Sandy’s Devotional:
When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” ……… Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore, I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”
Luke 7:36 39, 44-47
In Simon’s mind, he had wondered, “doesn’t Jesus see who this woman is?” Jesus turned the question on Simon: “Simon, do you see this woman?’ When Simon looked, he saw a sinner, a rejected, unforgiveable woman, someone he would never let touch him. Jesus saw a broken-hearted, repentant woman looking for forgiveness and freedom. Jesus saw her deep love and devotion to Him. “It is not easy for us to blot out a past, and to free ourselves from all prejudice resulting from our knowledge of that past. Yet that is exactly what the Lord does. And He does so, not unrighteously, but righteously. He knows the power of His own grace, and that it completely cancels the past, and gives its own beauty to the soul.” (G. Campell Morgan) May God help us to see each of the hurting woman who come to Be’ad Chaim through His eyes of mercy and grace, not looking at what has been, but believing God for what can be.
