Anchor My Faith

Woman Anoints the Feet of Jesus

Scripture: Luke 7:36-40

With this lesson we open a new section of teaching that resulted from comments made by a Pharisee, about Jesus allowing a sinful woman to anoint his feet. ^{Lk 7:36} “One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. ³⁷ And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, ³⁸ and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.”

One of the Pharisees who was with the crowd that always formed around Jesus, came and asked Jesus to eat with him. No reason was given for the invitation; no indication of what might be discussed or what information was wanted from Jesus. Jesus goes with the Pharisee and goes into his house and reclines at table. As was the custom, the feet of Jesus should have been washed as he entered the house, but no indication was given that they were washed.

A certain woman in the city, described as a sinner, apparently watched for Jesus and knew that he had gone to the Pharisee’s house to eat. She goes to his home, bringing with her an alabaster flask of ointment that she had been saving up for. She enters the house and positions herself behind Jesus and begins to weep. As she does she positions herself so that her face is at his feet and she moistened them with her tears and then wipes them with her hair and then kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment she had brought. Try to visualize this event and think about your feelings as this was happening. How would you feel if it was you in place of Jesus or if you were an onlooker?

As I was getting into bed one night, where I taught in an underground school in Asia, two women from the school knocked on my door and asked permission to enter. It was granted, and they came in to wash my feet, not with their tears, but with ordinary water. It was such a humbling experience, but an experience of special meaning they were conveying to me as their teacher at the time.

Did the Pharisee wash the feet of Jesus as he came into the house? We are not told, but in case he didn’t, this woman did using her tears as water and her hair as the towel. ^{Lk 7:39} Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” ^{Lk 7:40} And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”

When the Pharisee saw what the woman was doing, “he said to himself”, implies a thought that was not verbally spoken. Jesus knowing what the Pharisee, identified as Simon, was thinking, proves that he was a prophet. Simon assumed that he was not a prophet because if he was he would have known the woman was a sinner and would make him unclean by touching him.

We have before us a righteous Pharisee, a woman who lives a sinful lifestyle, and Jesus. The sinful woman washes, kissed and anointed the feet of Jesus. The Pharisee condemns this act of devotion, claims that Jesus is not a prophet and sees him now as unclean from the touch of the woman. Jesus then speaks, saying, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”

Prayer

Father, how often do we do or say or think something and you respond with, “I have something to say to you,” but we are not willing listen, or we are not willing to respond as you would have us. I look forward to the teaching time we will have with Jesus in the next lesson.