Luke 7:44
In this final passage of Luke chapter seven, dramatically different individuals are brought together under the same roof by the magnetic presence of Jesus – a Pharisee and a woman who is strikingly referred to as “sinful.” Coming from different frames of reference and orientations, they had come there to hear and see Jesus. Jesus was the center of attraction. He was the drawing source.
The simple truth is, Jesus is still doing that today, if we would allow Him – drawing and bringing people together from all walks of life under one, grand, giant tent, the tent of His love. It remains His unchangeable will, that we all come together seeing and keeping Him as the main attraction (Ephesians 1:10).
However, the real problem develops when we take our eyes off Him and begin judging, condemning, and trying to fix everybody else but ourselves. Notice how Simon, the Pharisee in the passage even finds fault with Jesus as he inaccurately judges this woman and the Lord, seeing himself as spiritually superior and more righteous than all around him.
He is indeed guilty of wrongful perception in need of a serious theological – lens – adjustment , just like so many of us today, mean and mean-spirited, cold and cold-hearted, seeing but not really seeing, seriously coming to the wrong conclusions about the Lord and each other. May the Lord help us, especially in these serious times of now.
By the time Jesus is finished confronting the Pharisee, he is shown to be just as sinful as the sinful woman presented in the passage, if not more. As Luke writes, one of the themes he skillfully addresses are “the hospitality of God in the midst of fallen humankind.” He attempts not only to reach publicans and sinners, but in this episode, an attempt is made to reach Simon the Pharisee in order to correct his skewed vision of this woman termed “sinner” and to remedy his misinformed vision of the Christ.
Note how Jesus nobly defends the misunderstood actions of this “sinner” woman by engaging the Pharisee to reconsider his harsh judgment of her in the light of added information. Jesus challenges him first to look at himself and his actions in contrast to this woman and her actions (Luke 7:44-46), on the simple level of human courtesy and kindness. Simon does not even begin to compare. He falls way short.
Undoubtedly, one of the most dramatic moments of this narrative is Jesus’ query to Simon as He turns toward the woman and says to him “Simon, seest thou this woman? … (Luke 7:44). In fact, this is the key verse of the passage. Simon thought he had seen this woman, but he had not. She was still invisible to him. He saw her and quickly dismissed her. He was judging her by all her past shortcomings and misdemeanors. He never saw her pain, her heart, her misery, her love, her penitence, her brokenness, and her gratefulness. He was too blinded by his own self-righteousness and pretentious self-elevation that he missed the opportunity to be kind and gracious to another fellow human being. He was harsh and cold in his assessment of her and of Jesus.
“Do you see this woman?” (Luke 7:44) It takes the reader back to verse 39, where Simon thought he saw her and made all kinds of suppositions, assessments, conclusions, and value-judgements based on what he saw, only to discover that what he thought he saw, was indeed erroneous, unfounded and completely misconstrued. He is challenged, by the true prophet Jesus to look again and so also are we! It may surprise some of us that those whom we have written off, are closer to the Kingdom than many of us! Oh, that we may be challenged to look again!
Leroy V. Greenaway
Presiding Bishop – Northeast Region
