Un/Worthy

This sermon was heard at the Federated Church in Weatherford, Oklahoma on Sunday June 12, 2016, the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

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

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

Here’s a name baseball fans will remember, Al Hrabosky. “The Mad Hungarian” came up through the St. Louis Cardinal Minor League system to become one of the most influential relief pitchers of the Seventy’s. Was it his wicked delivery? His unrivaled intensity? His Fu Manchu mustache?

If you selected “All of the above” you got the Hrabosky effect.

In 1978 he left the Cards to sign a contract with the cross state rival Kansas City Royals. Two years later Hrabosky became a free agent and signed with the Atlanta Braves. When asked why the Royals did not choose to match the Braves’ offer, General Manager Joe Burke said he wasn’t worth it. Hrabosky countered, “The Braves are willing to pay me, so I must be worth it.”

This is today’s lesson in free market economics, something is worth as much as someone else is willing to pay for it. We’ll get back to this.

In our gospel reading, it’s getting along to be mealtime. It seems Luke’s gospel has Jesus going from one meal to the next, my kind of gospel. Jesus is invited to the home of Simon the Pharisee for a meal. Others are invited too.

Just a couple of things you may not be aware of that will be helpful. This isn’t a closed off banquet hall with high style chairs. This table is not very high at all and those who will eat lay on mats on their left elbows and eat with their right hands. Their legs will be splayed back and away from the table. Also, strangely to us, it is not uncommon for people to just drop in on the festivities seemingly for no good reason at all.

So Jesus goes with Simon to the festivities. Everyone was reclined at the table and the servants brought the food. Among the passersby is a local woman who has led a sinful life. As you see, anybody can just drop by a fancy dinner, even this sinful life leading woman! She breaks open an alabaster jar of perfume and anoints the feet of the Lord Jesus.

Can you imagine how good that felt after a long day on the road? The oils and the balm being rubbed lovingly into your feet. She’s weeping. She’s washing your feet with her long, long hair. Do you think he might have closed his eyes enjoying this tender care?

Well, she’s in his house, on his grounds, and Simon can’t keep quiet. He mumbles “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

This is Simon the Pharisee’s “Al Hrabosky” moment of human economics; and as far as he’s concerned she’s not worth all that and a bag of chips. Jesus on the other hand teaches that heavenly economics are not human economics.

Jesus engages Simon in a riddle, actually a common form of entertainment at get-togethers like this in the day before college football and TiVo. He offered the story of a moneylender who forgave two debts, one of fifty denarii and another of 500 denarii.

First though, a quick lesson in ancient finance. A denarius was a day’s living wage for the common worker. It was fair, it wasn’t extravagant, it was a living wage. So 50 denarii would amount to a healthy credit card bill and 500 would pay for a nice sedan.

Neither bill so high it can’t be incurred or repaid over time, but when bankruptcy comes, broke is broke.

Jesus asks, “The moneylender forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Isn’t it obvious? It is to Simon, the one with the larger debt.

Jesus tells him he made the right choice. Technically it’s not much of a riddle, but then again, I find the rest of the conversation has a bigger riddle.

Back in the day, hospitality rules said that when you invite someone over you provide water for them to wash their feet. When you wear sandals and share roads with beasts of burden, you’d want to wash your feet too. On a side note which will become a matter of no small importance, you wash your own feet. A slave can’t be compelled to wash someone else’s feet.

Well, Simon didn’t provide so much as a basin of water. Simon did not meet his guest with a kiss either. Nor did Simon give oil for washing. This sinful woman provided perfume, her kisses, her tears, and her hair for our Lord’s feet. She could not be compelled to wash his feet, yet she did she served him on her own accord out of love. Yes, she may have been a sinful woman, and we don’t know what her sins are, but by my count the score is Sinful Woman 5, Simon 0.

Jesus continues, “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” To her alone he says, “Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

This woman seemed to know what Paul tells the Galatians over and over. They are not saved by the Law, but by grace. Yes, she is a sinner, a sinner serving God. By accepting Jesus the Christ, by loving and serving Christ, she has found her way to forgiveness. She has found shalom. She has found peace.

Paul says what Christ shows, we who know God, we who know the Christ will find ourselves “among the sinners.” I find this ironic, I have always found that when we find ourselves around those who know God we find ourselves among those who sin too. People like Simon.

While we are on this earth, we sin. People sin. Some days we sin like we owe fifty day’s pay. Others like 500 day’s pay. Others we owe a government sized bailout. Who needs more love? Of course it’s the one who owes more.

But let’s ask this question, who’s more worthy?

The question of worth is always based on some scale. Some external scale that somebody sets up and interprets. Did you meet the scale? Did you exceed expectations? Did you earn this bonus? Are you worthy of this reward?

The Jews measure this through the law. The 613 Commandments, the 613 Mitzvoth. The 248 positive commandments and the 365 negative commandments; if you were going to be judged by a code, that was quite a code. There were people who would judge. There were courts and there were scribes and Pharisees. Paul knew all of this. Paul was raised in this and he was esteemed in all of this.

Then Paul received the revelation of the better way. “So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.”

By his interpretation of the law, Simon judged the woman a sinner. She was way down on his totem pole. He, a Pharisee, was having Jesus, the “next big thing,” the “Flavor of the Month,” over for dinner. Simon’s star was ascending. He was seeing and being seen by all the right people. He had kept the law since a young child. Simon was living right. He thought he was on top of the world and in all the right ways, he was.

But with Jesus at the table, everything had changed. Paul says it this way to the Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Jesus didn’t give himself for those with the best marks in the law. God in Christ knew the people who needed him most were those in the most difficulty, those who owed 500 denarii.

