Begin with two minutes of silence and stillness before God.
One of my favorite accounts in the Gospels is the story in Luke 7:36-55. It’s such an incredible story of love and forgiveness. Apparently, Luke even thought so because he begins writing this account with the word “Behold” - an exclamation telling us to observe something remarkable that is happening.
Let’s set the scene. In the earlier parts of this chapter, we hear accounts of Jesus’ miraculous healings as He traveled. Now, He has been invited to dine with Simon, a Pharisee, a group of self-righteous legalists who did not believe Jesus was the Messiah and who were appalled at His willingness to be a “friend of sinners.” Nonetheless, Simon must’ve figured that Jesus would make for an interesting dinner party guest. In these times, a dinner party was much more than a casual meal with friends on a Friday night. It was often a gathering of rabbis, officials, and other important members of society, at which they reclined at the table and engaged in lengthy conversations on religion and politics. Many Biblical scholars say it was an event townspeople attended simply to watch and listen to the discourse, even though they were not allowed to partake in the meal or discussions. Then, in walks a woman. We are immediately told who she is in verse 37 - “a sinner.” Or as it has come to be understood, a prostitute.
She approaches Jesus, weeping so hard that her tears are described as raining down on Jesus’ feet. She lets her hair down, a very shameful thing to do in this culture, and wipes Jesus’ feet. Then, she anoints His feet with an alabaster vial of perfume, a precious and expensive treasure that she was most likely able to purchase with earnings from her sinful lifestyle. No one pulls her away, so she sits at Jesus’ feet, embracing and kissing them. Wow. What a display of adoration for Jesus, completely motivated by love and faith, and totally unhindered by societal norms or the opinions of others. Unlike the others sitting at the table, this woman realized that she was a sinner in desperate need of rescue, and she knew that Jesus could offer her forgiveness. No one else in the room mattered to her - only Jesus. There was no way she couldn’t be overcome with this amount of love and emotion in the presence of her Savior.
Immediately, Simon is appalled. As a Pharisee, he has sought to separate himself from the unclean and the sinful. Now, a notoriously sinful woman has not only entered his home but also disrupted his entire dinner. And even worse, Jesus has not pushed her defiling touch away. There was no way that Jesus could be the Son of God when He didn’t even seem to realize that this woman in front of Him was a sinner, right? When Simon voices his disgust, Jesus responds with a parable in verses 41-47, which He ends with the following words: “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”
This parable reveals that our love for Christ grows in direct relationship to our understanding of the magnitude of our sins and of the extraordinary forgiveness of our Father. Just like the woman in the story, the outpouring of love for God in our lives should be fueled by the recognition of our great sinfulness and our great Savior. When we realize how desperately we need Jesus, we can’t help but fall at His feet and worship.
Take two minutes to reflect in silence.