Come Thirsty

I found this blog I wrote on Facebook earlier this year and the truth and sincerity resounded in my heart and I felt the need to post it on here...

I have been reading from the book Cast of Characters by Max Lucado. He subtitles the work Common People in the Hands of an Uncommon God. Each chapter explores the story and lessons of a Biblical character. Today I just happened to read about the woman (in the book of Luke) who washed Jesus’ feet. I was really moved by the way Max tells her story and I wanted to share it with you. As a preface, I wanted to title this, A Lesson on Love from a Biblical Whore, but I thought that people would be offended and not read it if I titled it that. The truth is though, that this woman was just that, a whore. She sold her body on the street and thought nothing of it . . . that is, until she met Jesus. Max Lucado notes that we don’t know where she first met Jesus or anything about their relationship prior to her humbling act in Luke 7. All we know of her, we know from Jesus words to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t even offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has been kissing my feet. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume. I tell you, her sins-and they are many-have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” (Luke 7:40-47 NLT) Now I have read this story many many times and have always thought it was touching, but I did not realize what it meant. I knew she was a sinner and that she honored Jesus love for her in a beautiful way, but I missed the whole part about Simon being put off by her "sinful" profession of love to “his” Savior. Max writes, “You’d think the woman would avoid Jesus. Is she not the woman of the night? The town hussy? But she can’t resist him. Simon’s ‘love’ is calibrated and stingy. Her love, on the other hand, is extravagant and risky”. I love that, RISKY LOVE. “She came thirsty. Thirsty from guilt. Thirsty from regret. Thirsty from the countless nights of making love and finding none. She came thirsty. And when Jesus hands her the goblet of grace, she drinks. She doesn’t just taste or nip. She doesn’t just dip her finger and lick it or take the cup and sip it. She lifts the liquid to her lips and drinks, gulping, swallowing like the parched pilgrim she is. She drinks until the mercy flows down her chin and onto her neck and chest. She drinks until every inch of her soul is moist and soft. She comes thirsty and she drinks. She drinks deeply”. I love the picture Max paints here. I see a woman so thirsty that the liquid gushes out soaking her clothes and the ground around her. Almost as if a bucket was being dumped over her head. She becomes drenched in Jesus’ thirst quenching grace!
This picture reminded me how thirsty I am. I am craving a drink like the one she took.“Simon on the other hand, doesn’t even know he is thirsty. People like Simon don’t need grace; they analyze it. They don’t request mercy; they debate and prorate it. It wasn’t that Simon couldn’t be forgiven; he just never asks to be”.The chapter goes on to explain how we try to love other’s we say “I’m supposed to love my neighbor? Okay. By golly, I will.So we try. Teeth clenched. Jaw firm. We’re going to love if it kills us! And it may do just that.Could we be missing a step? Could it be that the first step of love is not toward them but toward him? Could it be that the secret to loving is receiving? You give love by first receiving it. ‘We love, because He first loved us’ (1 John 4:19 NASB).What a novel thought. To love others we need to experience Christ’s love for us and the deeper we let him love us the deeper we will be able to love and accept others. Those who really know me know that loving people the way Christ loves me is my number one goal in life. I am usually pretty horrible at doing this, but still I try. I am determined to let Jesus love me so that I can model that love to others.I close with Max’s words,“God loved you. Personally. Powerfully. Passionately. Others have promised and failed. But Gof has promised and succeeded. He loves you with an unfailing love. And his love-if you will let it-can fill you and leave you with a love worth giving. So come. Come thirsty and drink deeply”.