Those who owed fifty couldn’t save themselves though. It’s just that those who are in worse shape will love the redeemer more.

That’s the issue here. We have laws. We have lots of laws. They can be called benchmarks or standards or goals or outcome projections. They will end up as judgements. We face them every day and we will be judged worthy or unworthy.

In God’s law, we have all fallen short of the mark. We all sin. We are unworthy of the salvation freely offered through the life, work, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. Yet, in God’s economics, as the children of God, though we are unworthy, we are saved. God loves us so much, that even if we think we have done enough, we haven’t, we can’t, and his grace is sufficient.

This takes me back to Simon and the sinful woman. Simon the Pharisee serves the Church and the Law, but he forgets the simplest principles of hospitality, water, oil, and greeting. The sinful woman brings these and the tears of shame knowing she’s not worthy, or is it tears of joy knowing that while she is not worthy, she is yet at the feet of her Lord.

Scripture doesn’t say. But this question makes me wonder this riddle, in our reading is Simon the fifty denarii sinner or is he the 500 denarii sinner? It also makes me wonder which I am. But in truth, all the answer to that riddle will show us is how grateful we should be when the moneylender forgives our debt.

In the end our response to this question must be to be like response of the sinful woman. Seek the feet of Christ and serve him where he is, for there is forgiveness. Not because we are worthy, because we are never going to be. Our human condition will forever keep us from that.

But here’s the Good News of Jesus Christ, like the sinful woman we seek and serve the Lord not because we are worthy, but because he is.

Changes

This sermon was heard at the Federated Church in Weatherford, Oklahoma on Sunday June 5, 2016, the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

With thanks and praise to God and grateful thanks to the people of The Federated Church, this is my first Sunday as Pastor of The Federated Church.

1Kings 17:8-16
Psalm 146
Galatians 1:11-24
Luke 7:11-17

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

I want you, for a moment, to consider the plight of the family in our reading from 1Kings. At the beginning of this chapter, Elijah declared a drought upon the land because Ahab, the son of Omri the King of Israel had built a temple to worship Baal. At the same time Hiel of Bethel sacrificed two sons, his oldest and his youngest, to rebuild Jericho.

Joshua’s son Nun warned this would happen. These chickens have come home to roost at Bethel. It’s ironic that Bethel is the Hebrew word for “House of God.” This would be the First Commandment, “The Lord is our God” God, not the god Baal. So yeah, ironic. Hence, the prophet has declared a drought.

This also reminds me of wealth distribution like it is today, the powerful cats play, the weak mice pay. While everybody was hurt by the drought, those who were better off weren’t hurt so badly nor so quickly. For the rich things hurt, but not immediately. For those on the fringes of society, the widowed, the single parents, pain already knew their address.

As we read, sometime later the brook died up at Zarephath. Everything dried up at Zarephath. Even hope dried up at Zarephath. In a time when without a man you were nothing, she became less than nothing. She had a son to feed, we’ll never know his age, but he wasn’t old enough to earn his keep. Imagine how she scrimped and saved to get meal and oil for bread.

So here comes Elijah. The Lord commands him to see the widow who has likewise been commanded to supply him with food. So he arrives asking for some water and a piece of bread.

How does the widow prepare for the prophet’s arrival? She’s fetching sticks. Her words, not mine, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”

Prepare a meal for myself and my son so that we may eat it and die. Desperation, dislocation, separation, condemnation, isolation, desolation—poverty caused by a drought caused by men who would not follow the Lord the God of Israel. The powerful curse the prophet, all the while the poor prepare to die.

Take just a moment in her shoes my friends. You know her decision was not made lightly. It’s not that she hit a quick bump in the road and said, “Well,
it’s time to shut off the lights.”

She had a family. She has a son who is dying of malnutrition. All they have left is nothing but one more meal and sticks to heat it up. She has nobody, nobody to fight for her in this life. No husband, she literally has no breadwinner. There is nobody else she can rely upon since there is no other family. If there was a widow’s share from life insurance or the union or social security or food stamps, it’s long gone because the economy has gone to… yeah, you know, the drought.

On death row you can get steak and lobster, she doesn’t even have any more oil to put on the bread.

How distressed is she? How depressed is she? How hopeless does she feel? Verse nine says the Lord tells Elijah the woman has been told to give the prophet food. God has spoken to her and still as far as she’s concerned there’s nothing to do but to have a last supper, curl up and die.

She acknowledges the Lord God lives and she still can only see death for her and hers. Desperation, dislocation, separation, condemnation, isolation, desolation.

Elijah cries out, fear not! (Are lovelier spoken in scripture?) Do this for me and the Lord God promises you have meal and oil until rain comes again upon the land.

Now take a walk in Paul’s shoes. The shoes that have lived the life he now shares with the Galatians. How he has changed, and how he hasn’t, is the heart of this part of this letter. Paul who persecuted the church. Paul who was Pharisee Employee of the Month at the Stoning of Stephen is now Christ’s Apostle to the Gentiles. Changes don’t get much bigger. This one is so big he isn’t completely trusted.

Paul makes it clear that he is not the disciple of any man. When he received his revelation it came from Jesus himself. He then spent three years on the road before going to Jerusalem. When there, did he go to “All Disciples Temple” to get his teaching approved? No. He did go see Peter (Cephas in our reading), James, and John, and he didn’t seek their approval.

Now it’s time to put on our gospel shoes and walk with the widow of Nain from Luke’s gospel. This reading takes the setting from a step further. Her stresses are raised exponentially when her son dies. This woman now has no family. There is nobody to take her in. Her life is lifeless on a bier carried by bearers.

