Jesus for the Joyous

 

Rev. Dr. Mark Porizky

 

6/17/07

 

Luke 7:36-8:3

 

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. 37And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. 38She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. 39Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.’ 40Jesus spoke up and said to him, ‘Simon, I have something to say to you.’ ‘Teacher,’ he replied, ‘speak.’ 41‘A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42When they could not pay, he cancelled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?’ 43Simon answered, ‘I suppose the one for whom he cancelled the greater debt.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘You have judged rightly.’ 44Then turning towards the woman, he said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. 45You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47Therefore, 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.’ 48Then he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ 49But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’ 50And he said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’

Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, 2as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.

 

 

Sometimes we see people through negative images. We see people only by the wrong they do, never by the good they do. Our one-sided way of looking at them causes us to miss what is righteous in them or what good they do. This is what we see in this narrative in Luke. The disciples look at this woman who came to see Jesus through her status in the community, that of being a sinner. Unfortunately, we act like the disciples and the Pharisees when we see people only through the wrong they have done. We are as quick to condemn public sinners as the disciples were.

 

But Jesus is helping disciples relate to people another way. We forget that Jesus wants to give life to the disenfranchised, to the hard situations that we experience even when we have brought on those experiences by our own wrong choices. Jesus went beyond this woman's status as a sinner or any wrong she may have been guilty of. He saw her heart and he saw the faith desire of this woman. He saw the woman as one who showed him love, as one who had the faith to believe that he could help her. He honored her faith.

 

Sometimes we also look at life's experiences through the way we believe they are adversely or wrongly affecting our lives. We hold opinions and act in ways according to those wrong ways of viewing our experiences.

 

      Some years ago I sat in on a ministerial colloquium at Sacred Heart University for the benefit of some PhD students studying ministry.  We were asked by our facilitator on that day to share an experience of a teacher who influenced our lives. One of the pastors present shared an experience of a teacher who changed his life during high school. She says the classroom in which his teacher was teaching was located on the side of the building where a main thoroughfare of the city ran. Traffic was constant, including the sound of emergency vehicles, throughout each day. At the beginning of each class, the teacher would complain to the students about the noise from the traffic. The emergency vehicles especially annoyed him with their sirens.

 

After one weekend, the teacher addressed the class at the beginning as he usually did. This day he said he wanted to apologize to the class. He told them that this weekend his wife had an emergency situation. The service that the ambulance provided saved his wife's life and his baby's life. He told his students, "I want to apologize because all this time as those ambulances made noise interrupting this class I was listening to the noise instead of thinking about the lives."

 

The disciples looked at a sinner in their community; they did not see the woman who in her life was reaching out for help.   In his external world, the teacher heard noise. The experience with his wife and child caused him to inwardly see that lives were being cared for by those noisy vehicles. As a result of his experience, he gained a better perspective of his experiences with the emergency vehicles. He apologized to his students.

 

Friends, Jesus is helping these disciples, and us, to see that there are lives that need care. Sometimes the "noises" of selfish desires, self-centered desires, greed, or bigotry, keep us from seeing beyond the sin or the wrongly perceived experiences of life. The opportunity we have is that of seeing people the way Jesus sees them, seeing the possibilities for righteousness in them, forgiving them when they fall short, encouraging them to go in peace.

 

The teacher was bogged down with what he saw as a distraction to his teaching. A life experience helped him to realize that there are lives to be valued from the assistance of siren-blasting emergency vehicles.

 

Life experiences can change the way we see life. The way we interpret life experiences can help us to see God's way of viewing. Jesus told his disciples the parable of two debtors who had their debts canceled by the creditor. One debtor's debt was 500 denarii, the other's, 50. Jesus asked which one would love the creditor more. Of course, the disciples replied the one who had the greater debt canceled.

 

 

Jesus is not a morality judge, though we sometimes think so, and then try to sit in his seat of judgment.  Rather Jesus is a savior of sinners, of lost human beings who see in Jesus a way to find their way back to health and wholeness.    

 

Of course, we could forget the above and, instead of Jesus, just let Simon the Pharisee be our guide.

 

Simon the Pharisee represents a form of sick religion. When we think of sick religion, we usually think of the person in the mental hospital who thinks he is God.  But religion can be sick and give all the appearances of normalcy.  I believe Simon's religion was sick because it revealed a religion colored by merciless attitudes, as opposed to the healthy religion of Jesus filled with grace.

