Jesus Sees You

By Linda Goldrick (Head of Junior School)

There is  a story in the Bible in Luke 7:36-50 that talks of a time when one of the leading religious folk, a Pharisee, invited Jesus to have dinner with him. There was a woman in that town who had lived a sinful life and when she learned that Jesus was there she came and poured an alabaster jar of perfume on his feet. 

We might read this story and not think too much of it until we mine its depths and find the gold.

In those times if there was a dinner held by a Pharisee or someone important, they often allowed the poor and unclean to come in and view the dinner. The poor and unclean probably went with the hope of discarded food or it was one of their few chances to listen to the famous or infamous speaker. When they attended they were always kept away from the guests, put at a distance lest they dirty the ‘clean’.

We then have this beautiful picture of a sinful woman who probably frequented the shadows, coming out from this barrier of the poor and unclean, standing behind Jesus pouring perfume on his feet; and she was protected. She wasn't thrown out because Jesus was her shield, her rock, her redeemer.

Not only was she not cast out, but Jesus called upon this pharisee and asked him the question;  "Do you see this woman?" Imagine her heart when Jesus asked the ‘clean’ man if he truly saw her, a sinful woman. Could he see beyond the sin and see her heart, her worship, her plight?

I love the way Jesus loved this woman. Nowhere does Jesus call attention to this woman and announce what her sins were. How gracious, how loving of the sinner He was.  

We often fall into the lie that we need to be better or live better before we are loved, but Jesus smashes that lie with this story. We are loved. We can come to Jesus, not just because of what we have done, but despite what we have done.

There is forgiveness and there is love in this story and like the question that Jesus asked the Pharisee ‘Do you see this woman?’  Jesus answers us and says ‘Yes I see you.’