Daily Scripture: Isaiah 55:1 “All you who are thirsty, come to the water!
You without money, come, buy, and eat!
Yes, come! Buy wine and milk
without money — it’s free!
2 Why spend money for what isn’t food,
your wages for what doesn’t satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and you will eat well,
you will enjoy the fat of the land.
3 Open your ears, and come to me;
listen well, and you will live —
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
the grace I assured David.
4 I have given him as a witness to the peoples,
a leader and lawgiver for the peoples.
5 You will summon a nation you do not know,
and a nation that doesn’t know you will run to you,
for the sake of Adonai your God,
the Holy One of Isra’el, who will glorify you.”
6 Seek Adonai while he is available,
call on him while he is still nearby.
7 Let the wicked person abandon his way
and the evil person his thoughts;
let him return to Adonai,
and he will have mercy on him;
let him return to our God,
for he will freely forgive.
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
and your ways are not my ways,” says Adonai.
9 “As high as the sky is above the earth
are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Reflection Questions:
Forgiveness is not first and foremost a human impulse, a sociological way to get along. Living surrounded by cultures in which “revenge” was the dominant way of handling failures and conflicts, the prophet Isaiah pointed out that forgiveness is not “natural” to us at all. But, he added, God is “generous with forgiveness” precisely because God’s ways are higher than ours.
- The Bible’s teaching about forgiveness always starts with the fact that all of us, in our brokenness, do things that hurt others, ourselves and God. We need forgiveness. How clearly do you sense that, in relation to God and to others, you are, in Isaiah’s imagery, “thirsty” and have “no money”? From whom, besides God, do you need forgiveness?
- Whether in global politics, business and legal settings, or even in family or community disputes, people sometimes view forgiveness as a sign of “weakness.” How do you react inwardly when Isaiah says God’s mercy and pardon are a “higher” way than the usual human response? Think about a time when someone forgave you. Did it make you think less or more of the person who forgave you?
Today’s Prayer:
Lord of all, in the face of wrong, I too often want to “get even.” Thank you that your ways are higher than mine and that you are generous with forgiveness. Amen.
Insights from Nicole Alison
Nicole Alison serves as Coordinating Assistant to Operations at The Church of the Resurrection. Nicole finds her voice through writing. In her spare time she is a personal blogger and a ghost-writer for the Next Steps Pastor at a local church in Lenexa. Her passion is to share the love of Jesus through personal stories of redemption.
Forgiveness can be such a hard thing to accept for ourselves or give to others. As I ponder this week’s scriptures, I remember a time when I was lost and searching for a love I couldn’t give myself. In quiet need, I had peeled open the cover of the neglected Bible on my bedside table, aching for some answer. As I flipped through the thin, unused pages, my heart found a glimmer of light in an unlikely place. I met a scorned, dirty, and forgotten prostitute with an alabaster jar. I was mesmerized. Her deep need to be loved and accepted despite her wretched nature tugged on my heart strings. Others’ harsh judgments and her raw vulnerability brought beauty to her plight.
I am taken back in time as I ponder the story of the woman with the alabaster jar. I imagine her eyes welling up with tears as she picks up the beautifully made calcite jar with swirls of cream and brown from her bedside table. I picture her gripping it close to her heart to breathe in the lovely scent one last time. I can see her surveying the meager room in which she lived, knowing that she would be giving away her most prized possession. But giving up the expensive perfume was not why she was about to give in to weeping. She was anxiously searching for something more than momentary passions that secured her future. Her soul detached, she wanted so badly to feel again. She was desperate for love.
When she had overheard that Jesus was eating at one of the Pharisees’ houses, she had run as fast as her sandaled feet could carry her to fetch the precious jar of perfume. Her only hope was that the divine scent could cover all her stains. As she walked down the dusty road towards the house where Jesus was, she could feel the stares of the town’s people boring into her . But for once, they didn’t matter. Her pace quickened as her resolve grew greater and greater to be in the presence of something she had never known–holiness.
When she crossed the threshold of the Pharisee’s house, she could see his shaken expression. Through his ferocious glare she could “hear” his thoughts: “How could this harlot dare to come to my clean house?!” The condemning look of disgust was something she had come to know very well. The emotions that she had pushed down over the years were now bursting through the numbness of her heart. She ignored the cautionary scowl and found respite when she made her way to the man she had come to see–her only hope.
All the disguised pain unraveled as she knelt to Jesus. Tears rolled down her cheeks into the tangled locks of her hair, onto the feet of a man she believed could save her. Without a second thought, she broke open the alabaster jar and anointed the feet of the Messiah with the expensive perfume. The Pharisee continued stewing in his judgment at the unrelenting tears and persistence of the woman he only knew as the town prostitute. It was no secret to Jesus what the Pharisee was thinking.
In the midst of the woman’s humble assertion, Jesus speaks up; making it clear that the woman with the alabaster jar was more than what met the eye:
“Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.
I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love. Then Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’” {Luke 7:44-48, NLT}
The Pharisee and other men in the house were stunned. Who was this man who would forgive such ugliness? But Jesus saw past what the rest chose to see and saw to the core of this woman searching for love.
“And Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’” {Luke 7:50, NLT}
At the feet of Jesus, the woman with the alabaster jar was covered with a blanket of pure, white snow. She was reconciled to the Lord–new and complete. Others looked at her with awe, wondering how such a wretch deserved a second thought. As I closed my Bible that had been collecting dust for so long, my life was changed. This woman who lived ages ago revealed to me who God is and how much he loves us, loves me. It wasn’t the beautiful fragrance that covered a sinner’s stain–it was a bold act of faith and a merciful God who saved. It wasn’t perfect character that was reconciled to the goodness of God–it was a desperate plea, a humble submission.
Jesus is waiting for his children to come, just as we are. When we walk in faith we will be set free.
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