An authentic portrait of genuine worship

“When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learnt that Jesus was eating at the Pharisees house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and poured perfume on them”.
~Luke 7:37,38

This woman’s worship is absolutely noteworthy. First of all, at the risk of being misunderstood and criticized, she went all out to worship Jesus. What she did was quite radical and controversial; and, as a matter of fact, a lot of people there criticized her.

But, her worship was not just a matter of words; she didn’t just come to talk. She didn’t just come there and say “Jesus I love you. Jesus you’re good. Jesus you’ve been wonderful to me.” Actually, if you read this whole Scripture, you would notice that the woman never uttered a word. Genuine worship is not about what you say; it’s more about what you show; what you do.

She did what she did without uttering a single word. She brought expensive perfume – the tells us an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume – and poured it at the feet of Jesus Christ. Without a single word, this woman worshipped the Lord with her entire being.

According to a line in one of my favorite songs, “It becomes my highest praise when all that I am responds to Who You are.” I see this woman as an authentic portrait of genuine worship. She expresses what worship should be like. When she came to Jesus, she didn’t come with cheap words. Instead, She came with an expensive substance; a very expensive perfume. She broke it at the feet of Jesus, and then what did she do? She began to wet His feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and poured the perfume on them.

The point here is that everything that woman had, all that she was, was responding to Jesus Christ. Her entire being was responding to the person and glory of Jesus Christ. This is what I would call the heart of worship – the essence of worship.

The heart of worship is when everything that you have and all that you are respond to Jesus Christ. That is the heart of worship.

As you can see, genuine worship is never cheap. A year of a man’s wages; that’s what it took this woman to express her love for Jesus…