Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman - 36Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. 37When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38and 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. 39When 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." 40Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you." "Tell me, teacher," he said. 41"Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,[a] and the other fifty. 42Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?" 43Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled." "You have judged correctly," Jesus said. 44Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little." 48Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." 49The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?" 50Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."
In Mark 7:36-50, we find the story of Jesus forgiving the sinful woman. There were lots of obstacles in this story that could have prevented the woman from even being there and there were many cultural reasons why Jesus could have denied forgiving her.
Many would have frowned on the fact that Jesus wa even in the house of the Pharisee. It was taboo for a woman, especially someone that was likely a prostitute, to be in the presence of men like she was in the story. It was even more inappropriate for her to touch a man as she did when she washed Jesus’ feet with her hair and kissed them. Now that was really against the cultural norms. Yet Jesus went against what was culturally acceptable and looked into her heart….and forgave her sins. It would have been easy for Jesus to say, especially in the presence of Pharisees, that’s not the way you ask for forgiveness OR you can forgive someone like this woman especially when she didn’t follow the culturally prescribed steps when asking for that forgiveness.
We need to challenge ourselves by putting ourselves in Jesus’ shoes…how many of us can truly say that we go the extra mile to forgive others especially when people are awkward in their requests for that forgiveness.
At the same time we should also try to put ourselves in the shoes of the woman…how often do you go to such lengths to seek forgiveness?
Forgiveness is a two-way street. It takes a sincere heart to ask for forgiveness and then not repeat the offending action. It takes an equally sincere heart to forgive, truly forget and move on. We as human beings and Christians talk a good game when it comes to forgiveness…but how well do we actually do? Do you go out of your way to ask for forgiveness? Do you create obstacles when it comes to forgiving others?
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