Got Stuff?

Got Stuff?

Sunday Scriptures from the  Narrative Lectionary:

Psalm 103:3-6

Luke 7:36-50

Our reading from Luke tells a story. Jesus is dining at the home of Simon the Pharisee.

That might seem like the first unexpected aspect of this dinner, but it was not likely out of the ordinary. Jesus was a lot like the Pharisees in many ways – they shared a deep love of the Law of Moses, they studied and memorized scripture, they participated faithfully in the synagogue. Additionally, for Jesus to eat with tax collectors and sinners and not to share meals with Pharisees would have not aligned with the message he offered. The table where Jesus broke bread was open for all. So, he’s gone to Simon’s house where they will share a meal together. Dining in this time was not at a table like we might use at home. Folks gathered around low tables, or cloths spread out on the floor and sort of reclined around the area where the food was.

Here’s what is really seems unexpected. A woman who heard Jesus was in Simon’s house and wanted to see him comes to dinner. Homes were much more open and so she hasn’t “broken in” but more like just sort of walked up to join them. More unexpected, maybe she brought with her an alabaster jar of ointment (which would have been very expensive). And more unexpected, upon sight, she starts to cry and begins to clean his feet with her tears and dry them with her hair!

For us, this would be very strange behavior. But it was not strange to Jesus.

She was doing things that Simon apparently had failed to do. Simon the Pharisee had not offered Jesus the basic hospitality that was customary in homes at this time. When one went to someone else’s house for dinner, there would be water and towels to dry one’s feet, and in some cases a servant (usually a woman) who would wash the feet of guests for them. To wash someone’s feet was an act of humility, and so social peers would not wash each other’s feet, and certainly people in positions of power or authority did not wash the feet of others. But here, it seems Simon has forgotten to wash Jesus’s feet. And so, this woman, who comes to see Jesus, sees that this fundamental act of hospitality has not been offered, and she completes this act of hospitality by washing Jesus’s feet and drying them with her tears. She anoints him with oil. Preacher Fred Craddock says her tears were like water for Jesus’s feet, her kiss was a kiss of welcome, her anointing with oil was for one coming in from a journey who would have been exposed to the heat of the day.[1] She was caring for him, honoring him, loving him.

Now, if you are someone who has read this story or others like it in the Bible before, you may have already made some assumptions about this woman:

·      First, that this is Mary Magdalene. (Luke doesn’t say that.)

·      Second, that she’s a prostitute. (Luke also doesn’t say that.)

·      Third, that she’s a sinner. (Does Luke say that? Read carefully . . ..)

Take a moment and note where her being marked as a “sinner” comes from. Not from Jesus. Not from the woman. From a thought in Simon’s mind.

Luke says, “³⁹ Now 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.’”

Scripture does not often give us insight into the mind of those we read about. But here, we get Simon’s thoughts. He has her labeled as a sinner.

What we seem to gather is that this woman has been disconnected from the religious community either for something she has done or not done – something has marked her as a “sinner.” This does not mean she’s been out boosting donkeys, or throwing dice down a narrow street, or prostituting. Rather, it means she has stuff that has separated her from the community of faith. The community of faith has seen her as not worthy of being part of the body. And so, she us deemed a sinner. And Simon thinks that Jesus should have known better than to socialize with women like her. She, in Simon’s mind, doesn’t belong at the table.

Got stuff? Most of us, probably all of us have stuff. Stuff we are embarrassed by. Stuff we hope no one finds out. An experience at church that made us leave the building never to return.

This woman has some kind of stuff. We do not know what it is. It is significant and has kept her from being part of the community of faith. But she wanted to reconnect. She wanted to be forgiven. She apparently knew that the traditional church leaders would not make room for her. But she knew Jesus would. So, she came to the feet of Jesus. She came with tears. She came with ointment. She came with great love.

Remember, Simon hasn’t spoken the words about the woman being a sinner. He hasn’t spoken out loud his doubt of who Jesus is because of Jesus not holding the same view of this woman that he does. Yet, Jesus has read Simon’s mind! (Unexpected? He is, it seems, a prophet after all!). And Jesus addresses exactly what Simon doesn’t understand by putting it into financial terms.

Two people have debts. One owes a whole bunch of money (500 denarii), the other a little (50 denarii). If both have their debts forgiven, Jesus asks, who is going to be more grateful to the forgiver of the debts? The one with the bigger debt, of course!

But then, unexpected again, Jesus turns the table on Simon and points out he has stuff too. He has failed to love God and neighbor in failing to failing to offer Jesus acts of hospitality AND in judging the woman.

·      He reminds Simon that he offered Jesus no water to wash his feet. The woman washed Jesus’s feet with his tears.

·      He reminds Simon that he did not extend the kiss of peace, but that the woman had not stopped kissing his feet.

·      He reminds Simon that he didn’t anoint Jesus’s head, but that the woman did.

·      He reminds Simon that he has stuff too. He just may not realize it.

There is, it seems from Jesus’s words, a direct relationship between the forgiveness we have received and the love we show for others. If we are kind, compassionate and caring to all people, we have received the forgiveness of God. Our stuff has been lifted.

But if our minds and mouths are full of words of judgement about others, our hospitality lacking, our focus on our own self-interest, well, there isn’t much forgiveness there.

So oddly, it seems, the one who thought they were separated from God is in deep relationship with Christ. And the one who thought he was connected to God has missed everything.

Got stuff?

Some of us have stuff in the form of mistakes, broken relationships, embarrassments. Jesus invites us in.

Others of us have stuff in the form of judgement of others, a lack of compassion, self-centeredness. Jesus challenges us, it seems, to stop pointing the finger at others, to take a hard look at ourselves, and deal with our own stuff.

We’ve all got stuff. The good news is that our stuff does not define us.

What we do about it is up to us.

Jesus offers welcome, forgiveness, recognition, relationship, reorientation.

The church should do the same. But often, it’s a place much more like Simon.

Take our stuff, Lord Jesus, and make us right with you and with others once again.

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 Works Cited:

[1] Fred B. Craddock. Luke. Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. Westminster John Knox Press: Louisville, 1990, 105.