My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint
My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My
feet with fragrant oil ..." (vs. 44�46). Simon ignored
even the basic courtesies. He was upstaged by a
woman, a sinner, who came to heavily invest herself
in loving Jesus, giving to Him and caring little about
anything else. Simon approached Jesus with a casual,
patronizing informality while this woman had wor-
shipped Him with her whole heart.
We are often more like Simon than the sinner.
We know who Jesus is, we try to honor Him, but we
can do it in such a way as to treat Him as less than
Lord. I wonder how
many of us go to the
Sunday meeting with-
out whispering a pray-
er beforehand inviting
Him to be among us?
How many throw bits
and pieces, scraps if
you will, into the offer-
ing plate? How many
are content to go home
feeling good about a meeting where there has been
no evidence of the Holy Spirit's presence, where no
lives are changed or touched and the world is left
unchanged? We have had our time of fellowship, sung
our songs and done our bit, but Jesus was never
properly honored, let alone truly worshipped. Like
Simon, we assume it is enough to be physically pres-
ent. We can be casually indifferent and more intent
on judging what went on in the meeting than coming
humbly to the feet of Jesus to offer Him our best.
And in it all we can miss the point of the parable
that we are as unable to pay the price as the worst
sinner in our town. Our pockets are empty and there
is no line of credit. We stand next to the Hitlers and
the Stalins and the Jeffrey Dahmers in desperate need
of grace. No resum� or public relations firm can put a
better face on it. Sin has bankrupted us. Hear the
words of Jesus spoken not only to the woman but to
us: "Your sins are forgiven. Go in peace" (vs. 50). We
rejoice with the writer of the old song that says,
Jesus paid it all! All to Him I owe.
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
Major Allen Satterlee is Editor�in�Chief
and National Literary Secretary.
Westminster Gazet
te
A U G UST 22, 1912
............................
Patriotism need
not mean the warf
are of banded
legions,
destructive combin
ations and all the de
tails of preparednes
s
for war in the name
of peace. There is
a higher patriotism.
And this Man,
now gone onward
to his great rest
was,
perhaps, the highes
t exemplar of that
highest patriotism.
For he found
in the festering
dens of sin and
crime the
one eternal spark of Hope and f
anned it int
o flame.
With winnowing h
and he sifted chaff
and grain, and
deep in the soil of r
egeneration dedica
ted the seeds of se
lf
respect, self-sacrific
e, and consecratio
n to an Ideal which
was not the less id
eal that those who
materialized it from
want and misery
could hardly spell
the word. Like the
`golden dustman' o
f Dickens, he foun
d and rescued the
`submerged' lost ta
lent of the world a
nd helped it `fit in
'
with human pity, h
uman progress, m
aking its possessio
ns
not alone respectab
le but self-respectin
g.
And, put this to his
eternal credit, he w
as the Optimist
of Salvation. Moreo
ver, he taught, and t
he lesson sometim
es
needs exposition, f
inancial caution to
the disordered en
-
thusiasms of unth
inking charity. Belie
ving in himself he
conquered the wo
rld's disbelief. Kno
wing full well how
surely mankind is b
orn to duties rathe
r than to rights, he
taught and practic
ed duty; and, putt
ing his hand to th
e
plough, never swe
rved from the stra
ight furrow, thoug
h
often the way was lo
ng and the soil imp
lacable.
Seattle Republican
A U G U S T 2 3 , 1 9 1 2
............................
That the world is a million times better that
General Booth lived no one will deny and the
human being was not living, who did not
drop a tear of regret, on hearing of his
death. He was without religious creed or
doctrine, but was full and overflowing
with the love of God and right and justice
toward his fellow man, and that was
worth more than all of the creeds and
isms ascribed to Christianity. The civilized
world will pay homage to his memory one
day next week and a more befitting tribute
could not be paid to the memory of a life so
nobly spent.
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