Love's Annointing

"And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment." Luke 7:37-38

When we were small, my mother always had a handkerchief in the ready to clean us up. When I was a bit older she would keep a wet washcloth in her purse during long car rides, in case there was an emergency clean up. Now we have all sorts of disposable products, but then, you had to be more prepared and think ahead. I remember not wanting to get dirty, only so I wouldn't have to smell the wet washcloth which got sour as the day and the heat wore on in an un-air conditioned car. It is true, though, we let very few people touch us and wash us up. It is very personal and intimate. No matter how embarrassed I was by my mother's washcloth, she was my caregiver and I knew I needed her. Her verbal expressions of love were eclipsed by her tender, hands-on approach to mothering.

A woman comes to Jesus and anoints him. She weeps and kisses him and wipes his feet with her hair. She had made some mistakes and everyone knew her as a sinner. And yet she was grateful for God's forgiving love that she had found in Jesus. She only knew that she had to show her thankfulness by being, but for a moment, his care taker, his servant. He allows her this expression, as he understands her need to give completely and without words. The folks around want to shame her and keep her from Jesus. The proud religious leaders thought she was beneath them. But Jesus allowed her into the most tender of places, the most tender of moments, so that she might know her forgiveness and healing as real.

Today, I want to give thanks for all those who have shown God's love by caring for me and for others. The selfless folks who work in soup kitchens, at church dinners, who visit the elderly and the ill, who work with their hands for others who have lost their strength. May we know Christ and our forgiveness as we tenderly care for others this day.