1 Tim 4:12-16 / Luke 7:36-50
For every stalk of rose, there are a couple of thorns, or even more.
But of course what is available at the florist are stalks of roses with the thorns trimmed away.
What is said of a stalk of rose can also be said for every person - each person has some thorns in life.
For Simon the Pharisee in the gospel passage, when he looked at the woman who wiped the feet of Jesus with ointment and with her tears and hair, he only saw the thorns in her life - her bad name and her sins.
Jesus saw the rose in that woman, with its thorns, and He reached out to her to trim away the thorns of her sins by forgiving her and granting her peace.
Jesus touched that part in her life that needed most healing: her sins, those thorns in her life that keep hurting her.
In doing so, Jesus brought out the true beauty in her; He brought out the rose among the thorns.
Very often, it is the thorns in our lives that prevent us from seeing the beauty of the rose in us and also prevent others from seeing the rose in us.
If we want Jesus to trim away our thorns and grant us forgiveness and healing, then we must do like what the woman did.
We must kneel at the feet of Jesus and lay our sins before Him. We need to acknowledge our sins before Jesus can forgive and heal us and bring out the beauty in us.