Free Christian Sermon About Forgiveness on Luke 7:36-50

It begins with a reluctant dinner invitation. Jesus is the visiting preacher in town. Simon, the Pharisee is the local religious leader, and it's his social responsibility to invite the traveling preacher to his home for a meal.

He's not happy about doing that since he's not impressed with Jesus. But neither does he want to commit a social blunder, so he extends the invitation. He's not a very good host. There are certain things that you did for your guests. You greeted your guest with a kiss. You offered a basin of water to wash up, and a towel to dry off. You provided some olive oil to soothe the skin from the dry climate. Simon did none of these things.

Then she came along. Uninvited, unescorted, and unwanted. The town harlot. She couldn't bear to watch these slights against Jesus. She comes over to where Jesus is recling at the dining table, feet pointed away from the table as was the custom, and she began to weep at his feet. Her tears falling on his feet, and in effect washing them.

She's not about to speak to Simon and ask for a towel. Women don't speak to men, and certainly not a harlot to a religious man like Simon. So she removes the pin from her hair! It was considered an indecent act for a woman to let down her hair in front of other men. A Jewish man could divorce his wife for such a move. But she must, because she needs to dry Jesus feet, and all she has is her hair.

Next she takes the oil that she would use to seduce men, pours it on Jesus' feet anointing and soothing them.

Simon is standing there watching all this in disbelief. Thinking to himself, "Now I know this man is no prophet. Anyone can look at this woman and know what kind of woman she is. And look at what he is allowing her to do!"

Of course, Jesus is a prophet and a good read on people. He knows what Simon is thinking. He tells Simon a story about two men who owned sums of money, one owing much more than the other. They couldn't pay, so the lender forgave their debts. Jesus asks Simon, which man appreciated it the most. Simon states the obvious answer, "The one who was forgiven the most."

Jesus answers Simon, yes you got that right. Implying it seems that Simon had misjudged Jesus and had misjudged the woman, but at least he gave the right answer now.

Jesus then asked Simon, Do you see this woman? What you refused to do, she has done. The reason? Her love. And loves' connection to forgiveness. Yes, she's a sinner. And she knows the depth of her sin. But she wants forgiveness and finds it in Me. Her gratitude is what made her do what she did.

What are the lessons from this powerful story?

One, knowing God is all about giving and receiving love.

There was a young man who decided he would propose marriage to his girlfriend. He was taking some logic courses and decided to use some of what he learned in crafting his proposal. He went to his girlfriend and said, "Premise 1, I'm a man. Premise 2, you're a woman. Premise 3, we've been dating for a long time. Premise 4, we have a lot in common. Premise 5...." Hold up, she interrupted. "Why don't you just get off the premises!" She didn't want logic or statements of fact, she was interested in the relationship.

So it is with God. Simon had missed that somehow. He had a lot of knowledge. He could teach others facts about faith. But he didn't understand what was at the heart of knowing God.

I feel sorry for Simon. I don't know if he had the kind of earthly father who was impossible to please no matter how hard he tried. Not experiencing love from his father, maybe it was hard to understand God's unconditional love.

The woman, though a frequent sinner, believed that God loved her and could forgive her. Because of that, she was able to love Him in return.

Second, the depth of our love for God corresponds to the depth of our awareness of our sin. The woman's sin was great, and so then was her love.

That's not to suggest that we should pile up our sins, so we can experience more of the love and forgiveness God offers. It does mean that whatever our sin, we realize that God will forgive us and give us a new start.

When I was young, I broke one of my mother's favorite lamps. I knew I would be punished. But instead, she forgave me. We went to the store together and she bought another like the one I had broken and replaced it. I knew I didn't deserve forgiveness, but it sure felt good. And the result is not that I wanted to break something else of my mothers so I could be forgiven all over again. No! From that day on, no one was more careful and protective of my mother's favorite things than me.

That's the way we are when we understand God's forgiveness of us. We don't want to hurt Him again. We want to do all we can to please him, because we love Him for forgiving us.

Third, Jesus loves sinners, and that is our message to the world. We sing "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." We can also sing, "Jesus love YOU, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."

God's love is for all the world. It's so easy for us to get sidetracked by a 1,001 peripheral issues and lose sight of our mission - to tell the world of God's love and offer of forgiveness.

Jesus asked Simon, do you see this woman? He asks us today, do we see that man, that woman, that child? Those who are around us in our neighborhoods, at work, in our own families. Do we see them? Not their sins, their failures, their lack of what we consider appropriate. But them.

It's been said, Jesus never met a prostitute. Oh yes, he encountered those who lived sinful lives. But that's not what he saw. He saw a person, a soul who could be forgiven and who could live a better life.