Love Beyond Reason Moving God's Love from Your Head to Your Heart

THERE ARE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT two commands that form the heart of our response to God's love. They cannot be separated. The whole of God's will comes down to this, Jesus said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; and Love your neighbor as yourself. "The primary form that loving God takes in the Bible is loving the people who mean so much to him. In the words of Jesus: "Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me. " "Love me, love my rag dolls," God says. It's a package deal. If vile are serious about loving God, we must begin with people, all people. And especially we must learn to love those that the world generally discards. In Jesus' day, it was the people who were most aware of their raggedness who were most open to his love. Jesus was eating one day at the home of a Pharisee named Simon, who felt, all things considered and even from God's point of view, that he really was not a difficult person to love. A woman entered the house. Luke tells us she was "a sinner," which is most likely a polite way of saying she was a hooker. No doubt she was an uninvited guest, scandalizing everyone there except for the one truly holy person at the table. She had lost her reputation, a good deal of her virtue was missing, and generally speaking she'd had the stuffing knocked out of her. Her name was Pandy. She hadn't always looked like this. There was a day when she had been someone's little girl, when someone cherished dreams for her, perhaps. When she had dreams herself, maybe. But that day had been gone a long time. It had been years since she had been in the public company of anyone respectable. It took all the courage she had to brave the looks and whispers in that room. She stood behind Jesus, at his feet (people reclined rather than sat at a table in those days). But when she could bring herself to look into Jesus' eyes, rather than contempt she saw love. She had brought perfume to anoint Jesus. This was generally done by pouring the perfume on the person's head. But as she watched Jesus, the tears came. Maybe she was thinking of how she earned the money to buy the perfume. Maybe she was thinking of the little girl she once was. Maybe she was thinking of the gap between who she had become and who she wanted to be. At any rate, instead of his head, she began to anoint Jesus' feet with a mixture of perfume and tears. Then she did something. she let down her hair. This was never done. It was a violation of social custom; respectable Jewish women always kept their hair bound in public. As a prostitute, she had let down her hair many times before. And each time was another wound to her heart, another scar on her soul. But this time it was for an act of homage, to dry the feet she had bathed and anointed. She who had let down her hair so many times before let it down once more. But this was the last time. This time she got it right. The days of her raggedness were about to end. Jesus is scandalously ready to forgive. Simon waited for Jesus to point out who this woman was. Before we get too harsh with Simon, it's worth asking how I would have responded in his place. This woman had, after all, defied God with her life. She had lowered the standards of fidelity; she had helped wreck some homes, perhaps. It does no good to gloss over her raggedness. A word in favor of morality wouldn't seem out of place here. But Jesus is scandalously ready to forgive. He understands as Simon does not that when there is authentic repentance the work of judgment has already been done. He points out to Simon that where Simon had neglected to provide water for Jesus' feet, she had bathed them with all that she had, mingled with tears. Where Simon had not offered him a kiss, she could not stop kissing his feet. Where Simon had not offered even inexpensive olive oil for his refreshment, she had anointed hint with expensive perfume. Simon could not receive muchOrtberg, John is the author of 'Love Beyond Reason Moving God's Love from Your Head to Your Heart' with ISBN 9780310234494 and ISBN 0310234492.