by Andy Johnson

MRN Missionary Care Director & Prayer Coordinator

When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume.

Today we come before you, Lord, on behalf of those trapped by sin throughout Southeast Asia. Some of your daughters and sons are chained in prostitution and child slavery; it should not be so! Have mercy, God! And, please, make the homes and lives of local believers (as well as our own) places where they would be welcome!

As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

Oh, Father! We pour our treasures out on so many things that pale in comparison to your feet! We only waste the perfume when we pour it out on the wrong things. Show us what it looks like to pour what treasure we have out on your feet and on those you love. Reveal to us why it matters that your people sometimes kneel, weep and anoint when others recline and feast.

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

Rebuke our judgmental spirits toward your hurting children, Lord! We have too often looked at other sinners’ lives with our vision clouded by the planks in our own. Jesus knew who she was and loved her anyway. Make us more like Jesus and less like Simon.

Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Tell me, teacher,” he said.

“Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

We praise you, God of all grace, that you have forgiven our debts! Regardless of whether we were in a 500 or a 50 denarii-sized hole, you have chosen to forgive out of your love for us. For this - and so much more - we praise you today!!

Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman?

Oh, dear Lord! Don’t let us run by this question. Force us to sit in it today. Do we see the hurting people around us? What about the ‘invisible’ people we hurry by daily? What about the masses of your children in unreached SE Asian countries who may live out their lifespan without ever encountering a believer? The truth is, no, we often do not. Forgive our clouded eyes and calloused hearts and make us see as you do.

I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

Show us how to love you better, Lord! We want to welcome you as the sinful woman did, not as Simon did. We ask for the gift of being used by you to restore honor rather than to heap shame. Make your sons and daughters known as people who love much rather than those who love little.

Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Give us more faith, Lord! Let us go out in peace into a world filled with people in need of your touch given through us. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Are you interested in sharing Jesus with unreached people of the world?

We can help!

Email start_the_journey@mrnet.org to talk about it.