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VOW
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Lesson Seven - The Woman
Who Cried
The Complexity and Beauty of a Tear The sun was bright on a cold winter morning. Rays of light streamed through the window of the nursing home. A daughter sat by the bed of her ninety-three year old mother, who had been a resident for eleven years. Alzheimer’s had taken every thing it could away from her mother. On that cold bright morning, for a just an instant, the light streaming through the window found the tear that clung to my friend’s cheek. An intense ray entered the tear at just the right angle, with a shimmering of rainbow light. I knew not to speak for it was a sacred moment. The light of that tear was like an epiphany. Suddenly I understood both the complexity and the beauty of a daughter’s tear. She shed her tears because of love, and grief, and empathy, and years of waiting and praying, but also because of the certain hope that soon her mother would be with Christ. Surely enough, just a few hours later, after being virtually unresponsive for years, in the last second of her earthly life, mother smiled. A tear contains so much. A similar epiphany can occur for us when we let the light of the Gospel shine through the tears of the woman in the 7th chapter of Luke. “And behold, there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet, and anointing them with the perfume.” (Luke 7: 37-38)When the Gospel light shines through her tears, can we see the reason why the woman weeps? Weeping Over the Cost and the Beauty of Forgiveness Let’s put ourselves into the scene. We’re allowed to do that. After all, this was not a private meal. It would have been customary on an occasion such as this to open the home to as many as would come. The custom functioned to make the host feel more important than he actually was. Further, ancient custom dictated that a short-legged banquet table would be placed in the center of the spacious room. The host and all the important guests would recline around the table, leaning on their right side. “Why?” you ask. I have no idea! I can eat sitting down, and on the run, but I don’t think I could ever eat lying down! While the important people reclining around the table eat, the rest of us (lesser folks) sit quietly around the base of the walls, listening, observing, and waiting our turn to dine on whatever might be left. From our vantage point we see this unnamed woman approach Jesus. For some reason unknown to us, she crosses the boundary of custom and interrupts His dinner. Of course we know that Jesus never once saw another person as an interruption. We sit there astonished as she makes a spectacle of herself. She’s weeping, never saying a word. Just weeping. There’s a tear clinging to her cheek. As if in slow motion, we watch the tear break free and fall. It splatters on the dusty feet of our Lord. Opening a vial of perfume, she pours it over His naked feet without holding back. She unbinds her long black hair and as she crouches over Him, she wipes His feet with her locks. Tears and perfumed oil mingle in a fragrance of grace, filling the air. And then the light streaming through a window catches a dangling tear just right. Suddenly we see and understand - an epiphany. The tear shimmers with the beauty of forgiveness. Jesus said, “For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” And those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?” And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (Luke 7:47-50)
Don’t you imagine that she wept because she recognized just how far away her sin had moved her from God and His favor? Could it be that by God’s grace she was given some mysterious spiritual insight that Jesus would soon give His life for her? I’d like to think so. By the time you gather with the members of your circle for this lesson, Mel Gibson’s film, The Passion of the Christ will have been released. Even now, several weeks prior, some people are in an uproar about it for all the wrong reasons. They claim that this graphic depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus will spark a wave of hatred toward the Jews. Haven’t they missed the whole point of the Gospel? The Jews didn’t kill Jesus. Neither the Christian faith, nor this film saddles the Jews with the blame. We killed Jesus. My sin put Him on a cross. Your sin sent Him to Golgotha. The sin of the whole world put Him there, including the sin of this now forgiven woman kneeling over His feet. The great Scottish New Testament scholar, William Barclay, once said: “There is one eternal principal which will be valid as long as the world lasts. The principle is -- Forgiveness is a costly thing. Human forgiveness is costly. A son or a daughter may go wrong; a father or a mother may forgive; but that forgiveness has brought tears ... There was a price of a broken heart to pay. Divine forgiveness is costly. God is love, but God is holiness. God, least of all, can break the great moral laws on which the universe is built. Sin must have its punishment or the very structure of life disintegrates. And God alone can pay the terrible price that is necessary before men can be forgiven. Forgiveness is never a case of saying: "It's all right; it doesn't matter." Forgiveness is the most costly thing in the world.” (From his commentary on Hebrews)Friends, at some point in life, we too will kneel and weep when we think of the price that was paid. After we’ve shed a few tears over the sacrifice, then we’ll shed tears of joy over beauty of His loving forgiveness. Without a doubt, forgiveness is the most beautiful and powerful force in the Universe. Go ahead and make the worst assumptions you can about the depth of her depravity. Say what you will about her sexual immorality. Say it out loud if you want. It doesn’t matter if everyone in the banquet hall hears you. She won’t mind because she is forgiven! Forgiveness changes lives and erases the past from God’s memory. “For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34) Still breathing in the aroma of mercy, we see her stand. Others in the hall are aghast at her tearful display. You and I see her in a new light. Not as a dirty rotten sinner, but as one who has truly been forgiven. His forgiveness changes lives and she is not the same person! Weeping Over the Way Some People Treat Jesus As she stands there, just before she assumes her place next to us around the wall, can you see that one last tear dangling from the tip of her chin? Did you catch the play of light flashing from the tear? The light reveals one more reason why she weeps. She weeps because of the hateful way some people treat the Lord of love. Jesus was an invited guest but you’d never know it by the way Simon the Pharisee treated Him. The same world of customs that dictate the openness of the meeting, the position of the guests, and our location around the edge of the room, also dictated certain measures of hospitality that would be afforded to any guest. Even to strangers for that matter! A guest would feel welcomed when the host anointed his or her head with oil. A guest would know that they belonged when the host planted a holy kiss on each cheek. A guest would feel right at home when the host insisted upon having him or her remove their sandals so that cool, clean, soothing water could wash away the day’s dust. But Simon the Pharisee, did nothing of the sort. It would have been painfully obvious to everyone there. These were matters of ritual, custom, and tradition. One simply doesn’t forget to extend these graces. Simon chose to withhold them. Jesus felt his cold inhospitable shoulder. He knew Simon had invited Jesus into His home in hopes of finding some egregious sin they could pin on Him. Could it be that she wept as well for the terrible way Jesus was being treated? Do we love Him enough to weep over the way He is being treated today? Take a moment and visit www.persecution.com the website of an organization called Voices of the Martyrs. On a daily basis, they chronicle the way Jesus is being treated all round the globe as Christians suffer and even die for Jesus Christ. Right now in places like the Sudan, Pakistan, India, China and a host of other countries, Jesus is being brutalized through His saints who are persecuted simply because they love Him. Sadly too, Jesus is mistreated even within His own churches (even Presbyterian ones!) when Christians fight of something as insignificant as the color of carpet. And don’t you think it hurts Jesus deeply when Christians decide that some of the sins He died for on the cross are no longer sins, but blessed lifestyles? That day, years ago, no one would show Him love. No one was willing to welcome Him properly. No one was willing to kiss His cheeks and wash His dusty feet. No one was willing to anoint Him with oil. Seeing the way He was mistreated brought tears of sadness to her eyes. Somebody had to show love for Jesus. And she did! Today, somebody has to be willing to kneel down and show Jesus the love He deserves! Lord, by your grace, let it be us. When the rest of the world shows hatred for Jesus, and belittles Him, and persecutes His servants, He is nailed to the cross all over again. But like that wonderfully forgiven sinner with her tear streaked face, let us always and forever show Him our love. “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair. You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little....Your sins have been forgiven....Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (Luke 7:44-50)For use as a closing prayer: Our Father, for the light that follows the
darkness,
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