The following sermon was delivered by the Reverend John W. Howe, Rector of Truro Episcopal Church, Fairfax, Virginia, on June 15, 1980. The sermon is entitled, Who Does Jesus Think That He Is? And the scripture reference is Luke 7, verses 36 to 50. 

Karen and I were reminiscing last night about a practical joke that we played when we were in university together. And I frankly didn't think of the relevance of it to this morning's scripture until about halfway through this service. And suddenly I saw something there, and I want to share it with you.

It was really an absolutely awful practical joke. We were among a relatively small number of married students as undergraduates, and we had had one of my favorite professors and his wife over to dinner. And after some time went by, he invited us to come to their home.

And that was a very heady thing, as you can imagine, for an undergraduate to be invited to the home of the professor. And we were very excited about that. And I was chatting with another student who was in many of my classes with me, and it turned out that she and her husband had also been invited to the same party the same night and he hadn't told either one of us that the other was invited.

So a fiendish idea crept into our minds and we arranged to meet beforehand and to time our arrival so that we got there just about a minute apart so there'd be no chance upon the arrival of the first couple for the professor to say, and by the way, the Boyds are coming as well, you see. We were the first couple. And we got there and they welcomed us and you know how you come in and you take off your coat and you admire the house and so on.

And we're just sort of being welcomed and we said, somebody else is arriving. Took another look. Karen, it's the Boyds.

She says, the Boyds? The Boyd's come up to the threshold and he says, What are you doing here? I said, Well, we were invited. What are you doing here?

Well, we were invited, and if you're coming, we're leaving. And about this time I caught sight of Mrs. Lindley, who was standing there like this. Absolutely ghostly white.

I've heard people, you know, ghostly white. I never saw it before. She was as white as this.

and quickly I tipped her off that this was all just a practical joke but three hours later she had not recovered it was really an awful thing to do we pulled it off magnificently I don't know if you can imagine what it would be like to be the host of a dinner party and have two people arrive who were absolutely the worst enemies maybe worse than that to have somebody arrive and attach himself to your dinner party who was your worst enemy but that's roughly the dynamics of what was going on in the story we read in the gospel a Pharisee we don't know much about him except Jesus calls him Simon has a little dinner party and invites Jesus it becomes quickly apparent that his attitude is one of suspended judgment. He's not really welcoming Jesus as Messiah, certainly not as the Son of God, not even really as a rabbi to be respected. He doesn't really even give him the most basic amenities of hospitality.

It would have been expected that at the very least he would provide a bowl of water for Jesus to wash his feet. Because in those days, that's how you got around, by foot power. And wandering around the dusty streets of Israel in just a pair of sandals, you wouldn't dream of coming into somebody's home without washing your feet.

And so the most basic hospitality would be to provide for that, but he didn't provide it. The greeting that you would offer to somebody who was a guest in your home wasn't simply a polite handshake. It was an embrace and a kiss on the cheek.

that's why Paul says so frequently greet all the brethren with a holy kiss that's how you greeted people was simply an expression of welcome and friendship no kiss from Simon the Pharisee it would have been expected that he would provide oil so you could anoint your face because again, hot, dusty, arid skin is parched and that would be a way of refreshing yourself before a meal but no oil was provided one has a sense that his attitude was I'd like to see for myself he's not ready to welcome Jesus as Messiah not welcome Jesus as his Savior but bring him in and see people are saying he's a prophet well let's let him prophesy people are saying he's a holy man well let's see how a holy man behaves so he has a little dinner party and lo and behold as the guests arrived Jesus and no doubt some of his disciples and other friends that Simon had into his dinner party who should attach herself to the group but it says here a woman of the city that's a very polite way of saying a professional harlot that I guarantee you is the last possible person Simon wanted to see come into his house harlotry was punishable by death Simon would have nothing whatsoever to do with a harlot unless he was one of those who would take up a stone to stone her the very word Pharisee means the separated one and it was the attitude of the Pharisee that I will draw my skirts about myself and walk on the other side of the street if ever I should happen upon a sinner You sort of have to say that dripping with condescension. He's a sinner. She's a sinner.

Never would you allow a sinner into your home. Certainly not a harlot. But this woman, who no doubt under normal circumstances would not have dreamed to come near Simon's home, this woman apparently saw something in Jesus that was so attractive so compelling that she was willing to take the risk of ostracism or even worse just to be near him and you can sort of see the wheels spinning in Simon's mind you know let's let her come in here's exactly the test we need they say he's a holy man let's see how he handles this one and so in she comes it's a very simple story isn't it I want you to picture it in your mind they're not seated at a table in erect chairs the way we would be today the practice then was to use a very low table probably about half as high as your coffee table would be and they surrounded it with cushions and the way that you would eat a formal meal is in a position of recline lie upon the cushions.

