February 14th, 2021
Devotional
“Forgiven at Jesus’ Feet” - Luke 7: 36-50
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Reissue from 4/2019
Monday: “A Woman” - Luke 7: 36-37
In the first few verses from the passage in Luke we meet an unlikely guest at the Pharisees house. The gospel writer describes her as “a woman who lived a sinful life”. This is the last person that you expect to be at the home of a Pharisee. You have to wonder how she even got into the home. She had to have known that the Pharisees looked down upon her and considered her to be unclean. She was not allowed to be at the table with them, and could have probably been stoned for even entering. Yet, she made it through the door of the home and knelt before Jesus.
The woman had to know the hight cost of coming uninvited into this house, yet she risked it all to do so anyway. Why? Because the reward was greater. The reward of being redeemed and seen differently in the eyes of God than of her neighbor.
How are we called to risk it all for God today?
Prayer: God, we thank you for the example of this humble woman who risked everything to come before Jesus in this way. May we, too, risk it all for the sake of holding high the name of Jesus and his Kingdom. Amen.
Tuesday: “Weeping” -Luke 7: 38
As the woman knelt at the feet of Christ she began to weep. When I imagine this scene, I see a woman so broken by her sin that she is lamenting her very presence before the Lord. She knows that she is not worthy to be before the Messiah, but she feels indebted to him. The tears are a mixture of shame, guilt, and pain. But they are also a sign of joy. That she knows that she has been forgiven from all that she bears.
So we have this weeping woman who is risking her very life by being in a home that she should not be in. She has made herself completely vulnerable to Jesus by kneeling and crying before him. And then she takes down her hair and whip his feet, kissing them.
All too often, as we have removed ourselves 21 centuries from this scene, we get a mixed up image of what the washing of feet actually looked like. Yes, people generally washed their feet when they entered a home, but they usually did this for themselves. Once in a while a person of high status would have a servant whip their feet, but it would be someone of the same gender. This woman has broken all of the cultural rules as to how a woman should approach a man. This woman is intimately showing her love for Christ.
How do we show our love for Christ today?
Prayer: Lord, we confess that often we may say we love you, but we don’t always show it with our actions. In fact, at times, we do not even know how to begin to show it. Show us the way of love, dear Lord, and stir our hearts so we cannot help but respond. Amen.
Wednesday: “Debt” - Luke 7: 39-43
At this point the Pharisee standing off to the side had to have been in shock. A sinner has touched Jesus in an intimate way and has expressed love to him by offering this lavish, expensive gift. Why isn’t Jesus saying something to reprimand this woman?
In Jesus’ style, he responds by telling the Pharisee a parable of two men owing two different sized debts. One man was behind paying about 50 days worth of wages, but the other was behind 500 days worth of wages. Both couldn’t pay back the moneylender, but he canceled both of their debts. While both would have expressed gratitude the one with the larger debt would have been elated. Especially considering what would have happened if the moneylender wouldn’t had been forgiving; they would have been in debtors prison until they could pay off the debt. The chances of the person who owed 500 denarii ever getting out did not look good.
What debts has Christ paid for you?
Prayer: Lord, we stand before you acknowledging that we, too, are debtors in need of forgiveness. Our debt is one that we could never pay on our own, so you offered to do it in our place on the cross. Thank you, Precious Lord, for giving it all for our sake. Amen.
Thursday: “Do You See?” - Luke 7: 44-46
At this point you can just imagine Jesus turning towards the woman still drying his feet and acknowledging her debt, but also praising her for having enough strength for being in the presence of her very brokenness. Her love for Christ consumed her to act in ways that put her life at the mercy of Christ and all of the rest of the people in the room. She was truly grateful for the gift of being in Jesus’ presence. And there stood the Pharisee dumbstruck.
I think this woman’s faith was best expressed not in her strong self-sufficient power, but her utter brokenness before Christ. When is the last time you were vulnerable before Christ?
It takes brokenness to heal brokenness. Ponder that statement for a few seconds. It took the broken body of Christ to heal us of our sins. But even on a very human level, we connect and can positively impact the lives of people who are struggling with things that we have struggled with. When we are working towards being healed, we offer hope to someone who only sees tears of frustration and pain. We offer much needed in sights to the people who are trying to hide from the tears by not acknowledging that anything is even wrong. But even knowing that it takes the broken to heal the broken, all too often we adopt the stance that we can make it on our own.We may sing songs and pay lip service to being set free from our chains of our wrecked lives, but sometimes we don’t really know what it feels like to be recreated by God because we want to be in control of our own lives.
Do you find it easy to readily come before Christ broken? Why or why not?
Prayer: Lord, may we turn to you, both in our joy and sorrow. May we come to you, when we feel broken and when we feel whole. May we come to you for grace and healing and leave, as the woman did so long ago, a new person by your love. Amen.
Friday: “Forgiven” - Luke 7: 47-50
The cost of following Christ is giving up complete control to him. It is the hardest price that humans can pay – being vulnerable. We have been hurt so many times by other people and disappointed that we don’t want to give control to the Creator. And with every inch of our lives that we reclaim we are blocking God from turning our ashes into beauty. We fear that he will change us and we won’t like who we have become.
We need to actually acknowledge our brokenness, as the woman did. God knows that we are broken already. He knows us intimately. And as the Christian community we know cognitively that we all are broken in one way or another. Yet, because we do not acknowledge our struggles with one another because of pride we are hindering each other and creating this feeling that we are alone in our sin. Hiding that does not make us righteous. When we acknowledge our sin with one another and to God we are letting it go and emptying ourselves so we can be filled with the things God wants for us.
We need to claim who we are in the eyes of Christ. There was no doubt in the woman mind from Luke’s gospel story today that God was madly in love with her as he forgave her of all of her sins, even when others labeled her as “a woman who lived a sinful life”. We need to open up our eyes and hearts and see as God sees, see the beauty in the ashes.
How do we struggle, as Simon did, to see people through the eyes of God?
Prayer: Lord, sometimes we do not see people as you see them. Sometimes we let the labels of the world define us, instead of your love. Forgive us, O Lord, and let us first and foremost see ourselves and others as your beloved children, we pray. Amen.
Saturday: Preparing for the Word
You are invited to study and pray through next week’s text: “Transfiguration” - Luke 9:28-45
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