a little late, but here is my sermon from june 16th.
the
holy gospel according to luke the 7th chapter. glory to you, o lord.
36one of the
pharisees asked jesus
to
eat with him,
and
he went into the pharisee’s house
and
took his place at the table.
37and a woman in
the city,
who
was a sinner,
having
learned that he was eating
in
the pharisee’s house,
brought
an alabaster jar of ointment.
38she
stood behind him at his feet,
weeping,
and
began to bathe his feet
with
her tears
and
to dry them
with
her hair.
then
she continued kissing his feet
and
anointing them
with
the ointment.
39now when the
pharisee who had invited him
saw
it,
he
said to himself,
“if
this man were a prophet,
he
would have known
who
and
what kind of woman this is
who
is touching him—
that
she is a sinner.”
40jesus spoke up
and said to him,
“simon,
i
have something to say to you.”
“teacher,”
he
replied,
“speak.”
41“a certain
creditor had two debtors;
one
owed five hundred denarii,
and
the other fifty.
42when
they could not pay,
he
canceled the debts for both of them.
now
which of them will love him more?”
43simon answered,
“i
suppose the one for whom
he
canceled the greater debt.”
and jesus 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 bathed my feet
with
her tears
and
dried them
with
her hair.
45you gave me no kiss,
but
from the time i came in
she
has not stopped
kissing
my feet.
46you did not anoint my head with
oil,
but
she has anointed my feet
with
ointment.
47therefore,
i tell you,
her sins,
which
were many,
have
been forgiven;
hence
she has shown great love.
but
the one to whom little is forgiven,
loves
little.”
48then he said to
her,
“your
sins are forgiven.”
49but those who
were at the 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.”
8soon
afterwards
he
went on through cities and villages,
proclaiming
and
bringing
the
good news of the kingdom of god.
the
twelve were with him,
2as
well as some women
who
had been cured
of
evil spirits
and
infirmities:
mary,
called magdalene,
from
whom seven demons had gone out,
3and
joanna,
the
wife of herod’s steward chuza,
and
susanna,
and
many others,
who
provided for them
out
of their resources.
the
gospel of the lord. praise to you,
o christ.
-----
considering
today is father’s day, today’s readings do not show men in all that favorable
of a light.
david
is responsible for many sins regarding “the wife of uriah” and uriah himself, resulting in the death of his child. he claims for his own who and what is
not his. women may have been simply
considered property at the time, but even so, as the text makes abundantly
clear, she did not belong to david.
bathsheeba is the wife of uriah. she does not “ask for” david to see her
and want to be with her. david, of
his own volition sets the snowball of sins in motion, culminating in even
killing uriah and the death of his own son.
simon
the pharisee seems quite full of himself and self-righteous. he begins well with basic hospitality,
providing a meal for jesus, but doesn’t quite grasp the full breadth and depth
of god’s grace and love, thinking more highly of himself than he ought, looking
down on the woman who comes to jesus, and not providing jesus with water to
wash his feet.
now
jesus…well, he’s jesus, so he’s on a whole different playing field regarding
sin.
and
to be fair, even the woman is identified as a sinner. we don’t know what she did, just that she too, like each of
us, was a sinner.
our
sins also are many and few—great and small. as simple as arguments with family and friends, neglect of
relationships or as complicated as scheming against another person, abuse of
people and the environment, or any of a variety of illegal or immoral
activities. for some people, like
simon the pharisee, thinking too highly of ourselves is a sin while for others,
perhaps like this woman, not valuing ourselves enough can be a sin.
so
just when we are really starting to relate to david, to blame ourselves and our
sins—the extra time we stay away from home and at work, our seemingly constant
worrying about money, our inattentive parenting, or perhaps an affair—for all
that is wrong and bad in our lives and in the world, paul reminds us in
galatians that salvation does not depend on us.
even
the good stuff and the bad stuff the women and men do pale in comparison to the
love and grace of god. david’s
sins, though many, are taken away as are simon’s, the woman’s and ours. it is not up to us to do the best or
worst in the world. it is up to
god. jesus the christ saves us all
here and now. he comes to be with
simon, even knowing his self-righteousness. salvation comes today, not through works, but through
faith-the grace of god.
god’s
love for us is unconditional. god
knows every part of who we are.
when simon says to himself, “if this man were a prophet, he would have
known who and what kind of woman this
is who is touching him—that she is a sinner,”
it’s a bit ironic because jesus does know who this woman is. yes, he knows that she, like us, is a
sinner. he also knows more
deeply than that that she is a beloved child of god. jesus knows who she is on a much
deeper, more profound level than simon did and he knows whose she is. she is loved by god and justified not
by washing jesus’ feet, but by faith in jesus the christ.
jesus
is preaching the forgiveness of sins—a place for everyone at the table; a place
where it is not possible to sin so much that you aren’t allowed in. this unnamed woman has heard this
message, she has been given grace and forgiveness.
and
to know,
that the One who is giver of all this goodness and life is in your town. well, what else would you do? having received the priceless gift of grace—forgiveness, the
woman joyfully, tearfully, and eagerly responds with service and gift back to
god. she comes to jesus and washes
his feet with her tears, dries them with her hair, and anoints them with
ointment.
washing his
feet is merely an outward sign of this change that jesus has worked in her,
bringing salvation to her now, not
simply when she dies. god is here
now. you are saved here. now. you are free from the power of sin—you are free from the
need to perform, to look good, to be liked, to be nice. you are freed from all those pressures
of the world here. now.
those pressures
don’t just disappear, but you are no longer beholden to them—enslaved by them.
nothing
can negate god’s love and grace, no matter how hard we might “try.” our works—works of the law—societal
pressures—are not necessary. we
are justified by grace through our faith.
that is what good news
is. that is what it means to be set free.
so the question
becomes: now what?
you are free,
so what will you do?
this
freedom can be scary and it can be hard and it is certainly not the message we receive in this “meritocracy,”
and perhaps that is why we call it good news. it is good because it flies in the face of the cultural
messages that inundate us, telling us that we can and must earn every excess
imaginable. it is good because it
declares that there is another way.
it
is news because it is a new way of
being in the world—a very old new way, to be sure, yet it always feels new
(perhaps because we never quite get it all right the first time around). it is news because it is worth shouting
from the rooftop. you are free in
christ by god’s grace.
and
this is what we respond to. we receive god’s grace and love
unconditionally and as we know ourselves to be sinners as well as saints, we
come with this woman to jesus’ feet, pouring out our love. in grateful and loving response to god’s
grace, we give ourselves and all that we consider ours back to god.
this woman
pours out her love for jesus in action and in resources. she washes his feet with her tears, she
dries his feet with her hair, and she anoints his feet with ointment—blessing
that part of him that suffers the most wear and tear in all his walking
around.
she
does not wash and anoint jesus’ feet because she has to or in order to earn her
salvation—that would be relying on the law and works for salvation and
righteousness. but, because she is
relying on jesus—that is, as paul says, she is justified by grace through faith
in christ—she is free to respond with joy to the grace she has received and so,
since she is filled with such love, she pours it back out, giving back to
god. trusting in god’s abundance
that jesus will know the love and devotion that the tears and ointment and
kisses embody.
jesus is here
and the woman recognizes that the kin-dom of god is here and now. salvation has come to her and it has
come to you and me. we have
received the ultimate gift of grace and salvation in our baptisms and there is
nothing we can do about it.
everyone
responds to it differently. david
repents and renews his commitment to god.
the woman washes feet.
simon provides dinner. the
women who follow jesus provide for them monetarily.
what will you
do? how will you respond to this
grace and love from god?
No comments:
Post a Comment