In Luke 7:36-39, I have read the story of the woman who wept on the feet of Jesus, dried it with her hair, then anointed His feet with perfume.
Why would she dry his feet with her hair?
If she could afford or obtain perfume, then why not also some sort of cloth or towel as well?
I should imagine trying to dry something with your hair is pretty inefficient, so I have spent some time trying to understand, because random things come up for me to reflect upon! What is the cultural idiom? In John 12 v.3, one of the Mary's also anoints the feet of Jesus and wipes his feet with her hair. This is following the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead and this Mary may be his sister..
Perhaps then, it isn't that a cloth is lacking, it isn't wanted perhaps. Using hair to dry feet is...an affectionate act? I recently learnt that due to Jewish Law, it is unlikely that Jesus had long hair, because the women had long hair and the men cut their hair at the back. So if women had long hair, then long hair was representative of femininity.
Keen to dig deeper, I may have flown off at a tangent studying information on the internet regarding biblical euphemisms and the significance of hair and feet in the Bible. I found it quite fascinating, but then felt that no new information was relevant. I did see the justification for Simon the Pharisee to be outraged at the unknown woman's actions as it could be contrued as a highly suggestive act. However, this woman wept, and Jesus defended her, speaking of debt of sin and repentance.
When Mary did the same, this was seen as an affectionate thanks, but the unknown woman had taken the step of approaching Jesus amongst a group of other men at the dinner party of a respected religious man to make this approach that could be construed as, well, inappropriate. But of course, something was more important.
Ding! This woman heard the call, and nothing else mattered. I know in the future that I may reflect again on this gesture of loving repentance which came before the crucifiction. At present I see this person acting because she heard and understood the proclamation of The Word given by Jesus at this time. In a modern context, it is one thing to believe, or even to say 'maybe' like an agnostic, but to feel called by God to say sorry and really mean it out of deep love. That is the step that a person should make to start their relationship with God.
May be that sounds obvious, but this woman represents a calling from God that touched the heart, rather than brainwashing mob mentality of mass evangelism with an altar call or collapse with a forehead touch.