Mark Tabata’s Weekday Devotionals:
Wednesday February 25 2026
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Galatians 4:19 (CEV)-My children, I am in terrible pain until Christ may be seen living in you.
To me, this is a powerful text of Scripture. Paul yearned for the time when people would be able to look at the disciples of Jesus and see Christ living in and through them. I was thinking about this in connection with a particular incident in the life of Christ.
Read with me.
Luke 7:36-50-Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. 37 And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, 38 and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.” 40 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” So he said, “Teacher, say it.” 41 “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.” 44 Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. 45 You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. 46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. 47 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” 48 Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” 50 Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
I have often looked at this and thought, “Mark, you have sometimes been like the woman in this episode who comes to Jesus full of sin, and in need of forgiveness.”
That is (sadly) true.
Other times I have read this passage and thought, “Mark, you have sometimes been like this Pharisee, a self-righteous man who looks down on women like this.”
Again, that is true enough. (And again: sadly).
But here is the question I want to think with you about today.
Do we see Jesus in us?
Is He being formed in us?
Can other people see Jesus living in (and through) us?
Do we look like Jesus…in sitting at tables with people that we sometimes disagree with? Jesus often had disagreements with the Pharisees. Indeed, they were amongst His foremost critics and adversaries! Yet look what He does: He sits with them. The Lord will have fellowship with anyone who will have fellowship with Him.
How about us?
Can our religious friends with whom we disagree on religious issues sit with us at tables where we can talk and discuss important subjects? That’s how Aquila and Priscilla were with Apollos (Acts 18:24-28).
Can our political friends with whom we disagree on political issues sit with us at tables where we can talk and discuss important issues? Can we disagree without being disagreeable? Our country has become so polarized in regards to words like “Republican” and “Democrat” that sometimes civil conversation is nearly impossible. Yet Jesus was able to sit at tables with people that He disagreed, and He was able to reason and talk with them.
I see a lot of people talking about how Jesus flipped tables. Certainly there were times when He did this, and there may be times today that such is necessary for us to do also, at least in a figurative way (Ephesians 5:11; 2 John 9-11). But perhaps we need to also learn from the fact that Jesus sat at a lot of tables with people before He started flipping them.
How about us?
Can people see Jesus in us in, standing up for those who are sinners? There is a good chance that this woman was guilty of some very serious sin. Some have suggested (from her loose hair and perfume, and Simon’s reaction to her) that she may have even been a prostitute. No matter what particular sin that she was guilty of, she was “a sinner.” The sins we commit may be different from those of others, but committing sin makes us all one thing: sinners. Jesus showed this woman grace which she did not deserve.
Isn’t that the truly scandalous thing about grace?
It just gives. And from our vantage point, it always gives to the wrong person…The most extravagant sinners of Jesus’s day receive His most compassionate welcome. Grace is a divine vulgarity that stands caution on its head. It refuses to play it safe and lay it up. Grace is recklessly generous, uncomfortably promiscuous. It doesn’t use sticks, carrots, or time cards. It doesn’t keep score. As Robert Capon puts it, “Grace works without requiring anything on our part. It’s not expensive. It’s not even cheap. It’s free.” 2 It refuses to be controlled by our innate sense of fairness, reciprocity, and evenhandedness. It defies logic. It has nothing to do with earning, merit, or deservedness. It is opposed to what is owed. It doesn’t expect a return on investments. It is a liberating contradiction between what we deserve and what we get. Grace is unconditional acceptance given to an undeserving person by an unobligated giver. It is one-way love. (Preston Sprinkle, Charis: God’s Scandalous Grace for Us, 9-10 (Kindle Edition): Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook)
Grace is undeserved favor for undeserving people.
Can people see God’s grace in us?
Can people see God’s grace through us?
Finally, can people see Jesus in us in that others are better off after encountering us then before? This woman came to Jesus broken, hurting, and filled with guilt. She left Him whole, in the process of being healed, and blessed with forgiveness and peace.
She was lost, and is now found.
Do people we encounter leave a little bit better off after meeting us?
The next time we want to give someone who gets on our nerves a piece of our mind, maybe we can give them a piece of our heart instead.
Lord, help us so that we and others can see You living in us. Amen.
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