Smoodock's Blog

My wife is much more in tune with her bodily functions than I am. For example, we both may have eaten something the evening before, and our bodies are reacting to that now. While she knows exactly why her body is behaving as it is, I realize, something has occurred, but I have no idea why. Still, others who are present and listening to her explanation of what has occurred, may deny the whole account, saying they’ve eaten the same thing at other times and don’t remember their bodies reacting as they’re doing now. Experience, however, has taught me to believe my wife’s explanations of things relating to our bodily functions, even when I am not so affected, as she is in what has occurred. “Unbelievers” have either poor memories, or their reaction to certain things in life aren’t as significant as what touches my wife in life, so, they’re simply unaware of the reality of the matter.

N.T. Wright mentions a similar matter in his book, Simply Jesus, relating, there, the event that occurred in the house of Simon, the Pharisee (Luke 7:36-50). The narrative mentions a woman, who, hearing Jesus was in Simon’s house, came in and sat at Jesus’ feet weeping and letting her tears fall upon Jesus’ feet, whereupon she dried them with her hair. Afterward, she anointed Jesus’ feet with an expensive oil (Luke 7:36-38). On the other hand, Simon knew the woman to be a sinner, and wondered how Jesus, if he were truly a prophet, could permit such a public display, if he knew she was such a sinner (Luke 7:39), for there were also others at the table with them, and they could interpret the occurrence against him.[1]

Jesus’ parabolic explanation of the scene unveils the love of God and mankind’s response to what God is doing. The woman is fully aware of what has happened to her, and her gratitude is expressed with no thought of herself, vis-à-vis she doesn’t care what others think of what she’s doing or how it may look to them. Simon, on the other hand, seems to be embarrassed with the display, partly for Jesus’ sake and partly, because it also reflects upon himself, as far as his other guests are concerned. In Jesus’ explanation of the scene, Simon is a believer, and loves Jesus, believing he has been forgiven. Nevertheless, Simon’s love is tempered by the thoughts of his peers, or how they might think about Simon’s relationship with Jesus in general. It may even be so that Simon may desire that the others think kindly of Jesus and believe him, but he may also  be mindful of or place some value upon their opinions, so what they think has a bearing upon the intimacy of Simon’s relationship with Jesus.

Finally, there are unbelievers at the table, and they wonder about Jesus’ explanation of the forgiveness given the woman. “Who is this that forgives sin also?” (Luke 7:49). Have you ever noticed that the people who desire to have the strongest voice in a matter are often those, having the least sensitivity in the matter. The atheists want to tell us the real truth about God, and the civil authorities, willing to allow our personal beliefs on the one hand, also want to control the substance of those beliefs and the degree to which we hold our conviction in matters of faith, on the other. Finally, it seems that those folks, who consider themselves religiously inclined, wish to define everything about our faith and want to be, even presuming to make themselves, faith’s gatekeepers, permitting this one entrance, but not that one.

Nevertheless, the Temple, is the place where heaven and earth meet, vis-à-vis the Most Holy Place (where God resides) and the Holy Place (where men of God reside). The Temple, remember, is the place where God forgives sins. If God were truly returning to his Temple, who gets to say that is what’s occurring? Should that be the unbelievers, religious or atheists? Should it be only those who are partially aware of what is occurring, but who also value the opinions of their unbelieving peers? The Temple is also where the “high priest” ruled supreme. If Jesus is truly our High Priest (Hebrews 3:1), shouldn’t what he says be the rule of the day? God was returning to live with his people! That’s what the celebrations were about (Luke 5:29). It’s what all the healings were about, vis-à-vis setting things in their correct order (Matthew 4:23; 9:35; Luke 9:6, 11). That’s what all the forgiveness was about (Luke 7:47-48; 23:34). This was what it looked like, as God took the reins of power. It made no difference what the rulers of this world thought (Revelation 11:15-19). They had no authority in the Kingdom of God, nor did the self-appointed gatekeepers (Matthew 23:13). God has returned to his people in Christ (John 1:1, 14) and reigns supreme (Matthew 28:18).

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[1] In two earlier studies in the Gospel of Luke, I identified both the Pharisee and the woman: Who Is Simon the Pharisee? and Who Is the Unnamed Woman of Luke 7? Of course, my explanations could be wrong, but I believe they are correct, and the explanations are reasonable, vis-à-vis they’re not totally out of the question; we just can’t be certain, given the information we have.