As hopeless as the widow in Kings was, this woman’s plight was much worse. Imagine the crying. Imagine the wailing. Imagine the horror. Imagine the people thanking God it wasn’t them.

They weren’t thanking God it was her, but they were grateful it wasn’t them.

Burying a spouse and an only child, nobody is prepared to face that change.

These folks have faced changes that are absolutely brutal. Paul’s life was set. He was a learned man from a good family. He could have been head of the Sanhedrin. Instead his life, socially, politically, and economically were ruined. He went from being greatly esteemed by one group and greatly feared by another to being loathed by everyone. Now he is hated by his fellow Jews and not easily trusted by the followers of Jesus.

The women, the widows have faced changes that have taken their lives away. With no other family they have nowhere to go. With no means of support they have no way to put a roof overhead or put food on the table. The widow of Nain also lost any hope of gaining a place in her son’s home in the future. One woman was preparing for death and the other was as good as dead already.

But they had one thing in common, one thing. They had an encounter with the Living God. An encounter that changed their lives. Paul went from trying to destroy the Church to being the its greatest evangelist. It is rightly said if not for Paul the Good News would have died as a limited reform movement in Judaism. If you are looking for proof, the Christian movement came out of Rome and Constantinople, not Israel.

As for the women, they received something more important. Their very lives were redeemed. Through the work of God delivered by the words of Elijah a family was saved. As for the widow of Nain, not only was her son raised from the dead, but in a very real way, she too was raised from the dead.

By the work of God through Elijah, Paul, and Jesus; in the power of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; changes were made in the lives of these people lives were saved.

Yes, oh yes, there was terror. There was no promise that the terror would not return. The story of the woman in 1Kings parallels the story of the woman in Luke’s gospel. This even after she meets Elijah and is blessed by the Lord God. The fate of Paul is well known, ultimately ending in exile from the Holy Land. Terror, oh yes, but there is salvation in God.

These are interesting texts to use for my first sermons with you as your pastor. They come from the Revised Common Lectionary, a group of readings which ensure that I don’t focus on one book of the Bible or one topic for years on end. So in that way, these readings picked us.

They became special to me because they describe tragedy and turmoil that lead to wonderful changes. These are people who know God is in control and still have to face demons.

I’m sure the widow in 1Kings would have loved Elijah to have arrived well before she was at the brink of passive suicide. The woman in Luke never knew she would meet her redeemer on this side of the tomb. There’s a surprise I can only begin to imagine.

As for Paul, he knew his Lord. He didn’t know he was persecuting his Lord’s people. Now he’s sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ until the people came to know him as a great prophet of the Risen Lord.

As for me, I have faced my share of demons. I have faced horror and turmoil I had rather not. At least if I had to make them I wish there was another way to make them. I seemed to have taken the hard road for a good long time.

I know too there is relief that there is a pastor here in the pulpit, in the office, and in town. That was a long and difficult road to hoe and as the old saying goes, no job is done until the paperwork is finished and that’s not all done either.

Still, here’s the good news.

We have faced these changes.

By the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we have survived and thrived in these changes; even when the world was intent on making the road seem like an Everest summit.

In relying on Jesus, and by the power of the Holy Spirit we are stronger. Our faith is stronger because it is based on the Christ revealed to us through scripture, prayer, and work.

Together these are the things that will take us into the future Jesus intends us to live together.

In Christ, there is hope. That is what we know from our readings and from our experience, there is hope and it is only in Christ.

No, it won’t always be easy. But what it can be is joyful. Glorious. Peaceful. Fun. We don’t have to give into the drama Paul saw in the ways of men.

Rather let us together seek the way of God. Yes, we will do that for one another, and we will do that for our community too.

Above all, the first reason we will do what we do as the Body of Christ is for the Glory of God and the Kingdom of God.

By our hope in God the love of God, in Christ, with Christ, through Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Unworthy

This sermon was heard at St. Andrew Church in Longview, Texas on Sunday June 16, 2013, the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

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.

Rules, I have been thinking a lot about rules lately. Two weeks ago in Sunday School I said that according to Genesis (by my reckoning at least), humanity began with one simple rule: “Don’t eat that.” Sure, there were chores; we were to tend the garden. We had responsibilities too; we were called to worship and be in community with God. But really, there was only one rule, “Don’t eat that.” So, how’d that work out for us?

Gradually, the number of rules increased. From one, we went to the Ten Commandments. Eventually those weren’t enough for an increasingly complex society. In the 3^rd Century Rabbi Simlai, compiled a list of Mosaic Laws from the Torah. According to Rabbi Simlai there are 613 commandments or mitzvot, the Taryag Mitzvot. 

The Taryag Mitzvot are separated into two categories, there are 248 mitzvot aseh, or positive commands, the things we are called to do. There are also 365 mitzvot lo taaseh, or negative commands, the things we are called never to do. As it happens, these numbers have cultural significance. According to Jewish tradition 248 corresponds to the number of bones and significant organs in the human body and 365 corresponds to the number of days in the year.[i] 

Some of these rules make perfect sense to us today, things like, “Know there is a God,” “Know God is One,” and “Entertain thoughts of no other god except for the One True God.” We’re familiar with these rules. These are lessons Jesus teaches in the gospels. Then again, there are others we do not follow. For example, the Taryag Mitzvot includes the prohibition against eating non-kosher fish. Sorry, but I enjoy catfish and shrimp.  Neither is kosher, but both are tasty. In fact, if someone brings either of these wrapped with bacon for your next potluck, I will make it my purpose in life to make sure you don’t have to worry about leftovers. Let’s face it, bacon isn’t kosher either, but my mouth is watering anyway.

