Sermon by the Rev.
Andrew S. Rollins
Pentecost 3/ Proper
6C (June 17, 2007)
Text: Luke 7:36 - 50
Title: “
Be Forewarned
Be forewarned. This is not one of those stories that are content to let us to just sit back and observe. This story presses us for a response. The story invites a comparison between two hearts: the heart of sinner and the heart of a religious person.
The
First, let’s zoom in on this woman. Jesus has been invited to dinner at the home of Simon the Pharisee. As they are reclined at the table, “a woman of the city, who was a sinner” appears with a jar of perfume, takes Jesus’ feet, and begins to anoint them – first with her tears and then with the perfume.
Luke says she was “a woman of the city, who was a sinner.” Luke doesn’t tell us the precise nature of her sin, but we suspect it has something to do with sex. Just look at her. What else could it be? Her reputation walks right into the room with her. She’s notorious for being notorious.
In other words, she’s Paris Hilton. We can’t remember why Paris Hilton is a celebrity but we know it has something to do with sex. Mostly, Paris Hilton is notorious for being notorious. She’s a magnet for judgment and comment. We can’t stop looking at her and talking about her. (People haven’t changed.) As with Paris Hilton, everyone in the city enjoyed saying something about this woman.
But here’s the twist. This Paris Hilton carries in a jar of ointment, stands behind Jesus (who would’ve been reclining on a couch, middle-eastern style), and takes his feet in her hands, and begins to bathe his feet with her tears and wipe them with her hair.
Her own hands. Her own tears. Her own hair.
Abandoned to Love
And Jesus is moved. Jesus is moved by this over-the-top expression of love. Jesus doesn’t often see this sort of response. She’s not observing some religious duty. She’s not thinking about herself, calculating what this gesture will get her. She doesn’t have one eye on the crowd, wondering what they think of her. She has abandoned herself to her love for Jesus. And Jesus is moved.
That’s how real love work. In real love, we are carried away If love isn’t somewhat excessive, over-the-top, extravagant, then it isn’t really love. If you aren’t a little carried away, then you aren’t really in love, are you?
You remember the movie Parenthood? It’s full of great characters. Rick Moranis plays this uptight, controlling, nerdy husband. But his wife recounts a time when he was spontaneous, exciting -- even that he was great lover. But, as the years went by, he became sensible, calculating, cold. He lost all spontaneity and now she wonders if he really loves her. In the course of the movie, they break up. But in the end, he wins her back. How does he do it? He goes to the kindergarten where she teaches and interrupts her class to serenade her. He falls on his knees and sings this cheesy, sappy-sweet Burt Bacharach song, “Close to You” (“Why do birds suddenly appear/ every time you are near . . . They long to be close to you . . . Wahhhhhhh. Close to you. -- The Carpenters). He plays the fool. He shows her he can still be uncalculating, spontaneous, a little crazy. What’s her response? First she says, “Nathan, we’re trying so hard to keep these children off drugs.” But then she takes him back.
Can you remember a time when you were carried away for God? Can you remember a time when you stopped calculating what you would get from God? Can you remember a time when you stopped caring what other people thought? That’s what this woman shows us: abandoned, excessive, uncalculating love for Jesus.
The Heart of the
Grinch
Now to Simon. Simon the Pharisee watches this whole scene unfold in his dining room. And his gracious host smile turns to a frown.
That is the way it always is. If you express abandoned, excessive, uncalculating love for anyone or anything – let alone for Jesus! -- someone will smirk and frown. You can take that to the bank. This is what holds so many of us back from a living, vibrant, passionate relationship with Jesus Christ. That’s what we want. But what are people going to think if I tear up? What are people going to say if I stop talking about my appreciation for the Anglican ethos and start talking about my love for Jesus? What would happen? Just what happened to this woman. Someone will frown and smirk.
What is Simon’s problem? Why does he respond this way? “No one quite knows the reason./ It could be his head wasn’t screwed on just right./ It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight./ But I think that the most likely reason of all/ May be that his heart was two sizes too small.” (I used to quote Dr. Johnson; now I quote Dr. Seuss.) Yes, if this woman is Paris Hilton, then this man is the Grinch. His heart is two sizes too small. That’s his problem. It’s a matter of the heart.
Cold religious behavior does not move Jesus in the least. He turns and says to Simon the Pharisee: I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet . . . you gave me no kiss . . . You did not anoint my head. You have remained reserved, calculating, sensible. You have preformed your duty here. But (Jesus says) you have “loved little”. You covered the bases. But your heart is cold.
How Do We Rekindle
the Flame?
As I said before, this story presses us for a response. That’s why Jesus taught publicly as he did. That’s why he told parables in public, as he did here. That’s why Luke records this story the way that he does. This isn’t just a story about that woman and that man. Jesus is looking past them to you and me.
What’s the state of your heart? Is it lukewarm, calculated, cold?
Do you remember that song from Fiddler on the Roof? Perchik and Hodel are a young Jewish couple who fall completely in love and pledge to marry each other with or without the permission of her parents. Reb Tevye, her father, watches the passion of this young couple and he begins to wonder about his own marriage. He goes to his wife, Golde, and asks her, “Do you love me?” She responds, “Do I what?” “Do you love me?” “Do I love you? With our daughters getting married/ and this trouble in the town/ you’re upset, you’re worn out/ Go inside, go lie down! Maybe it’s indigestion.” “But do you love me?” “Do I love you?/ For twenty-five years I’ve washed your clothes, cooked your meals, cleaned your house, given you children, milded the cow/ after twenty-five years, why talk about love right now!”
That is the persistent question that this story asks us: “Do you love me?” Do you love me?
But what do I do if I don’t feel passionate, extravagant love for Jesus? I know
I should, but what if I don’t? I can remember a time when I felt that way, but
I don’t now. How do I get back there? What’s the secret? How do I get back the
love? How do I rekindle the flame?
The answer isn’t anything we could initiate. The answer really starts with God, with what God has already done for me. The story suggests that an awareness of how much we have been forgiven is the key: Therefore, 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. The source the fire is the forgiveness of Jesus. That’s what the story teaches us. Passionate love for Jesus Christ is kindled in our hearts when we remember how much we have been forgiven.
Light the Fire in
Your Heart!
Have you been forgiven anything by God? What debt of yours has God cancelled completely? I mean, really. Which one? I mean specifically, not in theory. That’s the rub.
As a Pharisee, Simon would certainly have believed in the doctrines of sin, repentance, and forgiveness. Certainly. He could’ve articulated those doctrines much better than this woman.
Perhaps the difference is knowing that you’re a sinner because it’s an article of your religion versus knowing that you committed adultery in 1976 and Jesus forgave you.
You were forgiven some thing. Or, it might not be so notorious. You were cold to your daughter for some sixteen years, but God forgave you. You were forgiven some thing. In Jesus Christ, God has gone down on his knees and declared his love for us. He has sung, “I love you” to us.
The question that now hangs in the air is, “Do you love me?” “Do you love me?”