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“One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. When a certain immoral woman from that city heard He was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume.”
—Luke 7:36–37 NLT

I’ve been reading in Luke about this woman who had found out that Jesus was having dinner over at Simon’s house, and decided to crash the party.

She didn’t bring a potluck dish, but she did bring a “beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume.” This wasn’t some cheap bottle of perfume; it would have cost about a year’s worth of wages. (And I thought my perfume was expensive!)

I wonder if they had names for their perfumes back then, like we have today: Pink Sugar, Princess, Beautiful. . . And just for fun, I began to try to think of some cute and clever name for this fragrant oil. You know, something that would fit the situation.

So I began to take a closer look at this woman, considering who she was, why she was crying, and what her life was going to be like now—because of Jesus.

I also noticed that Simon the Pharisee wasn’t too happy about this woman being in his home. He was even beginning to ask himself why he had invited Jesus in the first place. “If this man were a prophet, He would know what kind of woman is touching Him. She’s a sinner!”

What started out as a fun little exercise on “name that perfume” suddenly began to change as I re-read those words of Simon’s: “She’s a sinner!” My thoughts took a different direction as I began to put myself in this unnamed woman’s place and consider what my life was like before I knew Jesus, before I stood before Him and wept over my sin and His love for me. Tears of sorrow for making such a mess of my life, and tears of joy for Jesus forgiving me and calling me to come to Him. . . just as I am.

As I was thinking of all these things, I had to laugh because I suddenly remembered the name of the perfume I wore when I got saved. It was called Tabu and it was cheap. No, the name of the perfume we wear doesn’t matter, but I thought, how apropos! I can laugh now because my life is no longer “Tabu” or “cheap” because of what Jesus has done for me.

“Then Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ The men at the table said among themselves, ‘Who is this man, that He goes around forgiving sins?’ And Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace'” (Luke 7:48).

Some of the others might have missed the beauty of what was happening here. They didn’t understand, and neither did I at one time. But it’s really a simple story about a woman who, in the presence of Jesus Christ, saw her sin—and His love in spite of it—and received His forgiveness.

For this perfume to cost so much, it must have had a beautiful scent. But what really pleased the LORD was this woman demonstrating her loving heart. Ahhhh. . .”Love Demonstrated”. . .sure smells sweet.