Closer to home, the constitution of the United States of America is just over 4,600 words long. That is about the same number of words that we will hear in this worship service including everything except the announcements and the music. It may seem long, but as the foundation of a nation over 225 years old it’s relatively brief. In comparison, the current tax code, just one element of what is made allowable by the constitution, is between 55,000 and 60,000 pages long depending on who you ask. I saw those numbers and thought, “Really, there’s 5,000 pages of wiggle room?” There are more pages of wiggle room than there are words in the document that authorizes the code’s very existence.

Truly how can anybody really say they know the entire tax code when there is so much of it? The commentary and the compendium of case law increases the size of tax code beyond my imagination. This truth leads us to another: If you looked deeply enough into the tax code and into anybody’s taxes then you would be able to find a violation. There are just so many small and arcane laws that the slightest thing could slip you up. I don’t say this to scare you; I say this to prove a point. With enough law there is something to convict everyone.

How many laws does it take to reach this critical mass? I don’t know, but according to the Apostle Paul it’s below 613.

Paul told the Galatians “We who are Jews by birth know that a person is not justified by the works of the law.” Other translations say “a person is not justified through the faithfulness of the law.” Paul knows and tells all with ears to hear that there is no way the law can justify us. Hiding in those 613 Taryag Mitzvot, and of course the commentaries and the compendium of case law, hiding in there is something to trip us all. There is always something in the law to convict us all. Literally, if you try to be justified, found worthy in the eyes of God through the law, you will fail.

If you try to be worthy in the eyes of God through the law, you will fail. In the law we are all unworthy.

Seeking legal justification is a loser’s game. That’s why we need something different, something better. Something that does what the law can’t. So, as we transition to our reading from Luke let me ask you, who placed their faith in the Law of Moses and their ability to fulfill that law? That’s right, the Pharisees!

You can’t blame the Pharisees of any time and place for trying to justify themselves in the law. Few knew the law better. They knew what it took to be justified in the law and it worked well enough for them. They had the best seats in the synagogue. They were served first at banquets. Life was good and you can’t blame them if they are satisfied with the life society offers them.

So Simon the Pharisee knew there was a new rabbi in town and knew he was responsible for some pretty heady stuff. Having him over for dinner was an absolute coup!

In our reading Jesus came to Simon’s 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 People magazine. 

But this one particular 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 were not cheap, so whatever her sin was, it wasn’t mismanaging money. 

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. Since she was not being accompanied by either a husband or male relative, that added another cultural no-no.

As the old saying goes, “In for a penny, in for a pound.” As long as her behavior was so scandalous, she went all the way. She wept so much that she was able to wash Jesus’ feet with her tears. 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.

Simon first 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 personal aside doesn’t get past Jesus though.

So Jesus tells Simon and the guests the one about the moneylender and the debtors.  He begins, “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?”

Something everyone then would have known that we may not is that the normal living daily wage in that time was one denarius. If we lived in that time we also would have known that both of these debts would have been nearly impossible for a common worker to repay. The lesser debt would take two months of wages to repay and the greater about twenty.

Simon answers Jesus rightly: “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt will love him more.” It’s not that both won’t love the lender for forgiving their unrepayable debts, but the one with the greater debt will love more.

Jesus takes Simon’s words and declares, “Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven.” Then he says to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”

Jesus tells her that her sins are forgiven, but not because of what she’s done. The way we often see it, sinful people perform a great act of penance and generosity and then Jesus says “you are forgiven.” But that’s not what Jesus says. The key is found in the word hence.

Look at verse 47 again: “Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven.” Jesus says her sins are forgiven without any accounting of her actions at the banquet. She has sinned and her sins have been forgiven. Her actions at the banquet have nothing to do with gaining forgiveness. It is then that Jesus says, “Hence she has shown great love.”

Know this; Jesus demonstrates that her forgiveness does not lie in holy acts, but her virtue does. It is not virtue that leads to forgiveness, not at all. She anoints and kisses his feet not to receive forgiveness of sins but because she has received this glorious gracious gift. Jesus shares this truth with everyone at the banquet.

After the story, Jesus returns us to Simon’s internal narrative about the woman and against Jesus. Yes, I said that correctly, about the woman—against Jesus. 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.”

In true Jesus’ style, he turns the table on his host.  As important as table manners and banquet etiquette were in ancient Israel, hospitality codes older than Abraham were infinitely more important. Providing hospitality to his guests was Simon’s first responsibility.

Jesus reminds Simon 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 shared the roads horses and livestock, washing the feet became a ritual. It was also proper to offer oil. In a time when Ivory soap was still more than1850 years on the horizon[ii] oil was used like soap. And the welcoming kiss was as ordinary as a handshake is to us today. Simon was not bothered to offer Jesus any of these things.

For a guy who knew how to live according to the Law, Simon the Pharisee wasn’t doing a very good job. He was fundamentally lacking in his responsibilities as a host and that was not right in the eyes of the law.

Jesus accuses Simon. Yes her sins are many, and his sins are also so vast than he could never hope to repay them by his own works. Just like the monetary debts, his sins are too abundant to repay. Just like the monetary debt, our sins are too abundant to repay too.

What Paul taught is so very important for us to remember: We are saved by grace through faith, not by any work that we could ever do. We are called to know that even if we are “good” by whatever measure, our sin is a debt too great to ever repay on our own. The Law will never justify, it will only convict. Yet through Jesus Christ we are forgiven. The law convicts, grace through faith in Christ redeems.

