Last week, I went to get a massage. When I was asked by the therapist what areas on which to concentrate, one of the things I mentioned was that I needed a really good foot massage. My feet were sore, and in my experience, if my feet do not feel good, it is hard for the rest of my body to feel relaxed. When it came time for my foot massage, I notice that the therapist put hot towels on my feet. It was very soothing and it was a nice gesture. The hot towels were then used to rub my feet clean before the actual foot massage. As I laid there, I thought, “They do the same thing when you get a pedicure; your feet are washed before anyone deals with them.” If my job involved people’s feet, I would want to be sure they were clean before I put my hands on them too. I mean I have seen some pretty dirty feet. It is just more hygienic to clean them first and I do not think that anyone would disagree with that. As I thought about this, it led me to a revelation about how the washing of Jesus’ feet was an extreme act of worship.
In Luke 7:38-50, Luke recounts the washing of Jesus’ feet. A woman, described in the Kind James version of the Bible as a sinner and in The Message Bible as a harlot, came to a Pharisee’s house where she knew Jesus was eating. Being in the very presence of the Almighty, she could not say a word, all she could do is weep. But, rather than just weep at Jesus’ feet, she used her tears to wash Jesus’ feet. It was an act of servitude that was modeled by Jesus when He washed the disciples’ feet. When she finished washing His feet, she dried Jesus’ feet with her hair. Now, I don’t know about anyone else, but I am very particular about my hair. I do not like for people to touch my hair without my permission ( I have big hair and I think sometimes people want to see if it is real, so they are tempted to just reach out and touch). So, it is hard for me to even fathom the level of humility it took for this woman to put her hair on Jesus’ feet. However, this is not about worshipping the act of this woman. This is about recognizing that being in the presence of God’s Son caused this woman to abandon any inhibitions about being embarrassed or messing up her look to simply fall a Jesus’ feet and worship. And, she did not stop there. After she dried Jesus’ feet with her hair, she anointed them with very expensive ointment. She could have possibly sold this ointment to make a better life for herself, but something about the mere presence of the Messiah, let her know that by worshipping Him, she would have a better life than she could ever imagine. She had a lot of sin in her life, so she poured out everything she had, and Jesus forgave her sins much to the dismay of the Pharisees. You see, when someone feels they have never messed up (and chances are that they have, but they just do not wish to admit it), or if everything is going well in life, those are the times when many people forget to worship God. However, when you know that without God, your life would be filthy, you cannot help but worship Him. Notice that this woman did not just sit at Jesus’ feet and weep and stop there. She did not have a pity party; she had a praise party. She turned her tears into tools of worship! That is what we need to do, but not just when we feel bad about who we are; we also need to sit at the feet of Jesus and worship when everything is going well. While we cannot literally wash Jesus’ feet and anoint them with oil, we can pour out everything we have in worship. And trust me, you will see what I have learned, there is so much power in uninhibited worship!
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