Extraordinary Love

In Luke 7:36-50, the story of the woman with great sin who came to Jesus weeping teaches us the extraordinary things we can do to love (and serve) God…

WATER vs TEARS. It’s ordinary to clean with water; but the woman cleansed Jesus’ feet with her tears.  An extraordinary service would be something that is done until it hurts. Giving beyond tithes, giving until it hurts. Serving our brothers and sisters beyond our capacity, serving until it hurts.

TOWEL vs HAIR.  It’s ordinary that we dry using towel; it may be our comfort zone as it eases our pain or gives us joy after a painful experience. But it’s extraordinary to use the hair.  We’ve heard time and again that the hair is one’s crowning glory.  Cleaning the Master’s feet with the hair meant laying down the woman’s pride; maybe that means setting aside our comfort zones and everything that gives us dignity.

KISS ON CHEEK vs KISS ON FEET. While it’s customary for the Jewish to greet one another with a kiss, Simon (the house owner) didn’t do that to Jesus; but it’s extraordinary that the woman came weeping and kissed Jesus’ feet. That lowly place is reached through kneeling, and kneeling means total submission and total surrender to the Master.

OIL vs PERFUME.  It’s ordinary to anoint the head with oil; but it’s extraordinary to anoint the feet with perfume.  The perfume in the alabaster jar meant everything to the woman.  It’s her sweat and blood that gave her the precious perfume to attract more potential customers; and it meant her whole life to break that jar to offer to Jesus.

We may tend to be so used with the ordinary things that we do in serving in God’s kingdom. We may be overfamiliar that our hearts may no longer have the desire to get the Master’s attention into intimacy with Him. We may be in the comfort zones of Christianity that we forget that there are greater things we can do where God can move more greatly in us and through us. We may be so consumed with our passion towards serving but not actually in the process loving our King.

Don’t let that precious thing hold you back from loving and serving God or he’ll take that away from you. Break that alabaster jar! Nothing is more precious than to let that scent of true service come out. It is in brokenness and freedom from mediocrity that we can truly experience the extraordinary God.

*Excerpt from DFMI Sunday Service (10.25.2009; Ptr. Profirio Yasay, Jr. aka Kuya Wawa)