Accepted

Luke 7:50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Perhaps you know the pain of rejection. I remember the disappointment of hearing “No” from more than one girl I asked out as a teen, but I do not pretend to know deep rejection.

I find it easy to identify with the struggles of most of the people we find in the New Testament. Whether it is James and John’s competitiveness, Peter’s foot-in-mouth syndrome, or Mary Magdalene’s grief at Jesus’ tomb so deep she did not recognize him, culture and human nature has not changed all that much in 2,000 years.

However, in Luke 7:36-50, we meet a woman whose struggles are hard to comprehend in 21st Century America. She was known by everyone in a very religious small town to be a “sinner” at a time when one’s religious standing was her full identity. We do not know what drove her to that life or what it fully entailed. We do know what others thought of her. The Pharisee Simon was appalled she had come into his house (vs 39).  In a culture driven by honor and shame, she must have been ostracized with a deep pain beyond anything I have ever experienced. Her life had been torn from her. She was no doubt racked with real guilt over her sin, and she probably saw no real way out except for the grace of Jesus. In one last effort that would have maximized her shame, she took the bold move of entering Simon’s house uninvited and falling at the feet of Jesus. Instead of encountering rejection one more time, she found acceptance. She heard these priceless words, “Your faith has saved you.”

If you have ever been rejected by another person, know that Jesus welcomes you. The saving this woman experienced – forgiveness from her sins, eternal life, hope, acceptance, love from the God who created her and the only one who can love her perfectly – is available to you, as well. Come to him.