Welcome!
Date: Friday, June 25, 2010
Today: The Grace that passeth all understanding
Passage: Luke 7: 37-38 NIV
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.
13I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” (Mt.26:13, NIV)
Jesus was having a dinner that was arranged in honor of him
The incident mentioned here is recorded by all the four Gospel writers-Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
The Pharisee who invited Jesus was also called “Simon the Leper”
We don’t know if he was a leper before, or if he was a leper at that time also
This Mary, as we could see, was Mary Magdalene, the sister of Lazarus
Some biblical scholars say that there are two such incidents where Jesus was anointed, but we are not going there in detail now
Our focus is on Jesus.
If we put ourselves in the place of Simon, and if we had a great preacher come as our guest and then one of the most sinful persons in that locality came to meet him, how would we take it?
We would express our “Holy Anger” at that person and at our guest, if our guest treated that sinner like he (the guest preacher) treated us!
I don’t know where you would put yourself in this story. But I can identify myself very much with Simon, in this story
What Jesus did to that woman, and how Jesus treated sinners that came to Him, requires a very humbling and graceful attitude, than what I have
To have an attitude of love, humility and acceptance rather than a “holier than thou” attitude which most of us possess, is not easy
That woman did not ask Jesus to forgive her sins, in her words
But her action spoke louder that her words
Jesus got the message. She was sorry for her sins
On the other hand, we see so many people who confess loudly with their mouth and then continue in their sins, without any regret
This Mary became a faithful follower of Jesus
She was one of those women who went to the tomb of Jesus, early morning Sunday
Jesus’ attitude made such a great change in her
We can bring sinners closer to Jesus or drive them away from Jesus, by our attitude, actions and words
There are many, who do not wanted sinners to come to the Church
God might be looking into the inside of the Church and laughing because He knows those people inside the Church-many of them NOT having their names in the book in Heaven
Their names are written in big, bold letters, in the Church Register!
It is shocking to know how different we are from Jesus, even after being a “Christian” for years/decades
We need to take few steps down, to reach where Jesus is
We have gone way too high. We are way high up in the “heavenlies” that Jesus cannot reach us!
There are many around us, who need Jesus
All we have to do, is to make sure that we don’t block them, as they want to make their way to Jesus
May God help us to be a channel of His love and grace
Blessings,
BG
Prayer: Lord, I could see how much you value a repenting sinner. Forgive me for my wrong attitude, pride and ego. What I have, who I am, is by your grace alone. Help me to pass that grace to others. Amen.