The name Luke Seven Woman is in reference to the woman mentioned at the end of Luke chapter 7. Jesus was eating at the home of a religious man, a Pharisee. While this is going on, a woman shows up. A woman who knows all the sin she is guilty of. But that’s not the reason she has shown up there. She is there because she knows something else. She believes that Jesus is who he says he is. She knows he is her salvation.
So despite showing up to a strangers home, she came to honor Jesus and her focus was on him. She came to pay homage to him. Of course the other men in the room looked down on her and judged her for all they saw was her sin from the second she walked in the room. All they saw was a dirty woman from the street touching Jesus and they didn’t understand.
But Jesus was not ashamed of the woman’s attention or actions. I believe anyone else would have cringed to be associated with her in that moment. I believe that was an awkward moment for everyone else in the room but not for her and not for Jesus.
Jesus explained the woman’s gratitude to the men in the room so they might understand. He did so with a parable as he often did. The parable he used illustrates how anyone with a very significant debt would be all the more grateful if that debt was forgiven. Then he said out loud that her sins were forgiven. The men wondered to themselves who this Jesus man was. Maybe they should have asked the woman.
Whenever I read this passage I can’t help but think of my own story. I am the prodigal son who returned home. The lost sheep Jesus carried back home. I am guilty of several years of sin centered living. I won’t sugar coat it. From the age of 19 to 24 I lived in complete apostasy. All our sins are not the same, but we are all guilty. Even if you were to sin just the once, you are just as guilty as someone who commits every sin (James 2:10). The law demands perfection. No flaws, no sin. That is who Jesus is. He is the perfect payment for our sin. We cannot make ourselves right with God by what we do or don’t do. It’s all about what Jesus has done. He alone is our salvation.
I wonder if I would have had the courage this woman had. To be alive when Jesus was living among us in the flesh. To hear Jesus was nearby and go for my alabaster jar of perfume meant to signify my acceptance of a marriage proposal one day. To take it out that day and show up at a stranger’s home while everyone is eating. To sit at Jesus’ feet in front of everyone and cry and cry.
Well that last one I could definitely do. Whenever I think about all that God has done for me I cry too. I get emotional. There should be no shame in true tears. Jesus didn’t let her stay and cry there though either. In the last verse of chapter 7 Jesus acknowledges her faith and tells her she can now go peacefully. God used her faith, humility, and gratitude as a witness in that moment with the people in that room and also with everyone who reads it. Jesus is who he says he is and faith in Jesus is what saves us.