There are times in our lives when someone will say each of us is unworthy. One way or another we are found lacking, just not good enough. In the eyes of the law and in the eyes of those who use their own little metrics to measure us, we are deemed unworthy.

But let us remember, nothing the sinful woman could do earned her forgiveness. She is made worthy by Jesus alone. By Christ’s own nature she was made worthy. In forgiveness, in God’s grace accepted through faith, she responded by doing what the hoity-toity Pharisee would not. She responded to the forgiveness she received. She responded by serving the Lord God, Jesus the Christ. The Pharisee didn’t respond at all.

Let’s face it, Simon the Pharisee probably thought the sinful woman in the story was the “debtor of 200 denarii”. In the final analysis, he might well have been wrong about that too. The good news is that in Christ, by grace alone, that doesn’t matter anymore.

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[i] 613 Mitzvot, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/613_Mitzvot, accessed July 2, 2007.

[ii] Ivory soap was first sold in 1879, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivory_soap, accessed June 15, 2007

Receiving Good Gifts

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Henderson, Texas on Sunday June 9, 2013, the 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time.



1 Kings 17:8-24

Public Virtue

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday June 13, 2010, the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

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

A couple of weeks ago I said something that raised a couple of eyebrows. In the sermon called “What is Truth” I said that truth “like any virtue is public, not private.”[1], [2] So the question becomes, can virtue be private? Must virtue be public? I am here to say virtue must be public or it is no virtue at all.

Now this is a departure for me, I love to set up an insightful conclusion after careful development of a theme, analysis of the scriptural text, enlightening observation, and illuminating illustrations. I love to explore the text not only in English, but in either Hebrew or Greek depending on the text of the day. Not today though, here’s today’s conclusion: There is no such thing as private virtue, virtue must be public or there is no virtue at all.

An example of what I mean can be found in the movie “High Plains Drifter.” In a flashback scene that drives the movie, Clint Eastwood’s character, The Stranger has a dream. It begins with a bloody man lying in the street. The man is being whipped by three men. It is dark, but the silhouettes of those watching are clearly the townspeople. The bloody man begs the townspeople for help, but receives none. Only one woman, Sarah Belding, tries to help, and she is held back by her husband. The bloody man is Marshall Jim Duncan.[3], [4]

So who is virtuous, the townspeople who watch their Marshall being whipped to death? They should know murder is wrong; still they might be shocked into silence by what they are seeing. They might be afraid, in fear for their lives; they could be thinking that if they interfere they could be next. Finally, some of them are bound to know [SPOILER ALERT] the murderers are actually in cahoots with the local town leaders who are trying to stop the Marshall from reporting the local mine’s illegal operation to the authorities. Or is the only one who has virtue Sarah Belding who tries to stop it?

The only person with virtue is the one who acts, putting her life and marriage at risk trying to help the Marshall. Some probably are shocked by this public display of brutal murder, knowing murder is a sin. Some of the others are afraid of losing what they have. Some of the others just won’t be bothered. Some of the others are corrupt. Little virtue is found here. Virtue is only found in public action, action only Sarah takes.

Simeon shows his virtue when he proclaims to the amazement of Mary and Joseph that the Lord’s promise has been fulfilled, he has seen the Lord’s Messiah.[5] Anna shows her virtue when she praises God sharing Jesus with all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.[6] Those who praised Jesus’ preaching and teaching showed their virtue.[7] The devil learned about the virtue of Jesus first hand when the Messiah declared his allegiance and faith to God instead of to the temptations of this world.[8] Even in their fear, the demons worshiped Jesus declaring “You are the Son of God.”[9] The demons weren’t virtuous, but they knew who was.

Of course, the disciples who followed Jesus showed their virtue in their very public allegiance to the Lord’s Messiah.[10]

Today’s reading gives us more. Today’s reading gives us one who sins acting virtuously and one who is presumably virtuous acting sinfully.

Let’s begin with the host, he’s a Pharisee and we know what that means. He’s powerful. The Pharisees were the most prominent and influential group in ancient Palestinian Jewish life and the most precise interpreters of the law. They were scrupulous in their observance of the law, in particular concerning Sabbath observance, tithing, and purity laws.[11] He’s pretty well to do. We can come to this conclusion based on this passage. The descriptions of the Pharisee’s house and table show that he has the assets to live pretty well.

For the sake of clarity, I want to take a quick peek into a rabbit hole. Being powerful and well to do are not sins, they are not evil, they do not make this Pharisee virtuous or unvirtuous. It’s what is done with riches and power that points toward virtue or away from it. Yes, yes, I know about the camel and the eye of the needle, but that passage teaches it’s “more difficult,” not “impossible” for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.[12] We see examples of both sides of this needle everyday. But I digress…

On the other hand, scripture leaves us with no question about the woman. She is a sinner and around town she is known as a sinner. The Pharisee notes that if Jesus were a prophet, he would have known what kind of sinful woman she is. Near the end of this passage, Jesus acknowledges that she is a sinner, one who has a great need for forgiveness of her sins. While scripture only hints at what variety of sinner she is, the heading of this passage in my study bible[13] says she is a harlot.

Let’s note again that the passage describes her as a sinner of means. Between the alabaster jar and the ointment held within, her sins certainly had nothing to do with poor stewardship of money.

But our passage gives us more, more about the virtue of the host and the harlot.

