Lent 24 post 19

 Luke 7.29-50

‘Friend of sinners' indeed! It might sound nice to you, but to me as a Pharisee (Simon by name), no worse accusation could be made against a rabbi, if Jesus could even be called that. But I’d been to hear John the Baptist, and I’d listened to Jesus from the back of the crowd, and they had certainly challenged my thinking. So I invited Jesus along with some of my Pharisee friends for a meal at my house.

So there we are, reclining and enjoying my wife’s food and just getting ready to spring some hard questions on Jesus, when in walks this woman! Or rather, that woman. We all knew who she was and what she was in our village. She walks up behind where Jesus was reclining, and breaks into great heaving sobs, with her tears splashing on to his bare feet. Then (the shock!) she lets her hair down, as loose as she is herself, and kneels down and wipes his feet and kisses them. And then she snaps open the neck of a jar of perfume and pours it all over his feet, and the voluptuous sexy scent fills my pure house. And Jesus? He just smiles, turns slightly, pats her on the shoulder, as if he’d met her before. I mean, surely not.

Well, we’re all frozen into silence. I’m so embarrassed and I’m thinking, ‘Whatever they say, this man is not a prophet and I’ll tell you why. First, if he were a prophet, he’d know what kind of woman this creature is, even if he’s never met her. Second, if he knew, he wouldn’t dare let her touch him like that, she’s a dirty sinner!’ I am about to announce this when Jesus looks over at me, as if to say, ‘I can answer that for you, Simon', as if he'd read my thoughts. And he starts telling a story.

‘There were these two men who owed money to a money lender. One owed about this much,’ and Jesus picks up a rather large melon in one hand. ‘The other owed about this much,’ and he picks up an olive in the other. ‘But the money lender was a kind man' (yeah right), ‘so he said, ‘I know you boys can’t pay me back, so I forgive both of you your debts.’’ And I’m thinking, ‘What has this got to do with the situation here?’ Then Jesus goes on, ‘Which one of the two do you think will love the money lender more?’

See, that’s the annoying thing about Jesus. You come with a bunch of questions to ask him and he asks one single question, and you’re stumped. I wanted to give a clever answer, but in the end, I just mumbled, ‘I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.’ ‘Good answer!’ says Jesus with a smile. Then he swivels round a bit to look at the woman, but he’s still talking to me over his shoulder. ‘Do you see this woman?’ Well, of course, I could see her! Right here, uninvited, in my house. . .’Your house, yes,’ says Jesus. ‘When I came in, you gave me none of the customary tokens of welcome. But she has not stopped treating me like her honoured guest.’

This is totally unfair and out of order.

Comparing me, Simon, with her, and her a sinner! A really big-time sinner, too. . . But Jesus interrupts my thoughts again. ‘Yes, she is indeed. Her sins are many. But here’s the thing. Her sins have been forgiven. That’s the difference. And that’s why she shows me such love and honour.’ Then he turns back, and looks straight at me across the table, ‘But I suppose,’ he adds quietly, ‘someone who thinks they have nothing to be forgiven for will not show much love.’

Was that true? Did I really think I had little or nothing to be forgiven for? I felt myself blushing. This woman might be the biggest sinner in the room, but was she the only sinner? I looked around at my guests. Their eyes were out on stalks, they'd never been so close to a woman like that, and her hair, and the perfume. ‘There is more sin going on right here in my house today than in hers,’ I found myself thinking.

Jesus had turned my question upside down. The point is not, ‘Who is the biggest sinner' but, ‘Which of us knows that our sins have been forgiven?’

Then Jesus turns round fully to the woman, gently lifts up her face and speaks directly to her. ‘They have been forgiven, you know, your sins, all of them, as I told you, remember? Trust me!’ That broke the silence! All round the table, ‘Who does he think he is? Forgiving sins? Only God can do that!’ Well, yes indeed. But Jesus just insists to the woman, ‘Your sins have been forgiven. Do you believe me?’ She nods a smile through her tears. ‘Then your faith has saved you. Go in peace.’

She stands up, and having crept in despised, she walks out with the dignity of the forgiven.

And my conscience-stricken heart is crying out, ‘Jesus, what would I give to have you say those words to me!’