Jesus the divine High Priest

koot van wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)

Kyungpook National University

Sangju Campus

South Korea

conjoint lecturer of Avondale College

11 July 2010

Luke gave us the surprising words: "And He said to her, 'Your sins are forgiven'". No matter from which angle you want to look at Jesus, mere man, God Himself, a good man like Buddah, like Mohammed, like this or that saint of the Middle Ages, these words places Jesus in a different category. Jesus the very man from Nazareth, the son of Mary and Joseph, forgives someone of sins. We have to step back in the event of Luke 7:36-50 retreating as we go along since these words are at the end of the event description. Luke tells us that the Pharisees who were reclining with Jesus at this table were stunned.

They began to ask questions to themselves: "Who is He that He also forgives sins".

Who is He that He forgives sins?

Sorry skeptics of the Bible through the ages, this is not just a very good human that has high morals worthy of emulating. This is not just a man speaking here. This is not just someone in the like of Buddah or Mohammed or Sister Teressa or Ghandi. This man outshines all of them in superior fashion: He forgives of sins.

For the Jewish Pharisees, this was very repulsive. In their understanding, no one could forgive sins without bringing a sacrifize to the temple. Only after the High Priest or Priests at the temple has completed their rituals could the sins be considered as forgiven by God. What the Pharisees was not understanding fully, is that they were sitting in the presence of the very Creator of the Universe. Modern Jews are finding it offensive that we say Jesus is God and so does Islam. They twist their patience in moderate countries to allow Jesus to be a very good man worthy of following. But that Jesus is God, is for them unacceptable. There are radio programs in Israel in English that dialogue with Christians and mock with any idea of even hinting to the divinity of Christ. But what people do or not do to Christians is not important. What they do to the Son of God is of the utmost importance, for them. All are confronted with the Pilate and Caiaphas question: what to do with Jesus. When Seventh Day Adventists are in these countries, they are counseled by Ellen White not to offend the host, not to look for trouble, not to engage in arguments and fighting or agitation of their own positions. There is no powerplay in the actions of the remnant. God lifts up whom He wants to lift up and He protects whom He wants to protect.

So Luke begins his description of this very important meeting of Jesus in Luke 7:36 by saying that it was in the house of Simon, the pharasee that Jesus was asked to come and eat. It started out earlier, since Matthew 26:6 tells us that Jesus came into the town of Bethany in the house of Simon the leper. Jesus healed him previously of leprosy. Leprosy in the days of Jesus was the worst disease that one can get. All became outcasts, regardless of position or rank. Simon was a pharisee but he got leprosy and Jesus healed him and restored his status to him. Out of thankfulness he asked Jesus to come to his house for a meal.

Actually, when one bring all the detail together, we have several triangles that are meeting here: Jesus healed Simon the Pharisee and Simon is friends with many pharisees. In Bethany Jesus was friends with Lazarus whom He resurrected from the dead. He had two sisters who lived with him in his house. They were unmarried. We actually do not know. One thing we know, is that Simon the Pharisee may have been married. He could provide Jesus with a meal because his wife could prepare the meal for them. However, what no-one knew and what Jesus knew very well, is that Simon had a secret relationship with Mary and he actually led Mary to sin. Simon had a David and Batsheba experience with Mary. Actually this was going on for quite some time. She was known in the town that she was sinner (Luke 7:37). She became demon possessed because of her continuous adultary and acts of prostitution. Simon had secretly pinched the cat in the dark. In Africa this expression is used for someone with loose morals and the Afrikaans sounds similar: "hy het die kat in die donker geknyp". Simon was worse than David, since he sinned continuously. This was after he became healed as a leper and he thought that no-one knows about it. It was Simon's secret sin. Ellen White comments on this aspect of Simon fully.

Luke says in Luke 7:37 that Mary heard Jesus was in Simon's house, and since Jesus was a housefriend of her brother and her sister and herself, she thought that entering Simon's house is a good excuse to his wife and everyone for her to enter. She bought an expensive perfume and entered Simon's house. Simon must have been very shocked and very uncomfortable. She was known to be a sinner and the other pharisees must have been also very uncomfortable.

