Community Church Sermons
Year C
June 13,
2010
Pentecost 3
A Most
Loving Person
Psalm 32
Luke 7:36-50
Rev. Martin C. Singley, III
I met Frank at the local soup kitchen that feeds homeless people.
The place is called �The Mustard Seed� and each year I took the Confirmation
Class to serve a meal there. These 12-year old kids were rather taken aback by
the sea of misery that poured into the shelter once the doors were opened. Drug addicts and alcoholics. Prostitutes.
Even scruffy little children who came in with scruffy-looking
parents.
One of the adult advisors cautioned the kids about not talking
with the �clients� as they came through the line. But she didn�t need to warn
them. They were speechless. And so they stood with spoons and ladles, silently
dishing out American Chop Suey and doing everything
they could to not look any of those people in the eye.
But then there was this guy Frank who was working alongside our
group. He seemed about 40-years old. He was well dressed and groomed. And as
the hungry people came through the line, he greeted them by name or � if it was
someone new � he just called them �buddy.� As he piled the food high on their
plates he asked them about their day, about their family, about those Red Sox,
about all kinds of things. He got them laughing and smiling. And after everyone
was served, while our Confirmation kids stood there in silent shock, Frank went
out and sat with the hungry, scruffy people. I don�t know what they were
talking about, but they were having a good time. And when they got up to leave,
Frank said, �Y�all come back now, y�hear?� Then Frank
went back to the wash room and began washing pots and pans.
I couldn�t resist asking Frank about his relationship with the
Mustard Seed. I learned that he drove into the city from the suburbs three
times a week to serve the hungry. I asked him what made him do that. Frank
said, �Been there. Done that. Got
the tee-shirt. These people are me three years ago. But God found me.
Now I�m just trying to give something back.�
In another city and another time long ago, there was a woman. Luke
tells us she is a sinful woman although it is left to our imagination to figure
out in what way. This sinful woman hears Jesus is at the home of a neighbor � a
Pharisee named Simon. �She crashes the
party at Simon�s house and collapses at Jesus� feet. Her tears wet his feet,
and with her long hair she wipes them dry, and then she anoints the Lord with
expensive perfume.
Simon � who is righteous in the eyes of the Law and his own eyes
too - is outraged by this intrusion by a sinful woman, and by Jesus� response!
He is upset that Jesus would let himself be touched by a woman who is not his
wife, let alone by THIS woman who is known to be a bad apple. But Jesus tells
Simon a little parable that poses an interesting question: Who do you think
would love their banker more � the one forgiven a $500 dollar loan they couldn�t
pay, or the one forgiven a debt of $50?
�Why, I suppose the one who had the bigger debt cancelled!� Simon says. And Jesus says, �By golly, you�re right!� �Then, he says:
�Do you see
this woman? I came into your house. You
did not give me any water for my feet. But she
wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my
feet. You did not put oil on my
head, but she has poured perfume on
my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven � for she
loved much.�
Now that�s an interesting line, isn�t it? ��her many sins have been forgiven � for she loved much.� Although
it may sound as if Jesus is saying that this woman has been forgiven BECAUSE
she loved much, that�s not true. You can�t EARN God�s forgiveness. You can only
receive it as a gift. What Jesus is saying here is that the proof � the
real-life evidence - of the fact that she has received God�s gift of forgiveness is that she now chooses to LOVE! And being aware of
just how lost and sinful her life has been, she knows
that she has had a HUGE debt cancelled, and so she loves HUGELY!
She reminds me of Frank.
There is a direct relationship between being forgiven and becoming
one who loves!
You know, the most loving Christians among us are always the ones
who have looked themselves deeply in the eye, daring to see and acknowledge the
log-jam of brokenness and sin in there, and in accepting God�s cancellation of
that debt, respond by going out to love the world. Rarely, if ever, will you
see someone who understands how God has forgiven their own sin stand in
judgment over others.
Simon the Pharisee doesn�t know that about himself. Compared with
others, he thinks he�s pretty righteous. And in not being able to see the log
in his own eye, he expresses contempt about �that kind of woman.�
I do that, too. I look down on other people. Do you? Sometimes we
see the speck in someone else�s eye much more easily than we see the log in our
own.
But this woman � on the other hand � aware of how her sin has been
touched by God�s amazing grace � now pours out love. She has been forgiven
much. And now she loves much!
There is a powerful relationship between being forgiven and becoming
one who loves!!
Then Jesus, turning to the woman, says something interesting. �Your
faith has saved you � go in peace.�
What an amazing story! What a strange story! A sinful woman is
given a new start. Her mistakes are forgiven. She turns to love! She is made
well of soul!
And it�s all � Jesus says - because of faith!�
�Your faith has made you well!� Jesus declares.
So what was her faith?
Luke does not even tell us whether she was religious or not. Was
she a Jew, a Gentile, a Samaritan, a Presbyterian�? We�re not told. There is
nothing in the story to indicate that she believed anything about God, or even
about Jesus other than the fact that he was a good man who helped hurting
people. There is no Apostles� Creed on her lips � �I believe in God the
Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ His only Son,
our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried��
None of that is found in this woman. In fact, we are told only two
things about the faith that saved her. Jesus said of the woman, �Her
many sins have been forgiven � for she
loved much.�
Her faith was that God loved her enough
to forgive her, and so she turned to loving others.
You see, this is a story about what we human beings can do with
our own lives in response to God�s grace! It is about the decisions we
make � the actions we take � the way we choose to live the lives
we have because of God�s generosity toward us!
Jesus did not say, �Wow! OUR Christian Faith and Doctrine has
made you well!�
He said, �YOUR faith has made you well!�
Faith, you see, is a skill that is developed and flows from
within. Faith is about responding to God�s grace by making faithful decisions,
and going out and living faithful lives.
And Jesus told us exactly what this woman�s faith consisted of. In
the face of her life as it was, she accepted the gift of forgiveness, and then
responded by choosing to go and love. Simon did not wash Jesus� feet. But she
did. Simon did not greet Jesus with a kiss. But she did. Simon did not anoint
Jesus with oil. But she did with perfume.
She, Jesus said, loved much!
This woman of the city risked loving Jesus despite the social
conventions of the day, despite the religious regulations of the time, and despite
her own sense of inadequacy. And in the decision she made and the action she
took, she was made well.
YOUR faith has saved you, Jesus said.
Forgiveness brings about the ability to love, and love applied to
others is faith!
When you go home today, I hope you�ll start doing something that
will help you grow as a Christian. Look at yourself in the mirror. Look into
your eyes, and peer into the depths of your soul. Dare to see yourself without
any pretenses � as you really are. Have the courage to see what�s not right in
there. Take a fearless moral inventory of your past and your present. Think
about the things you have done that you shouldn�t have done, and the things
you�ve not done that you should have. Look at yourself as you really are, and
then hold yourself up to the standard of Jesus.
How do you measure up to Christ?
This is not to make you feel bad, but rather to help you
understand how loved you are by God. And maybe you�ll look for people like
Frank who are living examples of today�s parable: those who have a lot of debt
to be forgiven, when they accept forgiveness as the gift of God, love more.
And love applied to others is the ultimate measure of faith.
You are forgiven. Go and love.