The Most Extravagant Dinner in the Bible

Lk 7:36-50

A few years back, Helene and I went to Indianapolis to spend a weekend for our anniversary. We stayed at a hotel downtown, went to a movie and then went to a very nice restaurant for dinner. It was one of those places with a matre de who took one look at us and set us up in the general population where we could see the rich and famous having their dinners undisturbed by us simple folk. The waiter gave us our menus and I almost had a heart attack when I read the menu and saw the prices, but this was our anniversary and I wanted it to be nice. The couple sitting next to us was celebrating their engagement and the man was out to make an impression. He ordered the expensive steak and a $200 bottle of wine, and then showed the rock he had just given his fiancée. I thought my dinner was expensive until I looked at his bill and was very, very, glad I didn’t have to pay for his dinner.

This meal that we just read about had its extravagances as well. Let’s see what we can learn from this extravagant dinner.

PRAYER

I. Extravagances

A. An extravagant meal

1. Our text starts out simple enough, “Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus over to have dinner with him.”

2. Hey, I’ve had lots of people over for dinner and it wasn’t a big deal.

3. However, these types of dinners were.

a) This was a social event as well as a dinner.

b) There were probably several others invited as well.

c) The dinner was usually held in a courtyard so all the ordinary folk could see the who’s who and remark about how important the family must be to have these dignitaries at his home.

d) Imagine someone famous having a dinner in your honor and you are probably close to what this meal was really all about.

4. This was an extravagant meal.

5. Lots of food and lots of guests.

6. Jesus was on display.

B. An extravagant foot washing

1. As was custom in those days, when you entered a house, a servant would wash your feet, or you did it for the guest yourself, and get the dust off them much as we would take someone’s coat and hang it up for them today.

2. For whatever reason, that wasn’t done for Jesus at this gathering.

3. As I said, the dinner was held in the open for everyone to see who all was at the dinner, so it wouldn’t be too hard for a woman to slip in and get to the feet of Jesus before anyone realized what was going on.

4. She comes to Jesus, the sins of her life tearing her heart apart.

a) We don’t know what those sins were.

b) There have been all kinds of speculation, but we simply don’t know.

c) What we do know is that she is here at the feet of Jesus showing abject humility as she wets his feet with her tears and dries them with her hair.

d) Then she takes a very costly perfume, probably the most expensive thing she owns and pours it over the feet of Jesus.

5. This is an extravagant foot washing.

6. In this whole episode, we have no record of her saying a word, but the evidence is quite clear to everyone what kind of woman she was. . . A sinful woman desiring to repent

C. An Extravagant response

1. Jesus could read her mind, and the mind of Simon.

2. His response sent shockwaves through those gathered there.

3. Let’s look first at Simon’s response

a) Remember a Pharisee is kind of like a preacher/elder today.

b) He has a woman whose sinful past seems to be well known in his house weeping at the feet of his guest.

c) His guest is a rabbi that some are saying might even be the Messiah.

d) What goes through his mind at this point?

e) If this guy really is a prophet, he wouldn’t let this sinner even touch him.

4. This is where I pause and thank God he isn’t an elder in my church.

5. What happens when we are more concerned about appearances than we are repentance?

6. Jesus is thinking the same thing and tells his story of the two debtors.

7. When he’s done, he takes Simon to task for his terrible breach of etiquette.

8. Now imagine being one of the people listening in on this conversation.

a) First you are shocked at what just happened.

b) Then you are blown away by the rebuke Jesus just gave your religious leader.

c) And if that wasn’t scandalous enough, Jesus tells this woman her sins are forgiven.

d) Are you surprised at all that the other guests are saying, “who is this who even forgives sins?”

9. I would venture to say this response goes well beyond extravagant.

II. Who Do You Identify With?

A. Some are a Simon

1. Most, if not all of us, can see that Simon was clearly in the wrong here.

a) We would all agree that’s not the kind of spiritual leader we would want.

b) Most of us would say, we aren’t like him at all.

c) But is that true?

2. Do we see ourselves as being spiritually superior to others?

a) It’s hard sometimes not to be judgmental.

b) You’ve worked hard on your sins and feel you’re getting the upper hand on them.

c) So when someone else is struggling with the sin we have overcome, we tend to think ourselves better than them.

d) We forget how long it took us to grow beyond that sin.

3. Can we see the faults of others, yet not our own faults?

a) I can’t tell you how many sermons I have heard about the evils of smoking by overweight preachers.

b) We justify our weakness with all kinds of rationale, but when the same rationale is applied to someone else’s issue, we are quick to see the holes in their logic.

c) Maybe that’s why Jesus said to get the plank out of our own eye before we get all bent out of shape over the sliver in someone else’s eye.

4. Simon’s sin wasn’t in his righteousness, but in his smugness of his righteousness.

5. We need to remember that even though our debt to God wasn’t as big as someone else’s, it was still bigger than we could ever pay.

B. Some identify with the sinful woman

1. Can you imagine the fear and trepidation she must have felt standing outside the house debating whether or not to enter?

2. Do you think she struggled with the fact that Jesus might reject her once she came to him?

3. Have you ever thought about the fact that she knew she would probably be humiliated by the religious people in the room with Jesus.

4. She had to know she was the talk of the town.

5. There are probably some of you here today that know exactly how this sinful woman was feeling.

6. Maybe you are here today screwing up the courage to come to the feet of Jesus with your sins.

7. You hope he will accept you.

8. You are worried about the reaction of the religious people in this room.

9. Yet, you know you need to be forgiven by the savior. He’s the only one that can do it.

10. Will you have the faith to step into the aisle?

11. The words that Jesus said to her will be the same words he will say to you. “Your sins are forgiven. Your faith have saved you.”