Luke 7:36-50; Smashing our World (II)

3. Jesus Perceives Simon. A delicious irony in the passage is that the more Simon thinks that Jesus is obtuse or oblivious to what is going on, the more Jesus knows not only the "lay of the land" but the darkness in which Simon is wandering. Simon thinks that Jesus is insentient; the passage shows that Jesus knows precisely what is going on. Jesus not only knows who the woman is, but he sees that Simon has, for whatever reason, abandoned the duties of host. Perhaps Simon wants to sort of tread a fine line in this instance. If it is true that Jesus is to be rejected, then Simon can safely say that he never "really" accepted Jesus, despite having him over to dinner. If it is true that Jesus is the "real deal," from Simon's perspective, Simon can claim that he was the first to have Jesus over to dinner. Simon is trying to have it both ways, but Jesus nicely slices and dices him to show that he has it neither way. He simply is a bad host. And, as the parable will show, he is a bad host who doesn't know the value of forgiveness.

D. Jesus Perceives the Woman. One of the most striking features of the passage is a little grammatical device in the Greek text of v. 44. Jesus speaks to Simon (dative case) but turns toward the woman (accusative case). When addressing Simon about the woman's behavior, Jesus faces the woman. He says to Simon, "Do you see this woman?" (v. 44). But stop and think for a second. He is facing her, seeing her, looking into her, as he speaks to Simon. It is almost as if he is saying, "I am looking at her. Do you really see her, Simon?" She is one whom Jesus will say has loved much (v. 47). Jesus knew that beneath her meretricious exterior resided a heart of faith and love. She is the one who has shown great love, because she realized how much she had been forgiven. It is as if Jesus is saying to Simon, "Can't you see that, Simon? Are you, the one who thinks he is so perceptive about the world, really that blind to reality?"

All these dueling perceptions ought to make us ask the question of what we perceive as we look at people. Are we ones who jump to conclusions? Do we judge primarily or simply by the externals? Will we be smart enough to know how to undermine those who think they perceive a lot without, however, dishonoring them? Jesus' remarkable way of dealing with the woman and Simon in this passage challenges us to rethink how we perceive the world and people.

III. The Parable

What occupies most of this passage, however, is Jesus' story and his interpretation of it. Jesus has perceived Simon's rush to judgment and wants to point out to Simon how this rush to judgment actually damages his soul. But how do you do it? Do you just tell the person, "Simon, you are such a jerk! Realize what is happening?" Well, Jesus doesn't do this. What Jesus actually does takes lots of insight and patience. To tell a story to illustrate your point reflects a higher order of intelligence than merely to assail a person for his conduct. To tell a story means that you respect the other person and that you let him interpret it in his own way. So, Jesus will honor Simon's independence of mind while, at the same time, telling a story which allows him "space" to repent and change his life. Another lesson for us...

The story Jesus tells relates to debtors and creditors. Jesus doesn't just pull this story "out of the hat"; rather, the theme of release of debtors is central to his message in Luke. I argued in my exposition of Luke 4 that what anchors Jesus' message in Luke is the image of the Jubilee year of release of debts in the Old Testament. Indeed, Jesus has the disciples pray: "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive those indebted to us." Certainly there is a "spiritual" interpretation of that passage, but Luke has a more gritty Jesus in mind--he will actually challenge the "patronal" system of ethics of his day by calling for the forgiveness of debts. So, when Jesus tells the parable of the debtor and the creditor in this passage he is infusing it with language and concepts derived from his whole orientation to ministry. His ministry is about liberation of the oppressed, about the canceling of debts, about the acceptance of little people into the central places in the Kingdom of God. When this is so clear a message from the Gospel of Luke, why is it that everyone in America, including most who call themselves Christians, wants to be rich? Jesus is no friend of riches in the abstract; he will love rich people (like Zacchaeus) like he loves everyone else, but the rich are not the object of his most earnest affection or his lessons.

Jesus' parable is straightforward enough. The debtor who is forgiven more will love the creditor more. Simon has easily gotten the right answer. But does he see the point? We never really know if he does. But the openendness of the text is no problem for us, because it means that Jesus' question to Simon still rings in our ears today. What kind of debtor are we?

But the parable is so rich that it leaves us with one other point, readily missed in the easy application just given. Simon has just given a feast. In the cuture of that day, as well as ours, an invitation to a feast not only allows you to enjoy a party but puts you in debt to the person giving the feast. You have to return the invitation in some form. By talking about forgiving the debt of those most indebted, is Jesus also subtly saying to Simon that Simon won't get a "return invitation?" If so, Jesus is poking fun, in an extremely subtle way, at his host. To jest like this, to spar verbally with your host, is really what the whole conversation was about in the first place. Thus, even as the woman goes away with faith enriched and sins forgiven, Jesus and Simon have also "squared accounts" with each other. Will Simon really hear? But, more important, will we perceive and hear the message that Jesus gives us today?

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