By Gobel Brockman

“One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” - Luke 7:36-39

   A Savior with a present once met a woman with a past.

   It was obvious this woman had a past, because the Scripture text specifically refers to her as “a sinner.”  But this “sinner” heard about Jesus, and was immediately aware both of her failures and His faithfulness. Her response was the perfect response: she came to worship at His feet. She would soon learn that His presence offered grace and forgiveness for her past.

   I can relate to this lady. There was a time in my life when the only thing I cared about was where my next beer, joint, or tab of LSD was coming from. I didn’t need anybody to tell me how bad my life was, because I had a front row seat for every moment of it. But when I finally came to Jesus, I instantly found both forgiveness and absolute freedom. But I had to come to Him the same way that lady did: humbled, repentant, and falling at His feet. The incredible thing is that Jesus will always accept humble, repentant worship that comes from the heart - regardless of the past.

   I’ve said all of that to simply say this: your “past” does not prohibit you from an absolutely amazing “present!” And when you begin to understand the vastness of the mercy and grace extended to you, there’s truly no other response but to worship Him. 

   No matter where you have been in life, the door is open to you to become a true worshiper of God in Spirit and in truth. Yes, that lady had critics - and so will we. But Jesus rose in her defense, and He will rise in our defense as well. We have a saying at our church: “What do you do when you don’t know what to do? Worship Him!” My message to both the critics and the criticized today is simply this: may we ALL come together to the feet of Jesus and worship Him. There’s room for all of us, it’s exactly where we all need to be, and there is no better place to be.

   Especially these days.