The Lord doesn't sit in His synagogue, worshipping and praising
God all day. That is His habit, His custom, but He doesn't do just
that. The Lord goes down to the people. He walks in the street, He
sits in fishing boat, He spends time at the house of Mary so often
that she becomes a friend. He goes to the wedding party of some
other people. He goes to a dinner and eats it with the
tax-collectors and sinners, something that is not very right to do
in the day of Jesus, and yet He never commits a sin.
When you see a prostitude, do you say, "That is an example of
what a loose woman is, what an immoral person is." And you shun
her, and you despise her secretly from your heart.
Or do you see the human in her, that image of God that is still
hidden somewhere in this person that had fallen so low. And you can
see how she so very need Jesus like you do.
Do you remember once upon a time, you also have some evil
desires lurking somewhere in your heart, not very much lesser in
wickedness than that prostitude. Maybe you are angry with someone
and want to murder him, maybe you are jealous of somebody and you
hurt the person by spreading rumors here and there about her.
Even though these are small things in your eyes, they are not
small in the eyes of the Lord. The murder you never commit is due
to more likely your fear of breaking the law of Singapore than your
righteousness. If you kill him or her, it is life for a life. The
rumor you spread about her because you don't like her hurts her so
much, she loses her self esteem and all sense of her human
dignities, and eventually goes on to become the prostitude you
despise today.
And now you despise her.
And yet you claim you love the Lord with all your heart, your soul
and mind.
The Lord treasures her. The Lord loves her. This prostitude you
despise is dear to His heart. He comes down not to receive the
praise and honor due to Him as the King. He comes down for you, but
He also comes down for her. Yes, He comes down for her.
She is a loose woman, no doubt. She has commited lots of sins in
her life, no doubt. But His heart loves her. He feels heart-broken
to be separated from her. He knows she is too ashamed to come back
to Him, she is too hardened to want to receive Him. She will never
dream of going to church because she cannot stand the stares of the
people in the church who, when heard of her occupation will give
her eyes that make her... feel... well, dirty.
He is different. He loves her. He accepts her. He receives her.
He doesn't judge her. He is merciful towards her. And He goes down
to her level to get to know the kind of person she is, so that she
will want to come up to His level to know the kind of God He
is.
She probably never feels so much love from someone before. The
religious people sees her as an immoral, hopeless case. The secular
people sees her as a tool to satisfy their sexual urges. She is
just... well... a prostitude. The worst and most degrading of
profession a woman can do.
Then He comes. He is a preacher. Preachers are holy people. And
as she sees Him, she probably thinks He is like all other preachers
in this world. He won't notice her. But no, He is different. He
goes to her, He is interested in her as a person and He asks her
about her life. He doesn't judge her, He has eyes of compassion. He
doesn't talk about all those holy preachers' stuff. He talks about
the story of the prodigal son. He doesn't show her that contempt
most preachers show to her when she goes up to them the moment they
know her occupation.
For the first time in her life, she feels she is treated like a
human being. She is a human being. And she begins to see... that
maybe... she is not such a beast, after-all, because somewhere
actually bothers to know about her life, about the person inside
that face, and someone actually am willing to listen more than to
judge.
And so, because this someone loves her and accepts her just as
she is, not passing judgment on her, she starts to notice something
that she has forgotten all along. Something beautiful inside, that
had never truly disappeared, but that had been buried away and
forgotten. She notices that image of HIM in her. That image of Him
that had been tainted by sin's filthiness and forgotten, but now
she can start to see it somewhere in her, again.
The hardened heart melted... the love that disappeared from her
her heart resurfaced.
She thought of how wrong she was.
Not all men were after her body afterall. Someone cared, somebody
to look beyond this face, for that crying someone somewhere
inside.
Her heart was filled with gratitude. Her heart melted with love.
Her heart was filled with adoration. She went to Him. It didn't
matter that He was in a holy man's house. It didn't matter that the
holy man and all the other people shuddered when they saw her
entered that place. It didn't matter that these were the holy men
who often used her as a warning example of a path to stay clear of.
