Luke 7:44-50
“Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”“
Luke 7:44-50 NIV
The woman expressed her love of Jesus in an extravagant gesture, breaking the jar and anointing His feet with both its perfume and her tears.
Why did the woman do what she did? What was the reason behind her extravagance? What motivated her to step beyond the norm in such a wild, flamboyant way? All behavior has a “because.” What was hers?
I’m interested not only in what people do, but why they do what they do. What motivates them to climb that mountain or give themselves to that cause? I’ve discovered that in finding the “because” driving their behavior, we begin to understand the action itself and the passion within it.
The Bible teaches us that the Lord is deeply interested in the why, not just the what. He doesn’t just want us to do the right thing although it’s good to do the right thing, but rather He wants us to do the right thing for the right reason.
The behavior of the woman is made up of four dynamic actions: Her extravagant service, as demonstrated by tears that washed His feet. Followed by an extravagant statement of uncovered hair, toweling Him dry. Then through her relentless and tender kisses, she offered extravagant surrender.Then came the extravagant sacrifice of expensive perfumed nard.
The words in Verse 47 reveal that the woman was extravagant toward Jesus, because He had been extravagant toward her. Some have suggested her actions were an attempt to find forgiveness, but the overwhelming force of the passage tells us the opposite. Her extravagance was not because she wanted to find salvation, but because salvation had found her.
Like the woman, we don’t need to try and win Jesus’ favor, because we have already received it. We don’t need to do things to win His forgiveness, rather our behavior expresses the fact that we have it. If we love as we’ve been forgiven, then extravagance will become our new normal.
I love this question Jesus asks: “Simon, do you see this woman?” That is great. Everyone sees the woman, but did Simon the Pharisee see the woman? Simon saw her as a woman beyond hope and any worthiness of grace. Jesus saw her as a woman who recognized her need of a savior, expressing her faith and gratitude.
The Pharisee saw Jesus as a despicable fraud, whereas the woman saw Jesus as the Messianic Son of God who could forgive her sins and give her a new life. It is all about seeing in the then and now. We need to see ourselves as lost sinners. We need to see Jesus also as the hope for all mankind, the one who saw us in our sin and paid the price with his blood.
Therefore, God no longer sees us as enemies, but rather He sees us as His adopted sons and daughters. Beyond this, we no longer see other people in the same way, we others, whomever they are as mutually lost sinners who need to be reconciled to God by seeing them as those for whom Christ died for. In this, we see ourselves as God’s ambassadors to a lost world.
Jesus, our Savior, says, "Your sins are forgiven" and "Your faith has saved you"and "Go in peace." Can you think of anything sweeter? Three sets of words that mean everything. Jesus words to the woman are a great reminder to us of just how He feels when we show our love to Him. Not just when we confess our faith, not just when we are baptized, but any time we show our love for Jesus especially when we show our love extravagantly!!!
Father, thank You for this day and the breath to walk into it. Lord, open the floodgates of heaven and rain down Your abundant blessings over my friend and family today. Lord, help us to live a life of extravagant worship that becomes our normal. Lord, help us to bring everything we have and lay it before You the good and the bad. Lord use us to be someone’s blessing today.
Father, we love You. Amen. !
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