When the new car was sideswiped on a trip to the supermarket, Mary Branson stopped and tearfully fumbled in the glove compartment for the insurance papers. Attached to them she found an envelope with her name on it in her husband's handwriting. "Dear Mary," the note said, "when you need these papers, remember it's you I love, not the car."

Love is the theme I want us to focus on this Sunday before Valentine's Day. With Luke 7 before us, I would like us to focus on four love stories today.

I. Simon

The Simon described here as a Pharisee and most likely this account of the anointing of Jesus in the home of Simon is not the same incident reported later in Jesus' ministry by Matthew, Mark, and John.

Simon had invited Jesus to come to dine with Him. We might wonder what motivated him to do so as we see the story unfold. How much did he love Jesus? Or did he?

Stuart Briscoe described this as "the Unwelcome, Welcome."

A kiss would have been the expected customary greeting in those days for a host to give his invited guest. Placing his hand on the guest's shoulder and giving him the kiss of peace certainly would be a mark of respect when a distinguished Rabbi accepted the host's invitation.

Since road were dusty paths, and shoes were more like sandals, proper etiquette demanded the host or the host's servant remove that sandals and poor cool water over the guest's feet to clean and comfort them.

Providing oil or incense with which to anoint the guest's head and freshen up was another common courtesy.

While Simon has requested that Jesus dine with him, he gave Him a most unwelcome, welcome. Instead of a kiss of peace, water to cleanse his feet and oil for his head, Hr received a cold shoulder. He offered Him none of the expected common courtesies.

Suppose you invited someone to supper, but did not greet them as they entered, did not take their coat, did not show them where the bathroom was, and did not offer them a chair, what kind of welcome would that be?

What kind of love story is this? Did Simon love Jesus? If not, why did he invite Him to his home? Simon did address Jesus respectfully as Rabbi or teacher.

The second love story.

II. Sinful Woman

A sinful, immoral woman was not on Simon's guest list, but she came to the house having learned that Jesus was to be there.

While this may seem strange to us to imagine an uninvited guest coming when she hears that a host is having a dinner guest, let me describe the probable scene. Homes of well to do people in those days were often built around an open courtyard in the form of a hollow square. A fountain and a garden were often in the courtyard. Meals were often eaten in the courtyard, so it is very likely that this is the scene. One of the customs in the East was that when a Rabbi was invited to a meal in such a house that the common people were free to come in to hear the teacher's wisdom even though they were not served dinner. Several people from the village may have come when they found out that Jesus would be at Simon's house. This Sinful Woman, however, is the only uninvited guest that Luke tells us about, but what a love story!

Apparently this woman is well known for her immoral way of life. She has probably made her living as a prostitute and Simon is not pleased to have such a person in his home.

Barclay tells us that "in the east guests did not sit, but reclined at the table. They lay on low couches, resting their left elbow, leaving the right arm free, with the feet stretched out behind, and during the meal the sandals were taken off. That explains how the woman could be standing at Jesus' feet."

This sinful woman came with flask of ointment, obviously intending to anoint Jesus' feet. Standing at Jesus' feet she must have been deeply moved with emotion and her tears fell to His feet. She then wiped His feet with her hair, kissed His feet and anointed them. Unloosed hair in public was then considered immodest for a Jewish woman. It seems that this woman is moved with love for Jesus and doesn't care about what the onlookers are thinking. Conscious of her sin and her need, she is overwhelmed with love for Jesus who told her, "Your sins have been forgiven."

This leads to the third love story.

III. Savior

Jesus, the Son of God, came to dwell on earth in human flesh, and to ultimately die on a cross to become the Savior of all who will confess their sin and their need for the Savior.

When the narrative before us took place, of course, Jesus had not yet laid down His life for our sins, but it was already planned. To be our Savior, Jesus needed to be sinless, and He was. His perfect lifestyle made the hypocritical Pharisees exceedingly uncomfortable. To make matters worse, this Galilean seemed to take delight in seeking out and associating with undesirable persons. What a story of contrasts when we realize that on this occasion when Jesus had accepted the invitation to dine with "respectable people" but being inhospitably treated by His host. Just following is a tremendous demonstration of love lavished upon Him by an "unrespectable woman."

In verse 39 we see that Simon is interested in discrediting Jesus for allowing this woman to touch Him. Of course, Jesus was reading his thoughts and got Simon's attention. He told him about two debtors.

Listen to this paraphrase: "Simon, there were two men who fell on hard times and had to borrow money. One of them got into big trouble and ran up a debt amounting to about twenty months' salary, the other borrowed about two-month's worth. Unfortunately, neither was able to repay the debt, but the money lender was remarkably generous in that he cancelled both the large and the small indebtedness. Now tell me Simon, who would be the most grateful, the one forgiven much or the one forgiven little? Simon, who was in no mood for stories, answered rather patronizingly, "I suppose the one who was forgiven most."

Turning to the woman - Jesus then asked Simon a very interesting question, "Do you see this woman?" Morgan suggests, "Simon could not see that woman as she then was, for looking at her as she had been." Yes, apparently Simon saw the sinful, immoral woman as she had been. The Savior saw her as one for whom He would die out of love for her and others lost in sin. She had already begun to show her love for the Savior. Jesus compared Simon's reprehensible conduct as a host with that of this woman who had so little, but gave it to Jesus.

The Savior did not ignore her sins of the past. He admitted that they were many. Jesus cannot gloss over sins, but He can and did forgive them. Her love is proof that she had already been forgiven.

This morning we have looked at three love stories:

I. Simon - Apparently he did not love very much.

II. Sinful Woman - Of her Jesus said that she loved much.

III. Savior - While we are still sinners, Jesus loved us so much that He died to become our Savior.

What about the fourth love story?

IV. Self You and Me.

Do we see ourselves as we look into this passage today? While Jesus loves the sinner that has fallen into the depths of immorality, we don't need to be famous for our sinful conduct to be loved much by Jesus and to love Him in return.

Jesus loves the prostitutes, the couple that has sexual relations before they are married, the person who steps out on his or her spouse and has an affair, the person who gets emotionally involved with a person other than his or her marriage partner, the guy or gal hooked on alcohol, marijuana, coke and the hardened criminal. He also loves the hypocritical persons today whose behavior is similar to that of the Pharisees.

No matter how large or small our sins may appear, the Savior offers forgiveness to those who confess their sin and love Jesus. If anyone here has not yet accepted Jesus' love and forgiveness and trusted Him as Savior you can do so now. I assume that many of you have already done that. PTL! This scripture has a message for us, too! How about that fourth love story?

Conclusion

Self- You and Me. Do we really love Jesus? If we have invited Him into our lives, do we warmly welcome Him each day?

In spite of how bad or good we thought we were before we came to Christ, are we aware of how much we have been forgiven? Haven't all of us been forgiven much which should cause us to love much? Are we willing to look to the greatest lover, our Savior and truly submit to His teachings, His Lordship, and seek to know and serve Him better and better.

I fear that many Christians think forgiveness is what unbelievers need and haven't seriously dealt with their ongoing need for forgiveness. We should love Jesus more now than when we first believed.

Ask yourself, "How much do I love Jesus?"

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