Sexual immorality is a terrible sin. It has always carried a stigma with it.

Jesus dined with a Pharisee named Simon one evening, and a woman with a reputation of immoral conduct entered the Pharisee’s home standing behind Jesus weeping. Why was she crying? This woman needed something only Jesus could give her. We don’t know how she found out about the Lord. She may have listened to one of his sermons or saw him heal someone.

Jesus knew her sins (Luke 7:47), and he knew her need. Simon didn’t care why the woman was there. It is clear he just wanted her to leave. Her presence repulsed him because she had unbound her hair and was washing Jesus’ feet with her tears (Luke 7:38).

Think of the contrast. Simon was just as much a sinner as anyone else though he didn’t think so. He looked at this woman with contempt, but he was as plagued by sin as she was. With Simon, there was no love, no need, no forgiveness.

The woman cried with grief for her sins. She expressed her love of Jesus by washing his feet with her tears (something Simon didn’t think to do for his guest, the son of God).

I wonder. Which person, do you think, was closer to salvation? The woman was, wasn’t she? Yet for Simon, forgiveness was the furthest thing from his mind. He wanted that sinner out of his house.

Is it possible that we can, dare I say, identify more with Simon than with the woman? Both of them were lost in sin and needed a savior. They needed Jesus to forgive them. We need Jesus to forgive us of our sins.

Just as Jesus was kind to this woman, he is ready to forgive us. We must, however, obey the gospel and start living for him. If we will, forgiveness and joy can be ours, and one day heaven can be our home.

John Henson