| <Luke 7: 36-50>
A boy worshipped the sun. This boy believed that if he had the bright rays of the sun, he could light this dark world. Every day, he would look at the sun and wished that he had the eyes of the sun. He wanted to brighten the dark world with the eyes of the sun. So he would stare and stare at the sun, longing to have its eyes. Finally, this boy was able to have the eyes of the sun. But he became blind in both eyes. It was because the sun became embedded in the boy’s eyes. The boy’s eyes became the eyes of the sun, but all the lights of this world including the light emitted by things around us became white for this boy, and he could not differentiate them anymore. Poet No-hye Park sings the following verses in a poem called “Eyes of the sun.” The blind person Is not the one stumbling in the dark Or one without sight Is the one whose world is dark Because of blindness caused by bright light The blind love Is love approaching the edge of a cliff Whose lifeline of other love is all cut Because of the one unyielding love The blind faith Is faith blind to truths of the world Fixed only on the only truth, like the sun While reading this poem, I began to wonder who in the Bible would have the eyes of the sun. When I started thinking about the person in the Bible who had the eyes of the sun, today’s scripture came to my mind immediately. Today’s scripture is a story about a very sinful woman. Even though she had sinned greatly, she knelt at the feet of Jesus. She wet his feet with her tears and wiped them away with her hair. She kissed and put perfume on His feet. This woman is the one with the eyes of the sun. She was blinded by Jesus, who is the Sun. The light from Jesus entered this woman’s eyes and completely blinded her. She was blinded by her love for Jesus. She could not see anything else in this world. The only thing she was able to see was Jesus, the object of her love. Gossips of people around her, scolding of those near her, her pride, social customs and traditions, and other such things did not register in her eyes. The only thing registering in her eyes was the Sun, Jesus. So she did something that was completely not understandable to those around her. A Pharisee named Simon invited Jesus over to his house for supper. Pharisees, in general, considered themselves enemies of Jesus. They only thought about ways to capture and persecute Jesus. But this Simon wished to invite Jesus to hear His words of wisdom. So we naturally ask, who was this man Simon, the one that invited Jesus? Simon probably had some curiosity and respect towards Jesus, because he invited Him over to his house. The fact that he called Jesus ‘teacher,’ as written in verse 40 of today’s scripture, supports this point of view. In truth, not all Pharisees hated Jesus. But Simon did not completely trust and respect Jesus, either. Quite the opposite, Simon was a man engulfed in his own self-righteousness. In front of God and other people, Simon believed that he was the only righteous and holy one. He was egotistical. We can see this about Simon by the way he treated an uninvited guest the sinful woman to his party. Jesus, who was invited to this man’s supper party, was leaning against a wall, with His feet sticking out of under the table, eating His food. He was eating according to the Jewish customs of the day. Then this woman, an uninvited guest, makes an unexpected entrance. Take a look at verses 37 and 38. “And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.” According to the scripture, she was a ‘sinner.’ By sinner, it means that she held some job that was socially unacceptable. Bible scholars have come to the conclusion that this woman was probably a prostitute, one who sells her body for money. The people, therefore, pointed their fingers at her and called her a ‘sinner.’ Although she was a sinner to the rest of the world, this woman heard rumors about Jesus. She probably already saw and heard Jesus talk, heal the sick, and look after the poor and the weak. And hearing that Jesus was at the house of the Pharisee a place considered to be a religious ground she founded herself at the house of the Pharisee. But this woman came to a place where she wasn’t supposed to be at. Although uninvited, she entered anyway. In the eyes of Simon and the other guest, this was an unacceptable thing to do. In bordered on a public scandal! Around her neck, just like almost all other Jewish woman of that era, this woman wore a vial of concentrated perfume called alabaster. In one of the other gospels of the New Testament, it is mentioned that the cost of this perfume was equivalent to what a laborer earns in 1 year. It was truly expensive (Matthew 26: 6-13; Mark 14: 3-9; John 12: 1-8). This woman had a job in which she had to do herself up nicely with expensive cosmetics and perfume. This woman originally just wanted to pour this expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet. Yet, she couldn’t do so, for she could not see clearly with the tears in her eyes. When she looked into the face of Jesus, she began crying uncontrollably. Crying profusely, she fell at the feet of Jesus. Naturally, Jesus’ feet became soaked with this woman’s tears. With sorrow and happiness, she cried a river of tears on Jesus’ feet. Suddenly realizing her lack of etiquette, the woman undid her hair and started wiping Jesus’ feet with her hair. She was trying to wipe off her tears from His feet. During those days, Jewish women were not supposed to be in public with their hair undone. After neatly bundling up their hair at their wedding ceremony, women were never supposed to undo their hair. When a woman has her hair undone in public, it was considered a great breach of