PENTECOST II, JUNE 13, 2004
Sermon based on Luke 7: 36-8:3 (RCL) by David Zersen

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Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “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.” Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. “Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt cancelled.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from, the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means. (NIV)

LOVE MEANS NO ONE IS EXCLUDED

Introduction

Our son, Rolf, is named after a Jewish man who had a major impact on us at an early point in our married life, When my wife and I first met him, we were the products of a sheltered, Anglo-Saxon environment which had exposed us to few prejudices. For that matter, racial diversity was a concept unknown to us. Personally, I grew up in a Chicago suburb where, in my high school of 4000 students, there were no Blacks, one Japanese boy (who was Lutheran), one Chinese girl, whose father ran the local Chinese laundry, and two Jewish students, both of whose fathers owned department stores. There were few prejudices among us because these minority families did not intimidate the vast majority of Anglo-Saxon families. Later, at the university, I never met a person of another culture. At the seminary, at the age of 22, I finally encountered the first Black student in my experience, George Plato.

When I became a pastor, my wife (who had a background similar to mine) and I went to buy furniture for our new home and, for the first time, became friends with Rolf Stern, who happened to be the Jewish store owner. One day he told me that he was not allowed to join the local country club because he was a Jew, nor could he participate in many social groups and activities because of his ethnic background. Although I was now 28 years old, I was so naive that this “revelation” shocked me. Furthermore, members of my congregation subsequently told me in that first year in ministry that a certain local restaurant in Oak Lawn, Illinois, only allowed one to enter if he/she were a “member.” This was how they kept out Blacks and Jews. I still remember the Sunday when I mounted the pulpit to challenge such practices on the south side of Chicago. It was hardly an important challenge, in terms of world events. It was, however, for me a kind of watershed, a coming of age. Young people in today’s United States are far more exposed to diversity than I had been. In those early years I learned about exclusivity and prejudice only gradually, and it was clear to me that there was no place for it in the Christian life.

When Standards Replace Acceptance in Human Relationships

There are many ways in American society in which such artificial categorization and discrimination can replace the acceptance with which God wants to embrace all of us. Sometimes, changing social environments have produced in-groups that organize along lines of exclusivity in order to keep out unwanted people. Masonic Societies, country clubs, and Boy Scouts have at times been structured with restrictive entrance requirements. Housing subdivisions, barber shops and buses at one time could chose only “appropriate” clientele. Sometimes not only restrictive language is used to keep people out. Merit systems, which allow those in authority to determine who is acceptable, have been very common. Some of them seem quite innocent. Children know that at Christmas time Santa Claus rewards only those who have been “nice.” A common parental discipline is to mete out allowances to boys and girls who measure up to expected standards.

Even the church has fallen prey to both such exclusivist practices. In the lifetime of many of us, most denominations found means to exclude people who were not “our kind.” More insidious, however, has been the way in which Christian ethics became a matter of doing the right thing in the hopes of being accepted by God. As a result, all too many today assume that the function of the Church is to make people good and, perhaps, make society tolerable.

Such concerns for standards or merit, however, are dead-end streets for numerous reasons. In the first place, there is no Biblical basis for a selective society, not in a Scripture-based community which believes that in Jesus Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free, but all are equal. Secondly, the psychological or theological dynamic operating behind religious merit systems is the wagging finger. And such systems never transform anyone. Thirdly, no one can ever know when one has achieved the appropriate level of merit—or whether such a standard is high enough? And finally, whose self-righteousness is to be used to determine whose daughter-in-law, whose classmate, whose boyfriend, whose parent is not good enough to be included in the family of God. Unfortunately, we have a long history in our society, and sadly even in the church, of alienating people, of excluding people, because they don’t measure up to someone’s standards. In society in general, and specifically in the church, such a focus on artificial standards and merit systems has always led to divisions and dead-ends.

When Acceptance Creates Love in Action

For this reason, today’s text is wonderfully emancipating, if not downright shocking. It frees us from the need to meet anyone’s standards and to hold anyone up to ours. This is startling for us to hear when the church becomes too preoccupied with applying laws, commandments, rules, standards, merits and judgments. Listen to what happens in our text and see if you can figure out what’s going on here. There is a dinner party. People have been invited. Jesus is reclining on a couch at table (the common Roman practice for freedmen). Suddenly an uninvited guest comes in. She is a woman with a reputation, a local prostitute, known by others in the room. She follows a common practice of a lower servant class, not only washing Jesus’ feet which are dusty from walking with sandals on dirt roads, but washing them with her perfume and drying them with her hair.

Imagine yourself as the host having to deal with this invasion. I remember reading that Alfred Hitchcock, who loved to play practical jokes on dinner guests, on one occasion hired a drunk to come to a party and schmooze around in offensive ways with the guests who did not know how to react to this “intruder.” Oddly, enough, however, Jesus suggests that this woman has more right to be there than many others, and for an unusual reason. He puts a story to Simon, the host, and asks which of two debtors, one with a large and one with a small debt, would be more appreciative of the moneylender forgiving them their debts. Simon says, “The one who had the bigger debt cancelled.” “Right you are,” Jesus tells him— “and this woman obviously had more sins forgiven than others so she is being extravagant with her love.” She appreciates her forgiveness and, therefore, she “belongs”… at least in any society of which Jesus is a part.

What do you think is really going on in this story? It’s a striking lesson for Simon, but also for all of us, about the importance of acknowledging the source of love. Simon hadn’t yet made the discovery. As a result, he didn’t wash Jesus’ feet, greet him with a kiss, and put oil on his head, all of which were standard courtesies to be expected from a host for special guests. Simon wasn’t motivated. He knew the rules, but knowing standards, laws, principles, and right behavior never motivates. This woman, who apparently had previously heard Jesus speak about God’s extravagant kindness and complete forgiveness, couldn’t stop sharing in her own Jewish way the love in her which comes from joy and thanksgiving. She had found and acknowledged the source of love and it made all the difference in the world to her. God’s acceptance of her had created love in action.

Conclusion

Sometimes people think that words and concepts don’t make any difference, that in the Church we are all about the same thing, trying to be good in the hope that God will be good to us. We, too many assume, are about rules and standards and morals and merits. And we are also about applying them to people who don’t measure up so they can be excluded, be put on the outside by us who inhabit the inside.

The shocking thing about this story, however, is that it makes clear that words and concepts do make a difference, all the difference in the world. The good news of God’s love for us, alone can transform us. Recognizing that God is so kind that his love covers every shortcoming and fault carried out by us, alone can make us new. If such extravagant kindness is understood and accepted by you, if you see it expressed at the cross and empty tomb, what do you think it could do for you?

One impact that such understanding can have is to insure that the invited guest lists at our dinner parties do not show us to be condescending, prejudiced, self-righteous. In our clubs, social circles, organizations, churches, there can be no exclusive circles, but only inclusive ones. In a recent popular movie, Cheaper By The Dozen, Steve Martin had to discover that becoming the super coach, swinging with the stars on his football team, seemingly his life-long dream, was not as important as making his family his priority. So, touchingly, he left his job as head coach and returned to the seemingly more mundane, yet far more important, job of being husband to his wife and dad to his twelve children. For us Christians, embracing the seemingly less important in our acquaintance and making even our lowly church family members our priority is equally important. There is no one to whom we can condescend. If we know that with all our shortcomings and failures there is a love great enough to accept even us, then we also know that somewhere very close to us there are feet waiting to be washed.

Prof. Dr. Dr. David Zersen, President Emeritus
Concordia University at Austin
Austin , Texas
dzersen@aol.com