At The Feet Of Jesus

Palm Sunday commemorates that day in Jesus life where Jesus enters Jerusalem on a colt. Mark chapter 11 says, “And many spread their clothes on the road, and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: "Hosanna! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' Blessed is the kingdom of our father David That comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"”

Last time we looked at that sad day when Judas betrayed Jesus and handed Him over to a detachment of Roman guards and temple officers. That was also the day when Peter denied knowing Jesus on three occasions.

Today I would like to take you to another event that took place during this time and connect it with a similar event that took place earlier in Jesus’ ministry on earth.

The Bible says in Matthew chapter 26:7-13 that when Jesus was in Bethany, “a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table.

But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, "Why this waste? "For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor." But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them, "Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me. “For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always. "For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial. "Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her."”

Now let’s turn to Luke chapter seven where we find a similar occurrence.

Luke 7:37 …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,

Luke 7:38 and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.

Luke’s account is not to be confused with the anointing at Bethany recorded in Matthew 26. In Luke’s text, the man is Simon the Pharisee. At Bethany it was Simon the Leper. Simon was a common name in Palestine. The New Testament mentions nine men with this name. Josephus mentions twenty. There could have been hundreds, perhaps thousands by that name in Palestine. Thus, the fact that the name Simon is found in both stories does not mean they are the same. In our text found in Luke 7, the woman is a sinful woman, at Bethany (Matthew 26) it was Mary the sister of Lazarus, a godly woman.

Jesus was invited to dinner by a Pharisee when a woman, who was considered a wicked sinner, came uninvited, to Christ for forgiveness of her sins (vs. 48).

Luke 7:37 …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,

Now how in the world did this sinful woman, a prostitute most commentators say, get into the home of a religious Pharisee? The customs of the day will help us to answer this question.

Jesus was a rabbi, a teacher of the Jews. When a rabbi was at a meal, anyone could freely come. When this woman heard that Rabbi Jesus was invited as a guest to the Pharisee’s house, she high-tailed it over there and walked in with an alabaster flask of fragrant oil.

Luke 7:38 and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.

Luke says, “she stood at his feet behind Him weeping.” Now, don’t make the mistake of visualizing this as a group of people at the dining table of the typical American/western family.

In the Middle East, the guest did not sit with his feet under the table as we do, but would recline on low couches and rest on his left elbow with his feet stretched back behind him. This is how the Scripture could recount a woman standing behind Jesus at His feet.

Now coming to Jesus, the woman did four things at the feet of Jesus. According to Luke 7:38 she (1) washed His feet, (2) wiped His feet, (3) kissed His feet, and (4) anointed His feet.