Day #14
Larry Trotter
Words of Love
37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. Luke 7:37-38 NIV
Overcoming the Barrier
Yesterday we looked at how a ruler's wealth and power had forged his identity, which became a barrier to identifying with Jesus and his kingdom. Today, we see a woman who was willing to surrender her identity completely to Jesus. Let me explain. In first century Palestine, women struggled for status in their communities and had little opportunity to own property. Their identity was often connected to and defined by male relationships, father, brother, or husband. Not unlike any situation where different people come away with different impressions of the same event, each of the four gospel writers has a slightly different take on this scene, which brings greater richness to the story. The composite picture revealed by all four gospels describes the woman with an alabaster jar of perfumed ointment that was worth a year's wages. Moreover, this easily could have been the sum total of her personal assets. In fact, it was not uncommon for a woman in that culture to save her money to buy such an expensive item simply to bring a sense of status to her identity. Some would actually wear a jar of perfume on a lanyard around their necks as a way of proclaiming their worth. This woman who apparently bore a somewhat sordid reputation took a huge risk to crash a dinner party thrown by a local religious leader. The open courtyard floorplan of a typical first century home in Palestine would have given persons on the street access to the diners who would have been reclining in the courtyard, weather permitting. Still, it took a lot of steely resolve for this women to open herself up to judgment and ridicule from the religious elite by walking up to the table. What she did next was even more breathtaking. Mark's account of the story has the woman breaking the jar of perfume. All agree that she poured the contents, which represented everything she had, onto Jesus as an act of repentant worship. In stark contrast with the ruler from yesterday's devotion who couldn't part with his possessions that formed his identity, the woman freely gave up the one thing that gave her an identity for a chance to identify with Jesus' compassionate love and grace. What sharply contrasts her with the ruler is the woman's understanding of her need for grace and the courage to let go of any barrier between her and the kingdom.
Perhaps our barrier to identifying with Jesus and his kingdom is ignoring our need for his grace and forgiveness. There are many people who don't bear a particularly sullied reputation. There have been bumps along the way but no major failures. Yet, sin creates separation from God and requires forgiveness. Perhaps that's you. Or, maybe we have disguised our failures by blaming others or rationalizing that we simply had some bad breaks and our breakdowns weren't our fault. In either case, we're missing the opportunity to pour our past onto our very present Savior and embrace a future that never looks back. Time to, again, look into the mirror, acknowledge the reality of our failures, and pour them out on Jesus who will rejoice and not judge, forgive and not fault.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, give me the strength to allow intimacy between us so that I might see your tender compassion and surrender my identity, my very soul to you. In your name I pray, amen.
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