Jesus was reclining with His feet to one side leaning on His right elbow, probably the feet to the left direction. That is why the Greek of Luke 7:38 says that Mary stood behind (opiso) Jesus but next (para) to His feet. She was weeping and her tears fell on Jesus feet. It is hard to imagine what is going on here but it may be that Mary was tired of living this life of sin. She was stressed out. She had enough. She wanted to get rid of this lifestyle and stop forever. This day, in Simon's house, in the presence of her guide to sin, she wants to proclaim publicly her decision to stop sinning forever. "Sin, it is the end" was her message this day. And that with Simon watching.

Mary wiped her tears from His feet with her hair and kissed His feet and annoint them with the perfume. When you reached the end of the road and you are very desperate, then the only way out is surrendering of any "hang-ups" of propriety and that is what Mary is doing. We know that Ellen White is correct about the origin of the sins of Mary by Simon since Luke 7:39 Simon knew more than the average person about Mary. "If He is a prophet, then He should know what sort of person she is that she is a sinner". Simon thought out of personal involvement and personal experience. It is difficult to imagine what excuse Simon gave himself to be not a sinner but only Mary although both of them are involved in this sin-trap. Why would he thought that his own weakness with Mary is not sin and only her weakness with him makes her a sinner? He probably thought that she is known to run to many other men and thus he only to one woman and therefore she tip the scale of sin very much, much more than himself?

We also know that Simon was guilty since Luke 7:41 is a parable of comparing Mary and Simon and both are in debt with sin. Jesus read Simon's thoughts and said to him that He wants to say something to him. Simon said, go ahead and speak teacher. Simon did not consider Jesus as divine but only as a good prophet or a good teacher.

Jesus said then to him that there were two people in debt who owned money. They could not pay and one owed 500 and the other owed 50. He forgave both of them and so Jesus wants to know from Simon, who of the two loved the moneylender the most?

Simon then says to Jesus that he thinks it is the man who owed 500 since it is more. Jesus said to him that he has judged correctly.   

Simon still does not realize that he and Mary are compared here. That is the excellent exegesis that Ellen White realized in this passage in her book Desire of Ages and that is why she said that he was involved in the sins of Mary. Jesus was speaking of Simon and Mary since in Luke 7:44 he turned from Simon (verse 40) to Mary (verse 44). He praised Mary for what she did and compared it with nothing He received when he entered his house.

She kissed him but Simon did not. The Middle Eastern custom is kissing on the cheeks or bringing the cheeks close to each other. Cultures differ in each country with noses touching each other considered to be a kiss, shaking hands, bear hug or bowing. But none of these happened when Jesus passed Simon entering the house.

Simon was irregular since footwashing was a regular habit for guests in the house. The relationship between Simon and his wife may have been stressful as well since she is not reminding him of his proper acts of hospitality including the kiss and feetwashing. There was no annointing of His head or His feet by Simon. This part would be somewhat strange for Simon who is considering Jesus just as a prophet and teacher, a mere human. If Jesus was a future king, it would make sense to him. Mary annointed the future King of Kings. She had a proper vision of what is to happen in future. 

Since Simon is considered to have less sins as Mary Jesus said to Simon in Luke 7:47 she loves a lot be he who is forgiven a little, loves a little. No doubt it is Simon who fits this template. Where is our love for God and for Christ? How much have we been forgiven? Selected Messages by Ellen White says that the closer we come to Christ, the more we realize our imperfections and the more we need His saving grace to support our faith. Of course the public eye considers the person to be growing towards a saint or a very good person but inside the mind of the individual him/herself, the attitude is that of Mary, to surrender all at the foot of the cross.

Then Jesus surprised this pharisee and his friends: "Mary, your sins are forgiven".

What baffled them is how Jesus, a mere man can just pronounce someone forgiven without a sacrifice submitted and administered at the temple? This was a flat spin in their minds. 

Here we experience the awesome truth that before 31 CE and before the crucifixion and before the entering into the first and second veil in heaven, as the book of Hebrews explains of the meditorial work of Christ in the Heavenly Sanctuary on our behalf, there is a forgiveness of sins of Mary without the Sacrifice (Himself) yet administered. People of the Old Testament was forgiven in the same way as Jesus the High Priest here did for Mary before the cross. By faith they were saved and that not by works, it is an act of salvation and grace of God. It never was an act of works of man but the works of Christ on our behalf. Even before the cross.

Dear God

also I weep at your feet,

also I kiss your feet, if that is possible,

also I annoint your feet and head,

accept my prayerful attitude as wholly Thine,

unto my salvation and our future meeting,

Amen