Homily for the Third Sunday after Pentecost
by Rebecca M. Taylor,
Director of Children's, Youth & Family Ministries
All Saints Parish, Brookline, MA
June 17, 2007
Lectionary:
2 Samuel 11:26-12:10,13-15
Galatians 2:11-21
Luke 7:36-50
Psalm 32:1-8
"Do you renounce all sinful desires that draw you from the love of God?"
"Do you turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as your Savior?"
"Do you put your whole trust in his grace and love?"
"Do you promise to follow and obey him as your Lord?"
If these questions sound familiar to you it's because they are part of the Holy Baptism liturgy in the Episcopal Church. They are asked in the "Presentation and Examination" part of that service. Baptismal candidates - or their parents and godparents - are expected to answer them.
These are big questions. Actually, to be quite honest, they are huge questions! And they require much consideration - more, I'm sure, than many parents and godparents (myself included) give when their children are baptized. It's a lot to ask. It's a lot to ask!
Renouncing sin and turning to Jesus; accepting him as Lord and Savior; trusting in the power of his love to transform your life; obediently following him wherever and whenever he calls - these are the choices we make as we are "marked as Christ's own forever." (Book of Common Prayer, p.308) This is what we decide to do in response to the relationship he offers us. These actions, these decisions, are at the heart of what it means to live in the world as Christians. It's all about forming and maintaining a faithful relationship with Jesus.
Today's gospel reading gives us an interesting look at how two people - a Pharisee and a sinful woman - approach a relationship with Jesus. And I think the story has a lot to teach us about our own connection to Christ, so I'd like to look at it with you this morning.
A Pharisee invites Jesus to come to a dinner party at his home. We know that Jesus was not the only guest because towards the end of the account we learn that there are others at the table with him. It's interesting that a Pharisee would want Jesus - a homeless carpenter - at his table. Pharisees, as you may know, were especially observant and influential Jews. As meticulous interpreters of Jewish law, Pharisees observed and enforced the Jewish purity code. The purity code was a set of regulations and rituals designed to render the Jewish people pure and perfect before God - a holy nation. Pharisees believed that obedience to these rules was essential, and they tried their best to make sure people did just that. They also did their best to avoid anyone who didn't, anyone who, by virtue of his or her own disobedience or laziness or status in the world, might contaminate them.
We don't know what motivated Simon the Pharisee to add Jesus to his guest list. Maybe he genuinely was curious about this itinerate rabbi and healer. Maybe he wanted to see what so captivated the large crowds that followed Jesus everywhere he went. Maybe Simon wanted to engage Jesus in a theological debate. Or maybe he planned to assert his own religious expertise and deliberately humiliate Jesus before the assembled guests. We don't know, but according to the gospel writer, prior to his dinner date at Simon's home, Jesus had been encountering so much steady criticism from Pharisees everywhere he went that it seemed like they had "rejected God's purposes for themselves." (Lk 7.30) "The Pharisees had rejected God's purposes for themselves." That's a pretty strong criticism for such an influential and elite group of Jewish leaders!
What we do know about this particular Pharisee is that he didn't make Jesus feel especially welcome in his home. He did not arrange for Jesus' feet to be washed when he arrived. Neither did he offer soothing oil for his dry and sunburned head. And he showed Jesus no sign of affection that would have indicated that he was truly welcome.
At a banquet in 1st century Galilee, a guest would have reclined on the floor, on a pallet. Food would have been placed near his head. He would have lain on his side, propped up on his left elbow and forearm, and eaten with his right hand as he conversed with the host and with the other guests. If you can picture Jesus in that position you can see why it was so easy for the woman who crashed the party to find her way to his feet.
She arrived at the party carrying an alabaster jar of ointment. This indicates that this was not a casual "drop in" kind of an encounter, but that some pre-planning had taken place. She really wanted to be with Jesus. Although we are told she was a "sinner," we are not told the specific nature of her sin. We can deduce from her actions, however, that she was probably a prostitute. She arrived unescorted. She let down her hair in public - something that any self-respecting woman would never do. And she handled Jesus' feet, which at that time was understood to be a sexual behavior.
Just as the gospel writer notes the antagonistic nature of Jesus' encounters with Pharisees, so too does he tell us, just two verses prior to the beginning of this morning's reading, that Jesus is a "friend of sinners." (Lk 7.34) So it should come as no surprise to us that Jesus defends this woman's actions when he realizes that Simon is appalled at her presence in his home.
