In my first church – I was in my twenties, easily embarrassed – we had an occasional visitor; she came from Yugoslavia I think; she had a lined face, always wore a headscarf and spoke no more than a couple of words of English. When she came to church she always brought a bunch of flowers; she usually arrived a wee bit late, walked to the front, laid her bunch of flowers on the Communion Table, and kissed my hand, before taking a pew near the back. The flowers worried me: what would the dear lady who had been there on Saturday, and spent time arranging flowers in a vase, say about this addition to her display? But it was the kiss that made me cringe. It's not the way Baptists greet their pastors. Should I receive this as though I was someone special? I wanted to say to her, "I'm no better than the person you will sit next to at the back." It seemed so out of place.
A Pharisee invites Jesus in for a meal. It's all pretty routine; a cold lunch after the service in the synagogue. Jesus enters and takes his place, reclining on a low couch at the table ... and then the story really gets going. “Look! A woman of the city, a woman with a bad reputation, either a prostitute or an adulteress, walks in, with her long-necked jar of ointment.” No doubt one or two people are thinking to themselves, “What's she doing here?”
What she intends to do is simply a generous, loving response to the fact that Messiah has come, and that Messiah has accepted her and forgiven her sins. She wants to bring her precious ointment and anoint Jesus with it. Jesus is facing the table and she comes up behind him; as she does, she is overwhelmed with emotion, with gratitude and love. Tears flow; not the kind of wee tears that you can wipe away from the corner of your eye with a tissue, but floods of tears. Jesus' feet are soaking wet. The woman becomes confused, embarrassed; what is she to do? Without thinking she pulls away the pin that is keeping her hair up and dries Jesus' feet with her hair. She kisses his feet, and at last with shaking hands breaks open the bottle of perfume and pours it on Jesus' feet.
To the dinner guests it's all a bit much; a bit embarrassing. It seems so out of place... is she... a friend of his? Or is he just stupid? The generous host is thinking “If this Jesus was any sort of prophet at all he would surely know what sort of woman this is. And if he was any sort of prophet he wouldn't let her touch him!” The issue is Jesus' identity. Who Jesus is. And this is a recurring theme in the incident.
You know what it's like when you have the first meal with your kid's new boyfriend or girlfriend. The boyfriend starts eating before you have given thanks and you think “he's a complete heathen then!” Then you bow in prayer and he thinks “The parents are complete religious nuts, then!” It seems that as far as as Simon the Pharisee is concerned Jesus was being checked out and has just failed the test. Silently, the Pharisee makes his judgement. Nothing is said: at most, a raised eyebrow might have betrayed his thoughts. But Jesus answers the Pharisee! “Simon, I have something to say to you!” and Simon replies “Go ahead, Rabbi!” He is polite enough and recognises Jesus as a teacher, but that's all. He's not seeing Jesus as a prophet and not ready for discipleship, for following Jesus. “Rabbi” is polite but it's not the full story. It’s not “Lord”.
What Jesus wants to say, is one of his ridiculously simple parables. “One guy was forgiven £3,000; the other was forgiven £30,000: who loved the bank manager more?” The answer is obvious, but the Pharisee feels he as to go along with Jesus, so kind of grudgingly he answers “The guy who was forgiven £30,000.” He knows he has been cornered. It looks like this prophet does know what's going on inside people's heads. And this prophet is up for challenging people's sins and blind spots.
