It is related in Talmud Yerushalmi (Sotah 1:4) that Rav Meir would lecture every leil Shabbos in a certain bais knesses. There was a woman who would regularly attend his lectures. One week, the lecture extended longer than usual. When it ended, she went home and found that the candles had already burned out. Her husband asked where she was, and answered that she had been at the drasha. In his anger, he said that he wouldn't allow her into the house until she spat in the face of the speaker.
Rav Meir saw this all with his ruach hakodesh. He pretended that he was sick and announced that he needed someone to heal his eyes. This woman then had the idea of pretending to be a healer, planning to spit in his eye in accordance with her husband's wish.
When she got to Rav Meir's house, he asked if she had a remedy for him, but since she was so scared, she said that she did not. He said, “In any case, spit in my eye seven times and it will be good for me."
After she did this, Rav Meir said, "Go tell your husband that he ordered you to spit in my face once, and you did it seven times."
Rav Meir's students then told him, "If you had told us about this, we would have brought the husband here and struck him with lashes until he agreed to let his wife in!"
Rav Meir said, "Do you think Meir's honor is worth more than Hashem's? Hashem allows His holy name to be erased in order to make peace between a husband and wife. Surely, Meir can allow himself to be shamed for this purpose."
