A Sermon by The Reverend Jonathan Chambers, 16th June, 2013

St Paul’s Canterbury

The Revd Jonathan Chambers

16th June 2013, Pentecost 4

Luke 7: 36-8:3

Luke 7:36 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.’
Today’s Gospel shows us again the hospitality of God. It’s a story which invites us to look at the health of our church, Australia’s public life as well as our own personal well- being and wholeness.
Jesus is invited to dinner as the home of Simon the Pharisee. While Jesus is reclining at the table, a woman comes behind him and weeps over his feet. To us it seems like a strange, intimate maybe erotic thing to do- particularly when she goes on to let down her hair, dry his feet and then kiss and anoint them with ointment from an alabaster jar. We don’t know her name, but we know she has a reputation of being a sinner. Some suggest that she was a prostitute, but there is no biblical evidence to support that- it could be that those retelling the story over two thousands years – and most would be men, have concluded that ‘sinful women’ , generally are. (I was thinking about gender attitudes- if a man was described as ‘sinful’, its unlikely that we would conclude that he was a prostitute)
This woman is intriguing. Something very significant has just happened in her life. We don’t know what she did, and we don’t know the circumstances of how she was forgiven, but it would be reasonable, given that her attention is directed towards Jesus, that he has had an encounter with her before- which was life changing. So she comes to the dinner forgiven. Her actions suggest that she has been released from a great burden. Her generous response to Jesus is an outpouring of her gratitude and love- for him, but not only for him, but for herself. By her actions she shows the strength of someone who has forgiven herself………… She is happy enough in her own skin and knowledge that she is worthwhile, that she is loved, - she can even go to the house of Simon the Pharisee and risk being criticised.
And Simon does- but not out loud. Luke tells us “…Simon 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”. So often the condemnation is silent- but just as deadly.
By what was not being said, Jesus knew that Simon was condemning her and so he “names the elephant in the room”. In typical rabbinical style he poses a hypothetical question to Simon who is forced to conclude that the one who is forgiven most would have to be the most grateful.
Simon is saying that, because she us a sinner she should clearly be excluded from our group.
Jesus says look at her, you can see by her actions that she is forgiven(no longer a sinner). You can see that she knows the love of God for herself and her generosity of spirit is demonstrated in the way she has responded so extravagantly to me.
In typical Lucan style we see the triangular pattern in the storytelling. As listeners we expect that Jesus, (who is always on our side), will show compassion and heal the sinful woman. Meantime there is always the “others”, the nay sayers and critics”, who mumble and complain on the sidelines about the sinner or Jesus actions. To our surprise Jesus doesn’t heal her,… - she is already okay - and we are drawn to conclude that it wasn’t the woman who was in need of healing but Simon- and perhaps Jesus is challenging us as the listener, because we didn’t recognise who had the problem.
Jesus demonstrates the generosity of the sinner when compared to the stinginess of the host and shows that love, forgiveness and inclusion is the essence of God’s Good News.
The target of this story were the Jewish Christians of the Lucan community who espoused rigorist criteria for membership of the community and participation in the meals including the Eucharist. It was an invitation for them to think more widely, as it is to us, where we place boundaries …….and about God who has no boundaries and loves all people.
A number of us went the week before last to Federation Square to hear Bishop Gene Robinson, formerly Bishop of New Hampshire in the United States. Bishop Gene, now retired, was in 2003 the first openly gay bishop to be appointed in the Anglican Communion. In 2008 he was invited with all the other bishops of the communion to the Lambeth Conference. However with the threat by many evangelical Anglicans to boycott the conference if he attended, he was uninvited.
Having caused such a furore, I didn’t know what to expect when I went to the seminar for interested clergy at which he spoke on the Wed. However Bishop Gene was generous, joyful and vulnerable as he talked about his life and experience. He was clearly a man who knew God loved him and so he loved and spoke graciously about others, including those who violently oppose him. He doesn’t try to convince people to change their mind about whether homosexuality is a sin, he simply bears witness to the love of God in his life. His book is interesting, and gives an insight into him. (borrow it if you wish)
Bishop John McIntyre, Bishop of Gippsland was part of the panel who participated in the clergy seminar. Bp John has come under great criticism within his own diocese recently for appointing Fr David Head to the parish of Heyfield because he is gay. – and Bp John is certainly coping it.
Bishop Gene was brought to Australia by a group of progressive Baptists. Sadly our own Archbishop did not meet him, did not appear with him in public and withheld the hospitality normally offered to a visiting Bishop which would have allowed him to preach or celebrate the Eucharist in the Diocese of Melbourne.
As I read the news this week and reflected on it, in the light of today’s Gospel, I struck me about how many barriers we erect to exclude “the other”.
Most obvious is our government’s treatment of asylum seekers, who have been demonised by politicians and the public for years now.
Male attitudes about ‘sinful women’ continue to this day as evidenced by another revelation about “Jedi Councils” in the armed forces. Whether we like her or not, I believe Julia Gillard has done us all a favour by naming the misogyny which she has experienced in politics. Like at the home of Simon the Pharisee, the condemnation isn’t necessarily uttered but Julia has clearly felt it. And so she has named the injustice and born witness to her experience, pointing to the Liberal Party fundraising Menus and signs which describe women as witches who should be ditched, as well as having to endure questions about whether her partner is gay because he is a hairdresser.
Richard Rohr helpfully said in his mediation this week
Those at the edge of any system and those excluded from any system ironically and invariably hold the secret for the conversion and wholeness of that very group. They always hold the feared, rejected, and denied parts of the group’s soul.
…… Jesus was not just a theological genius, but he was also a psychological and sociological genius. When any church defines itself by exclusion of anybody, it is always wrong. It is avoiding its only vocation, which is to be the Christ. …
Only as the People of God receive the stranger, the sinner, and the immigrant, those who don’t play our game our way, do we discover not only the hidden, feared, and hated parts of our own souls, but the fullness of Jesus himself. We need them for our own conversion.
Let me finish with a story which Bp Gene told.
During WWII in France, 4 serviceman developed a strong bond of friendship with each other as they withstood the agonies and triumphs of war together . One was tragically killed and his three friends carried him some distance to the church in the nearby village where they called on the priest. They asked if they could bury their friend in the graveyard. The priest asked if he was baptised. They replied that they didn’t think he was. To which the priest replied that he regretted that then he couldn’t be buried in the graveyard. The men were clearly distressed by this news .. and so the priest suggested that there was a nice field, with a great view next to the graveyard and that perhaps they could bury their companion there. So the men, because they had little choice chose to do that and placed a simple wooden cross on the spot to mark the grave.
After the war the 3 men returned to village, wanting to arrange for a proper headstone to place over the grave of their friend. They returned to the field and to their dismay found the grave had gone and there appeared to be no evidence of where it had been. They went looking for the priest, and asked if he remembered them. They told him that they couldn’t find the grave and did he have any idea what may have happened to the body of their friend. The priest said he did remember their visit very well ….and went on to tell them how after they departed that he was very troubled about his strict and strident ruling about whether their friend could be included in the graveyard. He said he prayed about it …………….and said that he had moved the fence.
In this story Jesus invited Simon to move the fence
When we move the fence we are the Christ. When we welcome the outsider we heal ourselves and encounter Jesus………..as the woman did
The Lord be with you.