She was amazed at the message. She was amazed at the extension of mercy to her.
For so long she had been the outcast in the community. She knew what she had done. She knew also that seemingly everyone else in the vicinity knew what she did. Some looked at her with pity, but not much else. Others looked at her in disgust. Then there were those who looked at her as prey. They knew she could be persuaded. They knew it wouldn’t take much until … and then when it was over, they would sneak away, but she would be left to carry the stigma. She would be left to carry the shame.
He was perplexed by the behaviour. He was perplexed by how this was allowed to happen.
He was an upstanding member of the community. His credentials could not be questioned. He did his civic duties and religious devotions with the utmost consistency and regard for the traditions and its heritage. He know to pay his tithes and to observe the festivals. He was well regarded on the council. He knew who to hang around with and who not to associate with. There is no way he would allow the likes of her to be in this austere gathering.
He was perplexed. She was amazed. Yet here they both were engaging in different ways with this guy. His teaching had already caused a commotion in other areas of the region. Not just the teaching, but some of the actions that went along with the teaching. He was not like the regular rabbis. It’s why he was intriguing to this man and amazing to this woman. It was why this man invited him for a meal. It was why this woman invited herself over to be close to him.
He wanted the distinguished radiated honour of having the flavour of the month in his company. She wanted to be near this man whose teaching had a transforming effect to her.
She carried the weight and the load of both what she thought of herself and what she knew others said about her. He carried the weight of his self-righteousness and desire to maintain his reputation.
The visitor, the stranger, the Rabbi was about to turn all of that on its head.
She would have her load lifted. The weight that she could not carry would be eased with words of reassurance and relief. For she knew that this Rabbi was not the regular teacher of hypocritical standards. She knew that this man was offering something he embodied. Mercy, grace … forgiveness.
She did not justify herself. She did not seek to laud it over anyone else as though she had anything to do that. She was broken, she was heavy and she was empty. She didn’t need more pressure to live up to something she could never attain. She needed the load to be lifted. And here this man was to lift the load.
That’s good news.
It’s good news for those who carry guilt and shame that willpower cannot erase. It’s good news for those who realise that their own righteousness is pathetic. It’s good news for the outcast, the imprisoned, the lonely and the hurt. It’s good news for those who are crying out for liberation. It’s good news for those who see the great debt that they owe and know they have absolutely nothing to pay towards it.
It was good news for the woman at Simon the Pharisee’s dinner. It was good news for Christopher Dryden suffering from various emotional and mental maladies over twenty years ago. It is good news for Christopher Dryden as he writes these words today.
It is good news for anyone who, like that woman, is willing to turn from the worthless things of the world to the Rabbi, the Messiah, the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
(Photo by Radu Florin on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 