BY WALT ALBRITTON
OPINION —
In my devotional reading, I was stunned by the testimony of Kyoko Minekawa, a Japanese Christian woman. The child of an evangelist, she attended several schools growing up. Because she was a Christian, she endured the ridicule of non-Christian students; less than 2% of Japan’s population are Christians. The major religions there are Shinto and Buddhism.
I could hardly imagine the humiliation she felt as I read her words: “Many days when I was walking home, boys would spit on me as they rode their bicycles past me and call out ‘Christian fool’ as they rode away” (The Upper Room, April 28, 2025).
Kyoko’s brief witness had a silver lining. One day, as she was walking home, a woman rushed at the spitting boys with a broom; she ordered them to stop their insulting behavior. Kyoko said, “From that day, the boys stopped spitting on me.”
As a child Kyoko believed in Jesus, but the scorn of other students caused her to wish she had been raised in a different home. However, she persevered and today she is “living by faith,” grateful that her parents raised her to love Jesus.
Kyoko’s experience caused me to ponder the fact that no one has ever spit in my face. No one has ever insulted me because of my faith in Jesus. In televised news reports, I have seen protestors spit on police offers, so I realize this shameful behavior goes on in our world today.
Actually, spitting in someone’s face is as old as the human race. In all the world’s cultures, such spitting has always been a profound insult, a gesture of contempt, globally recognized as a sign of hatred, anger, mockery and disrespect.
There are instances in the Bible where spitting in another’s face is a sign of contempt. In Deuteronomy 25:9, a widow spits in the face of her brother-in-law if he refuses to marry her, a gesture of public disgrace. In Numbers 12:13-14, when Moses asks the Lord to heal Miriam of leprosy, the Lord asks Moses, “If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days?” The spitting, then, symbolized a severe reprimand.
Any consideration of spitting must recognize that people have always believed saliva has healing power. If you doubt that, then explain why, when you cut or hurt your finger, you immediately put it in your mouth! Since ancient times, even the wisest of people have believed that human saliva has curative powers. For centuries saliva was sometimes used to treat sore eyes and skin inflammations.
Jesus used saliva to treat a blind man’s eyes. Mark describes the time in Bethsaida when people brought a blind man to Jesus. Jesus “took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.” Then Jesus spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him. Soon the man “saw everything clearly” (8:22-25).
John tells how Jesus restored the sight of a man born blind: “Having said this, he {Jesus} spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes.” After washing in the Pool of Siloam, the man “came home seeing” (9:6-7).
Later, Jesus, the Great Physician, would not only be cursed and beaten cruelly with a whip, but he would also endure the ultimate insult when men spit in his face. Matthew describes it: “Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him….” (26:66-67).
Ponder the unthinkable disrespect of those men. They spit in the face of God. They mocked their Creator. They insulted the greatest person to ever walk on this earth, the Messiah, the King of Kings, the Savior who shed his blood so the sin of all people could be forgiven. Yet it was this very man who, hours later as he was dying on the cross, prayed, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Astonishing!
Lord Jesus, when I consider that you loved me enough to endure that humiliating insult for me, I fall on my knees confessing that I am not worthy of your love, but it is your love that has changed my life. So, please, Lord Jesus, give me the grace to honor you, love you and serve you with every ounce of my being until you call me home. Amen.
When you consider all that Jesus did for you, what prayer do you want to pray? Close your eyes and pray. Share your gratitude for such undeserving love.
