Een preek voor elke dag · Geloofstoerusting

Ds. J.M. Molenaar | Ziet u deze vrouw...? | Lukas 7 vers 44a

·43 min·3 clips

Jesus forgives the woman's sins because she has shown great love, revealing forgiveness as the source of love.

1. Ds. J.M. Molenaar preaches on Luke 7:36-50, the episode in which an unnamed sinful woman anoints Jesus's feet at Simon the Pharisee's table, at the Pauluskerk in Dordrecht. 2. The preacher is identified only as Ds. Molenaar; no guest is present — this is a solo expository sermon delivered to a congregation in the Dutch Reformed tradition. 3. The core thesis is encapsulated in Jesus's question to Simon: 'Do you see this woman?' — which Molenaar treats as a question directed at every listener about whether they truly understand the nature of forgiveness. 4. Molenaar opens by quoting Martyn Lloyd-Jones: 'A man who does not realize that he needs forgiveness, cannot be a Christian,' establishing that recognising need — not church attendance or moral character — is the defining Christian mark. 5. He reads both Luke 7:11-17 (the raising of the widow's son at Nain) and Luke 7:36-50, arguing the woman likely heard about the Nain miracle and was already broken before she entered Simon's house. 6. Simon the Pharisee is described as genuinely interested in Jesus — not a hostile debater — who invites him to dinner and engages in serious biblical conversation, making his failure to see the woman all the more pointed. 7. The woman's gestures are enumerated: she weeps so heavily her tears fall on Jesus's feet, undoes her hair to dry them (an act reserved for one's husband in that culture), kisses his feet repeatedly, and breaks an alabaster bottle of expensive perfume to pour over him. 8. Simon's silent internal judgment is that a true prophet would have known the woman's reputation and rejected her touch — Molenaar notes Simon does not intervene, leaving the confrontation to Jesus. 9. Jesus tells the parable of the two debtors: one owes 500 pennies (described as one and a half years' salary), the other 50 (one and a half months' salary), and the creditor cancels both debts entirely; Simon answers that the one forgiven more would love more. 10. Molenaar applies the parable directly: the woman's extravagant love is the fruit of having been forgiven much, not the cause of forgiveness — 'Her sins are not forgiven because she has loved much; she has loved much because her sins are forgiven.' 11. The sermon structures the woman's response in three Dutch terms: verootmoediging (humility — she stands at the feet, not the head), vasthechten (clinging — she cannot be pulled away from Jesus), and verwondering (wonder — she pours out the costly perfume without calculation). 12. Molenaar quotes Dominee G. Boer: 'Many today are saved without ever having lain in the water' — meaning many churchgoers have never arrived at the feet of Jesus as a genuine bankrupt sinner. 13. He describes two types of people in the congregation: those who look at the woman like Simon — from intellectual distance — and those who see the woman and feel a deep recognition: 'That is me.' 14. The preacher addresses the Simon-type directly, saying Jesus does not drive away those like Simon but longs to open their eyes and fill them with his love. 15. He offers a practical exercise for those who feel the distance: write Jesus's question on a large sheet of paper, fold your hands, and pray for the gap between your intellectual understanding and the woman's visceral attachment to be closed. 16. The second Martyn Lloyd-Jones citation frames the paradox: Christians who want more joy typically seek conferences and church activity, but Lloyd-Jones argues more joy comes from deeper discovery of personal guilt. 17. Molenaar resolves the apparent contradiction — more sin-awareness making you sadder — by introducing the concept of 'zalig verdriet' (blessed grief): grief directed toward God produces a joy the world cannot know. 18. The sermon's tone is intimate and pastoral, frequently shifting from third-person exegesis to direct second-person address ('you,' 'your life'), punctuated with rhetorical questions. 19. This episode is best suited to listeners in the Dutch Reformed tradition who engage with expository preaching and are familiar with figures like Martyn Lloyd-Jones. 20. Listeners expecting practical self-help applications or non-confessional content are unlikely to find this episode relevant.

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