SMELLING GOOD

In our family worship time around the breakfast table this morning, we read the story of Jesus being anointed by a sinful woman in Luke 7. Reading the bible together is one thing, extracting meaning from it is another. In response to my question, “What was the difference between the Pharisee and the woman?” the six year-old responded, “Women smell better than men.”

There is possibly some truth in this observation. But it wasn’t quite the answer I was looking for.

In a way though, this does illustrate the point of the story. Jesus was forever faced with people missing the obvious answer about him and coming up with spurious sidetracks. When he left the dinner party both Jesus and the woman would have carried the fragrance of expensive perfume with them. Did Simon the Pharisee ever smell as good as that sinful woman? That’s the point of the story.