, which alone separated the dining-room from the outer court, the woman found herself in the presence of the feasters, reclining on couches, their feet outward. Probably she meant to pour her ointment on Jesus' feet, but before she could open the cruse her heart opened, tears falling down so abundantly it wet our Lord's feet, inflicting an indignity where she meant an honor. With a touch, she looses her hair (shameful in that day to let ones hair down in public), and, with the ingenuity and abasement of love, makes it a towel. At the same time she kissed His feet, over and over, as the Greek compound verb implies. All this seems foreign to our sense of propriety and delicacy, but it was in accordance with Oriental custom and expression of respect.
Scripture Reading: Luke 7:39
2. The Self-Righteous Pharisee
What might the Pharisee have thought when he saw the woman and what she did? – That she had sought out Jesus because of improper relations between them? That he did not think this shows the impression of absolute purity that our Lord made even upon those that understood Him least?
What did the Pharisee think, though he did not say it? – That Christ could not be a prophet, or He would have perceived the evil character of the woman, and would have shrunk from the pollution of her touch. This reflection shows the Pharisee's moral state. He was hesitating between the holy impression which Jesus made upon him, and the antipathy which his class felt against him. It also shows the prophetic character commonly attributed to Jesus.
What does this disclose about the Pharisee's character? – The quality that all the world has since condemned as Pharisaid – that self-righteous judging of others which Christ condemned so often and so earnestly. The Pharisee was ready to think the worst of the woman, not the best. He should have said, 'This woman weeps; she must be sorry for her sins. She loves the pure and holy Jesus; she must be seeking a pure and holy life. She is not someone to be scorned, but to be pitied, forgiven, and helped. But for the grace of God, I should have sinned as deeply.'
Illustration: One Sunday morning, the Duke of Wellington was kneeling in a chapel. A poor man dressed in shabby clothes came in and knelt beside him. An officer, horrified, told the poor man to move away from the duke. 'Stay where you are, my brother,' said the victor of Waterloo; 'there are no dukes here.'
Life is a long lesson in humility.
Scripture Reading: Luke 7:40-46
3. Christ's Rebuke of Pride
How did Christ show His prophetic character? – By perceiving and answering Simon's unspoken thought, rebuking him sternly, even though he was commonly esteemed a pious man. The Pharisee had expected Him to rebuke the woman. The Greek emphasizes 'to thee:' 'To thee I have something to say.'
Why did Jesus begin His rebuke with a parable? – Because it was a more tactful and less offensive approach to His criticism, and served to convict Simon out of his own mouth.
What was the parable? – One of "two debtors" (v 41) reflecting, as did so many of Christ's parables, the poverty-stricken state of Palestine at the time.
v 41 ... "One" of the debtors "owed five hundred pence," silver denarii, worth from 15 to 17 cents. But a denarius then was a laborer's wages for a day.
v 41 ... "The other" debtor owed the same man only "fifty" pence, one-tenth as much. What did Christ mean to picture? – Simon, owing (or thinking that he owed) God very little on account of his sins, and the woman, whose sins constituted an enormous debt to God. Christ takes Simon at his own estimation.
How did Christ bring the parable to a point? – By imagining both debts forgiven for no one has any merit to pay to God – and then asking Simon which debtor would love the creditor most.
v 43 ... "I suppose," says Simon languidly and indifferently "he, to whom he forgave most."
How does Christ apply the parable? – Swiftly and sternly, with a sharp contrast between the conduct of the woman and that of the Pharisee. Simon, though the host of Jesus, had failed to have water poured over his guest's hot, dusty, travel-worn feet – a common custom still in that land where socks or stockings are unknown, and only sandals or slippers are worn over bare feet. He had not received Jesus with a kiss on either cheek, as is still the custom; and to omit it is token of contempt or meditated treachery. He had not anointed Christ's head with oil – an ordinary token of respect at that time, though the custom has not survived to the present day. On the contrary, the fallen woman, though an uninvited stranger, had washed and wiped His feet, had kissed them, and poured upon them costly ointment, supplying all that the host had failed to supply, and adding a lowly reverence that surpassed ordinary courtesy. 'She, and not you, is my real host,' says Jesus, in effect.
Illustration: Simon's attitude is illustrated in a story told by the famous Persian poet, Saadi. Jesus, says the legend, was entertained in the cell of a monk greatly honored for his piety, when there appeared a certain youth notorious for his sinful life, who began to weep and lament and pray for pardon for his sins. The monk indignantly rebuked the young man for daring to come into his presence and that of God's holy prophet, assured him that his sins could never be forgiven, and exclaimed, 'My God, grant me but one thing – that I may stand far from this man on the judgment day.' Whereupon Jesus spoke: 'Be it so. This penitent sinner shall be in Paradise on the judgment day, and you, proud monk, shall be the farthest from him, in hell.'
Scripture Reading: Luke 7:47-50
4. Christ's Forgiveness of the Penitent
How did Christ apply the parable directly to the penitent woman? – By declaring her forgiveness as a self-evident fact, proved by her manifestly great love for Him. Christ does not palliate her sins; they are many, He says: her debt is heavy. But her great love shows that the great debt is all forgiven. It should be carefully observed that the woman loved because she was forgiven, not forgiven because she loved.
How did Christ apply the parable to Simon? – Not directly; Christ was too courteous for that. But indirectly He said that Simon evidently had little gratitude to Him for forgiven sins, because he evidently loved Him little.
Why did Christ say plainly to the woman, "Thy sins are forgiven" (v 48)?
Because she was probably an uneducated woman, and would not understand the philosophic and metaphoric language He had been using with Simon. Christ will leave the penitent with no doubt concerning full forgiveness.
How did Christ answer the unworded criticism of the other guests, as if He were a blasphemer in claiming the power to forgive sins? – By telling the woman that it was her faith that had saved her, and not His declaration of her forgiveness. But really the woman was forgiven because of her faith in Christ, which had led her into genuine repentance. Christ did openly claim the authority to forgive sins (Matt. 9:1-8).
Does this incident teach that one must sin greatly in order to love Christ greatly? – Not at all. John, with his noble life, was the disciple most conspicuous for his love to Christ and Christ's love to him. The Bethany household, so pure and upright, were great lovers of Jesus.
What does it teach? – That the heart of religion is love. That it is love which Christ solely considers in judging men. That if we love Him deeply, we shall love others deeply, and He can and will love us deeply. That we may never dare condemn any person who plainly loves Christ.
