Gate crashing the party! - Third Sunday after Pentecost
Luke 7: 36 - 50
It’s another party for Jesus. Only this time, he isn’t with the dregs of society. This time he is eating and drinking at the home of a Pharisee. Nothing wrong with that. For once the partying isn’t go to lead to his name being dragged through the mud.
After all the Pharisees are good, respectable, devout people. They are religious people who take the things of God very seriously indeed. Indeed they are people who want to obey the law in the right way so as to be pure.
It may well have been this desire which led Simon, the Pharisee, to invite Jesus to his home. He may have wanted to hear the insights of Jesus as a means of developing his own spiritual life. We shall never know. For as Simon, Jesus and other guests reclined at the table, another guest certainly not invited by Simon, made a dramatic entrance.
Now this guest was a woman. Big deal you may think! But that is not how those who first heard this story would have responded. For in the Palestine of Jesus, women were not invited to such public banquets. Respectable men would not publicly eat with women outside of their family. Indeed a rabbi such as Jesus would not be expected to enter into public conversation with a woman. Quite simply women did not really belong in the public space.
But the scandal doesn’t end at this. This woman was a woman with a reputation, a woman who Simon saw as a “sinner.” Yes, this was a woman to avoid. But equally this was a woman who had no intention of being ignored! Her emotions were running into over drive as she wept so profusely that her tears wetted the feet of Jesus. But this was not enough for now this same woman gets down to dry the feet of Jesus with her hair before kissing those feet and then pouring perfume upon them. What a show!
For even today, such an act of affection would be seen by many as somewhat embarrassing. You don’t need to have been reading too many top shelf books to sense the intimacy and even eroticism in the actions of this woman. Surely she has overstepped the mark.
And that is precisely what Simon is thinking. Why he wonders is Jesus letting this sinful woman behave in such a way towards him. I guess that Simon can be seen as judging this woman by her past actions and her current actions on the night of this dinner party. And if that is how we should see people, there is nothing in Luke’s account to suggest that Simon is in any way wrong.
But it can surely not be the full picture. Yes, historical accounts suggest that accompanied women carrying such oils tended to live disreputably. Perfumes were a sign that they had acquired a minor degree of prospering through the sale of their services. But even so, prostitution was rarely an easy option to take but often a result of women especially those without proper support, having precious few options. And so it is today. Think back for a moment to the stories we heard concerning the women who were killed in Ipswich several months ago. For too often, now as then, there are those who are left behind economically and those who find that in a society of distorted sexuality, they are effectively defined by men and the wants of men.
Now Jesus emerges as a counter to the worldview of Simon. He does not see the woman in terms of her means of employment or her past deeds. Throughout, he sees this woman as a real person. What a contrast to that nasty tendency in religion to reject people on the basis of a stereotype without bothering to know them.
This is illustrated by a story of the American Christian sociologist, Tony Campolo. Campolo was teaching a class when one of his students commented;
“Jesus never met a prostitute.”
Campolo’s instinct was to see this as a chance to teach the young man a thing or two about Jesus and so he replied;
“Yes he did. I’ll show you in my Bible where.”
But once again the young man interrupted him;
“You didn’t hear me Doctor Campolo. I said Jesus never met a prostitute.”
Once more Campolo went for his Bible searching for the very story we have heard this evening only for the young man to speak out again, this time with anger in his voice;
“You are not listening to me. You aren’t listening to what I am saying. I am saying that Jesus never met a prostitute. Do you think that when he looked at the woman at his feet that he saw a prostitute? No, Doctor, he saw a woman in need of forgiveness. Jesus never met a prostitute.”
And may I say that if we take nothing else from this particular scripture, we can take the message that Jesus sees each of us as people and not as members of a stereotypical group. And in that, there is a mighty challenge to us. I think that Jesus would tell us;
-Don’t dismissively see followers of Islam, Judaism or other religions. See people created in God‘s image!
-Don’t dismissively see people in terms of their racial grouping. See people created in God’s image!
When it comes to distinctions based on past conduct, sexual morality or sexuality, don’t divide people into those “like us” and a less regarded "them" but see people created in God’s image!
For here, we have seen that Jesus saw not a prostitute but a woman sharing with the rest of humankind in needing the love, acceptance and forgiveness of God. For Jesus sees in all of us not just the all too often tawdry present but multi coloured possibilities of what we might become.
Back to Luke’s story and we find that Jesus is now contrasting this woman at the bottom of the pile with Simon, the Pharisee. And Simon isn’t coming out of the comparison too well. For he has failed in that sacred Jewish responsibility of hospitality. Sure, he deserves credit for inviting Jesus but he does not have a clue when it comes to properly welcoming Jesus. Indeed, Jesus suggests that this woman in kissing him and washing his feet, has been much more of a host to Jesus than Simon himself. The women castigated as a “sinner” has outdone the Pharisee in welcoming Jesus.
