extravagant love

Thursday June 9^th, Luke 7:  36 Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. 37 When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38 and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. When we know we are sinners, we tend to approach from behind.  We are aware of our sin and we can’t believe the grace that comes with forgiveness, at least not for us.  It is when we have the greater sin, that of not being aware of our sin, that we approach from the front, arrogant and full of self.  The woman’s response was an intimate pouring out of herself in thankfulness that comes from encountering unbelievable grace.  This extravagant response was an embarrassment to the good upstanding folk who were all too aware they were good upstanding folk.  Perhaps they too would be open to God’s amazing grace if only they could take an honest look inside to see the extent of God’s grace in their lives.  Perhaps then, they too could let their hair down and truly respond to that grace with extravagant love of their own.