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ISSN 2195-3171

Pentecost 3, 06/13/2010

Sermon on Luke 7:36-8:3, by David H. Brooks

Luke 7:36-8:3 

A Sinful Woman Forgiven

 ³⁶ One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and took his place at the table. ³⁷And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, ³⁸and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. ³⁹Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner." ⁴⁰And Jesus answering said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." And he answered, "Say it, Teacher."

 ⁴¹"A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. ⁴² When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?" ⁴³Simon answered, "The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt." And he said to him, "You have judged rightly." ⁴⁴Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. ⁴⁶ You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. ⁴⁷Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven-for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little." ⁴⁸And he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." ⁴⁹Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, "Who is this, who even forgives sins?" ⁵⁰And he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

Luke 8

Women Accompanying Jesus

 ¹Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, ²and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, ³and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means. (English Standard Version)

There was a time in America when inviting someone to a meal at your home was a natural part of a community's life. I myself can remember from my childhood many Sunday dinners at my grandparents, when it seemed that in addition to numerous uncles, aunts, and ne'er-do-well cousins there would be several invited guests, such as preachers and deacons, local neighbors, and so forth. Some would bring side dishes; others would bring only their appetites.

While I am sure that such patterns continue across the land, I have noticed that the practice of inviting others over for meals has diminished over the years. We no longer share life in each others homes, as we once did. In part that may be because we value our privacy much more than we used to; it may be more because of our incessantly busy lifestyles, where meals are largely eaten in cars or at our work desks. It is hard to keep up the habit of inviting others over to share a meal under such circumstances! After all, it's a weird invitation that sound like this: "hey, why don ‘t you and the wife join us for supper tomorrow? We'll be driving the kids to soccer practice, so we'll pick you up in the Honda and hit the McDonald's drive-thru for some cheeseburgers."

So when we do invite someone into our home for a meal, it tends to have more importance and says more about the relationships than perhaps in days gone by. To put it bluntly, we are very selective about who we invite to dinner. If the phrase "guess who's coming to dinner" could carry all sorts of meaning for the Sidney Poitier movie of many years ago, it continues to carry all sort of implications today, if for no other reason than dinner guests are so rare these days!

Mentioning Mr. Poitier's movie is a reminder that boundaries around the table have always existed in human communities. My grandparents' Sunday meals, expansive as the guest list seemed to the six year old me, were examples of how and where human boundaries are enforced, for my grandparents invited those who 1) had a clear claim on them, and/or 2) had some standing in the community.  Now please don't look down on my poor grandparents, for we do the same today. And, to be fair, the fact that we set boundaries around the table is not surprising, because sharing a meal is among the most revealing, most intimate activities we humans do. There is a reason why young men and women debate and worry about what to wear, what to say, how to act on that most important first dinner date! There is a reason why the worry and debate increase exponentially when the dinner date is to meet the beloved's family members! There is a reason why the worry and debate can cause a body to explode when that first meeting happens at an important event like the annual Christmas dinner! I am not saying anything you don't know: people are bonded over shared meals, and more than one observer has pointed out the almost sacramental quality of mealtime.  Many of us struggle with our prayer life, but the single most common place for prayer even among nominally religious people is at a shared meal, when a table grace is spoken. Such prayers are among the few that people teach their children, evidence of the singular quality of mealtime, and perhaps a glimpse at what is truly important to God. 

So let's talk about a dinner that a man once hosted.

Jesus is the guest of a man named Simon, a Pharisee. As you may know, the Pharisees were a group that spent much of their day studying God's word and disciplining themselves to put what they learned from their studies into daily practice. We may dismiss them today as rigid and use their name as a synonym for hypocrite, but in 1^st century Palestine they were recognized by their communities as people of worth and importance.

I think we are safe in assuming that, since Simon has invited Jesus into his to his table, he holds Jesus in some degree of esteem or regard. So the host and the guests recline at the table to enjoy the meal.

Luke then reports that a woman crashes Simon's dinner party. Many commentators deduce from her (unseemly) behavior and her (seeming) wealth-enough to buy expensive perfume-that the unnamed woman is a prostitute. She goes on to make a spectacle of herself: kissing Jesus' feet, bathing his feet with her tears, drying them with her hair, anointing his feet with the oil.

You can just see Simon smacking his forehead. His dinner party is now a fiasco; the very type of person he as a Pharisee would want to avoid has violated the boundaries he has set around himself; and, maybe worse of all, his judgment and good opinion regarding Jesus was off the mark. A prophet should know the difference between holy and sinful, between clean and unclean. This Jesus is obviously no prophet, no man of God; he's nothing but a fraud! 

So Simon, seething, thinks (who knows, maybe out loud) "if this man were truly a prophet, he would know to put this woman in her place."

But Jesus-the Word of God enfleshed-is the true prophet of God, and proceeds to put both the woman and Simon in their proper places. "Simon, help me here. There were two debtors-one owed just a little, the other a great sum. Their creditor forgave the debts of both. Who do you think will be more grateful?"  Simon thinks about it and answers that the one with the greater debt will have the greater appreciation and love. Jesus commends him for his wisdom and uses his correct answer to reframe the boundaries we erect around ourselves, the places we occupy around the meals we share.

Think about what happens here. There is one debtor here. She is a woman who in her interaction with Jesus is wildly inappropriate for her culture. She is likely engaged in activities that everyone would recognize as immoral. But she is aware of who she is, recognizes her deep need; which means she also recognizes Jesus, and is in the proper place to offer her worship and receive his forgiveness. Who knows? Because of this encounter, perhaps she is a part of the unnamed group who supports Jesus and his ministry out of their resources.

There is another debtor here. He works hard to keep the commandments, to take God seriously. Perhaps he is well off and able to host dinners, which might lead people to surmise that God's favor is upon him; but maybe he is not well off, which might lead people to admire his religious tenacity and desire to fulfill his community duty in the face of adversity. But because he does not recognize a great need in himself, he does not recognize Jesus, and misses being in the proper place to offer his worship (you did not even greet me properly, Simon) and receive the Lord's forgiveness.

In a few minutes, we will be invited to a Sunday meal. Let us not forget, it is by invitation only; the boundaries of righteous and sinner declare that not one of us deserve to be on the guest list. We have no claim on our host, nor do we have standing in his neighborhood. We are here because our Lord desires it so. At this table, we are all family; we are, each of us, the ne'er-do-well cousin. We bring to this table only our appetites-our fears, our struggles, our half-baked hopes, our worries, our wildly inappropriate behaviors, our immorality, our lack of gratitude, our deep needs.  Yet our Lord looks upon us, sees us for who we really are, and in love puts us in our proper place. He gathers us around himself, and feeds us, feeds us with his forgiveness, feeds us with his grace, feeds us with his own life. Guess who's here at supper? Love is.