KISSING JESUS’ FEET Dear friends in Christ, yesterday Jesus complained about the people he was ministering to. What was his problem with them? They didn’t seem to be satisfied with anything good. John the Baptist came practicing a strict form of spirituality, he wasn’t eating and drinking neither was he mingling anyhow with the people, yet they called him a demon. Now Jesus decided to use the secular approach, he was freely eating and drinking and mingling with the people but what did he get? Insults. They called him a glutton and a drunkard. What kind of people are this? Jesus wondered. We played the pipes for you, and you refuse to dance, now we play the dirge and you refuse to mourn. They were just a stiff-necked people expecting a Messiah to fall from heaven. The beautiful thing about Jesus was that despite the criticism he was getting, he did not suddenly decide to change his pattern of ministration. He was convinced about what he was doing and he did not let the people’s opinion decide his future. He was aware that people did not recognize him as a serious person yet he still accepted an invitation to go and eat in a Pharisee’s house. This time around, he not only ate and drank freely, he got an unexpected show of love from a woman who had a very bad reputation in the community. This woman, we are told was covering his feet with her kisses, bathing them with her tears and wiping them with her hair. You need to understand that at this time, there were no cars or trains as we have today. Transportation was basically by means of one’s feet and looking at the topography of Israel, one could only imagine how dirty and smelling the feet would be. In fact, in those days, there were bowls of water provided at the entrance of people’s houses just for them to wash their feet before coming in. Somehow, in today’s scenario, this Pharisee may have been carried away by Jesus’ acceptance to honour his invitation and thereby forgot to provide water for washing the feet in the process. This woman sneaked into the house and decided to do the dirty job for Jesus. She did not just wash his feet with water, she did it with her own tears, she did not wipe his feet with a rag or a napkin, she used her own hair. She did not just leave the feet to dry, she poured expensive ointment on it. “Chaiiii!!!!” The guests who were invited could not believe their eyes yet they pretended not to notice. A lot of things started going through their minds. “This man claims to be holy, yet he doesn’t want to stop this woman! Hmmmmm, If this woman can be doing this in public, what would happen in private? Hummm, but this Jesus self, he should know what kind of woman is this now, and so on and so on.” Jesus knowing what they were thinking in their minds simply explained the scenario with a parable. ONE WHO HAS BEEN FORGIVEN MUCH, LOVES MUCH. Her tears were as a result of her humble admission of guilt and sorrow over her many sins. Instantly Jesus forgave her, cancelled out her debts, gave her a new name and welcomed her to the company of the saved. Only God can forgive sins and for him to forgive her, Jesus was telling them the he is God. My brothers and sisters, what seemed like scandal eventually became an act of repentance and a ticket for salvation. We judge people based on what we see and our own limited knowledge but only God who sees all and knows all has the capacity to really judge. There is no need to judge and condemn because we are not God and our judgment will always be wrong. What is more important is for us to acknowledge our own sins and attempt to remove the logs from our eyes before we look for the specks from people’s eyes. Like this woman, an acknowledgement of our sins should make us show genuine love for Jesus. We too are called to kiss the feet of Jesus, by helping the poor and the less privileged in our society, those that sit at the dirtiest part of our streets, and those who have no hope of survival. As the saying goes, CHARITY COVERS A MULTITUDE OF SINS. Good morning. Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 04:51:18 +0000
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