Slobbery, sobbing Love!
She came up behind Him, Don reminded us on Sunday, no doubt she was sobbing already… sobbing on the street perhaps more controlled, but then she entered, saw Him… and it all came gushing out. Here! He! The One to bear her sin… somehow she knew… she believed certainly HE was the Messiah.. the One to save Israel. Indeed, later…. as she would see… the One to save all that will believe on Him.
Tears and mucous now spewed and mingled from her – water and blood would soon spew and mingle from Him. He would somehow bear her sins… her many, many sins… and she would be done of them! She knew her forgiveness already. It was as good as done. Her gratitude … her relief… like a breached dam it could not but gush out.
Jesus, reclining at the table… with Pharisees gathered round it, looks down to the woman. His feet wet with her damp drops, partly swiped by her hair, kissed by her lips, and now she pours perfume upon them. Here is a woman in grief… a woman in joy… a woman broken, believing, and to our Lord beautiful, for He looks upon her heart.
What would you do in such a scene – How would you respond if love and gratitude were poured upon you in such manner? Would you say “Stop that! That’s gross! Wash that off properly! Get a towel! What are you doing? Who are you anyway?” Would you be any better than the Pharisees?
Jesus said nothing yet to her. He simply received her gift…. Her gift was perhaps, apart from the Master, the most pure thing in that room that day. He spoke first to the Pharisees… “Her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
Then, he spoke at last to her, “Your sins are forgiven… Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”*
Love! Gooey, messy, gushing love. Love Beautiful! Love True!
John, the beloved disciple wrote, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10).
We cannot truly know love at all until Christ reveals His love to us.
More tomorrow…
*see Luke 7:36-50.
To hear Don Longworth’s Sunday message, go to the Facebook page of Lincoln Baptist Church, or link to the livestream from the church website.
thebrokenrunner 