How long has it been since you shed tears of thankfulness? When was the last time, your heart was so full of gratitude for what someone had done for you that you could not help but cry? Have you ever cried for that reason? I ask that question, because if you never have, then I sense you will have great difficulty really understanding these verses.

It may indeed be that if you were really honest with yourself, you would have to admit to a certain familiarity in the reactions of Simon, and that a scene such as this were it to unfold in your own home, rather than being a source of joy would in fact be something that made you intensely uncomfortable. Perhaps even disgusted.

Now perhaps you are thinking, O no fear of that Pastor! I am a crier. I cry at the drop of a hat, crying and scenes like this never make me uncomfortable. It's true, there are many in this world who cry much, but for many of them their tears are usually over some grief or perceived injustice, the way children do after (or in the case of my kids, sometimes before) a spanking, or when the scrape a knee. But it seems to me that there are far too few people, even in the church, who shed tears for the reason that this woman did – intense thankfulness, profound gratitude and love towards her savior.

We know very little, about the woman in these verses. Unlike Simon the Pharisee, we are not given her name. While we are told that she is a notorious sinner, we are not told what sins she had been guilty of. Our natural instinct is usually to assume that she was a Prostitute, perhaps even Mary Magdalene, but even that is uncertain. At least one commentator pointed out that to qualify for the treatment she received, she may simply have been for instance a woman who became pregnant out of wedlock.

But the little you do know about her is critically important, you know of her faith, you know of her love, and you know of her salvation. And as I hope we shall see, these are the most important things we can know about her.

Now you are told a lot more about Simon. Simon was a Pharisee, probably a very important man in this city. He invited Jesus to his house for a meal – his motives for doing so, we can't know for certain. But the truth is he probably invited Jesus to dinner in order to confirm the reports those of his party, the Pharisees, were circulating. Namely that while the people think he is a prophet or even possibly the Messiah himself, we know Him to be a blasphemer, a glutton, an alcoholic, an associate of sinners, and an enemy. It is even possible that he was looking for something that he could use as a charge against Jesus – something that might just slip out in the relaxed atmosphere of a dinner party.

Now you know that Jesus knows the hearts of all men, we see that from the way he knows the thoughts of Simon here in verse 40, you saw it in the events in the Synagogue in Luke 6 when Jesus healed the man with the withered hand, we read there:

Again and again we see that Jesus knows the hearts of men, better than they themselves, so why then does he go to Simon's house?

Well the answer to that is simple, and if you keep it in mind I think you will understand Christ's interactions with the Pharisees far better. Christ loves even them, HE loves His worst enemies, and desires that they too would come to faith in Him and be saved. Jesus desires to see Simon repent and believe in Him just as much as he desires the salvation of this woman. If you remember that, then you will see in Christ's rebukes the same desire to convict them of their sin, that John the Baptist displayed and later Peter will display in his preaching to the crowds in Jerusalem. Would that we could read here that Simon's reaction to Christ's parable was the same as the crowd in Jerusalem to Peter's rebuke that they had put to death the Messiah with their own lawless hands:

"Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"

So Jesus goes to dinner with Simon, and into Simon's home comes this woman, a woman who had undoubtedly heard and believed the gospel message of Jesus. Maybe she had just heard his call (Matthew 11:28) "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." and conscious of the awful of weight of her sins pressing her down, crushing her, had felt that regenerating power of the Holy Spirit quickening that heart of stone, had seen the light stream into her prison and had embraced with Joy the message of free grace.

Here was a woman who knew the truth and power expressed in those immortal lines of Charles Wesley:

"Long my imprisoned spirit lay Fast bound in sin and nature's night, Thine eye diffused a quickening ray; I woke - the dungeon flamed with light! My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed Thee."

So there she is, and as Jesus reclines at the table, she breaks this incredibly costly alabaster vessel of fragrant oil probably spikenard, which cost a small fortune, and she anoints the feet of her savior.

Now this is a bit of speculation on my part, but I can't help thinking that as she came into the room, her heart overflowing with love for Christ, she couldn't help but see that his feet still carried the dust of the road. She couldn't help but notice that his host had not offered him water or towel with which to wash them. And so her love instantly moves her to serve her master. She has no water, to offer him, save what Luther perfectly described as "heart water" – her tears. She has no towel with which to dry the master's feet, so she uses her own hair. And then she anoints him not with the cheap olive oil that was given as a common courtesy, but with the most expensive perfume available.

