When was the last time you kissed someone’s feet? When was the last time that you had enough tears to wash…anything?
This story in Luke 7 exists to show us a genuine response to God’s overwhelming mercy. I wonder what commotion this woman’s weeping must have made at the Pharisees’ table. Imagine her there on the floor, openly weeping in front of strangers. She disregarded their disapproval and made a radical display of devotion. Jesus bent down, looked her in the eyes, wiped the tears from her face, and told her the truth: Her weeping was not in vain. Her sins were forgiven. She came in weeping but could go out rejoicing.
Meanwhile, the hosting Pharisee did not ask who she was, what she was doing, or why she was doing it. He didn’t provide her a seat at the table. He assumed that since he knew about her past, he knew everything about her future too. He talked about her but didn’t care for her. He judged her by what she had done, not by what God would do for her. He missed the miracle. But when Jesus looked upon this weeping woman, He saw the beauty in her sacrifice and in her heart. When Jesus saw her, He offered her abundant mercy and a new identity.
This is our God! When I humble myself before Him, He forgives everything and puts my feet on a whole new path. When Jesus explained His parable of the creditor with two debtors to the Pharisee, He said, “Her many sins have been forgiven; that’s why she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little, loves little” (Luke 7:47–48).
This woman wasn’t a worse sinner—she was a better seer. Unlike the Pharisee, she saw Jesus for who He is. Rather than trying to hide her mistakes, she grieved openly for how she had failed. In using the parable, Jesus was inviting the Pharisee to see his sin with a clearer vision, to see that the molehill of sin in his heart was actually a mountain. Right perspective on the magnitude of sin leads to a radical posture of gratitude toward God.
Jesus isn’t saying we need to sin more in order to love Him more. He’s inviting us to see the evil of our sin without mitigation. Only after taking a brutally honest look at ourselves will we be able to appreciate the merciful, caring, forgiving gaze of our Savior. He lovingly looks us in the eyes and gently wipes away our tears. He sets our feet on new paths. May we focus on that change today and, with grateful hearts, thank Him for all He’s done for us.
I am so glad that Jesus sees all of us and not just the awful parts of us. I am thankful that He sees our potential and what we have become because of his death on the cross and not what we used to be. He loves us all the same and doesn’t care what we did in the past. I love ❤️ God’s grace thru Jesus’s sacrifice.
Amen. TINA thank you for sharing that song.
Mercy is the act of withholding deserved punishment. Thank you Lord. Amen.
I believe that when God shows us a sin in our life, he doesn’t want us to feel bad about ourselves. By showing us the sin in our lives, he wants to show us areas he wants to change in us. I am an unfinished canvas that he is still working in. I pray that I could walk in his grace and extend that grace to others around me.
I absolutely love this and really needed to see it tonight. Thank you for sharing this ♥️
Mercy, thank you so much for your post! This is so encouraging to me as I am trying to rebuild my relationship with God. I am going to look into the videos you mentioned about Andrew Wommack. I was at my small church for over a decade and I realize now how much it skewed my view of God- a tyrant God instead of our loving father. I feel as if I am getting to know Him again and detangling all the falsehoods I learned.
Teresa Donnelly- Thank you for sharing your testimony. I related to what you posted so much. I am in a new church now and starting to see God as my loving father. It has been a rough journey starting over but God is definetly meeting me where I am now and it is comforting to know His patience and love for me.
Seeing Jesus in these scriptures as someone who is merciful and loving…it’s beautiful. Picturing Him bending down, wiping her tears, showing love over judgement…it really shows His love for us. So thankful for our savior!
@TERESA DONLEY: so touched by your testimony yesterday, and I am compelled to write to you. I have met so many people that were under the terror of religion, legalism, and the unpredictability of God’s wrath. Yet, God is constant and unchangeable (Hebrews 13:8). I was a victim of such terror myself for a couple of years under harsh preaching. But God… God is merciful and gracious, long suffering (God suffers!!!), slow to anger, and abounding in love and faithfulness, forgiving, and kind to 1000 generations of righteous people, and by no means forgetting sins of the wicked up to 3 and 4 generations (Exodus 34:6-7), He testifies about Himself as such to Moses and the whole human kind. What’s amazing is the very first thing God talked about Himself is MERCIFUL, that is the tip top nature. Even in His judgment, He is merciful (Mercy trumps over judgment- James 2:13). God is not man that He should lie about Himself, and who He is. Satan has infiltrated the church real bad, and makes us think that God is quick to anger, slow to forgive, quick to judge and punish. I am so sorry that wrong doctrines are a real crushing weight, on top of trials and attacks. I too once wanted to run so far away from God, for 2 years period I left, and I never wanted to have anything to do with this cruelty. But God found me, oh how he found me… hidden away, forgotten, and took me back through youtube videos in a very dark phase. I stumbled on “God wants you well” series- by Andrew Wommack when struggling with an issue, I could not get enough of how good God is, I was told in this series that God still does miracles of healings, He stills forgives, and heals all kinds of sickness and deformities, and He still goes after the 1 sheep that is lost. And then “Killing sacred cows” series- also by Andrew, attacking the wrong systematic religious views about God (highly recommend!!!- this is the life saver for me). And I myself experienced miracles- mind blowing. I received fresh revelations about the Merciful God, one after another. It took a few years for God to renew my mind through Andrew’s teachings to demolish many many strongholds of wrong thinking, patterns and negative emotions. Andrew is just like my dad, who lives thousands of miles away btw and I miss him, and Andrew reminds me so much of my dad and his sense of humor, God uses such endearing details to draw me back. How kind, my dear Father who loves me. The small church that preached wrong, I prayed for them and for my purity of heart/forgiveness towards them. They got shut down due to various personal reasons. God still worked in our midst, even in bad bad church situations (thinking of you LEXI B!). The Lord took actions and cleaned up that whole situation. There is a balance with God, in love and also in discipline, in pruning and in grace, in the grand scheme and in the little details, He is closer than a friend, always walking with us, always working with us to bring goodness into this world. God is good, all the times! And all the times, God is good! And Satan tries so hard to convince us otherwise, through sickness and tribulations. May we choose to believe the Lord’s testimony, and experience great victories, the things hoped for, for ourselves.
Molly: I love your picture of Jesus’s posture towards us; Him bending down to us. I worked at an elementary school for a few years and I always bent down to talk to the kids – especially when I needed to correct them. I never wanted to tower over them and make them feel small. How, how much He loves us that He is gentle and compassionate, even in His discipline. To picture Jesus bending down, or kneeling down to our level, to look into our eyes and love us even when He is extending mercy and grace. How much love He has for us.
Ephesians 2:9 … which God prepared ahead of time for us to do. Lord I am a sinner and in desperate need of your merciful kindness- help me to ACT with kindness in the moments You have prepared ahead of time for me so that others may know You! Soften my heart so that I will not be weighed down by grudges, jealousy, and the judgment of others. Your peace comes when those “feelings” are set aside and I behave more like You!
Simon talked ABOUT her while looking DOWN on her. Jesus bent DOWN to talk TO her.
It’s always going to be personal with Jesus. He will never talk ABOUT me while standing ABOVE me, He will always bend DOWN to talk TO me. Even when I show up full of shame. He will forgive me and fill me with hope.
Mercy for the things I deserve. Grace for the things I don’t. So much to be thankful for.