Day 71 – A sinful woman at Jesus’ feet

Study Luke 7:36-50

“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.” Luke 7:38 

When a Pharisee named Simon invited Jesus to dinner, a woman known throughout the city as a notorious sinner slipped into the house. In an act of extravagant love, she broke open an expensive alabaster flask of fragrant oil to honour Him. Overcome with emotion as she knelt behind Him, her tears fell onto His feet, and she wiped them clean with her hair, kissing His feet repeatedly.

While the room fell into an awkward silence, Simon sneered in his heart, assuming Jesus couldn’t be a true prophet if He allowed such a sinful woman to touch Him. Reading his thoughts, Jesus broke the silence with a parable about two debtors whose debts were freely forgiven; one owing five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When Jesus asked which would love the creditor more, Simon reluctantly admitted it would be the one forgiven more.

Turning to the woman, Jesus asked Simon a searching question: “𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯?”

Simon saw only her past, but Jesus saw her present heart of repentance and love. Simon had withheld even the most basic host courtesies: water for His feet, a kiss of greeting, or oil for His head. Yet this woman provided them all with deep, lavish devotion. Her extravagant love was not the price she paid for forgiveness, but the joyful evidence that her many sins had already been washed away. Those who recognize the vastness of their own debt are the ones whose hearts burn with the deepest love for the Savior.

Pray with me: Lord Jesus, thank You for forgiving my vast debt and drawing near to me in my brokenness. Keep my heart soft and ever mindful of the depth of Your grace, so that my life may overflow with extravagant love and worship for You. Amen. ©

Love, Iriza