(Luke 7:36-50 NKJV) Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee's house and sat down to eat. 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 she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, "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." And Jesus answered and said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." So, he said, "Teacher, say it." "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 and said, "I suppose the one whom he forgave more." And He said to him, "You have rightly judged." Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, "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 since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has 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." Then He said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?" Then He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace."
This passage is such a powerful message of love and forgiveness. There is so much to unpack here. I am positive that I have only scratched the surface, however, there are some wonderful nuggets that the Spirit has blessed me with.
We begin with Simon, a Pharisee who had been present in a gathering of people following Jesus as He ministered. Jesus had just sent John the Baptist’s followers back to him with stories proving that Jesus was the ONE that they were all waiting for. Simon invited Jesus to come to his home for a meal. Surely, he was curious about Jesus’s claims.
While dining, a woman of a notoriously sinful reputation joined the dinner without invitation. She was not there for the food though. She was drawn there by a fervent need to express her love and devotion to this man Jesus. Consider the time and the culture; it would have been unheard of for a woman like her to enter the house of a Pharisee. That simple act must have taken extreme courage and boldness. Any fear she may have had paled in comparison to her desire to worship Jesus. I wonder what it would look like if we all had that same hunger. To praise Him in spite of our fear.
There she stands; simply being in His presence caused her to weep. I imagine this wasn’t idle tears. She was “ugly crying”. Tears of shame perhaps. Maybe tears of gratefulness. Possibly tears of joy for being so close to her savior.
The only thing we read that she had was a flask of perfumed oil. It was common for Jewish women to carry a flask of oil on a string around their necks. The flasks that they carried had no opening, only a long neck. To access the oil, she would need to break the neck off, effectively ruining it for future use.
The reason I think she was ugly crying is because of what she does with her tears. She kneels at the feet of Jesus and with those tears she washes His feet. That would likely take an awful lot of tears. Not a quick few minutes of crying. This was a prolonged ugly cry.
To fully grasp this action, we must understand the customs of the time. Think about it; they walked everywhere; their footwear was likely inadequate to keep their feet clean. In fact, in a Roman house, the task of washing feet was so demeaning that it was reserved for the Jewish servants, not the Roman servants. Yet here she is humbling herself to the position of the lowest slave.
But she is not done. Now that she has wash away the filth from Christ’s feet, she dries them. Remember, she only has the flask of oil. So, what does she use? Her hair. This tells us that her hair was hanging loose and not pinned back and covered. This would have been considered indecent. But she didn’t care what the others thought. She was ministering to Jesus.
Another important fact about her hair. A woman’s hair was her “glory”, or her honor and dignity. Honor and dignity is something she had very little of.
- (1 Corinthians 11:15 NKJV) But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her for a covering.
In other words, having the reputation that she had, she washed the filth from His feet with the tears of her shame and dried them with the only thing she possessed that brought her any honor or dignity (her hair). Then she poured onto His feet her perfumed oil while continuously kissing them. Remember feet were considered gross.
Let’s move on to the flask of oil. This flask was made of alabaster, which was expensive on its own. And remember, she has to break it open, ruining the flask. The oil was a fragrant oil, which would have been more costly than plain olive oil. The point is that this act of worship not only cost her courage and pride (this was not a private act it was in the presence of the other men who were there); but it also cost her a significant amount of money. But again, she wasn’t concerned about the cost. Loving and worshipping Jesus was worth it to her. Is it to us? Are we willing to pay the cost of loving Him? He was willing to pay the cost to love us!
Imagine the scene. Complete and awkward silence, aside from her sobbing and kissing. I’m sure the guests were all uncomfortable. All but one anyway. Simon definitely was. He didn’t say it out loud, but he thought it. “He cannot be a prophet! Does He not SEE her? See who she is and what kind of woman she is?” But Jesus does. And He sees Simon too.
- In John chapter 1 we read that Jesus is the Word. This is important to this occasion because in Hebrews we learn that the Word of God always reveals the thoughts of our hearts. Jesus knew what Simon thought in his heart.
- (Hebrews 4:12 NKJV) For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Jesus points out that Simon is also a sinner (as we all are) and needed forgiveness. His parable reminds us that the more we are forgiven, the more we love He that has forgiven us. So, if this woman was as sinful as everyone thought, no wonder she was bringing to Jesus such a powerful and bold act of love. Simon was convinced that Jesus didn’t “see” this woman for the awful person she was. Jesus turns it around on him by saying, “Do YOU see her?”. Simon couldn’t “see” the act of love and worship for what it was; an illustration of how much she had been forgiven. We are guilty of this also. We see the outward appearance of people. Maybe they are rough and gritty, but we should seek to see the work of forgiveness in them and not the sin that we identify them with. This includes us. We are not identified by our past but by the gift of grace and love that Jesus offers in forgiveness.
Jesus announces her forgiveness. By His illustration of “the one who is forgiven much, loves much” that He applied to her, we can assume that He had already forgiven her in a previous encounter. In this statement to her He was making her forgiveness known publicly. He makes a point to tell her that “her faith saved her”.
Faith is the key to our forgiveness. We have to have the faith to believe that Jesus is Lord, and that he died for our sins, and that God raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in heaven. Faith enables us to receive the grace that God has given us.
- (Romans 10:9-10 NKJV) that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
- (Ephesians 2:8-9 NKJV) For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
What happens next is a beautiful picture of God’s heart for His children. This woman came to Jesus in complete humility, with the attitude that she was not worthy to even be in His presence. That was a good way for her to come to Jesus, but He did not want her to stay there. He raised her up, acknowledged her love, announced her forgiveness, and sent her in peace. He offers the same to us.
It is important that I realize and confess that I am a wretched and unworthy person when I come before Him for forgiveness. But I am not supposed to camp out there. He wants me to move forward into the new identity that He has given me. I am now forgiven and should lift my head in peace because I am a loved child of God. I am a new creation.
- (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
- (1 John 3:1-2 NKJV) Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore, the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
So, friends come before him in humility and surrender. He is not angry or disappointed in you. He loves you and wants to give you this new identity too. He is offering adoption into the wonderful promises of being His child. Then, lift your head in peace. Leave the old identity behind and walk in the knowledge of forgiveness and love.
May the Lord bless and keep you; make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May He lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.
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