If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of a woman she is – that she is a sinner (Luke 7:39).

Here’s a link to the entire passage!

[Did you notice: we have begun putting a link to the complete passage for the week at the top of each Connect Devotional. We encourage you to read the whole passage before diving into what we write!]

Linus from the comic strip Peanuts said it: “I love humanity; it’s people I can’t stand!”

We all probably agree that we should “love everyone,” but when it comes to having to put up with this or that specific member of “everyone,” things can get complicated.

In this week’s passage, we see Jesus continuing his annoying habit of welcoming all kinds of people, especially the “wrong” kinds, into the circle of his care.  Shouldn’t a supposedly holy man make better choices about the company he keeps?

The setting for so many of the Jesus stories recorded in our four Gospels is the small villages of Galilee.  “Small village” means “small town,” which means everyone knows everyone pretty well.  A Pharisee (we later learn his name, Simon) invites Jesus over for dinner.  An unnamed woman, identified as “one who had lived a sinful life” crashes the party.  “A sinful life” most likely means the woman was a prostitute.

What a mess!  In that culture, an unaccompanied woman would not be welcome at such a dinner.  A “sinful woman,” a thousand times less welcome!

More mess: weeping, the woman proceeds to wash Jesus’s feet with her hair, then cracks open a container of precious perfume and pours it out over his feet.  Yikes and double yikes!

The Pharisee, attempting to be a good host, keeps his thoughts to himself: “If this man were a prophet, he would know what sort of woman is touching him.”  But you know that, if Simon is keeping score, this woman has already struck out twenty-seven times!  Game over for her, as far as he’s concerned.

Though Simon intended to keep his thoughts to himself, I think Jesus could read the Pharisee’s thoughts on the man’s face.  So he asks him a question – “Who is likely to love more, the one who is forgiven a large debt or a small one?”  Obvious answer, which Simon gets: “I suppose the one forgiven the larger debt.”

Jesus then asks Simon, “Do you see this woman?”  Well, of course he “saw” her, may well have known her (small village, remember?)  Simon sees a mess, a screw-up, a sinner-who-deserves-what-she’s-got-coming.  Of course he sees her!

Jesus instead sees how she is responding to him.  She understands that she owes a debt she cannot pay, and she sees Jesus as one who may be interested and willing to help her.

Simon’s pretty confident that, whatever debt he owes, it’s pretty small and quite manageable.

Jesus pronounces the woman forgiven, which leaves a question or two hanging over Simon: “How much of a mess do you think you are?  A pretty big mess, or just a small, little mess?  Do you want to be forgiven, or do you want to keep deluding yourself that you don’t need it?”

I like to think the woman slept well that night, maybe for the first time in a long time.  After all, Jesus’s final words to her were “Go in peace.”  I wonder if Simon slept well?  I hope not …

I’m a mess, you’re a mess, we’re all messes.  Some of us may look and act more ‘respectably,’ we may have gotten better at behaving ‘acceptably,’ but that doesn’t really fix the mess.  Think of someone somewhat close to you whom you think is a mad hot mess.  What are some ways you could see them using your “Jesus eyes” – and what are some concrete steps you could take towards them in their messiness?