Day 1: Jesus is Totally Scandal-worthy

Then one of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him. He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. And a woman in the town who was a sinner found out that Jesus was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house. She brought an alabaster jar of perfume and stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to wash his feet with her tears. She wiped his feet with her hair, kissing them and anointing them with the perfume. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “This man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—she’s a sinner!” LUKE 7:36–39

I’VE BEEN IN CHURCH since I was in utero. Which means I’ve heard most of the Bible stories many, many times. Plus, I was raised partly in the Baptist tradition, which means I’ve seen most of them flannel-graphed! I’ve also had eight years of masters—and doctoral-level seminary training. The bottom line is: I’m no stranger to the Scriptures. But here’s the deal, y’all—God’s Word isn’t a flat, one-dimensional text that we can memorize and effectively “conquer.” It’s a supernatural love story with more facets than our finite human minds can possibly master. No matter how many times you hear, read, or peruse a biblical passage, there are always new truths to glean and contours to explore!

I recently heard our seminary president, Dr. Mark Young of Denver Seminary, preach on a familiar passage, and I was blown away by a poignant detail I’ve missed for decades. He unpacked the story in Luke about a woman who washed Jesus’s feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, then anointed them with perfumed oil. He explained how every Gospel account includes an encounter where Jesus was anointed by a woman (Matt. 26:6–13, Mark 14:3–9, Luke 7:36–50, and John 12:1–8). He shared that of these four encounters recorded in the Gospels, New Testament scholars agree that there are at least two separate anointings going on in these scenes, based on the chronological differences and unique characteristics in the individual narratives.

Furthermore, John’s account specifies that the “anointer” was Lazarus’s dear sister, Mary of Bethany, who was a good girl, despite the fact that she chose to chill at Jesus’s feet instead of crushing it in the kitchen like her super-productive sibling, Martha! Yet Luke’s account refers to the woman anointing Jesus as a “sinner” (which commentators say is a euphemism for a prostitute), who was neither a good girl nor a personal friend of the Christ like Mary of Bethany. Instead, the woman in Luke’s Gospel account was likely one of several uninvited guests who’d gathered in Simon’s yard to lean against the wall of the courtyard and eavesdrop on the alfresco conversation and/or beg for food, as was common in the Ancient Near East.

As I read about her in Luke 7, I can’t help but wonder what compelled her to come. Maybe she’d watched Christ engage with a grieving widow who was trudging alongside the pallbearers carrying her dead son’s body and looked on in awe as He raised the boy back to life because that miraculous encounter happens just prior to hers in Luke 7. Some teachers think she put her hope in Jesus through the ministry of John the Baptist. Whatever the case, this sinful woman was willing to ignore propriety, invite judgment, and initiate a scandal to get closer to Him.

According to tradition, Jesus and the other fellas (formal meals at that time were segregated by gender) reclined on cushions while they ate because tables in that era were low-slung—more like a rustic coffee table than our modern dining tables. They would’ve leaned on their left elbows and eaten with their right hands because Torah depicted the right hand as superior to the left and, therefore, was considered the “clean” hand (Gen. 48:13–14; Lev. 7:32; 1 Kings 2:19; Ps. 17:7; Eccles. 10:2). And their feet would’ve been extended behind them because feet were considered the dirtiest part of the body, and so, naturally, a Jew would’ve been diligent about keeping those yucky tootsies as far away from the food as possible.

These first-century facets clarify why Luke describes this woman as coming from behind Jesus to wash and anoint His soon-to-be-pierced feet. Her tears made fetching a basin of water unnecessary and there was no need for a towel either because she used her hair to dry them. The hair thing is no small detail here (and was sure to make some observers of her demonstrative devotion gasp) because, as you probably already know, women in New Testament culture rarely let their hair down apart from private settings with their husbands. To have free-flowing hair back then was perceived as a very intimate gesture. Which is why Simon started acting priggish and presumed something to the effect of: “If this dude was really a prophet or even a relatively astute rabbi, he would’ve realized this chick is trashy and would’ve removed his feet from her filthy hands!”

I imagine Simon rolling his eyes and huffing indignantly when she continued her consecration with a kiss and then sealed it by rubbing our Redeemer’s feet with expensive perfumed oil instead of the standard olive oil that was normally used for anointing (which would’ve been her most valuable possession if she was indeed a “lady of the evening” as many theologians assert). Based on Simon’s mental recoil and ancient protocol, her actions were utterly scandalous.

But Jesus wasn’t offended. In fact, He praised her affectionate attentiveness and chastised Simon’s lack thereof. Which is the point in the text we get to the marvelous minutia that blew fresh faith into my sails recently:

Turning to the woman, he said to Simon . . . (Luke 7:44a, emphasis mine)

That petite phrase paints a glorious portrait of grace. Because while Jesus reproved this rude religious leader who was oblivious to the fact that God Himself in the flesh was his dinner party guest, He was gazing compassionately at the woman Simon dismissed. She was used to men looking at her with lust in their eyes, but our Savior’s unconditionally loving focus was surely unprecedented. Can’t you picture her tipping that alabaster jar upside down and thumping it with the heel of her hand in response, intent on giving Him every last drop of her adoration?

Propriety is a small price to pay when compared with the invaluable gift of divine redemption.

• WHAT’S THE MOST extravagant gift you’ve proverbially laid at the feet of Jesus?
• HAVE YOU EVER been accused of being too excessive in your devotion to Him? If so, did their chagrin dampen your zeal?
• IF IT’S BEEN a while since you felt as devoted to Jesus as this woman, explore why. What do you think is contributing to your lack of affection for Him?