From Hiding to His Feet
In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.
May the blessing of the Father who calls us, and His Only Begotten Son who saves us, and the Holy Spirit who sanctifies and transforms us be with us all, that we may hear His word and bear fruit—thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. Amen.
Introduction
The first question God ever asked a human being was three words long:
“Where are you?”
Genesis 3:9
Adam had sinned, and he was hiding among the trees. God did not ask because He had lost Adam. He asked because Adam had lost himself.
One chapter later God asks a second question, this time to Cain:
“Where is Abel your brother?”
Genesis 4:9
Those of us who are walking through Genesis on Thursday evenings have lived with these two questions for weeks: Where are you? Where is your brother? In a sense, the rest of the Bible is God waiting for an answer.
Today, in the house of Simon the Pharisee, both questions are answered. One person in that house answers them well, and one answers them badly. The surprise of this Gospel is which one is which.
I want us to follow three movements: hiding, coming, and being sent in peace.
1. Hiding: Adam and Simon
Look first at Adam. When he sinned, he did three things.
“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.”
Genesis 3:7
“Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”
Genesis 3:8
“The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
Genesis 3:12
Cover. Hide. Blame. That is the oldest reflex of the human heart.
Now look at Simon. He is a religious man. He has invited the Lord to his own table. Nothing about him looks like Adam among the trees.
“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.”
Luke 7:39
In one sentence Simon does what Adam did. He blames the woman, and he questions the Lord. Adam said, “the woman whom You gave.” Simon says, “if He were a prophet.”
Simon’s fig leaves are finer than Adam’s. They are sewn from a good reputation, from correct behavior, and from the comfort of believing that I am better than someone else. But they do the same work: they keep a person from standing honestly before God.
That is why Simon is so close to Christ and yet so far from Him. Christ is reclining at his table, and Simon has given Him no water, no kiss, and no oil. A person can have the Lord in the house and still be hiding from Him.
St. Cyril of Alexandria, preaching on this Gospel, teaches that Simon’s duty was to set his own life in order rather than pass sentence on the weak.
And notice the gentleness of the Lord. He does not humiliate Simon in front of his guests. He simply says:
“Simon, I have something to say to you.”
Luke 7:40
It is the same voice that walked in the garden. It is “Where are you?” spoken across a dinner table.
2. Coming: The Woman at His Feet
Now look at the woman. The Gospel does not give us her name. It gives us only her reputation: “a woman in the city who was a sinner” (Luke 7:37).
She had more to hide than anyone in that room, and she does the opposite of Adam.
Adam covered himself. She kneels before people who despise her and wipes the Lord’s feet with her hair. Adam hid among the trees. She walks into the one house where she is least welcome. Adam blamed. She does not say a single word. In this whole Gospel, she never speaks. Her tears speak for her.
This is the answer God was waiting for in the garden: “Where are you?”
Here, Lord. At Your feet.
The second question is answered here too.
In Genesis 4, two brothers bring two offerings. Scripture says:
“The LORD respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering.”
Genesis 4:4–5
Notice that Scripture names the person before the gift. Hebrews says:
“By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.”
Hebrews 11:4
In Simon’s house there are again two offerings. Simon offers a dinner. The woman offers tears, kisses, and fragrant oil. And the Lord sets them side by side:
“You gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears... You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet... You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil.”
Luke 7:44–46
Then comes Cain’s question. God asked Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” Cain answered, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9).
Now the Lord turns toward the woman, but He speaks to Simon:
“Do you see this woman?”
Luke 7:44
Simon had been looking at her the whole time. But he had not seen her. He saw a category: “a sinner.” Christ saw a daughter coming home.
Beloved, this is a hard word for those of us who are in church every week. We can become so careful about identifying sin that we stop seeing the sinner as our brother or our sister. The one who has no tears for his own sins will always find it easy to count someone else’s.
And we do this not only to others; sometimes we do it to ourselves. One failure becomes an identity. One wound becomes a label. One mistake becomes a sentence: “I am hopeless. I will never change.” Christ does not deny our sin, but neither does He reduce us to it. He sees the person He created and the person grace can restore.
The Church has never forgotten this woman. In the Midnight Prayer of the Agpeya, we remember her repentance and ask the Lord for tears of repentance of our own.
St. Cyril urges his people to stand where she stood, saying that “the tears of him that repenteth are a sweet savour to God.”
3. Sent in Peace
Now hear how the Lord ends it. He tells a short parable. Two men owe a debt, one five hundred denarii and the other fifty. Neither can pay.
“And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both.”
Luke 7:42
Which of them will love him more? Simon answers correctly: the one who was forgiven more.
This parable guards us from a misunderstanding. The woman did not buy forgiveness with her tears. No one pays this debt. Her tears are repentance, and repentance opens the heart to receive what only grace can give.
So her love is not the price of forgiveness. It is the fruit of forgiveness. That is why the Lord says both:
“Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much.”
Luke 7:47
“Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
Luke 7:50
The guests are shaken: “Who is this who even forgives sins?” (Luke 7:49). St. Cyril answers their question: they were learning that this is not merely one of the prophets. This is God the Word Himself, who became man for us.
And those final words matter: “Go in peace.” She came burdened by her sins; she leaves forgiven and at peace.
Where do we hear this reality today? We hear it in confession. We come without fig leaves and without blaming anyone. We name our sins honestly before God, the absolution is prayed, and the same Christ who received this woman receives us.
And every Divine Liturgy teaches us the same movement: we come as sinners, we stand before the Lord, we receive His mercy, and then the Church sends us back into the world in peace.
Perhaps someone here is thinking, “My sins are too many and too old.” St. Cyril speaks to you as well. He tells us not to be troubled by the greatness of our former sins, because the grace that justifies the sinner is greater still. St. Paul says:
“But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.”
Romans 5:20
Conclusion
Adam heard the question and hid. Cain heard the second question and shrugged. Simon sat at the table with God and stayed behind his fig leaves.
And a woman with no name and a bad reputation gave the answer heaven had been waiting for since the garden: here I am, at Your feet.
In a few minutes the Lord will be in this house, on this altar. He will not ask how we look to the people standing beside us. He will ask what He has always asked.
Where are you?
Through the intercession of our Lady, the Theotokos Saint Mary, and the prayers of Saint Peter and Saint Andrew, may the Lord grant us true repentance, mercy, and peace.
May the Lord bless us and transform us — that our homes may stand on the Rock, our hands may serve in the harvest, and our hearts may long for Heaven. Through the intercession of our Lady, the Theotokos Saint Mary, and the prayers of Saint Peter and Saint Andrew. Glory be to God forever. Amen.
Prepared and presented by Hegumen Fr. Andrew Awad, D.Min.