You know that woman. The one with the tainted life. The one everyone knows, but no one wants to befriend. Oh.... her.
Have you seen her? She's the one sitting in the very last row of church, at least on the Sundays she has the energy to get up and go there. She never talks to anyone. She huddles in the corner of the pew hoping to become invisible to others.
She's searching for .... something. She's not quite sure what it is.
And she waits.
The rest of the people in the church avoid her; they don't know what to say. Everyone knows what she did, to be sure. Instead of looking at her, they look past her. Avoiding eye contact.
Kind of sounds like a woman in the Bible named "the sinful woman." (Luke 7:36-50) The men of the day didn't want to be around her, at least not religious men. At least not in public.
Except for Jesus.
He told her all of her sins were forgiven and what happened next is quite a story. This sinful woman came running into a room full of men. Without a class on biblical customs, let's just say... this action wasn't right. It just wasn't done.
The woman dropped to her knees, poured out costly perfume on Jesus' feet and along with her tears, washed his feet and dried them with her hair. Her hair.
Were her tears from the joy of forgiveness or the shame of how she had lived?
Yes.
A lot like that woman in the back of church.
The men in the room with Jesus and the sinful woman were all taken aback. What in the world was she doing here? How dare she? This was a place for the holy and upright, after all, Jesus was there.
A lot like the people in the church.
Jesus and the no longer sinful woman understood forgiveness. Jesus now welcomed her into his presence.
The same as He does today.
The men in the room with Jesus didn't understand forgiveness the way it is meant to be understood. They thought a black mark against you always meant a black mark against you.
The same as some think today.
But Jesus knows, and the no longer sinful woman understood, forgiveness means your slate has been wiped clean. Not even a smudge. Spotless.
If only the church understood that today.
We have people sitting in the back row, huddled and trying to be invisible to others. If we only understood how Jesus removes stains we would have a better outreach to the invisible people in our churches.
And it should start today.
Have you seen her? She's the one sitting in the very last row of church, at least on the Sundays she has the energy to get up and go there. She never talks to anyone. She huddles in the corner of the pew hoping to become invisible to others.
She's searching for .... something. She's not quite sure what it is.
And she waits.
The rest of the people in the church avoid her; they don't know what to say. Everyone knows what she did, to be sure. Instead of looking at her, they look past her. Avoiding eye contact.
Kind of sounds like a woman in the Bible named "the sinful woman." (Luke 7:36-50) The men of the day didn't want to be around her, at least not religious men. At least not in public.
Except for Jesus.
He told her all of her sins were forgiven and what happened next is quite a story. This sinful woman came running into a room full of men. Without a class on biblical customs, let's just say... this action wasn't right. It just wasn't done.
The woman dropped to her knees, poured out costly perfume on Jesus' feet and along with her tears, washed his feet and dried them with her hair. Her hair.
Were her tears from the joy of forgiveness or the shame of how she had lived?
Yes.
A lot like that woman in the back of church.
The men in the room with Jesus and the sinful woman were all taken aback. What in the world was she doing here? How dare she? This was a place for the holy and upright, after all, Jesus was there.
A lot like the people in the church.
Jesus and the no longer sinful woman understood forgiveness. Jesus now welcomed her into his presence.
The same as He does today.
The men in the room with Jesus didn't understand forgiveness the way it is meant to be understood. They thought a black mark against you always meant a black mark against you.
The same as some think today.
But Jesus knows, and the no longer sinful woman understood, forgiveness means your slate has been wiped clean. Not even a smudge. Spotless.
If only the church understood that today.
We have people sitting in the back row, huddled and trying to be invisible to others. If we only understood how Jesus removes stains we would have a better outreach to the invisible people in our churches.
And it should start today.
RSS Feed