Big Sin…Little Sin
Keith McFarren
July 12, 2026
Luke 7: 36-42
    G. K. Chesterton
was looked at by many as a genius who combined his talents as a novelist,
critic, poet, essayist, and popular theologian to become one of the most
prolific and gifted writers of the entire 20th century.
    Toward the end of
his life he decided to write his autobiography.
Being the deep thinker that he was he tried to state in a single
sentence the most important lesson he had learned during his lifetime.  
    That’s what King
Solomon set out to do when he wrote the Book of Ecclesiastes.  When he became king, Solomon asked God for
wisdom and he became the wisest man in the world.  
    But with all his
wisdom and practical insight on life, the one thing Solomon failed to do was to
follow his own advice and it turned into one big mess.  
    As his life came
to an end, he looked back with an attitude of humility and repentance and wrote
the Book of Ecclesiastes hoping to spare his readers the bitterness of learning
life’s lessons through personal experience like he did.
    Solomon found that
human wisdom doesn’t contain all the answers and that the search for pleasure,
wealth and success is ultimately disappointing.
He spent his lifetime searching for happiness and what he discovered is that
it is impossible to find true happiness because we’re never satisfied with what
we already have.
    It took G. K. Chesterton a
long time to come up with one single sentence that demonstrated the most important
lesson he had learned in life.  But he
finally concluded that the most important thing he learned was that the
critical factor in life is whether you take things in life for granted or
whether you take things in life “with gratitude.”  
He concluded that an attitude of
gratitude (or thankfulness) is one of the prime indicators of our relationship
with God.  In other words, our
relationship with God is proportional to our gratitude towards God.  
And if you are living a life without
gratitude, or living a life without thankfulness, then either you have never
received God’s grace or you simply don’t understand what it is.
    We’re not sure
what led a Pharisee named Simon to invite Jesus to his home to share a meal but
that’s where we find ourselves this morning.
    Dinner parties
during the 1st century were not like our parties today.  While the guests were reclining at the table,
the needy people were allowed to come in and take any leftover food that wasn’t
eaten.  Plus, those who were curious as
to what was going on (nosey neighbors) were allowed to come into the house and
sit against the wall and listen in on the conversation.
    So it was really
no surprise when an uninvited woman walked into the room.  But what was a surprise was that they quickly
recognized who she was.  It wasn’t  just any woman…it was the town
prostitute.  Certainly not the type of
woman who would ever set foot in a home owned by a Pharisee.
    And then it
happened.  A social tragedy to say the
least.  The crying…the tears on Jesus’
feet…her hair…the kisses…and finally, the perfume.  This is a woman whose very touch is
considered contaminated.  What right does
she have to do what she did in the home of a Pharisee?  The guests are stunned and the room falls
silent.  
    Simon the Pharisee
can’t believe his eyes.  He’s shocked by
the woman’s actions and emotions…but he’s even more shocked by Jesus’ response
to all of this.  By all rights Jesus
should have jumped up, brushed all the cooties off and condemned the woman for
what she did.  He should have screamed at
her and sent her away – “Get away from me.
Go on get out of here you no good for nothing….”  
    But that’s not the
way it happened.  In fact, Jesus not only
didn’t discourage the woman…he actually accepted her and he encouraged
her.  And all Simon can say is“If this man were a prophet, he would
know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is – that she is a sinner.”
    Here’s the problem
with Simon.  First, he has contempt for
the woman…because she’s a woman.  But
more so because she’s a social outcast.
She is an untouchable, unacceptable sinner.  A person whose sins have made her an outcast
to the whole community.  No moral,
respectable person would want anything to do with her.  “It’s bad enough that she’s in my house, but
for her to act this way is unacceptable…it outrageous.”
    Secondly, he has a
problem with Jesus.  There was something
about Jesus, something that Simon couldn’t quite put his finger on.  There was something about Jesus that made it
difficult for  Simon to look at him as
just another guy.  Jesus seemed to be
like a prophet…or perhaps more.  But how
could he be a prophet and condone the behavior of this woman?  Surely a prophet would have more insight and
discernment than Jesus displayed.  
    Everything in
Simon’s experience told him that good normal people do all they can to protect
themselves from people like this woman.
Good people try to stay good and they do it by staying away from sinful
people.
    Thirdly, Simon is
a man who had a lot of confidence.  A man
that was sure of himself.  A man…a man
that reminds me a little bit of people like you and me.  
     If he really had
to…if his back was against the wall or he was caught between a rock and a hard
place, he wouldn’t be afraid to  admit
that he too was a sinner…but certainly not a sinner like this woman.  
    Sure he’d sinned,
we all have, but a little sin here and there didn’t hurt anything.  After all, the sins Simon had committed
during his lifetime weren’t nearly as bad as being a prostitute.  If he had to, he would be willing to admit
that he was a sinner…but his sins, at least, were little ones.  
    He was nothing
like her!  The things that she had done
were outrageous.  They were against
biblical teachings.  They were
inexcusable. They were blatantly wrong.
Her sins were unforgivable.  
