Luke 7:36–50

Be Still: Holy Spirit I welcome you. Come into my heart, my mind, and my body.  Fill me with the life of Jesus today. You are welcome here. Amen

Read: Luke 7:36–50

She must have been forgiven many sins! Her great love proves it! (v47)

Encounter: There is nothing like the moment you discover Jesus. I still remember what it felt like when the stories from the Bible I’d heard of, shifted from being merely in my head to living and alive in my heart. Life was completely different from that point on. I had discovered that God was real and that Jesus is alive!

In today’s passage, a woman ‘discovers’ where Jesus is - he’s in her town and he’s having dinner at a Pharisee’s house. What a discovery! And when she finds him, what’s her reaction? Nothing other than complete outpouring of emotion, affection, care, and honour - washing and anointing his feet.

Jesus defines her response to him as ‘great love’. She has been forgiven many sins and hence her outpouring of thanks and love for Jesus is great. No wonder she is a famous woman of faith, and we remember and celebrate her action as a model response to Jesus over 2000 years later!

Apply: How much ‘love’ and affection are you pouring out on Jesus at the moment? Have you neglected in any way to thank him and praise him for your forgiveness  both in a daily disciplined way, and also in spontaneous extravagant ways – such as how you serve and love others?

Devote: Thank you Jesus for forgiving me, thank you for the role model of this woman. Make me more like her as a worshipper of you. May my thanksgiving speak to others of the forgiveness I’ve found in you.