Extravagant Devotion

Luke 7:37-38

"And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with he tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume."

The Holy Spirit has brought me back to this passage several times in the past few weeks, so I have really wanted to stay in it long enough to GET it. Jesus is invited to dinner at a Pharisee's house. The word Pharisee is indicative of a person who would have been religious and "separate" which is what the word Pharisee means in Hebrew. A woman who is known to be "immoral" hears that Jesus is in town and eating at this Pharisee's house. She brings a container of expensive perfume with her and begins literally showering Him with affection. She weeps over Him and washes His feet with her tears and wipes them with her hair. There are so many culturally unacceptable things about this! Not only that she approached this great teacher, but that she lets her hair down and kisses His feet is culturally shocking. This woman was surely aware of how she would be perceived.

I have played this picture through my head a few times now and it stirs my heart in an incredible way. I imagine her hearing that Jesus is in town and her heart immediately begins beating hard. She has heard that He loves and forgives anyone. She is unusually drawn to Him... as though she would die without knowing Him for herself. Without really thinking, she grabs a container of expensive perfume and has ONE GOAL to find Jesus. Maybe she doesn't even think ahead to what she will do when she sees Him, but just knows that she HAS to be in His presence. I picture her walking into the house knowing that what she's about to do is CRAZY and that the on-lookers will greatly disapprove, but nothing can stop her now. Her heart is so full of worship and love for this man she comes to His feet and lets all of her emotions pour over Him. His presence and love fill all of the gaping holes that have been in her heart for so many years now. It's as though time stands still and she knows that in part she was created for this very moment.

The Pharisee thought to himself, if Jesus were a prophet He would know what type of person this is, that she is a sinner. Ironically, Jesus being a prophet, knew the Pharisee's thoughts and gave a parable (Lk 7: 40-43) *In my own words* The parable was a little like this: American Express has two credit card holders. One owed $60,000 and the other owed $2000. AMEX graciously decided to cancel BOTH debts. Which of these two credit card holders had the greater love? The obvious answer is the one who was forgiven more, which is what the Pharisee also thought.

The cultural norm in that time was to have the feet of a guest washed upon entering the house. Jesus in verses 44-46 said that He was given no water for His feet, but that she wet them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. He was given no kiss, but she kissed His feet, His head was not anointed, but she anointed His feet with perfume. VS 47 "For this reason I say to you her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little."

I love this woman's devotion. I am in a season of asking the Holy Spirit to reveal my heart and sin to me. I believe that the closer we get to the Lord and the more we understand of His holiness, our sin is revealed to us more and more. There have been times in prayer that I seriously have thought that my sins are few or serious. I know there is a major flaw in that thinking and have been asking Him to show me the truth of my sin so I can be forgiven and come nearer (only to repeat :) He has done this in a major way recently in revealing things in my heart I didn't even know were present. I want to KNOW the depth of the darkness of my heart because He alone can cleanse and transform it!

I love this extravagant devotion and love and want to pursue it in ways that might be culturally inappropriate or misunderstood because He thinks it's beautiful. It pleases Him and makes me complete! Lord, let my heart always beat harder at the mention of Your name!