There's a famous woman in the Bible, albeit having her name kept unknown from readers. This woman, found in Luke 7:36-50, is the woman who brought an alabaster jar of fragrant oil to the Lord Jesus. Her story is one of the most powerful stories of repentance and forgiveness, one that shows the kind heart of God.
What can we learn from her? Let's talk about that.
Backgrounder
The four books Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all record a woman who brought fragrant oil to Jesus, with only three such accounts mentioning an alabaster jar. Commentaries say that Luke's account - the one we're going to talk about - is different from the others, especially John's where the people and circumstances involved were particularly different.
Nevertheless, while all of them revealed to us that Jesus values our efforts to honor Him, Luke's story reveals so much more: His love and forgiveness.
According to Luke's account, the Lord Jesus was invited by a Pharisee to dine with him at his house. Jesus obliged, and while He was there, an unnamed woman, known only as a "sinner" in the city where she lived, went to Christ with an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and did what no one ever thought of doing.
"[She] stood at [Jesus'] feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil." (see Luke 7:38)
While the Pharisee despised Jesus for allowing the woman to touch Him, the Lord Jesus Himself appreciated her actions, for He saw the sincerity of her repentance. The Lord Jesus told the Pharisee, Simon, about how repentant the woman was in comparison to him, and emphasized its importance:
"Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little." (see Luke 7:47)
What can we learn from her?
If we truly understood the significance of this account, we would all be brought to tears and be humbled by the Lord's goodness. You see, this account teaches us more than just sacrifice and repentance; it teaches us love, forgiveness, and real freedom.
Here are a few things we can learn from the woman.
1) Genuine repentance knows no limits
The woman, sincere in her repentance from living a life of sin, went as far as weeping behind Christ, washing His feet with her tears, wiping them with her hair, and anointing them with the very fragrant oil she herself sacrificed for this very purpose. Her very actions show true repentance from her sins.
2) Real repentance receives real forgiveness
The Lord Jesus, obviously happy at the woman's sincerity in repenting of her sin, spoke to His host about God's forgiveness. He told the Pharisee that though this woman was a sinner, her genuine repentance is received and is rewarded with complete pardon.
Such is the wonderful truth that any and all of us should know. Anyone who repents, regardless of history or background, can and will be forgiven by God as long as the repentance is genuine. Even if the people around us won't believe in our repentance, God sees the real issue inside our hearts.
3) Sincere repentance doesn't care about public opinions
We also need to take into account one very important thing: the woman did her act of repentance inside the house of a Pharisee.
Pharisees are religious leaders known for their strict adherence to the Law. This woman, a "sinner" as she is, will not be given any room in a Pharisee's house. Yet, here she is, braving the people's rejection so she can come and repent before the Lord.
The same holds true for anyone who truly repents. When we truly repent before the Lord, we will not worry about what people will think. We will not worry that people think we are being ridiculous for crying in tears, for saying "sorry," for making restitution for our sins.
Regardless of what people may say, we turn our backs on sin and turn towards God. 1 Peter 4:3-4 beautifully explains just how that looks like:
"For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you."
