17 September 2015 - realized

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this he said to himself,
“If this man were a prophet,
he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him,
that she is a sinner.”

Aren't we a lot like this Pharisee? We are OK having Jesus around. We even invite him over for dinner. But when things start to get a little too personal we start to squirm. We are uncomfortable with the level of intimacy Jesus welcomes. We condescend to emotional responses to Jesus. We smugly think to ourselves, 'Oh, a new convert. Give it time. They'll see how things really are.'

But that isn't what Jesus says. Jesus says that this woman realizes the truth at a deeper level than the Pharisee. She perceives that she was forgiven "the larger debt". She is moving, not out of weakness or merely human emotion, but rather out of response to the action of Jesus in her life.

So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven;
hence, she has shown great love.

Jesus does great things in our own lives. But we don't respond the way she does.

When I entered your house, you did not give me water for my feet,
but she has bathed them with her tears
and wiped them with her hair.
You did not give me a kiss,
but she has not ceased kissing my feet since the time I entered.

Don't we wish we felt like responding this way? Don't we wish that Jesus would penetrate our complacency and show us just how much he has forgiven us? We have head knowledge that he what he does for each one of us is immense. How can we stand with our hearts unmoved before the cross where his blood pours out for us? Yet we do.

God gives us great gifts. But it is up to us not to neglect them.

Do not neglect the gift you have,
which was conferred on you through the prophetic word
with the imposition of hands by the presbyterate.

We have the same forgiveness as the woman. Perhaps we have even more, since we are filled with the Holy Spirit. And this same Holy Spirit can bring the head knowledge of what Jesus does for us into our hearts. He makes it real. Timothy is told not to neglect this gift. He is given even more specifics in Paul's second letter.

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control (cf. 2 Tim. 1:6-7).

The surrounding onlookers give Timothy a hard time for being young. They try to discredit the woman as a sinner. Yet both Timothy and the woman are responding to Jesus in their lives. He is so real to them that they are willing to look foolish before others. 

Jesus is willing to be that real to us. He is willing to penetrate our complacency and show us how greatly he loves us. Our part is to not neglect his gift, but fan it into flame. 

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
prudent are all who live by it.
His praise endures forever.