Jeremiah receives word that the Lord is preparing an
indictment against the nation and that he is to write it on a scroll and bring
it to the people. Jeremiah instructs his
scribe, Baruch, to write down all that the Lord says through Jeremiah and take
it to the temple on a day of fasting, a day on which the people are to be
focusing on their sins, and read it there to all who are assembled and to all
of the nation who come up to Jerusalem.
The point is that they are to be cognizant of the charges against them
and of the reality that if they do not repent and ask for mercy the Lord
intends to bring calamity and judgment against them. The header at the top of the passage tips us off
that this isn't going to go well.
The woman who anoints Jesus' feet apparently sees two things
in Him, righteousness and mercy. She
comes to make an offering to Him when, because of her profession, she couldn't
make an offering at the temple. She sees
something in Jesus that indicates to her that there is forgiveness in Him, that
He may indeed be the Messiah, and she comes to Him to perform service for Him
that the host is unwilling to perform.
Her offering is extravagant.
Prostitutes in that day wore the flasks filled with perfumed ointments
to attract men to them in those dusty, dirty times. The flask was the asset that made her stand
out in the crowd and when she saw the disrespect done to Jesus she gave up
everything, her past, her present and her future in washing His feet. The letting down of her hair is another sign
of great intimacy and she has greatly humbled herself in caring for Jesus'
feet, something only Gentile slaves could even be asked to do in a Jewish
home. The host simply thinks to himself
that Jesus isn't much of a prophet if He doesn't know who this one is, it is
obvious to anyone she is a sinful woman.
Jesus' response to the man's unexpressed thoughts shows that He knows
not only who she is but who the host is as well but only one has repented and
received mercy here.
Since I just preached this recently I hope some of you
remember the story about why the people in Lystra reacted so powerfully to this
healing. There was a myth written by
Ovid about a visitation of the gods Zeus and Hermes visited and found no hospitality
among the people of this region until an old couple, Baucis and Philemon, took
them in and provided for them. The gods
caused a flood to destroy the city that would not receive them. The people of Lystra didn't want to make that
mistake so went a bit overboard in celebrating Paul's healing of the crippled
man. They did, however, recognize
something appropriately, the healing was done by God but Paul was not a god,
the Lord worked through him to accomplish this miracle. As great as they thought it was that the gods
were among them, how do you think they would receive the Good News that God
could live within them? They have
received more mercy in Jesus than they could ever imagine from their own gods.
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