And that continues to happen. Too often in the church we have erected walls and excluded those who are other than us from the narrative of the ongoing story of Jesus. And yet, we find the things that point to Jesus in the places and through the people that we least expect to find them. So this story acts as a challenge to each of us to be a people of radical inclusion.
But what is it that makes this woman show so much love to Jesus in contrast to the greater formalism of Simon. Well, let’s look to the short parable that Jesus told to Simon, a parable in which one man is forgiven a much greater debt than the other man. With the approval of Jesus, Simon responds that the one who is forgiven the greater amount is likely to love the money-lender the most.
What is this telling us today? I believe that it tells us that when we realise the immensity of grace through which God forgives us and offers us love and acceptance, then we begin to truly love God. Simon’s problem was that he didn’t realise the extent of his need for forgiveness whereas the woman who wept at the feet of Jesus, knew very well of her need. As we come to God, we find that we are already forgiven for forgiveness comes from the very nature of God and not from any arm twisting on our part. Like this woman who discovers that she has been forgiven and finds that forgiveness creating love within her towards God and presumably towards others, so to as we meet the reality of God’s grace, then a well of love springs up within us towards God and towards others. And so, as we realise our need and find God meeting that need, we find also that God transforms us deep within. For this is the God of transformation.
And now, I invite you to look once more at the picture you have been given of Rubens’ painting, “Christ in the House of Simon.” Look once more at the woman as she kisses the feet of Jesus. Feel its uncomfortable level of intimacy. And then look at the faces around the table. There you see hostility with some turning away their faces in disgust. Think of the question of Jesus, put to Simon;
“Do you see this woman?”
As you look at the picture, it is hard to escape the conclusion that the last thing they want to really look at is this woman.
“Do you see this woman?”
It’s also a question for us and if we are to carry on the loving purposes of Jesus, the answer needs to be an emphatic Yes! Anything less makes us guilty of living out a hateful religion. It can also mean that like Simon, we are harsh because we fail to appreciate the wonder of Divine forgiveness. We have failed to appreciate grace and so the deep wells of love have not sprung up in our hearts.
But the ultimate question has to be a slightly different one;
“Do you see this man?”
This evening, I urge you to see this man for this man is the one who offers unlimited reserves of forgiveness, love and acceptance to each of us. This man wants to travel with each of us, rejoicing in our successes and picking us up when we fall crashing down. This man is “Immanuel, God with us.” And he is the one who can turn our midnights to dawns and help us to leave the deep and barren valleys that we might glimpse the wonder of mountain tops.
“Do you see this man?”
May our answer be an emphatic Yes!
This sermon is being preached at Torrington Methodist Church on Sunday June 17th 2007
It’s another party for Jesus. Only this time, he isn’t with the dregs of society. This time he is eating and drinking at the home of a Pharisee. Nothing wrong with that. For once the partying isn’t go to lead to his name being dragged through the mud.
After all the Pharisees are good, respectable, devout people. They are religious people who take the things of God very seriously indeed. Indeed they are people who want to obey the law in the right way so as to be pure.
It may well have been this desire which led Simon, the Pharisee, to invite Jesus to his home. He may have wanted to hear the insights of Jesus as a means of developing his own spiritual life. We shall never know. For as Simon, Jesus and other guests reclined at the table, another guest certainly not invited by Simon, made a dramatic entrance.
Now this guest was a woman. Big deal you may think! But that is not how those who first heard this story would have responded. For in the Palestine of Jesus, women were not invited to such public banquets. Respectable men would not publicly eat with women outside of their family. Indeed a rabbi such as Jesus would not be expected to enter into public conversation with a woman. Quite simply women did not really belong in the public space.
But the scandal doesn’t end at this. This woman was a woman with a reputation, a woman who Simon saw as a “sinner.” Yes, this was a woman to avoid. But equally this was a woman who had no intention of being ignored! Her emotions were running into over drive as she wept so profusely that her tears wetted the feet of Jesus. But this was not enough for now this same woman gets down to dry the feet of Jesus with her hair before kissing those feet and then pouring perfume upon them. What a show!
For even today, such an act of affection would be seen by many as somewhat embarrassing. You don’t need to have been reading too many top shelf books to sense the intimacy and even eroticism in the actions of this woman. Surely she has overstepped the mark.
And that is precisely what Simon is thinking. Why he wonders is Jesus letting this sinful woman behave in such a way towards him. I guess that Simon can be seen as judging this woman by her past actions and her current actions on the night of this dinner party. And if that is how we should see people, there is nothing in Luke’s account to suggest that Simon is in any way wrong.
But it can surely not be the full picture. Yes, historical accounts suggest that accompanied women carrying such oils tended to live disreputably. Perfumes were a sign that they had acquired a minor degree of prospering through the sale of their services. But even so, prostitution was rarely an easy option to take but often a result of women especially those without proper support, having precious few options. And so it is today. Think back for a moment to the stories we heard concerning the women who were killed in Ipswich several months ago. For too often, now as then, there are those who are left behind economically and those who find that in a society of distorted sexuality, they are effectively defined by men and the wants of men.
