The Kiss of a Prostitute

The Kiss of a Prostitute




A man and his wife had a yard sale. They had decided to put out a mirror they’d received as a wedding gift. The reason they were selling it was that it had a gaudy aqua-colored metal frame and they just couldn’t find a room in their house where it looked good.

Shortly after the sale began, a man bought the mirror for one dollar. He was all excited, and he said as he bought it: “This is a great deal - it still has the plastic on it.” Then he peeled off the aqua-colored protective covering… to reveal a beautiful gold finished frame underneath.



Lots of people go to garage sales looking for bargains just like that. Some people have a saying about garage sales: "One man’s trash is another man’s treasure," The belief is that once in a while you’ll stumble upon a treasure that the owner doesn’t know the value of.



Jesus had been preaching Galilee for nearly a year now and He’s a very popular man, particularly amongst the common people. Already He has healed a leper, a paralytic and dozens of other people. He has even cast out demons and raised a widow’s son from the dead. And all this has taken place before the event we see recorded here in Luke 7:36 “One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat.”



Everybody loved Jesus. Well… almost everybody. The Pharisees actually hated Him. He didn’t pander to their crowd, and occasionally He said things that ruffled their feathers and challenged their man made rules.



They don’t like Him, but they’re not sure how to handle Him. They’ve tried ignoring Him.

They’ve tried publicly opposing Him. And they’ve tried entrapping Him in doctrinal disputes. Nothing seems to work.



But now - Simon the Pharisee believes he’s found the way to take Jesus out. A way he believes will humiliate this new teacher and render His influence useless.



Simon invites Jesus to a meal – and then he snubs Him. Good manners in that day required the host to have his servant wash the guest’s feet. That servant was then expected to anoint his visitor’s head with oil. All that was handled through a servant. However, Simon did none of this for Jesus.



But why go to all the trouble invited this new teacher to your home, putting on a lavish meal and perhaps even opening your home to the community so that they can come and observe him… and then insult Jesus in front of everybody?

Simon’s objective was to get under Jesus’ skin. To throw Him off balance. He intended to goad Jesus into making a statement or behaving in such a way that he could then use to embarrass Him and use against Jesus.



Now, Jesus knew Simon’s behavior was intended as an insult. He knew Simon’s heart. In our own experience, we’ve probably had people treat us rudely too, and we probably haven’t always responded well to it. Even though we are a Christian, there was something galling about being mistreated in this way and sometimes our anger just takes over.



We’ve all encountered this at one time or another and we’ve said things we shouldn’t or… behaved in a less than gracious manner. Even Jesus could have been “tempted” to respond badly to this pettiness by Simon, too. But He didn’t!



How could Jesus overlook his slight by Simon. He could overlook it because He knew WHO He was.

Who was Jesus? (Son of God). Jesus had walked the streets of heaven and had thousands upon thousands of angels at His beck and call. Compared to that, Simon was simply a fly speck on the wall. Jesus didn’t need Simon’s approval or acceptance.



In the same way, we can rise above such pettiness in this world if we remember who WE are. We are the children of God. Jesus came to die for us. And we have an inheritance in heaven that many will never see. Compared to that, all this world’s approval means nothing.



When reading of how Jesus behaved in this setting, it’s valuable for us to remember that Jesus NOT ONLY came to give us life. He also came to show us how to live that life. In this situation, He simply ignored Simon’s behavior. He refused to give Simon the satisfaction of even commenting about this treatment.



But then something changed. A woman entered the room. She wasn’t the kind of woman you’d ordinarily invite to nice party. She was a streetwalker, a prostitute, a pavement princess. In our culture you can tell a prostitute by way she dresses she’d be wearing a short skirt, high heels, fishnet hose, and a low cut blouse. But in that day, she’d have been dressed just like most others… …except she’d be wearing very expensive perfume. Some have said that prostitutes of that day wore a vial of perfume by a cord around their neck. In a culture where bathing was infrequent, a pleasant fragrance would’ve been her stock in trade.



And now here she is at Simon’s home. She’s unescorted, uninvited, unwanted. What’s she doing there? Luke 7:37 tells us that she “heard he was eating there”.





Perhaps her jar of perfume was a gift for Jesus. Maybe she slipped in through the side door, hoping to be unnoticed standing quietly behind Jesus, waiting to catch His attention, present her gift… and then leave.



