She had no right to be there. After all, this gathering was for the religious and the elite of the town and she was neither of those things. In fact, “sinner” was the word that most people used when describing her.
Not
only was she out of place at Simon the Pharisee’s house, but she
also made a
spectacle of herself. First, she went to the place where Jesus was
seated, fell
down behind him and began crying so loudly that everyone could
hear her.
Then, unbelievably,
she touched
Jesus! Women of that day
did not even hold
their husband’s hand in public, yet she fell on Jesus and poured
expensive
perfume on him!
Lastly, she did the
unthinkable! She wiped his
feet with her
hair. Jewish women never
let their hair
down in public! It was
customary for a woman
to bind her hair up on her wedding day and only her husband would
see it down again. At the
time, this was the height of immodesty
(Luke 7:36-38)
As he watched these
things take
place, Simon, the good and righteous Bible teacher, began to think
that he may
have been wrong about Jesus. “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!” (verse
39). Most scholars believe
that
“sinner”, as it is used here, is just a nice way of saying
“prostitute”. Obviously,
Simon had no respect for this
woman and he was quickly losing respect for Jesus.
It is quite a
contrast. On one side of
the table, the intelligent,
well thought of Bible scholar, Simon, visits with Jesus, but he is
aloof and
very judgmental. On the
other side of
the table, an unnamed and unappreciated woman pours her heart out
in thanksgiving
to the point of public embarrassment.
Why do these two
people react so
differently?
To one, Jesus is
interesting. To the other,
he is
essential!
Simon thought he was
good on his
own and that he really did not need Jesus.
The woman knew exactly how much she needed God’s
forgiveness, so Jesus’
message created a huge response in her (verses 41-50).
It is one thing to
know about
Jesus. It is another thing to know Jesus himself.
Faith becomes real
and effective when
the gospel story becomes my story.
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