Pentecost 2 Luke 7:36-8:3 6/13/04

"Jesus, The Radical"

Call two youth up and ad-lib a judgment scene reflecting the woman and the Pharisee.

The point here and in our lesson is not who the greater sinner was. The point at least in our lesson is how one responds to forgiveness and how Jesus responds to that.

It really doesn’t matter that the woman was a public sinner, that she had engaged in scandalous behavior. We can try to rate sins so that stealing a paperclip from the office isn’t nearly as bad as embezzling millions of dollars, that hating someone isn’t as bad as taking a gun and murdering them, or that letting some sport or other activity take first place in our lives isn’t as bad as bowing down to an idol made of stone. We can play games with the Ten Commandments, reacting with horror when our neighbor is caught committing adultery while not feeling the least bit guilty when we skip church on a Sunday.

The reality though is that God doesn’t rank sins. Any sin is as offensive to God as any other sin. The difference comes in our response. If we go around thinking, "Well, I’m a pretty good person. I worship when I can and give my share. I have served on committees and helped with projects when asked (...well, really begged). I don’t commit any major sins and live a pretty good life." If that is how we look at ourselves, our response to being forgiven isn’t going to be as great.

"The one to whom little is forgiven, loves little." Does this mean we should all become big sinners? Noooo! It means we need to open our eyes (and hearts) and see just what big sinners we already are.

Even if she had been the picture of early Middle Eastern feminine perfection - a docile housewife, caring friend, hard worker who obeyed all the religious and social rules, "the woman" would have been looked down on. Women were non-entities, little better than slaves. Notice that even though Luke generally paints favorable pictures of women, this woman has no name. And she knows where she stands in all this for her acts of love and gratitude are things even a slave would consider beneath his dignity.

On the other hand, we have Simon, a Pharisee, a man of education and social standing. But, just look at Simon and the few minutes of his life that are presented to us. He passed judgment not only on the woman, but also on Jesus. He was self-righteous and proud. He was lacking in hospitality. He refused to believe in Jesus. That these were private sins doesn’t matter. It is his failure to admit his own sinfulness that blocks Simon from the joy of experiencing forgiveness - the joy this nameless woman experienced.

And, by the way, those were probably tears of joy she shed. The tense of the verbs in Greek indicate that she had already been forgiven and she is now acting out her gratitude by her actions. Jesus then declares for all to hear that she has been forgiven. In fact, He does more than that. He makes her the teacher for others on how to respond to forgiveness. Jesus shows Himself to be quite the radical.

Jesus does something even more radical though in how He responds to Simon and the woman. He accepts them both!

While Jesus may have lifted up her act and guilt-tripped Simon, nowhere does it say Jesus rejected Simon. He doesn’t even call him self-righteous or faithless.

I think a big part of Simon’s problem was (as it is for most self-righteous, judgmental people) that deep in his heart, Simon felt shame. So often when a person has very high standards which he strictly enforces (especially on others) there is a secret awareness of one’s own short-comings and a belief that if he/she was good enough those standards would be met. Instead the self-righteous, judgmental person feels there is something basically wrong with them that they can’t meet their own standards. That is shame and shame just leads to destruction.

This is where Jesus, the radical comes in. He doesn’t care how good or bad you are, what sins you’re known for or have tried to hide, what others think of you or what you think of yourself. Jesus, the radical, throws all our standards out the window. Jesus, the radical, accepts us, forgives us, loves us. And when we truly get that message straight, we too become like the woman, willing to do anything to show our gratitude and love. Amen.