BUT then she begins to weep. This was probably not in her original plans. But there was something about being this close to Jesus that simply overwhelmed her.



It is quite possible that she was a lot like people we know today who come to church. They don’t come because they love Jesus, but because they are fulfilling some sense of religious duty. BUT while they are there something about Jesus gets thru to them, and suddenly they sense how shabby their lives are. How much emptiness lies within them.



And now, here stands this woman behind Jesus. Something breaks within her and the tears begin to flow.

Her tears literally fall on Jesus’ unwashed feet and leave streaks in the dirt and grime Simon has refused to wash away



In her embarrassment she falls to her knees and begins to wipe his feet with her hair. Then she pours perfume from her jar onto his feet. Its aroma fills the room. And she kisses his feet.



Uh Oh! Simon has been watching this little drama unfold. We can almost see him… smile. “Gotcha… I’ve gotcha Jesus! This man claims to be a prophet, but He doesn’t even know who this woman is that’s wiping His feet with her hair. He doesn’t know that the perfume she’s poured on Him is part of what she uses in her foul occupation… I’ve got him.”All Simon has to do to destroy Jesus… is destroy this woman. To expose her for what she is in front of all of his guests.



You know, self-righteousness is an ugly thing. It puts a nasty “aqua colored” film over a person’s eyes and makes it so they can’t see the inner value in other’s souls. Self-righteousness like Simon’s is the type that scorns tears, laughs at repentance, mocks mercy. His is the attitude of the school yard bully that just knows he’s better than you are and he has every intention of reminding you of that. We can be sure as Simon is watching this woman kneel at Jesus’ feet he’s thinking of some sharp, ugly comment to make that would embarrass this woman, and Jesus with her.



Jesus can handle insults against his own character. But He’s not about to put up with an arrogant attack on this woman’s sorrow. With the precision of a surgeon Jesus proceeds to cut Simon to his heart and reveal the hypocrisy that lay within. He knew Simon’s thoughts:



39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!” 40 Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.” “Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied. 41 Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. 42 But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?” (Luke 7:41-42)

Simon just couldn’t help himself. He was a good Pharisee and he just couldn’t help showing his wisdom to this upstart teacher. So he responded: 43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.” “That’s right,” Jesus said. (Luke 7: 43b)



Then Jesus literally turned His back on Simon and faced the woman. He turned away from the judgmental, self-righteousness of the Pharisee toward the simple repentance of this woman.



“Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.” (Luke 7:44-46)

And then Jesus says,, 47 “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” 48 Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?” 50 And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (Luke 7:47-49)

He who has been forgiven little, loves little. What a scathing comment. Simon was a man who never felt the need for much forgiveness and therefore felt little love for those who did.



Sometimes we will see this in churches of today. It usually happens in older congregations where people go to church there because their grandfather did. Their daddy had been an Elder or their mother had been the piano player. And these folks regard this as “their church.” It’s not just the church they go to… it’s literally “THEIR” church. It belongs to them. And they’re not about to let anyone be part of that congregation that doesn’t measure up to their standards.



Jesus told Simon: “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love.” (Luke 7:47) How can we know that she loved much? Because she when she kissed Jesus’ feet, she got down on her knees. She knelt before Jesus because He was righteous… she wasn’t. She LOVED JESUS.



But, of course, Simon didn’t. That’s what Simon revealed when he refused to kiss Jesus.



There are people like that today. They don’t want to kiss Jesus. He’s not important to them.

And there are others who are willing to kiss Jesus… but they do so as if He were an equal. Not as their God, but as an acquaintance who they can listen to if they like, but ignore if they choose.

But then there are those who kiss Jesus in the way this sinful woman did. They know they’ve sinned and fallen short. And they realize the only proper way to approach Christ is to kneel before Him and give Him the love He deserves because He has forgiven so much.



When Simon the Pharisee looked on this woman, all he saw was a prostitute. She was a streetwalker. A gaudy, pitiful excuse for a woman. That’s all she was – all she’d ever be, and she was never going to change. When Simon looked on her in his house, all he saw was a prostitute.



When Jesus looked on such women He didn’t see them as they were. He saw them as they could be.

To Jesus, sin has always been an ugly aqua colored film that hides the true beauty underneath.

It’s an aqua colored filth that needs stripped away to reveal the image of God that it has clouded.

When we humble ourselves at the feet of Jesus – when we acknowledge our sin and emptiness, then Jesus takes away film of sin and remake us in way God intended