First Presbyterian Church Of Baton Rouge

Jesus received the woman. He received her extravagant gift. He received her touch. He received her in that immediate moment despite her poor timing, out of control life and shameful behavior. Stopping her would have been declining to be her savior. He could save the appearances but he would lose this soul. Jesus made the choice he would always make no matter the cost. He did in this moment for her just what he would do on the cross for all of us. He took sin and returned forgiveness. Ordinary people would be defiled by a sinner’s touch. But our sin did not defile Jesus. Rather, he takes sin, absorbs it into his holiness, burns it up, and then offers forgiveness. He received the filthy touch in order to offer love’s peace. This woman’s sins were borne by Jesus. As she poured out her regret, her shame, her love, her hope, it was as if her very life was taken up in his. And so that life was returned cleansed, her sins were forgiven and her touch declared to be an act not of inappropriate impurity but faithful lo