Worship
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What a study in sharp contrasts is presented for us in the seventh chapter of the gospel of Luke in the New Testament! (verses 36 though to conclusion of the chapter) Jesus is invited to eat at the house of a Pharisee, a religious leader and part of the religious establishment of that day. A woman who is a notorious sinner somehow gains entrance bringing with her an expensive alabaster flask of fragrant oil. (About a years wages were needed to purchase it according to one source.) The fact that she was allowed to enter may also be to the Pharisee’s credit, unless he meant to test Jesus by it. She begins to weep behind Jesus but near enough to wash his feet with her tears and then wipe them with her hair. She doesn’t stop there, as if that wasn’t more than enough already, but she proceeds to kiss the feet of Jesus and anoint them with the fragrant oil from the flask. (This was a gesture of deep devotion and reverential affection in ancient Eastern culture. It was still practiced in some places even in modernity.) The Pharisee doesn’t say anything but wonders inwardly why Jesus, if he is indeed a prophet, would allow such a display over him from a woman of such poor repute. Jesus, operating in the word of knowledge apparently, addresses the Pharisee’s thoughts out loud. Let’s look at how this breaks down in two time-worn columns.
Pharisee: sinful woman:
Pharisee gave no water for feet. (the common greeting) The woman gave tears instead of water for feet
Pharisee gave no towel to wipe feet. The woman gave her own hair instead of towel
The Pharisee gave no kiss on cheek or forehead. ” The woman kissed feet instead of face or hand
The Pharisee gave no common oil for head ” The woman poured costly fragrant oil on feet.
So what the Pharisee failed to do at every turn, the sinful woman succeeded in doing only more so, and with a passion and a fervor. Her "water" came from within her own being in the form of tears. Her "towel" was not something external and separate from her, it was part of her very physical being! What the Pharisee withheld externally she offered internally and at her own expense. Though the Pharisee did well to invite Jesus, he didn’t follow through to fill that invitation with enthusiastic hospitality. He seemed to regard Jesus more as a curiosity or even an oddity than as one who was due special honor and affection. It was as though the sinful woman was busy making up with her warmth of heart and gratitude for the cool and calculated reception of the Pharisee. Seen in this way her worship, which was perceived as “over the top” ( extreme or fanatical) was compensatory for the lack of worship or reverence in the home and heart of the Pharisee. Have you ever heard this definition of a Christian fanatic: one who loves Jesus more than you do! But in all fairness to the Pharisee, this experience may have been so convicting for him that he repented, turning around and becoming more of a true worshipper himself. (See John 4, v.23&24)
There is a company of believers today cultivating an environment of worship, a remnant if you will, whose worship consoles the heart of the Father which is pained over the absence of worship and the sweet atmosphere it produces. The more this remnant witnesses the lack of praise and worship and honor for God around it, the more they feel in their own heart the Father’s grief, and the more zealous they becomes to assuage that grief and fill that void with grateful devotion and adoration. And yet they would worship anyway, perceived lack of it or not, because they must worship and they are designed to worship, as indeed we all are. It can well be said of them then that their sins, which are many, are forgiven, for they love much. (see verse 47) They don’t even necessarily know who they are in this regard or dwell on their role, for that might tempt them with pride, the pride from which the Spirit of God seeks to preserve and protect them.
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