What makes this woman so intent to be with Jesus that she breaks all respectable rules of etiquette?
I think we can get a clue from the gospel accounts that precede this story. In those passages, we learn about the crowds of people who were following Jesus, listening to what he taught and witnessing the amazing things he was doing. When Jesus delivered his sermon on the plain, the gospel writer tells us that
"A great multitude of people…had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out of him and healed all of them." (Lk 6.17-19)
After delivering the sermon on the plain, Jesus goes on to heal a centurion's servant, and then the gospel writer notes that he "[turned] to the crowd that followed him" and taught them. (Lk 7:9) Then he went to the town of Nain (this is the story we heard last week), where he brought a dead man back to life, and we are told again that "a large crowd went with him" (Lk 7:11) and that "word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country." (Lk 7:16-17) And finally, right before Jesus showed up at Simon's house, the gospel writer tells us that he "had just then cured many people ... and had given sight to many who were blind." (Lk 7:21)
I wonder if the woman in this story might have been in one of the crowds of people following Jesus. Maybe she had heard of his reputation as a teacher and healer and had gone to see him for herself. And what she heard and what she saw gave her hope for her own life. Maybe she actually had the chance in one of those crowded situations to get right up next to Jesus and to talk with him. Or maybe she just stood there in the midst of a crowd and watched everything he did and listened carefully to everything he taught about the Kingdom of God. And in her heart, she began to realize that she had a place - a special place - in that beloved community despite all her mistakes, despite all the ways she had messed up her life. Maybe she began to see how she could be saved by giving herself to Jesus and by living her life modeled on his example.
Don't you think that this would have felt like a load had been lifted from her, that a debt of some sort had been erased, and that she could have a fresh start? Imagine how her heart must have burst with happiness and gratitude! Imagine tears welling up in her eyes - tears of joy. She had her life back again and she had to let Jesus know how wonderful that felt! And so she went out and bought some ointment. She put it in a beautiful container. And she headed to Simon's house. And once there, she expressed her gratitude and love for Jesus in the only way she knew how. And the only person who didn't criticize her was Jesus.
So today we meet two people who decided to put themselves in the company of Jesus.
On the one hand we have Simon who, unable to risk drawing close to anyone not like himself, keeps Jesus - and those whom Jesus loves - at arm's length. Convinced of his own righteousness and quick to judge others' shortcomings, he has no idea what it feels like to need acceptance and forgiveness. Even as he distances himself from God's grace, he has little, if any, idea of his own need for that very grace. He believes that he has to earn God's favor by being perfect in every way. He doesn't understand that God's love is a gift, freely given, and so he has no idea how to love the way God loves - generously and extravagantly.
But the woman knows that! As a sinner, she knows all too well the distance she has put between God and herself. And yet, in spite of that distance, she has experienced God's unconditional love for her, mediated through the kindness of Jesus. She knows that Jesus welcomes sinners to come very close to him. She knows that she doesn't have to clean up her act before she can show her love for her Lord. Her openness to God's grace and her willingness to receive it, saves her life. "Your faith has saved you," Jesus tells her. "Go in peace." And I'm sure she did.
So where are you in this story? Do you ask Jesus to come near to you and then keep him at arm's distance? A lot of us do. Can you imagine coming so close to Jesus that you can touch him, that you can kiss his feet, that you can hear his words of comfort? Imagine how wonderful that is! Imagine the peace you can find as you sit at the feet of your Lord.
Do you know how very much Jesus longs to be with you in spite of all our mistakes and shortcomings? Do you know how very much Jesus loves you?
"Do you renounce all sinful desires that draw you from the love of God?"
"Do you turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as your Savior?"
"Do you put your whole trust in his grace and love?"
"Do you promise to follow and obey him as your Lord?"
Let us pray.
We cannot measure how you heal, or answer every sufferer's prayer,
Yet we believe your grace responds where faith and love unite to care.
Your hands, though bloodied on the cross, survive to hold and heal and warn,
To carry all through death to life and cradle children yet unborn.The pain that will not go away, the guilt that clings from things long past,
The fear of what the future holds, are present as if meant to last.
But present too is love which tends the hurt we never hoped to find,
The private agonies inside, the memories that haunt the mind.So some have come who need your help and some have come to make amends
As hands which shaped and saved the world are present in the touch of friends.
Lord, let your Spirit meet us here to mend the body, mind, and soul.
To disentangle peace from pain and make your broken people whole.
AMEN.