etiquette. Such an act was worthy of great social backlash. The fact that this woman, with her hair undone, is wiping her tears from His feet clearly shows that she had no one else on her mind other than Jesus. She was not even aware of anyone else present at the party. She was blinded by love! That is not all. She kisses the feet of Jesus, and pours this expensive perfume on His feet. She probably had to work extremely hard in order to buy this small vial of perfume. Yet, she pours it all on His feet, without thinking twice. In the eyes of people present at the party, this woman did something that was out of line. She did something that was rude and impolite. She showed up at this supper party, uninvited and not knowing anyone present at the party. Not only that, she cries a river at the feet of Jesus, pouring droplet after droplet of tears on His feet. Being unaware of other guests, she creates a mess, undoing her hair and trying to wipe her tears on His feet with her hair. Then she kisses Him on the feet and without hesitation, pours expensive perfume all over His feet. It’s not likely that the Pharisee Simon would have let this spectacle pass. He probably thought, “What in the world is going on here?” In verse 39, he states the following phrase for Jesus to hear. “This man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.” Simon was indirectly criticizing Jesus after watching this unbelievable spectacle. If Jesus were a real prophet, then He would have known who was going to approach Him and should have stopped her before she did so. But since He did not do so, Simon is implying that Jesus is not a real prophet. After hearing Simon, Jesus tells him a parable. “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him more?” Simon answered by saying that without a doubt, the one who owed five hundred denarii would love his master more. After hearing Simon’s answer, Jesus glances at the woman then speaks to Simon again. Take a look at verses 44 through 48. “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet sine the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman had anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” Jesus is pointing right at the hypocrisy of the Pharisee Simon. Simon, who thought of himself to be righteous and holy, did not receive Jesus with an honest heart. That’s why he failed to even provide water for His feet. But this sinful woman truly loved Jesus with all her heart. That is why she poured precious tear and perfume on His feet. She was completely blinded by the sunlight emitting from Jesus. She did not fear the stares of other people and repercussions she might face. She only thought of Jesus. The most important part of today’s scripture comes from the latter half of verse 47. “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” Because she loved Jesus completely, her many sins were forgiven. Compared to her many sins, she also had comparatively deep and expansive love. In the ancient times, a rabbi asked his students how to tell the time when the night ends and the new day begins. One of the students answered immediately upon hearing the question. “Teacher, can you tell this time by seeing an animal that is standing far away and be able to tell whether it’s a sheep or a dog?” The rabbi answered, “of course not.” Another student asked, “can you tell by looking at a tree that is far away and be able to tell whether it is a fig tree or a peach tree?” The rabbi again answered, “of course not.” Then all the students argued, “Teacher, then how else can one tell whether the night is over and the new day has begun?” The rabbi, with a hint of a smile, answered, “The time when the night is over and the new day has begun. That time is when you can look into anyone’s face and see the face of a sibling that you dearly love. If you can’t do that, than any time of the day whether it’s dark or light is still night.” If we cannot love, then all the light in the world does not matter. For we will still be in darkness. But no matter how dark a night, if we love, then we are in the midst of bright light. We can say that the sinful woman in today’s scripture is the one with eyes of the sun. She lived in the midst of a very sad, humiliating and dark world. Yet, she wanted to escape this darkness and live in the middle of bright day. Then she heard about the light of this world, Jesus. She saw that light that emanated from His face and body. When she heard that Jesus was at the house of Simon, she went to see Him, despite the fact that she ought not to do so. Even though she was uninvited, she did not pay attention to others present and courageously entered the party. She wanted to be like the eyes of Jesus, the light of this world. She went to Jesus because she wanted to be the eyes of the sun. Just as she wished, she received the eyes of the sun. She met the sun, Jesus Christ. But from that point on, she could not see. Because of the bright rays coming out of Jesus, both her eyes were blinded and everything looked white to her. She was blinded by love. She fell at the feet of Jesus. Full of tears, her eyes became the eyes of the sun and she was not able to see anything else. She was completely overtaken by Jesus and His bright rays. She tuned out all the gossips and criticisms from people around her. She was blinded by love, and she became the eyes of the sun! Today, I hope that each and every one of us can be the eyes of the sun! I hope that all of us become blinded by eternal light of Jesus and fall in love with Him! I hope that only thing we will be able to see is Jesus, the light, life and the truth. I also hope that at the same time, everything else in this world become dark, unable for us to see! Amen. | 
