I'm always drawn out in worship and praise to Jesus when I read the four stories in Luke 7.

Here are four word pictures of Jesus in various contexts.

First, He heals from a distance without regard for faith in the sick man.

Second, He raises a dead man and restores him to his widow mother.

Third, He tenderly ministers to His very depressed older cousin John the Baptist.

In the fourth scene, Jesus calmly allows a repentant prostitute to wash His feet with her tears and anoint them with oil.

This last scene is spectacular because it is seen against the backdrop of the arrogant self-righteous Pharisee Simon.

Clearly, as we see in Luke 7:39, Simon was disgusted that Jesus would allow such a woman to touch Him—even if it was His dirty feet.

Jesus, on the other hand, made it perfectly clear to Simon that He was not above allowing this act to be performed on Him by a person with such a sordid reputation.

This woman didn't come to faith in God when she was morally pure, with a good reputation and respected in the community. She came as a last resort for a shipwrecked life.

Clearly, we see that Jesus is willing to receive the woman when she's no longer worth having. No self-respecting man would claim this woman as his beloved wife. All men wanted from her was a few moments of her time and body. Then they discarded her like a piece of human garbage.

Jesus is not proud.

He's so willing to take people when they are no longer of any particular worth to the world.

The world is proud to name important people as friends and associates.

Jesus stoops to the lowest of the low and graciously lifts them up to His glorious level and recreates them into something beautiful in His sight.

It's almost amusing to see that the man Simon—who thought he was a saint—was in fact the sinner.

The woman who thought herself the chief of sinners was a saint—by Jesus' judgment. Only Jesus knew which was which. Both the woman and the man were mistaken about who they were.

If you have come to know—through adversity—just how weak and impotent you are, never be hesitant to offer your broken self to Jesus. He hangs out with sinners, not to leave them in the broken sinful spot, but to lift them up to the heavenly places in Himself.

This woman had come to Jesus some time before this encounter and had all her sins forgiven. This is why Jesus said to Simon—"Her sins have already been forgiven."

Jesus would delight to receive you just as you are—broken, weak, weary.

He will not only embrace you, He will recreate you into a work of beauty. Come to Him and come today.