Luke 7:36-8:3
Today’s Gospel text finds
Jesus as the invited guest at the home of a man named Simon, a Pharisee. Nothing about that seems out of the ordinary.
Both Jesus and Simon were observant Jews. They shared the same religion, and
the same dietary regulations. As a Pharisee, Simon was considered an expert on
the Law, and was thought of as a very religious person. Jesus was a religious
person, too—a teacher, whose reputation had earned him the title of Rabbi. So
we have what appears to be a proper dinner party, where two religious leaders,
seemingly very much alike, are gathered together for a meal. Then something
happens, that shows us how different they really are.
An uninvited guest appears on
the scene, a First Century party crasher. She is described as “a woman of the
city” and “a sinner”. We can assume that she was a woman with a bad reputation,
though Luke doesn’t tell us what her sin is. He lets our own sinful minds fill
in the blank, jumping to the same kind of conclusion that Simon the Pharisee
does when he observes the woman’s behavior.
What began as a proper dinner
party takes on a different tone as this “woman of the city” weeps at the feet
of Jesus. She uses her tears to bathe his feet and lets down her hair as a
towel. She continues by kissing and anointing his feet. You have to admit that
it is rather shocking behavior. Simon the Pharisee, being a very religious
person, immediately passes judgment on the woman—labeling her as a sinner.
Then, in a stage whisper to the others at the table, he passes judgment on
Jesus, too; “If this man were really a prophet, he’d know that this woman is a
sinner, and wouldn’t allow her to touch him.”
I’m guessing that Jesus heard
Simon’s remark as well, because he responds with a parable that brilliantly
exposes Simon—who fancies himself as a righteous judge—for what he really is—a
phony and a sinner.
Jesus tells the parable of
the two debtors, one who owed a creditor 500 denarii, and the other who owed
fifty denarii. Remember that a denarius is about a day’s wages. So the guy who
owes 500 is in deep—to the tune of about a year and a half’s wages. Neither of
the debtors is able to pay, and instead of charging them a late fee or throwing
them in jail, the gracious creditor forgives their debts. Cancels them.
Amazing.
Now Simon is asked to
interpret the parable. Which of the two, Jesus asks, will love the creditor
more? Well, that’s not too hard—the one who owed the most. The one who has been
forgiven the most. That’s the answer you or I would give. And it’s the answer
Simon the Pharisee gives.
Jesus then turns to the woman
who has shown him such love. She knew her sins were many. And she acknowledged
her need for forgiveness. Because her
debt was great, she lavished great love on the one who forgave her debt. Simon
must be feeling pretty smug by now. So far, he has pointed out to his other
guests that Jesus is unlikely to be the prophet people say he is. And he has
proclaimed his righteousness under the Law by pointing out that the righteous
do not allow sinners to touch them. Now he has answered Jesus’ riddle
correctly, and it looks as though Jesus is implying that because the woman
showed him such love, she must be like the debtor in the parable—the one who
had the greatest debt. She’s the one in the room who is the biggest sinner.
Well, Simon is in for a surprise. Jesus is on to him.
Why do you suppose Simon the
Pharisee invited Jesus the Itinerant Preacher to dinner? Was it because he
respected Jesus as an equal, as someone who belonged at his table? Somehow I
don’t think so. I think he invited Jesus in order to make a fool out of him,
and in the process, made a fool out of himself. I don’t think that Simon really
welcomed Jesus, because as Jesus points out, he failed to show the hospitality
required of hosts—remember, honored guests are to be greeted with a kiss, have
their feet washed, and be anointed with oil. Simon, the righteous Pharisee, did
none of these things for Jesus. Instead, a woman whom Simon labeled as a sinner
performed the duties of a gracious host. Now who is the greater sinner? The one
who acknowledges her sin and seeks forgiveness, or the one whose own
self-righteousness blinds him to the fact that he even IS a sinner?
The parables of Jesus demand a
lot of those who hear them. They are not the simple teaching stories that they
appear to be. Rather than teaching morals or ethics, they often convict those
who think that they are more moral or ethical than others. Parables often judge
the judges.
Parables demand that we put
ourselves into the story, and try to figure out, based on our own behavior,
which of the characters we would be. I’ll tell you who I’d be. I’d be Simon the
Pharisee. After all, as your pastor, I’m supposed to be a religious expert. But
then again, the Pharisees were not priests—they weren’t ordained by the
religious establishment. They were instead pious lay people, like all of you—so
perhaps you could be Simon in this story. You’re the ones who got out of bed
this morning and came to church. You are, after all, good at being religious.
And so let me put it to you,
as Jesus put it to Simon; how does it feel to encounter the graciousness of
God, the grace of a loving forgiving God, when that gracious is showered not on
the religious, but on someone who is a sinner, an outsider, not one of us? Grace is amazing, as we love to sing. Yet when
God’s grace is shown towards someone else, it can be maddening. The word grace
is a sweet, beautiful word. Yet when that word is laid on someone whom we
consider ourselves superior to, some sinner, well—how does grace sound now?
Those of us who are good at
being religious are also good—probably too good, at judging those whom we
consider to be less religious, or less deserving of God’s grace than we are.
That was Simon the Pharisee’s mistake. And in judging the woman who came to
Jesus, admitting her sin, he exposed his own.
God’s grace is downright
offensive to those who think it belongs only to them. That, perhaps is what
makes it so amazing.
Like Simon the Pharisee,
today, as every Sunday, we have invited Jesus to dinner. What kind of hosts will
we be as he joins us at the Communion table? If we wish to welcome him, then we
must welcome any and all who wish to join us at the table, as Jesus excluded no
one. This is not just a meal for the religious elect, but is a meal meant for
sinners being forgiven.
As Jesus demonstrated at the
house of Simon the Pharisee, grace is not some doctrine to be believed—rather,
it is a feast to be received, a party to which the outcast are invited, a gift
to be received with empty hands. We come to the table as graced sinners,
everyone of us with a great debt to be forgiven. May our response to God’s
amazing grace be like that of the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears
and dried them with her hair—an outpouring of love and gratitude to the one who
stoops down to save such wretches as us. AMEN