She broke in. An uninvited woman enters Simon the Leper’s house carrying
a very expensive alabaster jar of perfume. She pours the perfume on
Jesus’ head and feet, and then crumbles before him weeping and wipes
His feet with her unbound hair.
Some noticed the expensive alabaster jar of perfume, and declared, “Why
this waste? This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the
money given to the poor.”
Others gossiped about her sinful life. “If this man were a prophet, he would
know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is-that she is a
sinner.”
She only saw Jesus. Her focus was on her Master and her desperate need
to be forgiven, to touch the feet of the Man she knew was Messiah, her
Savior, her Lord. Pushing aside her heavy shame, the result of trying to find
love when true love now sat before her, she ignores the stares and the fear
of being told, “Get out! You’re not wanted here!” and purposefully moves
forward hoping that this will be the moment when her chains will fall away,
and she will finally be free.
Jesus focuses on her. He sees His broken daughter, the woman he has
been pursuing for so long. She is just one of the women for which He would
be laying down His life. Jesus sees this woman who has been bound by
shame and who now sees her Savior. Jesus, moved by her act of love,
speaks the words she wants to, she needs to hear, “Your sins are forgiven.
Your faith has saved you, go in peace.”
I’m embarrassed to admit that I have wrongfully sat in the place of
judgment, pigeon-holing my thoughts on the cost of things rather than upon
their worth. I have thought myself better than others ignoring my own sins
and shame.
I have also been broken, dropped at the foot of His cross, trembling at my
Savior’s feet, wishing I could touch Him, feel Him, desperate to Hear His
voice in my own ears.
When the trappings of my sinful soul take a back seat to His Holiness living
within me, that is when I feel His touch, heart His voice and I am reminded
that I am His.
This is when I feel His love. This is when I know Jesus sees me. Through
my tears, I know Jesus is with me. He sees my pain. He knows my sins
and wants to free me from the heavy burdens I carry.
If you are struggling with feeling alone, heavy with guilt or shame, cry out to
Jesus, and leave your burdens at the foot of His cross and be set free!
As this Lenten season continues, make it a point to set your focus on
Jesus, our Savior, Redeemer and Lord.
Linda Guteres
Past LWML Atlantic District President
Treasurer
Suffolk Zone