Elder M. Edmunds
Co-Pastor of United Ordained Church
August 2001
In our text, we find two individuals demonstrating two different responses to the presence of Jesus Christ: one is a demonstration of gratitude and the other is of ingratitude. One individual responded in appreciation, while the other sat and responded in depreciation.
These two demonstrated reactions that our evident in our text is a contrast between the attitude of the repentant and the attitude of the self-righteous.
Even today, these two types of people exist within the universal body of the Church: the grateful and the ungrateful, the selfless and the self-centered, the contrite and the sanctimonious.
It is difficult to distinguish who is who until they come into maturity, until certain circumstances presents themselves, by bringing out their true nature.
Even Jesus made reference two these two types of people that exist within the kingdom of heaven or the body of believers in His parabolical discourse found in Matthews 13:24-30.
He characterized one as wheat (a true worshiper, a repentant, a God pleaser) and the other as a tare (a pretender, an unrepentant, a man pleaser). He said, “Let both grow together until harvest (or maturity were circumstances and opportunities reveal their true nature), and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.”
For there are several individuals who shadow the door of God’s consecrated place of worship who are extremely grateful for what He has done for them: for He brought them out of darkness into this marvelous light and they have not lost the art of adoring Him ever since.
Regardless what you may think of their actions, regardless of what label you place upon them, they are just so thankful and honored to be in the house of prayer and in the presence of the Lord, they just got to praise and worship Him…
Why? For they are cognizant of the fact, that the Father seeks worshipers- “For God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
True worship is more than just outward ritual. Worship is our spirit corresponding with God’s Spirit.
Under the old covenant, worship was a series of outward ceremonies that did not necessary involve the heart response of the participants. Through Isaiah, God lamented, “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.”
God no longer wants ceremonial or religious so called worship at a fix locality; He now desires worshipers who will worship Him in purity of spirit.
Therefore, those who are so caught up on themselves (these are the tare), who think they are better then those around them, because they did not yield to that certain temptation or got caught up in that particular predicament, need to get it right before its to late.
You need to stop prancing around projecting yourselves as godly, for the devil is a liar. For Paul, the apostle, said in Romans 5:12, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sin.”
In addition, John, the apostle the son of Zebedee the son of thunder the one whom Jesus loved, picked it up and went a little further, and elucidated what Paul said. For by divine revelation and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in his first epistle, chapter one verses eight and nine he said, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
However, my beloved brothers and sisters, get this, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
So, stop acting like you all holier than thou. For my propensity or sin, which was your susceptibility, may not have befallen you and became your vulnerability, however, you are no better than I am. For there is something undetected from the natural eye, demoralizing and destabilizing your soul.
So, get your nose out the air, for you’re not all that and a bag of chips. Your struggling as well with the presence of sin.
Though you may not have experienced the high of crack and cocaine, or the effects of ecstasy, you are no better than any body else…
Though you may not have experienced the horror of a bad relationship that has left you hopeless with the responsibility of raising children all by yourself with a meager income, you are no better than any body else…
For though you never failed pray to these things, your “throat is an open sepulcher, for your tongue has used deceit; the poison of asps is under your lips” for you criticized and slandered, connived and coveted just to take the attention off of yourself so that others would not see your true condition.
So, don’t come up here with your nose up in the air; for you are no better than I am. Your religious false piety is not going to hinder or stop me from blessing God’s name… Do I have a witness?
Glare your eyes, look all you like at me in a critical way while I praise and worship Him: for your opinion of me ain’t going to stop me from getting my break through. I going to surrender my heart and life to Christ and praise and worship Him until my change comes…. Do I have a witness?
These sentiments were there exact feelings of this woman found in our text. She was un-intimidated by the religious piety of Simon and his cohorts. The stares, the glances, the glares of those present did not keep her from her objective, which was to worship Jesus with unashamed and unabated actions.
This “un-named” woman did not care who was there, or who was watching, or what inconvenience or embarrassment it may cause anyone. The simple truth was she was there for Jesus, and nothing or no one else mattered.
When are you going to posses that attitude? Who cares whose watching, who cares what they think of you. They can’t help you. They have issues as well. Just praise and worship God. You need your breakthrough. You suffered to long in shame and degradation.
Humble yourself. Give public demonstration of love and appreciation to Christ like this un-named woman in our text; and you will find your whole situation being turned around.
Does your life’s predicament within your being, within your marriage, within your relationship with your children, need to be turned around? Then you have to have a divine encounter with the Lord: and the only way that can occur is through worship.
The heart of a true worship is the unashamed pouring out of our inner self upon the Lord Jesus Christ in affectionate devotion as this woman did within our text.
Look at the latter verse of thirty-seven and the beginning verse of thirty-eight, “She brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping (pouring out her inner self), and began to wash His feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with ointment.”
She undoubtedly heard the message of Christ and of His gracious invitation recorded by Matthew, “Come unto Me, all ye that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Gripped by her sense of lost-ness and helplessness she brings her alabaster box of precious sacrificial praise and worship to have an encounter of a lifetime.
She needed a change, therefore she poured out her inner being in humility to receive her deliverance.
Now, pull out your alabaster box of precious sacrificial praise and worship. You’ve been holding your treasure back to long and been suffering severally in your condition. You need joy, you need to experience true pleasure and delight. Don’t let other peoples opinion stop you. Don’t let even your condition stop you.
She didn’t. For she would not be intimidated by religion, by programs, or by who was there. She came for a purpose. She came with Jesus on her heart. She saw Him when she came in, and nothing was going to keep her from giving Him worship and praise that was in her heart.
She was desperate for change. She was unstoppable.
Now notice a couple of things. The Pharisee, named Simon, the one who demonstrated ingratitude, reasoned within himself that if Jesus had really been a prophet, He would have known that this was a sinner that was touching Him.
But Jesus knew what was in Simon as well. He was no better; for hypocrisy contaminated his soul.
And while he’s reasoning this out within himself, Jesus confronts it with a parable of two debtors who were both forgiven. The lesson being the one who was forgiven of a larger debt will have greater love, appreciation, and gratitude for the one who forgave the debt.
Now during all of this, the woman kept on worshipping (pouring herself out to Jesus). She would not be stopped.
And there are two things that I want to point out to you that could have stopped her, which has stopped many people, and may be, or can stop you from worshipping God.
She didn’t let her condition (which was sin) stop her. Many times, when people fail, they do more than withdraw from church, they withdraw from God. This woman had a spotted past, and a sinful reputation, but she didn’t let that stand in her way of expressing her love.
If you understand the grace of God, and that His forgiveness is unfailing, that sin will actually motivate you to get to Jesus.
Don’t let it stop you. Go ahead and pour out the praise. God will bestow His grace to change your situation around.
Than you will be able to say, “ Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see. Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed. Through many dangers toils and snares, I have already come. Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.”
