Welcome everyone to this week’s Sunday School Lesson Preview.  This week’s lesson like last week’s is found in Luke 7 but in verses 37-48 and is entitled “Faith Saves”.  Why would anyone do what the gospel says this woman did to Jesus?  How was she able to get in and then get close enough to the dinner table that she was able to touch the Savior? 

This event begins with Jesus being invited by and accepting an invitation to come and eat at the house of a Pharisee named Simon.  Whatever the conditions and circumstances of this meal, apparently it was not a closed affair just between Jesus and Simon because other people were there. 

It may have been a setting resembling our modern-day cookout or neighborhood house party where invited guess and others show up.  This particular woman was interested in Jesus because the gospel says she found out or heard He was at Simon’s house to eat.  She was known by the people she lived among for something very sinful. 

She was therefore probably considered an outcast or low-class person in their community who had little or no respect and/or friends.   What was the reason for her interest in Jesus?  The bible doesn’t say she said anything. 

We can only infer from her actions and Jesus’s reaction that something He had said touched her in such a way as to cause her to do what she did when she had the opportunity to get close to Him.  She brought with her a box of perfume and had planned to at least present it to Jesus and perhaps ask Him a question or say something to Him.

But upon approaching him she burst into tears which fell onto Jesus feet.  She used her hair to dry up her tears, kissed His feet repeatedly and then opened the perfume and anointed His feet with it. 

I believe she came to Jesus and did what she did because she saw and heard in Him someone who would not turn her away as others did, someone who would not judge her as others did, someone who would accept and not reject her gift of kindness and love and someone who would not be ashamed of her as others were. 

Her tears I believe were a result of receiving the acceptance of a respected person in the presence of others to let her and them know she was still loved, capable of love and validate her standing as a member of the human race despite what she had done or become or what others thought about her. 

But Jesus knew she needed to hear and believe that God has forgiven her so that she could put her past behind her, receive God’s grace and mercy and change and save her life.  And that is why Jesus told her that her sins are forgiven and her faith has saved her even though it’s not recorded that she ever asked. 

Well, I hope you will attend SS this coming Sunday and share your thoughts with your class.  If you have any comments or questions, be sure to place them in the comment section of this preview.  So, until next time remember to fear God and keep His commandments.

Pastor Jordan

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