    Her sins were far
greater than anything he had ever done and that, in the eyes of Simon the
Pharisee, was the fundamental difference between him and her.  And if Jesus couldn’t tell the difference
between his sins and her sins…then there was no way in the world that Jesus
could really be a prophet.
     I’m not nearly as
bad as she is.  My sin isn’t nearly as
bad as hers.  Which should make us wonder…Is
there such a thing as a “little sin?”  Is
one sin any worse than another?
    I mean, after all, Simon
felt that in the scheme of things he was a “little sinner” as compared to the
woman.  And that’s how we tend to
categorize ourselves.  That’s how we tend
to categorize our sins.   Our sins versus
their sins.  
    Our sins?  Well, our sins are never as bad as
theirs.  They did this and they did that…and
me?  Well, I only did this…not nearly as
bad as what they did.
    Did you know that God dislikes people who
are full of self pride?  People who are
self – righteous?  People who love to
find fault and criticize others?  
    Did you know that
God dislikes the sins of the spirit just as much as he dislikes sins of the
flesh.  Did you know that God not only
dislikes the sinful things that we do (things from out here) but he also
dislikes the sinful things that we think about…the sins that come from here
(brain) and here (heart) as well.
    And that was precisely Simon’s
problem.  Because he thought his sins
were just little sins, sins that maybe didn’t really hurt anyone, he didn’t
think he needed God’s grace.  He didn’t
understand what God’s forgiveness really meant.    
    Simon was a lot
more like the woman than he thought he was.
Not only was the woman spiritually bankrupt…so was Simon.  The one thing he needed more than anything
was to realize the magnitude of his need for forgiveness and that his greatest
need was standing right there in front of him.

    His greatest need
was to have a savior like Jesus to forgive him of his sins…but he was too blind
to see.
    Back in 1989
Salman Rushdie wrote a book entitled The Satanic Verses.  The book infuriated the entire Muslim world
because they claimed it demeaned the prophet Mohammed.  And even though Rushdie issued a heartfelt
apology for hurting the feelings of those who were followers of Islam,
religious riots broke out all over the world and the Ayatollah Khomeini put out
a bounty on Rushdie’s life.  Muslims
everywhere were to be on the lookout for Salman Rushdie and if they saw him
they were to kill him.
    Even though
Rushdie apologized to the entire Islamic world the Ayatollah Khomeini responded
with this, “Even if Salman Rushdie repents and becomes the most pious man of
all time, it is incumbent on every Muslim to employ everything he has, his life
and wealth, to send [this man] to hell.”
    For some people a
sin is like an indelible stain on a piece of clothing that will never go
away.  And forgiveness is out of the
question.  Forgiveness in an
impossibility.  
   That’s how Simon
viewed the woman in our story…just like Khomeini viewed Rushdie.  In Khomeini’s mind Rushdie would be forever
guilty with no chance of remediation or no chance of redemption.  
    Back in the 1st
century this is how the Pharisees felt about the prostitute.  And I would imagine that this is how the
woman in our story this morning felt about herself.  She’s made her bed and now she has to lay in
it.  There was no hope.  What’s done is done.  She’ll forever be the outcast of the
community.
    But Luke shows us
what happens when God’s love becomes part of a human situation.  Luke shows us what happens with the coming of
God’s kingdom in the form of Jesus.  Luke
shows us that a new day is dawning.  That
suddenly with the coming of Jesus, the world is filled with generosity.  Suddenly the world is filled with grace.  Suddenly, what used to be dark…has now become
light.  
    With the coming of
Jesus, the world is suddenly filled with love and forgiveness.  With the coming of Jesus, suddenly love and
forgiveness set new standards.  Suddenly
the bar is raised and new expectations are allowed to emerge…expectations for
people like you and me…expectations for sinners…like you and me.
    With the coming of
Jesus, grace is plentiful and suddenly, “Your sins are forgiven.”   Not just for some people…but for all
people.  Not just the big sins.  Not just the little sins.  But all of our sins.
    G. K. Chesterton
said that the secret to life is gratitude.
That’s what our story is about this morning…gratitude.  It’s also a story of two different
women.  The one that went into the
house…and the one who came out.  The
people inside the house didn’t like what they saw…they didn’t like what took
place in there.  They didn’t like the
idea of forgiveness.  They didn’t like
the idea of grace.  But Jesus said, “Your
sins are forgiven.”  And the woman graciously
accepted it.
“Your sins
are forgiven” are revolutionary words…words that lead to a newfound
freedom.  For the first time in her life
Jesus has made her feel clean instead of dirty.
For the first time in her life she can freely walk into a Pharisee’s
home or she can go anywhere she wants to go.
She can go to the mall or she can go to Target or to McDonalds and no
matter what anyone else says about her she can reply: “Jesus has set me free
from what I once was.”
There are no little sins.  But then again, there is no such thing as a
little forgiveness.  Forgiveness is all
encompassing.  It’s absolute.  And…it’s free.
    Maybe it’s time to
remember what Jesus did for the forgiveness of your sins…the big ones and the
little ones.  Maybe it’s time to show
your gratitude for what God has done for you.