Appalling Behavior

1 Kings 21:1-10, 15-21
Psalm 5:1-8
Galatians 2:15-21
Luke 7:36-8:3

May the words of my mouth and the mediations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen

Those of you who watch too much television, like I have been known to do, may know a show called “Girls Behaving Badly.” The show’s official website describes it as “Sex in the City” meets “Candid Camera.”[1] For those of you who are too young for “Candid Camera,” think Ashton Kutcher’s MTV show “Punk’d” and you’ll know what I’m talking about. For those of you who don’t know “Sex in the City,” catch the reruns, I can’t help.

What’s different about “Girls Behaving Badly” is that it features four women behind the practical jokes. One example is a skit called “Definitely Mail Order Bride” where cast member Melissa Howard would be delivered by package express in a box just barely big enough to hold a nineteen inch television. When the delivery person dropped her off at her final destination, she would pop out of the box—in full wedding gown and veil.[2] That’s one response to the UPS slogan “What can Brown do for you?”

Pardon my sexist observation, but the pranks they play on people are not very lady-like, and that’s what sets this show apart. Not only are their hoaxes audacious, but they are being pulled off by women you would never think would do and say such obnoxious things. Pulling stunts like that just isn’t the kind of thing “young ladies do.”

Luke’s story of the anointing of Jesus starts with a woman who doesn’t behave like much of a lady either.

Our reading begins when Simon the Pharisee invites Jesus to his home for dinner. Dinners of this sort were held in semi-public areas of the home, so it was more like a banquet held at a street fair than in someone’s dining room. This public access allowed people who were not invited to come and go and scope out the host and the guests. Between who was invited, who wasn’t invited, and the seating arrangements; folks would be able to see who’s who and what’s what without buying this week’s edition of People magazine.

But this woman did not fit in with Simon’s dinner plans. She was a woman of the city, a sinner to boot. Luke does not give us any indication of what her “sin” is, but the one thing we can tell is that the wages of sin must have paid pretty well. She was able to afford an alabaster jar of costly ointment. These items would not have been cheap, so whatever her sin was, mismanaging money was not one of them.

While anyone would be able to drop in on the dinner party, she was not welcome. It is obvious by Simon’s reaction to her that she was a gate crasher, a woman flying solo who was not welcome at the party. And by the way, flying solo, not being accompanied by either a husband or male relative was definitely a cultural no-no.

As the old saying goes, “In for a penny, in for a pound.” As long as her behavior was causing such a scandal, she went all the way. She wept so much that she was able to wash Jesus’ feet with her tears. Did she wail, did she sob; we aren’t told but I can’t imagine she was silent. Having no towel she washed his feet with her hair, then she anointed them with the costly perfume. The laundry list of cultural taboos she was breaking now included touching a man she is not related to and letting her hair down in public. Simon had enough of her appalling behavior. This was his party, and this sinner was not about to upstage the host.

So 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.” If this Jesus was worth half of what everyone said about him, he would not allow himself to be defiled like this by this woman. This doesn’t get past Jesus though.

So Jesus tells Simon and the guests the one about the moneylender and the debtors. Stop me if you’ve heard this one. That’s right; we read it just a few minutes ago. Well, we’ll come back to this story shortly.

So after the story, Jesus returns us to Simon’s internal narrative about the woman and against Jesus. Yes, I said that in the right order. Simon is no fan of the little gate crasher, but his thoughts accuse Jesus. Simon asks himself “What kind of prophet can this man be? I have heard such wondrous things about the great Jesus of Nazareth, but he allows himself to be handled by a sinful woman. What a fool, what appalling behavior.”

But in Jesus’ style, he turns the table on his host. As important as table manners and banquet etiquette were in ancient Israel, hospitality codes that were older than Abraham were infinitely more important. When a guest is invited into the home, it is traditional to offer water to wash the feet. In a time and place where people wore sandals and horses and livestock shared the roads, washing the feet became a ritual. It was also proper to offer oil. In a time when Ivory soap was still 1850 years on the horizon[3] oil was used like soap. And the welcoming kiss was as ordinary as a handshake to us today. Simon could not be bothered to offer Jesus any of these things.

So what was Simon doing? He may have been gossiping with the other guests, bragging about the coup of getting Jesus to come over for dinner. He may have been too busy showing off for the other guests to care for the guest who should have received the most honor. And here’s a question left unanswered by the text—was Jesus the guest of honor? Was Jesus afforded the place of an honored guest or was he treated like a ragamuffin prophet from Nazareth, and after all, nothing good has ever come out of Nazareth. Frankly for a host, between what we know and what we might guess, Simon’s behavior is appalling.