Your feet stretched out behind you, and if there were several people present you were looking down upon, it would look sort of like the spokes of a wheel stretching out from the hub. So here we have this picture of Jesus reclining on some cushions, head and shoulders in the company of Simon the Pharisee and his dinner party, and his feet out behind him in the company of this harlot. And what's she doing?

Standing there on the periphera of the circle. She's weeping. Sobbing.

Racking sobs. Crying. And her tears are splashing down upon his feet.

And no doubt with some embarrassment, she bent down to wipe his feet. She didn't have anything else, So she used her hair to wipe off his dirty, dusty feet. By now she's absolutely beside herself and she's kissing his feet.

And she brought with her an expensive alabaster box full of perfumed ointment. And she takes it out and begins to anoint his feet. And what's Simon's response to all of this?

He's absolutely horrified. This would be like having a leper come up and kiss you on the mouth. You know, somebody with TB come up and sneeze in your face.

You can't imagine anything worse than to be touched, kissed, anointed by a harlot. Can you imagine that? Might as well have a blood transfusion from somebody with syphilis.

I mean it, literally, morally, as far as he's concerned, that's how bad this is. how can he call himself a holy man if he were a holy man he'd know what sort of a woman that was holiness has no relationship whatsoever with harlotry as far as east from west he says he doesn't say that aloud he says that to his spirit but Jesus knows very much what's going on inside his spirit and he says Simon I have something to say to you and Simon says go ahead teacher and Jesus says, well, there was a creditor and two men were both indebted to him. One of them owed him ten dollars and another owed him a hundred dollars and neither one could pay.

So he canceled both debts. Now Simon, tell me, which one do you think would be the most grateful? Obviously, the one who was forgiven the greater amount of money.

Jesus says, you're absolutely right, Simon. The one who's forgiven the most is going to be the most grateful. Now Simon, you didn't give me water to wash my feet.

You didn't greet me with a kiss. You gave me no oil to anoint my head. You didn't even give me the most basic form of hospitality.

You showed me no love, no gratitude, not even hospitality. But Simon, do you see this woman? Do you see this woman?

He's thought of nothing else since the dinner party began. See this woman? She's been weeping.

She's been brushing my feet off with her hair. She's been kissing my feet. She's been anointing my feet with ointment.

And do you know why, Simon? Because her sins, though many, I have forgiven. But of course, Simon, and those who have been forgiven only a little bit will love only a little bit.

It's obvious, Simon, that you love only a very little bit. Apparently, you've been forgiven only a little, if at all. Now, don't miss the point here.

It would be easy to miss the point, and Simon might have missed the point we're not sure it doesn't tell us the point is not that Simon had a very few sins to forgive it's that in thinking he had no sin he was committing the biggest one of all in seeing himself as righteous self-sufficient able to waltz right into the presence of a holy God thank you very much I'm in the proper company here. He was committing the greatest sin of arrogance and pride and presumption that he could have. And in failing to see Jesus as the one who had come to forgive his sins, he was cutting himself off from forgiveness.

Do you remember when Jesus said, it's only the sick who need a physician? Those who are well have no need of a physician? He was not suggesting that there are some who are well.

spiritually. But what he was saying was it's only if you recognize, it's only if you realize how desperately ill you are that you're going to turn to the great physician for help. It's not that Simon didn't have any sin to be forgiven.

It's that he didn't recognize his sin, he didn't realize his sin, and he didn't turn to Jesus for forgiveness. Do you see that point? I think many of us would love to suppose that we somehow have the right to come into Jesus' presence you know that we've somehow earned the right to be part of the dinner party and Jesus would say the heart of the Pharisee is just like the heart of the prostitute and it may be worse and it's only when you get a proper view of yourself as one absolutely needy, totally dependent upon grace and forgiveness.

It's when sorrow begins to well up inside of you that then you're responsive to the offer that I've come to give. That's why so often you need to hear the bad news before you can appreciate the good news. Have you ever been present when the preacher is really holding forth on sin?

You know, I mean, He is really pounding the pulpit and cataloging the sins, and you say to yourself, boy, there are sure some people here who need to hear that. Right? Well, we come to the general confession, and we say, we've erred and strayed from Thy ways like lost sheep.

We've followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We've offended against Thy holy laws. We've left undone those things which we ought to have done.

We've done those things which we ought not to have done, and there's no health in us. But, Thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us miserable offenders. And you say, Lord, I hope you heard Him.

He really is one. Can you identify with that? The heart of the Pharisee says, I'm okay.

He's got the problem. I'm just fine, thank you very much. She's the one that needs forgiveness.

