Luke 7:44 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Luke 7:44

Comments

The Lord Jesus Christ turns to the woman and begins to speak to Simon and he challenges Simon, and he says, ‘Simon do you see this woman? Do you really see her? What do you know about her?’ And the Lord Jesus Christ begins to describe how she behaves towards him, and how Simon behaves towards him. What an interesting picture it is! Simon looked at himself and he thought he was fine. He thought his standing with God was secure. He thought he was a gentleman, and that he was a fair-minded fine personality. He was very pleased of the way he had become one of the senior Pharisees. When Simon looked at himself he saw a splendid fellow. When the Lord Jesus Christ looked at him he saw somebody who was smug, who had no self-awareness, who couldn't see his sin and his character, who had no fear of God, no grasp of God's holiness. That is what God saw when he looked at Simon. He saw a very trivial person. But then the Lord Jesus says to Simon, ‘Seest thou this woman?’ and Simon looks at that prostitute, and he says, ‘Yes I can see her. She's a notorious prostitute.’ That is all he saw. ‘She is utterly condemned; she is utterly hopeless.’ Yes, but what is she doing there distraught and sobbing on the floor at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ? Is this the woman you think you see? When Simon looked at that woman he saw one thing; when the Lord Jesus looked at her he saw something entirely different. He saw a woman who had everything that Simon didn't have. He saw a woman who was full of self-knowledge. She had come to see her weakness, and Simon had never seen that in himself. She had come to see her sinfulness, and she had come to see her unworthiness. The Lord saw a woman who was infinitely more astute than Simon, because Simon was all tied up with this vain world, but that woman had all of a sudden come to see through this vain world. She had become cynical about the glory of this world. She knew that it had no real hope and happiness for her, and she had come to be aware of her need of free forgiveness. Her pride was broken, and she could see what a mess she had made of her life, and she was deeply moved. She had come to see that Christ the Lord was her only hope and she wanted a free pardon and a new life.

Application

It calls to mind the situation that arises when you get some poor soul who cannot eat properly. Think of somebody who nobody would sit near at the same table; their eating is revolting. It just turns your stomach over to be anywhere near them, and everybody thinks the same no matter what their background. Nobody could bear sitting near this man, because of the noise and the mess. That is what it is like if somebody really is bad in this respect. But the man himself is sublimely unaware of it. What everybody else could pick up in moments, he didn't know about himself. There are certain habits you can have and certain things you can do – one could go to the still more appalling illustration of body odour – and the terrible thing about it is that the poor sufferer is usually completely unconscious of the effect that he or she is having on others. That was like Simon: so proud of himself so pleased with himself, such a fine fellow. And the person the Lord Jesus Christ saw when he looked at him was quite, quite different from the person that Simon the Pharisee saw.

What does the Lord see in us as he looks upon you and me? Does he see somebody who is just completely an unreal person, with no idea what they really look like in the sight of God? Absolutely blind to themselves? When the Lord Jesus looks at you, does he sees selfish thoughts, a person always thinking about yourself, and full of your proud dreams? Says Jeremiah, ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart’ (Jeremiah 17:9-10). What does the Lord see when he looks upon you? Have you ever thought of that? The pride and the sin and the selfishness and all the other things! Does he look upon you and see a very fickle person, a person who is enthusiastic for vain worldly things, full of lies and excuses, and greed, with no awareness of the offensiveness of your sin to God? That is what he saw when he looked upon Simon.

When Christ looks down upon us what will he see? Pride, selfishness, no awareness of our sin, lies, deceit, everything else that we don't face up to in the heart? Or will he see as with that woman a great self-awareness and a longing for forgiveness and for pardon.

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Luke 7:44 Commentary and Bible Study