But for all of this appalling behavior, let’s not let Jesus off the hook. The one who is fully human and fully divine was acting very human during this meal. First, if Jesus read Simon’s mind, it was a very, very rude thing to do. But in my opinion, whether Jesus could read Simon’s mind is unimportant. I am sure Simon’s facial expression gave away his contempt for what was happening between Jesus and the woman.

Then the story of the moneylender and the debtors is in very poor taste, especially in the house of a religious leader. You see, money lending and charging interest violates Levitical law.[4] The characters in the story alone are scandalous. The amounts in the story are extreme as well. The denarius was worth one day’s pay, so one of the debtors owed nearly two months wages and the other nearly twenty months. It would be impossible for a common worker to pay off either of these debts. Telling this story is appalling behavior.

Jesus’ next appalling act was to give Simon enough rope to hang himself. “Which debtor loved the moneylender more?” As if anyone really loves a money lender. Simon answers, “I suppose it’s the one with the larger debt.” Kind of obvious, but Jesus isn’t trying to pull the wool over anybody’s eyes. The wool is firmly in place; Jesus is hoping to take it away. Simon has judged wisely, but that doesn’t mean Jesus isn’t about to take his answer and show everyone how appalling his hospitality has been. It’s poor manners to show up a host at his dinner party and that’s what Jesus does. Jesus tells Simon and everyone else what a lousy host he is—and how the sinful woman picked up the slack. Simon deserves it, but that doesn’t make Jesus’ behavior less deplorable.

But here’s the biggy, here’s the most appalling behavior in this piece of scripture. Jesus takes Simon’s words and tells all who will listen, “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. Then he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’” This is the most appalling thing Jesus does at this banquet. He tells her that her sins are forgiven. But it’s not just Jesus saying her sins are forgiven, his most appalling behavior is using the word “hence.”

Consider the order of events. The way we see it, the sinful woman performs a great act of penance and generosity and then Jesus says “you are forgiven.” But that’s not what Jesus says. Look at verse 47 again: “Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven.” She has sinned and her sins have been forgiven. Her actions at the banquet have nothing to do with gaining forgiveness. Jesus continues: “Hence she has shown great love.” She anoints and kisses his feet not to receive some great reward but because she has received the greatest gift of all, forgiveness of sins.

How’s that for appalling behavior. We spend most of our lives trying to be good enough for God. We work, and work, and work; but even before we can consider what we might try to do to please God and win the prize, it is all ready offered to us. How’s that for appalling? We do and we go and we work for a prize that has all ready been freely given. It pierces our ego like a balloon; we do stuff to earn God’s grace which we have all ready been given through Jesus Christ. So then if we can’t earn the love of God, should we work so hard?

Jesus’ answer follows, “But the one to whom little is forgiven loves little.” Our love and the actions that follow from our love are the product of God’s love, not their cause. She has shown great love through performing Simon’s hosting duties at the expense of her own safety and reputation. She has lived a sin-soaked sin-sickened life, but she had faith that the source of her salvation was found in Jesus. And to use an old expression, she showed an attitude of gratitude to the Lord.

Sure, everybody is guilty of some appalling behavior in this passage. Simon’s appalling behavior is in the guise of a holy man who could not see the sin of his own poor hospitality. Jesus’ appalling behavior is in the way of a prophet and a teacher showing little tact. As for the sinful woman, her appalling behavior was in gratitude for the grace and peace received in the forgiveness given by the Lord her God.

So here’s the most appalling behavior of all, the Lord God who created the earth and all that dwells in it, after it was defiled by humanity, returned to earth to reclaim it and all who dwell in it. Through the incarnation of God in the body and person of Jesus of Nazareth, God reconciles humanity and all of creation to the fullness of new life in the Good News. Beginning with the first Adam and ending with the second—Jesus the Christ—the history of humanity plays out in a constant ebb and flow of sin and redemption.

Hence we are called to accept and respond to the love and redemption freely given. We know Jesus’ saying, “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.”[5] We also need to know this saying: “To whom much is forgiven, much love is required.” By love, we return to God the love we show to others and we demonstrate our own forgiveness.[6]

Then Jesus said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’” Rest in the assurance that through the love of God in Jesus Christ our sins are forgiven. And respond to the wondrous love of the Lord our God with appalling gratitude.

[1] Girls Behaving Badly, http://www.girlsbehavingbadlytv.com/, accessed June 14, 2007.
[2] Ibid. Girls Behaving badly, Cast Bios, Melissa Howard, accessed June 15, 2007.
[3] Ivory soap was first sold in 1879, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivory_soap, accessed June 15, 2007
[4] Leviticus 25:37
[5] Luke 12:48b
[6] Nearly a direct quote from “Much Love,” Published June 14, 1998, found at http://homileticsonline.com/subscriber/printer_friendly_installment.asp?installment_id=2709, accessed June 10, 2007.