“She began to wash His feet with tears and did wipe them with the hairs of her head.”  Behind this demonstration of adoration exhibited by this fallen woman there lies a custom that was widely practiced among the ancients of the Middle East.  It was a widely practiced tradition to collect the tears of family members in bottles and preserve them for use at appropriate times when one wanted to show sadness for the misfortune of other people.  Expressions of grief were and continue to be signs of sadness which are totally appropriate when catastrophe happens to someone else.  In the case written about in Luke, one should notice that it does not say that she washed Christ’s feet with the tears that she was shedding at that moment.  Notice that she washed His feet “with tears” which had probably been collected over time.

It was customary to collect one’s tears when crying in response to a sad situation.  Having shed a few tears in my time, I always wondered how one could wash two feet with one person’s tears.  On a trip the Holy Land I learned how that was made possible.  Sitting on a shelf in my home is a tiny replica of a tear bottle that I brought home from Jerusalem.  This carved wooden bottle is in the same shape of those made thousands of years ago by people who actually used them to collect and preserve their tears.  There are several Scriptural references to the custom of collecting tears in bottles and preserving them for later use.  For example, King David said to the Lord: “Put my tears into thy bottle.”

Tear bottles have been found in large numbers by archeologists whose excavations have uncovered perfectly preserved tools, implements, jewelry, etc. used by the ancients on a daily basis.  The tear bottles the scientists have discovered were normally made of glass.  Poor people often made theirs out of clay.  Some, it has been found, were not baked as was the custom in order to harden them and make them last longer.  Though not all tear bottles were made of the same substance, they have all been formed in the traditional shape having a broad bottom in which the tears settled, a slender neck by which the bottles were held and a funnel-shaped top suitable for pouring.  Each member of the family had his/her personal tear bottle.

When serious trouble visited a family each relative and friend arrived at the home with his/her personal tear bottle in hand.  As the tears flowed they were collected in the bottles.  I have been unable to learn what was done with the tears that were collected.  One might expect that they were poured on the one having the problem.  Perhaps even a corpse.  We do not know if what the woman did for Jesus was a common practice or a spur of the moment decision.  She must have though about it for people did not normally carry their bottles during normal times.  I have no doubt that she also added her own fresh tears.

Tear bottles were especially precious and very important to the people.  One’s tear bottle represented all of the sorrows and disappointments the person had experienced.  Being among a person’s most prized possessions during their life, tear bottles were buried with their owners.

This information helps us to better understand what the woman did for Jesus as He sat at meat in the home of the Pharisee.  She had undoubtedly noticed the shoddy way the lord of the house had treated Him.  She had probably noticed that he had not provided water so that Jesus could wash His feet.  Neither had he provided oil normally used to anoint the head of a guest. Both water and oil were normally provided by the owner of the house when an important and valued guest entered it.  Simon the Pharisee was openly and silently proclaiming his attitude toward this lowly carpenter from Nazareth.  After all, “Could anything good come out of Nazareth?”  This poor, sinful woman was longing for forgiveness and a chance to live free of the sins which had been so much a part of her life.  Having nothing else to give, she used the best she had on Christ’s feet and dried them with her hair.  She also kissed His feet and anointed them with ointment.  I can’t imagine anything that would express more humility and adoration that what that woman did for the Lord.  Jesus agreed, and said so.

With words that undoubtedly cut the self-important Pharisee to the core, Jesus chastised him in front of his other guests by reminding him that this lowly woman had done for Him what the Pharisee had failed to do.  Following this He forgave the woman of her sins, which sent everyone into a religious frenzy as they wondered who this carpenter think He was.  Who but God could forgive sins? they wanted to know.  Jesus had addressed this question earlier when He said that He Himself could do NOTHING on His own accord and under His own power, that He did only what He saw His Father do (Jn. 8:28).  He then said something that was like pouring salt into an open wound: “The Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” (Mat. 9:6).  Later He would tell His followers and His enemies that, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given unto Me” (Mat. 28:18).  Then notice He also said in John 14:12: “He who believes in Me, the things that I do HE WILL DO ALSO, and GREATER THINGS THAN THESE WILL HE DO.”  He also said to His disciples in John 20:23: “Whose soever sins YOU remit (forgive) are remitted (forgiven) and whose soever sins you retain (do not forgive) will be retained (by them).”  I will write more on this subject at a later time.  L.J.