And it's the heart of the Pharisee that is of greatest concern to Jesus. You recognize that it was with the Pharisees, the professionally religious, those who were punctilious in their observance of the law, those who were outwardly righteous, those who went beyond anything the law required in terms of tithing, in terms of keeping the Sabbath, in terms of doing all the external things of righteousness. It was with them that Jesus constantly had the greatest problem.

Because the heart of the Pharisee thinks that righteousness is something I achieve and ends up being self-righteous. And this prostitute comes in beating her breast, weeping for forgiveness. And just like the publican who said, God be merciful to me, a sinner.

Jesus says that man went down to his home justified. And the Pharisee was stuck with his own problem. It's interesting, you know, sometimes you hear people say Jesus never really claimed to be God.

Have you ever heard him say that? all of that was a later development, some sort of a construction by his followers after the fact. Jesus never claimed to be God.

I'd suggest to you that you don't have to go any farther than any one of the stories where Jesus comes to people and pronounces forgiveness. Then you'll find one of the most powerful and dramatic claims to divinity anywhere in the New Testament. Think of it.

I mean, we can all understand, if you offend against me, I can forgive you. If you steal my wallet or take my automobile and smash it up or if you sleep with my wife or you slander my reputation and I choose to forgive you, that makes sense. I forgive you because you did something to me.

But what would it be like if I came in and I said to you I forgive you for something that you've done to Doug Cairns. And I didn't even ask Doug about it. I just come in and pronounce forgiveness to you.

what sort of megalomania would that be who do I think I am to forgive you for what you've done to somebody else and yet that's what we see Jesus doing over and over and over again here he is preaching in a little house and there's such a crowd that people can't get near him and some folks are bringing their friend who's bedridden on a stretcher they're hoping that Jesus will heal the man they can't get near him so they climb up on the roof tear away some of the tiles and lower the guy down in front of Jesus, hoping He'll heal him. And before He does, He says, My son, your sins are forgiven you. And what's the reaction of the crowd?

Who does He think He is to forgive the man's sin? That's blasphemy. No one can forgive sins but God alone.

Aha. That's absolutely right. no one can forgive sins but God alone they drag in a harlot she's been caught in the very act of adultery they say what should we do with her and he says I don't condemn you go and sin no more who does he think he is to offer either condemnation or liberation who does he think he is there's a thief hanging on a cross next to him the man's been guilty not only of robbery but of murder and insurrection and Jesus turns to him and says this day you will be with me in paradise who does he think he is to offer that?

I'll tell you who he thinks he is he thinks he's God and here this prostitute standing at his feet weeping, anointing his feet, kissing him He says, your sins are forgiven. And again, the crowd buzzes. Who is this then that even forgives sins?

C.S. Lewis made the comment, Jesus Christ unhesitatingly behaved as if He was the party chiefly concerned, the person chiefly offended in all offenses. This makes sense only if He really was the God laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin.

In the mouth of any speaker who is not God, these words would imply what I can only regard as a silliness and conceit unrivaled by any other character in history. And yet strangely enough, I have never yet heard even the most entrenched unbeliever use the word silliness or the word conceit with regard to Jesus Christ. Somehow that's not how he comes across, is it?

Who does he think he is to forgive sin? He thinks he's God. Who do you think he is?

You've got to make your choice, you say. You can't sit on the fence forevermore. He either is, in fact, God in the flesh, God come amongst us, the One come to forgive our sin, or else He's an absolutely crazy man.

Or worse, a demon from hell. You've got to make your choice. Who do you think He is?

And as soon as you've answered that one, then you've got to deal with who do you think You are. Where do you find yourself in that dinner party? Are you up at the head of the table with the Pharisee, thinking that you've got the right to be there, and you'll pass judgment on Jesus?

Or do you find yourself on the periphera of things? Rather more like the prostitute, with a deep awareness that this is the Holy One of God and next to Him, I have no right to be here. Tears of sorrow for my sin and tears of joy welling up within me that in spite of it, He bids me welcome at His table, in His fellowship, and in His family.

Let's bow our heads together. Lord Jesus Christ, we would confess to You that each one of us has something of the Pharisee in us. Forgive us, Lord, forever looking down upon someone else.

Someone that You loved enough to come and die for. Lord each one of us has something of the prostitute in us as well and we would confess again this morning that it's only only by your love and mercy and grace that we come into the presence of holy God we would acknowledge our need this morning and we would give you thanks once again for loving us for loving me enough to come and die for me thank you for the gift of your love thank you that you are the friend of sinners so Lord we would confess that sin and yet we'd see it swallowed up in the infinity of Your love. And we ask You to fill us again with that love and make us conduits of it to those around us.

For Your great namesake. Amen. Amen.