Reclining With Jesus

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

RECLINING WITH JESUS

Luke 7:36-38

36 Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. 37 When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38 and 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.

NIV

Before we get into the complete scene and the exchange between Jesus and the Pharisee, Simon, regarding the actions of the woman and the non-actions of Simon, we are interested in three facts. First, why did one of the Pharisees invite Jesus to dinner? Second, why did Jesus accept the invitation? Third, is this the same account we see in Matthew, Mark, and John when it is said that a woman named Mary did the same thing that Luke simply says is a woman who lived a sinful life? There is also this difference that Luke records it was a Pharisee that invited Jesus, the others say it was Simon the leper. However, we are looking at Luke here and this is what we should consider, except we cannot escape the facts of the other gospels. Still, why would a Pharisee invite Jesus, unless he came to the realization of who Jesus was and wanted to spend time with him, or was wanting to see if he could trap Jesus into doing something he could accuse him of. Either way, Jesus accepted the invitation which will always be the case, no matter who is inviting him to dine with him. We know the words of Jesus as recorded in the Revelation given to John, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and sup with him, and he with me”, in the KJV version, the NIV translate to eat, both meaning what happened here in the invite of the Pharisee. He must have heard the voice of Jesus knocking at the door of his heart, and Jesus entered and supped with Simon the Pharisee. We heard the voice of Jesus and opened the door to our hearts and lives, and he entered and reclined at the table of our lives. The question that comes to our minds is if we are weeping at his feet, and offering him our tears? Of course, we cannot do that physically as this woman did. Still, metaphorically, we can sit at the feet of Jesus, listening to him, offering our bodies as a living sacrifice, like that expensive jar of perfume she poured on Jesus. No matter the expense of material things, nothing is worth more to Jesus than us, as Paul puts it, poured out like a drink offering to Jesus. Nevertheless, we have invited Jesus in, and he has accepted our invitation and is reclining with us in our lives. We can have no greater thing in life than to recline with Jesus.