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Dr. George Purnell
June 13, 2010
“How Many Others?”
Luke 7:36-8:3
Imagine the scene if you can. It isn’t hard if we try.
Jesus has accepted aninvitation to dinner in the home of a Pharisee. At first glance, we might think it peculiar for Jesus to be in the home of a Pharisee for dinner, because it’s evident in the gospels that the Pharisees were suspicious of Jesus and often hostile toward him. But viewed in the cultural context of the region and the time of this writing – where hospitality was an expected value and practice – this invitation made sense. Leading citizens would host meals for large numbers of people, and the hospitable act of this dinner added to the host’s reputation.
So, in our story today a Pharisee named Simon invites Jesus to just such a meal. Jesus had taken his place at the table when “a woman in the city, who was a sinner…brought an alabaster jar of ointment” and “stood behind him at his feet weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair.”
The woman “continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment” until the host couldn’t keep from commenting to himself, saying “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of a woman this is who is touching him...”
Modern readers of the Bible tend to have a negative view of the Pharisees, in part because the way the gospel writers present them – as pious and self righteous hypocrites – makes them easy to dislike and in part because of the way they treat Jesus. And Simon in our story today is just one example we find in the gospels where the Pharisees are critical of Jesus for not being ‘holy’ enough.
But I imagine many of us would have been as critical of the woman and of Jesus as Simon is shown as having been. Let’s think about it…
Has this woman no shame! And Jesus is complicit in this shameful scene, because he gives her tacit permission to caress and kiss his feet by not telling her to stop.
I think if we are honest with ourselves, we can see that there is a lot of Pharisee in us. We would be embarrassed if this happened in our presence.
Many Pharisees believed that Jesus was a charismatic and dangerous demagogue who was leading the people away from the one true God; the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. While the Pharisees were scrupulous about keeping the law and being compliant with custom and tradition, Jesus consorted openly with Gentiles, ate with tax collectors, defended prostitutes, touched lepers and otherwise violated acceptable practices of Judaism. He was even guilty of saying things that were blasphemous, such as telling this woman “your sins are forgiven.”
These Pharisees were good men. They were devout in their faith. And many strongly believed that Jesus was a charlatan, like other traveling religious promoters in first century Palestine.
Jesus found the Pharisees pious. He called them hypocrites frequently in the gospels (especially John), and he generally did not enjoy their company.
Today’s story is an example of an occasion where a Pharisee is self-righteous in his assessment of Jesus. Jesus is not being holy enough, in Simon’s eyes, as he is letting a sinner touch him.
Most of us don’t like to be around self-righteous people. We feel that we are being watched by them. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I have found that when I am at a social event and someone introduces me as a minister, the crowd thins out. It’s like folks are saying to themselves, ‘uh oh, a preacher…lets go somewhere we can act naturally.’ They liken us to the Pharisees in the New Testament.
But sometimes people who are critical of the church have surprised me by inviting me to lunch or cornering me in a social setting. I think they are sizing me up to see what a preacher might be like.
If we give Simon the benefit of the doubt in the lesson today, we can say that he has invited Jesus to his home to decide for himself what kind of man Jesus is, instead of accepting what he has heard from other people about Jesus.
And when Jesus lets this woman touch him, Simon surmises that he is not a legitimate prophet. He mutters words to this affect to himself…that if Jesus was legit he would have recognized her for who and what she was and sent her away.
Jesus read Simon’s mind apparently. “Simon, I have something to say to you,” Jesus said, and he proceeded to outline a scenario that would contrast the hospitality offered by the woman and that offered by the host. A creditor had two debtors. One owed ten times what the other owed. When neither could pay, the creditor forgave the debts. Which one would love the creditor more?
The answer was as obvious as it was condemning. Simon knew he was caught. “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.”
Bingo! Jesus says. Now Simon, when I entered your house you offered me no kiss…you gave me no water for my feet…you did not anoint my head with oil… (Customary things for a host in that day to do for a guest in his home)…But this woman! She has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. She has not stopped kissing my feet since I arrived and she has anointed them with oil. “Therefore, her sins which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.”
Wow! Simon could feel that sting. But Pharisees of every age should also feel the sting of this remark.
We are quick to acknowledge the sins of others. It is hard for us to see ourselves in as much need of forgiveness as the celebrity who is caught in a compromising situation or the public official who was stopped for a DUI. These are really bad…
But mine? Wait a second. I worship. I work. I have not been arrested. I donate to worthy causes. I am not a sinner like others are who do bad stuff.
(I am reminded of the story in Luke 18 where a Pharisee and a tax collector go into the temple to pray, and the Pharisee prays: “God, I thank youthat I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.” Meanwhile, “the tax collector would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’” It was the tax collector who went home justified, Jesus concluded.)
Jesus told the woman in the story today that her faith had saved her. She was not alone, of course. There were others who became his followers. Our lesson today ends with Jesus taking his ministry on the road: “Soon afterwards he went on through the cities and villages, proclaiming and bringingthe good news of the kingdom of God.” (8:1)
Who went with Jesus? “The twelve (male disciples) were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.” (8:2, 3)
Think about these remarkable women. These women lived in a time and culture where women were not thought of as equal in any way to men. Women were not valued or heard, yet these women had heard Jesus’ teaching, and experienced his healing, and had come to believe that they were children of a loving God because of his love and acceptance.
We know some of their names. Mary and Joanna and Susanna…but there were many others. This woman in our story today could have been one, because the depth of her love and her commitment made her a likely candidate. I see her on the road with Jesus.
I wonder about me. Do I know how much God loves me? Do I know how completely God knows me and wants good for me? Do I realize how much my sin hurts God because it separates me from God when I refuse to face it? Do I really believe that God gladly forgives me and rejoices over me?
Because when I get in touch with these things…when I accept the fact that I am accepted by God…when I will receive the forgiveness that is mine, and extend forgiveness to others…then I will be ready to boldly step out in faith as this woman did. Amen.
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