Great Forgiveness, Great Love

In the seventh chapter of the gospel of Luke we read about a woman in verses 36-50 who came to Jesus as a sinner and left His presence transformed. This story is familiar to most people with even just a cursory knowledge of the Bible because the story is so poignant in its presentation.

It is important to note that the woman in this passage is not named. She is a prostitute who is well known in the town because of her profession. She hears that Jesus will be at Simon’s house. Simon is a Pharisee (a member of an ancient Jewish sect that emphasized strict interpretation and observance of the Mosaic law in both its oral and written form) who invited Jesus to his house to determine if He was truly the promised Messiah or a prophet.

The narrative indicates that the woman came into the house quietly and relatively unnoticed. She also came with a purpose – to anoint Jesus with her perfume. Given her trade as a prostitute, she would have had perfume in her possession but the kind of perfume that's indicated here is not cheap oil but a costly perfume. It's in an alabaster container. An alabaster container specifically was quarried and carved in Egypt. It was a refined kind of marble that would be made into this alabaster container and filled with a very costly perfume and then plugged shut to keep the fragrance from evaporating.

This woman had come to anoint Jesus’ head but upon seeing Him, she begins to cry. As she stands there, her crying turns to weeping. She is flooded with her sinfulness in the presence of Jesus. She lets loose with what Luther called "heart water." Her tears become uncontrollable and as she looks down she sees Jesus’ feet have not been washed, which was the customary practice in those days when a guest enters a house.

She kneels down and lets her tears wash Jesus’ feet. It is important to notice here just how much this woman is crying. Can you see the picture of the broken sinner at the feet of the One who can forgive? Here is this woman, sitting at Jesus’ feet in the house of a Pharisee expressing her gratitude for His forgiveness and she can’t stop weeping. She then lets down her hair to dry his feet because she has no towel. She was manifesting a kind of heartfelt, humble and shameless affection by her actions.

Once His feet were clean, it says she was kissing His feet. John MacArthur says the Greek word used for “kiss” here is “kataphileo” and it is an intense word. It is used in Luke 15:20 of the father's kisses when the prodigal son came home and he fell on his neck and kept embracing and kissing him. It isn't necessarily limited to the lips – it's a clinging, a tight embrace. It is the idea of an intense hug. The text says she continuingly kisses and hugs His feet. What an amazing picture of the outward expression of heartfelt and genuine gratitude.

Of course, Simon and the rest of the guests were disgusted by the woman’s actions given she was a prostitute. Simon actually states that if Jesus was truly a prophet, He would have known that a prostitute was touching Him and would have sent her out. Jesus uses this opportunity to explain to Simon and the rest of the house guests who were also most likely stunned by this event, how a person who is forgiven much, loves much. I do not believe there is another example in the Bible of a person whom Jesus says “she loved much” other than this woman. That is how powerful her display of emotion was in that room. She was literally bursting with love because of all she had been forgiven.

This story also echoes Jesus’ earlier teaching that He came to save sinners much in the same way a doctor comes to heal the sick (Mark 2:17). As you can imagine, Simon and the other Pharisees had a tough time grasping this truth because they believed they were holy before God and that “outward” sinners such as this woman have no place in God’s kingdom. This may have been one of the simplest truths that was the hardest for Jesus to convey because it hits the issue of pride and self-righteousness. Jesus was never a respector of persons in His ministry. He ministered to those who needed His forgiveness and truth be told, we all need His forgiveness. We may not be prostitutes but all of us have sinned much and need much forgiveness.

Have you come to Christ in faith and embraced Him and experienced this powerful and total transformation of forgiveness so that you're literally filled with joy and gratitude and love? Every Christian should be marked by that type of love because this is the defining attribute of a life that has been lost in Christ. At the very heart of the gospel is forgiveness. It is the single most important virtue because it is the very essence of all that we believe as professing Christians and enables us to forgive others. If you have not already, please come today to the feet of Jesus and let His forgiveness wash over you.

“Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heal that has crushed it.” - Mark Twain

He Will Rejoice over You with Singing

I was spending some time this week reading the Book of Zephaniah. The book is found toward the end of the Old Testament and is only three chapters long but contains many wonderful spiritual truths. Few know of or have spent any considerable amount of time studying the prophet Zephaniah as he was a contemporary of the great prophet Jeremiah, but I think much can be gleaned from this prophetical book.

As background, the Book of Zephaniah attributes its authorship to “Zephaniah, son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of King Josiah son of Atom of Judah.” It is believed that Zephaniah wrote his book during the time of King Josiah, who ruled over Judah from approximately 640-609 BC. The picture of Jerusalem which Zephaniah paints indicates that he was active prior to the religious reforms of King Josiah, which are described in 2 Kings 23. These reforms took place in 622 BC. Zephaniah was probably the first prophet following the prophecies of Isaiah and the violent reign of Manasseh. Both Zephaniah and Jeremiah urged King Josiah to enact religious reforms, which he eventually did.

The primary purpose of the book’s composition was to alter the behavior (particularly religious behavior) of the author’s contemporary Jerusalemites through the threat of future calamity for “those who have turned back from following the Lord…who have not sought the Lord or inquired of him” (1:6). Zephaniah speaks of the “Great Day of the Lord” – when the Lord will judge all the people of the earth. This coming judgment will affect all of the nations, including the author’s own nation of Judah where God is understood to reside. The book concludes by extending a promise of deliverance to the faithful remnant of Israel.

It is this glorious promise of deliverance that I wanted to spend some time discussing. It is found in chapter 3, verse 17, “The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Jesus said, “There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:7). And Zephaniah tells us that when all those repentant, humble, lowly sinners gather before God, He will not look down upon them, or riddle them with guilt, or pity them but he will rejoice over them with gladness and singing! “As a bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you” (Isaiah 62:5).

John Piper says that in contemplating this verse, we should banish from our minds forever any thought that God admits us begrudgingly into his Kingdom, as though Christ found a loophole in the law, did some fancy plea-bargaining and squeaked us by the Judge. It is God Himself, the Judge, who put Christ forward as our substitutionary sacrifice, and when we trust Him, God welcomes us with a chorus of singing. He puts a ring on our finger, kills the fatted calf, throws a party, shouts a shout that shakes the ends of creation and leads in the festal dance.

Isn’t it a wonderful thought to know that our God is waiting to welcome us with rejoicing and singing? This image often reminds me of the prodigal son who returned home not to find his father waiting to punish him, judge him or make an example of him but running toward him, with open arms to meet him, welcome him and celebrate his return home. Therefore, while the Day of the Lord waits let all of us do as the prophet Zephaniah exhorts, “Seek the Lord all you humble of the land… seek righteousness, seek humility… Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem” (Zephaniah 2:3; 3:14). Amen.