The eyes of the people were on her, they weren't friendly, it
didn't matter. They were, to be exact, filled with disdain, it
didn't matter. She walked up to Him, she fell at His feet and she
burst into tears.
Only He bothered to care, only He bothered to notice that person
inside her. No one else did. And suddenly, her hardened heart was
broken, and the love that she had never lost after all, re-surfaced
and she wiped His feet with her tears and cleaned it with her
hair.
She loved Him.
Dear people, like this story? It is in there, it is in the
Bible. Well, some parts are made out of my own imagination of what
could have happened.
Why will the prostitude, the woman of low reputation wiped
Jesus' feet with her hair. Had you ever thought of how dirty
Jesus'feet were? He just walked through the street with an improper
sandal, and mud and dirt were there.
Had you ever wondered if you would do the same thing for Jesus if
you were there?
Would you lower yourself so low to wipe His feet for Him? His
dirty muddy feet, not with towels, but with your hair?
I knew I wouldn't.
But this woman did just that. What made her do it? Why would she
do it? Because He was the first person in this whole world to show
her love?
Because He was the only person to care about her life, to look into
the affairs of her home, to treat her as a person of dignity and
not some whore out there?
Because He wasn't there just to tell her some boring stuffs
about, "Repent, or burn." but He showed her love. He was interested
in her life, He wanted to know why she became a prostitude, He
wondered about her family that no one asked her about, who maybe
had even disowned her because she was a disgrace to them? He was
interested to know what she would have done if she was not a
prostitude, and her dream and goal in life, and her hobbies and her
interests? In other words, He was interested about her. He cared
for her. He didn't see her as a soul to be won, a poor lost soul to
be won, but He saw her as a beautiful daughter of God with that
image of Himself still hidden somewhere inside that hardened heart
of hers?
Where people saw a sinner, a fallen person, fallen to grace, He
saw His image somewhere in her. He saw that image that was buried
somewhere by sin's hardenedness, pains and hurts and rejections
that could be brought up again with just that little bit of
love.
And therefore, she, who had never known love all her life,
because of her fallen-ness, finally found someone who accepted her.
And He was not just ordinary guy. He was the most holy guy, most
hot person, most talked about preacher of her times. He was the one
crowd will queue to watch. (In modern day context, a Billy
Graham/Benny Hinn kind of figure.) And yet this most holy of the
holy saint of God actually noticed her, and instead of telling her,
"Repent or you burn", He looked at her gently and bothered to set
aside the crowd that wanted to touch Him to ask her about her life
and to maybe even offered to go into her house and be her guest.
Well... that finally broke that heart of hers, that transformed the
beast, into a beauty.
The lost child, lost daughter of God found love and acceptance,
tears started flowing, and that image of God she had carelessly
buried started to surface, again. She looked at Him, and for the
first time in her life, knew what it meant to truly love.
:) Happy story, right? It can happen today. Have you any friend
who had fallen away from his or her position by sin's deceitfulness
and had now lived a life of ultimate sinfulness? Maybe a christian
brother or sister you saw in church, maybe a friend in your old
days, maybe your own sibling that you now became ashamed to tell
people of?
Don't cast him/her aside and shook your head and sighed
non-stop, "If only he... if only she... sigh... how he/she had
fallen so low."
That person needed you, dear friend. Jesus would not have sighed
at that person but He would want to go to her like He did with the
prostitude. Jesus would have shown that person His love non-stop
until he/she was won over. Remember the story of the 99 sheeps?
Jesus was not there with them? Jesus was there with that poor, one
sheep with a mind of its own that had fallen somehow into a pit so
deep that it couldn't climb up of it, now?
Do you love Jesus? Are you sure?
Then, go and do what He did. Go to that lost sheep that had
wandered away and through love and perseverance won him or her
back. That would really put a smile on Jesus' face.
"Oh Lord, show us your will! Help us to obey you and do what you
want us to." If you really mean that, then maybe revival is not
just about bringing people to church, but it is also going down to
them in their daily activities, being the one there for them when
everyone somehow had forsaken them.
