"A certain immoral woman heard he was there and brought a beautiful jar filled with expensive perfume. Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them." Luke 7:37-38 (NLT)
Welcome to the discussion of our final "Bad Girl", the sinful woman. You can read her entire story in Luke 7, verses 36 through 50. It is a short, but powerful story. Read it slowly, picturing the dinner party, the guests, this woman (an unwelcome party crasher) as she makes her way towards Jesus through the crowd. Can you hear the murmurs over her weeping, smell the food mixed with the heady aroma of the expensive perfume as she pours it over his feet? Where is Jesus looking when he speaks, what do you imagine is his tone of voice, the expression on his face? The words in black & white & red (if you have a red-letter edition) are flat on the page. But when we use our senses to bring to life this scene of faith, love, worship, and forgiveness we can better grasp the importance of these few verses.
Liz Curtis Higgs does a thorough job of focusing our attention on several important points and helps us draw the scene more completely with details of social customs of the time. This adds to our understanding of the boldness of this woman seeking forgiveness and how upsetting Jesus was to the "establishment" of the day. I can only imagine how long people talked about that dinner party "fiasco"! Simon was probably hoping it would blow over with the next big headline, but here we are, still talking about it more than 2 thousand years later!
As I read, I was struck with the correlation our author makes in how this woman worshipped Jesus and how we should worship Him. On page 231 she says, "she shattered the mold of how worship was to be done - passionately, personally, and with humble abandon." She goes on to say, "Worship is about rekindling an ashen heart into a blazing fire.... Seek him openly. Abandon self humbly. Worship him completely. Embrace his forgiveness joyfully." (pg. 233). Can you picture a life lived in worshipping God like that! And while we wouldn't all take the same actions of worshipping, we would all have the same shining spirit!
The fictional story of Anita helps us imagine what this scene would look like if it had taken place today. A woman on death row being pardoned!! What was her crime? Why would she be pardoned? We don't know and it really doesn't matter. Because in both the fictional and Biblical stories, it's not the details of sin that are important - it's the heart and actions of the sinner that tell the story.
What is it about these stories (Anita's and the sinful woman's) that struck home for you? Who can you identify with: Simon, his guests, the sinful woman? If we're honest, we've probably been all those people at one time or another. How can we be changed and live the life we were created for after reading this story?
I cannot wait to read your thoughts on our final "Bad Girl"! Click here to be taken to the blog so you can leave your perspective in the 'Comments' section.
Your Partner in Ministry,
Shelly
warrior
"Kind words are like honey - sweet to the soul and healthy for the body." Proverbs 16:24
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