20040613InNeedofGrace

I love a good story, and sometimes have a hard time choosing which scripture lesson to preach

on. This was one of those weeks when it was hard to choose, but I decided on Luke’s story about

Jesus, the Pharisee named Simon, and the woman who was a sinner and whose name and sin we don’t

know.

One of the ways to learn something new from a story is to try putting ourselves in the shoes of

the different characters, and this morning I’d like to pay special attention on Simon the Pharisee -

although I can’t say I like him very much. In fact, I would tend to identify with the woman who is loving,

needy, and marginalized rather than this Pharisee who is rigid, rich, and judgmental and gets put in his

place to boot. However, I’ve learned that when a character rubs me the wrong way I might want to get

a little closer so I can hear what the Spirit is trying to say to me.

So what about this Simon? Who was he? Actually, he was probably a pretty good person who

happened to be a Pharisee and more like us than we might like to admit.

Pharisees were part of a Jewish sect (or denomination) who lived at the time of Jesus. Others

included the Sadducees and the community at Qumran (the Dead Sea scroll community). The Pharisees

were a group of lay people who had concerns about the holiness of the Temple and the priests and saw

all of God’s people Israel as a “kingdom of priests.” In order to keep themselves pure and follow God

with their whole heart, they took on themselves the keeping of the “Holiness Code” of the law.

Luke doesn’t say why this Pharisee invited Jesus to dinner. He was probably aware of Jesus’

popularity with the people; he might have wanted to know more about Jesus’ teachings; maybe he

wanted to find out if Jesus was really a prophet. But whatever the reason, Simon, being Simon, would

not have invited Jesus if he hadn’t judged him to be his equal.

So there they are - Simon, Jesus, and others are dining, and suddenly there is this shocking

scene with this woman, this sinful woman, this uninvited woman who comes into the room. Apparently

she has goal of pouring the perfume on Jesus’ feet, but - because she is so overcome with emotion - she

can only stand weeping behind Jesus - weeping so much that she begins to wash his feet with her tears.

And then, in a spontaneous act, she lets down her hair, begins to wipe away the tears from his feet, and

then anoints them with the perfume.

Well. Ladies - real ladies, that is, don’t let down their hair in public and don’t touch a man’s

feet. Simon is scandalized because of her behavior and because he is aware of who she is and the sinful

life she had lived in that town.

His first reaction, then, is not to love - or even to try to understand this person who has come in

from the margins of his society. His reaction is to judge both Jesus and the woman. He judges her for

being a sinner and for contaminating Jesus through her touch. He judges Jesus for not being a prophet -

a prophet would have known what kind of woman was touching him.

The thing is, Jesus does know what kind of woman she is - a sinner saved by grace, and he

wants Simon to find out, too - not only who the woman is but also who he is - and that he is the same: a

sinner saved by grace.

To do that, Jesus has to open a space for Simon so that Simon can open a space in his own

heart to see the world in a new way. So, Jesus says to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you,”

and invites him to rethink his position of superiority. Not by “telling him off” or “knocking him down a

peg or two” - but by telling him a little story about two debtors to help him find out for himself.