Red Letters – Extravagant – April 16

RED LETTERS
April 16, 2021

Extravagant

Luke 7:41-42. ‘”It’s a story about two men who were deeply in debt. One owed the bank one hundred thousand dollars, and the other only owed ten thousand dollars. When it was obvious that neither of them would be able to repay their debts, the kind banker graciously wrote off the debts and forgave them all that they owed. Tell me, which of the two debtors would be more thankful? Which one would love the banker most?”’ (TPT)

We don’t know precisely the emotions of the woman who worshiped Jesus with the costly sacrifice by which she anointed His feet; however, we have a pretty good idea. In fact, it is funny to me because in one of the versions, it says ‘And a woman in the town who was a sinner…’! Ha! That could be any one of us, right?! But, additionally, the Bible tells us she was a woman of the night, in other words, likely a prostitute. We get an idea that she had been watching for an opportunity to honor Him, and when the chance presented itself, boldly she sought Him out, unwilling that the opinions of peers step in her way. We see that she not only spills a flask of extravagantly expensive perfume, assumed to be worthy of a year’s wages, but she also spills her tears and presumably her deep shame and acute ache. I find it touching that while she is anointing the Savior’s feet with her tears and drying His feet also with her long hair, Jesus is anointing her life with His understanding and drying her shame with His forgiveness. I believe in this act, this act where He stands against others and on her behalf, He is giving her permission; permission to come boldly to Him, permission to lay herself on an altar of need, permission to let go of and forego all she has known; permission to see a new day dawn on the rest of her life.

I know what it is like to be this woman. To have made many selfish choices and lived so promiscuously and carelessly; to have never counted the cost. And then the Son dawns, and as He breaks through the clouds of despair, and out of the storms of change and hopelessness, a new day emerges. A second chance to begin again.

When you are that person—when His extravagant love and grace has arrested you and set you free from the bondage your choices once chained you to—you find you owe Him everything, and there is not one thing, a flask of expensive perfume or a jug of priceless tears, too extravagant to give back to Him in gratitude. Worship flows from your life like perfume from a bottle and emotion paves a path of joy to His feet, as His Words settle on fertile soil: “All your sins are forgiven…Your faith has saved you; go now in peace.” (Luke 7:48-50)

I’ve been reading RED LETTERS all my life, but never with my heart.
During the month of April, let’s JOURNEY where JESUS journeyed,
and listen with our hearts to all He came to proclaim.