Luke 7:36-50 A Jar of Perfume
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: July 29 & 30, 2018 Luke 7:36-50
Note 1: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Note 2: Sometimes, one day is not enough to cover everything. Feel free to take more than one day on a single passage like I did here.
Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to eat with him. So he went to the Pharisee’s home and took his place at the table. There was a woman who was a notorious sinner in that city. When she learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s home, she took an alabaster jar of perfume and knelt at his feet behind him. She was crying and began to wash his feet with her tears and dry them with her hair. Then she kissed his feet over and over again, anointing them constantly with the perfume. Now the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this and told himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who is touching him and what kind of woman she is. She’s a sinner!” Jesus told him, “Simon, I have something to ask you.” “Teacher,” he replied, “ask it.” “Two men were in debt to a moneylender. One owed him 500 denarii, and the other 50. When they couldn’t pay it back, he generously canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “I suppose the one who had the larger debt canceled.” Jesus told him, “You have answered correctly.” Then, turning to the woman, he told Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You didn’t give me any water for my feet, but this woman has washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You didn’t give me a kiss, but this woman, from the moment I came in, has not stopped kissing my feet. You didn’t anoint my head with oil, but this woman has anointed my feet with perfume. So I’m telling you that her sins, as many as they are, have been forgiven, and that’s why she has shown such great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven loves little.” Then Jesus told the woman, “Your sins are forgiven!” Those who were at the table with them began to say among themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?” But Jesus told the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
(Understanding the Text) What is the setting? The dining room in the home of a Pharisee named Simon. According to the parallel account in Matthew, the home was in Bethany. They seem to be sitting in those special lying down chairs where the feet are extended out away from the table. There are others gathered around the table eating, so it must have been a large room. The characters: Jesus, Simon, the sinful woman, and other guests. All we know of Simon is that he was a Pharisee; he had some reason to invite Jesus to his home while other Pharisees would not think of it. He was judgmental about sinners. He knew who the woman was and could not believe that Jesus didn’t know who and what she was. He was doubting that Jesus was even a prophet, much less the Messiah, yet it does not seem like he was as confirmed in his judgment of Jesus as most of the Pharisees. He believed that prophets had inside knowledge about people. He believed that men of God would not let sinful people even touch them. Simon gives Jesus outward respect calling Him teacher/rabbi. Simon had been a leper according to the account of the same story in Matthew. “While Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume and poured it on his head while he sat at the table. But when the disciples saw this they became irritated and said, “Why this waste? Surely this perfume could have been sold for a high price and the money given to the destitute.” But knowing this, Jesus asked them, “Why are you bothering the woman? She has done a beautiful thing for me. You will always have the destitute with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she was preparing me for burial. I tell you with certainty, wherever this gospel is proclaimed throughout the whole world, what she has done will also be told as a memorial to her.'”(Matthew 26:6-13).
The two accounts are obviously the same but each tells different aspects of what happened. Matthew was present during the dinner and focuses on the reaction that he and his fellow disciples had and what Jesus said to them. He also speaks of pouring the box on Jesus’ head which also may have been what he had seen. He omits details that Luke focuses on which means that Luke’s account came from someone else. I think for Luke to say that the woman was a notorious sinner, it meant that she herself told Luke this, or maybe Simon did. Jesus was indirect in the way He approached Simon’s judgment, so it seems to me that Jesus was trying to reach Simon with the gospel message and his need of forgiveness. For Matthew, the parable of forgiveness was not important to repeat, but for Luke it was the heart of the situation. This also suggests to me that Luke interviewed one or both of the two main characters in his story. Luke focuses on the feet which may have either been what Simon saw and found distasteful or it could have been what the woman remembered.
(It’s difficult for me to put aside all the sermons and other stuff I have read about this miracle and approach it simply from the text as if I were reading it for the first time.)
This passage tells us of some polite customs of the time. It was customary to give a kiss of greeting. It was customary to wash the feet with water. It was customary to anoint the head with oil. This may have only been customary with very honored guests. Simon felt that he was honoring Jesus enough by calling him teacher, inviting Jesus into his own private home, and giving Jesus a dinner. Simon probably also had a few of his friends there which would also have been an honor. However, Simon slighted Jesus in ways that he could have honored Him. This was made obvious when another person who was not the host stepped in to do the honors.
