At His Feet

At His Feet

A woman of ill repute in first-century Galilee walked into a Pharisee's dinner party uninvited. She was probably known by most people in the room, and not favorably. She came carrying an alabaster jar — and she wept. Her tears fell on Jesus' feet. She wiped them with her hair. She poured the perfume. She did not speak a word. Her entire communication was physical: tears, hair, lips, perfume. Simon the Pharisee judged her. Jesus defended her. He described her as one who had been forgiven much and therefore loved much. 'Her many sins have been forgiven — as her great love has shown.' Forgiveness preceded the love; love was the evidence of the forgiveness. Her tears were the most genuine worship in the room.

This story, tucked in Luke 7, reveals something about the nature of authentic encounter with Jesus. The woman brings nothing except her tears and what she has. She makes herself completely vulnerable in a hostile room. Her worship is extravagant, undignified, and deeply personal. Jesus defends her against the Pharisee's cold judgment with a parable about two debtors — one forgiven little, one much. 'The one who was forgiven little loves little.' The implication is clear: if our worship is formal, polite, and measured, we may not have fully grasped how much we've been forgiven. The size of our gratitude reveals the size of our perceived debt. What would it mean to come to Jesus today with the unguarded abandon of this woman — bringing everything you have, asking nothing in return?