Luke 7:36-50
Our text today is Luke 7:36-50, only 14 verses, but I challenge you to get your Bible (or Bible app) and read them. I started reading them early this morning and thinking about them off and on through the day. It is amazing how much we don’t see until we mediate on the verses.
It is the story of Jesus having dinner at the home of Simon the Pharisee. You might not recognize the name of the home owner, but you will remember the story. While he was there, a woman, deep in sorrow for her sins, came up behind Jesus and washed his feet with her tears.
There are other details to the story: She came up behind Jesus while he was eating at the house of the Pharisee. She wept on his feet till they were so wet that she could wash them with her tears. To dry them off, instead of a towel, she used her hair. She then kissed his feet and put perfume on them. What a great demonstration of love and gratitude!
Simon the Pharisee saw this and cast doubt on Jesus. When we read the story, the point we often see is how much she loved Jesus, but Jesus calls our attention to WHY she loved Him.
Here is the why. She did all this because her sins were forgiven by God and this was her way of thanking God and honoring His son. We know this because Jesus told us this in verse 47, “Therefore I tell you, because her many sins have been forgiven, she has loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”
Jesus is telling us today that those who feel the forgiveness of God, will love God the most. This woman stood weeping because of her sins.
If you do not feel a need for forgiveness, you will not love deeply. Well, that’s what Jesus said.
Before we go, let me ask you just one more thinking question. Were her tears, tears of sorrow or tears of joy? What I am really asking is was she weeping because she was a sinner or, was she weeping because joy of her forgiveness?
Lonnie Davis