The Things I Love About Jesus: Jesus Accepts the Sinful Woman but the Pharisee Rejects Her

There are lots of them. My heart throws off the heaviness of the world by gazing upon Jesus. He is absolutely stunning!

Jesus is invited to have a meal with a Pharisee. During the meal a 'sinful' woman hears that Jesus is eating with this Pharisee and finds Him. (Luke Chapter 7: The text does not specifically mention her sin but is may very well be she was a prostitute.) The woman enters the house and stands behind Jesus weeping! Who knows what everyone was thinking. Did Jesus and this woman know each other? Why is she weeping behind Him? They are watching this woman that they know is an immoral woman weep and cry, at Jesus feet. Then she starts to wash His feet with her tears! She wipes them with her hair. Wow - that is pretty intimate, or strange, or something...

The Pharisee reasons in his heart that Jesus definitely isn't a prophet because if He were, He wouldn't even let her touch Him! But here is what I love about Jesus: He is calm, steady and makes no move to reject or criticise this woman. In fact, he makes no move to distance Himself from her. He feels no need to clarify his relationship to her at all. Everyone can watch and think what they want. Jesus isn't worried about their opinions. He is just being all that He needs to be for this woman to be completely cleansed and healed. She is being given a new lease on life!

Jesus accepts broken sinful human nature that falls at His feet! He is God! (John 14:9 "If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father") So Jesus shows you exactly what God is like.

The question that this passage answers is, "How do God and Satan relate to imperfect, sinful, weak human beings?" The other question is not even worth thinking about, "How do God and Satan relate to perfect human beings... beings who always do what is right and good." This 2nd question is worthless because there is not a single human that always does what is right and good. We are all evil, somewhere on the spectrum between Mother Teresa and Hitler. If Mother Teresa did things that were bad so that she needed to ask God for mercy (forgiveness) then certainly everyone else on the planet needs God's mercy as well. Therefore we are all imperfect, sinful, weak human beings.

The wonderful thing to discover is how God relates to us. He longs to help any of us, from the most wicked to the least, to be honest about our evil and change. He wants us to ask for His help and mercy to make this possible. But He also wants us to put in our effort as well. You can see this as Jesus accepts the sinful woman, rejects all the accusing thoughts of the onlookers, and pronounces the woman forgiven. Then He compliments her on her great love!

Isn't it great to see that Jesus compliments us? If you have had bad parents you may feel like God is always accusing you when you are not perfect. Well, none of us are going to be perfect. But some are actively trying to repent and respond to God. To do things His way. These people Jesus relates to as His sheep. May other people are not making the least effort to grow in righteousness at all.

The other thing to discover in this passage is that the Pharisee basically represents how Satan relates to imperfect, sinful, weak human beings. He accuses the woman in his heart. He is not focused on helping the woman at all. The Pharisee's inner thoughts go something like this, "I am righteous, I wouldn't even let's this immoral woman touch me!" The Pharisee doesn't care about this poor woman. Yes, she has sinned. But haven't we all? How can we say our sin isn't serious but her's is? Isn't the condescending and accusing thoughts themselves sinful?

Basically, in this passage you get a clear picture of how both God and Satan relate to weak sinful people. Both know that we have sinned. Satan seeks to accuse us, drive us to depression and despair and finally kill us. Jesus, however, helps us to repent and be freed from guilt and shame. He seeks to help us develop healthy patterns relating to ourselves and others. Jesus seeks to fill us with life. Healthy life causes the person to grow and everyone can see the good benefit. The life that the world seeks to bring us robs and we end up with a broken, cynical, burned out heart.

If your "image" of God (in your heart not just your mind) becomes identical to Jesus, you internalize and experience the Good Life more fully.