Jesus must have
been bored silly, feigning interest, with small talk about Jewish law at the dinner
party hosted by a Pharisee. This party has ‘lame’ written all over it.
That is until the
party was crashed. By a woman. And moreover this was a woman who had a
reputation and background that was less than ideal. No doubt she had broken more than one Jewish
law and was less than holy. Imagine the
look on the Pharisee’s straight-laced faces when she rushes in and falls at
Jesus’ feet!?
Her act of
worship, to anoint Jesus, is one of the most beautiful, expressive and generous
statements of faith in the New Testament.
She lavished Jesus with her gratitude. I am sure she knew that the
Pharisee men in the room usually stoned a woman like her, but that did not stop
her from sharing her expensive gift with Jesus.
Breaking that jar
with semiprecious gemstones filled with a half liter of pure nard was this
woman’s burning the ships moment! The
jar represented her past guilt and her future hope. She anted up pouring our every last drop at
the feet of Jesus. She walked out of the
dark shadows of this world and came to meet the Light of the World.
There comes a
moment when we need to come clean. There
comes a moment when we need to unveil the secret shame of our sin. There comes a moment when we need to fall
down on our knees on the gracious feet of Jesus! This is that moment for this woman.
Going all in means
radical repentance. Putting all your
cards on the table. We cannot trust
God’s grace at 99% and put 1% on our own effort. It is 100% or not at all. We cannot receive partial credit for our
salvation as much as we’d like to lie to ourselves than we can be part of the
equation. Paul’s letter to the Roman
Christians reminds us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of
God. All. That includes me. You.
Person next you. Person behind
you. The person who goes to church
regularly. The person who has never been
to church. All have sinned. All have access to the free gift of God’s
grace in Jesus, accepted by faith.
Full confession;
not half-hearted confession is what you and I are invited to do. A half-hearted confession always results in
half-hearted love for Jesus. To down
play sin is to also down play grace. And
dishonors Jesus, Who is Sinless, and worthy of our love.
One of the praise
and worship songs that has been around for a while is Alabaster Jar. Listen to
these lyrics… “This alabaster jar is all I have of worth, I break it at Your
feet, Lord, it's less than You, Deserve; You're far more beautiful, more
precious than the oil; The sum of my desires and the fullness of my joy; Like
You spilled Your blood, I spill my heart As an offering to my King. Here I am, take me as an offering. Here I am,
giving every heartbeat for Your glory.”
What if you and I
sang this song with our lives and actions?
What would happen if you and I mustered the moral courage of this woman,
walked into a room full of self-righteous Pharisees, and revealed our sin
unashamedly while anointing Jesus as Lord and Savior?
What would
happen? You know what would happen- a
revival on Earth and a party in heaven!
See you at the ‘all
in’ place,
Pastor Michelle
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