Logistically, to our modern minds, the setting of this verse may appear confusing. How could this “sinful” woman be standing behind Jesus such that her tears would fall on his feet? When we think of someone sitting and eating, we imagine them doing so by sitting in a chair. Thus, the feet would be under the chair or toward the front of the person.
During the time period and cultural setting in which Jesus lived, a customary practice when eating was not to sit at all but to recline for the tables were set lower. From this position of reclining then it would make sense that she, “stood behind him at his feet weeping and began to bathe his feet with her tears” (Luke 7:38). The woman next knelt down, dried his feet with her hair, and then anointed Jesus’ feet with the ointment she brought for him.
She did not rationalize, deny, ignore, or come grudgingly nor wait for Jesus to call her out, she came not asking for healing but with true contrition for her sins. Hopefully, we can be like this woman, and come to Jesus with the same open heart to his love so that we too will experience his compassion and have our hearts pierced with our own sorrow for the hurt we have caused others through our sinful actions. To cry tears to the point of “bathing his feet with her tears” showed the depth of this woman’s sorrow for her sin as well as the gratefulness of Jesus’ forgiveness.
Those quick to point the finger at other’s sins, like Simon, who judged this woman, are less apt to be aware of the depth of their own sin and thus “the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little” (Lk 7:47). We are not forgiven less because God is not willing to forgive but because God will not go against our free will. Hiding, being in denial of, rationalizing, or justifying our sins, curving in upon ourselves or listening to the father of lies keeps us at a distance. If we are unaware or unwilling to bring our sins forward with true sorrow, repentance, and a willingness through God’s grace to change, we are cutting ourselves off from the healing and forgiveness God wants so much to share.
When we follow the lead of the woman by expressing the same trust and faith, willing to bear our soul with humility and sorrow, with our deepest and darkest sins, we will not only be forgiven but experience a deeper outpouring of our Father’s extravagant love. The one who confesses truthfully, fully, and contritely is forgiven more, loved more, and thus will love and forgive more.
We may not want to face our sins or our wounds. It is true that as we open our hearts and minds to the purifying fire of the Holy Spirit we will experience pain. Just as we will not physically heal without experiencing the pain of broken bones mending or skin growing back together to make a scar, we won’t heal deep, emotional wounds or be forgiven of corrosive sins left in the dark. Jesus experienced the excruciating pain of dying on the Cross. No Resurrection was possible until Jesus experienced his death.
When we are contrite, confess, and atone for our sins, when we face our deepest hurts, there will be pain, but Jesus will receive and meet us in our anguish and anxiety. Jesus will love us even where we feel the shame and are most wounded. To be loved and forgiven there, frees us from the lies and fears that have kept us isolated. Bringing all to the light in humility, having the courage to go where we allowed no one entry before, Jesus embraces us. As we allow him to hold us there, we will feel safe, the tears of sorrow and pain will then flow, and they will turn into tears of gratitude. For having been seen at our worst, our deepest anguish, our most vulnerable, we will find that we have not been rejected but instead forgiven, accepted, and loved.
Photo: The more we have faith and trust in Jesus the deeper we go, and the greater forgiveness and healing we well experience!
Spiritual Stepping Stones 