The anointing of Jesus

Communion Message
(The anointing of Jesus)
April 28-29, 2001
Pastor Donald Sheley

For I have received from the Lord that which I also delivered unto you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me." In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me." For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He come. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

There's a fascinating story that's found in the Gospels in various forms. John records it in John chapter 12. There are those within the study of theology who think that all of these anointings of Jesus were the same event told differently by the authors, but others would say no, they were different times when Jesus was anointed. Luke tells his story, listen: Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee's house, and sat down to eat. 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 wipe them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. Now when the Pharisees 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." Jesus answered and said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." So he said, "Teacher, say it."

He said, "There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. Ono owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?" Simon answered and said, "I suppose the one whom he forgave more." And He said to him, "You have rightly judged." Then he turned to the woman and He said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. And to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little." Then He said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, "Who is this who even forgive sins?" Then He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace."

Interesting story. It's the story of a religious man called a Pharisee, and I don't know, we don't have the motive for his reason for the invitation. Maybe he just wanted to spend some time with this Galilean, but the Pharisee invites Jesus to come for dinner, and Jesus comes. But even as a Pharisee and a man of religion he does not even give his guest the normal kindness. He doesn't wash His feet. He doesn't provide water. He doesn't even kiss Him, the kiss of greeting. We're told in history that there were such things as private dinners and public dinners, and I'm assuming that somehow there must have been an indication that this was kind of the public dinner. Maybe this Pharisee was showing off his guest. Maybe the front door was open. For some reason the prostitute of the street felt she could come and observe the dinner so she enters. Now in those days they did not sit around the table as we do. The tables were very, very low and they laid on their back or on their side with their head upon their left elbow, and they could reach and, of course, take the food off the table. But their feet were all out, fanned out around this table. And the little prostitute finds her way to Jesus' feet and she begins to weep.

And then she did something that was absolutely unforgivable in society in those days, and even in much of eastern society today, a woman never unfurls her hair in public. It's the last thing you do. She unfurls her hair and begins to wipe the feet of Jesus -- something unthinkable. But Simon hadn't provided a towel so she used her hair. In those days ladies wore around their neck a flask that was in kind of a tear shaped bottle, very precious, used for very special occasions. And with the fragrant oil that she had purchased from her efforts in prostitution she takes that fragrant oil and pours it upon the feet of Jesus. You see, in those days they didn't have paved highways so all of your walking was done on pathways laden with the dung of the animals who went before you. And that's why it was so important that when a guest came you washed their feet because you washed off the smell of the streets and pathways. And this lady wanted so much that the feet of Jesus be fragrant that she took this flask and broke off the top and she poured it on His feet.

Old Simon's sitting there and says, if He's really a prophet like He says He is, He'd know this woman is a sinner and He'd stop her. That's what was in his mind. Jesus turned to old Simon and said, Simon, I've got something I want to talk to you about. Go ahead Jesus. I entered your house and you weren't even gracious enough to do what is customary for all guests. You never even washed My feet, but this little lady has washed my feet with her tears. You didn't even greet me at the door with a kiss of friendship, this woman has not stopped kissing Me since I came in, and on My dirty feet. Simon, I want you to know that he who is forgiven much has the capacity to love much; and he who does not think he needs much forgiveness, little will be the dimension of his love. What's our lesson? You either come to this table today as a Simon or as a prostitute. I'm a prostitute. If you come to this table with the sense of arrogance as that old religious Pharisee who felt himself needing very little forgiveness, and that's all he got. But he didn't demonstrate much love to the Man who had forgiven him. And the prostitute came and she knew she desperately needed God's forgiveness. She knew that. She'd go to any length. If it's providing a violation of custom in taking her hair down, she's going to wipe her Master's feet, she's going to kiss Him, she's going to break that fragrant oil so His feet will smell the nicest in the crowd. That was her way of showing devotion.

Jesus said, when you don't think you need much forgiveness, you won't have the capacity to show much love for the one who forgives. When you realize how desperately you need forgiveness, your love will be to the dimension of your joy in being forgiven. Little woman, you're forgiven, go in peace. Do you notice He never said anything to Simon about forgiveness? I fear that times we come to the table as a Simon. You kneel with me here at the communion and somehow you think there's not much that needs to be forgiven. It's the person who comes knowing they desperately need God's grace and His forgiveness, are the people who walk out this door forgiven. I come as the prostitute not as Simon today, and I want to come with me. Let's kneel and pray.

We wouldn't be so arrogant, dear Jesus, to think we need just a little bit of forgiveness, nor would we be so wrong as to judge others and think them a greater sinner than we are. We're all sinners, and here we are in Your presence to express our devotion and our love. Our actions may not resemble that of a prostitute, but in our heart of hearts dear Jesus we want to tell You that we love You, that we adore You, and that we worship You. We've all gone astray. We've all missed the mark of Your righteousness. We have walked down the pathways of disobedience. We have thought things we should not have thought. We've said things we should not have said. We've done things that have grieved Your heart. Dear Jesus, please forgive us. And I thank you for these elements because we hold in our hands the promise that You will forgive us. You took our sins in Your body, by Your shed blood we're cleansed. Thank you Jesus. Let's take the bread together, shall we? Redeemer, Lord, Savior, Master, God, we love You. Let's drink the cup together, shall we? And we leave this table, we rise to our feet, with the knowledge we're forgiven, and when the service is over we can depart in peace. Thank you Jesus, and everybody said, amen. Let's stand and greet one another, shall we?