Alabaster & Awkwardness

Today’s Devotional - March 25, 2020

This is a series of messages from the time of isolation during the COVID19 Response in Oregon, United States. 

I’ve been recently captured by a story that you can find in your Bible beginning in Luke 7:36. In this story, Jesus is invited to dinner with a wealthy religious leader named Simon. During the meal, a woman came in uninvited. - This meal would not have been as private of a gathering as you might have when you invite guests over - The woman is known as a sinful woman. Simon and everyone chooses to shun her. They present a wall of silence to convey to her that she doesn’t exist. But she didn’t come there for them. She came there for Jesus. 

For all of their willing her not to exist, she continues to exist and shift the focus of the whole room. She wasn’t trying to do it. She just didn’t care any longer what they thought of her. Now she’s on her knees at Jesus’ feet. 

She breaks an alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume and a glorious smell overwhelms and replaces the smell of the roast and vegetables they had been enjoying. She sobs. Not the gut-wrenching wail of someone that has been torn, but the deep, shaking, wet sobs that come when a long, dry, season has suddenly come to an end. It’s the grief that comes when pain has at last subsided and one is well-enough to feel… hope. 

Simon feels awkward and can only see the woman. The woman feels peace and can only see Jesus. 

Tomorrow, which of these two will speak about Jesus in a way that draws others to love the Messiah when they tell about the dinner? 

One will tell how dinner was interrupted and then puzzle over the theology of forgiveness. The other will speak of Jesus who loved, and a describe how her heart that doesn’t hurt anymore. 

May the Lord free us of our respectability so we can give and receive His love. 

A song for today: Safe Place by Karla Adolphe

This song carried me through a season of deep uncertainty a few years ago. Later, we had Karla sing this at Pedee. Perhaps we will again someday. 

Lyrics for Safe Place 

You whisper a song over me 

I’m slow to answer, slow to speak

I’ve found a safe place 

Remember the day You called my name 

I was a stranger in Your house but just the same

I’ve found a safe place

How wide is Your love How high, how deep - it’s untouched 

And I’m not enough I’ve found a safe place in You

You are the One my heart is longing for You are my treasure, You are the key, You are the door  You hold me tight, You hold me quiet, You hold me safe