Jesus + NothingНамуна

WALLFLOWERS AND WORSHIPERS

A few years ago, my wife Megan and I were helping out at this big event at the Daytona Motor Speedway. Now, I’ll be honest—I’m not a NASCAR guy. If a car is going fast, I would rather be driving it than watching it. But this wasn’t just race cars—it was an experience.

We were working in the box seats area, and when I say it was full of celebrities and VIPs, I mean it felt like a deleted scene from Ocean’s Eleven. Every room had its own security detail, and the vibe was “don’t breathe too loud or someone will escort you out.”

So at one point, Megan has to take an elevator—nothing crazy, just hopping on from the service entrance like we were told. Only this time, just as she’s stepping on, an entourage of people gets on the elevator from the main entrance. It’s an older man, a couple of very fancily dressed ladies, and a whole security team. Before anyone can blink, the doors close.

Instant tension.

Security realizes, “Wait… who is this woman that just snuck onto our elevator?”

Megan realizes, “Wait… why are these guys looking at me like I just breached the Pentagon?”

Now, she’s standing there silently in the corner, being stared down by guys in suits and earpieces, casually breaking every protocol known to “elevator law”. The older gentleman, however, is calm. Polite. Almost like he’s used to people accidentally crashing his personal space. He reaches over, shakes her hand, and asks how she was doing.

Later, Megan finds out that the older man was Rudy Giuliani.

THE Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City.

America’s Mayor.

When she found out, she thought, “Ohhh… is that why those guys looked like they were about to tackle me?” She knew of him; she just didn’t recognize him. To her, it was just some sweet older guy with a security entourage.

How often have you encountered Jesus, treating him just like that? As if He were an ordinary person who might go unnoticed and to whom you were indifferent?

In our passage today, we read the story in the Gospel of Luke in which the immoral woman crashes the party at Simon’s house and worships Jesus by washing his feet with her tears, drying them with her hair, and anointing him with perfume from her alabaster jar. Everyone in this passage is in the same room with the same Jesus, but only one responds in worship.

Simon the Pharisee made assumptions about who he thought Jesus was- or, better yet, who Jesus wasn’t. When the woman is at Jesus’ feet, Simon thinks to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him.” In other words, he was saying, “I knew it! Jesus can’t be who he claims to be…” How many times have you limited who Jesus is in your thoughts?

This room, however, didn’t just have Simon, the woman, and Jesus in it. It was full of a crowd of people. The crowd appears largely unfazed and unmoved. They stand there, preoccupied with their own thoughts and opinions, yet ultimately remain disengaged. I find that the longer you are a Christian, the easier it is to end up in this place. Jesus has called you to something greater.

When you encounter Jesus, you can choose who you will be. You can respond like Simon the assumer, remain unmoved like the crowd, or take on the posture of worship like the woman. God has not called you to be a wallflower… He has called you to be a worshiper!