Now Jesus emerges as a counter to the worldview of Simon. He does not see the woman in terms of her means of employment or her past deeds. Throughout, he sees this woman as a real person. What a contrast to that nasty tendency in religion to reject people on the basis of a stereotype without bothering to know them.
This is illustrated by a story of the American Christian sociologist, Tony Campolo. Campolo was teaching a class when one of his students commented;
“Jesus never met a prostitute.”
Campolo’s instinct was to see this as a chance to teach the young man a thing or two about Jesus and so he replied;
“Yes he did. I’ll show you in my Bible where.”
But once again the young man interrupted him;
“You didn’t hear me Doctor Campolo. I said Jesus never met a prostitute.”
Once more Campolo went for his Bible searching for the very story we have heard this evening only for the young man to speak out again, this time with anger in his voice;
“You are not listening to me. You aren’t listening to what I am saying. I am saying that Jesus never met a prostitute. Do you think that when he looked at the woman at his feet that he saw a prostitute? No, Doctor, he saw a woman in need of forgiveness. Jesus never met a prostitute.”
And may I say that if we take nothing else from this particular scripture, we can take the message that Jesus sees each of us as people and not as members of a stereotypical group. And in that, there is a mighty challenge to us. I think that Jesus would tell us;
-Don’t dismissively see followers of Islam, Judaism or other religions. See people created in God‘s image!
-Don’t dismissively see people in terms of their racial grouping. See people created in God’s image!
When it comes to distinctions based on past conduct, sexual morality or sexuality, don’t divide people into those “like us” and a less regarded "them" but see people created in God’s image!
For here, we have seen that Jesus saw not a prostitute but a woman sharing with the rest of humankind in needing the love, acceptance and forgiveness of God. For Jesus sees in all of us not just the all too often tawdry present but multi coloured possibilities of what we might become.
Back to Luke’s story and we find that Jesus is now contrasting this woman at the bottom of the pile with Simon, the Pharisee. And Simon isn’t coming out of the comparison too well. For he has failed in that sacred Jewish responsibility of hospitality. Sure, he deserves credit for inviting Jesus but he does not have a clue when it comes to properly welcoming Jesus. Indeed, Jesus suggests that this woman in kissing him and washing his feet, has been much more of a host to Jesus than Simon himself. The women castigated as a “sinner” has outdone the Pharisee in welcoming Jesus.
And that continues to happen. Too often in the church we have erected walls and excluded those who are other than us from the narrative of the ongoing story of Jesus. And yet, we find the things that point to Jesus in the places and through the people that we least expect to find them. So this story acts as a challenge to each of us to be a people of radical inclusion.
But what is it that makes this woman show so much love to Jesus in contrast to the greater formalism of Simon. Well, let’s look to the short parable that Jesus told to Simon, a parable in which one man is forgiven a much greater debt than the other man. With the approval of Jesus, Simon responds that the one who is forgiven the greater amount is likely to love the money-lender the most.
What is this telling us today? I believe that it tells us that when we realise the immensity of grace through which God forgives us and offers us love and acceptance, then we begin to truly love God. Simon’s problem was that he didn’t realise the extent of his need for forgiveness whereas the woman who wept at the feet of Jesus, knew very well of her need. As we come to God, we find that we are already forgiven for forgiveness comes from the very nature of God and not from any arm twisting on our part. Like this woman who discovers that she has been forgiven and finds that forgiveness creating love within her towards God and presumably towards others, so to as we meet the reality of God’s grace, then a well of love springs up within us towards God and towards others. And so, as we realise our need and find God meeting that need, we find also that God transforms us deep within. For this is the God of transformation.
And now, I invite you to look once more at the picture you have been given of Rubens’ painting, “Christ in the House of Simon.” Look once more at the woman as she kisses the feet of Jesus. Feel its uncomfortable level of intimacy. And then look at the faces around the table. There you see hostility with some turning away their faces in disgust. Think of the question of Jesus, put to Simon;
“Do you see this woman?”
As you look at the picture, it is hard to escape the conclusion that the last thing they want to really look at is this woman.
“Do you see this woman?”
It’s also a question for us and if we are to carry on the loving purposes of Jesus, the answer needs to be an emphatic Yes! Anything less makes us guilty of living out a hateful religion. It can also mean that like Simon, we are harsh because we fail to appreciate the wonder of Divine forgiveness. We have failed to appreciate grace and so the deep wells of love have not sprung up in our hearts.
But the ultimate question has to be a slightly different one;
“Do you see this man?”
This evening, I urge you to see this man for this man is the one who offers unlimited reserves of forgiveness, love and acceptance to each of us. This man wants to travel with each of us, rejoicing in our successes and picking us up when we fall crashing down. This man is “Immanuel, God with us.” And he is the one who can turn our midnights to dawns and help us to leave the deep and barren valleys that we might glimpse the wonder of mountain tops.
“Do you see this man?”
May our answer be an emphatic Yes!
This sermon is being preached at Torrington Methodist Church on Sunday June 17th 2007
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