My favorite book of the Bible by a wide margin is the Gospel of John, but my favorite story in the Bible is found in chapter 7 of Luke’s gospel. In this story, Jesus is dining at the house of a Pharisee named Simon. While Jesus is reclining at the table with his host and the other guests, a woman comes in, falls down at Jesus’ feet, and begins to weep. She anoints Jesus’ head with perfume from an alabaster box, washes his feet with her tears, kisses them, anoints them with more of the perfume, and then wipes them with her hair. When Simon sees this, he thinks to himself that Jesus can’t really be a prophet, because if he were a prophet, “he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.” Given the way this is phrased, I assume the woman must have been either a prostitute or else was known for being “loose,” as my parents’ generation would say.
Jesus, being aware of what Simon is thinking, presents him with a parable concerning two men who owed money to a lender. One of them owed 50 days’ wages, while the other owed 500 days’ wages. When the men were unable to pay, the moneylender forgave them both. Jesus then asks Simon, “which of the two will love him [the moneylender] more?” Simon replies, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.”
Jesus confirms that Simon has answered correctly, and then says this to him:
“Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with perfume. For this reason, I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he is forgiven little loves little.”
Then Jesus said to the woman: “Your sins have been forgiven. Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
There are two things I would draw your attention to here:
First, this woman was notorious in her community for being a “sinner,” someone with whom no one decent would be caught dead. In spite of this, she came to Jesus and found forgiveness. Maybe tonight you feel as though you are so filthy Christ could never stoop to love you. If so, remember this woman. Jesus had a reputation for hanging out with people who were less than respectable. In fact, his enemies called him “a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” To this, Jesus replied, “It is not the healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means, ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:12-13). In Luke 19, when he dines with a tax collector named Zacchaeus, who turns to him and promises to reform his life, Jesus comments: “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
If you’re a wretch, an outcast, despised and sick at heart, he came for you.
Second, notice that Jesus commends the woman for her faith. But how did she show faith, you might wonder. She’s not recorded as saying anything.
The woman showed her faith in coming to Jesus in humility. It was the job of common servants in those days to wash the feet of a guest, and this they would have done with water and cloth of some type; but this woman washed his feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You can’t humble yourself much more than that. Further, she anointed Jesus with a type of expensive perfume, likely given to her by one of her “clients,” or else purchased with money she had made in her trade.
She came to Jesus because she knew who he was. As the Pharisee Nicodemus said, “We know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him.” The woman knew that Jesus had been sent by God. Further, Jesus had forgiven sins on a number of occasions, and had been castigated for it by the Jewish leaders. Jesus was preaching a gospel of “repent and believe,” and this woman exemplified both. She regretted her past and wanted to be reconciled to God, and she knew Jesus was God’s chosen. She showed her faith by recognizing him for who he was and what he could do. On another occasion, in Matthew 9, two blind men came to Jesus, asking him to restore their sight. Jesus asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” These men believed in both who Jesus was and what he could do. The woman in Luke 7 showed the same faith.
Further, Jesus emphasized that, because he had come from God, with the authority of God, all who accepted him also accepted God:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send, receives me; and he who receives me receives him who sent me.” – John 13:20
Here’s the point of all of this: No matter what you’ve done, how dirty you feel, and how badly people may treat you because of your past, no matter how much you might want to shy away from him, Jesus came for you. If you want to be forgiven, turn to him openly, showing that you know who he is and what he can do for you. Your faith can save you, too.
“Come unto me all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” – Matthew 11:28-29
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,
To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” – Luke 4:18-19