(Revelation of God) Jesus was not pointing out that He was slighted by Simon. He was pointing out that Simon’s relationship with Jesus was defective. Why hadn’t Simon greeted Jesus with a kiss? Maybe, Simon was trying to maintain his distance or simply overlooked it because Simon’s heart was not close to Jesus. It is common in the Middle East today for men to greet other men with a kiss, especially if they are friends or family or long-time acquaintances who have not seen each other for a while. The lack of a kiss indicates that Simon was holding Jesus at a distance in his heart. This dinner was out of some kind of obligation or rule-following, not out of affection. Secondly, Simon had not had a servant wash Jesus’ feet. Why? I thought that this was fairly standard. Maybe, it showed that Simon was performing the bare essentials necessary. Maybe Simon was tight with money and did not want to hire someone to do the job. If Simon had been a leper until recently, chances were that his monetary situation was not as high as he was trying to show. The Desire of Ages says that Martha was doing the cooking and Lazarus was an honored guest with Jesus. Why was Martha doing the cooking? Desire of Ages says that Simon was a relative, so maybe Martha was doing the cooking because Simon had no servants. However, without servants, the host himself should wash the feet, but Simon was not willing to humble himself before Jesus. He called Jesus teacher, but in his heart, Simon still clung to his pride and feeling of superiority.
Part 2 July 30, 2018
(Understanding the Text) Jesus tells a parable about two men who owed differing amounts to a moneylender and how the moneylender forgave both debts. He asked Simeon which person would love the moneylender more. Simeon replied that it would be the one who had the larger debt. Why this subject? I think maybe Simeon understood money and debts more than he understood people and social interactions. It would be easier for him to make the application to the situation. I think it interesting that Jesus used a moneylender as a hero and representative of God. Normally, we think of moneylenders as crooked and unforgiving. Then, Jesus applies the word love to a business transaction. I would have used the word grateful rather than love, but Jesus applies the word love. Was that to show Simeon that he was treating his relationship to Jesus like a business transaction?
According to Desire of Ages, Simon had been healed of his leprosy by Jesus. That is an easy deduction to make since he is called Simon the leper and identified as a Pharisee who was throwing a dinner for someone despised by most Pharisees. He had to have been healed because he could not have a dinner party if he were still a leper. Jesus was the only person out healing lepers at the time, but rather than responding with love for the One who rescued him from a life of rotting flesh, Simeon responded in a businesslike way of throwing a dinner party to repay Jesus. This dinner party was obviously not the joyful gratitude of Levi Matthew’s dinner party, but a more obligatory motion to repay a debt.
(Revelation of God) The parable was to open Simeon’s mind and conscience to understanding that he was in much greater debt to Jesus than he had considered, but also that Jesus was not asking for repayment. He was asking for love. Jesus was telling Simeon that the situation between them was not about repayment, but about love and forgiveness. The jarring opposition of a moneylender forgiving debts and debtors loving moneylenders was to show Simeon that he was thinking about the situation from the wrong viewpoint. Jesus points out that if it were a business situation, then Simeon had not even lived up to showing gratitude in that way. He had treated the healing of his leprosy as if it were a negligible act skimping on the honors that gratitude would have deemed appropriate. Simeon’s hospitality was stingy and far short of what Jesus had done for him.
(Understanding the Text) Simeon felt no need for forgiveness, but the woman knew her own past actions were horrible. She loved Jesus because He did not hold them against her. Jesus strongly stated that she was forgiven before many witnesses. Was this to guarantee her acceptance with His disciples once He was gone? Was it simply what she needed to hear? It was also a way to help her to escape a situation that had forced her into the spotlight while leaving her fragile self image intact. She could leave knowing that her beloved Rabbi did not judge her badly but approved of her actions. She could leave knowing that the Pharisee’s hypocrisy had been condemned while her sincerity had been approved of. In the other gospels, this story is placed in the last week of Jesus’ life and the implications of the box of oil are that Mary was anointing Jesus’ body for burial. This detail explains the tears and the urgency to do something for Jesus to show her love.
(Revelation of God) Jesus loves all of us, not just the needy and humble. Simeon needed a Savior as much as Mary did. Jesus had already reached Mary’s heart, but He loved Simeon, as well. Here were two of God’s children who had been victim and victimizer, and God loved them both. The victim had been healed, but now was the time to make peace between them. Jesus needed Simeon to realize that his sin was horrible, yet forgivable. The Desire of Ages says that this was a turning point for Simeon, that he was redeemed. Simeon understood the message that Jesus was giving him and repented not only of his attitude towards Jesus, but also Mary. Simeon finally realized that he was a sinner, but also that Jesus wanted his love, not gratitude. Simeon was redeemed that day.
(Revelation of God / Application / Prayer) Jesus turned the world upside down. He only accepted sincerity, and broke open the hidden motives to show us our hypocrisy. I must open myself up to Him entirely and not try to treat Him as if He is a businessman performing a transaction with me. My pitiful contribution to the transaction would not equal what I have been forgiven. Instead, He wants a relationship of love, not obligation. In love, there is no counting of cost, but simply giving freely from the heart. It is not the costly alabaster box that Jesus notices; it is the tears of contrition and kisses of adoration. Jesus does not want my gratitude. He wants my love. Teach me to love.