EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
9/01/2026 8:15 PM
My
Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “Intro
to The Transformed Sinner”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference:
Luke
7:36-50
Message of the verses: “36 Now one of the Pharisees was
requesting Him to eat with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and
reclined at the table. 37 And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner;
and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house,
she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, 38 and standing behind Him at His
feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and she wiped them
with the hair of her head, and began kissing His feet and anointing them with
the perfume. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to
himself, “If this Man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person
this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner!” 40 And Jesus responded
and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he replied, “Say
it, Teacher.” 41 “A moneylender had two debtors: the one owed five hundred
denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they were unable to repay, he canceled
the debts of both. So which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered and
said, “I assume the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And He said to
him, “You have judged correctly.” 44 And turning toward the woman, He said to
Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for
My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
45 You gave Me no kiss; but she has not stopped kissing My feet since the time
I came in. 46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet
with perfume. 47 For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have
been forgiven, for she loved much; but the one who is forgiven little, loves
little.” 48 And He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.” 49 And then
those who were reclining at the table with Him began saying to themselves, “Who
is this Man who even forgives sins?” 50 And He said to the woman, “Your faith
has saved you; go in peace.”
“As the story opens, one of the Pharisees was
requesting the Lord to dine with him.
Where this incident took place is not known, except that it was in
Galilee during Jesus’ Galilean ministry, which Luke describes in
4:14-9:50. Like the other Pharisees who
invited Jesus to a meal, this Pharisee had no personal interest in Him. He was not an open-minded inquirer, but had
like the majority of the Pharisees, already decided that Jesus was a
blasphemer, arrogating to Himself the right to forgive sins that belongs to God
alone (Luke 5:21).”
(Luke 5:21)
“21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to
question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but
God alone?’”
“These
self-appointed guardians of legalistic, external, ritualistic religion hated
Jesus’ message of grace, repentance, and forgiveness, and His call for sincere
love of God from the heart. They also
hated Him for pointedly rebuking their hypocritical self-righteousness (Matt.
23), and for associating with the outcasts of society (Luke 7:34).”
(Luke 7:34)
“34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking,
and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors
and sinners!’”
“Having
already reached a conclusion regarding Jesus, they were busy accumulating evidence
against Him. This Pharisee’s invitation
to Jesus was part of that evidence-gathering process. No self-respecting Pharisee would invite any association with a
blasphemer, except to do him harm.
“Jesus, of course, was well aware of
this man’s motive for inviting Him.
Despite the fact that inviting someone to a banquet was normally a sign
of friendship and honor, He understood that the Pharisee was a hypocrite and
that his intentions toward Him were evil.
Yet Jesus graciously reached out to the sinner, exposing him to the
power that He has to transform lives.
The Lord entered the Pharisee’s house and, was muddy, it was
prudent to keep the guests’ feet as far away from the table as possible. Lying down leaning on one’s elbow was both a
sanitary and a comfortable position for the prolonged conversation that
accompanied such a meal.
“It was not uncommon to invite a
visiting rabbi to a Sabbath meal or a special banquet, giving those present the
opportunity to discuss the theological, cultural, and social issues with him. There is some evidence that on such occasions
the doors were often left open so that those not invited to the meal could
stand around the perimeter of the room and listen in on the dialogue. That is undoubtedly what happened on this
occasion.
“The story revolves around two main
characters: the sinful woman, and the
self-righteous man.”
9/1/2026
9:06 PM
