What Saving Faith Looks Like: A Meditation on Luke 7

And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon,

Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou

gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my

feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.

Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the

time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.

My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath

anointed my feet with ointment.  Wherefore I say

unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she

loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.

And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves,

Who is this that forgiveth sins also?

And he said to the woman,

Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.

As Reformation Christians, a question often lurks behind what we declare as the doctrinal bedrock upon which Christ built His Church:  that a sinner is justified freely by grace through faith in Christ alone, apart from the works of the Law.  Our old theologians who stood upon this conviction during the Reformation era, drawing their theological confession from Scripture alone, also observed with those same Scriptures and the Church which carried them for centuries before, that saving faith cannot co-exist with mortal sin; i.e., that fruits of faith as a reflection of divine love would arise from newly resurrected hearts, so that a saving faith would always be working in love.  When such a person found himself guilty before the Law of sinning against God and his neighbor, such saving faith would always lead to repentance, which in turn would receive anew the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.  Thus saving faith, as the Reformers understood it from Holy Scripture, is a faith which is always working in love and repenting of sins.  Any person who claimed to have saving faith without love and repentance showed himself to be a liar, and as St. John and St. James would say in their epistles, their faith was useless.

In the Gospel text for this 4^th Sunday after Pentecost, Jesus presents this dichotomy to teach us what saving faith really looks like.  Rather than leaving us to concoct some new formulations which seem to endlessly clutter the book store shelves with programs and diagnostics of human devise, Jesus offers a simple picture of this relationship by His eternal Word, and sets it between two very different people:  a male Pharisee, and a female “sinner.”

Simon, the Pharisee, had all the outward appearances of a holy man.  He wore the right clothes which reflected his office and his station, and he invited Jesus to dine with him where he could show Jesus just how pious he was.  Simon’s focus was on the feast and the image he was presenting, so much that he overlooked (either intentionally or by accident) offering to his guest the standard courtesies of the day.  He did not offer Jesus water so that His feet might be cleaned from the dirt of ancient Palestinian roads.  He did not offer Jesus fragrant oil to anoint His head, to freshen Him from the odors of life in a rural world.  He did not even offer Jesus the standard greeting of peace and welcome with a kiss, to show Him honor among his guests.  This Pharisee was focused on himself and his image, and his lack of love or regard for Jesus showed up in how he treated Him.  The Pharisee showed no humility, no love, and no inclination toward repentance.  Jesus, seeing Simon’s desperately lost state despite his trappings of holiness, offered to Simon what He really needed:  to see what saving faith actually looked like.

While there were certainly many pious guests at this dinner party, Jesus chose a different kind of example than many people might gravitate toward.  Passing up the wealthy, the well dressed, the well connected, the well educated, and the politicians of both secular and ecclesiastical bent, Jesus drew Simon’s attention to the destitute woman weeping at His feet—a woman who our text tells us Simon disdained as a sinner, and who inspired Simon to mock Jesus’ credentials, if only silently in his mind.  In this context, referring to the woman as a “sinner” was likely a euphemism for a prostitute, and no one at this dinner party would hold her in any regard at all.  She was a used and abused human being, who obviously had some access to this Pharisee’s house, though she certainly didn’t receive any of the Pharisee’s compassion.  This woman wept so bitterly and constantly that she washed the dirt of the road off of Jesus’ feet by her tears.  Having no towel to remove the muddy sludge, she used her own hair to clear them.  Unwilling to lift herself from the floor to anoint Jesus’ head, of her own meager abundance she poured fragrant, soothing oil upon His feet.  Perceiving her unworthiness to give Jesus the kiss of peace and welcome upon His face, she remained bowed down before Him, kissing His feet.  This woman arrived with no pretense or pride, humbled herself before Jesus, unwilling to honor or promote herself in any way.  This is the woman Jesus used to teach the Pharisee and his guests what true, saving faith looked like.  It was not a well coifed pretender experiencing his best life now upon an over lit stage, but a broken prostitute lying on the floor weeping for her sins.

