Pentecost 4

BASE HEADER LEVEL: 2
TEXTS: 2 Samuel 11:26-12:10; 12:13-15, Psalm 32, Galatians 2:15-21 (First Reading), Luke 7:36-8:3 (Preaching text)
THEME: Love is not another tool in the tool belt. It is a radically different way of being: Christ lives in us. Forgiven, we are free to love.

Let’s add our reading from Galatians to the list of nice scripture passages that Christians like to hear but hardly ever actually believe. It starts out easy enough for most people nowadays to get: If you’ve read much of Paul’s writing in the NT, then you already kinda know his shtick…Yes, the Jews have the law, but following the law is ultimately not what gets you into a right relationship with God; it’s God’s grace that does that.

Ok, that’s easy enough to believe because a) it’s kind of a simplification of Paul’s argument, and b) because we’re not Jews.

But even if you gloss over this part…what happens when you just pause at verses 19—20.

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.

How often do we go about our business with this reality in mind: that we have been crucified with Christ; that our old selves die, and that Christ lives in us?

I imagine we’re a little more comfortable with this when it’s just words on a page.

In the same way, our Renewal theme for the day is really great to talk about. Loving and serving others is a hallmark of every church. We talk about it every time we worship. We write it in mission statements. We teach it to our kids. If we had to choose one word to describe ourselves to the world, it would be love.

But what does it actually look like in real life? Do we really believe in it?

Fortunately, God is sensitive to our needs for real life examples, and so we have Jesus.

“One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table.

I love it when the real life examples have to do with food. And anytime you have a meal, you have all these cultural norms and expectations and codes that into play. You can see a hint: it says Jesus took his place at the table. In the cultural rules of the Pharisee, Jesus was on the same social level and could eat at the cool kids table.

And 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. She 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.

Well, so much for rules, because Jesus just broke like 14 of them. And just in case you weren’t sure, the Gospel text makes sure that you know that Jesus didn’t just bump into this person deemed unclean. This person very intimately interacted with Jesus, to the surprise and disgust of the other guests.

Now 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.”

Well…the Pharisee is not wrong here. And remember, although we like to pick on the Pharisees (especially around Holy Week) … the Pharisees were not bad people, or perverters of God’s truth. The Pharisees were leaders of the religion. They also knew about Deuteronomy which says love God and love your neighbor. And yet, you can see where it starts to go wrong. Because for all of the codes and rules and teachings and norms that Simon followed, he was not loving his neighbor.

Jesus spoke up and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Teacher,” he replied, “Speak.” “A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And Jesus said to him, “You have judged rightly.”

Jesus is being crafty here. You see, Simon just got busted. We don’t know whether Simon grumbled a little too loud or whether Jesus just read his mind, but either way, Simon gets schooled by Jesus.

• Simon has holier than thou attitude; prejudiced
• Jesus subtracts that part of the equation […]
• Helps Simon put himself into the situation a little differently

Then 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. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, 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.”

And now that Jesus has asked Simon to think about a hypothetical situation a little differently, now he asks Simon to think about real life a little differently; to put himself in the situation of the woman whom he had dismissed. Jesus asks Simon to walk a mile in her shoes.

And from that perspective, Simon (and maybe we too) can see how real love and service happens in this world. It is courageous. It crosses boundaries. It can be uncomfortable. It is not about the giver, but the one being loved and served.

At Simon’s table, it wasn’t teaching that showed love; it wasn’t a code about hospitality which loved and served the neighbor. There was a code of hospitality [Simon should have ..], but Simon (like all of us at times) just apparently just neglected it.

And more: even if Jesus had followed the ‘code of hospitality’ he still wouldn’t have loved and served this woman who had the nerve to show up.

It is not code or convention or religion which is doing the love and service here. Not in the case of Simon, and not in the case of the woman. It is something else.

Jesus tells us.

Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

See, something different happens. Jesus is no longer talking to Simon, the Pharisee. Jesus is no longer talking about the woman. Jesus is talking to the woman.

Up to this point, this woman has just functioned as a set piece in this story, but Jesus breaks through, as if he goes off the script to look right at this unnamed, silent person and says, “You are forgiven. Your faith has saved you.”

For her, for Simon, for us: it is no longer our past we defines us. It is no longer our own accomplishments or own failures. Our own strengths and weaknesses which make us who we really are. We have been crucified with Christ, we have been forgiven. It is Christ who lives in us.

But just when you thought the Gospel was over…

Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve 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.”

• What happens to those whose sins are forgiven?
  • Love and Service
  • When Jesus breaks into your life; when Jesus forgives and heals you; when Christ lives in you everything changes
  • If you doubt the importance of these former nobodies… (At least two of) These women end up as the first witnesses to the resurrection. These women literally followed Jesus to the grave.

Yes, I fail at trusting God to provide at all times. Yes, I still feebly try to do things my way. I’m guessing you do too — every once in a while. But. I also belong to collection of people who, like me, have been forgiven much. Who can’t help but follow this God who forgives us. It’s a collection of people so intentionally put together by God that we call it the Body of Christ. And together, we can say that we believe it is no longer we who love and serve others, but it is Christ who lives in us.