The Desire of a Pharisee

For the most part, we Christians desire to know Jesus in a more intimate way.  We desire to seek his face, know His will, and hear that precious still small voice speaking into our lives on a daily basis.  Desire is a good thing especially when it pertains to our walk with Jesus, but desire, just like potential is dormant until expressed in action. We have our busy lives with work, family, and even church activities that can sometimes leave us tired with little time for prayer.  Due to our hectic lives, so many times it's our relationship with Jesus that sometimes gets pushed to the back of our lives. Jesus so often gets our scraps or leftovers when what he desires is the first-fruits of our time and energy.   It's not so much that we are living sinful lives, but it more about what we're not doing and the special intimacy with him that we are missing out on.    In Luke chapter 7, many have focused on the woman who brought an alabaster box of ointment to the home of the pharisee where Jesus was at. She stood at the feet of Jesus, and weeping, began to wash his feet with her tears, wipe them with her hair, kissed his feet, and anointed them with the oil. Her story is one of worship and forgiveness that will be remembered for all generations, but today, I would like to focus on another character in the story- Simon the Pharisee who Jesus was visiting.  Luke 7:36 says that "one of the pharisees desired him [Jesus] that he would eat with him."  The story goes on to say that Jesus accepted the invitation and came to eat with this man. At this point, the woman with the alabaster box came in and ministered to Jesus as we just described. Simon, the Pharisee saw this and spoke within himself about how Jesus could allow such a sinful woman to minister to him.  Jesus, knowing Simon's thoughts, spoke to him with these words,

"Simon, seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet; but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.  Thou gavest me no kiss, but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.  My head with oil thou didst not anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment...for she loved much..."  (Luke 7:44-47). 

I can imagine Simon's heart dropping to the ground as the words cut into his very core.  Simon had the desire to meet Jesus.  We know this because he invited Jesus to his house, but unfortunately, his desire did not meet with his action that day.  It was a middle eastern tradition that whenever a guest came to your home, a servant of the host's house would take the guest to an area of the home and wash his feet.  As you can imagine, feet were pretty dirty due to the sandals that were the norm in many middle eastern cultures. Washing one's feet showed a sign of respect, hospitality, and graciousness. Simon offered none of this for his special guest of guests- Jesus Christ. Simon may have had good intentions, but when it came down to it, He did not make Jesus a priority.  Sometimes, we too, do not make Jesus a priority as we should.  We tell him we want Him in our lives, but our daily schedule omits our time with Him.  We slowly find ourselves in a dry spiritual state and even death because of the lack of connection with Jesus. We can't live a joyful life without His presence.  We can't know what He wants from us without being in His presence.  We need Him like oxygen,  taking every bit of our strength and life from him.  Maybe you have felt His special nudges and call to you, Why didn't you meet me this morning? I miss you.  I want to talk to you.  I know you ministered to your family and church, but when are you going to minister to me, the Lover of your soul? Won't we answer Him? God takes pleasure when we minister to him. Won't we give him the time he wants?  Today, let us touch Jesus with not only our desire, but with a commitment to prayer that is birthed out of that desire.