Weeping at His feet

Luke 7: 37-38

"And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil."

This passage is amazing in several ways. But before I get into that, let me help you to picture this scene a little better. Jesus has been invited to dine at the home of a Pharisee. Yes, that would mean that his host belongs to the group of people that Jesus at one point compared to whitewashed graves, beautiful and clean on the outside, but full of filth and death on the inside (Matthew 23:27--its a pretty brutal description, nothing sweet or nice about it at all.) It was the custom of the day that people be allowed to enter the home and watch a meal like this take place. But this woman who came to see Jesus would not have been welcomed into such polite company AT ALL. She is described as a sinner, and it is pretty safe to assume that she was a prostitute. No righteous man would have had anything to do with her, even to touch her would have been a disgrace.

The guests would have been reclining on couches, so you can picture how she could be standing behind Him and weeping at His feet, and wiping His feet with her hair, kissing them and then anointing them with oil.

Let's take a look at her for a moment, I want you to really try to imagine this encounter. Imagine the guts it would have taken for her to enter a house where she KNEW nobody wanted her. The host apparently knows what kind of woman she is, because as he is witnessing her weeping, he thinks that Jesus must be a fraud to let her touch Him. The Pharisee reasons that if Jesus were aware that she was a prostitute, He would never let the woman touch Him, and because He is allowing her to touch Him, He must be ignorant of her circumstances and thus a fraud. Don't think for a moment that the Pharisee and the other guests would have felt compelled to hide their disgust at her presence. I'm sure there were plenty of meaningful looks and rude comments spoken just loud enough for her to overhear.

Not only does she ignore the fact that she is unwelcome, she goes right up to the table and stands behind Jesus, weeping, wiping His feet with her hair, and anointing His feet with a very expensive fragrant oil. Talk about making a spectacle of yourself! There is nothing subtle about this encounter at all. This woman was obviously overcome with powerful emotion. The Greek word used to describe her kissing Jesus feet is kataphileo, it means to "kiss earnestly." This was no polite peck or two, this was a passionate display. She wept so openly and so hard that she had to use her hair to dry off His feet for goodness sake! This wasn't a stray tear that she could pretend wasn't there by discreetly rubbing her eye! (Come on, you know you've done it.)

Think about that fragrant oil for a moment. It would have been a very rare, and very expensive oil. Even the alabaster jar that held the oil would have been luxurious and costly. So how do you suppose this woman paid for such expensive oil? Imagine for a moment what she had to do to earn the money that bought it. Remember, she is a prostitute. Do you think that Jesus was unaware of what she had done to pay for this oil? No way. He was acutely aware of every humiliation, every dashed expectation, every cruel rebuke, every haughty glare, every snide remark, every dismissive gesture, ever degradation, every shameful and disgusting experience this woman had ever encountered. And He let her weep at His feet, and pour out her anguish and shame with her tears. Can you imagine? Right on the feet of Jesus, the Holy of Holies, the High Priest, the Perfect Lamb. What a moment that must have been for her. What a moment it would be for any of us.

Why was this woman so moved? Because she got it. She saw who Jesus was, she realized what his love and approval meant for her, and nothing else in all the world mattered. I don't think anything could have kept her away. There is more to this encounter between Jesus, the Pharisee and the sinful woman that I haven't even covered. I encourage you to look it up and read it for yourself. But right now, I just want you to think about one thing. Do you have the guts she did? Are you willing to risk the disapproval of those around you in order to "weep at Jesus feet?"

I'm not trying to make you feel guilty here, I actually think guilt is a cheap and ineffective tactic that is way overused--the whole making Christians feel guilty for not being better Christians bit. Rather, I want you to consider this: Jesus tells the Pharisee that the reason this woman loves Him so much is because she has been forgiven so much. In other words, she is aware of how vast her sin is, and she is in awe that it has been forgiven. So here's the question for all of us--Do we realize how vast our sin is? Are we in awe that it has been forgiven?

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This is a postscript--My husband wanted me to be sure and emphasize that we SUSPECT this woman was a prostitute. We don't know that with 100% certainty. But according to the footnotes in my Bible, and the fact that a prostitute would have been referred to as a "sinner," I think it is a pretty safe assumption. But, just in case, I don't want to mislead anyone!