“Good call” Jesus says. He doesn't mean to imply that the woman really was a bigger sinner, with more to forgive, than the Pharisee. In fact he gives no assurance that the Pharisee has been forgiven at all. He is simply adapting to the parameters of the Pharisee. And he proceeds to draw out the contrast between the Pharisee and the Prostitute. Now, it is sometimes said that that Simon completely failed to offer Jesus the commonest courtesies of hospitality. That is not true. As a good Jew, the Pharisee would have expected his guests to wash their hands before eating and would have provided a bowl and towel for that purpose. Washing feet was a nice luxury; a kiss was a faitrly common form of welcome; anointing oil was a recognition of a really special guest. But none of these was really essential. In inviting Jesus to his home Simon had treated Jesus with the “ordinary” courtesies for having people round for a meal but not as the guest of honour at a banquet. It as the difference between saying “the bathroom is just upstairs” and giving the guest their own towel, bar of soap and hand lotion. The contrast couldn't be more stark and plain. The Pharisee, who thinks he had not too many sins, feels he is doing Jesus a favour by having him round for a few sandwiches after the synagogue. The woman, who knows her life is full of embarrassing moments she doesn't enjoy re-living, who knows that this man Jesus has accepted her and made her clean again – even if she doesn't fully understand how – she is “overwhelmed by love” for Jesus. Her very best seems inadequate. She wants to pour out her ointment, for Jesus. In today's money you could say it was worth about £17000. What did it matter if she had earned that money through prostitution: it was all she had. So she pours out her tears, lets down her hair to dry Jesus' feet; kisses his feet and anoints Jesus not just with oil but with her precious ointment.
Then, horror of horrors, Jesus tells the woman, “your sins are forgiven!” Again, the issue is “Who is this guy?” He obviously is a prophet, he can hear people's thoughts; does he really have the authority to declare people’s sins forgiven? Maybe some are thinking it is blasphemous to make that claim (as they had before: see Lk 5. 21). Luke simply reports the question and leaves us to figure it out for ourselves. Who is this guy?
Jesus is not just a teacher, a Rabbi. We can be respectful to Jesus but not connect with who he is. He is Lord, Messiah, the One who was wounded for our transgressions. He is the one who has a right to forgive our sins. What Jesus does as he receives this woman's gift, what he had done as he showed her grace, is the character of God on display, not simply being guessed at by a teacher however great. God looks at all the embarrassment, all the failure, all the brokenness, all the wrong choices, all the deliberate grabs at what is not ours; all the times when we have put the boot in all the hurts we have caused. All the rebellion, all the times when we have not cared two hoots what God or anyone else wants. Now if you're happy like that, OK. But if you're embarrassed, ashamed, feeling cut off from God by it, and longing fro something better, then know that God wants to welcome you home and forgive you; that God the Son has already dealt with the wrong stuff in your life; he has died for it; that God the Holy Spirit wants to fill you and give you the strength to live for Jesus, so you can with confidence know God the father. Connecting with Jesus, connecting with the trinity, connects us with grace. Jesus is the grace bringer and grace giver.
Let's be quite plain, Jesus is not forgiving the woman her sins because she has shown such extravagant love; she has not earned her forgiveness by what she has done. Jesus is talking in past tense terms here. “He who has been forgiven much, loves much. Your sins have been forgiven”. There has been some earlier encounter with Jesus – either directly or through hearing Jesus preach or maybe even hearing a report of things he has said. She is responding to something that has already happened. Her faith has already connected her with God's salvation. From Jesus, “Go in Peace” was a genuine blessing – the shalom the wholeness and peace of the Kingdom of God surrounding the woman as she goes on to live the rest of her life. No wonder she loves so much.
There is not one person in this room who doesn't need that grace. There may be one or two who like Simon, don't think they need it. There may be one or two who think that somehow God chose you because you are the kind of person God likes. There may be one or two who don't know if that grace can reach them. Maybe you've been following Jesus and you still struggle with guilt. But God's hobby is collecting broken people. Putting them right. That is how God deals with us. Forgiveness, salvation, peace, isn't something we have to earn. It is given because of who Jesus is, because of his sacrifice for us; we don't have to earn forgiveness. We just have to receive it; we simply hand over our lives, our brokenness, our failures and even our successes to God. And in faith we receive from him. He saves us; he makes us whole, in every part of our being; we are able to journey on from here in peace. And we pour out our response, at Jesus' feet.
© Gilmour Lilly February 2015
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