Go to the home page: Do You Need A Winning Game Plan For Your Life?
Scripture References:
Exodus
Luke 7:36-50 - "...a Pharisee asked Jesus to have dinner with him..."
Luke 3:16 - John says, "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."
I Corinthians 11:23-26 -" ... eat this bread and drink the cup... "
Backdrop: The New Year has begun slowly. The Saints had just been eliminated on Saturday evening by Seattle. Though Mardi Gras season has started, it seems quietly distant. The day is crisp (40s) and cool.
Music: Our God Reigns
The Sermon: JT described how dinners that were held in the homes of Pharisees were often open affairs where people from the community would be invited to come and listen to the discourse. The primary focus today is on a sinful woman who attended. She sat at the feet of Jesus, yet she was weeping so profoundly that she could wash his feet with her tears and she used her hair to dry them.
How strange is that?
First, in those times, washing the feet of one's guests is a task for servants. She takes on the role unlike any other because she has seen in Jesus her personal Savior. Her tears are profound. Some Bible scholars suggest that she had been earlier healed by Jesus and she had come to give him special thanks.
Here we learn in a new way what it means to "...love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul and all your strength." This passage first occurs in Deuteronomy 6:5 and then is proclaimed again in Luke 10:25, Matthew 22:37 and Mark 12:30. First, she knows. She knows so profoundly she cannot hold back her joy, her blessings, that she sits at the feet of her Savior and she experiences a peace which passes all understanding. These tears and kisses are profoundly real.
This was before the cross, before the Last Supper, before the resurrection and before He sent the Comforter. Certainly this simple, direct, and total faith has set her free.
