Tuesday: Read today:
Pages 123-126 - The
Way-40 Days of Reflection (Daily Devotion Guide)
Friend of Prostitutes
“One of the Pharisees
invited him to eat with him. He entered into the Pharisee’s house, and sat at
the table. Behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that he
was reclining in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of ointment.
standing behind at his feet weeping, she
began to wet his feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her
head, kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.”(Luke 7:36-38).
I love this story and
what it teaches us about Jesus and his way. It seems that he was eating in the
home of a Pharisee named Simon, which tells us that he befriended Pharisees as
well as ordinary sinners. As Jesus ate, a known prostitute from the town
interrupted the meal and entered Simon’s house. This in itself would have
seemed scandalous to Simon. Remember, the word Pharisee meant “separated”—Pharisees sought to distant themselves
from sin. Yet a prostitute had entered his house! She carried an alabaster jar
of ointment, which likely was the most precious thing she owned. Perhaps she
had been saving this scented oil for the day she would be rescued from her life
of prostitution by a man who would love her, not simply use her.
Had she heard Jesus
preach earlier in the day? Had he healed her of some affliction or set her free
from some oppressive force? Had he helped her experience hope and forgiveness
and love? All we know is that Jesus’ impact upon her must have been profound:
she brought her most precious gift to give him, and wept at his feet.
We see in this supper
scene two very different ways that religious leaders might view a prostitute.
If you continue to read the story (verses 40-50) you’ll find that Simon was
offended that Jesus allowed a prostitute to touch him. Jesus felt differently.
He saw her anointing of him and the tears that went with it as gifts,
expressions of the woman’s gratitude for the grace he offered her. Jesus asked
Simon a telling question: “Do you see this woman?” Simon saw what she did for a
living; he did not see her as a human being, a beloved child of God.
A number of women who
were drug addicts and prostitutes worship at the church I serve. Most are a
part of a ministry called Healing House, led by a remarkable woman named
Bobbi-jo, herself a former addict and prostitute. Being around Bobbi-jo and the
woman at Healing House makes me more Christian. I have had the joy of baptizing
some of them and their children. One of these young women came to me after
church recently to tell me, with tears in her eyes, how grateful she was for
the church and how God had worked through it to welcome her. Her sincerity and
tears reminded me of what it means to be the church.
Simon saw in the woman
with the ointment a prostitute who had no business interrupting his supper and
touching a fellow rabbi. Jesus saw her as a human being, loved by God, and need
of grace. Are you more like Simon or Jesus?
Lord, it is so easy to judge others. Teach me to see
people as you see them, and to love them as you loved them when you walked on
this earth. Amen.
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