Providing hospitality to his guests was Simon the Pharisee’s first responsibility. The hospitality codes were older than Abraham and infinitely important. When a guest is invited into the home, it is customary to offer water to wash the feet. In a time and place where people wore sandals and livestock shared the roads, washing the feet became an important welcoming ritual. It was also proper to offer oil. In a time when Ivory soap was still 1850 years on the horizon[14] 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 while he should have been fulfilling his obligation to Jesus? 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, can anything good ever come out of Nazareth?[15]

Frankly for a host, between what we know and what we might guess, Simon’s actions showed that he valued his other guests more than Jesus. He valued the virtues of a Pharisee’s life in the synagogue and in the temple more than life in Christ. His virtue extended to some guests, but not to all. Not to the one who deserved it most or the one who arguably deserved it least.

As for the sinful woman, in the home of the Pharisee, she shows what she is willing to risk for Jesus of Nazareth. At the Pharisee’s table, she takes expensive ointment from an expnesive jar and anoints Jesus. She washes the feet of the Lord with her tears. She dries the feet of the Lord with her hair, and if we can take a quick reference from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, a woman’s long hair was to be her glory. She took the things about her that were most treasured by society, even if society did not treasure her, and worshiped at the feet of the Lord Jesus.

When it comes to the question of worshiping God, the sinful woman is more virtuous than the Pharisee. We see this in both of their public acts at the banquet. In his actions, the Pharisee displays his virtue by ignoring Jesus. In her actions, the sinful woman shows her virtue to God incarnate.

To say this again, we cannot refute the sinful acts of the Pharisee and the woman. We know the woman is sinful because scripture tells us so. We are told that the Pharisee is sinful when Jesus reminds him “I entered your house and you gave me no water for my feet, you gave me no kiss, and you did not anoint my head with oil.” We learn that both have sinned, one publically and one privately.

This is where Jesus teaches Simon with a question. Jesus asks, “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?”

Something Simon the Pharisee would have known that we may not is that the normal living daily wage in that time was one denarius. He also would have also known that both of these debts, one of two months pay and the other of twenty months, would have been nearly impossible for a common worker to repay.

Simon answers rightly: “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt will love him more.” It’s not that both won’t love, but the one with the greater debt will love more.

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.’” Jesus demonstrates virtue lies in holy work.

Know this though; it is not our virtue that leads to forgiveness, not at all. Jesus shares this truth with everyone at the banquet. Jesus tells her that her sins are forgiven, but not because of what she’s done. The way we often see it, by the order of the events found in scripture, 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. The key is found in the word “hence.”

Look at verse 47 again: “Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven.” Jesus says her sins are forgiven without mention of her actions. 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 forgiveness of sins but because she has received this glorious gift.

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 freely offered. We are saved by grace through faith, by the grace that is freely offered we are called to respond in faith actively.

Our love and the actions that follow from our love are the product of God’s love and forgiveness, not their cause. She has shown great love 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 in Jesus. And to use an old expression, she showed an attitude of gratitude to the Lord.

Her virtue is on display for all to see while Simon, whose debt is also cancelled by the Lord, Simon’s virtue lies on his way of life; in the ways of the temple run by human beings, not the way of new life in Jesus Christ.

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.”[16] We also need to share God’s love by Christ in the world. The sinful woman shows virtue to Christ and the world. The Pharisee shows no virtue—and Christ shows us his lack of virtue.

By the way, at the end of “High Plains Drifter” [SPOILER ALERT] Mordecai[17] shoots Sarah Belding’s husband Lewis dead after he aims his rifle at the Stranger’s back attempting to kill him.[18] I don’t want to make much more of a fictional killing, even one done in defense of the questionable Stranger, but Mordecai shows that as with many things in life, so too with virtue, it’s better late than never.

[1] http://timelovesahero.blogspot.com/2010/05/what-is-truth.html, retrieved June 12, 2010.
[2] This concept from the Rev. Dr. Michael Jinkins, as an Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology. He later became Professor and Dean of the Seminary. He is currently President-Elect of Louisville Theological Seminary. Congratulations Michael.
[3] “High Plains Drifter Plot Synopsis,” “Internet Movie Database, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068699/synopsis, retrieved June 12, 2010.
[4] “High Plains Drifter,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Plains_Drifter, retrieved June 12, 2010.
[5] Luke 2:25-32
[6] Luke 2:38
[7] Luke 2:41-52, 4:16-30
[8] Luke 4:1-13
[9] Luke 4:41
[10] Luke 5:1-11, 27-32, 6:12-16
[11] Pharisees, “The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible.” Volume 4. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2009, page 469 ff.
[12] Luke 18:18-30 and parallels
[13] The New Interpreters’ Study Bible, Luke 7:36-50, RESPONSES OF A PHARISEE AND A HARLOT
[14] Ivory soap was first sold in 1879, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivory_soap, accessed June 15, 2007
[15] John 1:46
[16] Luke 12:48b
[17] Thinking about this later, I believe Mordecai is the stand in for the audience in this movie. He is the second least despicable character in the film after Sarah Belding. It is though his eyes in a later flashback that the audience comes to realize what is going on with the killing of the Marshall. Mordecai witnesses the killing of the Marshall from beneath a plank sidewalk.
[18] Ibid notes 3, 4

Lightning Strikes

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday June 6, 2010, the 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

1 Kings 17:8-24
Psalm 146
Galatians 1:11-24
Luke 7:11-17

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

Here’s a bit of grade school humor that I recall from many a long days past. Does lightning strike the same place twice? No, because after the first strike, the place is never the same. I think it was out of the Boy Scouts of America’s “Boys’ Life” magazine from the 1960’s or early 70’s. Then again, I suspect it gets reprinted every five years or so, as the readership of “Boys’ Life” turns over to a new generation of scouts.

