This sinful woman is the perfect foil for the Pharisee's hollow religion. Oddly, he had no sooner told they Pharisees that they consider him a glutton and a drunkard than one of them invited him over for dinner. Somehow this woman knew Jesus would be at Simon's house -- curious. Curious she would choose this meal to make a spectacle instead of all the other meals Jesus ate! This would have been the most awkward opportunity.
Their formality, pretense of goodness and heartlessness were all exposed by this woman's act of love. Washing his feet with her tears, wiping them with her hair, kissing hi feet and pouring myrrh on them would have been frowned on everywhere I've ever been. It's not really normal. To Jesus it seemed like an appropriate and proportional response.
Jesus' question, "Who loved more?" And his answer, "The one who was forgiven more," give me insight into how I encourage love for Him. I must remember how much I've been forgiven. I trust the sterility of my expressions of love are not proportional to my experience of forgiveness!
Jesus tells her that her faith has saved her. Yet, nowhere else does it talk about faith. . . only love. Jesus sees them as one in the same -- to believe is to love.
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