Driving the point home, Jesus turned to the woman, telling her that her sins were forgiven and that her faith had saved her, then sending her away in peace.  The other guests were aghast that Jesus could or would offer such a person so great a gift, sitting in judgment upon them both from the heights of their pomposity.  What they apparently could not see was that the woman received by authentic faith and repentance what the Pharisees strived for by their own empty faith in their own empty works:  she received the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus apart from the works of the Law, while the Pharisees received condemnation by the works of the Law apart from the Gospel of grace by faith in Jesus.  The woman left that dinner party with a repentant faith which received salvation, while the Pharisees left with an unrepentant faith which saved no one.

The same holds true today, in every geography under heaven.  There are always those who show forth a kind of righteousness which really only reflects their own hypocrisy, pride, and trust in themselves.  Such people may wear fine clothing, wrap themselves in the fruits of luxury, ascend to the highest seats of power in church and state, or present a polished face to the world of personal perfection.  These people have placed their faith in themselves, their friends, their churches, their nations, their businesses, their associations, or their ability to manipulate any given system in which they abide.  Having faith in themselves and the certificates on their walls, they rise up in judgment over the world, condemning those who have not risen to their heights of education or social standing, while fawning and placating others who have risen higher than themselves, so as to receive ever more baubles and trinkets of human esteem.  To such people, Jesus gives a dire warning that whatever honors and prestige they might heap upon themselves, they are really broken, lost, dying, and headed for eternal perdition.  Apart from His grace, all their trophies and finery will burn away at the final judgment, revealing their wicked hearts for what they are.  Apart from Jesus’ saving grace, not one of these self-justified hypocrites will be saved through the Law, for by the Law they will come only to know the depths of their depravity and sin.  The Law which they think will promote them above their peers, will lay them low like a great scythe at harvest time.  For all the masks and illusions men present to themselves for their own honor, God is not deceived, seeing the heart and the reality of a person to their core.  No human pomp will dazzle the eyes of Almighty God.

But to every prideful, pompous, self-righteous braggart throughout the world, Jesus offers up more than the Law which rightly condemns them:  He also offers the salvation they—and every one of us—so desperately needs.  While we cannot justify ourselves, Jesus takes our wretchedness upon Himself, so that He might be our Justification before the Father.  While we cannot honor ourselves, He takes our dishonor upon Himself, that He might give us the glory He has shared with the Father and the Spirit before the world began.  While we cannot save ourselves from sin, death, hell, and the devil, Jesus takes the fullness of our divine wrath through His Cross, that He might offer to us His forgiveness, life, and salvation.  What we are unable to do at our best, and make mockeries of at our worst, Jesus accomplishes and gives to His people freely by grace, so that no one may boast in His presence.  To us, Jesus gives the example of the humble and broken woman, to whom He gave authentic and saving faith and repentance, which received His grace and salvation and peace.  To us He gives His life, His hope, His love.

Where do you find yourself today?  Have the baubles, distortions, and hubris of our age enticed you into thinking that you are good enough to stand before God and above your neighbor according to His Holy Law by merit of your works?  Hear Him speak to you His warning, as He breathes faith and repentance into your heart by His Spirit, that you might see your wretched and lost estate, and cling to Him for forgiveness by faith alone.  Are you broken by the knowledge of your sin, unable to even lift your eyes toward heaven, for the weight of your shame and dishonor?  Hear Him speak to you His blessing, as He breathes faith and repentance into your heart which embraces His Gospel of forgiveness, and which raises you up to a new life of love for God and every neighbor.  Are you found kneeling before Jesus in Godly sorrow for your sins, as others who presume more piety and honor than you mock your simple penitence?  Hear Him speak to you His blessed Word which healed the soul of that poor woman so many years ago, and which He desires to speak into every faithful and contrite heart:  Your sins are forgiven—your faith have saved you—go in peace.  Amen.