10 "The Pharisee and the Tax Collector" (Luke 18:9-14)

 Matt. 6:1-6

9 "A Sinful Woman Forgiven" (Luke 7:36-50)

1) Vs. 36-38, "Two Hosts" Who are the two different hosts in this home that Jesus gets to know better?

In verse 36, we see a Pharisee asked Jesus to eat with him. This is the 3rd story in a row where we have found Jesus eating in peoples' home. 

In verses 37-38, we see another host invade the gathering. She is described as a woman of the city, who was a sinner. It was not her home, nor was she the one who invited Jesus to eat with her, but nevertheless she engaged the meal as a host. She brought a story of hospitality to the dinner that turns out to be in direct contrast with that of the home owner.

2) Vs. 39-43, "Two Kinds of Wisdom" How are two different view points of wisdom communicated here?

In verse 39, we see the home owner's perspective from a physical or human wisdom, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner." The homeowner knew the people of the town. He knew who had a checkered past or not. In his reasoning, he doubts the validity of Jesus being from God because He doesn't resist this woman's hospitality towards Him. He feels like Jesus should call her out and deal harshly and directly with her sins. If He is actually from God and here to do God's work, the home owner see no other possible right response than this one.

In verse 40, Jesus invites the homeowner into a dialogue concerning this issue. "Simon, I have something to say to you." What would you do if Jesus said this to you? We see that when Jesus engages people some respond in humble brokenness and others respond with a more confident posture sometimes because of self righteousness points of view and other times out of just not realizing Who He is. Simon then said "Say it Teacher."

In verses 41-43, we see the first part of the second kind of wisdom communicated from the perspective of Jesus which is described better as from a spiritual or Godly wisdom. Jesus starts with laying the foundation of the teaching with something His student can understand with common sense and or with human reasoning. "As certain money lender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which one of them will love him more?" Simon answered, "the one I suppose, for who he cancelled the larger debt." And He said to him "You have judged rightly." 

Now Jesus will continue in His own way to point this student to applying this physical story that he can understand, to spiritual matters like forgiveness and a heart of hospitality. He will direct Simon to think about how everyone needs forgiveness, no one is immune to the need for a forgiveness that reconciles their account of sins with God. Self righteousness blinds us to our need for forgiveness and make us unnecessarily harsh in our dealing with people that are worse off than us. We all need Jesus. If we saw someone physically starving to death, the natural response should be to get them something to eat, or if they were thirsty or cold, we would try to meet that practical physical need. In the same way, we need to have an eye to see spiritual starvation, spiritual dehydration and spiritual coldness. We need to understand and rightly steward a desire to respond to sinners with spiritual food, water and clothes. Don't let your logical thinking from human wisdom cause you to neglect real practical needs right in front of you.

3) Vs. 44-47, Two Styles of Hospitality" How does Jesus explain the two different styles of hospitality, He has been shown in this home?

In a practical way, when a person would have invited a guest to dinner in this culture, it would have been the custom to give a bowl of water and a towel to the guest upon entering the home to wash His feet from the journey of walking on dusty trails. It would be a refreshing gesture that would allow the guest to feel a sense of relaxation before dinner. It would have communicated a homey and friendly environment. Also, much like we hug or shake hands with guests we invite to our homes, their custom was to give a kiss. The oil could have been offered as a hospitable gift of refreshment for the guest's forehead, if he had been in the hot sun on his journey and his skin had began to get very dry. It also could have been offered to show spiritual respect.

With this idea of hospitality considered by the basic standard of the culture in this day, Jesus compares the actions of the two hosts. The homeowner that invited Jesus and the uninvited host. 

vs 44, I entered your house and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair

vs 45, You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet.

vs 46, You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

As you walk through this list, be sure to go deeper than who was the best host. Ask why one was better than the other? Ask yourself how his or her perspective on who Jesus was changed the way they acted towards Him? When you see a person you really like or love, how does it change the way you act? You put on your best behavior, you are not casual and sloppy in your hospitality because you want the relationship to be rich. And why this description gets up close and personal, the teaching point is about how those who know they need forgiveness and cleansing act differently than those who don't realize the weight of the need for forgiveness of sin. Also, those who realize that Jesus is the only way to obtain this forgiveness also changes the way one responds to Him.

So picture this sinner seeking forgiveness and recognizing Jesus is the only way. She first invades a home she is not wanted in and ushers in the hospitality that Jesus deserved in a place where He was not being properly respected and tended to. 

vs 44, I entered your house and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair

She meets the needs of His feet by first falling at them and pouring out her great grief and sorrow over her sins that have bound her up for way too long. She, at His feet, lays down her burdens and leaves nothing held back. Whatever she is regretful for, she pours them out through tears that physically meet the need of wetting His dry, dusty feet. She then used something that is much more honorable and valuable than a common towel and with her precious well groomed hair, used it to clean His feet. She did it with something of value and honor to her. She demonstrated a surrendered life towards Him. She made all that she was available to serve at His pleasure. 

vs 45, You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet.

