Experiencing the Heart of JesusSample

Experiencing the Love of Jesus

Could two people be more different? He is looked up to. She is looked down on. He is a church leader.

She is a streetwalker.

He makes a living promoting standards. She’s made a living breaking them.

He’s hosting the party. She’s crashing it.

Ask the other residents of Capernaum to point out the more pious of the two, and they’ll pick Simon. After all, he’s a student of theology, a man of the cloth. Anyone would pick him. Anyone, that is, except Jesus. Jesus knew them both. And Jesus would pick the woman. Jesus does pick the woman. And, what’s more, he tells Simon why.

Not that Simon wants to know. His mind is elsewhere. How did this prostitute get into my house? He doesn’t know whom to yell at first, the woman or the servant who let her in. After all, this dinner is a formal affair. Invitation only. Upper crust. Crème de la crème. Who let the riffraff in?

Simon is angry. Just look at her—groveling at Jesus’ feet. Kissing them, no less! Why, if Jesus were who he says he is, he would have nothing to do with this woman.

One of the lessons Simon learned that day was this: don’t think thoughts you don’t want Jesus to hear.

For Jesus heard them, and when he did, he chose to share a few of his own.

“‘Simon,’ he said to the Pharisee, ‘I have something to say to you.’

“‘Go ahead, Teacher,’ Simon replied.

“Then Jesus told him this story: ‘A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?’

“Simon answered, ‘I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.’

“‘That’s right,’ Jesus said. Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, ‘Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.’

“‘I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love’” (Luke 7:40–47 nlt).

Simon invited Jesus to his house but treated him like an unwanted step-uncle. No customary courtesies. No kiss of greeting. No washing his feet. No oil for his head.

You’d think Simon, of all people, would show such love. Is he not the reverend of the church, the student of Scripture? But he is so harsh and distant. You’d think the woman would avoid Jesus. Is she not the woman of the night, the town hussy? But she can’t resist him. Simon’s “love” is calibrated and stingy. Her love, on the other hand, is extravagant and risky.

How do we explain the difference between the two? Training? Education? Money? No, for Simon has outdistanced her in all three.

But there is one area in which the woman leaves him eating dust. Think about it. What one discovery has she made that Simon hasn’t? What one treasure does she cherish that Simon doesn’t? Simple. God’s love. We don’t know when she received it. We aren’t told how she heard about it. But we know this: she came thirsty. Thirsty from guilt. Thirsty from regret. Thirsty from countless nights of making love and finding none. She came thirsty.

And when Jesus hands her the goblet of grace, she drinks like the parched pilgrim she is. She drinks until the mercy flows down her chin and onto her neck and chest. She drinks until every inch of her soul is moist and soft. She comes thirsty and she drinks. She drinks deeply.

Could it be that the secret to loving is receiving? We give love by first receiving it. “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19 nasb).

Long to be more loving? Begin by accepting your place as a dearly loved child. “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us” (Ephesians 5:1–2).

Prayer

Dear Jesus, I pray that your love—its depth, its steadfastness, and its cost—will be made evident to me. Help me to understand how I am able to pass your love on to others. Cause me to rest in the assurance that nothing can separate me from your love. Amen.