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Luke 7: 37-39

And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His 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. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.”

If this few minutes of history were a short film, I would be watching this woman move so intently. She fascinates me; she is beautiful. I want to be like her and I don't want to be like Jesus' disciples who rolled their eyes, judged her and voiced to Jesus that she did not belong with Him. Let's just think about this sweetheart woman. I really can envision the short film as a silent one. Maybe a little music only. On the screen the sweet woman, known within society as a sinner, probably a prostitute, comes to the house of a stranger Pharisee because she heard Jesus was there. You see, Jesus had saved her. Jesus had come to her and healed her soul with just one touch. He picked her life out of a pit and had set her free. So she brings what she has- all the money she had saved for a whole year- and pours it over Him. She comes, weeping weeping weeping with love and gratitude. She is overwhelmed with the praise and love she has in her heart for Jesus. She washes His dirty feet with the tears that stream down her face, and she dries them with her long dark hair. Stop and close your eyes and think about this beautiful scene... what love, what gratitude, what praise! She didn't care what they thought: they weren't there when Jesus came to her and found her. They weren't there when Jesus came to her and set her free. They had no idea how much He changed her life. And she had nothing else to do but give back to him.

By title, we are Jesus' disciples. Don't be like those disciples. Don't be judgmental and embarrassed when someone who Jesus has set free comes to Him and behaves as seemingly ludicrous as this. You don't know where they have come from, you don't know how much Jesus means to them. Be like the sinner lady who Jesus had found and set free. Come to Him, making yourself look like a fool if you have to, and pour your praise over Him. Take what costs you and give it back to Him in praise. Pour out your life to Him again. You may have first been set free by Jesus' touch years ago, or yesterday you may have found Him for the first time. Either way, praise costs. Pour your praise over Him like the lady with the expensive oil. She perfectly wasted the most expensive thing she had because she loved Him. She loved Him. Her life had been rescued and saved by Jesus, and that deserved all that she had.