She then starts to kiss His feet to show her gratitude for Him. We may kiss someone's cheek or hand if we are semi fond of them and if we really like them our kiss may go to their lips. But anything other than that, it is usually not something we do with anyone other than a spouse. When we use a term like kissing someone's butt, that is figurative, but not something normally anyone does. It is a humiliating act that would devalue the person doing the kissing. But to kiss a persons dirty, stinky feet, that is a very humble and desperate posture and action. But here she is not actually kissing dirty, stinky feet because she has cleansed them with her tears and her precious hair. If you have ever had a foot massage, you know how comforting that can be. Here she massages and honors Him with something very few people will ever  enjoy: the kissing of feet.

vs 46, You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

If His feet were dry or stinky, she addressed that by applying ointment. If it would have been left up to the homeowner that invited Jesus to this dinner, He would have been mistreated, but because of this woman seeking to find forgiveness for her sins, Jesus was deeply cared for and made welcome. He physically had the cleanest, most cared for feet in the room. But more than that He was greatly honored and acknowledged as the only One worthy of worship.

In this woman's worship, she laid down her burden and confessed her sins with all her heart, surrendered her life, giving her very best to serve the Lord. She demonstrated an amazing amount of gratitude for His redemption and she gave of her wealth to add to His glory in this life.

4) Vs. 48-50, "Two Views on Forgiveness" How do these two hosts demonstrate the value of forgiveness?

So the uninvited guest believed that Jesus could forgive sins, while those who asked Him to come and have dinner, had not yet come to a place where they saw Him as the answer to their sin problem. Who is this who even forgives sins? Like we saw in story 4, here again we see an audience that is offended by a man talking about the forgiveness of sin because they rightly believe only God can do such a thing. Why do you think they do not realize who Jesus is? Why do you think the sinful woman believes Jesus can forgive her?

5) Who is Jesus? Can He forgive sins? Why do some people recognize He alone is the only hope for forgiveness, while others do not see this? Is there a form of self righteousness described and displayed in this story?

8 "Jesus and Zacchaeus" (Luke 19:1-10)

1) Vs. 1-2, "The Man" Who is Zaccheus? 

The first 2 verses describes him as a chief tax collector and a rich man. This points out the obvious outward perspectives a person could derive about Zaccheus. He would of not had the approval of the Jewish people by being a tax collector and he would not of had lack of worldly things because we know that he was rich. 

But what kind of person was he on the inside?

2) Vs. 3-4, "Seeking Jesus" What would this rich chief tax collector do when Jesus came across his pathway? Would he run and hide, would he be coy with Him. What would he do? 

In verse 3-4, we see that he wanted to see Jesus, but "because of the crowd" he found difficulty accessing him. Much like in story 4, where the friends made a way for the paralyzed man through the roof "because of the crowd", here Zacchaeus had to be creative to find a way to see Jesus. We get another description about the outward person of Zacchaeus that he was "small in stature". So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Jesus.

3) Vs. 5-6, "The Intersection" What will happen? Will Zaccheus see Jesus? Will he overcome the obstacles in front of him? He is so short and the crowd is blocking his way? Will Jesus just walk by? 

In verses 5-6, we see that Jesus noticed this little man that climbed a tree in order to see above the crowd. What happened next? What did Jesus do? Did He acknowledge Zaccheus? Yes, He not only noticed him, but He asked him to make dinner for Him at his home. Zaccheus, was over joyed with the opportunity to host Jesus at his home.

4) Vs. 7, "The Crowds Response" What did the crowd think about this intersection between Jesus and Zaccheus? 

In verse 7, we see that they all grumbled. He has gone in to be a guest of a man who is a sinner. This is much like our story 7 last week when Jesus had dinner in Matthew's home. I have always thought that in this home there would have been a bunch of Zaccheus friends, but unlike with the dinner at Matthew's home the text doesn't specifically say that, so it is possible that this dinner was a quite dinner with just Zaccheus and Jesus or a very small crowd. It could have been a small intimate setting just like when Nicodemus came to Jesus in John 3.

5) Vs. 8, "The Response of the Chief Tax Collector" How will this dinner impact the life of this chief tax collector? Will he like the Rich young ruler turn away from the call to "Follow Me". Will he deny his sins? Does he care about righteousness? Does he want to be reconciled to God?

In verse 8, we see 2 specific things that come from this dinner. 

The first thing, we see is that he offers half of his goods as and offering to give to the poor. I don't know how Zaccheus felt about the poor before meeting Jesus. I would assume being a chief tax collector, he was not overly concerned about them. But after having dinner with the Lord something changed. From his own mouth and by his own accord, Zaccheus offered to help the poor. He may have always know that what he was doing was wrong. He may have come to the conclusion that all his power and money was not what he really wanted. He may of clearly seen that it was not right to live over comfortable while his kinfolks where struggle to make ends meet. But whatever the reason, being with Jesus changed his life and how he would manage his money going forward.

The second thing, we see is that he says if I have defrauded anyone of anything I will restore it fourfold. He was not just thinking about meeting the needs of the poor, he wanted to make right those matters where he gained wealth dishonestly. 

6) Vs. 9-10, "The Response of Jesus" What did Jesus conclude here?

"Salvation has come to this house" I can't think of a more comforting thing than to have Jesus come to your home and based on your interaction with Him, He makes a statement like this. What we seen 2 weeks ago in story 6 in the Rich ruler, we see Zaccheus doing. Investing in the poor and surrendering all to Jesus.

"You are a son of Abraham" I think what is being communicated here is that Jesus sees the Romans 4:16-25 description of faith here. The Gen. 15:6 faith Abraham demonstrated in the promise God made to him to give him not only an offspring, but as many offspring as the stars in the sky.

"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost" Like we covered last week in story 7, the mission of Jesus is to build His Kingdom by changing the sinners heart that drives them to be blind and a slave to the darkness and death of sin. He brings light and life to what man's wisdom deems unredeemable.