Jesus, a woman with a bad reputation, and a religious man meet at a dinner party. What follows turns everyone's expectations upside down. Join hosts Amy and Casey as they explore this story as found Luke 7:36-50. This is the first episode in the "Stories of Hope" series and the inspiration for this podcast!
Episode 1 - Hope for the Rejected
Text: Luke 7:36-50 | The Sinful Woman (read here)
The Knowledge Gap - Is anything in this story unclear?
What do we learn about God here, specifically Jesus?
Is there a positive or negative example here?
Are there any promises here?
Is there an instruction here? Something to do or avoid?
What do we learn about humanity here?
Who would you tell this story to?This was a banquet in a shame/honor culture. Hospitality was a vital part of life. In this culture, guests of honor would eat together with the hosts. Jesus is seated with honor, but the host Simon showed little honor to Jesus by not offering him the customary cleansing upon arrival. When Jesus allows the woman to touch him and speaks to her, he goes against customs about the separation of genders, as well as possible ritual cleanliness. The woman is named in another book of the Bible as Mary the sister of Lazarus, and after this story she joins Jesus' group of disciples.
"Sin" in the Bible is not a list of "Do Not DO"s, but rather sin means anything that goes against the Creator or creation. As Jesus says in another place, "the greatest Commandment is to love the Lord your God with all you heart, and the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets come down to these two things (Matthew 22:38-40). It was not Jewish custom for even religious leaders to forgive sin. Only God can forgive sins.
What do we learn about Jesus?
He acts with authority and forgives sins. He is acting with the authority of God.
Is there a positive or negative example?
The woman (Mary) and Simon the Pharisee are presented as two reactions people have to Jesus/God. On a human level, Simon appears to have it all together, but he acts wrongly. In contrast, the woman has a bad reputation, but acts out of love. Jesus says through the parable and her actions that she is revealing how much forgiveness she's experienced. This is another example of how God looks at the heart, not the outside of a person (an attribute that is mentioned in the Bible in I Samuel 16:7).
Jesus offers a promise of forgiveness, not for a sin or socially unacceptable sins, but for all sin. We see that forgiveness of our brokenness is connected to our reaction to Jesus. Simon is seen as religious, but he treats Jesus poorly as though he owes him nothing. Mary worships Jesus extravagantly in front of people who look down on her. According to the parable, this means that she has experienced forgiveness from God, and implies that Simon and the audience can experience this promise of forgiveness as well.
Is there an instruction here?
The one who receives forgiveness, will love Jesus. Implicitly, Jesus is saying come to me for forgiveness. If we are in Christ, we have peace with him and ourselves.
What can we do with this story? To whom would you share this story?
This is a pivotal story that reminds us all that we need to come to Jesus like the woman. Forgiveness allows us to live fully and full of love. We can share with others that Jesus is not some religious leader, but the God who loves them. He is not the church, but the God a person can come to for forgiveness. Jesus is approachable to both religious and nonreligious people.
This story is a great introduction to Jesus. Jesus was not here to make bad people into good, but he was here to bring the dead people to life. This is the beginning of the gospel.
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