At my high school, as on many other tall buildings, on the top of the tall exhaust stack were lightning rods. The purpose of this type of lightning rod is to attract lightning, not to repel it. Placed in the highest point possible on a building, the rod attracts the lightning bolt and its electrical current and directs it safely to the ground so that there will be minimal if any damage to the building or disruption to it’s electrical system. Larry and Margaret have seen first hand what happens when lightning strikes a building.

Unfortunately, this technology doesn’t always work. My high school also had a two story stairwell that had a spire at the top that accidently acted like a lightning rod. It’s a beautiful feature; it’s even the image on the school’s logo and letterhead, but about every five years of so, it takes a bolt instead of the nearby lightning rods or trees. Sitting in one of the rooms within ten yards of the spire tip during a thunderstorm could be a spectacle. Believe me; I was there for one of those times. The experience definitely reminds me of the lightning strike joke, where I was sitting was not the same place it was moments earlier.

But lightning strikes once and lightning strikes twice in the stories of the widows whose sons have died.[1] The stories themselves from 1Kings 17:10 and 17-24 and Luke 7:11-17 are nearly identical.

Both of these stories take place when the prophet came to town. In the reading from 1Kings, it was Elijah; in the reading from Luke, it was Jesus; the prophet, priest, and king. In both stories the woman whose son had died was a widow. Elijah stretched himself across the child three times. Jesus touched the bier and said, “Young man, I say to you, rise.” Life returned to both of these widow’s sons. Elijah and Jesus both gave the young man back to his mother.

There are two differences though. The last (and least) difference is that in 1Kings, only the woman proclaimed “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.” Where in Luke we read, “The crowd said ‘God has looked favorably upon his people.’” I say this isn’t much of a difference because in the Kings reading only the woman was present when her son returned to life. In Luke not one crowd, but two were there when the man received new life. In both stories, everyone who witnessed the miracle praised God. In the first case, it was one woman; in the other, it was the whole crowd.

The other case is quite different, wonderfully different. In 1Kings we read that Elijah cried out to the Lord. In Luke we read that he had compassion for the widow. The glorious difference is this: Elijah cried out to God and for Jesus this action would have been unnecessary. Since Jesus is God, there was no need for Jesus to call out to anyone else.[2] Jesus sees what the Father has done in 1Kings and follows.

It is said that Luke’s gospel fully and intentionally formatted this miracle, which appears only in this gospel, to resemble the reading from 1Kings 17. The genre, structure, detail, and even the vocabulary connect these two stories beyond what could be expected by coincidence.[3] I’m not saying what a skeptic might say, that this didn’t happen it’s just a “copycat miracle.” What I am saying is that the way this story was recorded in Luke’s gospel intentionally tied these together.

I am not saying that the writers of Luke’s gospel put this story in here because they thought that it was a good story to copy and a good place to put it either. For doubters, I just want to remind you of the end of John’s gospel where it is recorded, “But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” This could be one of those things not written anywhere else.

What I am saying is that lightning struck twice, and neither time was the place the same after it struck.

It is easy to focus on the triumphant aspects of these readings, everybody loves a happy ending. But before every happy ending, there is a time of trial and tribulation.

Elijah has seen his trials. In the reading immediately before our reading from 1Kings, Elijah went to Ahab, King of Israel, and told him of the coming seven year drought. Especially in instances like this one, the only thing worse than a prophet being wrong is a prophet being right. Directed by the Lord, Elijah is sent to a place for fresh water and promised bread and meat. But it didn’t take seven years for the wadi, stream, to turn bone dry. So Elijah is sent to Syria, to Zarephath, where he is met by a widow who is also in dire straights.

Elijah asks for water, which she provides and then he asks for a morsel of bread. This is when we find out how nasty things are for the widow. In so many words, she apologizes for not keeping the sacred responsibility of hospitality but she is preparing the last meal for her family. The death sentence has been handed down by the drought and she’s making their last meal. Elijah shares the greatest invocation God ever gives the people, “Fear not.” “Do not be afraid,” he says, “because the Lord, the God of Israel promises that their meal will not run out and their oil will not run dry. Fear not, the Lord will provide.

Gloriously, the Lord provides. Even after the cruelest twist of fate, the later death of the widow’s only son; gloriously, the Lord provides.

By the same turn, Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us, the Word become flesh, is the Word threatened by those who would take his life. Between Luke 4 and our reading today, Jesus is tempted by the devil, tempted with the most wonderful treats of this world if he will only betray God.[4] He discovers the truth of the old adage that no prophet is accepted in his home town.[5]

He healed the paralyzed man, this healing being more than the physical healing of the man’s body; Jesus forgave his sins as well healing his entire being, raising the ire of the scribes and Pharisees.[6] Eating with the outcasts, Jesus is scorned by those he has been sent to save.[7] He teaches on fasting[8] and the Sabbath,[9] turning from conventional wisdom and showing the world new constellations in the midst of the oldest stars.[10]

Jesus is nearly in constant danger from those who rule the land where he lives, those who he has come to save, and finally by one of his disciples. Jesus knows his woes so he knows the joy of restoration. He knows the joy of the Father’s presence, the presence that enters our lives like a bolt of lightning, making it so that we will never be the same.

Elijah and Jesus were both surrounded by those who would have their heads should the opportunity arise; so as we read their words, as we soak in their actions like the waters of our baptism, we are reminded that they knew the woes of the world as well as and better than we do. They don’t come to us as some lofty above-it-all types that promise new life without experiencing our life. They come as the Lord’s emissary and as the Living God, the ones who know our pain by experience, not by just hearing the story. Woes surrounded one of the greatest heroes of the faith, Elijah and the subject of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ, and yes, woes surround us too.

