Luke 7:36-50

Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman

 ³⁶Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. ³⁷When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, ³⁸and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

 ³⁹When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner."

 ⁴⁰Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you." 

      "Tell me, teacher," he said.

 ⁴¹"Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,^[d] and the other fifty.⁴²Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?"

 ⁴³Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled." 

      "You have judged correctly," Jesus said.

 ⁴⁴Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. ⁴⁷Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."

 ⁴⁸Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."

 ⁴⁹The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"

 ⁵⁰Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

At Church last night the focus was on the verse above.

The pastor told us how God will speak to us through passages in the bible when the holy spirit is with us. The Spirit will show us specific passages that are relevant to our life and things that are happening. Pretty cool huh? 

Without the Holy Spirit with us the book is only in 2D (so to speak). When He is with us it comes to LIFE!

As I said earlier the passage above was our focus for that service. We were asked to close our eyes and imagine being there. I encourage you to read through the verse and then imagine being an onlooker (not one of the characters), Just someone who is there. 

I could see it all playing out in my minds eye. I felt the pain the woman was going through. I felt the indignation and embarrassment the guests felt and the shock the servants must have felt when this lady walked in and started crying and kissing Jesus' feet.

And then I felt the love Jesus had for this woman and the appreciation he had for her. Imagine being Him and being invited to someones house only to not have been shown the common courtesies of that time. THEN to have this woman who is looked down upon and shunned for being a "sinner" weeping and wiping her tears on your feet to clean them and then annointing you with oil. The pharisees think Jesus is no prophet - if he was then he'd know he was now unclean because she had touched him. Instead, he turns to Simon and is all like (my interpretation of what Jesus is saying) "Simon! This lady who you frown upon has done a million times more than you've done for me. You think you are pretty good and that this woman is terrible. You love little, this woman loves a lot."

Then he blows them all away by forgiving her of her sins. These pharisees are shocked and I can just imagine them all talking between each other in indignation. But look who came out on top! 

What I took from this verse was this. There are many different people in this world who we might look down on and think of as "unclean", "unworthy", "a waste of time", "people we shouldn't associate with" but we need to see these people through Jesus' eyes.  He went out and hung out with people from all works of life. He didn't shun them. He didn't think they were worse than anyone else. Let's stop judging each other and look at one another with LOVE. Look beyond the person and see the circumstances. Let's look from a different point of view. WHY are they the way they are? If we all loved each other a bit more, if we were willing to "annoint" each other even when others frown upon it, If we could forgive each other then wouldn't the world be a better place?