Perhaps in that moment, she wept not only out of gratitude and love, but also at how shamefully the world was treating the Son of God. Shouldn't you who love Jesus, weep for the same reason? Our tears should flow freely over the way Jesus, our Prophet, Priest, and King is hated and abused, both directly and through his body the church.

Simon is disgusted, he looks on this scene and thinks to himself, "Hmmmph, what they said is too true, he's no prophet, if he was he'd know about this woman, and drive her away!"

Now there is a fallacy there actually; the prophets were not omniscient themselves, they only knew what God had revealed to them, they didn't know all things about all men. But what Simon thinks to himself in verse 39 speaks volumes to you about the condition of his heart. You see for Simon, righteousness consists entirely in external appearances. He assumes that if Jesus really were righteous, he would be concerned as Simon was with knowing who was externally faithful to the traditions of the elders. Who was observing them in the most minute detail and that he would be keeping a running tally on the observant and thus righteous and the non-observant and thus sinful.

And here you see so well the difference between righteousness and self-righteousness, between true religion and false. True religion is heart religion, and the righteous are most concerned about the condition of their own heart. False religion is formalistic and external and rather than seeking to know the true condition of their own hearts, and assessing them aright, the self-righteous are more concerned with how others are performing. You see it in the parable of Pharisee and the Publican – Luke 18:10-14

Here is application #1 for you. This is as true today as it was then. You can see it in churches where gossip abounds, where the emphasis is not on have I closed with Christ, am I full of love for my Master, am I keeping his commandments from the heart, confessing my sins, but rather on "do you know what so and so is up to?" where people are horrified at the very idea of notorious sinners coming into the worship service, but in the most bizarre contradiction of them all would congratulate themselves on how faithful to the gospel they are. Strive to be the church of the Publican not the Pharisee.

Jesus knows Simon's heart so he tells him this parable, which is so straightforward as to almost need no interpretation. Simon, this woman loves me much because she knows she is a debtor who had a monumental sin debt she could never repay, and yet she has been forgiven. Now what Simon, no doubt would not see was the fact that he too was a debtor, that he too couldn't cover his debt.

This woman knew how great her sins were, and as a result, she knew how great her need for forgiveness was. There is the second application, the knowledge of our sin is a great benefit to us. To have the scales fall from our eyes and realize, just how great the burden of sin we carry is a blessing beyond all measure. It should be to us like it was to Paul or David, you remember that scene when Nathan confronted him? [exposit briefly]

Then you see the true glory of the Gospel, a woman laden down with sin, notorious in her community, declared authoritatively to be forgiven of her sins! Saved! And why? Because of her works? Because of her love? NO! Because of her faith!

She is saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ. That Faith in the Son of God united her to him and made her a partaker of his saving, atoning, reconciling work. She was already saved by that Faith when Christ declared it to be the case in verse 50. Christ's words were as much to assure her of that as they were to tell everyone there present, this woman is not the sinner you once knew. Now she is a child of God. The prodigal has returned, the fatted calf has been slain and will all of you merely continue to play the older brother who resents that his father has forgiven his repentant brother?

"Your faith HAS Saved you," Jesus assures her, and From that living faith flows her love, from that faith flows her good works manifested that day. From that faith flows her tears of undying gratitude to her maker.

Which in my final application brings me back to my original question. Have you ever cried the tears of gratitude that woman cried? If you've never felt the tears have you felt the love to Christ that causes them to flow? Many a church is filled with decent, upstanding, civil, Simons – and I don't mean Simon Peter – who know nothing of the gratitude that comes from closing with Christ by Faith. And if you know nothing of that, then I tell you, you know nothing really of the peace that Christ assures her. Peace with God, the peace that Paul speaks of in Romans 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

It is the peace that I speak of week after week in the benediction – the true Shalom.

But if that is the case, o then may this very day God open your eyes! May you stop thinking, I hope so and so is listening to this message – they really need to hear it – and hear it for yourself! Christ's gracious promise is open to you this day - Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

He is your peace, your hope, your salvation. He does not demand you clean up your life first, or do some work that will justify you in his eyes, you couldn't do wither if you spent the rest of your life trying. Come to Him by Faith alone this day, without waiting, without tarrying, and you too will be saved!