³⁶ One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. ³⁷ When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. ³⁸ Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.

Luke 7:36-38

Dear God, we often read this story–okay, I often read this story and kind of skip over the woman. What she was experiencing in her life in that moment. What she felt compelled to do. Why she did what she did. I skip to the judgmentalism of the Pharisees, but when I read the story this morning, I just stopped with her. What her week had been like. What she thought when she heard Jesus was around. What drove her to bring her expensive perfume, enter that home, and just break down, literally, at his feet.

The movie Forrest Gump is interesting for so many reasons, but this story reminds me of Jenny, Forrest’s life-long love. So damaged. Acting out in so many ways. I watch “reaction videos” on YouTube of young people watching old movies for the first time, and I would say nine out of ten of them are always mad at Jenny for how she acts and treats Forrest. But the other one or two out of ten harken back to the trauma from her childhood and give her empathy. To use the phrase a lot of us know, they are curious and not judgmental.

There are people I love whom it would be amazing for them to find themselves at your feet like this woman. They have childhood trauma. And they have acted out for decades. What would it be like for them if they were able to come to the foot of your cross, pour our their most precious earthly possessions that have not brought them the peace they sought, and then worship you? Accepting your forgiveness? Accepting your healing?

Then there is me. Is there anything I’m holding back? Am I holding back any possessions? Am I holding back any repentance? That is something for me to really consider today. Holy Spirit, speak to me this morning. Help me to see if there is anything I am denying you, and, in turn, denying myself of you. And help me to also see the people in my life who are like this woman. Help me to love them well. Help me to guide them to the foot of your cross.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen