Bottle of Perfume

Luke 7.36-38

"Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume."

This woman heard that Jesus was at the home of the Pharisee, she went to her home, got a bottle of perfume, and brought it to pour on the feet of the Lord. She wept and wet His feet with her tears, she dried them with her hair, then she gave her offering, a bottle of perfume.

The Pharisee looked callously at her, in his legalistic self-righteousness, thinking, "If He only knew what kind of woman this was He wouldn't let her touch Him."

But Jesus did know the sort of woman who has weeping on His feet. He knew her past, He knew her sin, and He knew the broken repentant heart that beat within her chest. He begins His defense of her.

“Simon, I have something to say to you...A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?” Simon says,"I suppose the one who was forgiven more." And Jesus replies, "You have judged correctly...Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little." Then He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.” (Luke 7).

Jesus knew her past, and still he loved her. She came to Him with a broken and repentant heart, and Jesus forgave her.

It wasn't the perfume that saved her, but the brokenness she came to Jesus with. But the perfume was an act of gratitude and love for the love and forgiveness of the Master.

Jesus knows your past, and Jesus loves you. There is nothing you could ever do to change that. The one who welcomed a sinful woman nearly 2,000 years ago, still welcomes, and forgives sinners today.

Whenever you walk through a store and get to the perfume section, when you smell the pleasing aroma, remember this story of Jesus and the woman. Remember the love He had for her, and the love that He has for you. Remember that like her, your sins can be forgiven.

Peace be with you