 

The Pharisee had spent lots of time dwelling on the details of the law of Moses, but not much time studying the character of God, particularly as revealed by Jesus.  Everywhere we see Jesus, we find him welcoming sinners and forgiving them.  But Simon represents the kind of religion that builds barriers to keep "sinners" away and promotes an arrogant attitude of superiority.

 

The sick religion of the Pharisees or the healthy religion of Jesus?  Let me suggest four tests for determining the presence of a healthy faith.

 

1) Does my faith liberate or incarcerate my spirit?

 

A healthy faith causes us to examine our lives, our sin, our relationship with God so that we are released from guilt and pain and experience the grace of God.  Which one of our main characters was free and which one was still in prison?  I believe the woman who experienced grace was free; the Pharisee was bound by his own prejudices.

 

2) Does my faith breed compassion, love, and forgiveness for others?

 

A healthy faith makes us more open, trusting, and caring.  Sick religion builds barriers of distrust, pessimism, cynicism, paranoia, and judgment.  Healthy faith is healing and unifying.

 

3) Does my faith help me to understand why people act, feel, or believe as they do?

 

Unhealthy religion condemns what it does not understand and it calls it evil.  Healthy faith says, "Why do they act as they do and how can my faith speak to their needs?"

 

4) Does my faith compel me to share my life, my possessions, and my love for Christ with others?

 

Healthy faith is so joyous and life-giving that we wish for others to experience it.  Here we find this woman labeled "sinner" who is bringing her very best gift of ointment and pouring it lavishly on Jesus' feet.  A healthy religion always results in a generous spirit.

 

Jesus represented this kind of healthy faith and wants us to have the same.  When Jesus looked at this poor woman, he did not see "damaged goods," but a person of value and worth.  He saw a person worth redeeming.

 

The text does not say that this woman was a prostitute, but I have often made that assumption since she was so obviously labeled a sinner.  In other texts, the Scripture makes clear that Jesus associated with tax collectors and prostitutes.  

 

Did Jesus treat this woman as a prostitute?  One day, in order to get a class discussion going, sociology professor, Tony Campolo, asked his students what some of the world's great religious leaders might have said about prostitution.  The discussion was lively and intense.  He was setting up the class to evangelize, and when he felt that the time was ripe, he asked what seemed to be the crucial question, "What do you suppose Jesus would have said to a prostitute?"

 

He was all primed to point out to the class the compassion and understanding which Jesus had for the colorful women of the night.  He was all set to do his best to make Jesus look greater than all the great religious leaders put together.  Once again he asked, "What do you think Jesus would have said to a prostitute?"

 

One of his students answered, "Jesus never met a prostitute."   He jumped at the opening.   He would show this guy a thing or two about Jesus and about the New Testament.   "Yes he did," he responded.   "I'll show you in my Bible where...."

 

The young man interrupted him.   "You didn't hear me Doctor.  I said Jesus never met a prostitute."

 

Once again Campolo protested.  Once again he reached for his New Testament.  He started to leaf through its pages searching for those passages, which showed Jesus forgiving the fallen women.  He searched for the place where he gave the woman at the well a chance for spiritual renewal.

 

Once again the student, who was Jewish, spoke out, this time with a touch of anger in his raised voice.   "You re not listening to what I am saying.  I am saying that Jesus never met a prostitute.  Do you think that when he looked at Mary Magdalene he saw a prostitute?  Do you think he saw whores when he looked at women like her? Doctor, listen to me!  Jesus never met a prostitute!"

 

Campolo fell silent.  He was being corrected by a Jewish student who, in some ways, may have understood Jesus better than some of us who go by the name Christian. 

 

Frankly, I don’t think Jesus ever met a minister, a lawyer, or a stay-at-home mom either.  Those are our titles meant to categorize people.

 

Jesus met sinners.  Some knew it.  Some didn’t.  Some he could heal.  Some he couldn’t.  The ones whose titles were most important Jesus had the most trouble with.  They loved their titles more than the joy of being set free by the grace of God.

 

Jesus, you see, is for the joyous.

 

Will you pray with me now?

 

St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Groton , CT

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