There are some things I want to repeat that I have said in the last couple of minutes:

-Before every happy ending, there is a time of trial and tribulation.
-Elijah shares the greatest invocation God ever gives the people, “Fear not.” “Do not be afraid,” he says.
- Fear not, the Lord will provide.

I believe this, truly I do. I know that only in Christ is life worth living. Christ is the Victor over the forces of this world. I know this and I believe it.

The psalm from our Call to Worship makes this abundantly clear, the Lord cares and sustains those who the powerful push to the sides of society.

Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help!
whose hope is in the LORD their God;
who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever;
who gives justice to those who are oppressed,
and food to those who hunger.
The LORD sets the prisoners free;
the LORD opens the eyes of the blind;
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
the LORD loves the righteous
and cares for the stranger;
the LORD sustains the orphan and widow,
but frustrates the way of the wicked.[11]

I know this to be true. I have faith that sustains me, even if some days I’m hanging by a thread. One of the recurring themes that can come from our readings is “Don’t worry, be happy! Fear is a sin, trust and believe because God is greater than the world.”[12] But this can be offered naively, and like the whitewash that covers Aunt Polly’s fence, it doesn’t last long. I say this because I know that there are many, many who live daily in the space between the joy of dancing in the morning and living in long, dark times that are always darkest before the dawn.

Pain and suffering is as close as the foodbank. It is as close as the hospital. For people sitting on either side of the visitor’s glass, pain and suffering are as close as the jail. They are as close as the city square and the skate park. They’re as close as these pews and this pulpit. We know that Jesus is calling us to life triumphant, we know that we should have no fear, we know that the Lord will provide; but there are still many who can’t be sure if that next call is salvation or (more likely) a debt collector.

To me, this is the hardest part of speaking the truth to speak; the truth that God provides and in the meantime there are widows and orphans in this world, like the families restored by Elijah and Jesus. The hardest part of this truth is that there are people in this world who wait and wait faithfully for restoration. They wait faithfully for the dawn that never seems to rise.

There are a couple of quotes from the Reverend William Sloane Coffin that I want to share with you. The first is like a whetstone for my sharp tongue. Coffin quotes the Reverend Reinhold Niebuhr saying, “Despair is the fate of realists who know something about sin, but nothing about redemption.”[13] And yes, as I say the hardest part of speaking the truth of God is the reality of people waiting in pain, this quote speaks to me. I know Niebuhr’s despair, I know realism, and I know about redemption. Some days the difference between knowing about and truly knowing can be measured by inches, other days by light years.

But the other thing Coffin says is “Hope is what’s still there when all your worst fears have been realized”[14] When the wolf is at the door, when it is darkest before the dawn, that is when all we have left is hope. This hope is not in might or power. It’s not in the princes of this world. Our hope is in the love of Christ, Christ who walked in our shoes 2,000 years before we did.

Christ who walked with us. Christ who knew all that this world had to offer from personal experience. Christ who would experience the most degrading death the Roman Empire had to offer. Our hope is not in the sun that rises, but in the Son who calls upon it to rise. Our hope is not in the words of my mouth, but in the one whose Word brings new life.[15]

Today in our Call to Worship, we praised the Lord who sustains the orphaned and widowed; frustrating the ways of the wicked.[16] In our Call to Confession we prayed declaring that the Lord visits “calamity’s child with the gift of new life.”[17] In our Confession of Sin we confessed not only our faith, but our failure to live our faith as we are called to live it.[18] As we prayed together in our Prayer for Illumination this morning, this is Christ’s word to the helpless, the needy, those who mourn, and those who are desolate or wounded by life.[19] In our scripture readings this morning we heard of how Elijah and Jesus both restored life to the sons of widows, and in the eyes of their cultures, restored their mothers to new life too.

This is the joy of life in Christ, we receive new life. We receive life that we could have neither expected nor imagined. In Christ all is new. This is the word that spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country. This is the word that is true in our lives today. This is the word that we must continue spreading throughout the world beginning with our next door neighbor.

[1] My wife Marie noted that given the miracles of modern medicine, the miracle of resuscitation can seem almost commonplace, ordinary, no longer the thing of miracles. I like the point but I really couldn’t find the place to put it.
[2] Comparison taken from a table in “The New Interpreter’s Bible.” Volume IX. Keck, Leander E. General Editor. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995, page 157.
[3] Ibid, 158.
[4] Luke 4:1-13
[5] Luke 4:24
[6] Luke 5:17-26
[7] Luke 5:27-32
[8] Luke 5:33-39
[9] Luke 6:1-11
[10] The “Stars/Constellations” turn of a phrase comes from William Sloane Coffin. I do love the way he preached.
[11] Translation of Psalm 146:5-9 from “Book of Common Worship.” Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1993, pages 777-778
[12] Among others, the June 4 and 5 entries of: Chambers, Oswald, “My Utmost for His Highest.” Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House Publishers, 1935, 1963, 1992.
[13] Coffin, William Sloane, “The Collected Sermons of William Sloane Coffin, The Riverside Years.” Volume 2. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008, page 66.
[14] Coffin, William Sloane, “The Collected Sermons of William Sloane Coffin, The Riverside Years.” Volume 1, Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008, page 137.
[15] In the pastoral prayer, I noted that things are difficult for this part of the Body of Christ. Our hope is not in our wisdom, but in the grace and peace of Christ. Amen.
[16] Psalm 146:9
[17] Kirk, James, G. “When We Gather, A Book of Prayers for Worship.” Louisville, KY: Geneva Press, 2001, page 313.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Prayer for Illumination, Year C, Ordinary 10. “Revised Common Lectionary Prayers: Proposed by the Consultation on Common Texts.” Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2002.

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.