Luke 7:36-38New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
A Sinful Woman Pours Perfume on Jesus
36 One of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him. So he went to the Pharisee’s house. He took his place at the table.
37 There was a woman in that town who had lived a sinful life. She learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house. So she came with a special sealed jar of perfume.38 She stood behind Jesus and cried at his feet. She began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair. She kissed them and poured perfume on them.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
Copyright © 1996, 1998 by Biblica
The Uninvited Guest
He was invited to dinner at the house of Simon the Pharisee. It was a lovely house, a delicious dinner elegantly served. The perfect evening for host and guests.
But then the uninvited guest showed up.
She was not of the same social status
She was not of the same class
She was not of the same economic status
She was not dressed properly
She did not know how to speak properly
She did fit in in any way
She was not respected, wanted or even politely tolerated
Talk about awkward...
Even Luke who wrote this episode down for us did not even know or give her name
She is know simply as a woman who had lived a sinful life.
We all sin
some sins are not easily seen by others except God
But this woman was identified by hers
Was there anyone in that room who did not immediately recognize her, know her
but only by her wrongs
only by her wrong choices
they saw nothing more about her
Why did she come and put herself into this most extremely awkward of situations?
uninvited, unwanted?
uninvited, unwanted?
She had heard Jesus was there
She did not know when she would have another opportunity
So, she took an albastar jar of most precious perfume
and she came
uninvited
unwanted
dispised
and judged
her life a foregone conclusion
no hope of change in the minds of most
But
She came to love
She came to bless
She came to worship
She came to pour out
She came to be with HIm
She gave Him what Simon, the host, could not
She gave Him what the delicious dinner and the polite guests and the beautiful house did not
Love is messy
it interrupts and distubs
it upsets and shocks
She loved him and was not afraid to show it
She gave what she had
her love
her worship
her tears
her hair
clean feet
She was not stopped by viewing herself as unworthy to come to him
she was not stopped by viewing what she had to give as unworthy
she was not deterred by the location or the people there
She was determined to get to him
to be with him
to pour our what she had
for his sake alone
for his sake alone
She saw you more clearly than anyone else present who thought they saw so much more clearly than her
She saw you
not the house, not the guests, not even what they thought of her
She saw your beauty
She could not stay away
How you love those whom we despise
How you transform those whom we deem hopeless
How you recieve those who are outcasts, rejected, abandonded
You don't make cheap excuses for any of us
you see the depth of my need for you
you see clearly the selfish choices
the hurtful choices
my sin
But
You are not deterred
you seek me out in the most difficult of places
in the worst of company
through my most unfriendly reactions and respones to you
You come
the uninvited guest
the shepherd diligently seeking out the one lost sheep when there are 99 others elsewhere
you come to love
you come to pour out
you come to give
you come to heal
you come to transform
you come to give hope
you come
Oh praise you! You come!
You weep over those you seek
You are willing to disrupt, interrupt, shock, disturb and mess up all my polite refusals and plans
You love passionately
completely
thoroughly
securely
1 John 4:10-16New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
10 What is love? It is not that we loved God. It is that he loved us and sent his Son to give his life to pay for our sins.
11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we should also love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love one another, God lives in us. His love is made complete in us.
I love you Lord
Please come please enter into my house
enter into my life
enter into my relationships
as with this woman
your love is enough
it is enough to enter an immensely awkward and difficult social situaion and see only you
it is enough to pour out love on you and be free from what others think
it is enough to enable me to love those who I live with, love with, share this messy experience of life with
it is enough to love the most unloveable
the most difficult
because
You are enough
You are here
help me to love the other you have placed here with me with the love you have poured into me
1 John 4:19New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
19 We love because he loved us first.
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